ABA League Office is a PR Machine!

[The Magician]

WOW ... The ABA League Office is A PR Machine during these 2005-2006 Playoffs! ( Not. )

Thank goodness for the Rochester Razorsharks organization and the all the ABA teams who have participated in this year's playoffs ... Without them (and the media outlets and message boarders), we would have not any news on what's happening ...

This is supposed to be the most exciting time of the season for the ABA???

It's going on 11 a.m. EST ... and there is not a single playoff recap or highlight in the form of an ABA press release posted at abalive.com ...

I'm not talking about updating scores here ... I'm talking about some REAL coverage by the ABA League office.

Do you really think I want to wait till Saturday to listen to ABALive Talk to hear about events that happened 3 days before???

If it wasn't for the fact that there was a LIVE stream of yesterday's games ... I'm thinking ... "What ... The ABA Playoffs are going on?"

The playoff bracket at abalive.com has not even been updated yet ... That's sad! (No offense to the syphon & co.)

How can the ABA League office not take this seriously?

There appears to be no sense of urgency to make this league come alive!

Thanks Rochester for stepping up ...

[bdaly]

It's a little unfortunate. It seemed like the league hyped the heck out of the All Star Game - only to have it come off with a handful of glitches. This event has gone smoothly from what I can see. The welcoming party was well attended. The players are staying at a nearby downtown hotel. The crowd was modest (1,721), I suspect partially due to the late weekday start, people not knowing if Rochester would be there until Sunday, and the lack of discounts.

It was a great day of basketball nonetheless. I was told the Indiana v. Long Island game was a thriller, with Long Island emerging in 3OT (2 OT, then it's first to ten). The So Cal v. Maryland game was close. Bellingham held a lead into the third quarter before running out of steam versus a deeper San Jose team. San Jose started hitting threes and stopped trying to make (and missing) fancy dunks late to pull away.

Due to the 3OT game, the final game didn't start until around 8:30. Probably not ideal since the Razorsharks have catered to families with afternoon games this year. Nonetheless, it was entertaining. The Razorsharks went up by ten fairly early, but couldn't pull away. Atlanta didn't have tons of talent, but they worked hard and were relentless on D. Rochester finally pulled away with a few minutes to go.

So the field of eight was pretty strong. Rochester's James Reeves left with a foot injury. I wouldn't be surprised if he's done for the year. That could hurt Rochester's chances a bit. Rochester plays San Jose at noon, partially to avoid the NCAA tournament (with the So Cal v. Long Island game at 2:30). I think it's still a little too early, but it should be a fun afternoon with two good games.

Here's a little local coverage:

http://www.rochesterdandc.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060323/SPORTS/603230345
http://www.rochesterdandc.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060323/SPORTS0102/603230337/1007/SPORTS

[The Magician]

Thanks bdaly for the posting of the links and game action!

I have no doubt that the Rochester Razorsharks are putting on an excellent Great Eight event. Things get done in Rochester :)

With a well attended Welcome Party at The Keg Sports Bar - sponsored by LaBatts ... I would have enjoyed to read online at abalive.com (A Playoff Diary) of what happened at the the party? ... What was the atmosphere like? ... Who was there? ... Did any Celebrities or VIP's attend? ... What did the coaches, players, and fans have to say about the upcoming games and their opponents? What about those ABA owners, teams, players and fans who were not able to make it to the Great Eight - What about their ABA playoff experience???

It appears to me that the ABA League office is not willing to put in the required work ... and furthermore ... is there even an official PR officer or area within the league office to speak of???

[Chuck the Writer]

Here's my report on the game, as posted to Sam Amico's ProBasketballNews.com (the article also contains a photo of Rochester's Troy Brown going up for a dunk). I will be at the ABA semifinals and finals this weekend; anybody on this board going to the semis or championship game, come down and say hi.

http://www.probasketballnews.com/miller_0323.html

[bdaly]

On the ABA's PR, I get the impression there's not much of a brass to speak of. In fact, if I were to guess, they were the four or five folks I saw sitting in one row of the BCA (Newman, Rizzi, Richardson, and a person or two I didn't recognize); I'd bet that's essentially the league office. And, since they're all away, the update today was probably slow because of it. The ABA clearly needs to improve its stats and general web presence if it wants to be taken more seriously.

The Razorsharks are fairly well connected within our radio and TV community thanks to the ownership. So local personalities always show up to the games; yesterday wasn't an exception. I saw a couple shirts from teams that weren't in the 'Great Eight' (Toledo is one I recall). I don't think the welcome party had much more than players, owners and fans. So I'm not sure that exact diary would prove real interesting. However, a player diary or blog is a neat concept. For example, what are the guys doing today (probably the music auditions event and boxing tonight).

The idea of a great eight is interesting. It's risky, since if the home team isn't there, it'll be tough to draw people. I doubt there will be much of a crowd if the Razorsharks lose Saturday. Luckily for the league, they'll be there on at least two of three days (yesterday and Saturday). If the Razorsharks had been upset by Newark before the 'Great Eight,' that would have been their worst nightmare. Luckily for them and the Rochester fans, the Razorsharks are still in the thick of things. Then again, I'm sure a big part of it is just being in a real professional arena as opposed to a gym.

[The Magician]

Thanks Chuck for spending the time to write the article and including the action shot!

It's amost 10:45 p.m. EST ... Still no updates to the brackets at abalive.com?

Too bad we don't have a Playoff Picture Gallery posted at abalive.com ...

Guess the ABA League Office did not think of contracting a professional sports photographer for the playoffs?

A Player Diary or Blog ... What an even better idea! :)

But then again ... The ABA League Office does not appear to know how to showcase ("BRAND") the talent ("Product") that plays in the league ... Just announcing a bunch of players on the ALL ABA First, Second and Honorable Mention teams ... really does not do much for the visibility of the players and the teams that they represent.

Where are the player profiles at abalive.com? Could there not be a web page dedicated to the honorees?

Why couldn't there be a page at abalive.com devoted to the team/player matchups for the playoffs?

And STATS ... How hard would it have been to have the JOC TRAC system up and running at abalive.com for the playoffs? Doesn't the League Office utilize it's own official stats software for the ABA?

If the ABA League Office is willing to sit in a row ("On the Bench") ... I guess that's the League Office Culture ...

Kudos to the Rochester organization ... Your hard work is the heart of the playoffs! Visit the 2005-2006 ABA Playoffs at http://www.rochesterrazorsharks.com/

[Chuck the Writer]

Thanks Chuck for spending the time to write the article and including the action shot!

Thanks. I'll be at the games Sat and Sun, drop by and say hi if you can.

Guess the ABA League Office did not think of contracting a professional sports photographer for the playoffs?

You know - I actually called Joe Newman about two weeks ago and asked if he wanted me to take photographs for the game (if you go to http://www.albanypats.com and click on the photo galleries in the fan zone, you can see the sports photos I normally take). He politely declined, stating that he usually gets thousands of photographs after such events sent to him for free. Go figure.

[The Magician]

Cool shots at http://www.albanypats.com Chuck!

Thousands of shots get sent to the League Office after ABA events ???

Hmm ... I'm confused ...

Click on http://www.abalive.com/abaphotos/photo.cgi?photo=20060223233118

Let's count the photos from the All Star Game ... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 ... "10"

I'm just in awe over the amount of photos in that gallery :rolleyes:

[9:40 a.m. EST ... Still the Playoff Brackets have not been updated at abalive.com]