BOSTON – Not everyone is enthusiastic about this UConn men’s basketball team and its romp to the Final Four.
Somewhere in the midst of that 30-0 second-half run that knocked out Illinois Saturday night, aging comic Larry David had enough of the act.
“You can stop coaching, the game’s over,” David hollered at UConn’s Dan Hurley from his seat behind the scorers table. “Stop coaching!”
When David saw Donovan Clingan coming off the bench and about to check back into the game, he added, “Don’t put him back in.”
David, 76, was in town for a live show and got prime tickets. For most of UConn’s 77-52 victory, he sat quietly, but he was irritated — like the character he plays on his signature HBO series “Curb Your Enthusiasm” is often irritated — .when the Huskies kept pouring it on.
“Shame on you, Hurley,” he screamed. “Take the starters out.”
With TD Garden full and loud, Hurley probably didn’t hear David’s heckling, but the coach took it in stride after the game.
“I’m the Larry David of college coaching with my antics and idiosyncrasies,” he said, laughing. “So I’m disappointed. … No, ‘Curb Your Enthusiasm,’ that’s a good show.”
With about five minutes left, David got up and made his way out, stopping to chide a reporter who had posted a picture of him with his feet up in the first half, and left.
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If he stayed, he would have seen Hurley empty his bench.
David won multiple Emmy awards for his writing on the 1990s sitcom Seinfeld, often portraying Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in later years. He launched Curb on HBO in 2000 and it has become a cultural icon. It is ending, its final episode scheduled for April 7.
