Dear LiveJournal,

[Stress Fracture]

I just browsed my posts and found out that I almost had a CF patch. Much to my dismay, I didn't have the time to continue it.

[Andrew]

My copy of Ultimate Jordan (the new deluxe edition) finally arrived. It was a few weeks later than the projected delivery, first time something from Amazon has caused me a bit of a concern. Especially since the Mavs championship DVD that I ordered at the same time arrived about a month or so ago.

[koberulz]

An Amazon order arriving late? That's a new one. I've never had anything arrive later than a week before the estimated arrival date.

Just got three NBL games on DVD: Titans-Wildcats from Feb 01 (Andrew Vlahov flattens Mark Dickel), game three of the Hawks-36ers semi final from the same year (Damon Lowery gets the friendliest three bounces in the history of friendly bounces) and game three of the Crocs-Titans series, also from the same year. Which the guy sending me the DVDs just threw in because he had it and thought it was a good game; I didn't even have to ask for it.

Now all I need is game two of the 2000 grand final, which I've been waiting 11 years for (didn't have Fox back then, got a neighbour to record it, never got the tape for whatever reason), and my life is pretty much complete.

[Andrew]

Me neither and like I said the DVD I ordered at the same time showed up a month or so ago. I guess it could've been held up in customs. Not to worry, it wasn't lost and it's in my collection now.

Are those official NBL game DVDs or fan recordings?

[koberulz]

Official NBL DVDs? Are you kidding? The NBL don't even know which games they have, much less have them in a format that wasn't obsolete fifteen years ago (more correctly, anything that wasn't on Fox Sports is probably on betamax, anything that was on Fox Sports is in a box somewhere and nobody knows what's in it). They sure as hell don't have them available to the public (though they are working on it, I've no idea how quickly). I found a guy on iOffer who has a bunch of Adelaide 36ers games going back to the '86 Grand Final (Leroy Loggins, Mark Davis, Al Green, Larry Sengstock, Cal Bruton...), as well as a couple of All Star games. While I was googling to try and find a roster for those all star games, I came across this thread. Got a guy from there to send me the Titans-Tigers OT game mentioned in the OP, and he threw in a Razorbacks-Tigers game from a week later which, in a season in which teams averaged just 93 PPG, had a 3/4 time score of 101-97. The fourth quarter slowed down a hell of a lot, though. A while later, after trawling through YouTube footage and old game programs, I made a list which included the Vlahov-Dickel screen and Lowery's free throws. He got those to me and threw in Titans-Crocs.

I've also got a guy who's doing all the Wildcats grand finals for me, but that's taken ages. He seems to be finished ripping and just need to burn, but it still might take a while.

Watching the '86 grand final is just weird, though. The commentators spend much time going on about how great basketball is, and how there really aren't any other sporting codes in Australia that can offer what basketball can. Fast-forward a few years, and nobody in this country even knows we have a national league. There was some of a season recap on the end of the Crocs-Titans game, in which Ian Stacker mentioned that it was a great time for the league to be out of the Mitsubishi contract, because a new naming rights sponsor would be easy to find. And hey, it only took them four years.

Speaking of the state of the league, surely you'd make the effort to catch a Kings game if Bogut was playing?

[Andrew]

Fair enough, I figured they weren't official but then I vaguely remember them releasing some official tapes in the 90s so I thought they might have lifted their game with some DVD distribution. Good to know they are working on it though, it's something they should have.

If Bogut ends up playing some games in the NBL, I'd probably try and catch a couple. Something like that would likely pique my interest. However, a combination of past events have left me feeling somewhat burned/disgusted by the league, so it's hard for me to get too enthused about it in general.

[koberulz]

Fair enough, I figured they weren't official but then I vaguely remember them releasing some official tapes in the 90s so I thought they might have lifted their game with some DVD distribution.

There were people who would pay money for them in the 90s, too. The Wildcats have released game three of the 2010 Grand Final and released a horribly inaccurate doco in 2003 or so (which is actually more accurate than the 'club history' page on their website), but other than that I've never seen official NBL DVDs. Dunno why the Wildcats have never released any of their older stuff. They obviously have a better handle on their footage than the NBL does, a large enough fanbase, and the content. I'd fork over considerable amounts of money to see Crawford/Ellis/Pinder/Grace/Vlahov/Fisher in their primes.

However, a combination of past events have left me feeling somewhat burned/disgusted by the league, so it's hard for me to get too enthused about it in general.

Which events in particular?

[Andrew]

I suppose it's mainly Newcastle losing two teams over the years; it's hard to get enthusiastic about them getting another team here and keeping it, though Nathan Tinkler supposedly has interest in backing one so maybe there's hope. The quality of play has a lot to do with it as well, there's also been some marketing campaigns that have rubbed me the wrong way as a basketball fan and some other incidents here and there, little things about the league that annoy me and make feel less favourable it.

I understand the need for Aussie basketball fans to support the NBL to help it grow and improve, but I've been disappointed too many times in the past and just can't muster the enthusiasm. I tip my hat to individuals such as yourself and anyone else who still has that passion, that's great, but for me it's kind of like going back to a bad relationship so I have to take a pass for the moment.

[koberulz]

It's not so much that I 'still' have the passion, more that I've regained it. I really had no interest after about 2003, though I did watch every game last season (or close to it, at least). Stumbling across that old game tapes thread, and with it an entire NBL forum, along with the Wildcats planning to move to the 12,500 seat Perth Arena next season, got me interested in the league again.

Is Newcastle really a big enough city that the lack of a team there is a worthy complaint? There are plenty of places that never had a team at all.

Certainly if Newcastle does get a team in a couple of years, it'll be less likely to go under. The league's taken a great deal of care to make sure teams are stable and whatnot before they're allowed in. In the meantime, you're missing out on things like this:

phpBB [video]

[Kenny]

I went to the Australia V New Zealand Olympic qualifier in Brisbane last night and I have to say that it actually made me more enthusiastic about possibly having a team in Brisbane again. Even though the quality of basketball wasn't the greatest, it was still quite an enjoyable outing and one I'd like to experience more often.

[koberulz]

Word is Bogut is signing with the Kings.

At the very least, I hope the lockout lasts until the end of November.

[Andrew]

Is Newcastle really a big enough city that the lack of a team there is a worthy complaint? There are plenty of places that never had a team at all.

It's the seventh largest city in the country with over half a million people, so I'd say yes.

[Kenny]

Thought I'd share a few pictures from last night. They're about a 10th of the size of the original photos:






Highlights of the night

-Scoring a free hat and some socks.
-Sit telling Pat Mills to "pass it to Rudy"
-Calling Joe Ingles "Jingles" and Casey Frank "Epic Beard Guy"
-And of course, both Australian teams qualifying for the Olympics

[Andrew]

Cool.

[The X]

Highlight of the night: Jingles taunting his own home crowd, obviously not happy with the lacklustre crowd support in the game.

Lowlight of the night: BJ Anthony not winning the game MVP for Australia. He can't even get off bench for Breakers, shows lack of NZ depth if he gets meaningful court time for New Zealand Why not pick 17 year old big man Steven Adams over him? If he's good enough to be going to Pitt then he's good enough to start for NZ On that note, where the hell was Craig Bradshaw & Dillon Boucher? How the hell does Mr Blow Job be on team ahead of both of them?

Paddy Mills looked terrible in the game. Luckily the Boomers had stud big men (Aleks Maric, A.J. Ogilvy & Aron Baines) who made the difference, especially Maric. With their frontcourt depth, I think Australia should play twin towers on court at all times, especially given how mediocre their guard play is.

[Kenny]

Maybe he was taunting me for calling him Jingles

[koberulz]

Is Newcastle really a big enough city that the lack of a team there is a worthy complaint? There are plenty of places that never had a team at all.

It's the seventh largest city in the country with over half a million people, so I'd say yes.

True, but it's also basically next door to Sydney. And Wollongong.

I'd rather have Brisbane than Newcastle.

[The X]

Is Newcastle really a big enough city that the lack of a team there is a worthy complaint? There are plenty of places that never had a team at all.

It's the seventh largest city in the country with over half a million people, so I'd say yes.

True, but it's also basically next door to Sydney. And Wollongong.

I'd rather have Brisbane than Newcastle.

The Bullets will be back, hopefully next season. I'll support them, as will others I know. I just hope that they play in Brisbane city like they were previously rather than in north Brisbane.

[Andrew]

I don't think proximity is an issue when it comes to professional sports in Australia. Eight of the 20 NRL teams are based in Sydney, nine of the 17 AFL teams are based in Melbourne, Adelaide has two. Queensland already has three NBL teams to New South Wales' two, Melbourne had two or three teams during the NBL's heyday. I don't see why it has to be between Brisbane and Newcastle. They're two of the largest cities in the country, they were both founding teams in the NBL in 1979. I say get them both back in the competition.

[Kenny]

I see where Andrew is coming from; by logic the team I should be going for is the Blaze, but that'd be overlooking the fact that I absolutely hate the Gold Coast as a city. To me it'd be slightly more forgivable to go for them then it would be to go for the New South Wales State of Origin team. Hell, I was even saying last night that my favourite team since Brisbane left the competition is the Breakers.

[The X]

I see where Andrew is coming from; by logic the team I should be going for is the Blaze, but that'd be overlooking the fact that I absolutely hate the Gold Coast as a city. To me it'd be slightly more forgivable to go for them then it would be to go for the New South Wales State of Origin team. Hell, I was even saying last night that my favourite team since Brisbane left the competition is the Breakers.

That might be because the Breakers team has some of the heart of the Bullets team that won the title, being CJ Bruton & Dillon Boucher

Or it could be because you are a closet BJ Anthony fan

Blaze are alright, they got the guy Ben coached, Chris Goulding (mix between Adam Morrison & Sasha Vujacic). Atmosphere at Blaze games are pretty good too. Was better than the Clippers game, that's for sure

[kibaxx7]

Wow Kenny, that's really nice. I wanted to go to the tournament here in Mar del Plata, but it was almost impossible in matters of money and also time was against me

[The X]

Wow Kenny, that's really nice. I wanted to go to the tournament here in Mar del Plata, but it was almost impossible in matters of money and also time was against me

Tickets were cheap, like $30 for front row.

Australia needs to get Kyrie Irving to join team before Olympics to have a chance to medal.

[Andrew]

I see where Andrew is coming from; by logic the team I should be going for is the Blaze, but that'd be overlooking the fact that I absolutely hate the Gold Coast as a city. To me it'd be slightly more forgivable to go for them then it would be to go for the New South Wales State of Origin team. Hell, I was even saying last night that my favourite team since Brisbane left the competition is the Breakers.

That too. A Novocastrian backing a Sydney club? Unthinkable.

[kibaxx7]

Tickets were cheap, like $30 for front row.

Yeah I know, but I'd also have problems going there (250 miles from Buenos Aires to Mar del Plata, more or less), I don't have a car, I would have to spend much more money.