Offsides: Roy Williams Will Not Tolerate Heckling

Wow. This is news?

Wasn’t there and don’t know anything about it, but I’d guess that with this coming in the last few minutes of the game, something had been going on all night. Roy’s known to be a very fair guy. I’ll never forget the night he took on a Tar Heel fan who was heckling a player from the visiting team. He told him to shut up, then walked over to the visiting player and shook his hand. Roy’s a fair guy.

I’m 65 years old and have been a Tar Heel fan since I knew what a basketball was but unless the fan said something out of line Ole Roy was out of line.  A fan should be able to get on a player as long as they are  not abusive or use abusive language.  Being able to handle a bit of "riding" from the stands, even if it is overindulgent, is a part of maturation process.  Yes, I have been there.  For those who might read more into this, I’m talking college age and up.

Bizarre.  While I agree with cmw47’s comments, I also have to say that snowhill is right.  Unless something is so bad as to be outside our social norms then the players, and coaches, should just be quiet.  If you pay for a ticket you can be loud. 

Now personally, I don’t heckle college kids.  My team or someone elses’.  Now pros, they are fair game.

Seems like a bizarre thing to do and Roy’s explanation not much better.  Must be the medication he’s taking for his arm since it’s not a very Roy-like thing to do, although he’s had some thin-skinned moments in the past.

Best thing Roy could do now is get this guy some tickets to a real game at the Dean Dome and invite him back. 

I was there and was sitting right behind the bench. The guy was obviously drunk and found out later wasn’t even in his own seats.  Roy was maybe a little too sensitive but I just think it’s his style to back his guys.

I like Roy and his usual demeanor but I think he was a little out of line. Nice call TK about the meds!! I wasn’t there but unless the guy was a threat to someone then let him run his mouth all night and let someone else take care of him in the parking lot….By the way….

What’s up with the Hitler(or is it Groucho?) ’stache on Coach K, TSN???? Whoever thought that was appropriate should be fired.

Williams is starting to lose it.  First he calls out another player and coach (Tom Izzo) who runs a class program.  Then he is worried about some guy in the stands.  I used to have alot of respect for Williams, but it is starting to dwindle.

"I was there and was sitting right behind the bench. The guy was
obviously drunk and found out later wasn’t even in his own seats.  Roy
was maybe a little too sensitive but I just think it’s his style to
back his guys."

I know you’re lying because I WAS there, sitting right behind the guy who wasn’t out of line in the least.  I’ve seen a lot of other UNC fans posting this same fake spin over and over on the boards and news sites and it is sickening.  Grow up and quit trying to bash this guy who did nothing wrong.  Roy was int he wrong and deserves every bit of criticism he has coming to him.

This is funny…2 posters claiming to be there…I think I’ll side with heel blue blood on this one (great credibility).  (By the way, the update fails to mention the rest of this clown’s interview where he says he grew up watching duke and loves CIS…looks like it was a dookie in disguise LOL.)  In any case, if he was drunk, he deserved to be booted out but if he wasn’t, then I’m not so sure…

Yes, but was he really drunk?  Just because a guy has a beer or two doesn’t make him a drunk.  Seriously, this guy apparently wasn’t Robin Ficker (the famous Washington Bullets/Wizards heckler.) 

I WAS NOT there.  I just think if a guy buys a ticket he shouldn’t get thrown out for heckling the home team.  They took his ticket money.  They took his beer money.  Then Roy gets upset and they remove him? 

Other reports from people in the building say he was drunk to he did nothing wrong.  So obviously if there is that much variation from people who were sitting around the guy then he shouldn’t have been removed from the building.  JMO.

hbb says he was there and I’ve enjoyed conversing with him over these past few years.  But others who were there disagree with your story.  So was it really that bad?

Let me just say this.  I was there 4 rows behind the team bench as a guest.  I didn’t think saying" Deon, miss it’ was that out of line and do think Roy might have been a little too sensitive.  I did hear the security guard tell the Carolina employee who stands behind the Heels bench that the guy was drunk, was not his ticketed seat, and had been already been told to leave the lower level already before the incident.  Roy turned around and told the guy to shut up and that’s when the guy made a few jesture towards Roy.  Only after that do Roy point him out to security.

Those of you who are making such a big deal about this need to get a life.  For anyone to get so worked up over this is kind of sick and funny at the same time.

520888-I hope you know I’m not grouping you with the others here, I already know you have a good head on your shoulders.

As a 40year Heel fan who now lives in CA I had a great time watching the game, experiencing the UNC family, and getting to experience UNC basketball in a way I could never imagine wouold ever happen to me.

If you are ever at UNC, do yourself a favor and check out the new basketball museum, it is a truly amazing place.

Well said heel blue blood!!!

I have to get down there to that new museum…missed it a few years ago!!!

I echo hamburger….how is this even a story?  I wasn’t there either, but it sounds like it was an ongoing thing that reached an unbearable level towards the end of the game. And I don’t think Roy was as much backing his players as he insists on CLASSY behavior in his house by any fan. I don’t think there is room for heckling anyone anywhere in Collge BB. Anyone remember when Dean grabbed the mic and forbade the home crowd from waving their hands/pom poms while the opposing player shot free throws  To this day you still never see that at the Dean Dome.

 It’s all about fair play. These are, afterall, kids we are watching. Bad enough we go to Cameron Indoor Outhouse and be treated to the crowd being a little "overzealous" to the tune of a hugely obese guy standing up and stripping down to just a G string while we shoot free throws. Call it "wine and cheese" if you like, but heckling and crazy antics are not tolerated at the Dean Dome. I’d argue Roy would have been just as upset had it been a UNC fan heckling a player of the opposing team. He wants the play on the court to do the talking…just play the game and let the freak show occur somewhere else. It’s Roy’s house now, and Roy’s rules….but it really doesn’t seem too much to ask fans to act decently.

GO HEELS!!!

I tend to agree with heel blue blood, I live within a few hours of CH and have the pleasure of going to severla games a year and I have never seen or heard Roy acting out of line without some reason.  I do think that the media at times makes things larger than life.  I have been to the museum several times and it’s wonderful to see the rich history that this great university has in basketball.  I would say if anyone is ever in CH make a point of going to the museum.

How cognitively challenged do you have to be to heckle Carolina players from behind the Carolina bench in the Dean Dome from seats you did not purchase?

I think he’s better off letting everyone think he was drunk.

And now it turns out Roy DID NOT ask for the guy to be removed. Let’s not let facts get in the way of the media.

There is a section behind the bench that is reserved for people to whom the basketball office gives free tickets. The heckling appeared to be coming from the team seat area. He asked officials to find out if the heckler was there on a team ticket.
 
"Kirschner [team spokesman] said Williams asked campus police to look into the seating arrangement. The fan was booted because he was uncooperative with officers, who also smelled alcohol on his breath, said Randy Young, spokesman for UNC’s Department of Public Safety. Alcohol is not served at the Smith Center."

Turns out the story is a non-story and wasn’t worth publishing in the first place, just like most news these days.

Tarheeltatman….

Do you mean to say that Carolina fans are not yelling when opposing teams shoot free throws???

"Heckling and crazy antics are not tolerated in the Dean Dome"??? It doesn’t get any more wine and cheese than that statement.

So I guess we’ll never hear an "airball" chant or see waves to a player when he fouls out in the Dean Dome???

It’s a basketball game..people yell, scream, & stomp. This was ONE guy. What’s Roy going to do when there are 20,000 people yelling in Dallas this weekend. The players on the court routinely talk trash while the other team is shooting free throws. If he’s in comped seats without a comp ticket then he shoulg go back to his ticketed seat, but why is Roy Head of Security all of the sudden? Carolina was up, what, 35 points??? Roy should’ve just ignored the guy and be done with it….period.

Somewhere, in a parallell universe, Coach K did this and Carolina fans are having a field day with it…..

fifty….

You miss my point entirely. And you might hear people yelling during an opposing player’s free throws at the Dean Dome…granted. But I guarantee you will not see the hand waving/pom poms you see elsewhere trying to distact the shooter.

And, if we choose a "wine and cheese" atmosphere and yet still hang 2 banners in the last 5 years, I’ll take that every time. But no, you will  not see "heckling and crazy antics" take place in the Dean Dome. And to be honest, I’m glad that is the case. There is a code of conduct expected and enforced in the DD…..for which I am very greatful.

Suffice to say, cheering for the Heels is most welcome. But cheering/degrading/heckling the other team is not. Just as it should be.

And no, I honestly have never heard the "air ball" chant in the DD…but can’t say for sure it has not ocurred. Even then, it likely was quickly quelled. I’ve been there quite a few times and can truly say the entertainment is on the court, not in the stands watching some jack ass try to show a player up. Or orchestrated attacks or chants. Or half naked fat guys in the stands. "TAR HEELS" is chanted, usually initiated by the cheerleaders. The pep band plays the Tar Heel signature. Fans cheer, not yell at individual players. So don’t assume there is any lack of enthusiasm.

And you obviously did not check the facts (thanks cmw47) nor did you read my entire post. Now it has come out that the guy was removed by security, not Roy. You followed the erroneous lead of the media and assumed it was all Roy. And I stated in my previous post that we have to endure and deal with obnoxious fans anytime we play on the road. So, the question about "what’s Roy going to do when there are 20,000…) really makes no sense. I think Roy has proven over both tenures he can win on the road in the most obnoxious atmospheres, for example going 4/4 at Cameron recently.

Well, can’t find the "edit" on the site for some reason…but my paragraph should say "Suffice to say, cheering for the Heels is most welcome. But jeering/degrading/heckling the other team is not. Just as it should be".

fifty is a dookie…hey fifty, was that you that got tossed?  LOL.
I’m sure your crazies will be ready for the Heels this year after this episode and this year they’ve got a good chance in defending their own floor…and by the way, in the parallel universe, coach k would have had the heckler tossed after spewing a ton of curse words first as per his usual behaviour.