ESPN 30 for 30 hit another home run with the “I Hate Christian Laettner” installment of their excellent series. No matter how much you already knew about the former Duke star, you probably learned something new by watching the program. One thing that was new to me was footage from a high school brawl he was involved in.
In the documentary, the filmmakers assert that one of the reasons people hate Laettner is because he was a bully and irritant on the court. As an example of that, they showed video from one of his Nichols School high school games against South Park.
Laettner apparently was dominating South Park on the court and blocking a bunch of their shots. After one play, he recorded a defensive rebound and swung an elbow, knocking down one of his opponents. That led to a pretty nasty brawl breaking out with some people seriously being beat up (they player on the ground is not Laettner). Laettner was told to leave the court with a police escort, and his team won the game 68-49.
Oh, and on his way out, Laettner proudly raised his arm.
