News-Record.com

Okay, not everybody, but when I finally got a chance to check my office voice mail after a few weeks on the road, I stumbled upon a handful of angry Duke fans.

Half of the complaints were about my story on J.J. Redick's quick recoveries from bad shooting games - Public Enemy No. 1 is Duke's No. 1 option. The other half were about my story after Duke's first round win over Delaware State - No celebrations for Duke even in victory.

Unfortunately, none of the callers offered any particular reasons for their complaints, instead preferring to fall back on the old familiar charge that I have a "pro-Carolina bias." So let me try to at least guess what the problem was.

With the J.J. article, I'm guessing it was the headline. It was taken from a line I wrote halfway through the article in which I wrote that the same brashness that has made Redick Public Enemy No. 1 among the rest of the ACC has made him Option No. 1 in Duke's offense. Look, I know Duke fans are protective of J.J. and lord knows the kid has gotten way more verbal abuse than any college kid should ever have to take. But I'm not breaking any new ground with this observation. Redick is cocky on the court. He knows it and really makes no apologies for it. He says he's different away from the game, but opposing fans don't ever see that. They only see this otherwise ordinary looking kid lighting their team up and clearly enjoying himself in the process. And that infuriates them.

If there was something else in the article that bothered these callers, I honestly have no idea what it was. The rest of the piece was about how well he bounces back from bad games. Nothing offensive there, right?

As for the article I wrote after Duke's win over Delaware State, I'm guessing those angry callers didn't like the overal message of the story, which was - Duke won, but not it didn't play very well. Again, I wasn't writing outside the box on this one. If you'd just walked into the Duke locker room after the game was over, without looking at a box score, you would have thought the Blue Devils had lost. They were not pleased at all with their effort. And they knew they had to play better in their next game or risk going home early.

Again, I'm only theorizing here, but I'm assuming that the callers were upset because the article wasn't more "positive" about a Duke win. But folks, I can only write what I see and hear. And I saw a Duke team that was displeased with itself and I heard players that told me the same thing.

Having said all that, please keep the calls and the emails coming. And feel free to respond to this blog as well. Getting that kind of feedback - regardless of whether I agree with it - helps keep me aware of the impact my articles have on you the reader. I like to think that makes me a better journalist.