ABA and PBL

[WHAFAN]

Last week I had oral surgery in Chicago. The office was located on the 4800 block of Irving Park Road, virtually next door to the PBL league headquarters. Walking past there, the front door was open, and there was a lady sitting at the front desk. I walked in and asked for some brochures or whatever info they had available. We talked for a few seconds, and she told me to look around if I wanted to. Obviously, this was done before the surgery because I was stewed on the way out.

I don't understand the big deal with ABA guys being near PBL guys, or owners at meetings of other leagues, and so on. You make this sound like the CIA and KGB. Its nothing more than 2 rec-leagues trying to get the ball rolling. Where and what is the big deal??

[a1sports]

In a small way, I do agree with you. BUT, keep in mind its a business. Should Joe be screaming that there is a mole at his meeting or scream and falsely accuse other leagues of stealing "his" teams? Should the NBDL have a secutiry guard at their try out camp and ask for picture ID and sign in to watch it? SHould the new Football league "the AAFL" fax you a confidentiality statement to sign before they answer your questions on the phone? You cant even go early to see the kicks warm up without your name on an approved list. Its not always "security"

Everyone wants to know whats going on, although the ABA owners and players that were at the PBL try out were just trying to find a better place to go to in my opinion.

[Paul S]

A1 is correct on this.

I worked in minor league sports and they can be downright conspiratorial sometimes. WHAFAN is obviously correct that it shouldn't be a big deal. Problem is the profit margins are usually non-existent and the few things that bring in cash are usually protected like the crown jewels of India.

When I was in the IHL, I once tried to find out when and how a team was getting from San Francisco to Kansas City. Now I was an IHL employee making an enquiry and you would have thought I had just burgled the SF owners house from the reception I got. They said it was confidential, it was privledged info, it was on a 'need to know' basis. The guy on the phone knew I was an employee too. I needed to figure out how to get them to KC without going through Denver as it was having a storm, the airline we always used said they could go through Chicago or Dallas and have no probs. Well they wouldn't tell me so I said (*^% it and let them go via Denver, where they got stuck overnight in a airline terminal as the hotels had long ago been booked. I even called the coach and told him what happened.