Rocky
12-16-2003, 12:58 AM
The Vegas press is notorious for being hard on minor leagues, but this snippet takes the prize.
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/births/2003/dec/09/515991779.html
Roy Hammonds, the new "owner" of Las Vegas' latest rumored minor-league pro basketball team, said the reason he hasn't told anybody that our city would have an entry in a 7-team remnant of a league calling itself the American Basketball Association -- even though the other six teams began playing two weeks ago -- is that he "didn't want to hear" how this team, like all the others of its ilk, wouldn't make it here. So he'll have to read it instead: The Rattlers won't make it here, even if they do find a place to play their home games before Dec. 22, the date of their scheduled home opener. If no high school or middle school gym is available, I guess they can always spring for some nets and use the rims at Sunset Park. ...
One of two news releases posted on the ABA website, dated Nov. 7, trumpets the Long Beach Jam's signing of 5-foot-9 Yuta Tabuse, said to be the best point guard in Japan, which is kind of like being the best blues guitarist in Idaho. Let's see, the old ABA had Dr. J., George Gervin, David Thompson, Rick Barry, Dan Issel, George McGinnis, Connie Hawkins, et al, and it didn't survive. So forgive me if I don't see the "new ABA" riding the coattails of Yuta Tabuse to long-term viability, regardless of how many baskets Master P sinks in Tijuana and Juarez. ... No. 4 on the list of nine "positives" the ABA is promoting on its website to counteract several negative articles is that the league "has booked hundreds of hotel rooms," thereby boosting the local economies in its league cities, two of which are in Mexican border towns. The story did n't say whether the league actually had paid for the rooms. While I have never stayed at the Tijuana Hilton or the Juarez H! yatt, I'm sure they are lovely, provided you don't drink the water. ...
http://www.lasvegassun.com/sunbin/stories/births/2003/dec/09/515991779.html
Roy Hammonds, the new "owner" of Las Vegas' latest rumored minor-league pro basketball team, said the reason he hasn't told anybody that our city would have an entry in a 7-team remnant of a league calling itself the American Basketball Association -- even though the other six teams began playing two weeks ago -- is that he "didn't want to hear" how this team, like all the others of its ilk, wouldn't make it here. So he'll have to read it instead: The Rattlers won't make it here, even if they do find a place to play their home games before Dec. 22, the date of their scheduled home opener. If no high school or middle school gym is available, I guess they can always spring for some nets and use the rims at Sunset Park. ...
One of two news releases posted on the ABA website, dated Nov. 7, trumpets the Long Beach Jam's signing of 5-foot-9 Yuta Tabuse, said to be the best point guard in Japan, which is kind of like being the best blues guitarist in Idaho. Let's see, the old ABA had Dr. J., George Gervin, David Thompson, Rick Barry, Dan Issel, George McGinnis, Connie Hawkins, et al, and it didn't survive. So forgive me if I don't see the "new ABA" riding the coattails of Yuta Tabuse to long-term viability, regardless of how many baskets Master P sinks in Tijuana and Juarez. ... No. 4 on the list of nine "positives" the ABA is promoting on its website to counteract several negative articles is that the league "has booked hundreds of hotel rooms," thereby boosting the local economies in its league cities, two of which are in Mexican border towns. The story did n't say whether the league actually had paid for the rooms. While I have never stayed at the Tijuana Hilton or the Juarez H! yatt, I'm sure they are lovely, provided you don't drink the water. ...