Regular Poster
Years ago
Funny Last night's Talking Hoops
Phil (BASA) said that the Hoops Forums were being run well and were a credit to the Basketball community. He also said that members of BASA regularly check in to see whats going on in regards to the 6er's, but he was quick to point out that he cannot read "every" post that is written on every forum. (he also said he met up with and spoke to a 'young lawyer fellow' who had posted some things on the forum and they had discussed some issues and cleared things up ) ??? Not sure what that was about exactly?
He then briefly mentioned that he had recently met with some 'media type' folks who were interested and concerned with the state of BASA and the 6er's and got some interesting feedback as to what the fans were after this year and into the future. (i thought maybe that was a ref to isaac?)
Ticketing was briefly discussed and he mentioned the variance of ticket prices between 1997 and today being a matter of something like $17.35 - $18.53 -$19.67 .. Sounded a little un-convincing if you ask me .
Then Phil was allowed to waffle on for about 2 mins about how BASA was being run efficiently and how they had saved up enough money for the "girls" to "possibly" play the Chinese national team, and that a mens tour was "on the cards" .
Moving on to Phil Smyth ...
He was great ... Right from the first question from Ninnis :"So you finished fourth this year .. what would you say to people who suggest you have under achieved ?" ..
Phil: "I'd say that they are ignorant and dont know what they are talking about .. " (much the same as his responses in earlier interviews)
He had a crack at Al Green too .. whom he cleverly showed to be all about individual accolades and not team accolades. His response to Al suggesting he was all about the money was GOLD! He said that he would have never been in Canberra so long if he had been about the money .. and that only an ignoramus would suggest something like that and that he finds it bloody insulting that someone would say such a thing. (thud ... the sound of Al Green hitting the floor with a gaping hole in his argument!!)
Phil then briefly touched on contract negotiations and said that his lawyers were reviewing the contract (wed) and should be signed by the end of the week. He also mentioned that he was talking to players about their futures and they were hesitant to respond until Phil was onboard. (Phil's tone throughout this whole portion of the interview was of quiet optimism... and Ninnis had to keep reminding Bell that he was not the coach yet ... until he signed on the dotted line)
The next 2 mins of the show were ads .. which were a comedy of errors . Erin was not great at reading dialogue and the phones became 'hollow' several times. They got through it ... sponsors names were out there .. back to the chat ..
Midnight (aka Mark Davis ) rang in and spoke from the heart about the fall of an organisation he has seen fall from the top of the world to a divided bickering mess. He rambled a little bit, but the guy was very genuine about not putting blame on anyone, but joining together and fixing basketball in SA. He also mentioned the charity he supports and the movie coach Carter they are using to raise money. As a marketing figure of the 6 er's though, someone needs to remind him the stadium is now called the Dome.. Bell and Ninnis did this at least 3 times !!
The best part of the show was BOTI.
I think Boti should be given a few minutes every week to just spew forth whatever is pissing him off about basketball in this country .. he was fantastic.
He spoke about selling the 6 er's and the State government taking the keys back to the Dome. He attacked the decison of the 'then' Govt. building the Entertainment Centre once the first earth was struck on the 'Power House' and that SA Govt. had bailed out soccer and football and it was time they helped basketball before it went terminal . He wants to call their bluff and give back the keys. He said he thought the admin. of BASA was dubious and that 22 staff members was too many "i dont know what half these people do for basketball day in and day out" he said. He also attacked the "flawed business plan" of BASA that " makes no sense to anyone who has reviewed it economically".
He wants to see the 6 ers go to a private ownership agreement where a 'local' syndicate or individual can promote the game and bring back the spectacle of basketball to Adelaide whom he described as a "basketball-mad" town.
Ticketing.... Boti said "its too bloody high" , and suggested a $10-15 dollar ticketing campaign to bring back the fans ( at this point he actually complimented Brenton Higgins for trying to implement this for next yr ) .. He said that soccer was the sleeping giant and was killing basketball and the sucesses of The Adelaide United team was based on a model that basketball was using years ago, but had been forgotten "bums on seats" !!He said there is no reason for basketball not to be a dominant force in SA with it being globally accepted in more countries than soccer (202) .. and that passionate fans would return if the image was cleaned up and prices brought down.
Other points were : Catering ... stinks !! too expensive .. Parking also .. and entertainment lacking in crowd participation and enjoyment .
Overall .. he felt that the league (SA powers that be) had lost touch with the families that catapulted basketball into the fore about 8-10 yrs ago.
The night ended with a pretty lacklustre interview with Brad Gerlach who was cut short a little by 1. the fact they had limited time by the time he got on ..2. He was pretty quiet sort of a guy who did not really get the types of questions (and help from Bell and Ninnis ) that were conducive to intersting listening ! Overall .. it wasn't the best interview .. but he was congratulated on his Stamford Academy MVP and i hope we hear from him again .
Well i hope that is enough .. those were the main points i picked up on. I'd be interested to hear what everyone thinks about what was said
(Mod: Thanks for taking the time to write this up. Much appreciated by myself and anyone else who wasn't near a radio.)
