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Dallas Morning News: Profile Of Patricia Bender And Other Apathetic Fans - Celtics Mentioned
NBA: From outta sight to out of mind
NBA lockout causing league to lose big in
court of public opinion
12/06/98
By Bart Hubbuch and Marc Stein / The
Dallas Morning News
The NBA lockout drags on, prompting yawns
from coast to coast. From Los Angeles to
Dallas to Boston.
Not anger. Not disgust.
Apathy.
As the lockout enters is 160th day with
seemingly no end in sight, pro basketball
fans have moved on to other pursuits and
interests - oblivious to a work stoppage
that threatens to cancel the entire
season.
Merchandise sales are down a staggering 50
percent across the league, fan interest in
the NFL and college basketball are up and
barely a peep of protest is heard in NBA
front offices.
It's clear from reports across the country
that a mountainous task awaits the NBA
once the current dispute is settled:
regaining the attention and disposable
income of the average fan.
Will it be Mission: Impossible?
It's not much of a stretch to suggest that
Patricia Bender is the biggest pro
basketball fan in Dallas-Fort Worth. The
evidence is only as far away as
cyberspace.
A quick trip via the Internet - to
http://www.dfw.net/~ patricia/mavs.html -
confirms Bender's devotion to the NBA and
her favorite team. That's the World Wide
Web address for a Mavericks page she
created, a site packed with more
blue-and-green minutiae than the Mavericks
offer on their own page.
But even Bender, a Plano-based computer
programmer who has been going to Reunion
Arena for some 15 years, admits that she
doesn't miss her locked-out heroes nearly
as much as she anticipated.
"People always ask me, 'So, are you
managing without the Mavericks?' " Bender
said. "Actually, I'm doing fine without
them. I'm doing other things. I'm going
hiking, spending the time with family."
If devotees like Bender can survive in an
NBA-free universe, the Mavericks and the
league's other 28 clubs might have serious
cause to be frightened.
"Life goes on," said Kenny Goldberg, a
North Dallas scrap-metal baron who, like
Bender, has held Mavericks season tickets
for roughly 15 years. "Sometimes I kind of
lay around wishing there was a game, but
it's not a great loss."
Apathy toward the NBA is hardly a new
phenomenon in Dallas. The Mavericks have
the league's longest playoff drought at
eight straight seasons and counting, and
the team's attendance, not surprisingly,
has ranked 21st or lower in four of the
past six campaigns.
"The only time I get calls about the NBA
is basically when I jab the audience with
a sharp stick," said KLIF-AM (570) morning
sports-talk host Norm Hitzges.
Hitzges estimates that, over the past
three weeks - even with more than half of
those 45 hours of airtime set aside for
fans of any sport - "I don't think I've
had a single NBA call."
Chuck Cooperstein, evening host for
WBAP-AM (820), reports similar
indifference from his listeners.
"Nobody cares about basketball right now,"
Cooperstein said. "It's one thing when
baseball cancels the World Series. Here,
they did this [the lockout] in the summer
and gave people a lot of time to get used
to the idea."
In the Mavericks' front office, however,
team officials can't afford to expend much
energy wondering whether fans notice that
their product is off the market. The more
pressing uncertainty for president Terdema
Ussery and his staff is whether they'll be
able to win fans back - and how to do so.
"That's the million-dollar question,"
Ussery said.
Thus, when they're not mailing out
season-ticket refunds with 6 percent
interest - a process that began Tuesday
for November's seven canceled home games -
the Mavericks are brainstorming for ways
to keep their season-ticket base from
slipping further.
Last year's 8,600 season-seat holders
represented a 14-year low for the
franchise. After a strong summer of
renewals, the lengthy lockout has the
Mavericks merely hoping to match that
figure when - or if - the 1998-99 season
finally starts.
"We know we have a lot of work ahead of
us," Ussery said. "We fully expect that
we're going to have to work very, very
diligently to get people in the building."
Apathy, it seems, is all they're going to
get for now - even from some NBA junkies.
"I would be surprised," Bender said, "if I
wasn't feeling some of it, too."
Even with two teams (OK, maybe 1 1/2 - we
are talking about the Clippers, after
all), the NBA can't muster much more than
a yawn from fans in Southern California
deprived of pro basketball.
"I don't care if they play at all," said
Carmella Stanch, an employee at Bungalow
News bookstore in Pasadena, Calif. "They
get paid entirely too much. They are not
dedicated. It's all about the money for
them. They don't even love the sport."
Stanch's boss, Larry Frisina, acknowledges
that he's a basketball fan; his favorite
player was Larry Bird. But Frisina, owner
of Bungalow News, doesn't have much use
for today's players. And that they aren't
playing is no big deal to him.
"I'm not apathetic towards the NBA
lockout," Frisina said. "I could care
less. I don't miss it at all. I watch
college games now."
Some season-ticket holders have called the
Los Angeles Lakers' offices and expressed
their dismay over the situation.
"They call and say they don't miss the
game," said Erin Estrada, a Lakers sales
representative for season tickets. "One
fan called and said, 'Thanks for saving me
all this money. I pay $130 a seat and now
I realize that it's a waste of money.' "
Many West Coast fans appear to be turning
their attention toward other sports, with
UCLA football and basketball getting much
of the attention in Southern California.
"It's kind of shocking, but I have not
received one call," said Steve Hunt,
sports editor of the San Gabriel Tribune.
"It's shocking to me, with Pasadena being
a basketball town. Maybe it's been that
people are waiting until January to start
watching."
Lee Hamilton, a popular sports talk show
host from XTRA 690 in San Diego, said fans
who call his show don't miss the games
much but are turned off by both the
players and the owners.
But Hamilton's listeners do talk about the
lockout. Hamilton said he has a four-hour
show and that he fields at least 50 calls
a day about the lockout.
"I think the fans are furious at the
players," he said. "I get a sense that
they don't care, and I get the sense that
they aren't going to come back."
Fans in New England have missed a chance
to see Michael Jordan, assuming His
Airness is still a Chicago Bull. They lost
their only opportunity to jeer Shaquille
O'Neal and the Lakers, cheer Danny Ainge
and the Suns, and fear Big Country Reeves
and the Grizzlies.
Thanks to the NBA lockout, there is no pro
basketball in Boston as winter approaches.
No parquet on the FleetCenter floor. No
capacity crowds to gaze at those
championship banners hanging in the
rafters. No throngs in the North End,
except for the Bruins hockey crowd.
But New England's sports fans are
surviving quite nicely without the NBA.
The Mo Vaughn Saga entertained them
through Halloween and Thanksgiving, and
now they are anxious to see how Red Sox
general manager Dan Duquette covers for
the loss of Boston's big slugger.
The New England Patriots melodrama -
numerous injuries, a mid-season losing
streak that has jeopardized their playoff
chances, the stunning decision to move to
Hartford, Conn. - has given talk-show
hosts and callers plenty to rant about.
Who has time to worry about wealthy owners
and wealthy players squabbling over $2
billion?
"I'm really disgusted by it more than
anything," says Mary Bouvier, a massage
therapist. "The NBA is always on in the
house, and I end up watching a lot of it,
but these guys have really turned me off.
Who do they think they are?"
Dennis Coleman, a Providence, R.I., lawyer
and executive director of the National
Basketball Retired Players Association,
says he was disappointed that Thursday's
negotiating session ended without any
progress. But he adds: "I'm not so certain
it was as bad as it seems because I
wouldn't be surprised if there will be
some back-room phone calls this weekend."
Coleman says the lack of NBA games in
November and December "has given me a
chance to attend my sons' football games
and cross country meets and to spend time
with my wife."
The Celtics are trying to combat that
attitude and to court their fans during
the lockout.
"We're making a conscious effort to make
calls and correspond with all our
season-ticket holders and sponsors," says
Richard G. Pond, executive vice president
and chief operating and financial officer.
Like every other NBA team, the Celtics
have issued refunds to ticket holders for
November games and will do so again at the
end of December. At the same time, the
ticket office is trying to peddle tickets
for late-season games or rearrange groups
from November or December to March or
April.
Providence-based Citizens Bank, a major
Celtics sponsor, is losing its home-game
exposure and the use of Celtics players
for corporate functions, says Hal Tovin,
executive vice president for marketing.
"But we have stepped up our use of coach
Rick Pitino. He has a little more
flexibility in his schedule," Tovin says.
Citizens is also using Celtics legends
such as JoJo White and Tom Heinsohn for
events. Tovin, a Boston-area resident,
thinks real sports fans do miss the
Celtics and the NBA.
"The Celtics are a big part of that town.
They're a big part of what goes on in the
winter and spring. At this time of year,
there's more than one sport going. Wait
until after the Super Bowl," he says.
But this winter, Super Bowl Sunday may be
too late for the NBA.
Staff Writer Broderick Turner of the
Riverside (Calif.) Press-Enterprise and
Staff Writers Mike Zsostak and Bill
Reynolds of the Providence (R.I.) Journal
contributed to this report.
© 1998 The Dallas Morning News