TEN
11-27-2006, 10:36 AM
It's funny....I've had Ed tell me this this stuff many times....ball being stuffed...travel by flying carpet...etc...
He feels the same way I do about it.....The ABA muddies the water for the rest of the leagues trying to do it right....There is a reason you have franchise fees of 100 to 300K...It weeds out the people who can't afford to do it! If you can't afford to get into the league...chances are, you can't afford to run a franchise right!
The NBA, NFL and major league baseball charge millions in franchise fees...for the same reason to an extent!
I did get on Uncle Joe's email list this weekend (don't know how) and have an e-mail where he blows sunshine up some ABA owners butt....
'New' ABA gets dissed and dismissed
This story ran on nwitimes.com on Sunday, November 26, 2006 12:01 AM CST
Al Hamnik/Times Columnist
There's a stink emanating from the American Basketball Association, a lack of credibility as comical as it is disturbing.
Franchises reportedly are being sold for $15,000 to $20,000 -- even lower. Teams fold at an alarming rate, many in their inaugural season and some actually ceasing operations during halftime of the game.
Owners, investors and sponsors are threatening legal action.
The Hammond Rollers are fresh from the ABA womb and already-frustrated owner Denise Pulphus is angry with the league and Commissioner Joe Newman. You certainly can't blame her with three of their first five games either canceled or rescheduled and the remaining schedule in a state of flux.
Fans aren't stupid. They will write off the Rollers quick as a hiccup if another "No Game Tonight" sign appears on the front door of the Hammond Civic Center. Sadly, the team has lost all credibility with most local media who view the "new" ABA and the Rollers as a joke.
Ed Krinsky has sympathy for the Hammond entry, but he's not surprised. Mention "ABA" and he automatically holds his nose. The former general manager of the Long Island Express signed a three-year contract in 2000, hired ex-NBA player Truck Robinson as his coach, then watched the franchise fold before its first game.
"Forty percent of the ABA games scheduled the last two years have not been played," said Krinsky, now operations director for the USBL. "The ABA has tarnished all of minor league basketball. It's recreation. It's not professional basketball.
"I'm waiting for them to announce a new Mideast Division with teams in Baghdad, Damascus, Tehran -- and they're gonna travel by magic carpet."
NBA, CBA, USBL and Developmental League coaches and officials have been openly critical of Newman's operation. Remember, this is NOT your father's ABA that gave us Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Rick Barry and Artis Gilmore.
"Most of the people they sell these teams to now don't know if a basketball is blown up or stuffed," Krinsky said of an ownership base that, in many cases, hasn't a clue.
The web site features teams in Tijuana, Beijing, Quebec, Montreal and New Mexico. But schedules and rosters are incomplete, or unavailable. There are no "news" items.
Another concern is that once a team folds, that area is left with a "scorched earth" image and no other league finds it attractive for obvious reasons. I'm waiting for Newman to call back and argue that point.
Krinsky was asked to join a class action suit being planned against the ABA, but said he declined because he had sued when the Long Island Express went under and was eventually awarded $36,000 -- claiming the distinction of having made the most money of any ABA employee in the history of the new league.
He's just happy to have escaped with the shirt on his back.
This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach him at ahamnik@nwitimes.com.
He feels the same way I do about it.....The ABA muddies the water for the rest of the leagues trying to do it right....There is a reason you have franchise fees of 100 to 300K...It weeds out the people who can't afford to do it! If you can't afford to get into the league...chances are, you can't afford to run a franchise right!
The NBA, NFL and major league baseball charge millions in franchise fees...for the same reason to an extent!
I did get on Uncle Joe's email list this weekend (don't know how) and have an e-mail where he blows sunshine up some ABA owners butt....
'New' ABA gets dissed and dismissed
This story ran on nwitimes.com on Sunday, November 26, 2006 12:01 AM CST
Al Hamnik/Times Columnist
There's a stink emanating from the American Basketball Association, a lack of credibility as comical as it is disturbing.
Franchises reportedly are being sold for $15,000 to $20,000 -- even lower. Teams fold at an alarming rate, many in their inaugural season and some actually ceasing operations during halftime of the game.
Owners, investors and sponsors are threatening legal action.
The Hammond Rollers are fresh from the ABA womb and already-frustrated owner Denise Pulphus is angry with the league and Commissioner Joe Newman. You certainly can't blame her with three of their first five games either canceled or rescheduled and the remaining schedule in a state of flux.
Fans aren't stupid. They will write off the Rollers quick as a hiccup if another "No Game Tonight" sign appears on the front door of the Hammond Civic Center. Sadly, the team has lost all credibility with most local media who view the "new" ABA and the Rollers as a joke.
Ed Krinsky has sympathy for the Hammond entry, but he's not surprised. Mention "ABA" and he automatically holds his nose. The former general manager of the Long Island Express signed a three-year contract in 2000, hired ex-NBA player Truck Robinson as his coach, then watched the franchise fold before its first game.
"Forty percent of the ABA games scheduled the last two years have not been played," said Krinsky, now operations director for the USBL. "The ABA has tarnished all of minor league basketball. It's recreation. It's not professional basketball.
"I'm waiting for them to announce a new Mideast Division with teams in Baghdad, Damascus, Tehran -- and they're gonna travel by magic carpet."
NBA, CBA, USBL and Developmental League coaches and officials have been openly critical of Newman's operation. Remember, this is NOT your father's ABA that gave us Julius Erving, Moses Malone, Rick Barry and Artis Gilmore.
"Most of the people they sell these teams to now don't know if a basketball is blown up or stuffed," Krinsky said of an ownership base that, in many cases, hasn't a clue.
The web site features teams in Tijuana, Beijing, Quebec, Montreal and New Mexico. But schedules and rosters are incomplete, or unavailable. There are no "news" items.
Another concern is that once a team folds, that area is left with a "scorched earth" image and no other league finds it attractive for obvious reasons. I'm waiting for Newman to call back and argue that point.
Krinsky was asked to join a class action suit being planned against the ABA, but said he declined because he had sued when the Long Island Express went under and was eventually awarded $36,000 -- claiming the distinction of having made the most money of any ABA employee in the history of the new league.
He's just happy to have escaped with the shirt on his back.
This column solely represents the writer's opinion. Reach him at ahamnik@nwitimes.com.