CIS Corner: Raven about the Ugly American

Notes on our teams of interest from The 613...

Ravens: For reasons that remain unclear, the fine folks down in Kansas Jayhawks country still remain traumatized by Henk Doornekamp's (Aaron's proud pops) voice ringing in their ears -- three weeks after the fact.

It's unclear whether this is really even something to get offended by; besides, where to start? We do have someone who was, after all, a guest in a foreign country referring to 19,000-seat Scotiabank Place as a "gym." He describe the atmosphere as "quiet," which it wasn't -- maybe it was compared to a Kansas-Mizzou game at Allen Fieldhouse in February, but compared to, about 180 arenas in NCAA Division 1, it was plenty loud. There's a declaration that, "An obnoxious crowd at a Canadian college basketball game seems as hard to imagine as a martini stand at a NASCAR race" -- play to stereotypes, much? -- and last but not least, a claim that Carleton officials said Mr. Doornekamp "is always obnoxious at the games."

Gee, it would be nice to know how Carleton people actually phrased their explanation.

Henk Doornekamp is a highly involved fan, but he has life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness -- that's a good slogan, is any country using it? -- on his side.

That being said, it was just such a completely misleading expression of a great night in CIS. Someone in the Ottawa media should fire back at the punk, just to show Canadians aren't always so passive.

All that can be said here is that "obnoxious" is about the last adjective that should be applied to the elder Doornekamp. The Kingston bias is cheerfully acknowledged. Speaking as someone who's seen Carleton play in person a dozen times over the past two years, Mr. Doornekamp is supporting his son.

Having a media credential doesn't give anyone the right to judge him for that, not after the thousands of hours he's put into being there for all of his now adult children. It's a family matter so long as it doesn't detract from anyone else's good time (who knows, maybe it enhanced it). Besides, Mr. Doornekamp doesn't seem to get after players. He usually zeroes in on refs and opposing coaches, who are in those positions because they are mature adults who know it comes with the territory.

Kansas coach Bill Self, showing that the bigger they are, the nicer they are, even laughed it off. He said he appreciated that the heckling helped "create an environment honestly where guys felt like there was some pressure to perform."

Anyway, it is just mind-boggling why someone would take potshots at an opposing player's dad, three weeks after the game. This misportrayal also characterizes Henk Doornekamp as a dead ringer for the actor who plays Buddy Garrity on Friday Night Lights (right in photo, obviously).

That is so far off the mark. Remember, that's an expert opinion coming from someone who is a court-certified expert on the FNL franchise (it's bound to come into play in a really high-profile criminal trial at some point, because once it gets cancelled, many of its fans might go a little crazy).

Carleton, at least not in any official capacity, can't really respond.

They would make themselves look like the rubes. It does fairly demand that someone fire a broadside in return. You listening, you kids at the Charlatan? This is a more valuable lesson than anything you'll learn in the J-school.

One other Ravens note: The hockey team plays UNB in its exhibition opener tonight.

Gee-Gees: The game notes for Saturday's tilt vs. Waterloo list the following injuries for the Ottawa: Ivan Birungi (ankle), fellow receivers Ezra Millington (ankle) and Marc-Andre St-Hilaire (chest) and cornerback Ugo Levesque (knee).

That could make four receivers not dressing or limited on Saturday. Ron Kelly is a maybe, also with a gimpy ankle. That is not helping Ottawa find its form, especially in that passing game that only failed them in the opener and in the closer of the 2007 season. Th

Streaming Sports Network Canada will have the call of the women's hockey Gee-Gees exhibition game on Saturday.

Golden Gaels: Our king of Kings will be teeing up the Queen's-U of T football game later today on Offsides (4 p.m., cfrc.ca), with scarcely little help from a rather grumpy guest.

It is odd how Queen's is sort of following along the same path as it did in 2007. Just as they year, they had an easy win at home over a school from Waterloo, followed by a game at Toronto and then, cue the ominous Peter Bretter score,* a showdown at home against Western. In this case, Toronto has more fight in it than last season and the Western game isn't an elimination game.

The big theme for the Gaels seems to be one of maturity after having a little of too-much, too-soon syndrome in '07. There's optimism that based on the way they've played the second half of their past two games, they've conquered any self-doubts.

Not to look past U of T, but there's a good chance of having three 7-1 teams in the OUA (Queen's beats Western, but Ottawa beats Queen's and they all win out). That would mean having a crazy kooky points-for and against scenerio to determine who gets the byes in the semi-finals. It could happen.

(* It's not as gratuitous a Judd Apatow reference as you might think. A friend figures that Kristen Bell must have spent some time on the Queen's and/or Western campus as research for the titular rule in Forgetting Sarah Marshall.)

That's all for now. Send your thoughts to neatesager@yahoo.ca.