AK Rowdies have "vest"ed interest in hoop dreams

I had a great time at the Zips basketball game Saturday night .. and not just because the U of A buried Eastern Michigan by 20 points .. but because the "AK Rowdies" really put on quite a show.

If you haven't been to a game recently, the Rowdies are a group of 70+ students who stand at the visiting end of JAR Arena .. right next to the opposing team's bench.

In the spirit of other fan-organzed, student-crazy, basketball-lovin support networks that rise to the occassion to cheer on the nation's biggest hoops programs, the Rowdies are coordinated, concentrated, and down-right clever.

The group turned their backs on the EM team as they were introduced only to spin around and yell something different after each player's name was announced. That pretty much set the tone that if EM was going to stay in this game, they could expect to be heckled during every second.

Group members do some of the usual fan favorites by chanting "defense" and by "waving as the opponents shoot free throws" ... but these guys took it a step further by picking on the EM coaches, trainers, and red-shirt players who were all wearing pretty white sweater vests like a snooty fraternity group.

At one point, the cheerleader-led "Let's Go Zips!" morphed into "Sweat-Er-Vests!" .. as the Rowdies' sarcasm permeated the entire end of JAR Arena. It was hilarious from the opening tip.

Eventually, the EM coach began yelling at some of his players as they were spending too much time watching the Rowdies instead of the game, which may be the best compliment you can give a college sports fan.

Hope these guys never decide to heckle evening news :)