A 'pure' fan

When Jimmy Webb attends Missouri women’s basketball games, he doesn’t deck out in black and gold, or yell at referees, or even stand for the Missouri Waltz when it plays during the second half of games.

He sits in the sixth row behind the Missouri bench, surrounded by stomping, yelling, and griping fans. He’s quiet for most of the game, groaning occasionally and clapping after a good play, sometimes regardless of which team makes it.

He just loves what he calls “pure basketball.”

Missouri’s win against Colorado on Jan. 28 was not an especially high-scoring game. The Tigers led the Buffaloes 23-20 at the end of the first half, but Webb called it “exhilarating” nonetheless.

“In the winter of ’98... I was hooked,” he said. “Just, the quality of play. They actually played basketball. It wasn’t lots of bells and whistles and flashes.

It was running plays and paying attention to defense. I like the style of play.”

Webb, 58, who lives in Jefferson City, has had season tickets for eight years, which is as long as the athletic department has sold season tickets for women’s basketball games. Before that, he drove to the arena and paid admission for each game.

“Some of these folks are just fun to watch play,” he said. “There have always been players on this team that are fun to watch. When I started, it was the Julie Helm show, and she was an incredible athlete. It was ‘What’s she going to do next?’ Just extraordinary.”

Senior Blair Hardiek blocks a shot, then races down the court to receive the pass. But she misses the layup, and Webb groans along with the rest of the crowd.

“Everything was picture perfect all the way through that,” he said. “It was just that the timing was off. It would been more fun had she made it, but it was awesome to watch Blair be Blair, you know? You can miss shots and look really bad doing it and she didn’t. That’s because of the effort she’s put in, and it showed there, and I appreciate that.

“Some go up there and just fly to pieces and I go, ‘What?’ It’s just a lack of discipline and focus, but this team is good with that. It’s such a disciplined approach.”

Later, after Marchele Campbell brings the ball and reverses around a taller Colorado player, Webb is just as complimentary.

“That’s why Campbell is fun to watch,” he said. “Did you see that move? That’s worth the price of admission right there.”

Webb’s wife, Jeannie Martin Webb, who is a teacher in California, Missouri, and also a pastor at Russellville United Methodist Church, describes her husband as the most clever and hilarious person she knows.

“I actually love that he is such the women’s fan,” she said. “He says things like ‘Why would anyone want to watch men play sports? They just lumber up the court. You should see these women play, now they’re talented.’

“I think it’s great he has that attitude, because women’s sports aren’t given the attention they should. It’s an opportunity

for some of those women. They’ll launch from that to things that are good and important to them. So I love that he’s like, their biggest fan.”

Jimmy Webb missed the second home conference game against Texas on Jan. 10 when the Tigers lost to the Longhorns 79-77 in overtime because he had tripped down his basement stairs and sprained his ankle.

“It was miserable,” he said. “I was on crutches, pain killers, antibiotics. But if it hadn’t been my driving foot, I’d have tried to make it here anyway. The prospect of driving through the fog of medication with my left foot, up the highway, maybe. But through Columbia... I decided I really wanted to be here at the end of the season to cheer them on, so we’ll take this one and try to heal.”

In addition to his sprained ankle, Webb was also dealing with a vision issue in his eye. He said that a couple of years ago, in what he calls his “wild youth,” he would be more likely to do things like fight his way to games in the ice and snow when many fans wouldn’t want to make the trip.

“Normally — not this season, because I’ve been blind and crippled — my general rule is to watch the team practice as soon as the doors open,” he said. “I love to watch that when they warm up, see their attitude and work ethic.

“Anybody that’s ever gone to a baseball game with me knows (to) get there early because I like to watch practice and put down the chalk lines, watch the game. Then after I like to watch the ground crew cover the field and I’m ready to go. It’s kind of like that with this.”

Although Jimmy Webb said the superstitious characteristics of baseball haven’t rubbed off on him, his wife thinks differently.

“You know he’s got the rituals, right?” she asked. “Well, he’s ratted out now. One season he went to Bambino’s before the game, and he has the lucky sweatshirt I bought him for Valentine’s Day one year... but he’s got these patterns and he stays with the streak, whatever it is.

“He has a Coke at the game, doesn’t have a Coke at the game, whatever his deal is. He just does it all the time, because you’ve got to honor the streak and help them.”

Throughout this season, his ritual has been to eat at Arby’s on gameday. When reminded that Jimmy Webb didn’t make it to Columbia for the Texas game, and therefore missed the trip to the restaurant, they both laughed and shook their heads.

“See, Cindy Stein made them run laps for that,” Jeannie Martin Webb said. “And it was Jimmy all along.”

“HEART OF THE TIGER”: Tonight’s game against Texas A&M is the third annual “Heart of the Tiger” game. In a partnership between the Mizzou athletic department and the University of Missouri Health Care, one dollar from every ticket sold will go toward heart health-related research at the UMHC. The first 500 fans will receive a free T-shirt and a special half-time program will recognize cardiovascular disease survivors.