ABA Call-up To The NFL

[Shootmaster_44]

I'm sure you've all seen this but the ABA has finally accomplished in having a player called up to a top pro league. Apparently according to the ABA's site, Minnesota Ripknees Power Forward T.J. Cottrell. How quickly do you figure Joe Newman will use this to be little the NBA. We've sent players to the NFL, but the NBA hasn't.

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

he was averaging something like 3 points a game. I wonder why he caught the eye of an NFL team? Could it have been his performance in front of the plethora of packed houses? Maybe he reaped the benefit of the maximum exposure the league has given its players and teams.

Or, it could simply be due to the name listed under 'father' on his birth certificate - Charger D-Co-ordinator Ted Cottrell.

As for the NBA to other pro sports pipeline, there have been some prominent NBA players in other major league sports. Gene Conley and Dave Debusschere come immediately to mind (NBA to MLB)

[Minor League Man]

he was averaging something like 3 points a game. I wonder why he caught the eye of an NFL team? Could it have been his performance in front of the plethora of packed houses? Maybe he reaped the benefit of the maximum exposure the league has given its players and teams.

Or, it could simply be due to the name listed under 'father' on his birth certificate - Charger D-Co-ordinator Ted Cottrell.

As for the NBA to other pro sports pipeline, there have been some prominent NBA players in other major league sports. Gene Conley and Dave Debusschere come immediately to mind (NBA to MLB)
Not to mention Tony Gwynn was originally drafted by the San Diego Clippers (but chose the Padres later)

[nksports]

Tony Gonzalez of the KC Chiefs played basketball in college (and kept trying for several years for a pro basketball career).

Then again, I was watching a high school girls basketball game the other day, where if that school's football team would have hit as hard as those girls, they would have been better than 2-7. (There's a state prison a couple of miles from the school, and I think the players had to be done by nine to report back from work release.)

[Chuck the Writer]

I'm sure you've all seen this but the ABA has finally accomplished in having a player called up to a top pro league. Apparently according to the ABA's site, Minnesota Ripknees Power Forward T.J. Cottrell. How quickly do you figure Joe Newman will use this to be little the NBA. We've sent players to the NFL, but the NBA hasn't.

Big whoop. Back in 1982, when the Montana Golden Nuggets and the Billings Volcanos were beating each other to death in the CBA, a fight broke out during one game, and Montana's Ron Valentine got clobbered by Billings' Sam Clancy. Clancy was suspended by the CBA for three weeks - but was later called up to the Cleveland Browns, where he became a star football player.

And the CBA/EPBL has sent several players to major league baseball as well - the most recent one being former LaCrosse Bobcats skyscraper Mark Hendrickson, who last I heard pitched in the playoffs for the LA Dodgers. And Tommy LaSorda was a former CBA referee in the early 1960's.

But through it all, there's still one thing the ABA hasn't done yet since the day when Unca Joe reorganized the league. He hasn't sent a player directly to the NBA. Never. And don't expect any call-ups any time soon.

Unless the next call-up is for Unca Joe to share a room with Jim Trafficant. Maybe they can compare dead squirrel notes.

[Jamie]

Don't forget Michael Jordan's stellar career in baseball....

[Shootmaster_44]

Big whoop. Back in 1982, when the Montana Golden Nuggets and the Billings Volcanos were beating each other to death in the CBA, a fight broke out during one game, and Montana's Ron Valentine got clobbered by Billings' Sam Clancy. Clancy was suspended by the CBA for three weeks - but was later called up to the Cleveland Browns, where he became a star football player.

And the CBA/EPBL has sent several players to major league baseball as well - the most recent one being former LaCrosse Bobcats skyscraper Mark Hendrickson, who last I heard pitched in the playoffs for the LA Dodgers. And Tommy LaSorda was a former CBA referee in the early 1960's.

But through it all, there's still one thing the ABA hasn't done yet since the day when Unca Joe reorganized the league. He hasn't sent a player directly to the NBA. Never. And don't expect any call-ups any time soon.

Unless the next call-up is for Unca Joe to share a room with Jim Trafficant. Maybe they can compare dead squirrel notes.

haha yeah I know its not a big deal. Just figured it would be spun by Unca Joe into a slam against the NBA. For once he'd be right about the NBA not sending anyone to the NFL. Closest they came to that is either Dave Winfield who holds the distinction of being drafted by every pro league except the NHL (including the ABA and I think the AFL too) or Charlie Ward, who is the Heisman Trophy winning bench warmer for the Knicks I think.

[ABA06er]

This was no random we found an atheltic basketball player NFL Call-Up.

He is a NFL veteran from the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL.


Do your research posters before you speculate, as usual you have made fools of your selves.

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

TJ Cottrell lifetime NFL stats:
Year Team G GS Rec Yds Avg
2005 Minnesota Vikings 0 0 0 0 --- 0
2006 Minnesota Vikings 0 0 0 0 --- 0

NFL Veteran is stretching the truth just tad isn't it?

His father got SD to sign him so he could be allocated to NFL Europa.

And - just curious - who exactly is the "we" you reference in this otherwise grammatical buswreck of a sentence?
This was no random we found an atheltic basketball player NFL Call-Up

And which speculation was 'foolish' in this thread? Do you REALLY think San Diego signed him primarily because of his exposure in the ABA?

[rams80]

This was no random we found an atheltic basketball player NFL Call-Up.

He is a NFL veteran from the Minnesota Vikings of the NFL.


Do your research posters before you speculate, as usual you have made fools of your selves.

Hello there Chichester-kun...tell me, what is the color of the sky in your world?

[Chuck the Writer]

Do your research posters before you speculate, as usual you have made fools of your selves.

Pot... I'd like to introduce you to kettle.

[patmc16]

Not to mention Tony Gwynn was originally drafted by the San Diego Clippers (but chose the Padres later)

It has gone the other way too. Danny Ainge played for the Toronto Blue Jays for 3 years before going to the Boston Celtics.

[nksports]

It has gone the other way too. Danny Ainge played for the Toronto Blue Jays for 3 years before going to the Boston Celtics.

WWE's "The Big Show" played basketball (sort of) at Wichita State. Dennis Rodman also tried his hand in the WWE. Kareem Abdul-Jabbar played in a Kung Fu movie, "Game of Death" with Bruce Lee. (If I remember correctly, it's been a long time since I saw it, he gets blinded and killed by Lee in a fight to the death kind of thing.

[Shootmaster_44]

If you start looking at the WWE, many of the wrestlers were either college football players or college basketball players. I forget which colleges they played at but both Kevin Nash and The Undertaker were both basketball players. In fact if I remember correctly, Kevin Nash turned down playing pro ball in Europe to join the old WCW. I'm sure there's other former college basketball players kicking around in WWE and TNA, I just can't remember any others off the top of my head.

[nksports]

Macho Man Randy Savage was a minor-league catcher in the Cincinnati Reds farm system.

(We're really getting off the ABA beaten path here, so I'll bring it back), you know someone out there is going to try and get Sun Ming Ming into pro wrestling.

[Shootmaster_44]

Macho Man Randy Savage was a minor-league catcher in the Cincinnati Reds farm system.

(We're really getting off the ABA beaten path here, so I'll bring it back), you know someone out there is going to try and get Sun Ming Ming into pro wrestling.

I'm thinking that's almost a better idea than him going to the NBA. Though could he pass the WWE's wellness plan? I'm not entirely sure that after the problems that Andre the Giant had, Vince would bring in another guy with a similar affliction.

Did Sun Ming Ming defect from China or is he playing for Maryland under an agreement with the Chinese Basketball Association? Seems to me Yao Ming has to give a portion of his salary to the CBA and so did Wang Zhizhi, I wonder if Sun Ming Ming does?