Robin Ficker (with a bugel-like device) back when he used to heckle visiting NBA teams at Washington Bullets' games. Now, he heckles visiting wrestling squads at Terrapin wrestling matches.
Once considered the NBA’s preeminent heckler, Robin Ficker has switched roles and can now stake his claim to the Terrapin wrestling team’s most boisterous supporter.
Ficker first became a known quantity thanks to his choice seats at the US Air Arena, formerly the home of the Washington Bullets. Ficker’s season tickets ended up right behind the visitor’s bench, and he took full advantage. He quickly became the team’s most notorious fan and often drew the ire of opposing teams and fellow fans alike.
We are talking about a guy who got on the nerves of the Zen master himself, Hall of Fame NBA coach Phil Jackson, by reading passages of Jackson’s autobiography aloud during games.
We are also talking about a guy who was so good at heckling, Charles Barkley flew him out to a playoff game so he could sit behind the Chicago Bulls’ bench and taunt Michael Jordan about his gambling habits with huge decks of cards and dice.
Eventually the NBA had enough, and when the Bullets Wizards moved to the MCI Center, they also made sure to move Ficker’s seat from behind the opposing bench to underneath the basket.
Without his usual stomping grounds available to him, the man Red Auerbach once called “a disgrace” has turned his attention to the Terps’ wrestling team.
The move is less improbable than one might think.
Ficker said he first began his career as a wrestling supporter when his son, Flynn Ficker, wrestled for UC-Davis as a heavyweight. He said he used to go to every single one of his son’s matches for five years, and that includes the year he redshirted as well.
With his son out of college, Ficker’s legendary heckling skills were dormant. Instead, he was content to work as a lawyer in Bethesda and run the steps in Cole Field House. That is until current Terp assistant coach Todd Beckerman, who wrestled with Ficker’s son at Dematha Catholic, suggested he come out to one of the Terps’ meets. He’s been hooked ever since.
I got my first taste of Ficker on Jan. 23 at the dual meet with Duke and NC State in the Comcast Pavilion. Ficker showed up with a Maryland t-shirt and a bugle, the latter of which was taken away by Athletics Department officials after just one sound.
“They called it an artificial noise-maker, but I call it a musical instrument,” Ficker said. “The basketball team gets the band, I don’t get why the wrestling team can’t have their own section as well. The army has been using bugles for years to get guys going.”
Since that incident, Ficker has been following the team with his incessant chants and heckling at every single meet, most recently this weekend. He appeared Friday and Sunday with an enormous Maryland flag. He even got a rise out of the Hofstra bench Sunday, as one assistant coach turned to me and asked if that guy “had been drinking” before the match.
Ficker is not done either. He plans to be in Charlottesville on Saturday when the Terps take on No. 24 Virginia, saying Cavaliers’ fans have been taking it easy. Ficker is going down to show them what true fandom is all about.
“They do have a town named Reston in their state after all,” Ficker said.
Ficker says he has had opposing coaches offer to wrestle him, and is all but certain to draw the ire of the Virginia fans the minute he starts shouting. He has already gotten under the skin of many of his fellow Terp fans as well as a number Athletics Department officials.
Coach Kerry McCoy learned of his loudest supporter’s celebrity status earlier this weekend and has been decidedly diplomatic about the recent support.
“I love that he brings energy into the crowd, and there are times when the guys and I have had to chuckle at some of his phrases,” McCoy said. “There are probably some things we could do without, but I don’t mind the support at all.”
Ficker has a number of choice cheers he is ready to use when he gets to Charlottesville, especially a few puns related to Virginia being the home state of Robert E. Lee. But frankly, it would be a shame for me to ruin them before he even gets a chance to use them.
Ficker said he was speaking to Kurt Klier, the director of Intramural Sports for CRS at the university, and Klier told him nearly 4,000 people used to show up for wrestling matches. Inspired by the story, Ficker is now encouraging everyone he can to go to the wrestling meets and cheer and heckle loudly alongside him, no matter how many people don’t like it.
“Wrestling is a masculine and physical sport,” Ficker said. “And I am going to make sure I cheer accordingly.”
Mike Lemaire is the Terrapin wrestling beat writer. He can be reached at lemaire@umdbk.com
Here is some further reading on Mr. Ficker from a Sports Illustrated article in 1992: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/vault/article/magazine/MAG1004607/index.htm
Eric, where were you when that article was written 18 years ago? A flash in your Dad’s eye?
Get on this train before it leaves the station. The Terp wrestlers are going to SHOCK THE WORLD in the NCAAs!
Virginia is going to be a stepping stone for the Terps. And I say that happiLEE!
Having Robin Ficker attend our duals is an embarrassment to the university and the wrestling program. His antics are contrary to what being good sports is about. There is even an announcement before the duals that claims “Terp fans are the best in the Nation.” Then we have to see and hear this idiot prattle on with what he thinks are witty quips, but most people think his the actions of a complete jerk.
Even worse is that there isn’t an article about the wrestling team, which won a Maryland record 18th dual meet on Saturday. No, the headline goes to this jerk.
Terpinator,
We also have a newspaper. Here is the article about the Terps winning their meets this weekend.
http://www.diamondbackonline.com/sports/wrestling-storms-back-for-win-against-american-1.1148294
Hopefully this is what you were looking for.
Terpinator,
The Ficker fandom is a welcome addition to the wrestling team. I fail to see how his attendance at the matches is an embarrassment to the university. Maryland fans at basketball games call our opponents \asssss hoolllleees.\ Nothing Ficker says is anywhere near as embarrassing. In my opinion, the best type of fan, is a \ficker\ fan.
terpinator you might have a problem with ficker but i know the maryland wrestling team loves having him at their matches.
How do you “know” the wrestling team loves having him at our matches? He’s an mbarrassment to those who have been around the program, such as former wrestlers. It’s a shame some jackass shows up at dual meets a couple of weeks ago and now gets more press than the athletes who have been on campus for five years.
Terpinator, you armchair critic, you are going to sleep like a baby tonight—you are going to wake up and cry every two hours. Basketball is in the paper every day. Wrestlers get a little ink and you want your bottle.
read the teams comments on him in the articles written on ficker, and more importantly take a look at the bench while he’s belting his rhymes you can see a smile crack on most of the coaching staff and wrestlers faces
terpinatorslayer,
So you’re not a member of the team, but claim to speak for them and long time boosters. Nuf said.
I don’t have a problem with anyone showing support for UMD athletics. Sure, he may be loud, obnoxious, etc., but as someone already mentioned, his enthusiasm is tame compared to the students at a mens b-ball game. Quite honestly, having Ficker at a wrestling event may actually encourage students to recognize we have sports other than football and basketball and gasp! show up to a match.
Since it seems to be so important to some on these boards, I am not a member of the current team, but I have to believe the wrestlers are capable of speaking for themselves on Ficker (which they have).
Sounds to me like the team likes it. First off, it was the assistant coach that invited him to the match to begin with. Wrestlers were quoted in another article saying:
\I kind of like it,\ Bell said. \It adds a little bit of excitement to the match, a little bit of laughs.\
\I love it,\ Gilmore agreed. \It cracks me up. I think it makes some people uncomfortable, because It’s not a usual thing for a wrestling match, but I like it. It adds a little spice to the match.\
\Awesome,\ summarized Taylor. \You see very aggressive, passionate parents, but he’s having a lot of fun with it. That’s sort of what it’s about, I think. I really like to have him come. It’s a nice change of pace for us.\
McCoy, the coach, said Ficker is \good for the sport,\
Have you ever been to a basketball game with a thousand fans heckling the opposing team taking a foul shot. I couldn’t believe it the last game against Virginia, never seen anything like it.