It Is Also Duke Club Week

Everyone knows that it’s College Gameday week at JMU. (And if you don’t, we hope you’re doing well since awaking from your coma.) With all of the excitement however, you might not be aware that it is also Duke Club Week. In what can only be described as fortuitous timing, these things just happened to line up together. That’s both good and bad. It’s good because there is a ridiculous amount of excitement surrounding the JMU athletic department this week. It’s also a little bit unfortunate because the College Gameday hype might cause some folks to overlook Duke Club Week.

Trust us when we tell you, the Duke Club should not be overlooked. In case you need a refresher, or you simply never thought about it, the Duke Club is dedicated to fundraising for athletic scholarships. That’s the mission. They don’t pay for uniforms, or the great facilities we all watch games in, or fund coaches’ salaries. They raise money to cover the scholarships for all the great JMU athletes who provide us so much joy. It’s a win win in the truest sense. Talented student athletes get the opportunity to play the sports they love and attend a great university, and fans like us have great teams to root for.

The point of Duke Club Week isn’t to raise millions or increase the number of donors. It’s simply to shine a light on the Duke Club and all the great work it does. Let us be the first to say it, they do some great work. And every Dukes fan should thank them for it.

We’ve been fortunate to get to know many members of the Duke Club staff over the years. They’ve been beyond supportive of this little blog and all that we’ve done. And Todd and I truly, truly appreciate it. We love JMU and we love the Dukes, but we realize our emotions have gotten the best of us at times and we’ve veered off the reservation. What’s so great about our friends at the Duke Club is that they absolutely get that. They know that loving a team sometimes means things get a little weird in the heat of the moment. I’m sure they’ve rolled their eyes or even cringed at some of the things we’ve said. But they’ve never tried to calm us down or influence the content we produced. They’ve gone the other way and encouraged us to embrace our passion and engage with others who share it. And that’s pretty much everything you could want in an athletic fundraising team.

So by all means, let yourselves get swept up in the College Gameday hype. We certainly have. But take a brief moment this week to consider all that the Duke Club did to help put JMU in this position. If you’re already a Duke Club member, like we assume most of you are, Todd and I thank you. And if you’re not, maybe consider joining the club and making a donation. It doesn’t need to thousands of dollars. Every little bit helps. (And if you want to say JMUSB referred you, we won’t argue.) But really, Todd and I would just like to say thanks to the Duke Club for all they’ve done to help the JMU student athletes who’ve given us so many good memories over the years. If there was no Duke Club, they’re be no rootin.