As I sat watching another Duke-UNC battle Wednesday night, I realized something: Man, I hate Duke.

Let me rephrase: I hate Duke basketball. Duke itself is a fine institution. I am friends with many Duke alumni. But there is something about the “Cameron Crazies” that just rubs me the wrong way.

The thing I hate about Duke basketball is the fans’ elitist attitude. It bothers me when those fans act like they are better than we are, especially when they clearly aren’t.

This university has received a bit of a bad reputation for its behavior — deservedly so in some cases. But no school is free from indiscretions. The thing about Duke fans is they ignore some of the less-than-classy behavior that goes on at their own institution while criticizing others.

Take Wednesday night. It is Duke tradition to head to a bonfire celebration after a win. Sound familiar? The bonfire is sanctioned and students can add up to three benches to the fire.

Firemen came to put out the blaze and had beer cans thrown at them. Students were drunk and reveling. The firemen sprayed water on the fire and turned it on the crowd.

The high and mighty Dukies seem to forget their past. In the 1998 July-August edition of Duke University Alumni Magazine, some dangerous behavior is recounted: “In 1991 and 1992, when such celebrations degenerated into unruly and dangerous situations, dozens of injuries resulted from drunken assaults; students trying to run through, or being pushed into, the fire; and bottles being thrown into the crowds.”

The university rightfully tried to squelch the tradition. Years later, it tried to keep the tradition under more controlled circumstances. “But the students remained defiant,” the article stated. “They proceeded to burn benches and build fires in hard-to-access quad spaces, scuffle with campus police who tried to instill order, and chant obscenities directed at President Nannerl O. Keohane.”

Could you imagine Terp fans chanting “F— you, Mote”? With a history like this, Dukies have little room to criticize any school on “classiness.” Yet they do. Seems it’s because of an overwhelming desire to purport classiness when none exists. They emit a Harvard-like New England elitism. There is only one problem: They go to school in Durham, N.C.

We are a Metro ride away from the White House and the Capital. They are a pick-up truck ride away from tobacco farms and Confederate flags. Now if anyone is in a situation to look down his or her nose at the other, who might that be? When it comes down to it, Duke students pay $40,000 a year for an education they could have gotten at scores of other institutions for half the price. It costs more because Duke is a brand name.

On the cheer sheets distributed before our last game at Duke, the sheets instructed students not to cheer about D.J. Strawberry because the students are “classier than that.” I’m confused; does that mean the other times they yell about someone’s personal problems it is classy? Also on the cheer sheet: “To draw distinctions between us and Maryland, we can chant ‘We don’t riot’ or ‘We don’t throw stuff.’” (See the previous paragraphs for the irony of this cheer.)

Then there are the utterly lame suggestions, such as mocking coach Gary William’s Midnight Madness entrance by chanting “Where’s your race car?” Or the one from the Virginia game that lamely suggested whenever Duke made a good play to chant, “You got served, you got served!” That sounds like something I would have yelled at my sister’s youth basketball games when I was 10.

I realize “F— you, J.J.” isn’t exactly classy, but it also isn’t an orchestrated personal attack. I’ve never heard Terp cheers referring to the sexual assault allegations against Shelden Williams. I’ve never heard a Terp cheer about Shavlik Randolph’s mom cutting his steak for him while in high school or making fun of Coach K for saying DeMarcus Nelson’s eyes look “almost angelic.” But just because I haven’t heard this stuff doesn’t mean I don’t want to.

I agree with Williams’ letter to the editor in The Diamondback yesterday. Be creative. Be energetic. Be loud. Be classy. Lord knows Duke isn’t.

Adam O’Neill is a 2003 university graduate. He can be reached at AdamCONeill@aol.com