Friday, September 19, 2008
The Kansas basketball team went to Canada earlier this month for three exhibition games expecting to come together as a team and get a head start on practice for the upcoming season. The Jayhawks didn’t know they were also going to receive a lesson in world-class heckling.
An obnoxious crowd at a Canadian college basketball game seems as hard to imagine as a martini stand at a NASCAR race. Kansas coach Bill Self and his players found out otherwise, however, in an 84-83 victory against Carleton in Ottawa at Scotiabank Place.
It started innocently enough. Carleton opened the game with a 14-4 run and the referees whistled a couple of fouls on the Jayhawks that Self didn’t agree with.
Like basketball coaches often do, Self expressed his displeasure to the officials. One Carleton fan didn’t appreciate it. As the arena went silent, the fan yelled at Self.
“Sit down, coach,” the manly voice roared, “I said, ‘Sit down!’”
A half-full Scotiabank Place isn’t exactly Allen Fieldhouse during basketball games. It was quiet. Everyone in the gym could hear the overpowering voice.
Heads turned. Fans scanned the arena. Coaches looked up from the bench. Everyone wanted to find out where the command came from.
It didn’t take much longer for them to spot the culprit. He continued to yell at Self and the officials until his whereabouts became obvious.
The middle-aged, grey-haired man — who closely resembled actor Brad Leland, who played a football-crazed booster in both the movie and TV show version of “Friday Night Lights” — sat courtside, right in the middle. The Leland look-a-like was close enough to reach out and grab a player if he pleased. But he just opted to scream in referee’s ears instead.
When Self finally figured out where the heckler was sitting, he got involved. Self yelled back. He looked at the man and said something about how he was unaware the man was part of the officiating crew. Self then turned back to his bench and laughed. He said it was all in good fun.
“I love it. I love it,” Self said. “That doesn’t bother me at all. I wanted to create an environment honestly where guys felt like there was some pressure to perform.”
It worked. Led by freshman guard Travis Releford’s 25 points, Kansas won an 84-83 battle when a Carleton shot rimmed out at the buzzer.
Self and the heckler shared a few more exchanges before the final Carleton heave.
“I thought it was great,” Self said.
The man wasn’t able to say much as the game wound down in the final minutes, but not by choice. Scotiabank Place security guards went over to his seat and warned him twice to calm down.
The final time came after he caught an erroneous outlet pass from sophomore center Cole Aldrich late in the second half. The man caught the ball, pointed at Aldrich and thanked him for the pass. He then held the ball up with one hand and did some kind of embarrassing jig.
The catch is that the man wasn’t just a huge Carleton Ravens fan. Carleton athletic department officials confirmed he was the father of Aaron Doornekamp, a Raven forward considered to be the best player in Canada. Doornekamp scored 22 points, grabbed seven rebounds and shot 4-for-6 from three-point range against the Jayhawks.
Doornekamp almost led his team to an upset over the defending NCAA champions. His dad — who Carleton officials said has season courtside tickets and is always obnoxious at the games — had a reason to be into it. Self didn’t mind that it was the star player’s father yelling at him.
“That’s OK too,” Self said. “That doesn’t bother me. If anything, it gets our guys fired up.”
— — Edited by Brieun Scott
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