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October 4, 2005 - American Basketball Association (ABA) News Release


Questions from Many: "Why do you keep promoting the NBA/ABA exhibition game when it is obvious to everyone that the NBA doesn't want to do it. Is this an ABA publicity stunt?"

Answer: To the many of you who have sent in a similar question, and even to those of you who have written meanspirited emails about this, I'll try to answer. On Saturday, one of the headlines in the Indianapolis Star was - "Back in New Orleans, awful silence, stench." The Chicago Tribune article said, "Thousands of residents returned Friday to a city that only vaguely resembled the one they had left weeks earlier. The French Quarter's usual sounds of laughter, horse-drawn carriages on cobbled streets and rock music blaring from bars were replaced by silence, punctuated with the rumble of military trucks and the hum of generators."

The devastation caused by Katrina and Rita is not a quick fix. Since the NBA challenge was made a couple of weeks ago, there have been over 2,000,000 visits to the ABA website. We have kept Katrina and Katrina relief on the front page as an important story. Hopefully, everyone will continue to support the cause with on-going generosity. Thus far, the American people have rallied behind the hurricane victims as they have for no other disaster in US history. The NBA has been generous. So has the ABA. And we are going to keep Katrina/Rita relief front and center - "until those thousands of residents are safely back at home, comfortable, secure, employed and with bright futures - and so that they can hear the rumble of military trucks leaving, the silence of the generators, and the return of laughter and horse drawn carriages on cobbled streets and rock music blaring from the bars."

That's why we keep promoting the NBA/ABA game. And we think the reason is sound, we think the game is good and we think we can raise a lot of money if the NBA accepts. If you have a problem with this, email the NBA and ask them. If you have a question, please email joenewman@abalive.com.

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.

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American Basketball Association Stories from October 4, 2005


The opinions expressed in this release are those of the organization issuing it, and do not necessarily reflect the thoughts or opinions of OurSports Central or its staff.


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