The Antlers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Antlers are an organized group of rowdy University of Missouri–Columbia student basketball fans known for heckling the opposing teams.
[edit] History
The Antlers were formed in 1976 when a small section of 11 courtside seats in the Hearnes Center were made available to all students. At the time, all other prime level seating was reserved for alumni and major financial contributors. A lottery was held for the seats and the winners, including Antler co-founders Jeff Gordon and Rob “The Hammer” Banning decided to go all-out with their cheering style to celebrate the new seating arrangement. During their second season in the new seats, someone observing their cheering style dubbed them the Antlers, and the name stuck. The group soon grew from 5 to 22 members when it was expanded to fill all of the seats in A-16.
Wild costume and constant taunting of opponents gained media exposure for the Antlers. As they became more organized and their pranks became more colorful, they gained national exposure from articles about them in Sports Illustrated. Their antics quickly became legendary throughout the conference. The high demand of membership could never accommodate all those who were interested, so membership the group was inherited, either through actual kinship or through friendship.
A major frustration for the school’s administration, and a point of pride for the Antlers, is that they are a purely student group and not a sanctioned or sponsored university organization. Therefore, it's much harder to discipline them through academic channels. While Norm Stewart was coaching, they had his support and protection, but after Stewart's retirement, the group was stripped of their treasured courtside seating section.
In 1995, then-Athletic Director Joe Castiglione suspended the group's seating for a year after Castiglione and then-assistant football Coach Curtis Jones had to restrain an Oklahoma basketball player who tried to charge the stands following comments by the Antlers.
[edit] Notable Antics
Prior to an MU-KU basketball game in 2003, members of the Antlers prank called KU coach Roy Williams at his home at 2:27, 2:45, and 3:05 a.m. Such activities are what the Antlers are best known for. In the week prior the MU-KU game, they obtain the numbers of KU players and coaches and crank call them all week long. They also make huge signs with the players' names and phone numbers.
Even first-year Mizzou coach Mike Anderson remembers his first encounter with the Antlers when he was an Arkansas assistant in the early 1990s. As Arkansas players and coaches were arriving at their hotel, several Antlers pulled up alongside with a pig's head on the top of their car and told members of the Arkansas team "Hey, this is going to happen to you guys." Pig blood splattered on Arkansas coach Nolan Richardson's suit.
In the 2005 regular season home opener, an Antler blew up the picture of the girlfriend of a Sam Houston State University player that was found on Facebook. On facebook, the photo, in which she was holding a bottle of vodka wearing only a bra, was accompanied by a message expressing how much she loved him and how she gets a big stupid smile on her face when she sees him. During the game, the Antlers held up the picture and chanted "Reggie's got a girlfriend", and sang the song "Angel" by Shaggy. They also pointed to her and yelled the contents of her love message, as well as several other comments that were considered by some to be in poor taste.
Prior to a Tiger victory over the Baylor Bears in February 2005, one Antler was invited into the Bears' locker room, where coach Scott Drew dared him to repeat the obscenities that he and some of the other Antlers screamed at the Baylor team at a Columbia restaurant the prior evening. Antler policies exist against cursing or off-color remarks, but individuals have been known to cross the line on several occasions.
The Antlers are also ready to attack more than just players. Following criticism by columnist Tony Messenger in February 2005, they offered a verbal response to him during the first half of a game against his home-state Colorado Buffaloes. While Colorado’s Glean Eddy was attempting free throw's, the Antlers chanted Messenger's name and informed him of how much they believe he sucks.
When Oklahoma visited the Hearnes Center for the first time after coach Billy Tubbs was hit by a car while jogging, the Antlers dressed up in jogging gear and walkmans and bandaged their heads. The Antlers ran onto the court and one of the members made a cardboard car ran over them with it.
Iowa State center Dean Uthoff's was the center of another Antler prank when they obtained the phone number at his dorm in Ames and called him. They posed as huge fans and wanted to show their appreciation by ordering him a pizza, and they told him and it should be downstairs in his lobby in a half hour. Uthoff fell for the scam and waited nearly an hour for the pizza. The Antlers later called again to ask how the pizza tasted. Two days later when Iowa State visited Mizzou, all of the Antlers were waving empty pizza boxes at him when he ran onto the court.
During a 2007 game at Mizzou Arena this season against Bobby Knight, one of the antlers dressed up as Bobby Knight. The Bobby Knight Impersonator began to walk around the student section and hit all the students. To make fun of Bobby Knight for what he has been known to do.
In another well-known moment, the Antlers held up pictures of former Kansas coach Larry Brown and Libyan dictator Moammar Gadhafi and asked, “Which one's the terrorist?”
For every game, the Antlers make signs that correspond to the opposing team's starting players, usually playing off their names. In recent years, these signs have been censored by the athletic department, whose staff has begun checking them at the door. The Antlers occasionally make other signs for use throughout the game, including this infamous one that was shown on a national CBS broadcast:
Corey
Beck has
Syphilis
A video clip of an Antler trying to distract an Oklahoma player shooting free throws. 2-20-07
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aCpgfJ4E6L4
