Hail, Hail, The Duke Is Dead, Long Live The Duke

We don't mean to imply that Virginia Commonwealth — the school where the band G.W.A.R. was founded, by the way — is extremely popular this morning, but The Truth About Duke Web site has VCU's logo as its background and we received six emails overnight simply with the phrase "GO RAMS!" in the subject line.

Yes, the mighty Duke has fallen, and just because Duke wasn't all that mighty this year doesn't mean the sports planet isn't relishing the Blue Devils' loss. It was the first first-round loss for Duke in a decade, and it's one that brightened up an otherwise somewhat dreary day of the NCAA tournament.

It seems inevitable, in retrospect, that Duke was going to lose last night. They've looked wobbly all year, and VCU had that look from the beginning last night. And they bloodied half the Blue Devils on the way there? For most fans, the icing on the cake, just sublime happenstance.

The Chain's Strongest Link [SI.com] Duke Loses, And America Cheers [NY Times] (subscription)