Chuck the Writer
09-13-2007, 07:35 AM
From the Chicago Sun-Times:
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-cicerohoops_13sep13,1,238305.story
Surveying the 1,500 empty seats in musty Cicero Stadium on Wednesday, Javier Haggar made a prediction.
"We're going to fill this place up," said Haggar, who is bringing professional basketball to Cicero, one of the blue-collar suburb's most unlikely initiatives since announcing last month that 25 Mexican mummies will be visiting next year.
"Every single game."
This is on September 13, 2007. I just want to make sure this is date-stamped so that when this team is on the mortuary slab, this quotation can be used as an example of false irony.
Though the first ticket has yet to be printed—or the schedule made or the roster finalized—Haggar said his Cicero Cometas are slated to tip off next month as the latest entrant in the American Basketball Association, a league short on frills and long on teams—about 60 of them.
Sixty franchises? Is "Magpie" going to drop 20 more teams on us 7 weeks before tip-off? What's that, $200,000 in franchise fees in his pocket?
That's right, Corning Bulldogs, West Texas Whirlwinds and Vermont Frost Heaves: There's a new kid in town.
And she's looking good... there's a fresh freckled face in the neighborhood... there's a new girl in town, with a brand new smile, she was just passing through ... but if things work out she's going to stay ... a while ... bump bump bump bump bummmmmm.
Hey, maybe the players can have their post-game meals at Mel's Diner!
http://bigbob.com/alice/14ozcup.jpg
Haggar, a Mexican immigrant who co-owns an Oak Park restaurant, envisions $10 tickets, well-stocked concession stands, team merchandise and maybe even a cable television deal.
"But they haven't called me back yet," he said of the cable company. "I'm really going to have to sell it to them."
They haven't called back because they're still on the floor laughing like someone who survived a triple-header of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Airplane and The Best of Candid Camera.
Haggar started the Cometas five years ago in a Mexican basketball league, basing the team in the state of Querétaro. Four years of commuting was enough, though, and he decided to bring the franchise closer to home. After considering Oak Park and Berwyn, he found a fit with Cicero, mostly because of the modest Park District stadium, 1909 S. Laramie Ave., where the white court is scuffed by decades of pickup games.
See, there ARE Mexican basketball leagues! All it takes is a little research...
He kept the Spanish name—which translates to "Comets"—to bond with Cicero's heavily Latino population, but promises a diverse team of blacks, whites, Latinos and players with Chinese and Japanese roots. Haggar doesn't plan to make money during the five-month season; he said he just doesn't want to lose money.
And yet he's involved in the ABA...
"The main thing is to unify the community," he said. "I want to bring a mom, dad and two kids here for $40. If you want to go to the Bulls game, it's $55 per person, and that's to sit all the way at the top!"
That's assuming that the Bulls and the Cometas are on the same level of basketball quality. You can't go to Nordstrom and complain that the shirt you want to buy is ten times as expensive as the one in the Salvation Army Thrift Store.
In a town recently told that some of the legendary "mummies of Guanajuato" were coming to Cicero as part of an art exhibit,
I didn't know Howard Judah was going to play for the Cometas...
reaction about a basketball team coming from Mexico was mixed.
Marko Lukin, 37, who remodels houses, said he can't afford Bulls games and would likely investigate the Cometas.
"People who live here are all about Cicero, so they are going to support it," he said. "I know their jersey sales are going to be really high."
I got $2, $2, who'll give me $3, $2 for this box of Cometas jerseys, come on people, bid high on this bankruptcy auction, I got $2, $2, going once, going twice, sold to the old coot with the squirrel on his head for $2. No sir, I will not accept payment of an ABA franchise in exchange for the uniforms.
But Erica Marin, 21, was skeptical.
"If there is nobody from Cicero playing, why would I go see it unless it's pro?" she said.
Ah, decisions, decisions, decisions.
The ABA—namesake of a 1960s and '70s league that was home to greats such as Julius "Dr. J" Erving and George "Iceman" Gervin—has seen several Chicago teams come and go with little fanfare.
Yeah, I seem to recall the Chicago Soldiers of 2004...
http://www.abalive.com/news/releases/?newsid=2004082706003
And the Chicago Rockets of 2005...
http://www.abalive.com/news/releases/?newsid=2005080106002
And the Chicago Rockstars of 2006...
http://www.abalive.com/news/releases/?newsid=2006022406002
And the Chicago Throwbacks of 2007...
http://www.abalive.com/news/releases/?newsid=2007030206001
And the Chicago (fill in the blanks) of 2008...
But members of the Cometas said Cicero is primed for a team because it doesn't compete with major league offerings in Chicago.
They'd be lucky to compete with the local Saturday Night Deep Dish Pizza League!
The oldest Cometa, 35-year-old point guard Kenny Williams, said the Vermont Frost Heaves had a devoted and rollicking crowd when he visited last year as coach of the (defunct) Chicago Rockstars. He figures, what else are you going to do in Cicero, like in Vermont, on a cold January night?
Oh, I don't know... visit OSC?
"These smaller teams really get the backing and excitement," said Williams, University of Illinois at Chicago's second all-time leading scorer who spent a training camp with the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics. "In Cicero it could really snowball."
That's probably what people will be throwing at the players when they're losing by 30 points to a replacement team because the scheduled squad didn't show up.
Along with Williams, the Cometas will be fielding a team that could generously be called eclectic. Those competing for spots range from teenagers who barely played on their high school teams to former professionals in Europe and Israel.
With player salaries ranging from $1,200 to $4,500 per month, what most players have in common is a love of basketball and a dream of something more. Most hope to be seen by scouts in other leagues. Williams said he knows of several players who parlayed ABA stints into professional European contracts.
"Any time an athlete gets paid, it's professional," he said. "You're not going to get rich, but it's an opportunity."
Hear that, kiddies? If you get paid, it's a professional league. If you don't get paid, it's an amateur league. If some players get paid and others don't, then it's a semi-pro league.
Gerardo Romero, a 19-year-old point guard who grew up in Cicero, loads trucks for UPS. He caught the eye of Cometas coach Michael Harris in an open tryout.
"I just want an opportunity to show myself, to start at the bottom and work my way up," Romero said. "The NBA isn't that far away. Well it is, but it isn't."
There might be an added benefit for players if this guy makes the team. How many people can ride in the back of those UPS trucks for road games?
Town President Larry Dominick told Haggar Wednesday that he only roots for the Cubs, proved when he rolled up his sleeves to reveal a fist-sized Cubs tattoo on each meaty shoulder.
"Now I've got two teams," Dominick said. "When [the Cometas] win the championship, we'll have their flags flying all over the place."
Funny thing, I can understand the loyalty of fans who would get their team's logo tattooed on their body. Has anyone ever shown that much loyalty to their ABA franchise that they would go get some ink on their frame for it?
Probably only if the tattoo needle was a Sharpie.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/local/chicago/chi-cicerohoops_13sep13,1,238305.story
Surveying the 1,500 empty seats in musty Cicero Stadium on Wednesday, Javier Haggar made a prediction.
"We're going to fill this place up," said Haggar, who is bringing professional basketball to Cicero, one of the blue-collar suburb's most unlikely initiatives since announcing last month that 25 Mexican mummies will be visiting next year.
"Every single game."
This is on September 13, 2007. I just want to make sure this is date-stamped so that when this team is on the mortuary slab, this quotation can be used as an example of false irony.
Though the first ticket has yet to be printed—or the schedule made or the roster finalized—Haggar said his Cicero Cometas are slated to tip off next month as the latest entrant in the American Basketball Association, a league short on frills and long on teams—about 60 of them.
Sixty franchises? Is "Magpie" going to drop 20 more teams on us 7 weeks before tip-off? What's that, $200,000 in franchise fees in his pocket?
That's right, Corning Bulldogs, West Texas Whirlwinds and Vermont Frost Heaves: There's a new kid in town.
And she's looking good... there's a fresh freckled face in the neighborhood... there's a new girl in town, with a brand new smile, she was just passing through ... but if things work out she's going to stay ... a while ... bump bump bump bump bummmmmm.
Hey, maybe the players can have their post-game meals at Mel's Diner!
http://bigbob.com/alice/14ozcup.jpg
Haggar, a Mexican immigrant who co-owns an Oak Park restaurant, envisions $10 tickets, well-stocked concession stands, team merchandise and maybe even a cable television deal.
"But they haven't called me back yet," he said of the cable company. "I'm really going to have to sell it to them."
They haven't called back because they're still on the floor laughing like someone who survived a triple-header of Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Airplane and The Best of Candid Camera.
Haggar started the Cometas five years ago in a Mexican basketball league, basing the team in the state of Querétaro. Four years of commuting was enough, though, and he decided to bring the franchise closer to home. After considering Oak Park and Berwyn, he found a fit with Cicero, mostly because of the modest Park District stadium, 1909 S. Laramie Ave., where the white court is scuffed by decades of pickup games.
See, there ARE Mexican basketball leagues! All it takes is a little research...
He kept the Spanish name—which translates to "Comets"—to bond with Cicero's heavily Latino population, but promises a diverse team of blacks, whites, Latinos and players with Chinese and Japanese roots. Haggar doesn't plan to make money during the five-month season; he said he just doesn't want to lose money.
And yet he's involved in the ABA...
"The main thing is to unify the community," he said. "I want to bring a mom, dad and two kids here for $40. If you want to go to the Bulls game, it's $55 per person, and that's to sit all the way at the top!"
That's assuming that the Bulls and the Cometas are on the same level of basketball quality. You can't go to Nordstrom and complain that the shirt you want to buy is ten times as expensive as the one in the Salvation Army Thrift Store.
In a town recently told that some of the legendary "mummies of Guanajuato" were coming to Cicero as part of an art exhibit,
I didn't know Howard Judah was going to play for the Cometas...
reaction about a basketball team coming from Mexico was mixed.
Marko Lukin, 37, who remodels houses, said he can't afford Bulls games and would likely investigate the Cometas.
"People who live here are all about Cicero, so they are going to support it," he said. "I know their jersey sales are going to be really high."
I got $2, $2, who'll give me $3, $2 for this box of Cometas jerseys, come on people, bid high on this bankruptcy auction, I got $2, $2, going once, going twice, sold to the old coot with the squirrel on his head for $2. No sir, I will not accept payment of an ABA franchise in exchange for the uniforms.
But Erica Marin, 21, was skeptical.
"If there is nobody from Cicero playing, why would I go see it unless it's pro?" she said.
Ah, decisions, decisions, decisions.
The ABA—namesake of a 1960s and '70s league that was home to greats such as Julius "Dr. J" Erving and George "Iceman" Gervin—has seen several Chicago teams come and go with little fanfare.
Yeah, I seem to recall the Chicago Soldiers of 2004...
http://www.abalive.com/news/releases/?newsid=2004082706003
And the Chicago Rockets of 2005...
http://www.abalive.com/news/releases/?newsid=2005080106002
And the Chicago Rockstars of 2006...
http://www.abalive.com/news/releases/?newsid=2006022406002
And the Chicago Throwbacks of 2007...
http://www.abalive.com/news/releases/?newsid=2007030206001
And the Chicago (fill in the blanks) of 2008...
But members of the Cometas said Cicero is primed for a team because it doesn't compete with major league offerings in Chicago.
They'd be lucky to compete with the local Saturday Night Deep Dish Pizza League!
The oldest Cometa, 35-year-old point guard Kenny Williams, said the Vermont Frost Heaves had a devoted and rollicking crowd when he visited last year as coach of the (defunct) Chicago Rockstars. He figures, what else are you going to do in Cicero, like in Vermont, on a cold January night?
Oh, I don't know... visit OSC?
"These smaller teams really get the backing and excitement," said Williams, University of Illinois at Chicago's second all-time leading scorer who spent a training camp with the NBA's Seattle SuperSonics. "In Cicero it could really snowball."
That's probably what people will be throwing at the players when they're losing by 30 points to a replacement team because the scheduled squad didn't show up.
Along with Williams, the Cometas will be fielding a team that could generously be called eclectic. Those competing for spots range from teenagers who barely played on their high school teams to former professionals in Europe and Israel.
With player salaries ranging from $1,200 to $4,500 per month, what most players have in common is a love of basketball and a dream of something more. Most hope to be seen by scouts in other leagues. Williams said he knows of several players who parlayed ABA stints into professional European contracts.
"Any time an athlete gets paid, it's professional," he said. "You're not going to get rich, but it's an opportunity."
Hear that, kiddies? If you get paid, it's a professional league. If you don't get paid, it's an amateur league. If some players get paid and others don't, then it's a semi-pro league.
Gerardo Romero, a 19-year-old point guard who grew up in Cicero, loads trucks for UPS. He caught the eye of Cometas coach Michael Harris in an open tryout.
"I just want an opportunity to show myself, to start at the bottom and work my way up," Romero said. "The NBA isn't that far away. Well it is, but it isn't."
There might be an added benefit for players if this guy makes the team. How many people can ride in the back of those UPS trucks for road games?
Town President Larry Dominick told Haggar Wednesday that he only roots for the Cubs, proved when he rolled up his sleeves to reveal a fist-sized Cubs tattoo on each meaty shoulder.
"Now I've got two teams," Dominick said. "When [the Cometas] win the championship, we'll have their flags flying all over the place."
Funny thing, I can understand the loyalty of fans who would get their team's logo tattooed on their body. Has anyone ever shown that much loyalty to their ABA franchise that they would go get some ink on their frame for it?
Probably only if the tattoo needle was a Sharpie.