aba 2005 1st game

[hoopsjr]

i'll be going tonight (sunday) to see the pittsburgh aba team play...

unfortunately, the aba schedule is wrong...pittsburgh is not playing florida, they are playing indianapolis...

i'll report back about the game...attendance, atmosphere, etc...

[Otis Campbell]

Believe or not (of course we all believe it), Florida called Pittsburgh on the 28th and announced they couldn't make it because of Hurricane Wilma. The Alley Cats agreed to replace them.

Not a good start....

[hoopsjr]

well...

less than 500 people at the pittsburgh/ indiana game last night at mellon arena...

from a reliable source, there were around 900 "free tickets" distributed in the area for the opener, and around 100 tickets were actually "sold" for the game...

indiana was beating pittsburgh by 12 w/ around 2 minutes in the 4th quarter when i left...

[minorleagueball]

Thanks for the brief but can we get some more details? How was the game, atmosphere, entertainment, all this stuff the ABA's been hypin for months.

[hoopsjr]

the game was good...i knew what to expect, i officiate in the aba...there were several converted 3d's...

the defense was 1/2 court m2m, except for the last few minutes of the game, where pittsburgh decided to trap in the backcourt for potential 3d points...it didn't work...

the shot clock operator was slow for the 1st half...there were several stops in play to correct...

the entertainment was the pittsburgh 'bomb squad', the dancers for the team...there were maybe 12 girls, most of which were not attractive except a slim few (the blonde in the center was awesome...)

other than that, it was a basketball game...no giveaways, no 1/2 time entertainment, no t-shirts shot into the stands, etc...

names in attendance: marvin "bad news" barnes, freddie lewis, ricardo richardson...

attendance was so few, that the announcer decided to bring all of the fans down to the "blue seats" (center court, 30 rows)...

[nksports]

Should we start the death vigil for the ABA?

[Pounder]

BTW, the Indianapolis logo says "Indianapolis," the press release announcing that the Alley Cats will play at Anderson University references both Indianapolis and Indiana... and, oh, Anderson is 40 miles from downtown Indianapolis. Rock on, baby!

Got to grant Newman one thing... it's definitely funny.

[meyes]

Where are you seeing an Alleycats logo that still says Indianapolis? Originally, it did, but when the team got the venue in Anderson the logo was changed. That was at least several months ago.

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

Just wondering...

ABA 2005 KICKOFF EXTRAVAGANZA AWARDED TO PITTSBURGH XPLOSION!

21-Jul-2005
Pittsburgh, PA -- The ABA Pittsburgh Xplosion professional basketball team scheduled to begin play in November is proud to announce that it will be hosting the ABA Kickoff Weekend Friday, Saturday and Sunday, October 28-30th. Freddie Lewis and the team's ownership group, Pro Basketball, Inc. have just returned to Pittsburgh from a two-day meeting in Indianapolis, Indiana (held during Indiana Black Expo) where it was decided that Pittsburgh would host this gala event titled ABA's Season Kickoff Weekend.

Freddie Lewis stated, "The extravaganza is going to be huge and I'm excited for the city of Pittsburgh and its fans." The three-day event will include appearance by ABA/NBA legends including Freddie "Steady" Lewis, Julius "Dr. J" Erving, Moses Malone, George "Iceman" Gervin, Rick Barry and many of the original ABA legends. The weekend will also include performances by several national recording stars to be announced in the near future - all produced by ABA Entertainment.

In addition, the teams naming rights are available for purchase. The ownership group has been entertaining offers from several companies in Western Pennsylvania and will be meeting with several more through the end of July. The team is planning to announce a title sponsor along with the team name and logo at a press conference shortly.

Ryan Swank, Director of Marketing and Media Relations for Pro Basketball Inc. added, "We are extremely excited about bringing high quality basketball back to Pittsburgh and look forward to forming fantastic relationships with our regional businesses in support of the team." For more information, call Ryan at 877 410 9900 ext 625.

How much of the above actually took place on Sunday? Other than Freddie Lewis in attendance, of course - since he owns the team, I assumed he would have been there.

[barkley34]

Octagon, one of the biggest sports agencies in the world and they represent Moses Malone were not aware of Moses appearing in Pittsburgh or anything of that sort. Dr. J, Gervin and Moses were NOT slated to appear, it was simply a marketing ploy (obviously) from a has been who never was (Freddie Lewis??), rolling out the same old excuses of "their plane was delayed", "they had other engagements that came up", etc. As for National Recording acts??? WHo? Give this team 3 more games TOPS at the Mellon Center, and they will be packed up and on or their way out. For crying out loud..............CAN ANYONE IN THAT F******K LEAGUE TELL THE TRUTH??!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Why is EVERYTHING a lie and spin?? Jesus, tell it like it is and be HONEST!!!!!
"Idiocy is not all that bad, I am an idiot and I turned out OK" Sam "Hello Newman" Hill, OSC Legend