Buffalo Welcomes Back Professional Basketball
Buffalo and sports. The two seem to walk hand in hand through sold out football games, suspense filled Stanley Cup finals, and tailgating extravaganzas. No matter the outcome or final statistic, Buffalo fans remain die hard for their teams. So, it would come with no surprise that Buffalo would welcome the beginning of a forgotten era in an exciting way.
Buffalo and basketball have endured a rocky relationship with one another. Since the well-known 1970's Buffalo Braves, professional basketball has had a difficult time getting its feet back on the court. However, it is making a comeback.
The newly formed Buffalo Sharks of the American Basketball Association are sponsoring an international exhibition game against the Italian National Basketball Team on June 23 at 7 P.M. The showdown will take place at the Medaille College Sullivan Center on Agassiz Circle.
The All-Stars will be led by Buffalo, NY natives Karly Rainey and Fran Snyder, Jr. and will be joined by Nick Perioli, a standout point guard, from Syracuse. Dr. Rich Jacob, a well known member of the basketball world, will coach the Sharks.
Dr. Jacob has spent 29 years coaching at a variety of levels. From 1995 -1999, he coached Medaille College. Specifically, in 1996, he played a major role in helping Medaille become an officially recognized NCAA program. That same year, he led the team to an NSCA Final Four appearance. In 2005, Dr. Jacob became the Head Coach and General Manager of the ABA's Buffalo Rapids.
The sharks are owned by Vincent Lesh, a native Buffalonian who is driven to solidifying the future of professional basketball in Buffalo. Being an established national entertainment promoter who has operated in Western New York for over 25 years, Lesh is committed to bringing Buffalo basketball back to stay. The Sharks' season will officially begin in November of 2008.
Buffalo's opponents on June 23, the Italian National Team, feature two NBA players, Marco Belinelli and Andrea Bargnani, of the Toronto Raptors. Bargnani was the first overall pick in the 2006 NBA Draft. Therefore, competition is fierce.
For ticket information visit www.buffalosharks.com or contact Buffalo Pro Hoops, Inc. 716.565.1730. Tickets will be $5.00 general admission. Come cheer on the Sharks, and welcome professional basketball back to Buffalo.
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MEC
I can only assume that Shark Energy Drink is sponsoring the team?
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BuffaloTshirts
Apparently they were in negotiations at one point to be the sponsor but the talks fell thru (as I remember reading in the BN). Lesh 'liked' the name and logo so much he decided to keep it (thats one way to put it.) Good free marketing for the drink though. Perhaps the energy drink will reconsider and promote the team too. The first game sounds good, I might just take a trip over. Go Sharks!
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ECB
There is no affiliation, though Shark Energy Drink does sponsor a number of sports-related area events including motocross racing.
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sb16
I just saw Semi-pro last night and am getting a kick out of this. Flint Michigan Tropics, Buffalo Sharks, same irony.
Kidding aside this is very exciting, I only wish I was around to see the Braves play back in the day. Hopefully they can get a deal with Time-warner to show some games on tape delay like High School games are.
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tbayz1
Look at the Sharks website, thats not their logo anymore.
The old one looks better than this new one...
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tbayz1
Hey the Sharks seem to have good ideas and a decent plan but they're in a terrible league. I've been following pro basketball here very closely ever since the Buffalo Rapids came along in 2005 and then morphed into the Buffalo Silverbacks and are now the Sharks. The league that there in, the ABA is a complete joke and utter mess. The ABA has had almost 200 teams fold in 7 years! Last season that had 20 or so teams fold and played less than 40% of their games. The league is a joke; anyone with 10k dollars can buy a team. The ABA is full of teams that can't even draw 100 people to games, teams that show up with 6 guys on a roadtrip, games that have scores like 140-60, coaches that have to suit up because their team needs a 6th guy... Should I keep going? The best part about the ABA is that, anytime there has been good franchises that know what they're doing the teams leave.
The ABA just recently had its 4 strongest teams, all in the Northeast leave. These teams drew 1000+ a game, had good players, and knew what they were doing. 3 of them have left for the Premier Basketball League. A league that is entering its second season. Its first season it had 10 teams, 7 of which defected from the ABA. They played all of their games and no teams folded. The championship game in Rochester, NY was on TV, Radio, and Internet, and they had 10k in attendence. The ABA's championship game had 500 or so there. The PBL has also just recently signed a Nat'l TV deal !! www.pblproball.com
And guess what Buffalo - if you didn't know already, we have a PBL team, the Buffalo Dragons. They were on the news andfront page of the paper when they were announced in early May. They're playing at the Flickinger Center.
Like I've said, I've been closely following this stuff, closely, and I'd say your safest bet as a fan if you want to purchase season tickets, bring the family to a game, see some great basketball, I'd chose the Dragons in the long run. They are simply in a better league thats more competative and where games get played. No one wants to go to a game with no opponent that showed up, and thats what I fear with the Sharks being in the ABA. At least I know if I go to a Dragons scheduled game, there will be a game that night! I'm sick of being disappointed going to Rapids and Silverback games where the game gets cancelled or the other team is a complete joke, however at least when those teams competed in the ABA there was some decent teams that you can count on, but now they have all gone to the PBL. That says a lot in my mind.
Well, thats my 2 cents, and a heads up to potential fans. Good luck to both teams.
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NewBuffalo
dosent mean a thing. its NOT the NBA.
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NewBuffalo
dosent mean a thing. its NOT the NBA.
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tonyarmani
i would go to this game just for the hope that the italian team might bring their girlfriends...
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salamooch
Who came up with that name...and cool logo to boot!
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BLONDIE
Can we steal our NBA team back???????????????? If we have to give up some Bills games to Toronto can they give us like 5 Raptors games then???
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