All it takes is $40 and a dream.

[DG_ThenNowForever]

Basketball operations should literally be the LAST thing to worry about. Really. There are 1,000 steps in a process like this, and honestly, we're on step three, maybe.

Woah...really? I think you're being FAR too generous here. I was thinking we were almost at making the first movement toward step one. That is, we were at step .5 -- pie in the sky idea. Making t-shirts available put us at step .80. Progress, however, is progress.

I have a general question for Lamicus: Tell me more about these t-shirts. What becomes of the $25 I would pay to buy one? I'm all for (essentially) giving you and your young family $4 for diapers and formula and condoms to prevent future Lamicii, but if you're building a side income off of my brainchild, I might demand satisfaction.

[rainmaker17]

I don't think the Paypal link is working.

[Sodboy13]

Okay, a few items to bring up...

Mac makes some excellent points about how to go about this operation in a legitimate fashion which gives us the best hope for success.

Which brings up a big question in my mind: If we're going about this in a legitimate fashion, and seeking some degree of success, why would we even want to bother with the A-B-freakin'-A? This is a league that only played 39% of its scheduled games last season, forced its more successful franchises to arrange all-star and postseason proceedings on their own, and then spat at said franchises upon their exit.

With a setup like that, well-organized, business-savvy teams only stand to get punished. If a team cancels their game against us on our home court, that's money we're losing. And in the ABA, if you want a team to play on your court, there's a good shot you have to foot the bill for their transportation.

So I figure, if we're going to just do this for shiggles, and hand over another $20K to Joe Newman with no real intent of ever playing an actual game, that's one thing. But if what we're going for is an honest-to-God franchise, we may just want to look into the IBL or PBL.

http://www.iblhoopsonline.com/ownership.asp

[OMMF]

So buying a tshirt counts as a half-share?

[Mac the Knife]

Mac, have you done this before or something? I must applaud you.

I really want to give my 40 or so dollars to this, but I am going to college in August...

Aw, screw it. I'll just go without the usual Ramen noodle breakfast for a couple of semesters. I'll give soon.

I have, albeit not at the professional level. I also have the benefit of having studied literally hundreds of business start-ups (part of my business is consulting with and helping launch new small business ventures), as well as having watched from afar countless ABA teams do their start-ups in a backward-ass fashion.

[Mac the Knife]

So I figure, if we're going to just do this for shiggles, and hand over another $20K to Joe Newman with no real intent of ever playing an actual game, that's one thing. But if what we're going for is an honest-to-God franchise, we may just want to look into the IBL or PBL.

http://www.iblhoopsonline.com/ownership.asp

That's a VERY valid point. The ABA being what it is, should we perhaps be considering the PBL (I'm kind of shaky about the IBL's business model) instead?

[Ez Street]

Anyone know the costs in the IBL?

[gatineaujay]

Okay,, so here's my situation... I've been up for approximately 72 hours now.. finally finished painting a mask and i hop on here before finally catching a couple hours sleep.. usually i go right to the sports logo forum.. but i was intrigued,, and after reading all of the posts i couldnt believe what i was reading... I am in.... but not only with the 40 dollars, i called up a bunch of my moderately well paid hi tech worker friends here in ottawa and gatineau who are always looking to do nutty things with their money.. it should take me a week from today to collect from them but come next friday i should have a payment of at least $500(canadian) maybe more if i get them drunk first. keep up the enthusiasm. they are giving me the money as a gift.. so their money will be my money and my share... but this is all i want..... no responsibilities other than voting, i don't want a catchy title.... ( although executive vice president of partying hardy would be cool.. ) yes just executive vice president and not president, simply because I'm getting old and just couldnt handlt the added stress of such a title. now let me get to sleep .!!!!!!!!!!! good nig,,, good mor. argh.... good whatever...

[Gordie]

Gordie doesn't like basketball.

Can Gordie have a hockey team?

Jr. B, Jr. C, semi-pro, whatever.

Where have you gone, Joe Kolodjiez,

Our forum turns it's lonely eyes to you.

What's that you say, Mr. Lamicus?

Jailbird Joe has been put away,

Hey hey hey . . .

Oh, and just to show that I'm not being completely selfish, how about a lacrosse team for Steve-O?

[Mac the Knife]

Now there's something we CAN readily do without seeming as though we're all just a bunch of nuts (well, we are, but I digress): give out catchy titles galore to those of our members who have an impact on the progress of this little venture.

Executive Vice President of Partying Hardy? Perhaps. Executive Vice President of Special Events sounds more professional though.

We could go nuts with that; it doesn't hurt anyone, and would give us a "quirky" flair that some would find appealing.

[gatineaujay]

Gordie doesn't like basketball.

Can Gordie have a hockey team?

Jr. B, Jr. C, semi-pro, whatever.

Where have you gone, Joe Kolodjiez,

Our forum turns it's lonely eyes to you.

What's that you say, Mr. Lamicus?

Jailbird Joe has been put away,

Hey hey hey . . .

Oh, and just to show that I'm not being completely selfish, how about a lacrosse team for Steve-O?

i hear the gatineau Mustangs are looking for new ownership.. give them a call... lol.. junior B

[gatineaujay]

Now there's something we CAN readily do without seeming as though we're all just a bunch of nuts (well, we are, but I digress): give out catchy titles galore to those of our members who have an impact on the progress of this little venture.

Executive Vice President of Partying Hardy? Perhaps. Executive Vice President of Special Events sounds more professional though.

We could go nuts with that; it doesn't hurt anyone, and would give us a "quirky" flair that some would find appealing.

i'm all good with quirky.. hell my mom married a 450 lb black woman.. and my sister is a pregnant stripper....... my god the sad thing is.. i'm not lying... lol.. god i hate my life..... but on a brighter note... my sister and her coworkers could be the cheerleaderzzzzz. they are cheap ( pun unfortunately completely intended)

[Gordie]

Now there's something we CAN readily do without seeming as though we're all just a bunch of nuts (well, we are, but I digress): give out catchy titles galore to those of our members who have an impact on the progress of this little venture.

Executive Vice President of Partying Hardy? Perhaps. Executive Vice President of Special Events sounds more professional though.

We could go nuts with that; it doesn't hurt anyone, and would give us a "quirky" flair that some would find appealing.

I want Food and Beverage Manager/Director of Hockey Operations.

[Lee.]

Basketball operations should literally be the LAST thing to worry about. Really. There are 1,000 steps in a process like this, and honestly, we're on step three, maybe.

Woah...really? I think you're being FAR too generous here. I was thinking we were almost at making the first movement toward step one. That is, we were at step .5 -- pie in the sky idea. Making t-shirts available put us at step .80. Progress, however, is progress.

I have a general question for Lamicus: Tell me more about these t-shirts. What becomes of the $25 I would pay to buy one? I'm all for (essentially) giving you and your young family $4 for diapers and formula and condoms to prevent future Lamicii, but if you're building a side income off of my brainchild, I might demand satisfaction.

Man, I go to sleep, and people start asking questions.

The shirts are $20, of which Spreadshirt takes $14.90. The remaining 5.10 gets shuttled over to the paypal account, where it will languish until we either (a) get a team running, or (2) give up. Anything that doesn't get sent back to the folks who have ponied up more than the deposit amount will go to charity. Maybe breast cancer, because that's the one pissing off half of the boards at the moment.

If, however, you'd prefer to buy a Ham Fighters shirt while you're there, I make about $1.09 off of those ones, and all of the proceeds there will go towards booze and broads.

So buying a tshirt counts as a half-share?

No. It means you're showing support for the cause by paying to advertise for us. Think "Nike" or "Children's Miracle Network."

[Mac the Knife]

The shirts are $20, of which Spreadshirt takes $14.90. The remaining 5.10 gets shuttled over to the paypal account, where it will languish until we either (a) get a team running, or (2) give up. Anything that doesn't get sent back to the folks who have ponied up more than the deposit amount will go to charity. Maybe breast cancer, because that's the one pissing off half of the boards at the moment.

If, however, you'd prefer to buy a Ham Fighters shirt while you're there, I make about $1.09 off of those ones, and all of the proceeds there will go towards booze and broads.

So buying a tshirt counts as a half-share?

No. It means you're showing support for the cause by paying to advertise for us. Think "Nike" or "Children's Miracle Network."

Why not go with CafePress instead? The mark-ups a lot better, and the quality is more in line with ABA...

BTW, is the site up yet?

[BaltimoreFan]

This seems like an awesome idea, and I may be willing to donate. But as Mac pointed out its alot more work then you may have orginally thought. 20K is just the buy-in fee, it costs alot more after that. I would suggest opening the donations up to more people than just CCSLC. I could see an idea like this taking off if enough people hear about it. Just set up a group of guys to run it all and hope you can raise enough for it to work.

[Lee.]

The shirts are $20, of which Spreadshirt takes $14.90. The remaining 5.10 gets shuttled over to the paypal account, where it will languish until we either (a) get a team running, or (2) give up. Anything that doesn't get sent back to the folks who have ponied up more than the deposit amount will go to charity. Maybe breast cancer, because that's the one pissing off half of the boards at the moment.

If, however, you'd prefer to buy a Ham Fighters shirt while you're there, I make about $1.09 off of those ones, and all of the proceeds there will go towards booze and broads.

So buying a tshirt counts as a half-share?

No. It means you're showing support for the cause by paying to advertise for us. Think "Nike" or "Children's Miracle Network."

Why not go with CafePress instead? The mark-ups a lot better, and the quality is more in line with ABA...

BTW, is the site up yet?

An incredibly half-assed version of the site is now up here, but it's strictly a placeholder. Yzer is working on the "real" site, and when the time comes, he'll upload it.

If anyone wants to link to the site when it IS ready, the address is www.abahoopdreams.com

I'll go check out cafepress again, I was originally thinking Spreadshirt due to the fact that we can upload vector graphics.

Cafepress sucks, and my urge to go with Spreadshirt was right. There is a better variety of items there, and quite frankly, the profit margins at Cafepress for anything other than the 'value' shirts blow.

*Note: When I say the site is just a placeholder, I literally mean it. It's just the graphic from my sig on a grey and grey background. There's literally nothing else there at the moment.

[HedleyLamarr]

Who's the guy that donated the 63 cents?

[Jigga]

I want my spot in the Executive Circle. Knight me!

[Lee.]

Hedley, I'm just putting up the total of what's in the Paypal account. I (we?) get dinged a percentage every time someone sends money over, so we lose 42 or 43 cents on $4, and around 1.40 on the full $40.

And thanks, Greg. When the time comes, we'll push you into service, guaranteed.