The Heaves

[Fells]

There was so much that happened last night, and will happen over the next few weeks following Vermont's throttling of Texas last night.

Ben and Jerry's will debut a new flavor in honor of the title. The flavor is rumored to be either "Heaves whoop-ass frosty", "Wolff Watermelon", "Heaves Hash" or "THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE COLA!!!!"

Bump the Moose will be the new mascot for the state.

Those darn Frost Heaves will never be repaired now!!!!

Kerry Lyons wins the governorship with Coach Voight as the Lieutenant Governor. Alex Wolff promoted to God.

Green Mountain Coffee comes out with "Roasted Texas".

Barre Auditorium is renamed "Frost Heaves Ben and Jerry's, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Mel's Auto Repair(Where you get the dents from the Frost Craters repaired), Moose Preservation Society, Tree Hugging, No Billboards in Vermont Center"

The speed limit on public roads changed to 143 mph.

Burger King to stay open past 11!!!!!!!

Did I mention the Frost Heaves won't be repaired until 2032??

Way to go guys.

You expected some breaking news?????????????? Lord, I have been talking to Chuck too much if you think I will actually do THAT!!!!

[TheStandard]

ok ok ok ok. im a city boy. what is a frost heave? (boy am i dumb)

[The Sweeper]

Was there a small earthquake reported last night with the epicenter being the Aud? I thought the bleachers were going to give way a couple of times.

[TheStandard]

i thought the same damn thing i thought we would have had a distaster and avalanche of people.i really thought those bleachers were going to give way

[carterpatterson]

Fells, where can I get my 2007 ABA Champion Frost Heaves T-Shirt?

I'm curious.....Do the players get rings?

[The Sweeper]

http://www.timesargus.com/assets/pdf/frostheavesshirt.pdf

They are $20. Bought mine on the way out of the Aud. Was one of the last to leave.

There might be more shirts coming, this was the only one available last night.

[bdaly]

I'm curious.....Do the players get rings?
I know rings are up to the individual teams. The Razorsharks paid for rings last year, and I wouldn't be surprised if Vermont does the same this year.

[heavesrock]

Standard, a Frost Heaves is where water or moist soil gets under the road and freezes, and since water expands when it freezes it juts up into the road creating a disater for cars. Hence the team motto, "We're gonna be the bump in your road."

[TheStandard]

ahh so that is what i hit back two months ago in Bennington lol. damn my behind hurt from that one.

I remember when basketball in Vermont was The Catamounts and Champlain College now its The Catamounts and The Heaves.

[sportsguy12]

http://www.timesargus.com/assets/pdf/frostheavesshirt.pdf

They are $20. Bought mine on the way out of the Aud. Was one of the last to leave.

There might be more shirts coming, this was the only one available last night.

commemorative ABA championship VHS tape.

[heavesrock]

Live near Bennington Standard?

[TheStandard]

no live in NYC have friends in Bennington

[Minor League Man]

There was so much that happened last night, and will happen over the next few weeks following Vermont's throttling of Texas last night.

Ben and Jerry's will debut a new flavor in honor of the title. The flavor is rumored to be either "Heaves whoop-ass frosty", "Wolff Watermelon", "Heaves Hash" or "THREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE COLA!!!!"

Bump the Moose will be the new mascot for the state.

Those darn Frost Heaves will never be repaired now!!!!

Kerry Lyons wins the governorship with Coach Voight as the Lieutenant Governor. Alex Wolff promoted to God.

Green Mountain Coffee comes out with "Roasted Texas".

Barre Auditorium is renamed "Frost Heaves Ben and Jerry's, Green Mountain Coffee Roasters, Mel's Auto Repair(Where you get the dents from the Frost Craters repaired), Moose Preservation Society, Tree Hugging, No Billboards in Vermont Center"

The speed limit on public roads changed to 143 mph.

Burger King to stay open past 11!!!!!!!

Did I mention the Frost Heaves won't be repaired until 2032??

Way to go guys.

You expected some breaking news?????????????? Lord, I have been talking to Chuck too much if you think I will actually do THAT!!!!
Fells, you have been hanging around Chuck the Writer too long...this is the SEVENTH keyboard I've broken by drink spilling while laughing so hard...

[teqkng]

Fells,
It was great meeting you the other night at the Serious Butt Whooping that went on in Barre. I was waiting for you to post the headline that the Tycoons were going home to the poor house but I saw you were a bit more gentle.
Sweeper,
Now I know the face... Fells pointed you out to me, I am sorry we could not hook up. I guess with all the celebrations going on the short chubby guy in a JAM jersey did not make good company.
Heavesrock...
I dont know what to say, I missed you and wanted to place the face. I hope there was a really good reason for you to miss the game. At least tell me she had red hair...

THE FROST HEAVES ROCK NEW ENGLAND, THE NORTHEAST... ... AND THE WHOLE FRIKKIN ABA!

(P.S.) why is it with all the "Bump" signs all over and being that close to Canada no one knew that "Cahot" meant "Bump" in canada? Growing up in Duluth MN. I remember seing Cahot signs on the American side of the border.

2 antlers and a "Bump"

[carterpatterson]

In celebration of the Vermont Frost Heaves, I took the family to the local Ben & Jerry's after dinner tonight. They have not renamed any ice cream after the Frost Heaves yet, but I'm sure its coming....and well deserved.

[TheStandard]

you know it sucked that i didnt get to meet all of you guys because the place was packed like sardines and more of a mad house than cameron indoor. I did get to see a few of my old college buddies and got to meet great people from such a humble place as Barre. I will always enjoy the time and all the future time i will spend at Barre.

It made me feel 9 years younger again but about 15 pounds fatter especially with phish food and chunkey monkey. I've decided to spend the whole between vermont and plattsburgh so more ice cream, maple syrup and coffee for me and well another frost heave wont hurt lol

[Minor League Man]

In celebration of the Vermont Frost Heaves, I took the family to the local Ben & Jerry's after dinner tonight. They have not renamed any ice cream after the Frost Heaves yet, but I'm sure its coming....and well deserved.
Did you order Moose Tracks (if they have that flavor)?

[TheStandard]

no i did not. my friends did. at least i will be staying in a place that i can catch the Puerto Rican league game from Orlando by the way its at the Amway Arena at 6pm tomorrow saturday tickets are still on sale. so far 8800 sold.

[heavesrock]

Heavesrock...
I dont know what to say, I missed you and wanted to place the face. I hope there was a really good reason for you to miss the game. At least tell me she had red hair...



I'm in SC with my family. Made travel plans before the game was scheduled. Thought I wouldn't even be able to listen to games but I got luck and l have wireless.

[The Sweeper]

Fells,
It was great meeting you the other night at the Serious Butt Whooping that went on in Barre. I was waiting for you to post the headline that the Tycoons were going home to the poor house but I saw you were a bit more gentle.
Sweeper,
Now I know the face... Fells pointed you out to me, I am sorry we could not hook up. I guess with all the celebrations going on the short chubby guy in a JAM jersey did not make good company.
Heavesrock...
I dont know what to say, I missed you and wanted to place the face. I hope there was a really good reason for you to miss the game. At least tell me she had red hair...

THE FROST HEAVES ROCK NEW ENGLAND, THE NORTHEAST... ... AND THE WHOLE FRIKKIN ABA!

(P.S.) why is it with all the "Bump" signs all over and being that close to Canada no one knew that "Cahot" meant "Bump" in canada? Growing up in Duluth MN. I remember seing Cahot signs on the American side of the border.

2 antlers and a "Bump"


No need to worry. I don't discriminate. I did see the Jam jersey, by the way. I was really looking for Fells. I wanted to get his reaction to the first half. Rarely a man of few words, what I got was "WOW!".

I actually like the line I put on a thread over at CatamountCountry "Heaves Bankrupt Tycoons"

[waynemorrell13]

Does everyone know the road to the championship for the Texas Tycoons? if not let me tell you. They beat Quad cities and Beijing. Waited to find out who won the Vermont game on Tuesday night. They found out Vermont won at about 10pm. They call Vermont and the ABA front offices trying to re-schedule the game for saturday or friday so that they can get there and get rest. The ABA as well as the Frost Heaves organization denied the request. The ABA paid for Texas to travel which is a bonus right? But Texas had to wake up at 4:00 am on thursday morning ( the day of the championship ) catch a flight from dallas to philly, made it to philly at 11am, flew from philly to boston. Made it to Boston at about 1:30pm. Waited on an airport bus to pick them up at 2:30pm and drove 3 hours and 30 minutes to vermont. Stopped at McDonalds to eat something at 5:00pm and made it to the gym at 6:00pm for a game which was set to be played at 7:05pm. Vermont did do them a favor and changed it to 7:30pm. The Tycoons tried to muster up some kind of energy to play the game but as we all see fell well short of their goal. Texas failed to score 100 points for the first time all season and I know it wasnt because of the defense of vermont. the shot 10-33 from tha 3 and they were mostly wide open. A team in vermont who averages 99 points a game played against a team in texas who averages 132 points and had never scored less than 118 points on the year and vermont some how holds them to 95. Im the last to make excuses but the whole ABA bullsh!ted texas to the fullest. The ABA paid for the trip and knew the iteneray and still made them play the same day. You figure it out.

[cglue]

It wasnt fair and I hope we clear it up for next season. There has to be another format in place.

cglue

[waynemorrell13]

The funny part is that the fans don't know what happened and they truly believe that their team was that much better than texas. People are saying that the N.E. Division was just that much stronger than the south and west. But I think Beijing beat vermont this year if im correct. That has to say something about texas. It was fun and I hope Vermont enjoys every bit of this championship.

[Fells]

The funny part is that the fans don't know what happened and they truly believe that their team was that much better than texas. People are saying that the N.E. Division was just that much stronger than the south and west. But I think Beijing beat vermont this year if im correct. That has to say something about texas. It was fun and I hope Vermont enjoys every bit of this championship.

Beijing did not play Vermont this season.

[The Sweeper]

We only lost to 4 teams this season Quebec City-2 (opening night and once in Barre-our only home loss). Rochester-2 (both at Rochester), Strong Island-1 (again, away), and Buffalo-1 (away)

[heavesrock]

You don't lose 143-95 because you're tired. BTW Vermont is statistically the best defensive team in the league.

[besl]

The obvious question that I haven't seen anyone ask is why Texas didn't fly out on Wednesday to give them a day's rest in Barre. Jet Blue will fly you into Burlington and Southwest can get you to Manchester, both pretty close to Barre. Southwest almost always has quite a few last-minute seats available. They could have even taken a red-eye out Tuesday night. All they needed to do is buy refundable tickets ahead of time, and if by chance Vermont doesn't win their semi-final, you cancel the tickets. And if Texas isn't willing to pay their own airfare, I don't think they can complain about which flights the league sets them up with.

[jamesaba]

Does everyone know the road to the championship for the Texas Tycoons? if not let me tell you. They beat Quad cities and Beijing. Waited to find out who won the Vermont game on Tuesday night. They found out Vermont won at about 10pm. They call Vermont and the ABA front offices trying to re-schedule the game for saturday or friday so that they can get there and get rest. The ABA as well as the Frost Heaves organization denied the request. The ABA paid for Texas to travel which is a bonus right? But Texas had to wake up at 4:00 am on thursday morning ( the day of the championship ) catch a flight from dallas to philly, made it to philly at 11am, flew from philly to boston. Made it to Boston at about 1:30pm. Waited on an airport bus to pick them up at 2:30pm and drove 3 hours and 30 minutes to vermont. Stopped at McDonalds to eat something at 5:00pm and made it to the gym at 6:00pm for a game which was set to be played at 7:05pm. Vermont did do them a favor and changed it to 7:30pm. The Tycoons tried to muster up some kind of energy to play the game but as we all see fell well short of their goal. Texas failed to score 100 points for the first time all season and I know it wasnt because of the defense of vermont. the shot 10-33 from tha 3 and they were mostly wide open. A team in vermont who averages 99 points a game played against a team in texas who averages 132 points and had never scored less than 118 points on the year and vermont some how holds them to 95. Im the last to make excuses but the whole ABA bullsh!ted texas to the fullest. The ABA paid for the trip and knew the iteneray and still made them play the same day. You figure it out.

Texas has 20 wins against Waco, Houston, and Monterrey...so their really 5-5 against decent teams. Based on what i saw in Vermont, Montreal could beat Texas. Good athletes and good one on one players, they are, but you cannot beat a real team like Vermont by playing one on one. And to claim like they did, in that press release, that they should've been the higher seed is a joke! They could not beat Vermont if they played 100 games in a row, in Texas! Vermont had more wins and played a 10x harder schedule than Texas.

I did not see Texas run one play the whole night. It was always each player taking turns who gets to try and be the hero. And against a good team defense they weren't getting much. And with that all their other 4 players were watching and not in position to rebound so VT killed them on the boards. On defense, they did not rotate to the corner so Vermont tricked them all night by penetrating and kicking out and swinging the ball around to the open man.....swish...good night!

If your team came in and played a good game plan and looked overly fatigued - we might give you a pass. The Cape Cod Frenzy (a 10-22 team in the Blue North) came into Barre after 3 road games in 3 days starting in Rochester and drove 12 hours the day of the game in a snowstorm and cramped in minivans - and still had Vermont down by 10 with 4 minutes to play. They lost in the end but they played a good game plan. A month later they came to Burlington with only 7 PLAYERS due to illness and one player being in a car accident. Their only post player was 6'6 and the two reserves were both shooting guards. They had the Heaves down 10 all night and did fail to fatigue in the last two minutes of the game. Ask any of the diehard Frost Heave fans on this board - I'm sure they know the games I am talking about. Did the Frenzy complain about having 5 road games in 5 days or having to travel up the day of the game with only 7 players? No.

And yes the referees missed a few calls that should've gone your way like the push over the halfcourt line - but thats what home court advantage is all about....you think that was bad?? Try playing in Canada with Canadian refs or in Rochester!

[Fells]

Trust me, I have seen the officiating this year and it wasn't nearly as awful as it usually is.

[TEN]

While what is coming out of Texas really does sound like sour grapes....As someone who has been on both sides of the issue... If you think that travel fatigue can't cause a 50 point loss then you don't know much about the life in pro basketball (Those kind of losses, while maybe not 50 points, happen in the NBA quite regularly on a schedule not nearly as demanding).

To me, what hurts the credibility of the championship game (other than the convoluted playoff system and the pickup team quality of the ABA) is the fact that it was played on a court that is much smaller than regulation size. Vermont did exactly what it had to do with its circumstances.....They played suffocating team defense against a team that is used to getting up and down the floor (which you can't do when there is no room to run).

My USBL team is hosting the USBL Tournament this summer and we are hosting it at a facility that is not our normal home court because our home court is a little smaller than a regulation college court. The USBL wants to make sure that the championship tournament is played in a regulation sized facility.

It DOES make a difference.....I know what kind of home court advantage our team has all season long!

[LASportsFan]

I agree with Ten completely on the topic of court size. Court size can completely dictate the tempo and style of play in a game. This is something that MUST be regulated by the league office. Every team must play on a college sized court, period. No high school or middle school courts should be allowed. By allowing every team to just play on any size court available, it does introduce a HUGE advantage to the home team playing on the smaller court. Again, a lack of league-wide rules and enforcement has made the ABA the Premiere Bush League!!!!

[waynemorrell13]

To the person who talked about Cape Cod, They did complain about having to make that road trip and they don't play the style that Texas plays. It is much easier for a team that does not use a fast breaking, spread you out and go by you style of play like Texas to come in and slow the game down and be competitive. Texas plays one on one because they have athletes that are always a match-up problem. They don't need to run plays like Cape Cod. Im sure Beacham had a 6'8-6'9 dude on him that he could have taken to the whole all night but I doubt he had the energy nor the room on the court to do it. Im also sure that Vermont didnt trick Texas by penetrating and kicking to the corner for an open 3 either. Im pretty positive that when Vermont penetrated Texas would help but due to thier lack of quickness after being shackled on buses and planes all day couldnt rotate quickly enough to the shooters. They probably tried to play a zone which they don't do either. They are a man to man in your face until you get tired type of team and they couldnt do that all night. You cant trick a professional team with penetrating and kicking. You see that from high school on up. It was clearly apparent that Texas was out manned because of thier situation. Maybe they wouldnt have won but who knows. If they truly thought they were better they should have postponed the game until friday. And if you look at the press realease on this site it states that Texas tried to get flights out on wednesday and there were only flights available for maximum 6 people and the others would have to spend the night somewhere and wake up at 5am anyway and travel. No team, not even Vermont would have been able to pay for 16 people to take a red eye on 5hrs notice. Teams dont have that much money. So the easiest thing to do would have been reschedule the game and promote it more since it is the biggest game of the year and everything would have been fine. Don't sugar coat the hustle that happened. Accept it and just be happy with the asterick on that championship. Texas rescheduled a game in the playoffs two days for one of the teams so that they could get rest. Texas did that because they know they have a good team. They don't need any advantages.

[Alumni96]

To the person who talked about Cape Cod, They did complain about having to make that road trip and they don't play the style that Texas plays. It is much easier for a team that does not use a fast breaking, spread you out and go by you style of play like Texas to come in and slow the game down and be competitive. Texas plays one on one because they have athletes that are always a match-up problem. They don't need to run plays like Cape Cod. Im sure Beacham had a 6'8-6'9 dude on him that he could have taken to the whole all night but I doubt he had the energy nor the room on the court to do it. Im also sure that Vermont didnt trick Texas by penetrating and kicking to the corner for an open 3 either. Im pretty positive that when Vermont penetrated Texas would help but due to thier lack of quickness after being shackled on buses and planes all day couldnt rotate quickly enough to the shooters. They probably tried to play a zone which they don't do either. They are a man to man in your face until you get tired type of team and they couldnt do that all night. You cant trick a professional team with penetrating and kicking. You see that from high school on up. It was clearly apparent that Texas was out manned because of thier situation. Maybe they wouldnt have won but who knows. If they truly thought they were better they should have postponed the game until friday. And if you look at the press realease on this site it states that Texas tried to get flights out on wednesday and there were only flights available for maximum 6 people and the others would have to spend the night somewhere and wake up at 5am anyway and travel. No team, not even Vermont would have been able to pay for 16 people to take a red eye on 5hrs notice. Teams dont have that much money. So the easiest thing to do would have been reschedule the game and promote it more since it is the biggest game of the year and everything would have been fine. Don't sugar coat the hustle that happened. Accept it and just be happy with the asterick on that championship. Texas rescheduled a game in the playoffs two days for one of the teams so that they could get rest. Texas did that because they know they have a good team. They don't need any advantages.

Wow what an impressive pile of horse**** this thread is. Your team was at a disadvantage I'll grant you. Mr. Terrell was obviously frustrated and embarrassed by his teams performance. He managed to both compliment and accuse the Vermont team of conspiring to fix the championship all in one press release. That release is what is known as damage control. His team was BLOWN off the floor. Some of that can be attributed to fatigue, but not 48 pts worth. The floor size is what it is. Texas couldn't play their style of game because they failed to play defense and rebound. You can't get out and run unless you do those two things. The Tycoons also had enough energy to put up some impressive dunks by ally ooping off the wall to themselves in warmups. It didn't seem to phase them then. Since they were so tired from the travel the shorter court should have been a relief. Right? The Tycoons were overconfident and underprepared. They payed the price.

Why didn't Texas have travel plans sooner? The only place they were going to have to travel to was Vermont. If Wilmington had won they would have had to go to Texas.

[besl]

For what its worth, of the other teams Vermont played, Bellingham probably plays the most similar style to Texas and while they lost to the Heaves three times, the combined margin in those games is still less than the 48 point margin of victory in the Texas-Vermont game. I'd say Bellingham did a decent job adjusting to the shorter floor, so why couldn't Texas?

[TEN]

I don't know...maybe showing up for the game a half hour before after traveling all day long might have something to do with it!

[The Sweeper]

Taken from today's Heaves e-mail newsletter:

"Our opponent in the title game arrived 90 minutes before tipoff, and we had to purchase the championship trophy ourselves—though the league will reimburse us for the cost."

I also noticed that the Tycoons warm-ups were mostly dunking. I chalked this up to "normal" warm-up procedures for them. Since they average 132/game, they get off their shots rather quickly (at least it goes to reason). They only let the shot clock go below 10 seconds less than 10 times in the first half, again, I figured that this is normal for them.

I do believe the Heaves were pushing the Tycoons when the Texas coach got his technical.

As far as the cowbells go? I am sure he was not the only one to have a headache from them. I was hearing them the next day as well.

[TEN]

They had to buy their own championship trophy?

It will be very interesting to see what Alex Woolf will do.....He got it done in a small market making the best of a horrible league....How excited would those fans get if they played in a legit league that was run properly?

I hope we get to see that in the future.

[Alumni96]

I don't know...maybe showing up for the game a half hour before after traveling all day long might have something to do with it!

This is a poor excuse for their performance. It won't change by posting it over and over. Last time I checked Bellingham, Washington was pretty far away as well. They got down early against the Heaves. They had the discipline and intestinal fortitude to mount a comeback. The Tycoons didn't.
One advantage the Slam had over the Tycoons is that the Bellingham game was played in Burlington. Its a much different crowd and atmosphere. The density of cowbells is much lower there. I watched both the Wilmington coach and Mr. Terrell struggle to deal with the noise in Barre. Its hard to call plays when your players can't hear you. There were times when i could see the Wilmington coach jumping up and down and screaming. I could see his lips moving but couldn't here what he was screaming. The Championship game was even louder. The Heaves are used to that environment and use hand signals to call plays at times. The travel arrangements are only part of the story. Stop trumpeting it like it was the only reason they lost. Vermont earned this championship by playing their best basketball of the year at the most critical time.

[rams80]

Well, if you're complaining about travel, the obvious solution is to reduce the ABA's footprint to a regional level. I know just which regions to purge as well...

[The Sweeper]

One of the reasons the Wilmington coach got his technical foul was beacuse no one on the floor could hear him calling for a time-out. But he was signaling for one. He apparently lost his temper and the ref hit him with the 't'.

[heavesrock]

Chicago got right off the bus and played and lost by what, 9 in VT.

[Alumni96]

Chicago got right off the bus and played and lost by what, 9 in VT.

Yep and they had 6 guys if I remember correctly. Imagine how tired they were. Now that would be something to complain about. Christ they drove thru a blizzard to get there as well.

Although in fairness to Texas, that Heaves team was nothing in comparison to the one that finished the year. It says alot about the coach. He really improved those players game. I'm glad we got him signed for next year.

[jamesaba]

Yep and they had 6 guys if I remember correctly. Imagine how tired they were. Now that would be something to complain about. Christ they drove thru a blizzard to get there as well.

Although in fairness to Texas, that Heaves team was nothing in comparison to the one that finished the year. It says alot about the coach. He really improved those players game. I'm glad we got him signed for next year.

Actually I think the Chicago Rockstars did the same thing as Texas...they flew in the day of the game. Then they had trouble at Logan as their coach coudldnt rent a van. So they ended up sitting in the airport until help arrived - like 3 hours. So by the time they got to Barre, through a snowstorm, they were about an hour late for the game.

At least Texas had 90 minutes to warm up.

Oh yeah and Chicago had only 6 players and had a chance to pull out the game in the end!

And on top of that, Chicago was a .500 team from the White North.

[The Sweeper]

I thought I had read in the Times Argus that the Rockstars flew into Manchester, not Logan. Maybe I read wrong, though. That was the only game I had to leave early from.

[jamesaba]

It was definitely Logan cause Ian, the Frenzy's owner, was the one who came up to help rent the van for the Rockstars or else the game wouldn't have happened!!

[heavesrock]

it was logan I am sure. BTW they actually had 7 players, just one of them fouled out.

[waynemorrell13]

Im pretty sure Chicago didnt have to wake up at 3:45 in the morning either to get there. The travell situation is not an excuse for texas losing by 48. They had already packed up the bus after early in the third quarter when I believe they made a run and got down by like 18 or 20 and beacham got pushed in the back at half court. They took thier starters out and said that the league was trash and Vermont can have the title. They did give up late but why should they have tried to make the game respectable. The league isnt respectable and who cares if you lose by 1 or 50 its all the same. I also heard that the ABA came out with a list of the all-aba teams and that no one from texas was on the list anywhere. This is pure bull.... how can a team that makes it to the championship not have anyone on the first team, second team, third team or honorable mentions. Especially when one the players played in the all-star game and won the dunk contest and had 22pts 9rebs and 4asst in the game and was a big reason why the west won. Not to mention that Beacham was a player of the year candidate and all of a sudden cant even make honorable mentions. Could this be because of the article Mr. Terrell wrote about the league? Oh yeah... Beacham also averaged 19pts, 15.3 rebs, 5 assist, 2.5blks, and 2 steals a game while shooting about 56percent from the 3 in the playoffs. He averaged about 24pts, 14 rebs and 5 assist for the year on the team that made it to the championship. Stuff is just too funny in the ABA. I promise that this is my last year dealing with the ABA.

[The Sweeper]

To the folks who commented on Chicago's transportation from Logan: I stand corrected. When I make a mistake, I admit it. Just wish I knew where I thought I read that they came into Manchester...

waynemorrell13,

If you're talking about the play where the Heaves 'helped' the Tycoons over the half court line, it was at the beginning of the second quarter (I am one of the few VT fans who will agree that they got pushed. I was sitting 3 rows up, at half court, opposite the scorers table.). Clearly in the later stages of the game, you can see on the Texas players' faces that they couldn't believe what was happening. Rewatching the game, I can't count how many times I see the Tycoons shaking their head in disbelief.

[Fells]

To the folks who commented on Chicago's transportation from Logan: I stand corrected. When I make a mistake, I admit it. Just wish I knew where I thought I read that they came into Manchester...

waynemorrell13,

If you're talking about the play where the Heaves 'helped' the Tycoons over the half court line, it was at the beginning of the second quarter (I am one of the few VT fans who will agree that they got pushed. I was sitting 3 rows up, at half court, opposite the scorers table.). Clearly in the later stages of the game, you can see on the Texas players' faces that they couldn't believe what was happening. Rewatching the game, I can't count how many times I see the Tycoons shaking their head in disbelief.

They were shell shocked. I don't know much about Texas, but from the looks on their faces, they had no idea how to react. Vermont plays very tough defense and are very much in your face. If Texas played in an offensive minded division, they may not have been used to what they were playing against.

Travel is not easy on the body. Heck, I have trouble functioning after a full day of flying, but these are professional athletes and is what they are paid for. NBA players have to go on back to back nights and they manage to perform at a high level. If these guys want to climb the professional ladder, travel snafus are things they need to learn to deal with.

[The Sweeper]

I know that air travel mand bus travel are two completely different things, but I have to add this...

I was part of the bus load of fans that went north of the border for our last two regular season games (Montreal and Quebec City). The game in Montreal got done around 10. The fans boarded the bus, and we headed to the Hilton in Quebec City. Anyone who has driven that, by car, bus, truck, knows that it's a pretty rough interstate. We pulled into the Hilton at 1AM. Check out time was 10 AM. With the changing of the clock, we only had 8 hours to get up stairs, sleep, get up, shower, eat and check out. Now considering the players would have close to the same schedule (They obviously have to get to the arena much earlier than we do), I had a deep respect for what they go through. I'm 6'2" and I can only imagine how a guy like Hyman (6' 10") feels on a bus to Quebec City after bumping and banging againt the Royal all night.

[Sam Hill]

All I want to say is that I've been selected to receive two free iPod Nanos, so I'm really pleased.

[utahstarsticketholder]

minutes she told me, I won the IPOD nanos! What gives!

[tbayz1]

that stupid ad drives me crazy:eek:

[LASportsFan]

I hope I'm not giving Joe any ideas, but I can hear it now:

"Congratulations!!! You've been selected to own an ABA franchise!!!"

[Fells]

I hope I'm not giving Joe any ideas, but I can hear it now:

"Congratulations!!! You've been selected to own an ABA franchise!!!"

SNARF!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crap, a mouthful of a good Chiraz just went shooting out the nose and ears......

[mvhcpa]

SNARF!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Crap, a mouthful of a good Chiraz just went shooting out the nose and ears......

...maybe it's time to wear a Depends on your face when you are snacking and sipping while checking OSC?:infun:

Michael Val
(who is sure his neighbors are wondering what all the maniacal laughter is about over here!)

[jamesaba]

To the person who talked about Cape Cod, They did complain about having to make that road trip and they don't play the style that Texas plays. It is much easier for a team that does not use a fast breaking, spread you out and go by you style of play like Texas to come in and slow the game down and be competitive. Texas plays one on one because they have athletes that are always a match-up problem. They don't need to run plays like Cape Cod. Im sure Beacham had a 6'8-6'9 dude on him that he could have taken to the whole all night but I doubt he had the energy nor the room on the court to do it. Im also sure that Vermont didnt trick Texas by penetrating and kicking to the corner for an open 3 either. Im pretty positive that when Vermont penetrated Texas would help but due to thier lack of quickness after being shackled on buses and planes all day couldnt rotate quickly enough to the shooters. They probably tried to play a zone which they don't do either. They are a man to man in your face until you get tired type of team and they couldnt do that all night. You cant trick a professional team with penetrating and kicking. You see that from high school on up. It was clearly apparent that Texas was out manned because of thier situation. Maybe they wouldnt have won but who knows. If they truly thought they were better they should have postponed the game until friday. And if you look at the press realease on this site it states that Texas tried to get flights out on wednesday and there were only flights available for maximum 6 people and the others would have to spend the night somewhere and wake up at 5am anyway and travel. No team, not even Vermont would have been able to pay for 16 people to take a red eye on 5hrs notice. Teams dont have that much money. So the easiest thing to do would have been reschedule the game and promote it more since it is the biggest game of the year and everything would have been fine. Don't sugar coat the hustle that happened. Accept it and just be happy with the asterick on that championship. Texas rescheduled a game in the playoffs two days for one of the teams so that they could get rest. Texas did that because they know they have a good team. They don't need any advantages.

Good Teams run plays....at all levels (NCAA, NBA, ABA, CBA, NBDL, High School).

You're players were not a mismatch of any sort for the Frost Heaves. The Heaves were bigger, stronger, and in better shape by the looks of them physically than the Tycoons. And they crushed you on the boards.

Your players could rarely get by them one on one. It was dribble, dribble, dribble get stopped, pick up the dribble - get trapped and either turnover or wild shot attempt as the shot clock expired. That was your offense on most possessions. Perhaps the smaller court hurt you in the style of play - I could see that.

Contrast that to Vermont, who actually passed the ball to each other deliberately and (oh my gosh) set screens. This led to WIDE OPEN three pointers. They run deliberate plays and sets to free shooters and their big men on the baseline.

Like I said good teams run plays and sets.

As far as the game being close until the half and then Texas gave up....the game was only as close as 18 midway thru the 2nd quarter. It was 33 at the half (79-46) although I can see why they'd give up after that - they sensed it was insurmountable against this type of team.

I've seen teams wake up at 5:00 in morning and cramp into vans for a 12:00 hour road drive, get out after being cramped on the road all day, and play a game right after. Most players would be much more comfortable on a plane for 4-5 hours and lounging around in airports than be cramped in vans all day.

Stop making excuses. You got BLOWN OUT by a superior team on their home court!

[waynemorrell13]

Im sorry sir but yes the Tycoons did have to fly and lounge on airplanes for 4-5 hours but they also had to ride a 15 passenger van for 3 and half hours and did get a chance to eat until 5pm. They didnt have very long lay overs and had to keep moving in the airports. That is a difference. When you drive for 12 hours you can stop and eat and all that. The planes that they were on only gave them juice. And everyone knows that that game would have been totally different if they both were had the same advantages. This is the championship game not a regular season b.s game. You should look at the NBA finals this year. tell me how many times any team in the championship will have to play on back to back nights in two different cities or travel the same day of the game. What teams do in the playoffs is totally different from the regular season. And Texas has seen defense like what the heaves have many times during the year. Especially against Quad Citites. Everyone tries to play like vermont did against texas. The difference is that Texas couldnt play like Texas against Vermont.

[rams80]

Im sorry sir but yes the Tycoons did have to fly and lounge on airplanes for 4-5 hours but they also had to ride a 15 passenger van for 3 and half hours and did get a chance to eat until 5pm. They didnt have very long lay overs and had to keep moving in the airports. That is a difference. When you drive for 12 hours you can stop and eat and all that. The planes that they were on only gave them juice. And everyone knows that that game would have been totally different if they both were had the same advantages. This is the championship game not a regular season b.s game. You should look at the NBA finals this year. tell me how many times any team in the championship will have to play on back to back nights in two different cities or travel the same day of the game. What teams do in the playoffs is totally different from the regular season. And Texas has seen defense like what the heaves have many times during the year. Especially against Quad Citites. Everyone tries to play like vermont did against texas. The difference is that Texas couldnt play like Texas against Vermont.

You COULD have tried to get tickets to a closer airport. You COULD have planned ahead for playing Vermont (its called contingency planning-try it sometime). As for the game being different, I agree, Texas would have lost by 20 rather than (what was it-40? 50?). I'm sure same day travel happens in the NBA playoffs, personally. As for the defense, have you ever considered that Vermont's is better at it than some other teams? Anyway, the goal of good defense is to get your opponent to play in a style that its not used to.

[utahstarsticketholder]

Here goes....
Texas was not given a choice, play or forfeit.
The Heaves could have made a playing date later the next week.
This would have given more time for each team to prepare their teams and explore their travel options.
The game would have been more competitive.
This would have been the right thing to do.

But the "ABA*" needed to get the season over before the sound of a dozen lawyers and the SEC came knocking at the door.

Bottom line it was a bush league move from a bush league. It's a shame it involved two good minor league basketball franchises. I put the blame on the mismanagement of the "front room er...front office of the "ABA*".

So all praise to the Heaves for their winning a Championship in a league that dishonors those who played in the real ABA in the 70's.

Just wish this minor league system of underfunded basketball leagues and teams would come to their collective senses and establish a real "farm system" for professional basketball. Unfortunately there are too many greedy people in this world.

Good luck in the future Heaves, hoping that a real league becomes your home in which a real playoff system rewards your great organization.

Stepping down from the soap box preparing to be flamed! jack