Like many Kentucky fans, my evening entertainment was watching the 30 For 30 ESPN documentary I Hate Christian Laettner. I expected that Laettner would not be vilified, since he was actively promoting the documentary in media appearances for weeks. I didn’t expect that one of the loudest voices in the Hate Laettner camp would not be heard: Kentucky fans.
Rory Karpf’s film featured a few experts in Laettner hate. Most were professors and experts in public opinion management. To provide the hating fan perspective, Karpf interviewed Peter Rosenberg (of This is Why Duke Sucks YouTube video fame) and Andy Bagwell (author of a book titled Duke Sucks). Both Bagwell and Rosenberg appear to be fans of ACC teams who battle Duke on a regular basis and were on ground zero in developing hatred towards Laettner.
Therefore it is strange that Karpf didn’t bring in an additional expert from Kentucky’s camp. It was Kentucky fans who popularized the “I Still Hate Laettner” t-shirts that popped up in 2011. Kentucky fans hired Laettner to coach a Villains team at Rupp Arena. While ESPN did release a video interviewing Kentucky fans at Rupp Arena on their thoughts about Laettner, clips of this video weren’t included in the 30 For 30 documentary.
The documentary spent considerable time explaining the attributes of Christian Laettner that contributed to natural hatred — his good looks, his attitude on the court and bully mindset, his direct opposition to popular basketball teams such as UNLV and Michigan, and his incredible success on the court. This breakdown does a good job explaining the nationwide hatred of Laettner.
For Kentucky fans, there is something more than these five attributes. Laettner is hated so deeply by Big Blue Nation because Laettner stopped a magical resurgence of Kentucky basketball. Hardly ever the underdog in our team’s storied history, Rick Pitino had pushed the Unforgettables to incredible heights and we Kentucky fans were swept up wholly. Laettner’s shot ended the dream and broke the hearts of hundreds of thousands; Laettner’s stomp cemented his place as an unworthy monster to dispel that dream.
I Hate Christian Laettner also left many questions quickly brushed over or unanswered. Highlights of Laettner’s career in the NBA were quickly addressed, with a stock acknowledgement of Laettner’s poor decision making about his marijuana violations from 2004. Duke Coach Mike Krzyzewski mentions many “burned bridges” Laettner has left in his life, yet the documentary makes no attempt to flesh any of those out. Christian’s brother Chris Laettner is tagged as the source of Christian’s aggressive nature. Karpf doesn’t dive too deeply in the relationship between Chris and Christian, letting some light hand-wringing from Laettner family members play over a home video featuring the brothers. In the few clips of Chris’ interview, it is clear more time should be spent on the relationship between him and his much more successful younger brother Christian.
The documentary serves its primary purpose of reliving the rise of Duke basketball and Christian Laettner as national villains. While he was not apologetic for his past — except to Aminu Timberlake — the now 45-year-old Laettner shared personal stories and expressed maturity about his status as a publicly hated person. But by not covering the Kentucky fan angle fully, I Hate Christian Laettner falls short of a championship-caliber documentary but succeeds as an entertaining, light-handed assessment of Laettner and the hate that never stops surrounding him.
