Goosing the bad guys

By DAVID DeMILLE
UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

Anyone who has attended an SUU basketball game this season — men’s or women’s — probably spotted an unusual sight while the opposing team was shooting free throws in the second half; a group of fans wildly waving cardboard cutouts of celebrities, eerily shaking the head of a large contraption that can only be described as a goose puppet, and shouting disturbing taunts like “Hey, look at this goose!”
Jeff Obering and Dennis Gregz of Cedar City, Randy and Troy Miller of Enoch and Jack Hatfield of Lawrence, Kan., sit along the baseline, visible from the free-throw line, and devise a number of ways to distract opponents trying to hit big shots from the stripe in the second half.
The life-size cutouts include President George W. Bush and his mother, Barbara, former President Bill Clinton and Austin Powers.
The goose, which from a distance appears to be a real goose, is downright creepy.
Unusual? Yes. A little stupid? Probably. Without a purpose? Absolutely not.
Traveling to Oral Roberts this weekend, the SUU basketball teams were without more than the usual homecourt advantage. They missed a collection of veritable super fans that have become staples at the Centrum.
Perhaps more importantly, these super fans can actually be considered a help to the team during the game.
The free-throw percentage for SUU’s opponents is significantly lower in the second half. In 11 home games this season, the SUU men have seen opponents shoot 75 percent from the line in the first half, only to drop to 56 percent in the second.
The women have seen a similar trend, with opponents shooting 77 percent before halftime and 70 percent after.
It can’t be proven that these numbers are statistical proof that the super fans help SUU win basketball games, but anyone who has tried to shoot a free throw with a group of strange and unorthodox distractions in front of them could attest to the difference it makes.
Randy Miller brings his son Troy to the games and says he enjoys spending his his time heckling opponents, waving presidential cutouts and providing a little extra help for the Thunderbirds.
There is no ulterior motive for these guys — it’s just fun.
“We’re here to have a good time,” Miller said. “It’s good entertainment and it’s affordable.”
The group has been coming to SUU games for a while now, and when shown the actual second-half free-throw statistics, they were excited, although not too surprised.
With all of the time and effort that has been involved, and the severity of the discomfiture that their efforts create in confused opponents, it seems impossible that they wouldn’t make a difference.
“We’ve been up to this for about three years,” Obering said. “It’s
great to know we’re making difference. We knew we were probably doing something but we had no idea it had been this effective.”
The tools of the trade are what makes these SUU basketball aficionados identifiable from a distance, and the props serve as an important part of the distraction game.
Suffice it to say that these guys would be experts at the “psych-out” portion of Matt Stone and Trey Parker’s sporting

 

Fans help T-Birds’ opponents put up goose eggs on foul shots
Dennis Gregz of Cedar City delights a young SUU fan with his puppet, normally used to distract opposing free throw shooters.
KEN HANSEN / UNIVERSITY JOURNAL

invention baseketball.
Perhaps the most bizarre effort of the super fans is the eccentric goose that seems permanently fused to Gregz’s arm.By pulling a trigger underneath the goose, Gregz makes the bird’s head turn back and forth. The corollary effect of just looking at the goose can be unsettling. Trying to concentrate on an important free throw and function normally while under its gaze is a daunting task.
Gregz, wearing dark glasses and an impressive mustache, leans out as far as possible, asking politely for the shooter to look at his goose. That kind of thing can get a person arrested outside of a grocery store, but at an SUU basketball game it’s just part of the atmosphere.
The referees have had to move Gregz back from the court at times, and he was once asked by school officials to put the goose away and never bring it back.
Men’s head coach Bill Evans knows the importance of the goose, and while talking to Gregz after a game, he told him to bring the goose to every game.
“Once they tried to stop a game because of the goose,” Gregz said. “Someone came up to me and told me I couldn’t bring it to games. Then Coach Evans saw me and said to keep it coming no matter what anyone told me.”
The collection of cardboard cut-outs is also getting a little more unnerving, with the collection growing and die-hard fans waving them violently to distract shooters.
Fans learn from each other, and the idea for the cut-outs started with a suggestion from a friend.
“We were waving blankets around at first,” Obering said. “A friend of mine said he had seen some people at games with cutouts of girls in bikinis and stuff. We thought it was a good idea, so we implemented it into what we do.”
The Thunderbirds return home this week for a men’s game Thursday against Western Illinois and a double header with Valparaiso Saturday.
The super fans will be on the baseline, up to their usual tricks and doing their part to aide the ’Birds.
“Without us we may have lost some games,” Gregz said. “We’re trying to help out. We want some of the other fans to get more involved; the crowd should be involved in the game.”