<---SORRY I MISSED YOU MIKE!

ABA LIVE'06
Strong Island Sound 104 Vermont Frost Heaves 98
I couldn't figure out why the hell the Long Island ABA team plays their games way out in Suffolk County. I hopped on the LIE in Queens and seemed to be driving for hours. After a while I began to realize that they put it there because it would make them the only show in town. There is no minor league baseball out there in the winter, except for Hofstra there are no division one college sports to speak of, the Islanders are alright but who likes hockey anymore?

Seeing my first ABA game couldn't have been for a more terrible reason. I was there doing more research on the life of Chris Sandy, a story I hope will run someplace. Suffolk Community College was tucked up, in and under a corner in the darkest part of anywehre I'd ever been. Exit 62 could have very well been Vermont, where the visting team was coming from. It's important to say that I left the city at 5 o'clock on Friday to make a 6pm door opening, however traffic had it's way and I arrived about five minutes until tip-off for a 7:30 game.

A pretty smooth put together tickett booth/gift stand in what is an above average gym, considering the Long Island Primtime of the USBL played in the dusty-old Elmcore Center in Corona, Queens. However there were no hot dogs, just pure-sugar snacks like Starburst and Skittles, and logo glittered boxer shorts in their place.

As typical, the most entertaining part of the evening was the basketball. The Sound didn't seem to be trying too many tricks. Which might be bad. The ABA and USBL seem to be about even when it comes to attendance. It was a mostly vacant crowd except for friends, family, staff, some white trash kids and a few alcoholic grandfathers.

The game started off tight and competitive. The only player I'd ever heard of on the Vermont team was Kevin Mickens, who played for my brother at George Mason, who played very well but didn't start. For the New York team, Tommie Eddie and Raphael Edwards really stood out for the Sound. Eddie, a massive power forward, nailed a few 3-pointers from out on the wing.

The game started off competitive and then the Sound maitained a ten point lead pretty much the entire game. No real outstanding performers, other than Eddie or Edwards, who worked quietly. It was a really competitive game and I can honestly say the ABA could have picked off the USBL a few years ago if they'd run their league in the Spring.

I think true hoops fans, who know their local players (especially the New York teams) would love the ABA. If you can except the teams on a basketball basis, instead of as "the future stars of tomorrow's NBA," then you'll enjoy the close games and tremendously talented players that exist outside the NBA like: Daryl Dorsey, Homicide Williams, Chris Sandy RIP, Anthony Glover, Mike Campbell (who, pictured above, signed with a team in Belgium on Monday and left the Sound before I saw them) Louis White (who is a really talented guy from Baltimore playing outside the league) Brian Chase, and Garnett Tompson, most of these guys spent time in the ABA. The problem isn't the players, it never has been, but selling a minor league basketball league to the public has been very tough over the years. Now that there are 3 winter leagues and 3 spring leagues it will be interesting to see who remains at the end of the day.

At the half the Sound were up by 10 and up by as many as 19 in the second half. Somehow the Frost Heaves managed to fight back and send the game into overtime. The drama of those last few minutes couldn't be duplicated or replaced by celebrity guest players, coaches or special rules. I mean, for God's sake, one of the cheerleaders was celebrating their 18th birthday. So, Note to Joe Newman: Teach Your teams how to recruit and promote! You've got something here! Stick with the basketball product, market that, and make sure you have hot dogs!

<--- I got to speak with Alex Wolf the owner of the Vermont Frost Heaves. He writes a regular column for Sports Illustrated's website, SI.COM, about his experiences as the owner/operator of the team called "Alex in Wonderland." He was sitting right in the stands and was a really nice dude.

There and Back: Dajuan Wagner's Return Bought Out


It was just a few months ago that Ben Osborne, then Senior Editor of King magazine, told me that my pitch was in fact too late and that he had a writer tracking Wagner for a larger feature for a few months. The piece, published in this their DEC’06/JAN’07 issue of King, is a three page spread about the Wagner’s career, illness and recovery, and his return to the NBA with the Golden State Warrior.

A good deal has changed since then, both for the better and for the worse. On the good side of things, Ben Osborne, a longtime member of the SLAM family, has return to that magazine as it’s editor-in-chief. If you know his work and his ideas, you know that SLAM is going to be a little different this time out. Ryan Jones brought a great deal of NBA coverage to the magazine that was unlike any other outlets viewpoint. That says a lot, considering, coming from my hip-hop journalism background, I feel like NBA basketball players are so much more protected than any other people in the public eye. Mr.Osborne is sure to lay down some really compelling stories of the basketball world at-large, which I think is his specialty. But I’m dragging….

The bad has to be Wagner’s release from the Warriors less than a month into the season. The team chose to buyout the remained of the Camden High School legends contract and move on. Wagner, unlike Jay Williams from Duke who didn’t make the Nets roster after returning from injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident, did play in one game for the Warriors and racked 4 points and an assist in seven minutes. However it was uncertain how his body would hold up throughout the year. Rumors around the web said that the Sonics were interested, but it’s hard to tell what a guy who has returned to the league after overcoming injury and surgery will do in the long run.

It’s clear though, that the NBA likes him and that will make him stick somewhere if he ever returns to normal. ESPN.com noted that he fell out with Don Nelson, but it was a bad enough situation. The Warriors didn’t exactly have room for him anyway. He was competing for time with Baron Davis, Jason Richardson, Monta Ellis and Anthony Roberson, none of whom had missed any time, definitely not most of the last two seasons recovering from getting their colon removed.

It would be in the league’s best interest if he spent a year in the D-League and work it all out. It would keep him close to home and maybe afford the league a big name to help attract fans. He played well in the limited time he was given to play. Two-year-contract aside it was unclear how long Wagner was really going to stay with Golden State. Even if he doesn’t make it back to the NBA this season or next, I think if his goal was to prove he could still play pro ball, then he certainly did.

Wagner is the same kid who grew up the son of a former pro ball player. Wagner is, colon or no colon, the same kid who scored 100 points in a high school game. He is the same Dajuan Wager who kids in the park huddling around his feature spread in SLAM would claim to be related to. The same kid who played one year at the University of Memphis and was then snatched-up early by the lowly Cavs with the 6th pick in the draft. He’s still the same Dajuan Wagner who averaged a solid 13.4 points in his first and only year in the league. He got sick and now he’s better, in fact, he made it back to the NBA. Don’t be surprised if he shows up again.

R.I.P. CHRIS SANDY



The death of Chris Sandy came as a total shock to me. While writing the piece on the Brooklyn Kings, which appears at the very beginning of this blog, I observed Chris and his teammates rather closely. As one of maybe three members of the press who regularly attended home games you couldn’t help but get up close. One of my fondest memories of Chris, besides his almost effortless ability from three-point-land, is of him coming out to sign autographs, shoot-around with and chat with kids after the North East Pennsylvania Breakers failed to show for yet another road game.

It’s painful to write about the death of someone who was so full of life. As a sucker for a good undersized scoring guard, especially ones from New York City, it’s hard for me to believe a guy like Chris could die. His USBL opponents sometimes seemed unworthy. I can say, from watching him play, basketball made him very happy. The world has lost a really good ball player.

It’s too early to tell very detail of his life, I’m going to push his to get his story out on a larger scale. As for what the Associated Press said:

HELSINKI, Finland (AP) -- Chris Sandy, a former Fresno State and Harlem Globetrotters players, died Thursday in a car accident in southeastern Finland, police said. He was 27.

Sandy, from New York, lost control of his car and collided with another vehicle going in the opposite direction, police said.
Sandy, in his first season in Europe, played for one of the top Finnish teams, Kouvot of Kouvola. The 6-foot-2 guard averaged 18 points and was third in the league with 3.9 assists per game



I would like to extend my deepest sympathy to his family and teammates. He is in my prayers now and for always.