Nighthawks appear on ESPN's Cold Pizza

Published on December 18, 2005 under American Basketball Association (ABA)
Maryland NightHawks News Release


Indianapolis, IN. On Friday, Tom Doyle, owner of the ABA Maryland Nighthawks and his star guard, Randy "White Chocolate" Gill, appeared on the popular ESPN morning show, Cold Pizza. Doyle and Gill were asked by ESPN to appear on the show after hearing about the team's offer to trade two of its players, Gill and former Syracuse University star, Lawrence Moten to the Indiana Pacers for the controversial Ron Artest, who has been placed on the inactive list following his request to be traded.

The Indiana Pacers have tried to trade Artest and to receive a quality player in return. Artest is an NBA All Star and considered one of the best players in the league. Thus far, the Pacers have been unsuccessful. Following the show on Friday, the ABA received many comments via phone calls and emails relating to the seriousness of the offer. These questions were answered by Tom Doyle in an Ask the CEO posted today.

According to Joe Newman, ABA CEO, "We're very proud and pleased that Tom not only made the offer and was able to appear on Cold Pizza, but that he was able to articulate something that we have felt strongly about - that the ABA is loaded with NBA caliber players and that if some of our players had a chance to show their skills, they could contribute to teams in the NBA. There are teams in the NBA paying players millions of dollars riding the bench while the teams have terrible records and are not competitive. Players like Randy Gill, Lawrence Moten, Eric Sandrin, Will Funn and others in the ABA can compete on the NBA level if given a chance. Playing for the Maryland Nighthawks would be good for Ron Artest, certainly better than sitting at home. And the Pacers could make a strong statement about its desire to bring quality U.S. players into the league by reaching into the ABA and giving some of its players a chance to prove their skills."

Doyle also challenged the NBA to allow Randy Gill (and others) to enter the NBA 3-point shooting contest or "even to let the ABA All Star team play the NBA Rookie All Star team in a game so that we can showcase the quality of our talent before a national audience." It is unlikely that either will happen - but, we can wish. And we'd like to thank ESPN and Cold Pizza for the national showcase. It was exciting indeed - a week with both ESPN and Sports Illustrated exposure.

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.

Share: Facebook | Twitter/X | LinkedIn | Reddit | Email



American Basketball Association Stories from December 18, 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.

OurSports Central