20th-Century Court: A Sportsmanship's Whitehall

A Story by Abishai100

Fan-diorama of a 'key' moment of college-athletics 'upset' history highlighting why the American social-media landscape may 'cheer' the socialized world.

A fan-nod to media-age sportsmanship-broadcast 'spirits' and storytelling, referencing a 'key' moment in the otherwise 'consistency-drawn' saga of Duke basketball and inspired (loosely) by Blue Chips (Nick Nolte).

DISCLAIMER: This work of sports-media 'fanfiction' offers no commercial/formal ties to any representative athletes/teams and all images used herein comprise a purely 'personal' exercise in social creativity (for 'open' translating!).

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Now, this story or sports (college-athletics) 'court' re-presentation I'm offering to you in this diorama-tale is not for the faint-of-heart, but it's not one of 'extreme' graphic woes (either!). It does concern a very 'complex' arena of modern (media-culture) castings of the 'quality' of sportsmanship's handshakes in the post-Computer age of social-activity drawn competition 'class' activity/examinations and references a very 'symbolic' event in the late-20th Century (1993) involving two 'excellent' college basketball (men's teams) in the March Madness season-end champions-tourney, the legendary Duke Blue Devils (led by the 'prodigy' marshal of guard-play, Bob Hurley), and the striking Cal Golden Bears 'upstarts' (led by the future NBA-prolific Nets-contributor/celeb Jason Kidd). My name's Amlan Satan, and I'm offering this social-media culture 'flowery' in sports/activity commentary and storytelling 'lore' to (arguably!) offer a competition-chess oriented 'social view' of the nature of modern Western-world media-lighted basketball showmanship that's drawn in many-a 'pirate' and 'landlover' of the cyber-highway(s) of 'cool' fanfare oriented Homeland ('American') cheers and handshakes. Follow along in this 'misty-tale' of capitalism-race readership (for all!).

Now, I consider the great game of (men's American) college-basketball in this awesome Homeland (America) a 'fantastic' expo for all that's high-minded in sportsmanship-media and activity conducive for social-media handshakes/hospitality, and Western-world society access to media-drawn activity in college-basketball has made legends out of the frameworks of construed competitive activity, in this 'cool' arena of choreographed 'court' sportsmanship (for all!). The Duke Blue Devils of 1993 had lost 'serious' stars since their stunning 1991-1992 consecutive title-run teams, and this year's team still boasted the prodigy-guard Bob Hurley, who albeit was a rather 'small-man' figure in that time of college-basketball's rather 'muscular' contenders, including North Carolina and Michigan. Well, despite Duke's loss of stars since 1992, Hurley's 'smaller' Devils-unit of 1993 nevertheless offered social-media/TV fans of the late-20th Century something quite 'peculiar' in the annals of competition 'class' examinations --- notions/images of choreographed court 'chess' excellence in field leadership or team-zone 'string' magic --- and it was all 'hailed' by Blue Devils fans, regardless of 'background' or school-affinity in the Homeland, as a 'toast' for what makes school-team play in the TV/media age a 'thing' of crafted/crafty world-lines (for all).

I remember that day cheering for the Duke team, marshaled by the focused Hurley-man of fan-cheers, who'd strode into that round of the March Madness champions-tourney, and 'stunned' when the future-celeb of Cal (Jason Kidd) rocked everyone's expectation(s) and overthrew the 'dynasty' of Duke which, otherwise (arguably!) just would've marched straight into a 3rd-consecutive men's basketball highness (for all). In fact, watching this 'shocking' wave-turn of sportsmanship/competition 'class' hue was like seeing an 'upstart' feel like a Goliath while seeing my own 'fave' media-friendly school-team (Duke!) endure what was to become a rather 'anticlimactic' form for televised college-athletics headiness (for all).

So why 'lambaste' about the heartbreak endured by Duke, an icon of the media-age which would go on (nevertheless) to obtain 5 national titles, countless ACC (conference) wins/titles, and regular-season #1 rankings, in this age of network-commentary regarding capitalism-race symbolic competition 'class' activity (accessible to all now)? Perhaps this age of 'toys' for communications reminds us that all the 'turns' and handshakes of sportsmanship/competition would offer us special 'views' on the simple magic of 'studied' and 'reviewed' social activity inspiring for youngsters exposed to the 'stimuli' of modern civilization's various 'net-symbolism' gizmo-toys and robots (for storytellers!).

We endured the LA Race Riots of 1992 and the horrors prior of the 20th-Century tied to 'pluralism' dialogue such as the Munich Games '72 massacre/terrorism and then 9/11 in the new age, when terrorists invaded the Homeland and destroyed the traffic-symbolic World Trade Center. Perhaps that 'shocking' Duke-Cal 'media-memento' would remind us why superstition has become a storyteller's quill for inventive Earth-traffic management/optimism high-marks (ha).

WIFE: Why this cyber-tale about Duke-Cal, honey?
ME: Well, this chess-cake you've made inspired in me a 'cool' image of sportsmanship-hospitality.

WIFE: Spoken like an 'American' writer (excellence).

ME: I need a 'cool' superstition-angle, me thinks (though).

I'll never forget that 1993 Duke team with its 'smaller-star' roster which nevertheless offered that 'cool' college-athletics (basketball!) season on TV a rather excellent form of entertainment/hospitality and storytelling, but I wonder (today) if that Duke-Cal 'shocker' of the March Madness 'event' would remind all sports-writers of the modern Homeland value of 'shared' expressions of all that's become simply an 'American' examination for socialized forms of 'true' readership (for all).