Bellevue BlackHawks and Ontario Warriors

If I can talk Death? into it tonight I think that we'll go down to Renton High School and check out the basketball game between the Bellevue BlackHawks and the Ontario Warriors. Surprisingly and unbeknownst to most, these are real live professional basketball teams playing in the new ABA, a 32 team league reaching from Tijuana to Harlem. Most teams have been so successful that they play in local area high school gymnasiums to dozens of fans. The competition is so good that most players are from small colleges or middling talents from larger schools.

So you may be asking yourself, why would Brandon want to go see these teams play tonight? The simple answer. I love a fiasco. I've been curious about the ABA since in debuted in 2000 with high hopes establishing teams in Detroit, Kansas City, Los Angeles and a few other big cities. Most teams tried to compete with the local NBA team and failed miserably either folding mid-season or reneging on their leases and moving to high school gymnasiums. Every year since they have tried the same thing and it never works. Teams come in and say they are going to do some great things and run their operations in the cheapest and most unprofessional of manners.

So I was really intrigued when they announced they were expanding to 32 teams this season placing teams anywhere they could find an open gym. Who are these people that keep wanting to join the ABA? Who really thinks that this will work? If a dance team dances and nobody is there to see them, did they really dance?

Bellevue originally was slated to join the CBA this year as the Bellevue NightHawks but couldn't secure a lease with Bellevue Community College (that's pretty sad, isn't it? Even the CC won't have you). They flirted with moving to Everett but couldn't get a lease and now have settled in the ABA as the Blackhawks playing, in true ABA style, at a high school gym.

So what does this have to do with sports logos you say. Well nothing really other than this quick review of both of these logos. The BlackHawks logo: a dismembered Hawk is an outstanding image for your brand new franchise. What else can you expect from a rinky-dink team like this. The Warriors logo: A standard issue ABA logo complete with red, white and blue ball. You could put any city and team name on it. Perfect for a franchise that might play in twenty different locations before the end of the season. Why didn't the BlackHawks think about using this logo too?