THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1997, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, January 29, 1997 TAG: 9701290632
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY FRANK VEHORN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: DURHAM, N.C. LENGTH: 71 lines
There's no place like Duke's Cameron Indoor Stadium for an entertaining evening - and usually the basketball isn't bad, either.
No matter the score, the Duke cheering section - once described as ``a crowd of students majoring in smart-ass'' - keeps things interesting.
Among their more notorious performances over the years:
After students were scolded for not showing enough respect for referee Dick Paparo with an off-color chant ``You ----, Dick!'' they amended it to ``You ----, Richard!''
North Carolina coach Dean Smith frequently has been critical of the ``Crazies'' and their obscene chants. So, for one North Carolina game instead of the usual ``Bull----!'' chant after a questionable call, the students, some wearing halos made out of coat hangers, chanted ``We beg to differ!''
Shortly after Maryland's Herman Veal was charged with a sexual assault, he was showered with more than 500 pairs of panties when he was introduced before the game.
North Carolina State's Lorenzo Charles, who had been charged with stealing a pizza, was bombarded with empty pizza boxes during his introduction.
Instead of the usual ``Start the bus!'' chant in the final minutes of one-sided victories, the chant was changed to ``Start the trolley!'' against San Francisco.
When the parents of Bobby Hurley and Grant Hill were introduced before their sons played their final games in Cameron, they were greeted with the cheer ``One more kid! One more kid!''
A small Australian player was shown no mercy when his national team visited Cameron for an exhibition game. As the 5-foot-7 player went to the line for a free throw, fans began chanting ``Shrimp on the barbie!''
In the 1970s, Maryland had a player named Jim O'Brien whose nickname throughout the league was ``Bozo.'' During pregame warm-ups, O'Brien was startled to turn and see a Duke student wearing a red rubber nose, floppy shoes and a wig standing behind him in the layup line.
This year, a member of the Upstate All-Stars playing Duke in an exhibition game showed up with dreadlocks, giving him a Bob Marley look. When he went to the free-throw line and was greeted with ``You shot the sheriff,'' he began laughing and committed a lane violation.
During Jim Valvano's era at N.C. State, after reports surfaced about the low SAT scores of some of his players, the Wolfpack was met in Cameron with chants of ``Welcome, fellow scholars!''
The Crazies haven't always had the last laugh, though. Former Maryland coach Lefty Driesell once was asked if he was offended by certain signs behind the Terps' bench.
``Not at all,'' Driesell said. ``I went to Duke - I can't read.'' MEMO: [For a related story, see page C1 of The Virginian-Pilot for this
date.] ILLUSTRATION: GRAPHIC
[For a copy of the graphic, see microfilm for this date.]
[Stadiums]
CLEMSON
DUKE
FLORIDA STATE
GEORGIA TECH
MARYLAND
NORTH CAROLINA
N.C. STATE
VIRGINIA
WAKE FOREST
BERNARD THOMAS
The Herald-Sun of Durham
fans at Cameron are renowned for their distracting antics.