Reis Fight: Hooting and heckling not grounds for ejection

By Jeremy Reiskind     2/27/17 8:16pm

For the last nine minutes of my last Rice men’s basketball game, I watched through the glass doors of Tudor Fieldhouse. Why? Because I got ejected for “my behavior,” according to security working at the game. In other words, I got ejected for heckling despite using clean language the whole time. 

Did I want to get ejected? No. Do I regret anything I said or did? Absolutely not.

After the game, one of the Louisiana Tech University coaches spoke to me. He gave me a handshake and told me I did a great job. He said for the past two years I have made his players laugh on the bench and have gotten in their heads. As a heckler, that is my goal. I want to try and make the opposing players lose focus on the game while only using CLEAN language.

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No doubt things got chippy in Tudor on Saturday night, but why did I become the scapegoat? Why did I get ejected while the players who are telling me to “f--- off” were able to continue to play?

I have been a huge fan of the basketball team during coach Rhoades’ tenure, and tonight was not the ending I imagined. I was heartbroken I wasn’t able to sing the alma mater one last time with my fellow Rice students and high-five Coach Rhoades and the student-athletes after that important victory.

But what does my ejection say for the future of the Rice student section? The goal of a student section is to create a home-court advantage. The goal of a student section is to get underneath the skin of the opposing players. The goal of a student section is to rejoice together in the thrill of victory.

Saturday, I was unable to rejoice in that thrill.

I want to make sure that my ejection doesn’t go unnoticed. I want to make sure that as this program continues to rise on the court, the student section continues to rise with it. I want to make sure that students know they can heckle in a clean manner without being ejected.

I want to make sure that no student has to watch their last few minutes of Rice basketball through a glass door. 

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