Tuesday, February 15, 2011

Jayhawk fan calls “foul” on officials

LAWRENCE – University of Kansas junior Trevor Stallworth spent his entire Tuesday morning talking to everyone he could about the Jayhawks’ humiliating loss to Kansas State on Monday. While others wanted to discuss the impressive play of K-State senior Jacob Pullen, or KU’s poor handling of the basketball, Stallworth had only one issue on his mind: The referees’ bias against the University of Kansas.

“It’s a trend that I’ve noticed the last few years,” said Stallworth. “When KU plays K-State, the refs are always biased against the Jayhawks. Most of the time Kansas is good enough to overcome it, but you can’t always win playing five against eight.”

While both teams shot an equal amount of free throws, and the Jayhawks were whistled for just three more fouls than K-State, Stallworth points to the unusually high number of offensive fouls called against the Jayhawk forwards, and to K-State getting “all the calls” in the first half as a major contributor to the Jayhawks loss.

“Clearly the refs didn’t want Kansas to win that game. I think some of them are jealous of the Jayhawks' success and they like to see the underdog Wildcats win,” said Stallworth. “But every game, every time, K-State gets all the calls against Kansas. And I don’t think it’s fair.”

Stallworth's friend Ross Winston, a Kansas State fan, just shook his head after their conversation about the game.

“It’s sad, really, to see someone using the referees as an excuse for a loss,” said Winston. “I’m pretty proud to say that’s one thing you’ll never hear from the K-State fan base. Unless we lose. Then we’re the whiniest bitches on the planet.”

Monday, February 14, 2011

Curtis Kelly hits coach with chair, leaves K-State

BOULDER, Co. – In a shocking turn of events, Curtis Kelly completed his destruction of the Kansas State Wildcats basketball team by whacking his coach, Frank Martin, in the back with a steel chair during the Wildcats 58-56 loss against Colorado on Saturday. Immediately after the chair shot, Kelly tore off his Kansas State jersey to reveal a University of Kansas t-shirt, then extended both middle fingers to the Wildcats’ bench and walked off the court to a chorus of boos from the K-State fans in Boulder.

The events culminated Kelly’s slow turn on his coach and teammates, as he has seemingly spent the entire season undermining the Kansas State basketball team, which was coming off an appearance in the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight in 2010, and had earned a pre-season ranking of No. 3 in the country.

The chair shot only added to the painful night for the Wildcats, which fell to 4-6 in Big 12 play after Rodney McGruder's apparent game-winning 3-pointer was waved off. The Wildcats now find themselves in danger of missing the NCAA Tournament, and have to deal with losing what should have been their best frontcourt player in Kelly.

“Looking back, all the signs were there, but as a fan you just didn’t want to believe it,” said Wyatt Thompson, the voice of the Kansas State Wildcats. “When it happened, all I could think was, ‘Good God, what is he doing? No, no, no!’”

Kelly’s season got off to a rocky start when he was benched for three games by Martin for allegedly giving poor effort during practice. He then picked up a six-game suspension in December for an impermissible benefits violation when he accepted free clothing from a Dillards in the Manhattan mall. And the most recent events come on the heels of another possible university violation that caused controversy throughout last week.

When reached for comment, Kelly said the turn started well before the season.

“All last year, I was the guy who put us on our shoulders and took us to the Elite Eight. But when you’d hear from fans and the media, all they talked about was Frank’s stare, or Jake’s beard,” Kelly said. “It’s bullshit. That was my team. And if they’re not gonna recognize, then I’m gonna make them recognize. And that's the bottom line.”