Kevin Durant Plays Intramural Flag Football With Oklahoma State Students
Kevin Durant plays intramural flag football at Oklahoma State University, Oct. 31, 2011. Photo by KT King, with permission. (@shuttrking)
There are still non-believers when it comes to Kevin Durant.
They roll their eyes when they read yet another story describing how humble and down to earth the Oklahoma City Thunder’s scoring champ is. They think writers are blowing smoke. They think the tales about his character are all just manufactured by the media. They think what they read about Durant is too good to be true.
But you can’t make up what Durant did Monday night.
Citing boredom caused by the 4-month-old NBA lockout, Durant made the short trek north to Stillwater, where he joined a group of Oklahoma State University students for a game of intramural flag football. Playing quarterback and corner, Durant stepped in as a surprising celebrity ringer and dominated while helping his team to victory, according to those in attendance. In the process, Durant turned Halloween 2011 in Stillwater into an unforgettable night. A night that folks in a crowd that started off meager but quickly grew into an estimated count of 500 will someday tell their children about. And those who witnessed Durant on the field Monday night left with an understanding the non-believers somehow still lack: Kevin Durant is just a different breed.
It all started when Durant posted a random message on his Twitter account early Monday evening:
As you can imagine, the query spawned a series of responses from Durant’s million-plus followers. Some were serious. Most were tongue in cheek, as the majority probably thought ‘yeah right, you’re never coming.’ Little did anyone know, Durant was dead serious. And when one follower responded with a serious invitation to join his all-business team, Durant pounced. The fan’s name is George Overbey.
Durant responded with a simple question. “Can I play?”
Overbey, taking the appropriate measures to protect his team, responded with a vital question of his own.
Can you catch?? We’ve won the ‘ship for 3 years! Tonight @ 10 RT @KDTrey5 : @groverbey can I play
To that, Durant responded “forreal?”
By 10:30 p.m, the word had spread via Twitter. Kevin Durant, two-time scoring champ, two-time All-Star, two-time All First-Team NBA, was at a local park playing pitch and catch with the locals. Durant’s team name? Sigma Nu. Overbey even had time to get KD a team shirt: KD’s customary No. 35 etched on the back with “KD” emblazoned above it. Photos are here.
Oddly enough, Overbey actually played high school ball with Blake Griffin at Oklahoma Christian School. This fact, Overbey pointed out to Durant in an ensuing private “direct message” conversation on Twitter in an attempt to prove he was a stand-up guy. Overbey provided his number and Durant said again that he wanted to play. Overbey then told Durant the team runs a spread. Durant asked if he could play quarterback and told Overbey he would text him.
Word began to spread about Durant’s expected arrival, but as Sarah McCubbin, a friend of Overbey’s who was in attendance Monday night said, “no one really believed it was actually going to happen.” But McCubbin soon became a believer. She passed along these details via email.
“At around 10 there were a solid 100 people there, but still no sign of KD. Then, in typical KD fashion, he pulls up in his “party van” with about 3 of his buddies at about 10:07ish. He gets there, people freak out, he puts on a Sigma Nu jersey that the guys made for him with a 35 on it, puts on his bball (I guess they dont make KD’s for football) shoes, and then he plays the whole game. He played quarterback and his first play he threw an interception and his second pass he through a touchdown. The rest of the game he did awesome … caught interceptions, he threw incredible spirals … he was the star of the show. Faster than everyone, jumped higher than everyone … I mean, it’s exactly what you would expect from an NBA All Star playing with a bunch of frat dudes. Whenever one of the guys would do something good or there was a touchdown they would all run and do that chest bump thing with him … ya know the one that him and Russell always do? IT. WAS. AWESOME.”
According to McCubbin, Sigma Nu had to forfeit the game because Durant doesn’t belong to the fraternity. It cost Sigma Nu a shot at a four-peat. Overbey and his buddies, of course, didn’t mind.
Durant, meanwhile, escaped lockout life for a few hours.
I had soooo much fun at Oklahoma st playing flag football! Shoutout my new buddy @groverbey for inviting me! I threw 4 tds and had 3 ints!!
In the end, everyone had a good time and everyone left with a night they will remember forever.
“I mean, talk about a dream come true,” McCubbin wrote. “I’d say by the end of the game there were 500+ people there … all college students. He took pics, signed some autographs, had to have a police escort to get out of there, and then hopped in his party van and went back to OKC.
“The most incredible night since beating L.A. in Game 3 and 4 of the 2010 playoffs … no lie.”
-DM-
NewsOK gallery of photos of Kevin Durant at OSU
KD’s blog on playing flag football at OSU
OSU beat writer Gina Mizell never expected to be covering flag football at OSU
Blake Griffin: Coming to an intramural football field near you?
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Comments
I for one am more than glad to welcome Kevin Durant as an honorary member of Sigma Nu at OSU (Epsilon Epsilon chapter of the Sigma Nu fraternity). What a deal. Way to go, Sigma Nu, and, for sure, way to go and mucho thanks to Kevin Durant.
[...] But he played some football Monday evening. Intermural flag football at Oklahoma State, but still some football. So tweeted James Poling of the Daily Collegian. [...]
Pretty cool. No, very cool. He doesn’t travel often on court, but off court he’s all over the place. You see reports of him all over the world, but it’s nice that he is in OKC even when he doesn’t need to be in OK.
Cool story. However, if I were Sam Presti I wouldn’t be happy. Robert Edwards was once a great running back from UGa and with the Dolphins, but shredded his knee in an offeason FF game. Career over. Just sayin’…
I guess he has some college eligibility left; maybe he can take Brandon’s place if the lock out continues! Ex-pros from other sports may be our new way to fill the QB slots. Was MG there scouting him?
[...] ‘this is really happening.’”KD did throw three picks though. Here’s one of them.Darnell Mayberry: “According to McCubbin, Sigma Nu had to forfeit the game because Durant doesn’t belong to [...]
[...] Kevin Durant went to Twitter yesterday telling his followers he was bored. A college student reached out and Durant ended up playing a game of flag football last night… [...]
[...] an Oklahoma State intramural football gameYahoo! Sports (blog)Houston Chronicle (blog) -NewsOK.com (blog) -CBSSports.com (blog)all 36 news [...]
[...] NewsOK.com – There are still non-believers when it comes to Kevin Durant. They roll their eyes when they read yet another story describing how humble and down to earth the Oklahoma City Thunder’s scoring champ is. They think writers are blowing smoke. They think the tales about his character are all just manufactured by the media. They think what they read about Durant is too good to be true. But you can’t make up what Durant did Monday night. Citing boredom caused by the 4-month-old NBA lockout, Durant made the short trek north to Stillwater, where he joined a group of Oklahoma State University students for a game of intramural flag football. Playing quarterback and corner, Durant stepped in as a surprising celebrity ringer and dominated while helping his team to victory, according to those in attendance. In the process, Durant turned Halloween 2011 in Stillwater into an unforgettable night. A night that folks in a crowd that started off meager but quickly grew into an estimated count of 500 will someday tell their children about. And those who witnessed Durant on the field Monday night left with an understanding the non-believers somehow still lack: Kevin Durant is just a different breed. [...]
[...] MORNING CHEATSHEET. stLight.options({publisher:'7a8b4cab-cefb-4cef-8af8-679e7fbc78e7'});emailThe Daily Oklahoman has an in depth look at Kevin Durant’s impromptu flag football game with a group of Oklahoma [...]
I’m an avid OU fan, but love KD and his down to earth sprit!! No matter where he went and played, OSU or where ever, that was a totally cool thing to do on his part. He is just about the same age as all of these college students and enjoys the same stuff that they all do. It’s great that he lives in a state that an NBA superstar can go out and just be one of the guys for a night. Way to go KD!!
[...] Well since KD isn’t ballin’ right now, NBA star Kevin Durant joined an intramural flag football game at Oklahoma State, where he led his team to a win and drew a crowd of about 500, The Oklahoman reports. [...]
KD is just about the coolest guy, ever. Seriously. What a story. How can anyone not absolutely love him?? So proud and lucky to have him in OKC.
[...] Thunder’s Kevin Durant saw fit to cruise up to Stillwater last night to play flag football. I saw his tweet yesterday afternoon, when he was in search of a pickup game. He found one. Have [...]
[...] Without the lockout, Kevin Durant would have spent his evening Monday in an L.A. hotel waiting for tonight’s NBA opener against the Lakers. Instead, he winds up in Stillwater, where he plays in a flag football game with some frat boys and makes some new friends. NewsOK.com [...]
[...] starring in new commercials and even spreading the hoops gospel with new tattoos. Now, we can add flag football to his list of goodwill [...]
[...] The Daily Oklahoman reported that Overbey once played high-school football with Los Angeles Clippers standout power forward Blake Griffin. And after a series of back-and-forth texts, Durant committed to playing for Overbey’s team later in the evening. [...]
[...] spread around campus during the evening that the NBA star would be on hand. So, unsurprisingly, 500 people turned out for the game. See Durant in action, [...]
[...] Co ciekawe sam pomysł na Flag Football pojawił się dość spontaniczne. Jeden z fanów z Oklahoma State zaczepił Duranta na Twitterze i nim się zorientowali już byli umówienie na wieczorną grę. Zawodnik pojawił się z małym opóźnieniem, ale spotkanie doszło do skutku i można powiedzieć, że Durant zaliczył całkiem udany występ. [...]
[...] spread around campus during the evening that the NBA star would be on hand. So, unsurprisingly, 500 people turned out for the game. See Durant in action, [...]
[...] spread around campus during the evening that the NBA star would be on hand. So, unsurprisingly, 500 people turned out for the game. See Durant in action, [...]
[...] spread around campus during the evening that the NBA star would be on hand. So, unsurprisingly, 500 people turned out for the game. See Durant in action, [...]
[...] to The Daily Oklahoman, Durant’s surprise appearance for the Oklahoma State Sigma Nu fraternity flag football team [...]
[...] It’s a good thing, too, because when Kevin Durant got bored during this year’s NBA lockout, he used Twitter to find somebody to play with. “This lockout is boring… anybody playing flag football in Okc…I need to run around or something!” he tweeted. A student at Oklahoma State responded, inviting him to join his Sigma Nu team as quarterback in an intramural game. Within hours, @KDTrey5 arrived and threw four TDs. [...]
[...] It’s a good thing, too, because when Kevin Durant got bored during this year’s NBA lockout, he used Twitter to find somebody to play with. “This lockout is boring… anybody playing flag football in Okc…I need to run around or something!” he tweeted. A student at Oklahoma State responded, inviting him to join his Sigma Nu team as quarterback in an intramural game. Within hours, @KDTrey5 arrived and threw four TDs. [...]
[...] It’s a good thing, too, because when Kevin Durant got bored during this year’s NBA lockout, he used Twitter to find somebody to play with. “This lockout is boring… anybody playing flag football in Okc…I need to run around or something!” he tweeted. A student at Oklahoma State responded, inviting him to join his Sigma Nu team as quarterback in an intramural game. Within hours, @KDTrey5 arrived and threw four TDs. [...]
[...] It’s a good thing, too, because when Kevin Durant got bored during this year’s NBA lockout, he used Twitter to find somebody to play with. “This lockout is boring… anybody playing flag football in Okc…I need to run around or something!” he tweeted. A student at Oklahoma State responded, inviting him to join his Sigma Nu team as quarterback in an intramural game. Within hours, @KDTrey5 arrived and threw four TDs. [...]
[...] It’s a good thing, too, because when Kevin Durant got bored during this year’s NBA lockout, he used Twitter to find somebody to play with. “This lockout is boring… anybody playing flag football in Okc…I need to run around or something!” he tweeted. A student at Oklahoma State responded, inviting him to join his Sigma Nu team as quarterback in an intramural game. Within hours, @KDTrey5 arrived and threw four TDs. [...]
[...] ce genre de rencontres organisées via Twitter existe depuis plusieurs mois (Kevin Durant, Shaquille O’Neal, Dana White, etc.), elles restent encore rares. Permettre aux fans de se [...]
[...] other major way it’s changed sports is the direct fan interaction. Look at what Kevin (Durant) did during the Lockout. I thought it was awesome. He really just wanted to go play flag football and asked for advice on [...]
[...] quarterback and cornerback, Durant helped lead his team to victory in what was an “unforgettable night” for the 500 spectators on [...]
[...] quarterback and cornerback, Durant helped lead his team to victory in what was an “unforgettable night” for the 500 spectators on [...]
[...] It’s a good thing, too, because when Kevin Durant got bored during this year’s NBA lockout, he used Twitter to find somebody to play with. “This lockout is boring… anybody playing flag football in Okc…I need to run around or something!” he tweeted. A student at Oklahoma State responded, inviting him to join his Sigma Nu team as quarterback in an intramural game. Within hours, @KDTrey5 arrived and threw four TDs. [...]
[...] It’s a good thing, too, because when Kevin Durant got bored during this year’s NBA lockout, he used Twitter to find somebody to play with. “This lockout is boring… anybody playing flag football in Okc…I need to run around or something!” he tweeted. A student at Oklahoma State responded, inviting him to join his Sigma Nu team as quarterback in an intramural game. Within hours, @KDTrey5 arrived and threw four TDs. [...]
[...] It’s a good thing, too, because when Kevin Durant got bored during this year’s NBA lockout, he used Twitter to find somebody to play with. “This lockout is boring… anybody playing flag football in Okc…I need to run around or something!” he tweeted. A student at Oklahoma State responded, inviting him to join his Sigma Nu team as quarterback in an intramural game. Within hours, @KDTrey5 arrived and threw four TDs. [...]
[...] NewsOK.com: At around 10 there were a solid 100 people there, but still no sign of KD. Then, in typical KD [...]