The Official Tally Begins...

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

Off of the OSC schedule for the ABA:

Sat., November 5 Kentucky at Detroit Ppd.

And now, on ABAlive, all games with BOTH of these teams have been removed from the master schedule. Since the ABA numbers each of their games invidivually, it is much easier to see the deletions - they didn't re-number after the fact. For November:
9 2005-11-05 SAT Buffalo @ Rochester Rochester, NY 7:35 PM
11 2005-11-06 SUN Lake Erie @ Indiana Anderson, IN 5:00 PM
12 2005-11-08 TUE Montreal @ Northeast Pennsylvania Scranton, PA 7:00 PM
13 2005-11-09 WED Lake Erie @ Pittsburgh Pittsburgh, PA 7:00 PM
14 2005-11-10 THU Nashville @ Baltimore Baltimore, MD 7:00 PM
15 2005-11-10 THU New Mexico @ Texas Ft Worth, TX 7:00 PM
16 2005-11-11 FRI Richmond @ Baltimore Baltimore, MD 7:00 PM
17 2005-11-11 FRI Indiana @ Detroit Dearborn, MI 7:00 PM
18 2005-11-11 FRI Gallup @ Kansas City Overland Park, KS 7:00 PM
19 2005-11-11 FRI Ohio @ Lake Erie Lake Erie, OH 7:00 PM
21 2005-11-11 FRI SoCal @ Los Angeles Los Angeles, CA 7:00 PM

Games 10 (KY @ Det) and 20 (Ind @ Det) have now disappeared.

Indiana has had two opponents (11/11 @ Detroit, 11/13 vs. Kentucky) vanish already, and the season is what 4 days old?

It's a bus wreck, and Joe is driving for Greyhound...

[nksports]

So who's dead so far?
Kentucky
Detroit
Who am I missing?

I just saw something on Niagara (St. Catherines Ont.). They drew 200 in their opener.

[barkley34]

How can you blame Joe (and I am about as big a fan of him as I am Sam Hill's worthless drivel)? Seriously? The games are being cancelled for a reason, the owners have NO MONEY! Everyone wants to be "George Steinbrenner", but they haven't got a pot to piss in or a window to throw it out of. Yes, Joe should have done his home work, but who in God's name is so f******k broke where they can't even start the season? These owners should NEVER, EVER, EVER be allowed to run a business ever again...unless it is AMWAY!

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

As the face and voice - and CEO - of the league, the blame falls in Joe's lap.

As the person who oversaw the due diligence and confirmed that all the teams met at least the absolute minimums - as created by Joe and Ricardo, among others - to ensure that teams did NOT drop out during the season, the blame falls in Joe's lap.

As the person whose constant spin, contradiction of announced ABA policies and intitiatives, and arrogance toward differing opinions (including calling multiple newspaper reports 'inaccurate' or lies) belied the fact that many of the problems that were 'addressed' were simply ignored to the tune of $10K-$20 per mistake, the blame falls in his lap.

For his repeated faliures of ensuring that those groups he brings in actually have the resources available to manage a franchise - by conducting siple due diligence and financial background checks - the blame falls in his lap.

[barkley34]

I guess it was the blind leading the blind, or just a bunch of crooks (Joe and the owners) wanting to act like their NBA brethren only the don't have the money, the expertise, the contacts, the integrity, the credibility, the financial acumen, the backing, the community, the arena, the fan base, the TV contract, the merchandise, the sponsors.........etc., etc., etc...the only people that get screwed are the season ticket holders and sponsors (unfortuntetaly it is the small business person with tight ad budget). These slick bastards should be shot!

"Idiocy is not all that bad, I am a bastard child of Joe Newman and I turned out OK" Sam "OSC Legend" Hill

[meyes]

barkley42,
I suspect you were being sarcastic in your remark about AMWAY, but you are actually right. Those who have learned and sucessfully used the business models and systems that companies such as AMWAY and others have in place, would not only have the money to start and run sports franchises, but they would also have the business knowledge to operate profitably.

[patmc16]

the only people that get screwed are the season ticket holders and sponsors.

Then I guess Detroit is free and clear, since they had neither.

Really, the ones that get screwed the most are any players that expected to play for the team (there are none that I am aware of). Second is the casual fan, like myself.

I truely wish the ABA wasn't a joke. I also wish Detroit could have a good franchise run by people who have a clue (like some of the ABA franchises) despite the fact that the league and its front office is a joke.

[nksports]

So who's dead so far?
Kentucky
Detroit
Who am I missing?

I just saw something on Niagara (St. Catherines Ont.). They drew 200 in their opener.

Add Mississippi to the death watch list

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

And St. Louis, if reports are correct, pulled out last week...

[ABARedWhiteBlue]

And Hawaii has not yet signed for a venue...

And Boston is playing "at area high schools"

And so on, and so on..


But, on the bright side, we can all buy a shirt/hat/beef jerky to show support for our troops...