“If you are not a Dukie or you don’t love Duke or Christian Laettner,” says former Duke C Christian Laettner, “then I can understand the hating on me.” So when “30 For 30” documentarian Rory Kapf approached the man considered by many to be the biggest asshole in the history of team sports most despised college hoops player in modern times about cooperating with the upcoming, “I Still Hate Laettner”, the film’s subject was surprisingly receptive. From SI.com’s Richard Deitsch :
“This is something people don’t realize about me but I can laugh, and laugh at myself,” Laettner said in an interview with Sports Illustrated on Friday. “The very first time I saw an “I STILL HATE LAETTNER” t-shirt was six or seven years ago and I thought it was so funny that Kentucky fans were selling the shirts on stores around campus. So I pointed the shirt out to Rory and maybe he got the feeling then that, hey, Christian can laugh at himself, so that’s a storyline we can use in the film.
“When Rory told me they had decided to use that title, my first reaction was a little bit of a giggle because it was funny to me. Deep down in my heart I knew there was a chance it might be something along those lines. Then my second thought was I thought of my wife, my children [he has three], my parents, my siblings and everyone who loves me. I thought how maybe it could affect them the wrong way and I am sensitive to that. It brought a little sadness to my heart because I don’t want it to affect them negatively but overall I think they will understand it once they see the film.”
Laettner said he saw the 2013 Grantland poll where he was named the most hated college basketball in the last 30 years and called it, in part, a badge of honor.