Tombor
05-17-2005, 04:58 PM
Hi, I'm a long time lurker first time poster.
Most of the discussion on this board, around this time of year at least, seems to revolve around the USBL. I was just wondering if anybody here follows the IBL at all or has seen a game? A buddy of mine and I went to a Dayton Jets-Akron Lightning game Saturday and we had a lot of fun. The Jets play at Hara, which is sort of a dump and on the edge of being in the middle of nowhere and while I won't compare the talent to the old ABA, a darkly barn like Hara and very fast-paced rules gave it the feel of what an ABA game must've been like.
Since the actual space of Hara is about the size of a hockey rink, the court was laid out in the middle and seating was placed on the floor behind the hoops and along the sideline opposite of where the players, score keepers, and league officals were. They even had a guy on a turntable spinning the music. I pretty impressed by the style the game was presented.
As for the game itself it was a cake walk for the Jets which was something I kind of expected after reading the local paper's write ups. Nevertheless the game was fast paced and pretty dunk-friendly, the announcer for the game took a very AND1 style approach to calling it. The only issue I had with that was I wasn't particularly familiar with the Jets roster; the one player I knew was absent CBAer DeShawn Headley. The Jets uniforms have no names on the back and each player went by a nickname. By contrast Akron uniforms had names on their backs and the announcer referred to the players by name so I was actually familiar with the beer-gut Kevin Verde and the Ivan Drago-looking Bruce Weinkein.
Not to muddy up or exasberate this post any further but I'm the stat guy for WWSU's Warbird broadcasts, Dayton's other new franchise. The Warbirds came into town with a lot of huff and glitz and apparent legitimacy while the Jets sort of slid into town with nearly zero marketing. My first hand experience with the Warbirds have been ugly, ownership has changed 4 times, players aren't getting paid and as weeks have progressed the promos and presentation of Warbirds games have become increasingly bare boned. And while the Jets only drew maybe 900-1,000 for this game, which I guess is the current attendance, I was a lot more impressed with the product on the floor. Plus, unlike the Warbirds, the Jets owner is local and seems to have reasonably deep pockets.
I don't know I don't want to sound like an ad for the Jets. I just like to say I was pretty impressed with the team and the game. I wasn't sure if anybody else here on the board follows the other teams in the league? I guess some of the Michigan and Iowa teams just play in High School gyms. I read the Portland Chinooks play in a raquetball court.
Oh yeah on the feel of Hara giving the game an ABA feel... Hara is about 40 years old (I think) and stepping into the arena makes you feel like its 1972 at the latest. I just liked how the presentation of the game seemed to embrace that.
Ok sorry. I promise future posts won't be that long... or as rosey.
Most of the discussion on this board, around this time of year at least, seems to revolve around the USBL. I was just wondering if anybody here follows the IBL at all or has seen a game? A buddy of mine and I went to a Dayton Jets-Akron Lightning game Saturday and we had a lot of fun. The Jets play at Hara, which is sort of a dump and on the edge of being in the middle of nowhere and while I won't compare the talent to the old ABA, a darkly barn like Hara and very fast-paced rules gave it the feel of what an ABA game must've been like.
Since the actual space of Hara is about the size of a hockey rink, the court was laid out in the middle and seating was placed on the floor behind the hoops and along the sideline opposite of where the players, score keepers, and league officals were. They even had a guy on a turntable spinning the music. I pretty impressed by the style the game was presented.
As for the game itself it was a cake walk for the Jets which was something I kind of expected after reading the local paper's write ups. Nevertheless the game was fast paced and pretty dunk-friendly, the announcer for the game took a very AND1 style approach to calling it. The only issue I had with that was I wasn't particularly familiar with the Jets roster; the one player I knew was absent CBAer DeShawn Headley. The Jets uniforms have no names on the back and each player went by a nickname. By contrast Akron uniforms had names on their backs and the announcer referred to the players by name so I was actually familiar with the beer-gut Kevin Verde and the Ivan Drago-looking Bruce Weinkein.
Not to muddy up or exasberate this post any further but I'm the stat guy for WWSU's Warbird broadcasts, Dayton's other new franchise. The Warbirds came into town with a lot of huff and glitz and apparent legitimacy while the Jets sort of slid into town with nearly zero marketing. My first hand experience with the Warbirds have been ugly, ownership has changed 4 times, players aren't getting paid and as weeks have progressed the promos and presentation of Warbirds games have become increasingly bare boned. And while the Jets only drew maybe 900-1,000 for this game, which I guess is the current attendance, I was a lot more impressed with the product on the floor. Plus, unlike the Warbirds, the Jets owner is local and seems to have reasonably deep pockets.
I don't know I don't want to sound like an ad for the Jets. I just like to say I was pretty impressed with the team and the game. I wasn't sure if anybody else here on the board follows the other teams in the league? I guess some of the Michigan and Iowa teams just play in High School gyms. I read the Portland Chinooks play in a raquetball court.
Oh yeah on the feel of Hara giving the game an ABA feel... Hara is about 40 years old (I think) and stepping into the arena makes you feel like its 1972 at the latest. I just liked how the presentation of the game seemed to embrace that.
Ok sorry. I promise future posts won't be that long... or as rosey.