Item in Howard Tsumura's High School Notebook in The Province. The clipping itself carries no printed date or page; the date and page were identified in October 2026 from ProQuest and newspapers.com listings showing this same column text on January 27, 1993, page 53 (previously filed as December 1992). Under the heading "CAGEY CRICKETER," Tsumura notes that Killarney senior forward Brian Seebaran "makes a habit of totals upward of 30 points a game" for the No. 24-ranked Cougars and "is acknowledged as one of B.C.'s top prep scorers" — but that he is also captain of Canada's under-19 national cricket team, set to compete for Canada at the World Cricket championships July 10-19 in Denmark, while until the middle of March "all the senior forward with the Killarney Cougars thinks about is basketball." The column's unforgettable headline story: the MEI-Abbotsford game halted and awarded to MEI after four live chickens were dropped from the gym ceiling in front of the MEI bench. The full column text appears in the photograph above.
Transcription (as printed):
Headline: “Chicken-dropping incident halts game” — Howard Tsumura’s High School Notebook, The Province. The full visible column is transcribed, in reading order:
The sky is falling! The sky is falling!
Actually, it was just another chapter in the senior boys’ basketball rivalry between Clearbrook’s MEI and Abbotsford.
As is tradition everytime the two Fraser Valley east-division teams play at Abby, Panther faithful flood the court with hundreds of rolls of toilet paper when their team scores its first points of the game.
On Saturday, however, things got out of hand when the No. 5-ranked Eagles (5-0) met Abby.
Referees awarded the game to MEI before the second-half tip off, with the Eagles leading 43-24, when, according to Eagles bench boss Arnold Dick, “Four chickens were dropped out of the ceiling in front of the MEI bench.”
At least one of the chickens, according to an MEI player, was still alive when it hit the floor of the gym.
CAGEY CRICKETER: Brian Seebaran has bats and wickets in the back of his mind, but until the middle of March, all the senior forward with the Killarney Cougars thinks about is basketball.
Seebaran, who makes a habit of totals upward of 30 points a game with the No. 24-ranked Cougars hoop squad, is acknowledged as one of B.C.’s top prep scorers. But he’s also the captain of Canada’s under-19 national cricket team. He competes for Canada at the World Cricket championships July 10-19 in Denmark.
TOURNAMENT TRAIL: Three of the top invitational basketball tournaments run Thursday through Saturday. On the senior girls’ side, Coquitlam’s Centennial hosts its 12-team Top 10 Shoot-Out, featuring No. 1 New Westminster, No. 3 Kelowna, No. 4 Mt. Baker, No. 6 Richmond, No. 8 Terry Fox and No. 10 Vernon. On the senior boys’ side, Pitt Meadows hosts a 12-team event that includes No. 3 Maple Ridge, No. 9 Argyle and No. 14 St. Thomas More. Also, Victoria’s St. Michael’s University School hosts an eight-team affair Friday and Saturday with No. 2 North Delta, No. 4 Richmond and No. 13 Vancouver College.
— Tsumura
Transcribed from the cleaned scan, 2026-10-20.
Source: The Province, Wednesday, January 27, 1993, p. 53, High School Notebook (Howard Tsumura). Date and page identified from listings, October 2026; the clipping itself carries no printed date or page.