LA Push vs. Long Beach Breakers

[TheSportsLogoPundit]

Tomorrow is hoops day here in Southern California. My plan is to go to the Long Beach State/Brigham Young game in the afternoon to definitely see a basketball game and then head back up to Los Angeles for my first ever ABA game when the Los Angeles Push take on Olden Polynice and the Long Beach Breakers at the Los Angeles Adventist Academy (fingers crossed).

I'll definitely have my camera and I'll give you an update on the happenings either Saturday night or sometime Sunday. Are any of the LA area posters on here going to go?

The Sports Logo Pundit (http://sportslogopundit.blogspot.com)

[TheStandard]

if i do go. i better see a game. Wasting my time on the 405 is not the greatest thing in the world

[TheSportsLogoPundit]

That's why I'm making a day of it. At least I'll get that Long Beach State game in, we know that won't be cancelled. And the Push-Breakers game is on my way back up to Ventura, so might as well see if they are playing.

[TheStandard]

its 12 minutes to the pyramid from my house thats no problem. now take my behind to LA and see a canceled sign I would go postal lol.

[TheSportsLogoPundit]

Well, that was an experience, I can tell you that. My first ABA game and I got to experience just about everything that the league has to offer, both good and bad, but mostly bad.

Game time was listed at 7:30, so I showed up at 7:15. I walked right into the building and sat down. Five minutes later, "security" came through and asked everybody to step outside so that they could begin ticketing. Yes, they didn't have the ticket booth set up or the tickets ready even fifteen minutes before game time. But most people obliged and went into the lobby.

About ten minutes later, team owner Donye Mitchell announced to the waiting crowd that you could purchase $30, $20 or $10 tickets. The $30 and $20 got you courtside seats, autographs, food and drink...or so he said. Just about everybody paid ten bucks and sat in the bleachers. Not too long after that, Mitchell walked in front of the bleachers yelling that anybody 25 years or younger could sit in the courtside seats. It was a puzzling announcement to say the least but I gladly took advantage and moved down front.

It was quite the struggle to get the game going, beginning with the national anthem. They had a singer, amazingly enough, and she was good but the LA Adventist Academy didn't have a flag so they had to get a little tiny one on a stick and prop it up in the exit sign protective cage so we had something to honor. After that, it looked like we were ready to play ball but inexplicably, there were more delays, one because they hadn't set up the water jug for the Push players. Ugh. The game didn't end up tipping off until a little after 8:00.

The game play was better than what I expected. Both teams were playing hard and fairly well though there was a lot of one-on-one play, showboating, trash talking, complaining and the game generally looked like a high level recreational league.

Sick Wit It played for LA and was pretty solid. Other than that, I didn't pick up any of the rest of the player's names. They didn't have rosters and because they had a DJ spinning the entire game (seriously, there wasn't a silent moment all night) you couldn't understand a word that the self described MC was saying other than the "Ahhh Yeahs" he would throw in whenever either a big play happened or a good song came on.

Late in the game, one of the LA players came out of the game and went straight to the locker room and changed into his street clothes. Another came out later and had his friend bring him his street clothes and he proceeded to change into them while sitting on the bench (he didn't get naked or anything, he just slipped them on). Really professional stuff.

At halftime, something happened that I have never, ever seen at a professional sporting event. Because there were no concessions at the gym, the "MC" made an announcement that if anybody wanted food, they could come down to one side of the court, tell the guy what you wanted, pay him and then he would run out to one of the local fast food establishments and get it. I thought he was joking and I think everybody else did too until Mitchell walked through the stands making the same announcement. I don't think anybody took them up on the offer, although after he mentioned that Church's Chicken was nearby, I seriously thought about it. In retrospect, I should've. I love Church's Chicken and it would've been worth taking advantage of just to see them do it.

Overall, LA Adventist is a crummy place for "professional" basketball. It's dark, it's dank, they don't have concessions, it has a total of ten rows of seats, the court is tiny, they didn't bother to raise the hoops on the sides so it was possible that if you were sitting in the stands you could either hit your head on one or have your view blocked.

I'd say there were maybe 200 people there and it seemed that only a handful were not friends or family. Every once in a while the crowd would get into it but most seemed pretty bored and frustrated about how long the game took to play (almost 3 hours, no joke).

But I do see that there is a product there that does have some potential. The right people could make it work. But I won't be back, I just felt like I had to go to one ABA game since I criticize the league so often.

One last observation: Push owner Donye Mitchell was very active, walking around acting like a coach, yelling at players, getting in their faces, etc. He seemed very excited about the whole thing and I like his enthusiasm. But he still struck me as very odd. What do we know about him? What is his background? Why does he need a bodyguard that is never more than 20 feet away?

Here are three pics from the game. I took a ton of pictures but the gym was so dark that virtually none of them turned out. I've got some 35 mm film to develop tomorrow so we'll see if any of those turn out...

http://www.flickr.com/photos/downwithpants/1962975232/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/downwithpants/1962148473/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/downwithpants/1962974312/

[tbayz1]

I can't believe that team actually got that many people to come, and sorry to hear your experience wasn't that great, but its not common to have a good experience at an ABA game lol, especially on the west coast

But thanks again for the review and pics!

The part about the food and halftime, that is hilarious haha

[psbf]

that 200 is pretty good, for the crowd. As for the pictures, nice! But please tell me that the first is of halftime and not the game.

[The Magician]

Well, that was an experience, I can tell you that. My first ABA game and I got to experience just about everything that the league has to offer, both good and bad, but mostly bad.

But I do see that there is a product there that does have some potential. The right people could make it work. But I won't be back ...

Exactly our screaming point ...

If only the ABA had a CEO who could make it work ...

The Fans would come back.

If only the ABA VP of Team Operations had time to do something else, in preparation for season, during the season, and throughout the entire playoffs ... other than having to change the schedule every single day to try to get games played.

The Fans would come back.

But it appears that's what the ABA CEO wanted, to have someone to do all the REAL work, to make up for his own lack of ability to manage and monitor the ABA.

Well, where's the time in the VP of Team Ops day to do that???

The ABA CEO or VP of Team Ops should be visiting every single market during the season!!!

But he (they) can't (or won't) ... Because the ABA has no cash flow $!

And ... of course, The ABA CEO would not use his own money to 'do the job.'

How can a CEO be so bad?

The ABA has lost more teams than any other minor-league sports organization in history and continues to do so at a rapid and alarming rate.

[meyes]

I see from the pix (thank you) that the ABA 3-point line was on the floor. That is more than many teams get done.
The league really is a mess this year, but it looks like there may be more quality team organizations than in past seasons. I do hope that somehow this league can survive Joe.

[TheSportsLogoPundit]

I see from the pix (thank you) that the ABA 3-point line was on the floor. That is more than many teams get done.
The league really is a mess this year, but it looks like there may be more quality team organizations than in past seasons. I do hope that somehow this league can survive Joe.

You're right, I didn't even notice the three point line. When I was sitting courtside, I couldn't even see those blue lines.

Sorry, should've mentioned who won the game (I wrote that post pretty late). I messed up and didn't take note or take a picture of the final score, but Los Angeles won by three, I think. Long Beach was down by as many as 22 going into the fourth quarter but came back and made it close at the end.

EDIT - Just saw on the ABA site that the final score was 146-143. For more information, visit the team's website. Oh wait, LA doesn't have a website.

[Paul S]

A big thank you SportsLogoPundit, for the game analysis and the photos. Great job.


Ya I've been to many many many minor league games all across North America and have never once heard, 'place your order at the table as we need to go get it'.

I'm surprised they allowed people to sit down and then ushered them out to buy tix too. Thats an odd setup. I once went to a Cairns Taipans game where they had people paying on leaving (voluntary-if you liked what you saw) but never this.

I'm actually surprised they got the 200 they did. This team was the Pasadena Push not 2 weeks ago. LA Adventist not having a flag and no concessions are a problem.

Anyways great details. Thanks much.

[TheSportsLogoPundit]

I'm surprised they allowed people to sit down and then ushered them out to buy tix too. Thats an odd setup. I once went to a Cairns Taipans game where they had people paying on leaving (voluntary-if you liked what you saw) but never this.

The simple explanation for allowing us to sit down and then making us clear back out is because nobody from the Push was ready even 15 minutes before the originally stated game time. The gym was open and nobody was manning the door so people came in and had a seat even if they hadn't purchased a ticket yet. I came in, thought it was weird, but since they had music going and the Push were warming up, I just thought maybe they had decided to put the game on for free. I should've known better.

So, does anybody have an answer to the question...who is Donye Mitchell? I'm still perplexed by the whole bodyguard thing. The only thing that turned up in a Google search was an article about a shady medical marijuana clinic in the Bay Area, and I don't think that is him, although it wouldn't surprise me.

Also, the 200 in attendance isn't too bad a number, you are right. But both teams had around 12 players on their roster, and in fact LA probably had 15 guys suited up, and it was obvious that most in attendance (maybe 95%) were related to or friends of the players.

One thing that did surprise me...fairly good officiating. It wasn't an easy game to call, but they did a pretty good job. Other than one player who argued every call, as is the fashion these days, nobody seemed to have any issues.

[skippy]

That picture of the flag is one of the funniest things I've ever seen.

Can you imagine the mad dash to Walgreen's to pick that thing up.

Spinal Tap.