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ABA stumbles into new season

by Paul Reeths
November 5, 2007 - American Basketball Association (ABA)


The American Basketball Association tipped off its 2007-08 schedule this past weekend, and already old problems have begun to surface. Two of the ABA's nine games were postponed, and questions continue to swirl about the ability of several teams to start, never mind complete, the schedule.

Games in St. Louis and Sacramento were postponed Sunday when the home squads were left with no one to play. The Maywood (Cal.) Buzz appeared on the schedule as Sacramento's opponent, but after the more-or-less final schedule came out late Friday, the Buzz unable to play the game on short notice.

More concerning was the situation in St. Louis where the hometown Stunners had to call off a contest against the Rochester (Minn.) Fire. Several news reports from Rochester indicate the Fire's owner, Steve Rodriguez, has all but abandoned the team, saying he doesn't have the money to cover current bills. Rodriguez also owns the ABA Minnesota Ripknees and Peoria Kings according to published reports.

One has to pity ABA Vice President of Operations Brad Hester who was left to cobble together a skyscraper of a schedule on a shifting landscape of 36 teams. His main challenge was that as early as last month the league boasted in excess of 40 teams. Some of the league members were added in October, less than 30 days before the opener. While the opening weekend is in the books, the entire schedule is still not set.

The difficulties are nothing new for the seven-year-old league. The ABA started last season with 53 teams before losing nearly half of them before the Vermont Frost Heaves won the league title in March. This season saw ABA membership cut by nearly a third, but so far that hasn't prevented some of the same troubles from cropping up.

Note: OurSports Central no longer actively covers the American Basketball Association (ABA) as a professional league due in part to its inability to publish and play a schedule and the transitory nature of many of its teams. For information on professional minor leagues, please see OSC's basketball section.



American Basketball Association Stories from November 5, 2007


The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer(s), and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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