We live in interesting times. The recent showdown over the shutdown and the
subsequent deal making, braking, and faking concluded on Wednesday night. Despite being technically furloughed, I
worked every day except two during the shuttering of the government, and
truthfully it felt good to see something positive after so much effort.
Many will opine about the eventual deal reached at
the 11th hour, but I believe another settlement deserves our
attention today. I didn’t know about the
story I’m about to spin until Wednesday night, but boy it’s a good one. (For those who watched the documentary “Free
Spirits,” I appreciate your clicking this link…you may proceed to the Bits if
you like). The story conveniently ends
with what might arguably be the greatest business deal ever, and should be
common knowledge to today’s sports aficionados.
Let’s turn back to 1974. The American Basketball Association (ABA) was
a professional league that somewhat competed with the NBA, but added its own
specific brand to the sport. The league
pioneered the idea of mass marketing and running a team purely for
entertainment value. Teams played in
big-time arenas and thus, being something of Little Brother to the NBA, worked
to put butts in the seats through promotions and outrageous halftime
shows. But, we owe a little more to the
ABA than Bobblehead Night. The ABA first
used the three point line, adopting it a full ten years before the NBA. Imagine basketball now without the trey…it
would be a different game, with lead swings coming only after much concerted
effort. Scoring totals for players like
Kobe or Michael would be reduced. The
three-point field goal revolutionized basketball and created a new kind of
player, the 3-point specialist.
The other thing we owe to the ABA is the slam
dunk. Another marketing strategy pushed
playing above the rim to bring a more exciting brand of basketball. While the NBA also had its share of slammers,
the ABA looked to take it a step further.
The first Dunk Contest occurred at the 1976 ABA All-Star Game, a
historical footnote that only adds to the legacy of a league that played with a
red-white-and-blue ball.
Anyway, the league is significant for a lot of
reasons, but was unable to keep itself going.
Eleven teams began the ABA in 1967, but only two of those eleven stayed
in one city during the league’s existence.
Bob Costas has described it as a chance for people with “some money” to
get in on the game of basketball by owning a professional franchise. The league struggled from the get-go, with
many different owners hawking teams and moving them to different markets. As a brief aside, this led to some excellent
team nicknames: Minnesota Muskies, Denver Larks, Louisiana Buccaneers,
Baltimore Hustlers, Oakland Oaks, San Diego Conquistadors, and Washington
Capitals to name a few.
But, another great nickname came to the team in St.
Louis. The Carolina Cougars, based
mainly in Greensboro, were bought by two brothers, Ozzie and Dan Silna. Looking to take advantage of a potential
ABA-NBA merger, the Silnas moved to St. Louis, the biggest market then without
an NBA franchise. The team was dubbed
the Spirits of St. Louis, another fantastic nickname from a league too often
thrown to the historical dogs.
The Silnas brought in tons of players, leveraging another
ABA innovation, drafting players early.
Moses Malone never went to college, moving right to the ABA’s Utah
Stars. The main get for these Spirits
was Marvin Barnes, a player out of Providence who had been drafted number two
overall in the NBA. He chose the
Spirits, adding another feather to the ABA’s cap.
And Barnes dominated the court, averaging 24 PPG in
each season he played for the team. In
that first season, in which Barnes won ABA Rookie of the Year, he also averaged
15 rebounds per game. While there isn’t
a whole lot of tape from those days, his prodigious talent looks fairly evident
on the small amount that I’ve seen.
Behind Barnes’ leadership, the Spirits beat the defending champion New
York Nets in the playoffs, triumphing over Dr. J in his heyday. Things looked up, but everything came to a
halt one year later.
And that’s where this whole thing becomes
important. The ABA sought a merger with
the NBA, a proposition that the leagues both took seriously. After a series of negotiations, the NBA
agreed to subsume four ABA teams: the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, San
Antonio Spurs, and the Nets. That left,
by then, two teams on the outside looking in: the Kentucky Colonels and the
Spirits. Kentucky’s owners received $3.3
million in exchange for shutting the team down.
The Silna brothers had no intention of going quietly, and looked for
some alternative deal to compensate their losses.
The resulting business settlement sounds not only
prescient and genius now…it sounds like theft.
The Silnas agreed to a deal in which 1/7 of the TV revenue from each of
the four merged teams would go directly into their pockets. One-seventh from the Nuggets, Pacers, Spurs,
and Nets…those were the terms. And there
was no term limit on this clause, as the contract granted this money “in
perpetuity” to the Silnas. As the
literacy level of Americans seems to be decreasing precipitously, I feel
compelled to reiterate that “perpetuity” means forever.
The Spurs’ success speaks for itself. They have been a powerhouse in the West
despite playing a supremely anti-ABA brand of basketball under mastermind Gregg
Popovich. The Nets reached their
pinnacle in the Jason Kidd era, but have remained a viable franchise since the
merger. The Pacers are perhaps the
second-best small market team in the NBA, doing well during the Reggie Miller
years and enduring the tough Artest years before the current team of young
studs (for my money, Indiana wins the championship in ’04 if the Malice at the
Palace doesn’t happen). The Nuggets aren’t
as great a success story, but they continue to gain playoff berths.
So, how much TV revenue do you think those
franchises have made since the ink dried in 1976? As of last year, according to the New York Times, the Silna brothers have
collected $255 million from the ABA merger.
All that after owning a team for two years that barely made a dent in
the hierarchy of the ABA. At the time of
the deal, CBS paid the NBA a very modest amount for its games. Now…the NBA receives about $930 million from
all its TV contracts. The same Times
article pinpoints the Silna’s yearly earnings at $14.57 million presently. Really not bad at all 35 years from the last
whistle in St. Louis.
The Spirits, despite being forgotten, are an
exceptionally compelling team for other reasons. Their coach during that second season was Rod
Thorn, the gentleman who drafted Michael Jordan in Chicago and helped build the
Nets in the Jason Kidd era. Of similar
significance is the man who has been Thorn’s periodic boss, David Stern. The current commissioner served as Outside Counsel
to the NBA during the merger discussions, and generally receives credit for
pushing both sides to reach an agreement on which teams would be collected.
The St. Louis players had mixed success going
forward. Barnes played four seasons in
the NBA for four different teams and has admitted to doing drugs before, after,
and during games while playing with the Celtics. He wound up homeless in the early 90s and
continues to work his way back to sustainability. Moses Malone played in St. Louis during the
second season, and he now sits firmly in the Hall and is one of the 30 (at
least) best players ever. Don Chaney
went on to be a vaunted sixth man for the Celtics, Ron Boone held the record
for consecutive pro games played for many years, and Mike D’Antoni has
forgotten defense as a pro coach.
And yet, perhaps the best footnote on this team is
their broadcaster: Bob Costas. He has
achieved the kind of cultural notoriety held by only a few broadcasters in the
era of sports, allowing him to insert his own opinions without ridicule or
shame. His calls for Spirits games are,
from what I’ve heard, not especially invigorating, but the associations with
this short-lived team continue to amaze me.
There you have it, a team that has provided us with
one of the best business deals ever and a mish-mash of associations too
coincidental to not be mentioned. For
all of the discussions about how well sports does, it’s refreshing to hear that
it wasn’t always the case.
Bit
#1: Goodness these people need to shut up
I respect Jim Irsay’s honesty, but he needs to can
it. Irsay said he was “disappointed”
that the Colts didn’t win more Super Bowls under Manning. Technically speaking, I understand his
sentiments. The Colts won at least 12
games for seven straight years, yet only made two Super Bowls, winning
one. Yes, Manning could have won more
championships, but Irsay’s comments are particularly idiotic. Since his family moved the franchise from
Baltimore in the dead of night, Irsay can only point to Peyton Manning for the
team’s success. I wrote an inaugural
blog post almost two years ago laying out the unbelievable effect Manning had
on the Colts prospects. Yeah, he didn’t
bring home enough rings, but expressing any kind of reservation about the man
who singlehandedly resurrected the franchise is insulting. I hope Peyton kills Indy this weekend by
throwing it all over the yard and putting up a 56-0 sinning score.
The other guy who should shut it is Dwight
Howard. This past week, Dwight said he
would like to see Orlando retire his #12.
Howard, in an interview with the Orlando
Sentinel, said he was “a little upset” that the team allowed Tobias Harris
to wear 12. He elaborated by saying that
the team did some “special” things while he was there. Of course, he’s right. Howard led the team to the NBA Finals,
eliminating LeBron James in the process.
But, is he serious? We are only
two years removed from Howard’s attempts to fire his coach and general
manager. Howard’s antics put the
basketball world onto his scent as being an immature star who could really use
a dose of better judgment. Eventually, I’d
predict the number will be retired. But,
the wounds are still too raw (have you seen how the Magic are doing recently?)
for Howard to expect that or to even express frustration about it.
Bit
#2: What’s Wrong with the Caps?
I realize the season is young, but the Caps have a
2-5 record. That’s unacceptable for a
team that has tons of talent on its roster and has proven it during the past
two seasons. The big guns are
firing. Ovie has six goals, Backstrom
has seven assists. But, the problem
remains (as it has for the last four years, Mr. McPhee) on the defensive
end. The injury to Jack Hillen, causing
him to miss 4-6 months threw our defensive alignment awry. John Erskine missing games also doesn’t help
one bit, as he took a giant step forward last season with his play. But, even with them on the ice, the team
gives up too many goals. Their 24 goals
allowed are six above the league average.
No Caps player has a positive plus/minus rating, and the defensemen who
have played are a combined -23. Some of
this also goes on the goalies, Neuvirth and Holtby, who both have save
percentages beneath 90% and have goals-against-averages above three.
It comes down to needing to beat teams that we
should beat. Dallas and Carolina beat us
in past weeks, and these are teams that ranked in the bottom half of the league
last season. The Caps also need to pick
it up in order to deal with the new divisions, which make it tougher for them.
Bit
#3: NFL Power Rankings
1.
Broncos
(6-0)
See my comments about Manning above
2.
Chiefs
(6-0)
Lots of folks looking forward to
Week 11 when this team takes on Peyton.
Expect the two to be at 9-0 and looking forward to the playoffs. I’m still not sold on this team deep into the
playoffs, but stranger things have happened.
3.
Saints
(5-1)
Tough loss for New Orleans,
especially in a game where they fairly outplayed the Pats in many aspects. The injury to Jimmy Graham, however, could be
trouble after the upcoming bye week. Of
larger concern is the ineffectiveness of Graham on Sunday to catch a ball,
which might be a blueprint for opponents going forward.
4.
Seahawks
(5-1)
For a team that started as an elite
squad, I’m not entirely sure how to read this year’s version. Such a middling win over the Titans isn’t
exactly cause for uproarious rejoicing, but the defense will keep them in games
going forward. Their opponents before
the bye week: Arizona, St. Louis, Tampa Bay, Atlanta, and Minnesota. They should be up here by then.
5.
Patriots
(5-1)
I don’t know what you can say about
Tom Brady. He’s not been overwhelming
this season, but my goodness he looked good on that final drive. I will be in attendance during his game this
weekend, and I bet the team defense continues.
6.
Colts
(4-2)
Huge game this weekend against
Denver as Andrew Luck gets his second straight primetime game. The loss to the Chargers has to be put on the
defense, who gave up a fair chunk of yardage to Ryan Mathews.
7.
49ers
(4-2)
A team running under the radar the
past two weeks, with their two games before the bye week against Tennessee and
Jacksonville. I have Vernon Davis on my
fantasy team, boo-yah.
8.
Bengals
(4-2)
They’ve won four of their last
five, but sustainability is the real question.
Can Andy Dalton win enough games while not airing it out too much? The defense is gross.
9.
Packers
(3-2)
Everybody knows I love this team as
a contender not being discussed right now, but the injuries to Randall Cobb and
James Jones are problematic. Rodgers has
a great plug-and-chug mentality, but it bears watching as to what he’ll do.
10. Bears (4-2)
Not sure I like putting them here,
but the possible replacement is the Lions, who aren’t consistent enough. Jay has a juicy matchup this week against
Washington and Brandon Marshall looks to be sufficiently placated.
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