#COSTUMIZED: Utah State fan "Wild" Bill Sproat is back

You've seen him before.

He's the larger-than-life Utah State fan who made the media rounds for his free-throw distracting costumes. He's been Peter Pan, Cupid, Winnie the Pooh, a mermaid and even a hula-dancer. He's been on ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU and probably even ESPN3, 4 and 5. He's essentially the most super of super-fans.

And a great dude all around.

But like any young-adult, there comes a time when you have to put away the kiddie-toys. Bill graduated in 2011, and since then he's yet to get creative for a home game. He's still ever-present at Aggie home games in his customized #22 "Wild Bill" jersey, but has given up the lost-art of free-throw distraction.

Until now:
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Pics/Vids: Game 13 - Utah State vs. Hawaii

Thursday, January 26th
Dee Glenn Smith Spectrum, Utah State University
Utah State 77, Hawaii 72

Game 12 - Kansas vs. Texas A&M
Game 11 - Oral Roberts vs. Oakland
Game 10 - Oklahoma State vs. Kansas State
Game 9 - Missouri State vs. Creighton
Game 8 - Missouri vs. Texas A&M
Game 7 - Wisconsin vs. Nebraska
Game 6 - Marquette vs. Pittsburgh
Game 5 - Butler vs. Cleveland State
Game 4 - Indiana vs. Minnesota
Game 3 - Xavier vs. Duquesne
Game 2 - Kentucky vs. South Carolina
Game 1 - Belmont vs. Lipscomb

(The Utah State student section experience.)

(The Dee Glenn Smith Spectrum, or just "The Spectrum" from the outside.)

(The arena is named after Smith, the owner and founder of Smith's Food and Drugs, a massive chain of pharmacy/supermarket in the northwest.)

("Wild" Bill Sproat, arguably the best super-fan in the country, greeted us inside The Spectrum. He definitely supports the cause.)

(The University presented Bill with this custom jersey after he survived a serious heart condition which but him in a coma for 15 days in 2009.)

(The scene inside The Spectrum during shootaround.)

(Pi'i Minns gets a good stretch in during shootaround.)

(The USU student section starts to fill up during shootaround. This is just one of three seating sections occupied by students.)

(Davis Rositis, far right, gets a calf stretch in, while the rest of his team waits in lay-up lines.)

(The Aggies loosen up before the game.)

(The USU student section arrived about an hour before tip-off. Of the 13 games we visited, no student section was as dedicated or as prepared as USU. Oral Roberts was a close second.)

(The Aggies go through pregame shootaround prior to tip-off.)

(Bobby Miles shows his game-face during pregame shootaround.)

(The Aggies take some shots during shootaround.)

(The students look on as the Aggies prepare for the contest.)

(Player introductions for the Hawaii Warriors.)

(The second of three USU student sections.)

(Brockeith Pane launches a 3-pointer during warm-ups as Hawaii huddles-up in the background.)

(The two teams get ready for the opening tip.)

(No school does a better "I believe that we will win" chant that Utah State.)

("Wild" Bill grills one of the referees. Poor officiating was a common occurrence during the game on Thursday night.)

(The Warriors huddle up during the first media timeout. the teams traded buckets back and forth for the first few minutes.)

(Aggies head coach Stew Morrill looks on during the first half.)

(The students wave flags to distract shooters. I felt like I was watching an Italian futbol match, not an American college basketball game.)

(Utah State guard Preston Medlin was rockin' a fresh pair of Jordan kicks. He was the only person on the floor rockin' Jordans.)

(Hawaii center Davis Rositis waits at the scorers table to check in to the game.)

(Oh crap, Bill spotted me.)

(Bill points out the Hawaii player that committed a foul.)

("Big Blue" helps the students get fired up.)

(That's the signal for Preston Medlin. Bill said he and Preston came up with it during the lsat offseason. Now all the students throw it up when he scores.)

(Utah State fans sing their school fight song, "The Scotsman".)

(Assistants have to restrain Gib Arnold from the referees after a bad call. The game was plagued with bad calls and poor officiating.)

(Brockieth Pane lines up to take a foul shot.)

("Big Blue" and Bill lead the student section during a foul shot.)

(I think this one is self-explanatory.)

(You know The Spectrum is getting rowdy when Bill stands up on the railing.)

(Hawaii's final possession before halftime.)

(Joston Thomas, a DC-native, waits for the in-bounds pass.)

(Bill reminds one of the Hawaii players "Not in my house".)

("Big Blue" rappells from the rafters during the halftime routine.)

(The cheerleaders, along with "Big Blue" finish off their routine.)

(Utah State misses a shot, Hawaii gets the rebound but turns over the ball, which leads to a fast break dunk by Preston Medlin.)

(The USU bench is fired up at the start of a media timeout.)

(Is that Dom from "Entourage"? Nah, it's just USU assistant coach Chris Jones. But the resemblance is uncanny.)

(The best "Winning Team, Losing Team" chant in all of college basketball".)

(Late in the game, Hawaii went to an offense/defense lineup. The defensive unit waits to check in to the game.)

(Self explanitory.)

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#BIAHRoadTrip The Diary Part XV - Final Destination

4:45PM Day 22
Somewhere on I-80
Somewhere in Nebraska
Total Miles; 4,781

Road Trip Part-I
Road Trip Part-II
Road Trip Part-III
Road Trip Part-IV
Road Trip Part-V
Road Trip Part-VI
Road Trip Part-VII
Road Trip Part-VIII
Road Trip Part-IX
Road Trip Part-X
Road Trip Part-XI
Road Trip Part-XII
Road Trip Part-XIII
Road Trip Part-XIV


There's a reason we didn't end our road trip in Lawrence, KS. There's a reason we didn't call it quits after 2,500 miles, 20 days and 12 games.

The Utah State student section. That's what was the driving force behind the creation of this trip.

After 20 grueling days and 3,500 miles, we finally made it to Logan, UT.

And I can honestly say that the entire experience met and exceeded every single expectation I had.

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After a treacherous 11-hour drive from Denver, which featured some of the most beautiful landscape I've ever seen, we arrived in Logan, UT, a tiny mountain town in the most northeastern part of state, about two hours from Salt Lake City.

After getting caught up with work on Thursday morning, we set out to find ourselves some lunch. We stumbled upon "Logan's Heroes", a tiny, nondescript deli located at the corner of Main Street and 1st Street.

Listen, Rob is from the NYC-metro area and I'm from the DC-metro area, so we know a good deli when we see it. This didn't look like a good deli. But after 15 minutes, some good chatter with the owner, who told us what to get, we were sold.

By the time I was done eating, I was thoroughly convinced that if I lived in Logan, this would be my go-to spot for lunch every day.

Next to the Yellow Sub in Lawrence, KS this was the best sandwich I've had all trip. Friendly people, and fantastic food in a quaint environment. Check, check and check.

After getting more work done in our hotel room, we met up with our host-for-the-day, Kraig Williams of the Deseret News, at "Mo' Bettah Steaks", a Hawaiian steakhouse. Yeah, I know, Hawaiian food in Utah probably doesn't sound too appetizing, but the Steak-n-Pork combo was off-the-charts good.

Rob can attest to this. "I feel like I could drink an entire bottle of the terayaki sauce."

We hadn't even stepped foot on Utah State's campus, and our expectations of Logan had already been exceeded.

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If you know anything about Utah State and their student section, then you know about "Wild" Bill Sproat. He's the larger-than-life super-fan who ESPN has gone ga-ga over because of his innovative costumes and creative free-throw distractions.

We figured that by the end of the night, maybe we'd get the chance to say hello to him and take a picture with him.

That's it, that's all.

But when we walked through the front door to the D. Glenn Smith Spectrum, I bet you can guess who the first person we ran into was.

Donning his custom #22 "Wild Bill" Utah State jersey, Sproat greeted us and talked to us for a good 20 minutes about his background, the school, the team, and well, just about everything in between.

Rob profiled Sproat, so I'll let him go into detail about it, but let me just tell you that even Bill exceeded my expectations.

He's just an all-around awesome guy. He's one helluva story-teller, hilarious as all get out, and is as friendly and as welcoming as anybody we've encountered on our trip.

But Sproat warned us that the turnout may not be great.

Utah State is in a "down year", having graduated six seniors after last season, and the students had just come back from Winter Break. He wasn't sure we'd be viewing the best atmosphere.

But if you've watched a Utah State game on TV, then you know that even a marginal effort by the student section is bigger and louder than most full capacity BCS-conference student sections.

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Sure, the arena wasn't packed to the brim. There were a decent amount of seats, colored in 70s-themed orange and yellow, that were still empty. The student section, which can fill up to about 4,000 students, was only about 80% filled.

Regardless, it was pandemonium. There was a buzz circulating throughout the Spectrum prior to tip-off. The students piled in, sprinting in order to get the best seats behind the basket. For 45 minutes prior to tip-off, the students hung out in their seats, like they were seats at the best bar in town. There were hi-fives, slow-claps, costumes, cheers, boos, everything you could imagine.

While we took in the scene, we were met by numerous different students and staff members who had heard about our trip and were surprised to see we were making a stop in Logan. We told them, much to their surprise, that we were there to see them.

"This is why we decided to make the road trip. We are here to see you guys in action."

I talked to the head of The Hurd, the organization that handles all the student section planning and preparations. I talked to him about their coordination, planning new chants, and the reputation of their student section.

I have to say, I was sorta taken back at everybody's, well, hesitation to admit that they had the best student section in the country. Because, it's a well-known fact amongst us media-type that no school does it quite like Utah State.

"The casual fan thinks Duke or Kansas has the best students. But any knowledgeable hoops-head should know that you guys do it the best" I said.

I was met with a half-puzzled, half-pleased reaction.

Maybe they weren't aware that ESPN broadcasts to states outside of Utah, or maybe they just didn't realize that most colleges don't have a student section nearly as passionate, coordinated and rowdy as them. After all, you wouldn't expect it from a tiny WAC school in northeast Utah.
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Before we settled in to our seats on press row, we made sure to get involved in the "I Believe We Will Win" chant. It's legendary.

Sure, a lot of different schools do it, but theirs is the best. It's so good in fact, it was sampled for a hip-hop music video.




"Wild Bill" pulled Rob into the front row, and well, we were off.




This was why we drove 2,500 miles. Why we left our jobs and families for 22 days.

The game was riddled with fouls, but featured the ebbs and flows that cause a student section to erupt several times.

That's one of my favorite parts of the college game.

That momentum-swinging three-pointer, followed by a timeout. There aren't many moments in hoops that are better than that. The whole place goes crazy, and at Utah State they don't go crazy, they go bonkers, berserk, and border on clinical insanity.

I need to once again point out how stunned I was with the quality of the dance team/cheerleaders. At this point, we'd been to Kentucky, Missouri and Kansas. Schools with big student bodies and extremely-attractive co-eds.

My expectations for the USU cheerleaders were not very high.

I mean, come on, what should I have expected? It's a well-known fact that the cheerleading squads at smaller/private/religious schools just aren't at the same level of say, Pac-12 or SEC squads.

I can firmly say that they exceeded expectations. And for what seems like the bajillionth time on this trip, I cursed myself for attending a small liberal arts college on the East Coast.

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When the game finished up, we tried to get from press row to the locker room in order to interview some players. But to our amazement, we were greeted by several different waves of students, thanking us for making the trip to Logan and apologizing about the quality of game and student support.

"Are you kidding me?" I said to one fan. "If this was a 'down game', I don't know if my ear-drums could handle a game against BYU or Utah. You guys are the best."



It seemed like wave after wave of fans came over to greet us. It was amazing. I legitimately felt like a celebrity. But it didn't end with the students. Other writers and reporters knew who we were.

"Oh, you must be the travelling bloggers." said one writer. "Are you one of the guys doing the road trip? I recognized you from the videos. Great stuff." Said another.

Like before, my expectations were not only met but completely exceeded.

But once again, it didn't end there.
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Right before we were about to head up the ramp into the locker room, we ran in to "Wild" Bill again, who invited us to attend a post-game meal at "Angie's Diner: Where The Locals Eat". He said that most of the players and fans meet up there to get some grub following a home game.

I was sold.

I didn't want any of this to end.

Angie's is your standard-issue college-town diner. Lots of booths, lots of fatty foods.

When we walked in, the place was packed. I saw a booth-full of fans turn and look to see who was entering. One of of them turned to their friends and said "Those are the guys from Ballin' is a Habit" right when we walked in.

If you know anything about me, you know I have, or at least pretend to have a fairly large ego. I played goalie in high school and college, the only individual position in a team sport. I don't like sharing fame or attention. I don't want to be one of seven midfielders. I want to be one of one goalies. Hell, I practically got a degree in Narcissism. I am the youngest of three in my family. I want all eyes on me.

But as much as I want it, it rarely ever happens. So for those four hours on a Thursday night 4,500 miles away from my hometown, I felt like a rock-star.

When we joined Sproat and his crew of eight guys at the back table, we were welcomed with open-arms. For 45 minutes we heard stories, told stories, ate triple cheese-burgers, drank artery-clogging milkshakes, and watched Sproat interact with everybody that walked past us.

When a group of girls walked by, Sproat stopped them and tried to introduce them to us, but apparently they already knew who we were.

"You are the guys from Ballin' is a Habit, right? the road trip guys right?"

And there I am, once again dumbfounded that these people know who I am, starring at a pack of college girls like I'm a 18-year-old freshman.....with vanilla milkshake dribbling down my lip.

Nice, Troy. Nice.

After we finished our food, and discussed including "Wild" Bill in Season-II of the #BIAHRoadTrip, along with Drew Franklin of Kentucky Sports Radio (We are going to make this happen), we said our goodbyes and went back to our hotel.

But not before Sproat filled us in on the two new costumes he is going to unveil later in the season. I've been sworn to secrecy, but honestly, it's better if you just wait.

It's going to border on legendary-status.

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So that's it. That's why we traveled damn-near across the country.

Was it worth it?

Well let's see.

I don't know how I'm going to pay rent next month, In fact, I currently have less than $200 to my name. I haven't talked to my boss in 20 days, haven't done laundry in 15 days, and don't know if my apartment is still standing. My family probably thinks I'm dead, I'm not sure if anybody has fed my dog in three weeks and I will probably have to replace my car in the near future.

So, what it worth it?

Absolutely. 1000% I'd do it again in a heartbeat.

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A few news and notes:

- "Wild" Bill needs your help.

See, he's ran into a bit of a social networking problem. He had a solid Twitter account, but over time he forgot what his password was.

Unfortunately, he also forgot what the password was for the email account connected to the Twitter account. He needs the help of somebody with the computer skills to hack in to Twitter and get his account information.

Bill would do it for you, so please, do it for him

Contact us at ContactBIAH@gmail.com so we can help him out.


- This isn't our last Diary entry. We are grinding out a 34-hour drive back to Washington, D.C. and will update you on our long road home. We already have one EPIC early morning story to recant to you.

So stay tuned.
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Wild Bill drops some knowledge on "Occupy the Spectrum", Utah State's BYU camp out

Utah State kicks off their season at 9:05 tonight against heated in-state rival BYU, and as you might expect, the fans -- those fans we all know and love oh-so-much -- are quite fired up for the game.

How much so?

Thousands of them camped out, arriving as early as 3:00 am on Wednesday, in temperatures that reached down into the teens for the right to sit at the front of the student section Friday night. The Spectrum reserves about 4,000 seats for students, but for big games such as BYU, those seats go relatively quickly. Hence the camping. Here, let Wild Bill educate you:



It gets better. BYU showed up at The Spectrum at some point last night, and they were greeted by a raucous crowd screaming "Welcome to hell!":



You see this? All of this?

This is why we are taking a road trip to The Spectrum this year.

No more explanation necessary.
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Utah State and Wild Bill outdo themselves

We at BIAH are well aware of the student section for the Utah State Aggies.

They are, simply put, the best in the country. Their "winning team, losing team" chant is unparalled. And, of course, they have the nation's ultimate superfan -- none other than Wild Bill.

Tonight was their best work.

I kid you not, they entire student section sang "I'm a little teapot" while Dario Hunt of Nevada was trying to shoot a free throw. The best part? Wild Bill was dressed as a teapot. Check out the video (thanks to my man bubbaprog). Its amazing:



You could put 1,000 students behind the basket with thunder-sticks, vuvuzuelas grenade whistles, giant cardboard heads, and those massive twirly-disk-things, and it still wouldn't be as intimidating, or perplexing as what Utah State and "Wild" Bill pulled off.

I gotta get to Logan for a game.
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Wild Bill Sproat, even when near death, is a Utah State diehard

We got some bad news over the summer as everyone's favorite Superfan, Utah State's Wild Bill Sproat, who has spent the last few months in the hospital with an enlarged heart.

In this blog post, Wild Bill take you through his ordeal. Some of it is pretty scary (He had a blood clot in each ventricle and in his lungs? Yeesh...) while some of it is downright hilarious.

After a long week under heavy sedation in the Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, I was removed from life support and was able to see my family. I don’t remember a thing from that week but have been told about my crazy antics. Turns out, I know sign language (and I’m not talking about the middle finger). I guess I was using sign language to communicate with people and one doctor though I might be deaf … who knew I could sign?

If that's true, that is incredibly funny.

This little diddy, while terrifying on one hand, shows why Sproat is the definition of a Superfan:

The Wednesday after I was released from ICU I was on my regular floor talking with my sister and a friend when I noticed my vision was going out, I asked my sister to get the nurse then I passed out. My heart stopped and I had no pulse for seven minutes. After a few minutes of CPR, right before they were about to hit me with the defibrillator I woke up and the first thing out of my mouth was, "there better not be any BYU fans in here, if so I think I'd rather die!" That gave the doctors and nurses a little shock. I really don't hate BYU I just don't think they should be allowed to breathe the same air as the rest of us.

Get better soon, Wild Bill. We are looking forward to some new costumes.



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