ABA's Issues!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[cglue]

Now fellas, Im not saying at all that we dont have our issues in this league, cause we do. But one thing that you have to keep in mind is that we are all trying to be the best. ABA, CBA, PBL and IBL have all strived to be the best league their is but no one is perfect. We all are anticipating to see what the PBL has to offer and I myself really want it to thrive just for the sake that its around and people are involved in it. But Im not about to be harassed by a man on here about taking care of my franchise or my business when he is slipping too. Now please understand that I know that there is some fine tuning that needs to be done. But dont come down on me like Im the only one, not just in this league but in other leagues.

I looked around all the leagues lastnite and oh what did I see. I saw the CBA version of Anderson Champions with Chuck Miller's name all on it with pride.

Here take a look for yourself.
http://www.albanypats.com/news/news20071117albatl.html

Now like I stated before, no one is perfect but dont come down on me like you are the golden angel in the sky. I am striving to be the best and hope one day to be the best. But I am a man about it and will admit that I have some growing to do and a lot of improving to do as well. This is my second year in the league, whats your excuse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Ohnohedi'in]

get a grip dawg. You're in a league that has teams joining and failing within the first two weeks of the season. It's total chaos with no idea which/IF your opponent is going to show up. How do you even sell tickets? YOU DON'T!

AND HOW THE HELL WOULD ANYONE KNOW WHEN YOUR TEAM PLAYS? YOUR WEBSITE IS AT LEAST ONE WEEK OUT OF DATE???

You're striving to be the best???? How about starting by letting your 'fans?' know when you are playing next. HOW would they know? By reading OSC?

YOU should be tending to your WEBSITE, instead of making a fool of yourself here. Everyone here has watched this league for YEARS, you're a newbie with a LOT to learn.

As you strive to be the BEST, how about striving to at least be PRESENTABLE?

Your website is a JOKE, your league is a JOKE, and regardless of whether someone is with a different league or not, HOW can you call someone out for pointing out the TRUTH about what a JOKE the ABA is,, and with newman there, will ALWAYS BE?

You are truly more entertainment on this board than your team will ever be on the court.

[a1sports]

IMO, the rec league is a joke and your part of that joke. Stop the BS.

CBA is a professional league with owners who put up 150,000 dollars in a bond.

enought said. !

[cglue]

I was expecting that from somebody and I know others are coming!!!!!!!!!!!

LOL

[cglue]

No one is saying we are perfect, but you arent either and thats my point. THE THREAD READS ABA ISSUES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I KNOW WE HAVE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[jamesaba]

Now fellas, Im not saying at all that we dont have our issues in this league, cause we do. But one thing that you have to keep in mind is that we are all trying to be the best. ABA, CBA, PBL and IBL have all strived to be the best league their is but no one is perfect. We all are anticipating to see what the PBL has to offer and I myself really want it to thrive just for the sake that its around and people are involved in it. But Im not about to be harassed by a man on here about taking care of my franchise or my business when he is slipping too. Now please understand that I know that there is some fine tuning that needs to be done. But dont come down on me like Im the only one, not just in this league but in other leagues.

I looked around all the leagues lastnite and oh what did I see. I saw the CBA version of Anderson Champions with Chuck Miller's name all on it with pride.

Here take a look for yourself.
http://www.albanypats.com/news/news20071117albatl.html

Now like I stated before, no one is perfect but dont come down on me like you are the golden angel in the sky. I am striving to be the best and hope one day to be the best. But I am a man about it and will admit that I have some growing to do and a lot of improving to do as well. This is my second year in the league, whats your excuse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Are those practice uniforms that the Albany Pats are wearing???

http://http://www.albanypats.com/0708photos/1111-CT.jpg

[rams80]

No one is saying we are perfect, but you arent either and thats my point. THE THREAD READS ABA ISSUES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I KNOW WE HAVE THEM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Funny...I thought this thread was designed to take an (ill-decided) swing at the CBA.

Look, Larry. If the CBA's biggest problem is that one or two teams *bleep*ed up on the uniform orders, that still puts them light years ahead of a league that is hemorraging teams and missing games like it is going out of style.

Frankly....you claim to be striving for the best, but you don't do the basic things that are needed to set the foundation for being the best, even when they are recommended to you. You are mistaking long-term goals for short-term priorities, and as a result the Takers are suffering. You have to walk before you run.

[rams80]

Are those practice uniforms that the Albany Pats are wearing???

http://http://www.albanypats.com/0708photos/1111-CT.jpg

Yes...there is a discussion about that on the CBA board.

[cglue]

How am I suffering? I have a plan and Im looking to see that plan through. My point again isnt to boast. We all have come short, just admit it. Hell I know they are light years ahead but still no one is perfect. Im not saying they arent but look, you put up a 150k bond and cant afford $4k worth of uniforms. Thats how much my uni's cost me and Im getting more for December. And it was for the kids but all I get is bashing for doing it. So Im not trying to here it anymore.

[panchess]

..close to 10 ABA franchises have folded in November. The CBA hasn't had that many in-season franchises foldings in 40 years, probably. Chuck would know the answer.

A team that has played for three seasons in the CBA played in their practice jerseys. A goof, yes, but being compared to a team that in two incarnations has played 10 games and got beat by 70 to a team that folded is just ridiculous.

The link, by the way, shows people in the stands, good basketball plays and kids on the court. All good things.

[psbf]

probably been asked by a poster before, but I'm curious as to what CGLUE is doing making so many posts on here, if he has a team to run?

[Chuck the Writer]

Now fellas, Im not saying at all that we dont have our issues in this league, cause we do. But one thing that you have to keep in mind is that we are all trying to be the best. ABA, CBA, PBL and IBL have all strived to be the best league their is but no one is perfect.
Least of all the ABA.
But Im not about to be harassed by a man on here about taking care of my franchise or my business when he is slipping too.

Whaa??

Now please understand that I know that there is some fine tuning that needs to be done.

Fine-tuning in the ABA? That's like trying to hit the bullseye when your oche is 2 miles away.

I looked around all the leagues lastnite and oh what did I see. I saw the CBA version of Anderson Champions with Chuck Miller's name all on it with pride.

Here take a look for yourself.
http://www.albanypats.com/news/news20071117albatl.html

Okay, what's the problem here? I see photos from the game (with lots of fans in the background), a game report, and a full box score - three things solely lacking from the Houston Takers home page. Where's the issue?

Oh yeah... the Patroons' white jerseys. Only worn because of a delay in the new unis not arriving on time. An issue which has already been discussed and dismissed on the CBA message board. Minor issue. However, note the fact that the game was played - on time - between the two scheduled opponents - in front of a decent crowd, even with competition from two different local Division I college teams playing in Albany that same day.

And not that I have to defend anything I do, Larry, but do you know why my name is on those photographs, besides the fact that I like the way they turned out? It's so that crumbs like Joe Newman don't "cut and paste" my photographs and use them on their own website without permission or payment. Have you noticed that all the photographs on abalive.com's galleries are bereft of copyright notice? That's because Joe Newman doesn't pay for photographs, why pay for something legally when you can steal them for free?

It's called copyright protection. In other words, if I took a picture of the Houston Takers and both their fans during a game, I have every right to use that photograph for anything I want - I can sell it, I can give it away, I can decide who gets to use it and who doesn't. I recently had to inform a weblogger not to use one of my Jamario Moon photographs for his personal blogosphere, and he took the photograph down.

Now like I stated before, no one is perfect but dont come down on me like you are the golden angel in the sky. I am striving to be the best and hope one day to be the best. But I am a man about it and will admit that I have some growing to do and a lot of improving to do as well. This is my second year in the league, whats your excuse!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Don't bring a BIC lighter to a flame war, Larry. The difference between me and you is that I'm not the owner or general manager of a basketball team. You are. I don't have to arrange for travel or pay players. You do. All I have to do is show up at the Armory, make sure my camera is loaded and charged, take lots of photographs, put the best ones up on the web, and voila, my day is done. Think about that while you're building bicycles, and deciding whether you want Howard Judah or that scrub from the ABA Sportsvite competition to take that game-winning shot.

And while you're at it, why don't you go down to McAllen and watch the Rio Grande Valley Silverados - a team who left the ABA for the CBA because they couldn't count on the Takers showing up for a game - draw thousands of fans for their opening night??

Away with you.

[Ohnohedi'in]

Much like 'on the court' you won't win here glueman. There is too much history AGAINST you to succeed. Any excuse you come up with has already been heard. Any claim you make has already been made, and failed.

The only owner that has any 'respectability' or 'credibility' in this league is Vermont. I'm sure there are one or MAYBE two more. But you won't find them here defending their product - why? Because they defend their product ON THE COURT, ON THEIR UP TO DATE WEBSITE, and NOT by arguing with online forum board bloggers.

Here's a word NOT in the ABA Owner's How-To manual --

PROFESSIONALISM!

Clean up your house before inviting people in --

AND FOR GOD'S SAKE START WITH YOUR OUT OF DATE WEBSITE!

[barkley34]

I have a plan and Im looking to see that plan through.

You have a FREE MySpace page as your website???!!!! Myspace?? Like, 15 year old girls...like... chewing gum and talking with their friends about boy problems use MySpace...like wicked cool....

LEGITIMATE MINOR LEAGUE FRANCHISES SPEND BETWEEN $5,000-$10,000 ON A SITE....... NOT MYSPACE!!!!

[Chuck the Writer]

..close to 10 ABA franchises have folded in November. The CBA hasn't had that many in-season franchises foldings in 40 years, probably. Chuck would know the answer.

Okay. Let's start from the 1978-79 season, which was the first in which the Eastern League was known as the "Continental Basketball Association." This only counts franchises that folded in mid-season and does not count franchises that moved, folded in the off-season, or disappeared in the 2000-01 aborted season.

So here we go.

1. Mohawk Valley Thunderbirds, 1978-79
2. Bakersfield Jammers, 1991-92
3. Harrisburg Hammerheads, 1994-95
4. Hartford Hellcats, 1994-95
5. San Diego Wildcards, 1995-96
6. Utah Eaglez, 2006-07

That's six franchises since 1978.

But wait, you say, the CBA's been around since 1946, surely there are other teams that folded mid-year.

Okay...

From 1946 to 1978, there were:

7. York - Ashland - Hazleton, 1951-52
8. Wilkes-Barre Aces, 1952-53
9. Pottsville - Lebanon, 1953-54
10. Trenton Capitols, 1955-56
11. Reading Keys, 1957-58
12. Rochester Colonels, 1958-59
13. Springfield Hall of Famers, 1968-69
14. Wilkes-Barre Barons, 1973-74
15. Connecticut Gold Coast Stars, 1975-76
16. Syracuse Centennials, 1976-77

So that's 16 franchises in 62 years.

While the ABA will have 16 or more franchises fold every single season, including the Lost Angeles Pushers giving up this week.

[BreakersFan]

How am I suffering? I have a plan and Im looking to see that plan through. My point again isnt to boast. We all have come short, just admit it. Hell I know they are light years ahead but still no one is perfect. Im not saying they arent but look, you put up a 150k bond and cant afford $4k worth of uniforms. Thats how much my uni's cost me and Im getting more for December. And it was for the kids but all I get is bashing for doing it. So Im not trying to here it anymore.

Larry - I am not trying to take a shot at you here, but why in the world did you pay $4K for uniforms that simply said "Genesis" on them????

At the least the Pat unis had the Patroons logo..... Yours gave no indication whatsoever that your team is the Houston Takers

[Ohnohedi'in]

yea, don't blame larry about the unis - it wasn't his fault that the DUCKTAPE wouldn't stick to the jerseys.

[BigEastBill]

I have to say that Chuck is a really good photographer. The pics are very nice and proffesional quality. The entire Patroons website is really good and is so much more proffesional than any ABA site. I think the best ABA website is probably Vermont. Great Pics Chuck.

[rams80]

How am I suffering? I have a plan and Im looking to see that plan through. My point again isnt to boast. We all have come short, just admit it. Hell I know they are light years ahead but still no one is perfect. Im not saying they arent but look, you put up a 150k bond and cant afford $4k worth of uniforms. Thats how much my uni's cost me and Im getting more for December. And it was for the kids but all I get is bashing for doing it. So Im not trying to here it anymore.

I'll be blunt...your plan has horribly messed up priorities. Walk before you run, do the basic things to build a solid foundation before attempting the nice big things.

[ChumpDumper]

One ABA issue is some team owners' getting bogged down in disputes over minutiae on message boards and trying to go on the offensive for no real reason. No good can come of this. It's unprofessional and unseemly, and since the Takers seem to be a decently run team, unnecessary.

You have a team.

You have a steady venue.

You have nice uniforms.

You have an ok website that has the basics and only a few minor issues (it's http://www.houstonundertakers.net for those who think the myspace page is the only one)

You have played six games including a two game road trip that required 3500 miles of travel.

You're doing alright. These facts speak for themselves and they are the things over which you and your organization have direct control. Keep taking care of those things and people can't really say anything bad about you. The league situation and reputation is not something you can control unfortunately. As long as there are problems with the league you will probably suffer by association. That sucks because up to now, the ABA has been about the only game in town for basketball at this level in the winter -- and to its credit has made it easy to at least start a team. You have taken the opportunity to improve and grow your organization. The burning question is -- is the league ever going to do the same?

I personally think that a team that makes it through an ABA season without canceling a game due to that team's issues has already outgrown the ABA. The only real question is where else can those teams go?

In the meantime, keep up the good work.

[TheStandard]

About time someone besides me can tell Larry hey you are doing fine.

He ihas done better than 98% of the ABA Crap that lies around on this Earth

[tbayz1]

Ill give to Larry that he works, and tries to make something out of his team, theres not too many guys like him in this league, theres just too many joker owners that make it worse by the day

Good Luck the rest of the season Larry!

[Minor Leaguer]

Chuck, my question is why would you even care that you copyright every CBA photograph that you take? Let's face it, it's not like anybody is going to make money off of a photograph of a CBA game. Also, you talk about how you made some guy take down a pic of Jamario Moon from his blog. Why? What is the sense of that? It clearly wasn't hurting anybody and he wasn't trying to make money off of it. Was he harming anything by using a pic of yours? If anything, it is helping to promote the CBA.

[Strong Island Sound]

Larry is an energetic guy and has a passion for what he is doing. He is trying to make this thing work and should not be lauded because of that. He is open and up front on these boards and some of the other posters give him a hard time for that.

Do I agree with everything that he posts on here? No, but it is not my place to to tell someone their practices up here are either good or bad. I am sure that there are other guys or gals here that disagree with my ideas, as well.

The Takers have their regular website up and that is a good sign for the team. Whatever the reason for the delay does not matter right now. The information is available that was needed for people who want to attend their home games. I wish Larry and the organization all the best and hope that they have a successful campaign.

[robster2001]

Larry... SIS... anyone else with a decent ABA franchise... do yourselves a favor and get out of the ABA and get to a league that can reasonably guarantee you that your opponents will show up, on the scheduled date and time, with their regular roster (*cough* Boston Blizzard *cough*).

What you're missing is this. You're only as good as the weakest team in your league. And the ABA has far too many weak teams for you to be able to maximize your investment.

SIS - you and the other Northeast franchises (Corning, Vermont, Manchester, for example) really ought to be looking at either breaking away completely to form your own league, or at making peace with the team that plays at the Health Insurance Arena... :)

Larry - there are enough barns in Texas, Oklahoma, and Arkansas that you could probably organize an 8-10 team league down there without breaking a sweat.

The ABA, and Joe Newman, aren't helping you, guys.

Time to help yourselves.

[Chuck the Writer]

Chuck, my question is why would you even care that you copyright every CBA photograph that you take? Let's face it, it's not like anybody is going to make money off of a photograph of a CBA game. Also, you talk about how you made some guy take down a pic of Jamario Moon from his blog. Why? What is the sense of that? It clearly wasn't hurting anybody and he wasn't trying to make money off of it. Was he harming anything by using a pic of yours? If anything, it is helping to promote the CBA.

That's the Napster argument. As a published author and photographer, I can assure you that there is a lot of value in photographs. The person who used my Jamario Moon photograph not only used it without my permission, he "cropped" my copyright information off the photo. This essentially meant that if anybody asked him about where he got the photo, he could have easily said, "It's my photo, pay me for using it."

And yes, people can make money off of photography - I've sold CBA photographs in the past to various sources. I received a decent sum of money for providing photographs for a set of Patroons trading cards last season. I also received some money for photographing the Emeralds dance team "group photo" for their poster in the past. Am I going to make six figures from it? Not likely. But it's still my work and my copyright. I don't just give my work away for free.

And think of this for a moment - when and if someone writes a story about Jamario Moon, starting forward for the Toronto Raptors, and they want a photograph of Moon in his CBA days - then I will provide them with a photo of their choosing, for which they will pay me for my work. Look at the NBA website, and you see that all the photographs there are copyrighted. Go to Getty Photos, they're all copyrighted. It doesn't matter if you're shooting Michael Jordan or Howard Judah, unless you are employed by someone and are being paid to provide work for that organization (what is known as "work for hire"), the photos you take are your copyright.

This is one of the reasons why I don't write for Probasketballnews.com any more. I covered the 2006 ABA Great Eight tournament, and was promised a flat rate for providing photographs and text of the event. Unfortunately, I was never paid for my work, which was still used anyway (for the record, Sam Amico still owes me $200 for the event). I also asked Joe Newman at the time if he wanted a professional photographer covering the Great Eight tournament, he said that my services would not be necessary; he was going to receive thousands of photographs of the event from all the people attending the games.

In fact, the only payment I received for any of my photographs came from the Strong Island Sound, who sent me some SIS-branded clothing in exchange for the photograph of the team celebrating their double-overtime victory over Indiana in the first round of the tournament.

And just to go a little off the board, let me tell you that companies will and do take advantage of writers and photographers. Goldmine magazine, a music collector's biweekly with whom I worked for ten years, started reprinting my stories in "one-shot" magazines and digests and reprint books - yet found ways to either not pay me for my work, or to completely remove my name from my work and present it as the work of another writer. Such use also included the photography of various expensive records, for which Goldmine can now run the photos as often as they want without having to pay me one red cent, due to those photos being presented as "work for hire."

If you have any other questions regarding photography copyright, please feel free to PM me.

[cglue]

The only reason that posted this thread was because I got tired of people looking over the press releases concerning my unis this season. Standards can tell you just as well as many of you who read the press releases that its for the kids. You ask me to be professional and thats what I did. I paid $3500 for the kids and those who attended those games in New York know that it wasnt screen printed.

Then I get a PM from someone who think I was using my wife's illness for an excuse to miss the New York trip and then stated that my coach had to use his funds to bail me out and so on. To think this was overboard.

Chuck you and others have poked fun at the uniforms that we have dedicated to the kids and so I thought I would put your cheap ass unis on blast. And yet you have yet to answer the question. You guys have jumped all over Anderson and so when I bring up honorable Chucks team, you spin this to my website being not up to date. LOL, thats amazing. So let me update it and then see what you come up with. Oh by the way Chuck, thats too much to read dawg.

[Minor Leaguer]

Alright Chuck, keep on waiting for somebody to pay you that nice lump sum of money that you evidently think you are going to get from your photograph of Jamario Moon. My point is somebody was using the pic on a blog. Big deal, who cares? You can't tell me that he was using it to make money. That is just ridiculous! Next you are going to start talking about how you could get paid for pics of Michael Ray Richardson that you took last season too I suppose. You talk about how you have made money from the trading cards and the Patroons dance team. That is a little bit different than making money from a national company or the NBA from your photos. You have had an in with the Patroons for a while now and of course that doesn't hurt when it comes to them wanting something done with photography.

[Chuck the Writer]

Alright Chuck, keep on waiting for somebody to pay you that nice lump sum of money that you evidently think you are going to get from your photograph of Jamario Moon. My point is somebody was using the pic on a blog. Big deal, who cares? You can't tell me that he was using it to make money. That is just ridiculous! Next you are going to start talking about how you could get paid for pics of Michael Ray Richardson that you took last season too I suppose.

Doesn't matter if it's a penny or a pound, copyright is copyright. The fact of the matter is, the person who used the photograph cropped out my copyright information. That means he intentionally tried to avoid acknowledging the copyright of the person taking the photograph. Look at any issue of Sports Illustrated; every photograph in that magazine is credited, from front to back.

Just because he's some kid with a blog doesn't make him exempt from copyright and trademark rules, and just because the photograph came from the CBA or any other minor league doesn't mean that the copyright protection is any less. But in this instance, I guess we'll just have to agree to disagree and leave it at that.

[Chuck the Writer]

The only reason that posted this thread was because I got tired of people looking over the press releases concerning my unis this season. Standards can tell you just as well as many of you who read the press releases that its for the kids. You ask me to be professional and thats what I did. I paid $3500 for the kids and those who attended those games in New York know that it wasnt screen printed.

So what if it's for the kids? What is wearing uniforms with the word "Genesis" going to do for the kids? Tell me that, Larry. Is somebody paying you to wear those unis - in exchange for them making a donation to a children's charity? Or did the children's charity fund the jerseys in exchange for recognition on your uniforms? Because just saying "the uniforms are for the children" doesn't wash. It doesn't say how the children will benefit from your unis, and it just sounds like another cheap excuse.

Then I get a PM from someone who think I was using my wife's illness for an excuse to miss the New York trip and then stated that my coach had to use his funds to bail me out and so on. To think this was overboard.

Whaa? What's this about your coach funding something to bail you out? This is interesting, Larry, I'm not sure anybody knew about this before you brought it up. So how much merit does it really have?

Chuck you and others have poked fun at the uniforms that we have dedicated to the kids and so I thought I would put your cheap ass unis on blast.

No, I was commenting on your summertime myspace page, your shameless publicity stunt of hiring Howard Judah, your promise of a minor league basketball magazine, your boast of being able to build a sports arena of your own, the bicycle building, and God knows what other stuff you've been blathering about. Your uniforms are the least of my worries. And again you're trying to attack me by referencing the Patroons' uniforms. Face it Larry, the Patroons could play in pajamas and burqas and still beat the Takers by at least 200 points.

Besides, you're using this "I'm doing it for the kids" excuse as some sort of shield against any sort of criticism. And I think a lot of people on OSC are getting tired of it.

And yet you have yet to answer the question.

And "yet" you have "yet" to ask a coherent one.

You guys have jumped all over Anderson and so when I bring up honorable Chucks team, you spin this to my website being not up to date.

We don't have to bring up Anderson any more, Larry. They've gone where most ABA franchises end up. On the dung heap.

Also, you're still under this horrendously misguided interpretation that I either own the Patroons or are in some sort of management position. Not so, Larry.

LOL, thats amazing. So let me update it and then see what you come up with. Oh by the way Chuck, thats too much to read dawg.

Too much to read? Okay, let's do it this way.

See Larry.
See Larry run.
See Larry run a franchise.
See Larry run a team called the Houston Takers.
Not the Houston Rockets - they're in another league.
Not the Houston Undertakers - they're a scary team.
They are the Houston Takers.
See the fans.
Both of them.
See the old man.
The old man is Howard Judah.
He is older than the NBA.
He is older than the CBA.
He is three days older than dirt.
His social security number says "8."
He's going to play for the Houston Takers.
He's going to wear a jersey that says "Genesis."
Because he's as old as Methusulah.

[preeths]

Alright Chuck, keep on waiting for somebody to pay you that nice lump sum of money that you evidently think you are going to get from your photograph of Jamario Moon. My point is somebody was using the pic on a blog. Big deal, who cares? You can't tell me that he was using it to make money. That is just ridiculous! Next you are going to start talking about how you could get paid for pics of Michael Ray Richardson that you took last season too I suppose. You talk about how you have made money from the trading cards and the Patroons dance team. That is a little bit different than making money from a national company or the NBA from your photos. You have had an in with the Patroons for a while now and of course that doesn't hurt when it comes to them wanting something done with photography.

It's Chuck's property, that's the big deal. He can choose to do with his property whatever he wants. He doesn't owe his work to anyone, regardless if they make money off it or not. If you have an issue with it, sorry, but it's Chuck's work, period. Why is this an issue?

[Chuck the Writer]

Last year one of the posters on OSC, "Minor Leaguer," got on my case because I made an online blogger remove one of my copyrighted photos of Jamario Moon from the blogger's website. Thought since we're all going down memory lane on Joe Newman's latest season of eventual disappointments, I thought I'd repost this little missive and let everyone know what's happened since this was posted.

Alright Chuck, keep on waiting for somebody to pay you that nice lump sum of money that you evidently think you are going to get from your photograph of Jamario Moon. My point is somebody was using the pic on a blog. Big deal, who cares? You can't tell me that he was using it to make money. That is just ridiculous! Next you are going to start talking about how you could get paid for pics of Michael Ray Richardson that you took last season too I suppose. You talk about how you have made money from the trading cards and the Patroons dance team. That is a little bit different than making money from a national company or the NBA from your photos. You have had an in with the Patroons for a while now and of course that doesn't hurt when it comes to them wanting something done with photography.

Ah, Minor Leaguer with one of his less-than-worthwhile blasts.

I can reveal now that back in February of '08, the NBA actually did use one of my Jamario Moon photographs as part of an "up close and personal" piece they ran during All-Star Weekend, just before J-Moon competed in the Slam Dunk contest.

http://www.albanypats.com/0607photos/6951-JM.jpg

The NBA, however, used the photo by blurring out the copyright information, and never credited me for the photo or asked me for use of it. This was made more egregious by their use of another vintage Patroons photo supplied by the Albany local newspaper, who was fully credited in the broadcast piece. Since I hold the copyright on all photographs that I take with my camera (the copyright begins the moment the camera's shutter button is pressed), I was able to successfully prove that the NBA violated my copyright, and that they owed me money. A couple of weeks later, I received a sizeable compensation check from the NBA.

Flash forward to this August. Former CBA head coach and current two-time ABA general manager Vincent Askew is caught breaking the law, and in addition to showing clips of Askew's past on their broadcast, a South Florida TV station showed this photograph -

http://www.albanypats.com/0708photos/0124-VA-L.jpg

as part of their broadcast.

http://www.nbc6.net/news/17187895/detail.html

Watch the film clip. My photo (with copyright information cropped out) appears halfway through the broadcast. Again - the person who produced that piece was so zealous in getting the piece to broadcast that they didn't even bother to contact me for use of the photograph - they just took it and used it and thought they could get away with it.

Nope.

Today I spoke with the news director from that station, he apologized profusely for what happened and is retroactively sending me a sizeable check for the photograph.

Next you are going to start talking about how you could get paid for pics of Michael Ray Richardson that you took last season too I suppose.

Actually... Sports Illustrated was about to use one of my MRR photographs in the 2005-06 season (his US rookie head coaching season), but because Albany did not make the finals that year (some franchise out of Indiana had the honor of getting beaten by the Sun Kings that season), the photos were not used. Maybe next time.