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Why I Hate Christian Laettner

Decent Essays

In the ESPN’s 30 for 30 documentary, I Hate Christian Laettner, the director explores why the talented, tall, amazing Duke player is arguably the most hated college basketball player to ever play. The documentary explores the 5 points of Laettner hate: privilege, white, bully, greatness, and looks. The 5 points help shape how people perceive Christian Laettner in the past and in the present. I believe that Laettner did have a certain privilege that many people disliked. I think that it is interesting that Laettner came from a lower, middle-class, blue collar family, but when people think of Duke student, as opposed to a UNC or NC State student, people associate Duke with “Ivy-League” interpretations and richer families. Laettner somewhat resembles …show more content…

I believe that Laettner had the privilege to be a talented white male that could play for Duke University, a great school with a great football program. However, I think Laettner definitely had a willingness and desire to show that he wasn’t some ordinary white student that can play basketball. He was willing to sink buckets, throw elbows, have explosiveness, etc., while he played basketball for Duke, and because he was so good at performing, he portrayed himself as more than your average player; because of that, I think people interpreted this portrayal as Laettner being entitled, which also translated into cockiness, rude, and hated. Because of this privilege, I think people portrayed all of the Duke players and students as people that didn’t understand how privileged they were …show more content…

Laettner knew he was handsome, and he lived the ultimate male college student’s fantasy by being very popular with the ladies on campus. He had this high social status just from his looks and his abilities on the court that many Duke players and students loved him. He was basically perceived as an icon at Duke. Meanwhile, people who hated him may have also thought about how attractive he is, but instead of loving him, they have resented him because he was “perfect”. I also think that it was funny that people tried calling him gay to throw him off, but that fueled him to shut up the haters by his performance. He would make crowds go silent because he would just perform so well. I think it is funny that his high social status influenced that rumor, but it was obvious that the perception didn’t match that

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