Last week I wrote a post titled, “Nerd Heaven – Krzyzewskiville.” The post was a big hit with our readers and I had fun learning about Krzyzewskiville and the history behind the Cameron Crazies. To be clear, the facts in the post were accurate. There really is a cluster of exactly 100 tents.

The tradition really did start in 1986, when Kimberly Reed, and her friends, decided to camp out in line at Cameron Indoor Stadium days before the UNC game to get tickets. Krzyzewskiville truly is a formalized entity that is regulated by Duke Student Government, with the Head Line Monitor overseeing the activities.

In summary, the facts in the post were true, with exception of my personal, second hand assertion that all Cameron Crazies who camp out in Krzyzewskiville are nerds. Writing about nerds is funny, plain and simple. It’s just a funny word, and like farts, no matter how old you get, the word alone elicits laughter.

It’s also no secret that Duke is synonymous with Nerds, just like Notre Dame is synonymous with Ugly Coeds and ASU is synonymous with fake tits and STD’s.

Anyway, one of the readers took offense and left a comment criticizing the post. It turns out that concerned reader was none other than Kimberly Reed, Duke Class of 1986, and the original founder of Krzyzewskiville.

That’s right, the Queen of Krzyzewskiville! I don’t personally know Kim Reed, and I obviously didn’t know her in college (I was only 5 when she founded K-Ville). I made a blanket assumption that Kim and her friends were a bunch of nerds with nothing better to do than camp out and wait for basketball tickets. Like I said, the word nerd is hilarious.

Well, I’m the first to admit that any proud alum who would spend the time, 24 years later, to set the record straight, is pretty awesome. Today, Kim is a successful attorney in New York and some of the other K-Ville founders have also gone on to successful careers, including several in our military (and here at the Bore, we admire and respect our military heroes).

So, to be fair to Kim, and the other founders of Krzyzewskiville, I would like to publicly give them props for starting the Krzyzewskiville tradition. Anybody who is that passionate about their team deserves props.

Whether you’re a Duke Blue Devils fan or not, you have to recognize real school love when you see it. Kim was obviously a huge fan back when she was studying history and english at Duke 24 years ago, but she’s an even bigger fan now.

When you grow up, you move, you get a real job, and life starts flying by, so it’s easy to forget your college days. For those out there who still bleed their school colors, you’re the reason college sports are so great. We all keep getting older, but college stays the same age.

Thanks for opening my eyes Kim… keep rockin that dark blue and white!

Some additional resources on Krzyzewskiville:

Krzyzwewskiville at Wikipedia

A Day in the Life of K-Ville – ESPN

Battle for Tobacco Road – HBO

Duke Blue Planet – Krzyzwewskiville Special

Duke Blue Planet – Interview with Kim Reed

The students who attend Duke University basketball games are commonly referred to as the Cameron Crazies. Their zany outfits and outrageous chants mesmerize television viewers and intimidate visiting teams. These students camp out for months before home basketball games, just to get standing-room-only tickets. They love their Dukies and have created a trend that’s spread like wildfire through college campuses around the country. Students at schools like Texas, Michigan and Oregon have copied the intensity and choreography of the Cameron Crazies. Jumping up and down, jeering opposing players and painting school colors on your chest have become commonplace. So, I asked myself, who are the Cameron Crazies? How did this all start? What’s behind all that passion for Duke basketball?

Well, in reality, the Cameron Crazies are nothing more than a bunch of nerds taking a break from studying. Behind the blue face-paint and deafening cheers you’ll find a bunch of virgins drinking Red Bull sans vodka. These nerds get more excited about new chants than actually being at a nationally televised basketball game. Most of these nerds haven’t played organized basketball since grade school. While you and I were playing high school sports and drinking Natural Light with girls, these kids were putting in extra work on their senior thesis project. While you were watching Duke vs. UNC games, they were studying for AP classes.

Enter, Krzyzewskiville…

Roman Catholics have the Vatican, Muslims have Mecca and Duke-nerds have Krzyzewskiville. “K-Ville,” as the nerds call it, refers to a cluster of exactly 100 tents where Cameron Crazies congregate and bunk together. The tradition started in 1986 when Kimberly Reed, and her nerdy girlfriends, decided to camp out in line at Cameron Indoor Stadium days before the UNC game just to get tickets. Ms Reed set the bar 24 years ago and that single act forced students to get in line earlier and earlier until eventually it turned into it’s own temporary community.

Today, Krzyzewskiville is a formalized entity all its own. K-Ville has strict rules and is regulated by Duke Student Government. Only a bunch of nerds would create this much bureaucracy just for tickets to a home game (click here to read about K-Ville’s rules). The Duke Student Government rules Krzyzewskiville with an iron-fist. If you don’t pass a tent check or violate one of the other many rules, the “Head Line Monitor” can put you in the back of the line or even kick you out of K-Ville all together. Here’s a YouTube tour of K-Ville showing nerds just being nerds (including the nerdy Duke players).

Krzyzewskiville doesn’t sound like fun at all to me, it sounds like the opposite of fun. No showers, no kegs, no television, no attractive women? A bunch of smelly nerds talking about macroeconomics under flashlights in a Coleman tent sounds like hell. I can’t think of a group of fans in college sports who are bigger nerds than the Cameron Crazies. I can’t even think of a group of fans who are even in the same league. If I were a player visiting Cameron Indoor I wouldn’t be intimidated, I would just be thankful I didn’t choose Duke. I hate nerds, therefore I hate Duke Basketball. Go Tar Heels!

If this video doesn’t make you laugh you have no sense of humor and should walk into on-coming traffic. I still can’t believe it’s real! Either Coach K got really bored during the game, or yelled himself into a deep sleep. And what the fuck are those shoes all about? Someone get that man a pair of Johnston & Murphy’s ASAP.

Coach K…