David Stern announced a week or so ago that the NBA was opening an office in London and moving some staff from its Paris European HQ to London. I sort of thought it was even hinted at the London office becoming the European HQ.
What is the motive here?
Is this good news for British basketball or is it more good news for British basketball that British basketball just fritters away as usual?
Or, getting into the spirit of the totally conspiritorially obsessed die-hard British basketball following, is this bad news for the Euroleague?
I haven't spent a lot of time thinking about this, but I have spent a bit and maybe a little bit every few days. Part of me really thinks this is a power play by the NBA to get a foothold in Europe, something it has been desperate to do for so long, yet never knows how to do it.
The television interview when he announced this was broadcast by Channel 5, albeit at something like 0300 in the morning, during playoff coverage. It was the only place I had seen so much of what Stern was thinking. He even mentioned "the domestic league". I'm not particularly sure he knew it was called the BBL, but at least he knew there was one.
Of course, it was all couched in helping the Olympic Games here in London and helping growing grassroots level support; but I was left with his comments regarding Great Britain being the last, only, industrialised unexploited market left for basketball.
A very bright man who has led the NBA for what they call 'donkey's years', Stern has to be aware, if not concerned with the explosive growth of the Euroleague and that means if kids are starting to buy CSKA Moscow jerseys, that means they are buying less Chicago Bulls jerseys. And if they grow up supporting Real Madrid or Valencia or Treviso, they are less likely to spend money on the NBA products.
Make no mistakes about it, the growth in merchandise sales is what fuels ALL sports. Not everyone can ever go see a game, even if they live locally. But they can buy merch. The value of this merch is immense and is growing exponentially. The badge of your team is the symbol of the new religion and people do not often change religions. It's for life.
It funds the body and as player wages go up and as the brand seeks new revenue it has to look overseas. NBA Europe Live is a sort of Faustian bargain that both the NBA and Euroleague play these days. The NBA sends over a few terrible teams (this year the Celtics, T-Wolves, Grizzlies and I forget if there's another) and plays some Euroleague teams. These games are of immense importance to the European teams that get to play them. It lends credibility to the Euroleague teams and it gives the NBA a chance to build its brand and sell more merch to what it hopes is a growing legion of new fans.
But not in London.
In London, the NBA is putting on an exhibition match between the T-Wolves (less maybe KG by that time?) and the Celtics. No Euroleague team invited or necessary, thank you.
For a great deal of GB hoops fan, this will be our first taste of NBA ball in years and for a first look at the O2 Arena; reputed to be the first NBA standard venue in Europe--the greatest indoor arena in Europe.
If you look at the Euroleague--where are the holes? Where is the chink in the ever greater armour?
There are two massive holes: London and Paris. NBA offices? London and Paris.
There have been rumours for over a decade about the NBA wishing to expand internationally. There were rumours that the D-League would be UK based, but that came to nothing. And before that, there were the rumours that there would be actual franchises in the UK.
I read a very interesting story about the founder of the Cook Group, which purchased Manchester United's old basketball team, the Giants. Of course, this old Cook was lamenting that he was offered to buy the football team for $30m back in the early 1990's, but instead bought their basketball team instead.
Why? He was quite open about it: He and his advisors were of the belief that the NBA were going to expand into the UK and they wanted a team on the ground when the time came. It was easier to spend about $2-5m on the Giants, get a foothold in, than buy an existing NBA team for 5X that or whatever. Or worse, lose then the bidding war started.
I wonder if this is what the Wrights, the Goldsmiths, et al, were thinking back then too. If they were, it was a spectacular idea, but the NBA didn't move and they lost their money.
What is happening today? Maybe the NBA sees their only chance of starting something in the holes of the Euroleague, which are admittedly MASSIVE holes: London and Paris. It's like Monopoly. If the Euroleague buys these last few properties, they can start building hotels on them. The NBA might be priced out forever.
Maybe it also explains why the Euroleague is so determined to get something happening in one, if not both of these cities. It cannot afford to waste more time letting the NBA have access to the biggest city in Europe.
Where is the Euroleague office in London? Will there be a response?
And how does the existing structure of British basketball fit into this? FIBA is at war with our government, our government is at war with England Basketball ("not fit for purpose" is the new catch-phrase that pays), our league is, well...our league and here we all are wondering what on earth is going on.
How do we make an impact? Will anyone call us up and tell us we are involved?
If I look at this objectively, I say that something has to be going on behind the scenes. Why should I know anything about it?
But then I stop and remember: the club I work for are BBL League Champions and Cup holders.
Monday 28 May 2007
Sunday 20 May 2007
Promotion and Relegation
I've been giving some thought to the concept of promotion and relegation in European basketball. For people reading this in North America who are unfamiliar with this practise, professional team sports are created on a pyramid system that lets lower league (minor league) teams to move up to higher leagues depending on end of season standings. We are talking here about the equal of the Trenton Thunder (Eastern League AA in baseball) moving up to the International League or the Pacific Coast League (AAA) one year and even moving up to MLB the next. In order for this to be possible, it means that teams from the PCL and MLB would go DOWN levels if they finished last or next to last amongst all teams.
It is a remarkable concept and one that not many Americans are familiar with. As our games are structured now back home, this would simply entail economic meltdown in the short term and would be impossible. It would also be impossible in the NFL because there are no minor leagues of American football. The same would apply in basketball. It could only work, perhaps, in ice hockey. In baseball, on its face, it is possible, but as the MLB teams own the registration of the minor league players, it is not realistic to generally discuss it. An open baseball cup competition would be stellar though, as I've often said.
However, in Europe this is the norm and as the years have gone by, economic meltdown is now what transpires when the equal of the Chicago White Sox or the Cubs gets relegated. In the UK, Leeds United have just been relegated again to the equal of AA baseball. A team that can count on 25,000-30,000 weekly turning out will play teams that struggled to attract 5,000. It's a nightmare. And one that can go on for years and years; ask any Nottingham Forest supporter.
Of course, one could argue that teams such as the NY Yankees or Boston Red Sox would never be the ones to go down as they earn too much money; relegation would be reserved for the Milwaukee Brewers or other small market teams. And this is true. But someone has to go down each year and it's not one team, it's two or three.
Which leads me to European basketball, in which, as far as I know, all the major leagues subject themselves to relegation and promotion. The British Basketball League is not a major league but it does have the distinction of being a "closed league".
I heard the phrase "closed league" used quite a bit in Brussels, I think, as a euphemism for the NBA. Closed leagues are seriously frowned upon, again I think, by the leading minds of European basketball. And since we of the BBL operate a closed league, I have been given to thinking more and more about it.
Of all people to feel partial to a closed league, it shouldn't be me. First of all, after nearly 11 full years, I understand how important this concept is to the die-hard supporters of football. Second and most of all, as a supporter of a team that has climbed all 4 rungs of the Football League during my time in England, I have promotion and relegation to thank for supporting a Premier League club today.
But I can't seem to bring myself to liking the idea of promotion and relegation in the BBL. While I am sure, or I think I am sure, the big-wigs at the other league offices could frankly care less what the BBL does at this stage, I would hope a day will come that they WOULD care and therefore it is something that is on my mind; particularly as we are in promotion and relegation season and Fulham Football Club narrowly escaped it this year.
The BBL today is comprised of, I think, 12 clubs; having expanded in the close season with the addition of a brand new club in Birmingham and the promotion of London Capital from England Basketball League 1. They were not first, second or third as far as I know in their league, the positions from which promotion should be gained. Birmingham didn't even exist.
Worcester were promoted from 6th place last season and lost 36 of 40 games. If the league had relegation, Worcester would have come up and gone straight back down. Would this have been worth it to them?
Financially, I struggle to understand how our league could cope with clubs coming into the league, making an investment and then being relegated to a league that I have to believe suffers from less income than we do.
And to make matters worse, none of the 3 best teams in EB1 applied for promotion this year. As the marketing guy for the Guildford Heat, my personal disappointment that Reading Rockets did not apply to the BBL is easily my biggest disappointment for the season that hasn't even started yet.
Having a new local rivalry--strike that, having any local rivalry, would be such a huge boost to both clubs in every respect. I am utterly sure that BBL games between the two teams would be the highest attended for either club. Reading are only about 20 miles away.
The goal of the BBL is to apparently be a league of 16 teams. The ACB has 18. The NBA, of course, has 30.
I am personally very keen on seeing the league increase to 16 or even 18 teams; ten was just too small. We played the same teams over and over again. A league of 20 broken into two conferences would be quite astounding.
But I struggle with how this can happen. The league needs stability. It cannot have a situation where teams come and go (disappear) so frequently, as has been happening the last few years. Or worse, nearly disappearing during the season. But I do not understand why Reading Rockets would choose not to go into the BBL. They seem well-funded and well-organised. We need them, or I should say teams like them, in the league in order for the league to improve.
I am now wondering if our 'closed league' system is part of why they didn't apply. To join the BBL, you leave the lower league system of England or Scotland that DOES have promotion and relegation. And to join the BBL, you have to pay a franchise fee. The fee and the manner it is paid in can be defered and apparently not even paid for a few seasons, but at the end of the day, the fee is apparently £90,000 spread over nearly a decade.
When the BBL was on Sky Sports, every team in the league got distribution income from the league. Sponsorship and TV revenue was paid OUT by the league TO the clubs. But now there is no distribution. The payment is one-way, from the clubs to the league. I wonder if this is the essence of the problem for clubs like Reading.
I wonder what it cost to join the BBL in 1996; back in the 'glory years'? What would anyone who was interested in UK basketball purely as an investment view as the value of a BBL franchise today?
How do we get there from here?
And when you look at nearly half the teams in the Spanish ACB; when you look at the year they were founded, you see something more remarkable than you could ever imagine:
Nearly half of them were founded less than 25 years ago; some less than even 15. One, Bruesa GBC of San Sebastian incredibly (unbelievably), was founded in 2001. Now they play to tens of thousands on national and international TV.
And this is WITH promotion and relegation.
Knowing this makes me even more intrigued to learn the history of the ACB. Knowing how a league has grown itself in the same time period as British basketball, in a country where football is the national sport just as it is in Britain, surely must have some things to teach us here.
At the end of the day, learning is probably what interests and concerns me most: How do we of the BBL learn what we do not know, how do we learn what mistakes were made in the past and how do we use all of this knowledge to move away from the culture of defeat while embracing the risks of trying to succeed?
It is a remarkable concept and one that not many Americans are familiar with. As our games are structured now back home, this would simply entail economic meltdown in the short term and would be impossible. It would also be impossible in the NFL because there are no minor leagues of American football. The same would apply in basketball. It could only work, perhaps, in ice hockey. In baseball, on its face, it is possible, but as the MLB teams own the registration of the minor league players, it is not realistic to generally discuss it. An open baseball cup competition would be stellar though, as I've often said.
However, in Europe this is the norm and as the years have gone by, economic meltdown is now what transpires when the equal of the Chicago White Sox or the Cubs gets relegated. In the UK, Leeds United have just been relegated again to the equal of AA baseball. A team that can count on 25,000-30,000 weekly turning out will play teams that struggled to attract 5,000. It's a nightmare. And one that can go on for years and years; ask any Nottingham Forest supporter.
Of course, one could argue that teams such as the NY Yankees or Boston Red Sox would never be the ones to go down as they earn too much money; relegation would be reserved for the Milwaukee Brewers or other small market teams. And this is true. But someone has to go down each year and it's not one team, it's two or three.
Which leads me to European basketball, in which, as far as I know, all the major leagues subject themselves to relegation and promotion. The British Basketball League is not a major league but it does have the distinction of being a "closed league".
I heard the phrase "closed league" used quite a bit in Brussels, I think, as a euphemism for the NBA. Closed leagues are seriously frowned upon, again I think, by the leading minds of European basketball. And since we of the BBL operate a closed league, I have been given to thinking more and more about it.
Of all people to feel partial to a closed league, it shouldn't be me. First of all, after nearly 11 full years, I understand how important this concept is to the die-hard supporters of football. Second and most of all, as a supporter of a team that has climbed all 4 rungs of the Football League during my time in England, I have promotion and relegation to thank for supporting a Premier League club today.
But I can't seem to bring myself to liking the idea of promotion and relegation in the BBL. While I am sure, or I think I am sure, the big-wigs at the other league offices could frankly care less what the BBL does at this stage, I would hope a day will come that they WOULD care and therefore it is something that is on my mind; particularly as we are in promotion and relegation season and Fulham Football Club narrowly escaped it this year.
The BBL today is comprised of, I think, 12 clubs; having expanded in the close season with the addition of a brand new club in Birmingham and the promotion of London Capital from England Basketball League 1. They were not first, second or third as far as I know in their league, the positions from which promotion should be gained. Birmingham didn't even exist.
Worcester were promoted from 6th place last season and lost 36 of 40 games. If the league had relegation, Worcester would have come up and gone straight back down. Would this have been worth it to them?
Financially, I struggle to understand how our league could cope with clubs coming into the league, making an investment and then being relegated to a league that I have to believe suffers from less income than we do.
And to make matters worse, none of the 3 best teams in EB1 applied for promotion this year. As the marketing guy for the Guildford Heat, my personal disappointment that Reading Rockets did not apply to the BBL is easily my biggest disappointment for the season that hasn't even started yet.
Having a new local rivalry--strike that, having any local rivalry, would be such a huge boost to both clubs in every respect. I am utterly sure that BBL games between the two teams would be the highest attended for either club. Reading are only about 20 miles away.
The goal of the BBL is to apparently be a league of 16 teams. The ACB has 18. The NBA, of course, has 30.
I am personally very keen on seeing the league increase to 16 or even 18 teams; ten was just too small. We played the same teams over and over again. A league of 20 broken into two conferences would be quite astounding.
But I struggle with how this can happen. The league needs stability. It cannot have a situation where teams come and go (disappear) so frequently, as has been happening the last few years. Or worse, nearly disappearing during the season. But I do not understand why Reading Rockets would choose not to go into the BBL. They seem well-funded and well-organised. We need them, or I should say teams like them, in the league in order for the league to improve.
I am now wondering if our 'closed league' system is part of why they didn't apply. To join the BBL, you leave the lower league system of England or Scotland that DOES have promotion and relegation. And to join the BBL, you have to pay a franchise fee. The fee and the manner it is paid in can be defered and apparently not even paid for a few seasons, but at the end of the day, the fee is apparently £90,000 spread over nearly a decade.
When the BBL was on Sky Sports, every team in the league got distribution income from the league. Sponsorship and TV revenue was paid OUT by the league TO the clubs. But now there is no distribution. The payment is one-way, from the clubs to the league. I wonder if this is the essence of the problem for clubs like Reading.
I wonder what it cost to join the BBL in 1996; back in the 'glory years'? What would anyone who was interested in UK basketball purely as an investment view as the value of a BBL franchise today?
How do we get there from here?
And when you look at nearly half the teams in the Spanish ACB; when you look at the year they were founded, you see something more remarkable than you could ever imagine:
Nearly half of them were founded less than 25 years ago; some less than even 15. One, Bruesa GBC of San Sebastian incredibly (unbelievably), was founded in 2001. Now they play to tens of thousands on national and international TV.
And this is WITH promotion and relegation.
Knowing this makes me even more intrigued to learn the history of the ACB. Knowing how a league has grown itself in the same time period as British basketball, in a country where football is the national sport just as it is in Britain, surely must have some things to teach us here.
At the end of the day, learning is probably what interests and concerns me most: How do we of the BBL learn what we do not know, how do we learn what mistakes were made in the past and how do we use all of this knowledge to move away from the culture of defeat while embracing the risks of trying to succeed?
Friday 11 May 2007
Cure for Hoop Withdrawal, ACB or Bundesliga?
It's been now two weeks since our last game of the season and today I can surely state I had my first twitch for needing a fix. I want to see a game. Not on the box, in the flesh.
I have to admit, over the past several months I've developed a bit of a taste for the Spanish top league, the ACB; reputedly the best league basketball after the NBA. Between Eurosport's coverage of the ULEB Cup showing plenty of Real Madrid as well as the weekly one hour Spanish Basketball League Review, I've seen quite a few games and liked what I've seen. Roy Birch provides quite a bit of information in his commentary for us UK based viewers and I've really enjoyed the titbits he's put into the public domain. I'm looking forward to meeting him.
Not adverse myself to noticing advertising in the papers regarding a 'price war' between Ryanair and EasyJet offering 'tons' of cheap plane tickets (carbon footprints be damned), I thought a bit of research was in order. Opportunity sniffed.
Open browser, Google ACB...after this weekend it's playoff time in the ACB. Considering the fact I'm a Madrid-junkie already, I think the time has come to see Real in their Vistalegra Arena. 15,000 seater. The Full Monty. But what of Barcelona? Or Valencia? Click click.
Great site...but...
Where can I find the schedule, in English?
Nothing here. How dare they print their entire website in Spanish without an English button. Oh stop; just joking. I did actually look for the English language button though. Must ask for some insights from people in Spain about the scheduling.
Tickets, I don't worry about. It's not that I have friends in high places, but the last time I scalped tickets to see Real Madrid FC in Madrid, I only spent £40 for €20 tickets, so how bad can I get done for basketball tickets?
Let's have a look at Ryanair out of Gatwick...
Ireland only.
I am not going to Stansted. That would take as long as the flight to Spain.
EasyJet.
WTF?
Minimum £100 with two weeks advance notice? What happened to the £1 tickets?
Some of these are £200+...even to places I have no idea where they are or if they have basketball.
Hey look at this, Girona is listed as Barcelona. There's an ACB team in Girona. Just learned something there.
Must be the time of year and the warm weather, but Spain does not look like it's cheap to get to.
Blatant false advertising!
But I need a fix.
Where can I go to see top quality basketball on short notice on short haul flight. I don't care if the weather and food are as miserable as England--where can I go?
Germany...
I have to admit, over the past several months I've developed a bit of a taste for the Spanish top league, the ACB; reputedly the best league basketball after the NBA. Between Eurosport's coverage of the ULEB Cup showing plenty of Real Madrid as well as the weekly one hour Spanish Basketball League Review, I've seen quite a few games and liked what I've seen. Roy Birch provides quite a bit of information in his commentary for us UK based viewers and I've really enjoyed the titbits he's put into the public domain. I'm looking forward to meeting him.
Not adverse myself to noticing advertising in the papers regarding a 'price war' between Ryanair and EasyJet offering 'tons' of cheap plane tickets (carbon footprints be damned), I thought a bit of research was in order. Opportunity sniffed.
Open browser, Google ACB...after this weekend it's playoff time in the ACB. Considering the fact I'm a Madrid-junkie already, I think the time has come to see Real in their Vistalegra Arena. 15,000 seater. The Full Monty. But what of Barcelona? Or Valencia? Click click.
Great site...but...
Where can I find the schedule, in English?
Nothing here. How dare they print their entire website in Spanish without an English button. Oh stop; just joking. I did actually look for the English language button though. Must ask for some insights from people in Spain about the scheduling.
Tickets, I don't worry about. It's not that I have friends in high places, but the last time I scalped tickets to see Real Madrid FC in Madrid, I only spent £40 for €20 tickets, so how bad can I get done for basketball tickets?
Let's have a look at Ryanair out of Gatwick...
Ireland only.
I am not going to Stansted. That would take as long as the flight to Spain.
EasyJet.
WTF?
Minimum £100 with two weeks advance notice? What happened to the £1 tickets?
Some of these are £200+...even to places I have no idea where they are or if they have basketball.
Hey look at this, Girona is listed as Barcelona. There's an ACB team in Girona. Just learned something there.
Must be the time of year and the warm weather, but Spain does not look like it's cheap to get to.
Blatant false advertising!
But I need a fix.
Where can I go to see top quality basketball on short notice on short haul flight. I don't care if the weather and food are as miserable as England--where can I go?
Germany...
Tuesday 8 May 2007
Post Euroleague Final and Suns v Spurs, One Night of Hoop Heaven
The Euroleague final, if you didn't get a chance to watch it wherever you are, was probably the best spectacle European basketball could have hoped for. Sure, the local side did get a real boost by getting to play in their home town but as one of the announcers said, playing in front of the most die-hard, rabid Greek fans is all about pressure too.
What was perhaps most amazing was being able to turn over to Sky Sports right after the game ended and watch the first game of the Sun/Spurs series and just compare. I suppose it's not fair to compare Game 1 Conference Semi-Finals v a winner take all game, but I felt there was more spark, more D, more desire in the European game. I certainly felt the gap between these two teams and the NBA was getting smaller and not larger. The focus on team play is such a hallmark of European basketball, it does contrast greatly with the game back home. Barring Steve Nash, it so often seemed a game of individuals.
It was also the first time I had got to see a Euroleague game live, as previous to this I could only see highlights on Greg Tanner's show on UKTVSlam G2. Okay, I could have watched games on my computer screen and I know I really need to get a plasma and hook it up to my computer, but this was the first live game. Comparing it to the ULEB Cup isn't even possible.
I should really congratulate the Euroleague team for the job they did in organising this event. I am told there are usually quite a lot of NBA big-wigs, even David Stern himself, coming to this game and I can see why. I can also see why NBA club owners like Mark Cuban of the Mavs see the Euroleague not as a partner, but as a competitor. Cuban certainly has a love for self-promotion and the reality is that the NBA's resources are light years beyond everything. Europe is playing a game of catch-up it may take years to win. But it's happening.
There is much debate on the inside of the British basketball league community regarding our place, the BBL's place, in the overall set up of Europe. The truth is there isn't a place right now. I am not doing down our league or our ability or our love of the game, but I don't see how it is possible to say otherwise. Maybe this month it may change, but we've no right to a spot anymore, when we once did. We've lost a lot in the past 5-7 years.
Getting to Euroleague isn't a conversation that is easy to have for us. Getting to ULEB is easier. But it surely was something to watch the final, just as it was to watch the ULEB final. The differences between these two are vast, but you can see the map of progression--you can see how you COULD get there.
With the NBA, a closed league, all you can do is look in; as if with your face pressed up to the glass window of some exclusive shop that you know you will never, ever get into.
This is why it's great to play in the BBL, member of the Union of European Basketball Leagues (ULEB).
What was perhaps most amazing was being able to turn over to Sky Sports right after the game ended and watch the first game of the Sun/Spurs series and just compare. I suppose it's not fair to compare Game 1 Conference Semi-Finals v a winner take all game, but I felt there was more spark, more D, more desire in the European game. I certainly felt the gap between these two teams and the NBA was getting smaller and not larger. The focus on team play is such a hallmark of European basketball, it does contrast greatly with the game back home. Barring Steve Nash, it so often seemed a game of individuals.
It was also the first time I had got to see a Euroleague game live, as previous to this I could only see highlights on Greg Tanner's show on UKTVSlam G2. Okay, I could have watched games on my computer screen and I know I really need to get a plasma and hook it up to my computer, but this was the first live game. Comparing it to the ULEB Cup isn't even possible.
I should really congratulate the Euroleague team for the job they did in organising this event. I am told there are usually quite a lot of NBA big-wigs, even David Stern himself, coming to this game and I can see why. I can also see why NBA club owners like Mark Cuban of the Mavs see the Euroleague not as a partner, but as a competitor. Cuban certainly has a love for self-promotion and the reality is that the NBA's resources are light years beyond everything. Europe is playing a game of catch-up it may take years to win. But it's happening.
There is much debate on the inside of the British basketball league community regarding our place, the BBL's place, in the overall set up of Europe. The truth is there isn't a place right now. I am not doing down our league or our ability or our love of the game, but I don't see how it is possible to say otherwise. Maybe this month it may change, but we've no right to a spot anymore, when we once did. We've lost a lot in the past 5-7 years.
Getting to Euroleague isn't a conversation that is easy to have for us. Getting to ULEB is easier. But it surely was something to watch the final, just as it was to watch the ULEB final. The differences between these two are vast, but you can see the map of progression--you can see how you COULD get there.
With the NBA, a closed league, all you can do is look in; as if with your face pressed up to the glass window of some exclusive shop that you know you will never, ever get into.
This is why it's great to play in the BBL, member of the Union of European Basketball Leagues (ULEB).
Sunday 6 May 2007
Euroleague Final
This afternoon I am looking very much forward to watching UKTVSlam on UKTV G2 and their live coverage of the Euroleague Final. This will be a game between a pair of teams that would absolutely defeat somewhere between a handful and several NBA teams. CSKA Moscow have the highest payroll of any team in basketball outside North America. If I am not mistaken, it is somewhere in the region of $20-25m. They are a vastly exceptional team in this respect. Their opponents, Panathinaikos, while I am not sure, spent 2/3 to 1/2 of that. I could be wrong though. Not about CSKA though.
The Euroleague/ULEB have genuine hopes of playing the Euroleague Finals at the brandie-new O2 Arena in London before this decade is out. They would love to have a British team play in the Euroleague by then. Even my own wholly optimistic, gung ho, what the hell, all you need is love (read: money) mentality I can't even imagine such a thing.
I think the team in the Euroleague, one giant step above the ULEB Cup, with the lowest wage bill is something like $5m; sure, joke money for the NBA, but impossible to imagine in any respect for the British Basketball League.
If we gain entry to the ULEB Cup this fall, then we would be one step below this league. If we won the ULEB Cup we would be automatically in the Euroleague. Absolutely reality, but only technically. Not even in the best Cheech and Chong Kodak moment of a lifetime would we be that close except if by allowing oneself to dream a little dream.
However, I'm sure Thomas Edison had some rather peculiar dreams so it was only in this manner did he conjure up solutions to the challenges he faced in inventing things that no one could imagine.
Let me use my imagination on how it could be done. Quick! Someone call Paul Allen, the guy who spends no time working for Microsoft anymore, yet has as much money as Bill Gates. He throws money away on WAYYY more crazy ideas than this. Do I have his number?
That's it, I'm afraid.
But all of these clubs started from someplace and someplace was a dream. And in one hour, someplace is going to be in front of my neighbour's TV set as we drink a few bottles of Hogs Back T.E.A. and watch just how much better these teams are than not only the Guildford Heat and Real Madrid, but how much worse they are than the Golden State Warriors.
I wonder how many people who watch BBL basketball will be doing the same thing?
The Euroleague/ULEB have genuine hopes of playing the Euroleague Finals at the brandie-new O2 Arena in London before this decade is out. They would love to have a British team play in the Euroleague by then. Even my own wholly optimistic, gung ho, what the hell, all you need is love (read: money) mentality I can't even imagine such a thing.
I think the team in the Euroleague, one giant step above the ULEB Cup, with the lowest wage bill is something like $5m; sure, joke money for the NBA, but impossible to imagine in any respect for the British Basketball League.
If we gain entry to the ULEB Cup this fall, then we would be one step below this league. If we won the ULEB Cup we would be automatically in the Euroleague. Absolutely reality, but only technically. Not even in the best Cheech and Chong Kodak moment of a lifetime would we be that close except if by allowing oneself to dream a little dream.
However, I'm sure Thomas Edison had some rather peculiar dreams so it was only in this manner did he conjure up solutions to the challenges he faced in inventing things that no one could imagine.
Let me use my imagination on how it could be done. Quick! Someone call Paul Allen, the guy who spends no time working for Microsoft anymore, yet has as much money as Bill Gates. He throws money away on WAYYY more crazy ideas than this. Do I have his number?
That's it, I'm afraid.
But all of these clubs started from someplace and someplace was a dream. And in one hour, someplace is going to be in front of my neighbour's TV set as we drink a few bottles of Hogs Back T.E.A. and watch just how much better these teams are than not only the Guildford Heat and Real Madrid, but how much worse they are than the Golden State Warriors.
I wonder how many people who watch BBL basketball will be doing the same thing?
Monday 30 April 2007
Train Wreck in Newcastle, All Change Please
I'm not quite sure who didn't read the script. Was it our players or the Scottish Rocks? And I'm not entirely sure how I neglected to do any contigency planning, but when we were down by 20 at half-time I had to give serious thoughts about not appearing in the BBL Playoff Final. Ouch!
And the weekend started off so good too...that 7 hour drive on the bus to Newcastle was wonderful. To be fair, the ride itself was only 7 hours, but since I left my house at 11.45 on Friday, the total time spent running about was about 10 hours. In precisely 0 of these 600 minutes did I consider we would lose against the Rocks. Oh and the ride home. Priceless. Thank God we didn't wait around to see the Eagles play the Rocks. That 7 hour return trip empty handed felt more like 14.
In retrospect, I can clearly see how it could happen. As I've mentioned, I think the concept of the playoff's in a 10 team league after a 38 game season that includes 2 other competitions to be entirely redundant. And as we had miraculously won the league and the cup, I guess we didn't want it as badly as the Rocks, whose coach Thorsten Leibenath, made it plain to me after the game just how "desperate" they were for a trophy this season. These guys put everything into the game, and despite having a 20 point lead at half time, they nearly choked the almighty choke as we narrowed the gap (twice) to but 3 points with a few minutes left.
The loss left me decidely empty though. The manner of the loss was bothersome. For champions to dig a pit that deep and toss themselves into it was a bit shocking. Meanwhile, to add to my woes, I was the courtside roving reporter for the BBC. Wandering around asking our assistant head coach Russell if we were going to pull it out every time out seemed a bit daft. Russell did make me laugh, really did, when he said, "during this last time-out I learned a few words I had never heard before..."
Credit where it's due, the Rocks were the better team on the day. However I don't want to add to that sentence, "...and wanted it more".
It leaves a few months in front of this team and organisation. The American players will be starting for home and the coming time off will be really welcome. Next season will be mammoth. One can never use the phrase 'make or break' in terms of a single season in the BBL. I've realised now that every season is a make or break. Every half season.
I guess it's safe to say that I would prefer not to go out and lose games like this in future; to teams that could want it more.
And the weekend started off so good too...that 7 hour drive on the bus to Newcastle was wonderful. To be fair, the ride itself was only 7 hours, but since I left my house at 11.45 on Friday, the total time spent running about was about 10 hours. In precisely 0 of these 600 minutes did I consider we would lose against the Rocks. Oh and the ride home. Priceless. Thank God we didn't wait around to see the Eagles play the Rocks. That 7 hour return trip empty handed felt more like 14.
In retrospect, I can clearly see how it could happen. As I've mentioned, I think the concept of the playoff's in a 10 team league after a 38 game season that includes 2 other competitions to be entirely redundant. And as we had miraculously won the league and the cup, I guess we didn't want it as badly as the Rocks, whose coach Thorsten Leibenath, made it plain to me after the game just how "desperate" they were for a trophy this season. These guys put everything into the game, and despite having a 20 point lead at half time, they nearly choked the almighty choke as we narrowed the gap (twice) to but 3 points with a few minutes left.
The loss left me decidely empty though. The manner of the loss was bothersome. For champions to dig a pit that deep and toss themselves into it was a bit shocking. Meanwhile, to add to my woes, I was the courtside roving reporter for the BBC. Wandering around asking our assistant head coach Russell if we were going to pull it out every time out seemed a bit daft. Russell did make me laugh, really did, when he said, "during this last time-out I learned a few words I had never heard before..."
Credit where it's due, the Rocks were the better team on the day. However I don't want to add to that sentence, "...and wanted it more".
It leaves a few months in front of this team and organisation. The American players will be starting for home and the coming time off will be really welcome. Next season will be mammoth. One can never use the phrase 'make or break' in terms of a single season in the BBL. I've realised now that every season is a make or break. Every half season.
I guess it's safe to say that I would prefer not to go out and lose games like this in future; to teams that could want it more.
Friday 27 April 2007
Last Second Prepartions for the Marketing Guy
I should be leaving now to get to the bus at the Spectrum. It's leaving in an hour. Nothing like a 10 hour drive to really set you up for the weekend, eh?
I should have flown or taken the train. But I just kept waiting for something to happen and it didn't, so I'm with the team.
I've never actually taken the team bus before. Not that I couldn't have, but I'm not the best regarding going to away games. In fact, I'm the worst. I think I went to 3 or 4 all season. I've got a wife and kids, not that the others don't, but everyone else brings their entire family. I'm not at that stage yet with the Guildford Heat. Home games, yes.
BBC are broadcasting the semi-final and if we win that, the final. The local BBC station in the south of England. A lot of people can actually hear it if they choose to, but I'm not entirely sure how many choose to. Still, for all our fans who cannot go (which there are thousands), this will be the main way of enjoying the game; save for being able to watch in on their computers on UKTVSlam.net. I think it's .net...or is it, UKTVSlam.tv? I think that might be it.
Good people there.
I'm looking forward to hooking up with the journalists that will be there. This event will get national coverage, minority sport style, but certainly there. The winner might get a full page in the Times, which would be EPIC.
Our captain, Mike Martin, has made some good press comments, such as, "We owe all of them a beating", referring to Scottish Rocks, Newcastle Eagles and Sheffield Sharks. He's not wrong, as we have lost to each of them in our last encounter. That's not good.
Winning the playoffs will be a huge feather in our caps, as a club. For the players, many of which had never won anything before in their careers, this has just been a bumper crop of riches for them. I hope they want one more and to finish the season in style.
I'm looking forward to the summer, but don't know how I will cope without the 24/7 demands!
I'm stopping off from some supermarket white rum, I think it's my new good luck charm...
I should have flown or taken the train. But I just kept waiting for something to happen and it didn't, so I'm with the team.
I've never actually taken the team bus before. Not that I couldn't have, but I'm not the best regarding going to away games. In fact, I'm the worst. I think I went to 3 or 4 all season. I've got a wife and kids, not that the others don't, but everyone else brings their entire family. I'm not at that stage yet with the Guildford Heat. Home games, yes.
BBC are broadcasting the semi-final and if we win that, the final. The local BBC station in the south of England. A lot of people can actually hear it if they choose to, but I'm not entirely sure how many choose to. Still, for all our fans who cannot go (which there are thousands), this will be the main way of enjoying the game; save for being able to watch in on their computers on UKTVSlam.net. I think it's .net...or is it, UKTVSlam.tv? I think that might be it.
Good people there.
I'm looking forward to hooking up with the journalists that will be there. This event will get national coverage, minority sport style, but certainly there. The winner might get a full page in the Times, which would be EPIC.
Our captain, Mike Martin, has made some good press comments, such as, "We owe all of them a beating", referring to Scottish Rocks, Newcastle Eagles and Sheffield Sharks. He's not wrong, as we have lost to each of them in our last encounter. That's not good.
Winning the playoffs will be a huge feather in our caps, as a club. For the players, many of which had never won anything before in their careers, this has just been a bumper crop of riches for them. I hope they want one more and to finish the season in style.
I'm looking forward to the summer, but don't know how I will cope without the 24/7 demands!
I'm stopping off from some supermarket white rum, I think it's my new good luck charm...
Tuesday 24 April 2007
On to Newcastle
We're in the semi-finals of the BBL playoffs.
We play Scottish Rocks of Glasgow on Saturday night. By then we will know if we play the Eagles or the Sharks the next day, if we win.
If we can do the Treble; win 3 trophies in one season, well...now that would be incredible. Second season, 3 trophies. What a triumph for our coach, Paul James.
He's a man I barely know really; as I've only been involved with the club for 6 months or so now. All I know is that the players love playing for him and he's one of the more likeable fellows I've met in this country in more than 10 years.
Former BBL All-Star, and back when that meant something (apparently) and for a guy who can't be more than 5'8", being an All-Star basketball player, who played for England and coached with England; well, he must have been good. I think he's 43 or so these days.
Without him and the other Founder Directors, of which there were 5 in addition, there would be no Guildford Heat today. They deserve a credit that may or may not ever really be fully given the due they should get. In particular, Mike Davies, who rallied them all with PJ. Starting a pro team after the one they had been supporting for 20-odd years folded wasn't a sure thing. It was pretty nuts. But they did it and here we are.
Today is Wednesday and the finals are Saturday and Sunday. Last Friday night was our end of season Supporters Club party. There must have been 200 people who paid to come to this. Incredible support.
All the players jerseys were auctioned off and raised £4,000; which is a rather large sum of money really at our level. It was good to be there.
After Newcastle, well, I don't know, I guess the players disperse and then the off-season starts.
It will be my first off-season, or close season as they call it here. Setting up for next season.
I'm really living the dream here. Better enjoy it before I wake up.
I have to say though, I am really looking forward to the break. The non-stop of an entire season was a bit of pace I wasn't expecting. 25 home games and the same away, including cup games, isn't much by NBA standards, but it is quite a bit when you've not done it before.
My first thought now is baseball--how on earth do small minor league organisations cope with 2x the games we have? Forget Major League Baseball with 81 home games a year--they have the money to hire the staff.
We've no staff.
The whole organisation is run by volunteers. 100%, except for PJ and the players.
A volunteer organisation that has produced a national championship at the highest level possible.
It's really quite incredible.
How the organisation moves forward in future, well, that will be debated and then debated some more, but so far, it's worked.
How many volunteers? I really don't know. I'm a bit sheepish to say that even over the course of 6 months or more, I don't know them all. By face or name.
I believe we have, realistically, about 40 or 50 people who devote between 8 and 60 hours a week to the team and the organisation. I would imagine quite a few do more than 20 hours.
It's remarkable. They do it out of love for the game, love for PJ, the players and for each other. Well done to them too. It's truly a special thing.
The players we have are not really as diverse as some of the others in the league. The BBL allows you to only have 3 non-European Union players. So we have our 3 Americans. We are fortunate in that we also have one Australian and one Canadian, who don't count under our quota as they also have British passports. The remainder of our team is British. We have no European players.
Clearly, it hasn't hurt us to have no Spanish or French or German players, but to be so successful with British players is quite remarkable; and a lovely thing. We need more players like our British players to best represent the league when it comes to speaking to the media and interacting with kids. I don't think it's as cool or sexy to have the Americans in such a role. I love our American players but we need the kids to see the local kids at the top level--to let them know that they could live the dream and play pro ball too.
I heard on Eurosport TV the other day in a broadcast of Real Madrid v Valencia (basketball) that an English kid from East Anglia, 17 years old and 6'10" has gone down to Valencia and will now go to their academy. WTF? What a bummer. What a loss to our league, though what a gain it might be to British basketball hopes for 2012.
PJ, our coach, is an excellent recruiter, obviously, based on 2 trophies so far this season for the Guildford Heat, but I am curious to learn how the process works. How COULD we get more players from Europe? How will they take to living in England? Could we remotely afford them?
Incredibly, players from Europe are MORE expensive than Americans. Perhaps not so incredible, it's just supply and demand. There is far too much supply of American basketball players and far too little demand. With over 1,000 Division 1 players graduating every year and an NBA draft with about 50 spots for them, it's easy to see the reality.
However, with us just able to sign 3 Americans, it seems finding some Europeans to add to our mix is what will have to happen if we play in Europe. Having said that, I would be happy as anything for kids who are 6'10" to stay in Britain, learn some skills, play some ball and do it living at home.
We play Scottish Rocks of Glasgow on Saturday night. By then we will know if we play the Eagles or the Sharks the next day, if we win.
If we can do the Treble; win 3 trophies in one season, well...now that would be incredible. Second season, 3 trophies. What a triumph for our coach, Paul James.
He's a man I barely know really; as I've only been involved with the club for 6 months or so now. All I know is that the players love playing for him and he's one of the more likeable fellows I've met in this country in more than 10 years.
Former BBL All-Star, and back when that meant something (apparently) and for a guy who can't be more than 5'8", being an All-Star basketball player, who played for England and coached with England; well, he must have been good. I think he's 43 or so these days.
Without him and the other Founder Directors, of which there were 5 in addition, there would be no Guildford Heat today. They deserve a credit that may or may not ever really be fully given the due they should get. In particular, Mike Davies, who rallied them all with PJ. Starting a pro team after the one they had been supporting for 20-odd years folded wasn't a sure thing. It was pretty nuts. But they did it and here we are.
Today is Wednesday and the finals are Saturday and Sunday. Last Friday night was our end of season Supporters Club party. There must have been 200 people who paid to come to this. Incredible support.
All the players jerseys were auctioned off and raised £4,000; which is a rather large sum of money really at our level. It was good to be there.
After Newcastle, well, I don't know, I guess the players disperse and then the off-season starts.
It will be my first off-season, or close season as they call it here. Setting up for next season.
I'm really living the dream here. Better enjoy it before I wake up.
I have to say though, I am really looking forward to the break. The non-stop of an entire season was a bit of pace I wasn't expecting. 25 home games and the same away, including cup games, isn't much by NBA standards, but it is quite a bit when you've not done it before.
My first thought now is baseball--how on earth do small minor league organisations cope with 2x the games we have? Forget Major League Baseball with 81 home games a year--they have the money to hire the staff.
We've no staff.
The whole organisation is run by volunteers. 100%, except for PJ and the players.
A volunteer organisation that has produced a national championship at the highest level possible.
It's really quite incredible.
How the organisation moves forward in future, well, that will be debated and then debated some more, but so far, it's worked.
How many volunteers? I really don't know. I'm a bit sheepish to say that even over the course of 6 months or more, I don't know them all. By face or name.
I believe we have, realistically, about 40 or 50 people who devote between 8 and 60 hours a week to the team and the organisation. I would imagine quite a few do more than 20 hours.
It's remarkable. They do it out of love for the game, love for PJ, the players and for each other. Well done to them too. It's truly a special thing.
The players we have are not really as diverse as some of the others in the league. The BBL allows you to only have 3 non-European Union players. So we have our 3 Americans. We are fortunate in that we also have one Australian and one Canadian, who don't count under our quota as they also have British passports. The remainder of our team is British. We have no European players.
Clearly, it hasn't hurt us to have no Spanish or French or German players, but to be so successful with British players is quite remarkable; and a lovely thing. We need more players like our British players to best represent the league when it comes to speaking to the media and interacting with kids. I don't think it's as cool or sexy to have the Americans in such a role. I love our American players but we need the kids to see the local kids at the top level--to let them know that they could live the dream and play pro ball too.
I heard on Eurosport TV the other day in a broadcast of Real Madrid v Valencia (basketball) that an English kid from East Anglia, 17 years old and 6'10" has gone down to Valencia and will now go to their academy. WTF? What a bummer. What a loss to our league, though what a gain it might be to British basketball hopes for 2012.
PJ, our coach, is an excellent recruiter, obviously, based on 2 trophies so far this season for the Guildford Heat, but I am curious to learn how the process works. How COULD we get more players from Europe? How will they take to living in England? Could we remotely afford them?
Incredibly, players from Europe are MORE expensive than Americans. Perhaps not so incredible, it's just supply and demand. There is far too much supply of American basketball players and far too little demand. With over 1,000 Division 1 players graduating every year and an NBA draft with about 50 spots for them, it's easy to see the reality.
However, with us just able to sign 3 Americans, it seems finding some Europeans to add to our mix is what will have to happen if we play in Europe. Having said that, I would be happy as anything for kids who are 6'10" to stay in Britain, learn some skills, play some ball and do it living at home.
Friday 13 April 2007
Champions and The Week That Was
What a week; I can barely believe it has been a week.
First off, we won the league championship! We are the British Basketball League champions for 2007!
And this team did not even exist 2 years ago. Well, that's not exactly true--by American standards the franchise was moved, but in for the purposes of the UK, it's a brand new team. For the vast majority of the paying spectators, it's a brand new team. I doubt many of them had ever seen a pro game before the club pitched up there.
What really matters is that in our second season as the Guildford Heat, we have won both the league and the cup. There are teams in this league 30 years who've done neither, let alone both in the same year. For our coach, Paul James, it must be sweet. He deserves it.
British basketball was much bigger and not so long ago: it was on TV regularly and then, poof! Gone. TV money went away, fans disappeared and the rest is the present. If we can pick this up by its boot laces and bring it back and take it past where it has never been, well, then this will be a blog to remember.
The partying on the night after the game was fairly intense. The one thing going in everyone's favour at the Spectrum bar was that the game was a 3pm start and so if we were getting bladdered starting at 5.30, by 10pm it was really time to go, with no doubts. As it happens, by 10pm I found myself leaving with one of our sponsors and carried on a few more moments, but not many.
Incredibly, I was up at 0600 to get press releases out and get ready for the day. Easter Monday is a national holiday in the UK, but it wasn't going to be for me. I had to get to Brussels that very afternoon in order to make a meeting with the people from Euroleague Basketball: the biggest and most powerful commercial basketball league in the world after the NBA.
Without putting too fine a point on it, as British Basketball champions, we want to play in Europe now. In past years, the BBL league champions had an automatic invitation to play in one of the FIBA or ULEB competitions--but did they now? We didn't know. We had to go and have a look about.
As it happens, Tuesday was the ULEB Cup Final in Charleroi, Belgium. This was just a train-ride from Guildford and at a very late hour, I was given a VIP ticket by the folks in Barcelona (and a hotel reservation) and thus was on my way to Brussels.
I can't say I was hungover on the ride--I really wasn't. Not only wasn't I hungover, I had no clue on why I wasn't, but perhaps a good 6 hours of sleep was enough in the end. It was just the blood pumping that gave me clarity of mind. It gave me time to think and savour the victory. I didn't need the time to wonder about meeting Jordi Bertomeu--I didn't have a clue what the meeting would be like, but I had heard he was a very charming and reasonable man; what could go wrong? I had my agenda in place: simply let him know that Guildford was a fantastic city where European basketball could be played and where it had been played, B.C. (Before Collapse)
I just got off the phone with Bada up in Newcastle and he tells me he is sending me DVD copies of when the wayyyy B.C. Guildford Kings played against Real Madrid and Barcelona in our very own Guildford Spectrum. Early 1990's. I can't believe it. I'm going to have to see what on earth this was like. In our tiny 1,500 seat arena. Not even on the ice rink floor. To think we were there once; I will feel like an archeologist watching these puppies...
Brussels has improved remarkably in 10 years. It was dirty and crumbling 10 years ago and now, thanks to tons of graft and European Union tax money (including my own), it's scrubbing up nicely.
The Hotel Metropole looked like nothing from the outside, but was totally grand on the inside. I could easily see a bunch of German officers swanning about the place in the early '40's (and about 25 years before that as well).
I totally believe in the bid to bring basketball to the UK and blow it up. The UK is clearly the biggest western country not to have a massive interest in basketball. How this nation was bypassed is a semi-mystery, but not an entire one.
However, now that we have the 2012 Olympics coming, it's given many of us something to galvinize our efforts: to give us goals to shoot towards. We are light years from getting to something tangible, but there is the sense that something is going in the right direction now.
Some of it, no doubt, down to the little old Guildford Heat. Just a little bit outside of London and in a city starved of 'major', rather than 'minority', sports--we can be that link to the capital city and glitz that everyone wants to have. Winning helps make this possible, so we need to keep winning.
Being British champions also isn't enough. If there is another league we can play in, then we have to play in that league. We need to spread the word. With any luck, it will be the ULEB Cup competition, the second tier of top European basketball.
Can we do it? On the court, I know we can do it. We won't win it next year, but we will, as one of our front office says, "make sure everyone knew they played us and didn't want to see us too often". Year 2 we could be a bit better and Year 3 a bit better than that. By 2012, why shouldn't we be hoping to play in the Euroleague itself--maybe even with some of our games at Wembley Arena or in the new O2 Arena, where the NBA will play a game this fall?
The ULEB Cup is on TV here in the UK: that's a big deal. Our own domestic game has had 2 games broadcast this year, one of which included us. It's not enough. It will be easier (a bit) to get into the ULEB and see us on TV than trying to get a whole new TV deal.
But first, I had to talk to the CEO of the competition.
And I did.
The result? A charming man. Very nice bloke. I did what I came to do and that was simply let him know we existed. Which he did not previously. And that we were from Guildford. Which he had not heard of before. Or maybe just a little.
He certainly did like knowing we were 30 miles away from central London, rather than 300 miles away.
We spoke for an hour and I must admit it was truly a buzz to sit with the David Stern of Europe. I'm hopeful.
I left the meeting, got a quick dinner (a Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant! I'm SAVED!) and went back to the room. Passed out but slept restlessly. Too much action on.
Tuesday wasn't much, a few hello's here and there, but the real fun was that afternoon and evening. The league laid on a bus and we left around 5pm to get to Charleroi.
The arena the game was to be played in was like no other I could have imagined before, and I've been in probably 100 or even 200 venues in my time. Easily. This one I still can't imagine how many really fit in it. It looked to me like 3,000 but I heard it was 5,000.
Regardless, it was like a mini-Queen Mary liner--someone had gutted this place and turned it into a VIP mini-arena. It was ace! The VIP cushioned seat (back and bottom) I was in could have accommodated a 300 pound dude's behind with total ease. I'm a good 220 and I was swimming in this. The court was no more than 15 rows away and it was just flat out gorgeous, but TINY.
Of course, I immediately repaired to the VIP area for some refueling. Free champers to start and thereafter all the food and wine you could ask for. And several people there could ask for quite a lot.
What was the game like? Forget the game, what was the crowd like! Real Madrid (the mighty) v Rytas of Vilnius Lithuania. I was hoping to see Arturas K., from my old alma mater, Seton Hall, but couldn't spot him. He might support the other team in town--if anyone knows, please tell me.
I was told there were 1,000 tickets sold to each side, who then had to travel the 700 miles or so each to Belgium. I can't be sure, but it was even. Even in terms of numbers and even in terms of noise.
As for the noise, let me say that for someone who grew up in Yankee Stadium and has gone to games all over the world, been to Old Trafford to see Manchester United, been to Real Madrid football in Madrid, nothing, nothing was ever this intensely loud in the room it was in. It was like the Beatles at Shea in '64. Or what we were told that sounded like anyway.
From my 15th row seat, I never heard the ball touch the floor and I never heard a referee's whistle. All I heard was screaming, cheering, horns, and chanting. It never stopped. It did slow once Rytas fell behind, but that only served to bring more out of the Real supporters.
Real won, and by about 10, but the game was not a blow out and you always knew that if they took their foot off the pedal, they would have been found out and had. The barrage of 3's they survived late was incredible.
I left that game more determined than ever to see the Guildford Heat play in European competitions. It was essential for the growth of the club and for the good of the British game. We had to be on the big stage. As long as the club financially could meet the challenge, it had to be pursued. If the ULEB granted a spot to the champions, how could it be denied?
How long would it take for us to win the league and cup again?
I had drinks with the players and some other BBL people after the game, took the bus back to Brussels and did what any self-respecting British resident would do when he got to the hotel: found a kebab shop to get a doner.
There wasn't a soul in this place, so I decided to eat it there. Incredibly, the guy behind the counter woke me from my funk and introduced me to his only other British customer that week--an employee from the Euroleague, Ed Scott. Good lad, we finished our kebabs and chips back at the 4 star hotel, talking basketball. Dreaming of bringing European basketball to the UK and to see the Great Britain team do well at the Olympics.
Earlier that evening I had met the coach of 'our' national team, Chris Finch, an American from PA. We had a very good chat. What a job he has. To put together a team of players to compete as Great Britain for the first time since 1948. I wish him nothing but the best.
I must declare an interest here: I took British citizenship in 2002 or 2003. Since then I've had the most bizarre career following national team sports. I support England and the US. It's crackers, but here we are.
It's essential for Great Britain to do well in basketball. It's important! If we can get all the players who COULD play for the UK to actually commit, well, we'd have a decent team. We've got Luol Deng and if we can take his teammate Ben Gordon; that would be a very nice start indeed!
Note to self: Now that the Knicks suck, I should remember to follow the Bulls! 2 British players and two Seton Hall players, what more can I ask for?!?
So Chris has a big job ahead of him. We've lots of qualifiers to go. He needs to call up one of our players, Mike Martin. Our captain. The man is incredible. He didn't start playing basketball until he was 21! He's 30 now, but can he do the job. A lion. Played several years in France and went to the Commonwealth Games in Australia in 2006 and came home with a bronze medal.
To say by Wednesday morning I was amped up would be the understatement of the year. However, I was bone tired. I think Ed and I chatted until 2am.
By noon I had had enough and since I couldn't attend any further meetings, wanted to switch my train ticket and head home.
I got home that evening at 6pm. I was shattered, but had had planned a BBQ with two of our players for weeks. By the time I got home there were 4 of them; our American contingent and Monique, my wife, had been promising them chicken parms galore.
It was good to be home and good to be part of something special.
First off, we won the league championship! We are the British Basketball League champions for 2007!
And this team did not even exist 2 years ago. Well, that's not exactly true--by American standards the franchise was moved, but in for the purposes of the UK, it's a brand new team. For the vast majority of the paying spectators, it's a brand new team. I doubt many of them had ever seen a pro game before the club pitched up there.
What really matters is that in our second season as the Guildford Heat, we have won both the league and the cup. There are teams in this league 30 years who've done neither, let alone both in the same year. For our coach, Paul James, it must be sweet. He deserves it.
British basketball was much bigger and not so long ago: it was on TV regularly and then, poof! Gone. TV money went away, fans disappeared and the rest is the present. If we can pick this up by its boot laces and bring it back and take it past where it has never been, well, then this will be a blog to remember.
The partying on the night after the game was fairly intense. The one thing going in everyone's favour at the Spectrum bar was that the game was a 3pm start and so if we were getting bladdered starting at 5.30, by 10pm it was really time to go, with no doubts. As it happens, by 10pm I found myself leaving with one of our sponsors and carried on a few more moments, but not many.
Incredibly, I was up at 0600 to get press releases out and get ready for the day. Easter Monday is a national holiday in the UK, but it wasn't going to be for me. I had to get to Brussels that very afternoon in order to make a meeting with the people from Euroleague Basketball: the biggest and most powerful commercial basketball league in the world after the NBA.
Without putting too fine a point on it, as British Basketball champions, we want to play in Europe now. In past years, the BBL league champions had an automatic invitation to play in one of the FIBA or ULEB competitions--but did they now? We didn't know. We had to go and have a look about.
As it happens, Tuesday was the ULEB Cup Final in Charleroi, Belgium. This was just a train-ride from Guildford and at a very late hour, I was given a VIP ticket by the folks in Barcelona (and a hotel reservation) and thus was on my way to Brussels.
I can't say I was hungover on the ride--I really wasn't. Not only wasn't I hungover, I had no clue on why I wasn't, but perhaps a good 6 hours of sleep was enough in the end. It was just the blood pumping that gave me clarity of mind. It gave me time to think and savour the victory. I didn't need the time to wonder about meeting Jordi Bertomeu--I didn't have a clue what the meeting would be like, but I had heard he was a very charming and reasonable man; what could go wrong? I had my agenda in place: simply let him know that Guildford was a fantastic city where European basketball could be played and where it had been played, B.C. (Before Collapse)
I just got off the phone with Bada up in Newcastle and he tells me he is sending me DVD copies of when the wayyyy B.C. Guildford Kings played against Real Madrid and Barcelona in our very own Guildford Spectrum. Early 1990's. I can't believe it. I'm going to have to see what on earth this was like. In our tiny 1,500 seat arena. Not even on the ice rink floor. To think we were there once; I will feel like an archeologist watching these puppies...
Brussels has improved remarkably in 10 years. It was dirty and crumbling 10 years ago and now, thanks to tons of graft and European Union tax money (including my own), it's scrubbing up nicely.
The Hotel Metropole looked like nothing from the outside, but was totally grand on the inside. I could easily see a bunch of German officers swanning about the place in the early '40's (and about 25 years before that as well).
I totally believe in the bid to bring basketball to the UK and blow it up. The UK is clearly the biggest western country not to have a massive interest in basketball. How this nation was bypassed is a semi-mystery, but not an entire one.
However, now that we have the 2012 Olympics coming, it's given many of us something to galvinize our efforts: to give us goals to shoot towards. We are light years from getting to something tangible, but there is the sense that something is going in the right direction now.
Some of it, no doubt, down to the little old Guildford Heat. Just a little bit outside of London and in a city starved of 'major', rather than 'minority', sports--we can be that link to the capital city and glitz that everyone wants to have. Winning helps make this possible, so we need to keep winning.
Being British champions also isn't enough. If there is another league we can play in, then we have to play in that league. We need to spread the word. With any luck, it will be the ULEB Cup competition, the second tier of top European basketball.
Can we do it? On the court, I know we can do it. We won't win it next year, but we will, as one of our front office says, "make sure everyone knew they played us and didn't want to see us too often". Year 2 we could be a bit better and Year 3 a bit better than that. By 2012, why shouldn't we be hoping to play in the Euroleague itself--maybe even with some of our games at Wembley Arena or in the new O2 Arena, where the NBA will play a game this fall?
The ULEB Cup is on TV here in the UK: that's a big deal. Our own domestic game has had 2 games broadcast this year, one of which included us. It's not enough. It will be easier (a bit) to get into the ULEB and see us on TV than trying to get a whole new TV deal.
But first, I had to talk to the CEO of the competition.
And I did.
The result? A charming man. Very nice bloke. I did what I came to do and that was simply let him know we existed. Which he did not previously. And that we were from Guildford. Which he had not heard of before. Or maybe just a little.
He certainly did like knowing we were 30 miles away from central London, rather than 300 miles away.
We spoke for an hour and I must admit it was truly a buzz to sit with the David Stern of Europe. I'm hopeful.
I left the meeting, got a quick dinner (a Chi-Chi's Mexican restaurant! I'm SAVED!) and went back to the room. Passed out but slept restlessly. Too much action on.
Tuesday wasn't much, a few hello's here and there, but the real fun was that afternoon and evening. The league laid on a bus and we left around 5pm to get to Charleroi.
The arena the game was to be played in was like no other I could have imagined before, and I've been in probably 100 or even 200 venues in my time. Easily. This one I still can't imagine how many really fit in it. It looked to me like 3,000 but I heard it was 5,000.
Regardless, it was like a mini-Queen Mary liner--someone had gutted this place and turned it into a VIP mini-arena. It was ace! The VIP cushioned seat (back and bottom) I was in could have accommodated a 300 pound dude's behind with total ease. I'm a good 220 and I was swimming in this. The court was no more than 15 rows away and it was just flat out gorgeous, but TINY.
Of course, I immediately repaired to the VIP area for some refueling. Free champers to start and thereafter all the food and wine you could ask for. And several people there could ask for quite a lot.
What was the game like? Forget the game, what was the crowd like! Real Madrid (the mighty) v Rytas of Vilnius Lithuania. I was hoping to see Arturas K., from my old alma mater, Seton Hall, but couldn't spot him. He might support the other team in town--if anyone knows, please tell me.
I was told there were 1,000 tickets sold to each side, who then had to travel the 700 miles or so each to Belgium. I can't be sure, but it was even. Even in terms of numbers and even in terms of noise.
As for the noise, let me say that for someone who grew up in Yankee Stadium and has gone to games all over the world, been to Old Trafford to see Manchester United, been to Real Madrid football in Madrid, nothing, nothing was ever this intensely loud in the room it was in. It was like the Beatles at Shea in '64. Or what we were told that sounded like anyway.
From my 15th row seat, I never heard the ball touch the floor and I never heard a referee's whistle. All I heard was screaming, cheering, horns, and chanting. It never stopped. It did slow once Rytas fell behind, but that only served to bring more out of the Real supporters.
Real won, and by about 10, but the game was not a blow out and you always knew that if they took their foot off the pedal, they would have been found out and had. The barrage of 3's they survived late was incredible.
I left that game more determined than ever to see the Guildford Heat play in European competitions. It was essential for the growth of the club and for the good of the British game. We had to be on the big stage. As long as the club financially could meet the challenge, it had to be pursued. If the ULEB granted a spot to the champions, how could it be denied?
How long would it take for us to win the league and cup again?
I had drinks with the players and some other BBL people after the game, took the bus back to Brussels and did what any self-respecting British resident would do when he got to the hotel: found a kebab shop to get a doner.
There wasn't a soul in this place, so I decided to eat it there. Incredibly, the guy behind the counter woke me from my funk and introduced me to his only other British customer that week--an employee from the Euroleague, Ed Scott. Good lad, we finished our kebabs and chips back at the 4 star hotel, talking basketball. Dreaming of bringing European basketball to the UK and to see the Great Britain team do well at the Olympics.
Earlier that evening I had met the coach of 'our' national team, Chris Finch, an American from PA. We had a very good chat. What a job he has. To put together a team of players to compete as Great Britain for the first time since 1948. I wish him nothing but the best.
I must declare an interest here: I took British citizenship in 2002 or 2003. Since then I've had the most bizarre career following national team sports. I support England and the US. It's crackers, but here we are.
It's essential for Great Britain to do well in basketball. It's important! If we can get all the players who COULD play for the UK to actually commit, well, we'd have a decent team. We've got Luol Deng and if we can take his teammate Ben Gordon; that would be a very nice start indeed!
Note to self: Now that the Knicks suck, I should remember to follow the Bulls! 2 British players and two Seton Hall players, what more can I ask for?!?
So Chris has a big job ahead of him. We've lots of qualifiers to go. He needs to call up one of our players, Mike Martin. Our captain. The man is incredible. He didn't start playing basketball until he was 21! He's 30 now, but can he do the job. A lion. Played several years in France and went to the Commonwealth Games in Australia in 2006 and came home with a bronze medal.
To say by Wednesday morning I was amped up would be the understatement of the year. However, I was bone tired. I think Ed and I chatted until 2am.
By noon I had had enough and since I couldn't attend any further meetings, wanted to switch my train ticket and head home.
I got home that evening at 6pm. I was shattered, but had had planned a BBQ with two of our players for weeks. By the time I got home there were 4 of them; our American contingent and Monique, my wife, had been promising them chicken parms galore.
It was good to be home and good to be part of something special.
Saturday 7 April 2007
Championship AND Playoff's? WTF?
Someone, rightly, has asked me what is it we are contesting at the moment; is this the league title or playoff's?
Erm...well, it's like this...our league has only one conference of 10 teams. So the team that has the best record at the end of the season are champions. Our record is 28-7 and if we win tomorrow we will end at 29-7.
However, our season doesn't end after tomorrow because then we have the playoffs. The playoffs this year consist of the the top 8 (of 10) teams competing in a knockout format. The top 4 teams with the first round (also a quarterfinal) at home against the 8th placed team and so on. The Final Four will be in Newcastle at the end of the month. Semi's on Saturday the 28th and Final on the 29th.
Perhaps now is the time to call it for what it is: bonkers.
I haven't spent any time really trying to figure it out, but to our head coach, Paul James, who has been either playing or coaching in the BBL for at least 20 years, it not only makes perfect sense, but is the highlight of the season. It's the finale that people look forward to. Since I've never been to it yet, I can wait and see. I'm sure it won't suck, I just question why we just don't call the Playoffs the Cup or the Trophy. What does winning the Playoffs actually end up meaning?
From an economic sense, any chance to play another home game and I'm in total agreement, but a tournament in a season where we already HAD two other tournaments is a bit, well, overkill IMHO.
We actually have FOUR trophies to be won per season here. The first is the BBL Cup which, erm, is exactly like the Playoffs, except we let the other 2 teams compete too. Single elimination tournament where the teams are drawn at random. We've won that this season. The final was held at a neutral venue, the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. It was a great event, there had to be 4,000 people there. That's a big crowd in this league. We beat the Scottish Rocks.
Then we have the BBL Trophy. This pits all the BBL clubs and clubs from a lower league in England (English Basketball League) and Scotland (Scottish Basketball League) in regional sections and this takes a bit more effort than the cup. This was won by the Plymouth Raiders, one of the oldest clubs in Britain; something on the order of 25 years old.
Four trophies in a season (including the league title). It's a few.
Having said that, I think the idea I've seen of scrapping the NBA All-Star Game and replacing it with a Cup competition is an idea that's just waiting for the chance to explode in America.
It really ought to happen in baseball where all the clubs from MLB to AAA to AA to A compete.
In England, the FA Cup pits more than 500 clubs in an open tournament that is one of the great sporting events this country has ever known (in football, what else).
Imagine the LA Lakers having to travel to see the Vermont Frost Heaves? That's what happens over here. Manchester United periodically have to turn up at some shed where a team that draws 1,000 people on a good Saturday afternoon awaits them.
Let me tell you, these games aren't always blow-outs. Given one shot at glory, it's incredible what men can summon up.
Right now, what I'd like to summon up is a TV crew that will come down to the Guildford Spectrum tomorrow at 3pm to record parts of our game, including (God willing) our victory dance.
Erm...well, it's like this...our league has only one conference of 10 teams. So the team that has the best record at the end of the season are champions. Our record is 28-7 and if we win tomorrow we will end at 29-7.
However, our season doesn't end after tomorrow because then we have the playoffs. The playoffs this year consist of the the top 8 (of 10) teams competing in a knockout format. The top 4 teams with the first round (also a quarterfinal) at home against the 8th placed team and so on. The Final Four will be in Newcastle at the end of the month. Semi's on Saturday the 28th and Final on the 29th.
Perhaps now is the time to call it for what it is: bonkers.
I haven't spent any time really trying to figure it out, but to our head coach, Paul James, who has been either playing or coaching in the BBL for at least 20 years, it not only makes perfect sense, but is the highlight of the season. It's the finale that people look forward to. Since I've never been to it yet, I can wait and see. I'm sure it won't suck, I just question why we just don't call the Playoffs the Cup or the Trophy. What does winning the Playoffs actually end up meaning?
From an economic sense, any chance to play another home game and I'm in total agreement, but a tournament in a season where we already HAD two other tournaments is a bit, well, overkill IMHO.
We actually have FOUR trophies to be won per season here. The first is the BBL Cup which, erm, is exactly like the Playoffs, except we let the other 2 teams compete too. Single elimination tournament where the teams are drawn at random. We've won that this season. The final was held at a neutral venue, the National Indoor Arena in Birmingham. It was a great event, there had to be 4,000 people there. That's a big crowd in this league. We beat the Scottish Rocks.
Then we have the BBL Trophy. This pits all the BBL clubs and clubs from a lower league in England (English Basketball League) and Scotland (Scottish Basketball League) in regional sections and this takes a bit more effort than the cup. This was won by the Plymouth Raiders, one of the oldest clubs in Britain; something on the order of 25 years old.
Four trophies in a season (including the league title). It's a few.
Having said that, I think the idea I've seen of scrapping the NBA All-Star Game and replacing it with a Cup competition is an idea that's just waiting for the chance to explode in America.
It really ought to happen in baseball where all the clubs from MLB to AAA to AA to A compete.
In England, the FA Cup pits more than 500 clubs in an open tournament that is one of the great sporting events this country has ever known (in football, what else).
Imagine the LA Lakers having to travel to see the Vermont Frost Heaves? That's what happens over here. Manchester United periodically have to turn up at some shed where a team that draws 1,000 people on a good Saturday afternoon awaits them.
Let me tell you, these games aren't always blow-outs. Given one shot at glory, it's incredible what men can summon up.
Right now, what I'd like to summon up is a TV crew that will come down to the Guildford Spectrum tomorrow at 3pm to record parts of our game, including (God willing) our victory dance.
Minority Sports
Now that the morning cobwebs are banished I'm enjoying 57F sunshine here in old England. Gorgeous. I've done what I can to get the media to cover the Big Match tomorrow. But tomorrow is Easter.
What brainiac at the BBL decided to have the last game of the season on Easter? You can guarantee the least possible media exposure for a minority sport by scheduling the Big Game on Easter Sunday.
Basketball is a 'minority sport' in the UK; that's what it's called. It has nothing to do with the racial or ethnic compositions of the people who play the game, but everything to do with the percentage of the population that is interested in it. Or at least this is what the newspapers call basketball.
What isn't a minority sport in this country? Over the past 10 years sport coverage has exploded in this country's newspaper columns, but it's 75% soccer/football 10% cricket and 10% rugby and the rest of everything in a bun fight for the scraps.
The NBA gets more column inches than the BBL (British Basketball League).
It is the way it is and I don't spend much time complaining about; the way I see it, I can only improve the situation by getting any ink at all--it's more than what we've been getting, right? Yet putting our Grand Finale on the second biggest holiday of the season is bonkers. And make no mistake, in a country where Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays, you are talking about a 4 day weekend.
Let's hope next season the last game of the season is NOT on Easter Sunday.
What brainiac at the BBL decided to have the last game of the season on Easter? You can guarantee the least possible media exposure for a minority sport by scheduling the Big Game on Easter Sunday.
Basketball is a 'minority sport' in the UK; that's what it's called. It has nothing to do with the racial or ethnic compositions of the people who play the game, but everything to do with the percentage of the population that is interested in it. Or at least this is what the newspapers call basketball.
What isn't a minority sport in this country? Over the past 10 years sport coverage has exploded in this country's newspaper columns, but it's 75% soccer/football 10% cricket and 10% rugby and the rest of everything in a bun fight for the scraps.
The NBA gets more column inches than the BBL (British Basketball League).
It is the way it is and I don't spend much time complaining about; the way I see it, I can only improve the situation by getting any ink at all--it's more than what we've been getting, right? Yet putting our Grand Finale on the second biggest holiday of the season is bonkers. And make no mistake, in a country where Good Friday and Easter Monday are national holidays, you are talking about a 4 day weekend.
Let's hope next season the last game of the season is NOT on Easter Sunday.
Friday 6 April 2007
The Morning After, Time to Work
Thank you Newcastle Eagles Basketball Club. You did what you needed to do and without you we could be counting the costs of lost chances. But instead, now I'm trying to sort out potential chances to maximise the news from last night. We were away in Chester, beating the Jets for the second time this week and Newcastle is 350 miles away. We need to alert the local media.
After the game I had one of our larger sponsors come over with a bottle of dessert wine. He owns a big local haulage firm and had never seen a basketball game in his life until January. Now he's as bad as me. He sat hitting refresh in his own house last night. We had to celebrate our second chance at winning the league. Yes, we still have to beat London United tomorrow, but we've done that 3 out of 3 times already this season, we can do it again.
Andrew, another club director, was at home thinking up things for us to do today to build the picture in the media. We both went at it last night, texting the supporters we've started to make in town here. We've got 2 radio stations, one of which is a BBC network station and the other a pop-rock station called the Eagle. We've got one broadsheet local newspaper with about 100,000 circulation. I texted the assistant sports editor, Chris Dyke, last night with the news. He sounded genuinely into it. In fact, he's coming to the game tomorrow now. He came this past Wednesday too. That will make for him coming to 3 basketball games in 2 years. This is a serious improvement.
I texted the morning man on the BBC station and went to bed. Fred has since texted back saying he will call me and put me on the air. I should try to get PJ, our head coach to do the interview. Let me text him now. Done it, will wait a bit.
I texted Ben Moore from the BBC South TV last night; he used to play basketball as a kid and discovered us by accident a few months ago; he's done two pieces on us now. He sounded genuinely excited. I commanded him to come to the game tomorrow, our last of the season. The decider. It's Easter Sunday though. Not sure my 'command' went over that well...
In the midst of this I am sick as a dog; some chest cough that is turning into flu or something nasty. I really don't have the time for this.
On Monday evening I am catching the Eurostar train through the Channel tunnel to Belgium to go see the ULEB Cup Final; the second biggest competition in European basketball. I've managed to wrangle an invitation from Jordi Bertomeu's office; as a team, we are determined to play in Europe, in the ULEB Cup, as soon as possible. We want to be the biggest team in Great Britain. We want to compete. Seeing the game and meeting a few of the people from Euroleague, which run/own the competition would be a nice starting place. I don't think they have ever heard of the Guildford Heat.
I had barely even 7 months ago...why should they? They're in Barcelona and I'm here in town.
Eagles won last night 94-89. I think they led most of the way, but have also heard their lead went down to 1 with 15 seconds left. I am very glad I knew nothing of this and only got the final score. I'm not as young as I used to be. I'm 42 now. Bad things happen to good people. But as this is the case I should expect to live a lot longer.
Ticket sales should really pick up now for tomorrow's game. Easter Sunday at 3pm. Not so sure that was a good idea, BBL, but it will probably work for us now.
Our attendances, don't laugh, have doubled this season or at least gone up a third. I think the low point was 2 Christmas's ago with around 500 people to a game and now we are solidly drawing 1,000 people per match.
I've checked the online ticket system at the Spectrum and it looks like we've sold about 700 so far with a day to go. I think we will make 1,000 again.
The capacity is 1,400 in the Arena, but I have to say, I'm not so sure I'd want to be in that place with 1,400 people in it. It seems pretty packed with 1,100 in it.
We are lucky though in that Guildford Spectrum has a second playing surface in it; there's an ice hockey arena right next to the basketball arena. I am told that 15 years ago that Olympiakos from Greece came and played the long since defunct Guildford Kings there in a game and they got somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 people into the room. 5,000 seems a bit of a stretch, I would think that closer to 4,000 would be possible.
This is our ambition. We can move into the big room for selected matches as we grow. It's there, we can see it every day. We want to be welcoming Real Madrid and Barcelona to Guildford.
They will want to come too. Guildford might as well be a part of Southwest London. We are only a 35 minute train or car ride from Piccadilly Circus. There are no other London clubs anymore that could otherwise do it, at least now. London Towers might come back, but it's just rumour. We are basically it, no offense to either London United, London Leopards or the Capitals. We outdraw all of them together at this point in time. But we want it to change for them too. We need local rivals.
I really feel the perfect storm brewing. But right now what I need to have brewing is a cup of coffee and to hear back from PJ to see if he can do this phone interview.
Barring that, I can run down to the BBC and do the interview myself. I hate phoners. They never sound as good as in-studio.
My college radio days at Seton Hall's WSOU served me well; two years there covering Big East basketball and playing music was the start of my career in the entertainment business. It's been a help with the media here. All good people here. We want to have the best of both worlds with the Eagle and the BBC. They appeal to almost totally different audiences so we can really make an impact and shouldn't annoy either party in the process. Shouldn't, but have...
More of this later. Time to work. Working for this club has turned out to be a 7 day a week job and even having spent 20 years in the music industry, I never worked 7 days a week.
After the game I had one of our larger sponsors come over with a bottle of dessert wine. He owns a big local haulage firm and had never seen a basketball game in his life until January. Now he's as bad as me. He sat hitting refresh in his own house last night. We had to celebrate our second chance at winning the league. Yes, we still have to beat London United tomorrow, but we've done that 3 out of 3 times already this season, we can do it again.
Andrew, another club director, was at home thinking up things for us to do today to build the picture in the media. We both went at it last night, texting the supporters we've started to make in town here. We've got 2 radio stations, one of which is a BBC network station and the other a pop-rock station called the Eagle. We've got one broadsheet local newspaper with about 100,000 circulation. I texted the assistant sports editor, Chris Dyke, last night with the news. He sounded genuinely into it. In fact, he's coming to the game tomorrow now. He came this past Wednesday too. That will make for him coming to 3 basketball games in 2 years. This is a serious improvement.
I texted the morning man on the BBC station and went to bed. Fred has since texted back saying he will call me and put me on the air. I should try to get PJ, our head coach to do the interview. Let me text him now. Done it, will wait a bit.
I texted Ben Moore from the BBC South TV last night; he used to play basketball as a kid and discovered us by accident a few months ago; he's done two pieces on us now. He sounded genuinely excited. I commanded him to come to the game tomorrow, our last of the season. The decider. It's Easter Sunday though. Not sure my 'command' went over that well...
In the midst of this I am sick as a dog; some chest cough that is turning into flu or something nasty. I really don't have the time for this.
On Monday evening I am catching the Eurostar train through the Channel tunnel to Belgium to go see the ULEB Cup Final; the second biggest competition in European basketball. I've managed to wrangle an invitation from Jordi Bertomeu's office; as a team, we are determined to play in Europe, in the ULEB Cup, as soon as possible. We want to be the biggest team in Great Britain. We want to compete. Seeing the game and meeting a few of the people from Euroleague, which run/own the competition would be a nice starting place. I don't think they have ever heard of the Guildford Heat.
I had barely even 7 months ago...why should they? They're in Barcelona and I'm here in town.
Eagles won last night 94-89. I think they led most of the way, but have also heard their lead went down to 1 with 15 seconds left. I am very glad I knew nothing of this and only got the final score. I'm not as young as I used to be. I'm 42 now. Bad things happen to good people. But as this is the case I should expect to live a lot longer.
Ticket sales should really pick up now for tomorrow's game. Easter Sunday at 3pm. Not so sure that was a good idea, BBL, but it will probably work for us now.
Our attendances, don't laugh, have doubled this season or at least gone up a third. I think the low point was 2 Christmas's ago with around 500 people to a game and now we are solidly drawing 1,000 people per match.
I've checked the online ticket system at the Spectrum and it looks like we've sold about 700 so far with a day to go. I think we will make 1,000 again.
The capacity is 1,400 in the Arena, but I have to say, I'm not so sure I'd want to be in that place with 1,400 people in it. It seems pretty packed with 1,100 in it.
We are lucky though in that Guildford Spectrum has a second playing surface in it; there's an ice hockey arena right next to the basketball arena. I am told that 15 years ago that Olympiakos from Greece came and played the long since defunct Guildford Kings there in a game and they got somewhere between 3,500 and 5,000 people into the room. 5,000 seems a bit of a stretch, I would think that closer to 4,000 would be possible.
This is our ambition. We can move into the big room for selected matches as we grow. It's there, we can see it every day. We want to be welcoming Real Madrid and Barcelona to Guildford.
They will want to come too. Guildford might as well be a part of Southwest London. We are only a 35 minute train or car ride from Piccadilly Circus. There are no other London clubs anymore that could otherwise do it, at least now. London Towers might come back, but it's just rumour. We are basically it, no offense to either London United, London Leopards or the Capitals. We outdraw all of them together at this point in time. But we want it to change for them too. We need local rivals.
I really feel the perfect storm brewing. But right now what I need to have brewing is a cup of coffee and to hear back from PJ to see if he can do this phone interview.
Barring that, I can run down to the BBC and do the interview myself. I hate phoners. They never sound as good as in-studio.
My college radio days at Seton Hall's WSOU served me well; two years there covering Big East basketball and playing music was the start of my career in the entertainment business. It's been a help with the media here. All good people here. We want to have the best of both worlds with the Eagle and the BBC. They appeal to almost totally different audiences so we can really make an impact and shouldn't annoy either party in the process. Shouldn't, but have...
More of this later. Time to work. Working for this club has turned out to be a 7 day a week job and even having spent 20 years in the music industry, I never worked 7 days a week.
Waiting for the screen to update
Dearie me, I'm sitting at a computer with a dead bottle of supermarket white rum. Has it come to this? Oh yes, it has.
How much longer?
I need the results in from Newcastle. Will the Eagles hold out and beat the Sharks? We need the Sharks to lose if we have ANY chance of winning the league title.
We didn't come all this way to lose on the last weekend of the season did we?
Another shot.
Ugh; that is really horrible stuff.
No update yet. No radio to check because no one is broadcasting the game--forget TV.
This is England, Britain to be more precise and there is no national or even local coverage for basketball these days.
And yet, look at me, sucked in and totally freaking out.
There can't be more than a few moments to go.
What a season. This is as good as it gets for me--I don't remember Seton Hall winning the Big East; though I've really lost a few brain cells along the way, so they might have.
Oh dear, I really starting to freak...
The Sharks and my team, the Guildford Heat, are both tied with 27-7 records in the league. We are winning tonight against lowly opposition--on the road...
The Sharks are at Newcastle, the current champs. If the Sharks win; we are as good as boned.
If they lose, well, we won't lose our last match on Easter against London United and then we are the champions.
A team not even 2 years old and we've won the BBL Cup this year and are THAT close to the league crown.
The rum is gone.
What's the SCORE?
I didn't even follow British basketball until the start of this season. And look at me now. I'm a director, shareholder and one of the guys that runs the club!
Arrrrgghhhh!
WHAT IS THE SCORE?
I keep hitting refresh on www.bbl.org.uk the only place that I can get the score. And once I get the score I have to text it to half a dozen people.
(I must admit the rum is starting to do its job here...)
There can't be more than seconds to go now...
We're winning our game; we were up 25 after 3 periods.
What will I do if we win? What will I do if we lose?
This is really exciting, forget soccer, what an idiot I've been for the past 12 years going to see soccer when there was pro-basketball here as well.
Hitting refresh...
I'm going to be ill.
This is awesome, even my wife doesn't mind that I am holed up here in the back and away from the family.
I need a cigarette. I don't smoke.
The score after 3 periods in their game was 74-69 Eagles...can they hold on? Have they?
What should I drink now? Gin or vodka?
I must admit, rum is pretty good. Never really drank the stuff before. Note to self...
This really can't go on much longer.
What a season we've had. If you're expecting stories of huge crowds and epic victories, well, I'm here to tell you stories of epic victories.
I season like this has to go reported and with a summer of incredible opportunity unfolding in front of us regardless of what happens tonight and Sunday, I am going to record all of it for posterity.
Okay.
I'm starting to go the other way. My euphoria is wearing off. The Eagle could lose. If they lose then I don't see Sheffield losing to Milton Keynes on Sunday.
We've won our game, 102-81, but that wasn't really in doubt. It's the other score that can't be more than moments away that matters.
What is taking them so long to post this score?
Could be OT...
No, please no...
EAGLES WIN!!!!!!!!!!!
How much longer?
I need the results in from Newcastle. Will the Eagles hold out and beat the Sharks? We need the Sharks to lose if we have ANY chance of winning the league title.
We didn't come all this way to lose on the last weekend of the season did we?
Another shot.
Ugh; that is really horrible stuff.
No update yet. No radio to check because no one is broadcasting the game--forget TV.
This is England, Britain to be more precise and there is no national or even local coverage for basketball these days.
And yet, look at me, sucked in and totally freaking out.
There can't be more than a few moments to go.
What a season. This is as good as it gets for me--I don't remember Seton Hall winning the Big East; though I've really lost a few brain cells along the way, so they might have.
Oh dear, I really starting to freak...
The Sharks and my team, the Guildford Heat, are both tied with 27-7 records in the league. We are winning tonight against lowly opposition--on the road...
The Sharks are at Newcastle, the current champs. If the Sharks win; we are as good as boned.
If they lose, well, we won't lose our last match on Easter against London United and then we are the champions.
A team not even 2 years old and we've won the BBL Cup this year and are THAT close to the league crown.
The rum is gone.
What's the SCORE?
I didn't even follow British basketball until the start of this season. And look at me now. I'm a director, shareholder and one of the guys that runs the club!
Arrrrgghhhh!
WHAT IS THE SCORE?
I keep hitting refresh on www.bbl.org.uk the only place that I can get the score. And once I get the score I have to text it to half a dozen people.
(I must admit the rum is starting to do its job here...)
There can't be more than seconds to go now...
We're winning our game; we were up 25 after 3 periods.
What will I do if we win? What will I do if we lose?
This is really exciting, forget soccer, what an idiot I've been for the past 12 years going to see soccer when there was pro-basketball here as well.
Hitting refresh...
I'm going to be ill.
This is awesome, even my wife doesn't mind that I am holed up here in the back and away from the family.
I need a cigarette. I don't smoke.
The score after 3 periods in their game was 74-69 Eagles...can they hold on? Have they?
What should I drink now? Gin or vodka?
I must admit, rum is pretty good. Never really drank the stuff before. Note to self...
This really can't go on much longer.
What a season we've had. If you're expecting stories of huge crowds and epic victories, well, I'm here to tell you stories of epic victories.
I season like this has to go reported and with a summer of incredible opportunity unfolding in front of us regardless of what happens tonight and Sunday, I am going to record all of it for posterity.
Okay.
I'm starting to go the other way. My euphoria is wearing off. The Eagle could lose. If they lose then I don't see Sheffield losing to Milton Keynes on Sunday.
We've won our game, 102-81, but that wasn't really in doubt. It's the other score that can't be more than moments away that matters.
What is taking them so long to post this score?
Could be OT...
No, please no...
EAGLES WIN!!!!!!!!!!!
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