Redick, Loaiza Display Traditional Duke Character

The Duke University Board of Trustees has announced it will award an Honorary Degree of Humane Letters to Oakland Athletics pitcher Esteban Loaiza for "displaying the kind of class and character that has come to be synonymous with Duke athletics."

ESPN Commentator Dick Vitale praised Loaiza: "we know that J.J. Redick is a class kid, an excellent kid, and an all around role model, but who knew that a guy [Loaiza] who never even went to Duke could be such a classy athlete? Give him the honorary degree baby! He's earned it!"

Vitale's praise was echoed by Duke men's basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski: "I am so proud of J.J. and Esteban, not only for exemplifying the kind of class the media has come to associate with Duke, but for paying for the 16 highballs, 7 car bombs, 4 Jack-and-Cokes, and 7 citations accounted for between the two of them with their American Express cards. I only hope that Esteban's association with Duke will not cause him to become a professional bust, another proud Duke tradition. We're all looking forward to J.J. joining Jay Williams in the Greater Durham Area Boys and Girls Club Summer League sometime in the next few years."

This news comes on the heels of a press release from ESPN that has significant ramifications for Duke athletics. ESPN has announced that it will permanently switch the programming of ESPNews to 24 hour coverage of Duke men's basketball. The channel will now be called "DevilTV." ESPN further abandoned any pretenses at unbiased coverage when it announced ESPN Classic would be renamed "PatCast," with 24/365 New England Patriots coverage. ESPN 2 will also be reprogrammed: "ESPNSOX" will feature 24 hour-a-day coverage of the Boston Red Sox. The flagship ESPN channel will also refrain from discussing teams other than Duke, the Boston Red Sox, and the New England Patriots in the future.