ABA Featured ON ESPN........

[ABA06er]

Yes thats right the ABA and Chineese super 7'9 370 pound sensation Sun MingMing was featured on ESPN's hit tv show PTI.

Sun MingMing is a 23 year old who first came over to the United States nearly two years ago when he was projected as a first round pick in the NBA draft before being hospitlized for life saving brain surgery to remove a tumor. I wish him nothing but the best in his quest to get to the NBA and the exposure he will create for the ABA is amazing. I was already told that he appeared on the front page of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle this morning plugging the teams game in Rochester vs the Giant of a man on February 24th.


So the ABA introduced Stats on its main page and its debut on ESPN on the same day , I need to sit down for this one........

Just out of curiousity .... when was the last time the CBA or USBL appeared on ESPN ?

[The Magician]

Just out of curiousity .... when was the last time the CBA or USBL appeared on ESPN ?

A Vendetta [Blood Feud] with the USBL and especially with the CBA to me ???

[panchess]

..throughout the 80's, the CBA was broadcast on ESPN. I remember watching Albany (way before I moved over here) beat Wyoming on ESPN with Kevin Loughery doing the color.

When they got bigger contracts, the CBA went by the wayside, but I am still surprised more effort hasn't gone into some TV for the league.

Ming played in the USBL for Dodge City (and didn't do much), and I remember some curiousity-type stories then too. ESPN? I am not sure, but I am sure Ming made for a great non-Super Bowl moment on a slow news day.

The D-League was on ESPN a couple days ago for the Austin Toros mascot fouling up the end of the game with Colorado. That I know.

[Fells]

Ya know, it would be nice if the ABA would gain some positive attention for doing something other than signing someone who is 7'9.

By the way, you bet your @ss I am going to be at the Heaves/Maryland game. I have to see this guy to believe it. I am 5'9 and have never been two feet shorter than anyone before. Man, I think I may even break my journalistic ethics and have my picture taken with him. (Well, not ethics, but........)

[The Sweeper]

I second that, Fells. I've only missed one game, but I sure ain't missing this one. I guess I'll have to sit upstairs to make sure I can get some good video of him.

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

Yes thats right the ABA and Chineese super 7'9 370 pound sensation Sun MingMing was featured on ESPN's hit tv show PTI.

Sun MingMing is a 23 year old who first came over to the United States nearly two years ago when he was projected as a first round pick in the NBA draft before being hospitlized for life saving brain surgery to remove a tumor. I wish him nothing but the best in his quest to get to the NBA and the exposure he will create for the ABA is amazing. I was already told that he appeared on the front page of the Rochester Democrat and Chronicle this morning plugging the teams game in Rochester vs the Giant of a man on February 24th.


So the ABA introduced Stats on its main page and its debut on ESPN on the same day , I need to sit down for this one........

Just out of curiousity .... when was the last time the CBA or USBL appeared on ESPN ?

Whoa... down boy. Yes, Maryland signed a 7'9" player. But sensation?

http://www.amny.com/sports/basketball/ny-spsound0202,0,3107985.story?coll=ny-sports-mezz
Ming, who has been touted as the world's seventh tallest man, left China two years ago to pursue an NBA career. He was eligible for the 2005 NBA draft, but scouts, who expressed concerns about his lack of mobility, leaping ability and stamina, largely ignored him and he went undrafted.

... He played 23 games for Dodge City and averaged only 1.2 points per game, shooting under 30 percent from the floor.

But Ming's true attraction isn't his athletic ability. It's the fact that he dwarfs teammates who would normally tower over everyone else in the arena.

and

http://www.chinapost.com.tw/news/archives/sports/200722/101591.htm
Sun hasn't played organized basketball in more than six months, since a brief stint with the Dodge City Legend of the United States Basketball League, another minor American league.

"We will monitor his progress. His name has cropped up, but since he's never really played, I don't know how he can be on our radar," Marty Blake, the NBA's director of scouting, said in a telephone interview.

Now, I have to give props to Tom Doyle. He has a knack for getting the ABA what little national recognition it does receive, going back to last year when he offered to trade two Nighthawk players to Indiana for Ron Artest and discussed it on Cold Pizza. He has a pretty good business acumen; maybe the ABA could use him in another capacity and take advantage of it. I checked the league website; he isn't listed anywhere...

This sort of stuff at least gets some national notice - of course, the ABA also got notice when Sally Anthony went berzerk and tried to fire Ashley McIlhenny during a game - so even bad publicity is publicity, I guess.

As to your 'dig' about the CBA and USBL on national sports coverage: the CBA was on ESPN for years, and actually still on ESPN often - in the image of the players that the CBA has moved on to the NBA. As for the USBL, NBA TV televised their post-season festival. So each has been covered on a reputable national television outlet, including the broadcasting of games. The ABA is a looooong way from that standard; their TV history is:

a reality show announced in 2005:
"While it is premature to discuss the exact format," said Angela Rizzi, CEO of Prestige Promotions, "you could say this will be The Apprentice, the Contender and American Idol all wrapped up in one neat package - business, sports and entertainment - with a big prize."
http://www.realitytvmagazine.com/blog/2005/07/american_bastke.html

an obscure television network that nobody seemed to know existed:

http://www.abalive.com/news/releases/?newsid=2004120106005
Joe Newman, ABA co-Founder, today announced that America One Sports would begin its national and international television coverage (via OBE) with the telecast of Saturday night's Kentucky Colonels vs. Nashville Rhythm game at 6:30 p.m. Central Time.

and begging for national coverage:
http://www.abalive.com/news/releases/?newsid=2005081806001
If ABC, NBC, CBS, WTBS, ESPN, Fox Sports, WB, UPN, Spike, BET, TNT, USA happen to read this, please give me a call.

Ask this guy:

http://oursportscentral.com/services/releases/?id=3160348
The American Basketball Association (ABA) today named Tom McCoy, Vice President-Radio and Television

Apparently, he did a bang up job...

But yes, the ABA did get some national notice for signing a freakishly tall man. So, hang you hat on that if you like...

[The Magician]

So the ABA introduced Stats on its main page and its debut on ESPN on the same day , I need to sit down for this one ...

to contact the ABA and get the CEO on a conference call with all the league owners and get things handled!

ABA Stats are not superb, we have already discussed that item.

And ... If you think a nice little press release on Ming replaces the value that the ABA just lost, by both the Toledo and Chicago teams ceasing operations today ... that's crazy!

Let's see how many more teams fold up here shortly :mad:

There are some teams that could be called out ... and that's the ABA's responsibility, not ours!

[CJPhillips]

What amazes me when meeting tall individuals is not their height but when you shake their hands. The size of their hands.
Met and interviewed Gheorghe Muresan 7-foot-7 when he played at the World Junior Basketball Championships in Edmonton, Alberta.
Also have interviewed - was in the TV game and print mediums for 30 years and now freelancing - Jorge Gonzales, 7-foot-7, wrestler; Chuck Nevitt, 7-foot-5, basketball; Andre the Giant 7-foot-4, wrestler; Mark Eaton, 7-foot-4, basketball; Rik Smits, 7-foot-4, basketball.
Have played on teams with players that were 7-foot or 7-foot-2 and played against players who are 7-foot-2 or 7-foot-3 but not of any renown.
In a celebrity game once played against the Canadian Half-Pints, a team of hoop midgets, who brought out one ringer who they billed at 7-foot-8?
He was well over the 7-foot-2 or 7-foot-3 mark but was very sickly and nonathletic. Wish I could remember his name?
If could go back in history the two giants I wish I could have met would be Mills Darden who stood 7-foot- 6 and tipped the scales at more than 1,000 pounds and had feats of strength. Finally Roman Emperor Maximinus Thrax another strongman at 8-foot-6.
Pardon for any spelling mistakes as lost glasses and typing literally blind.

[Chuck the Writer]

Just out of curiousity .... when was the last time the CBA or USBL appeared on ESPN ?

Actually, it was this morning, when they did a piece on the first time two African-American head coaches met each other in the finals of a professional sport, in this case the 1975 NBA finals (Golden State over Washington, 4-0). Among the interview subjects in the piece were David DuPree (former Rochester Zeniths player), K.C. Jones (former player, Hartford Capitols) and Rick Barry (former coach, Fort Wayne Fury).

Wanna try again, crunchy?

[TEN]

I can help out with some of these....

Sun Ming Ming played for Dodge City in the USBL last summer....He played about 10 minutes a game at the most....other teams loved when when he came into the game because of the mismatch advantage THEY had because he had the mobility of a fencepost...The 6'8 guys he was going up against would just run right by him or spin right around him....He would get some blocks when he would have to play catch up and reach back for the block. I know he frusturated his coach because he thought he should be playing more...and the coach wanted to win...

I stood next to him (I'm 6'7) and was staring right at his chest (I've NEVER felt that short before!).

As for TV coverage....The USBL has had it's tournament tape delayed on NBA TV a couple of times the last few years (and is planning on it this year). The league got coverage on ESPN, CNN, TNT (during NBA playoff coverage) and a lot of national radio and newspaper coverage when Kareem Abdul Jabbar coached Oklahoma.

Got on Sportscenter and in all of the newspapers in 2001 when Jackie Stiles (NCAA leading scorer from SW Mizzou St and eventual WNBA Rookie of the Year) was drafted by the Dodge City Legend (her relatives were part owners of the team and she would have played a game or two but the WNBA told her she couldn't....she could have...she wasn't drafted by them at the time).

Also don't forget Randy Moss (Pennsylvania) and Terrell Owens (Adirondack) playing in the USBL and getting good national coverage...Darryl Dawkins also made numerous TV appearance and talked about his coaching job at PA.

Also don't forget that the USBL had a "game of the week" on Prime Sports Network (forerunner to the current Fox Sports Network) back in the late 80's and early 90's.

[one way]

sugar ray of albany was interviewed on cold pizza two weeks ago. that would mean cba on espn

[psbf]

Sugar Ray who, Leonard? I think you mean Michael Ray Richardson, the Albany head coach.

[Fells]

Sugar Ray who, Leonard? I think you mean Michael Ray Richardson, the Albany head coach.

Yeah, somehow I don't think Sugar Ray has anything to do with the ABA. Didn't Michael Ray get busted for coke while he was with the Nets or the Warriors?

[skipster]

The Albany coach was known by the nickname "Sugar Ray", and he was busted for coke/drug use on 3 different occassions, thus earning the NBA's first lifetime ban, which has since been lifted.

Nickname/Career Stats: http://www.databasebasketball.com/players/playerpage.htm?ilkid=RichaMi01

Drug use/Rehab: http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1355/is_17_104/ai_109959086

[psbf]

As far as I know, Michael Ray Richardson's only NBA team was when he played for the N.Y. Knicks. I remember how emotional he was as a player.

[nksports]

Most America One affiliates are Low Power stations, which are very rarely picked up by their local cable systems. Most LPTV stations are 50 kW or less (a full-power station is between 100 and 5,000 kW). LP stations, at best, have a radius of between 10 and 20 miles.