It's no secret that the Duke men's basketball team is one of the more loathed outfits in sports. If you're one of those who already sees red when it comes to the Dukies then reports about the actions of the team's fans isn't likely to soften your stance. If you'd previously been agnostic on the Blue Devils then this could change your mind.
As N.C. State freshman Tyler Lewis stepped up to the free throw line in Durham during the second half on Thursday, some of the Cameron Crazies reporteldy chanted "How's your grandma?"
Lewis' grandmother passed away last Friday.
While the audio from video of the incident doesn't offer conclusive proof, Lewis' father, Rick, told the News-Observer that he did hear some fans chanting about the family's recent loss. As noted by Alex Kennedy of Hoopsworld, Duke fans claimed that the chant was "Past your bedtime," an apparent reference to the freshman's youthful looks.
"It was mostly 'Past your bedtime,' but there was an instant when a brief number of students chanted about Tyler's grandmother," Rick Lewis told the News-Observer on Friday. "It wasn't the entire student section, I think a few tried to outdo themselves."
Nolan Evans, deputy sports editor for N.C. State's student newspaper Technician, was also at the game and tweeted that only "a few" students chanted about Lewis' grandma.
Evans also posted a screen shot of a tweet from Lewis' teammate Richard Howell, who seemed less forgiving of the "few knuckleheads." In the tweet Evans grabbed, Howell called Duke fans "cowards."
Former N.C. State star Julius Hodge also tweeted about the incident, expressing his belief that Duke fans get a pass from the media.
Tom Gieryn of the Duke Chronicle published an article on Friday titled "Crazies get creative, but not personal, against N.C. State", responding to the accusations and calling out HoopsWorld's Alex Kennedy for tweeting about it even though he wasn't at the game. Gieryn refuted the reports that Duke fans chanted "How's your grandma?" -- claiming that they were chanting "Past your bedtime" -- and pointed out the other chants they screamed during the game.
Despite Gieryn's protestation that no such chant occurred, the consensus seems to be that a small group of fans did indeed taunt Lewis about the death of his grandmother. If so, should the unfortunate actions of a few fans be used to make all the Crazies look bad? What do you think? What do you hear in the video above?
For his part, Lewis' father just wanted to "move on" when asked about the chant on Friday.
"It's time to move one [sic], in my opinion," Lewis told the Observer. "No need to make it more than a few immature comments by a few select fans."