Five Duke fans launch a movement to 'Save Kyrie's Toe'
The most talked about toe injury in college basketball has spawned a hilarious video poking fun at Duke fans anxiously awaiting any shred of news on Kyrie Irving's status for the rest of the season.
Five former Duke students created the YouTube video to promote a multi-platform effort to "Save Kyrie's Toe." The minute-long clip parodies commercials charities often create to solicit donations from viewers, with each of the five participants urging fellow Duke fans to visit Savekyriestoe.com and offer Irving their support.
"We need your help," one of the students says. "One more person, voice, Tweet will mean the difference between 40-0 and a national championship ... and 39-1 and a national championship."
All five participants in the video are wearing blue shirts featuring puns on the word "toe" such as "Mistle(toe)," "Tictac(toe)" and "Toma(toe)s." In addition to the website and the promotional video, the Save Kyrie's Toe movement also includes Facebook and Twitter accounts.
The launch of the Save Kyrie's Toe movement comes in the wake of an undisclosed right-toe injury suffered by Irving in the second half of Duke's victory over Butler earlier this month. Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski has said that the freshman point guard will be out "a long time" and "could be" sidelined the rest of the season.
Irving had been averaging 17.4 points per game and shooting 53 percent from the floor prior to the injury. Duke is a clear national-title favorite with Irving in its lineup, but the Blue Devils fall back to the pack without his leadership, quickness and ability to create off the dribble.
It remains to be seen whether the Save Kyrie's Toe movement will be more successful than Kentucky's "Free Enes" campaign earlier this year, but it has at least managed to bring a smile to Irving's face.
Tweeted Irving on Friday, "lol i swear this video just cheered me up."
