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story about Gdogg6 in todays Eagle
Posted on Thu, Dec. 15, 2005
HEAD GAMESThunder fans do their part to ice foes with witty barbsBY KOLLEN LONGThe Wichita EagleWith every ounce of fake sincerity he could muster, Thunder fan Grant Norris held up a small piece of fabric and hollered down to the Oklahoma City Blazers bench, where his primary target was sitting.
"Hey, this fell off the back of your uniform," Norris informed a player. "Don't you want it back?"
Standing only a few feet away from the glass that separates the opposing team from the Kansas Coliseum crowd, Norris was directing his comment to an Oklahoma City forward.
The piece of fabric, proudly displayed by a grinning Norris, had two letters placed neatly on it. The two letters, put at the end of the Blazer's last name, formed a derogatory name.
The joke certainly wasn't lost on nearby fans, who began to laugh and, according to Norris, even the player was at least slightly amused.
"He usually talks back," Norris said, "but when he saw the patch he just sort of chuckled."
His work done, at least for the moment, Norris returned to his seat, the grin now a full-fledged smile. Ah, satisfaction.
"If you can get any kind of reaction, that's what makes it fun," Norris said.
There are a few things that you can count on at nearly every Thunder home game.
Star forwards Travis Clayton and Jason Duda will do something spectacular, fans will knock themselves silly trying to catch a Frisbee from Thunder Dog, and Norris and his merry band of heckling buddies will apply a verbal beating to the opposing team.
"Everybody knows what goes on behind the bench in Wichita," Bossier-Shreveport coach Scott Muscutt said. "They go out there and try to get you off your game, and they work very hard it.
"Does it ever get on your nerves? Sure it does. They're constantly at you and at the players. But if that's what it takes to keep 'em coming to games, so be it. We want fans. And they definitely bring some character to the CHL."
Norris, a former baseball coach at Wichita Southeast who is now in medical sales, is quick to point out that the heckling is a group effort. He gives friend Chad Byers credit for tossing out his share of funny comments, but Norris, a season ticket holder for 11 years, is definitely the star of the show.
He sits strategically in Section 123, 14H an aisle seat, of course, so that, when the heckling muse strikes, he can easily take a few steps down toward bench and be within earshot of the opposing team.
Standing with his hands in his pockets, Norris tosses out insult after insult. He's got one for seemingly every occasion evidenced by a recent game against Oklahoma City.
For example, Blazers forward Marty Standish (5-foot-8) is one of the smaller players in the league.
"Roller coasters are really fun, dude, I promise."
The Blazers' Chris Affinati was listed at 5-8, too, but he looked even shorter than Standish, a fact not lost on Norris.
"Hey, Marty, we finally found your Mini-Me."
Tough guy Tyler Fleck, who was at minus-5, a poor rating for a defenseman, took a drink on the bench.
"Hey, Tyler, that water's for the players!"
Doug Sauter, coach of the rival Blazers, is the recipient of many barbs for a couple reasons: He's been very successful and, more importantly, he sports an extremely large handle bar mustache.
"Come on, Sauter, get your mustache off the ice."
"Hey, Sauter, do you use two blow dryers one for your hair, one for your mustache?"
The night of the Oklahoma City game, Norris managed to toss out a good line before the game even started. The man who performed the national anthem goofed up and forgot the words at one point, drawing some groans from the crowd.
When the anthem was over, Norris shouted toward the Blazers bench, "You guys must have brought the singer tonight!"
Pity the player who doesn't see much action during a game. Norris will wait patiently until the end of the period, when teams skate to the dressing room, and then fire away.
"Enjoy the ice time, buddy. It's all you're gonna get."
Norris takes pride in the fact that he does his homework before games, even making elaborate props.
For example, a couple years ago, word had it that Standish, the Oklahoma City player, was dating a model. Norris secured a picture of her in a bathing suit and carefully drew on red hickeys that didn't go any higher than her knees.
Thunder assistant general manager Joel Lomurno has been observing the hecklers for years.
"It's almost gotten to the point where some people come to the game to watch them as much as the game," Lomurno said. "I don't think they ever go too far. They don't throw beer; they don't bang on the glass. They just say things to get under the other team's skin. It's a big part of our home-ice advantage."
Indeed, Norris stressed that his group strives to deliver comments that, while effective, are in good taste. Byers added that they aim for humorous heckles not "degrading comments that are going to offend someone."
"When you make the other team really mad, and you've done it without cussing, that's a good heckle," said Norris, a 31-year-old father of two.
After a recent game, Tulsa forward Henry Kuster said the hecklers generally keep it clean.
"Sometimes they go too far, like when there are a lot of fights and there's a lot of energy on both benches and they start in on you," Kuster said after Tulsa beat the Thunder last week. "Really, I don't think they're very good at heckling anyway. Tell them they're good luck, though."
Kuster, of course, was simply trying to throw a jab back heckle the hecklers, if you will. There's no doubt that Norris and company are very good at what they do.
"Sometimes it goes beyond cheering their own team, but they're actually pretty funny most of the time," Shreveport's Muscutt said.
Said Tulsa coach Butch Kaebel: "I love those guys. It's always fun to see what they've come up with."
One of the hecklers' favorite anecdotes involves the Colorado Eagles, a team filled with talent and hard-nosed attitudes. After listening to comment after comment in a regular-season game last year, Colorado trainer Chris Porowski had finally had enough, so he turned around and squirted Norris with a water bottle.
That resulted in Porowski's ejection, and perhaps some comeuppance for Norris.
"He just unloaded on me, and I stood there and took it," Norris said. "I didn't want to go running back to my seat."
When Colorado returned for the playoffs, Norris and his friends were ready, wearing rain suits and umbrella hats -- a move that cracked up the Eagles.
But the tit-for-tat didn't end there.
The Eagles, who went on to win the CHL championship, visited Wichita for the first time this season on Oct. 28, and Porowski handed Norris a long, white tube.
"This a pipe bomb?" Norris asked.
Inside the tube was a Colorado Eagles championship poster autographed by the players. Forward Ryan Tobler even wrote a little note.
Thanks for all the pep talks
P.S. Nice raincoat
"It was a classy move, and they got the last laugh," Norris said, grinning again. "But I told them I'd be sure to give them a Thunder championship poster next year."
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