Scott Adamson, Author at Adamsonmedia.com

Birmingham Squadron highlighted in new book

In the author’s note to Life In The G: Minor League Basketball and the Relentless Pursuit of the NBA (University of Nebraska Press), Alex Squadron says that writing a book about the Birmingham Squadron – a club that shares the New Yorker’s name – “felt like destiny.”

“I had an idea to write a book about the NBA G League,” he writes. “And there happened to be a team (a brand new one too!) called the Squadron. I mean, come on! It would have been far more ridiculous to ignore something like that, right?”

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Whether destiny or just a happy accident, the result is one of the best basketball books I’ve ever read.

Life In The G chronicles the ups and downs of players trying to parlay their time in the NBA’s developmental league into a shot (and sometimes second or third shot) at the big-time, showing both the importance of the feeder league (Birmingham is the New Orleans Pelicans’ affiliate) and the hard work its athletes put into it.

I met Alex during the infancy of the team, when it held workouts for the 2021-22 season at Bill Burch Gymnasium on the campus of Birmingham-Southern College. While I was there to do some quick-hit interviews, he was imbedded with the club and putting in the real work.

And man, it shows in this book.

The players he highlights most are former Auburn standout Jared Harper, Zylan Cheatham, Joe Young and Malcolm Hill, all who were integral to the G League Squadron’s first year in the Magic City.

Their paths to the feeder circuit were wildly different, but their stories all compelling. Alex makes you feel like you were tagging along for the entire journey – from training camp and games to ultimately saying goodbye to Birmingham at season’s end.

There is also plenty of ink devoted to Ryan Pannone, Birmingham’s coach for the 2021-22 campaign and now an assistant for the Alabama Crimson Tide.

Pannone is not only a nice guy (he’s favorably compared to Ted Lasso in Life In The G) but he is also one of the most knowledgeable basketball people to ever pick up a whistle. I was fascinated with how Alex explained how he put together the team, coached it, and did everything in his power to give them the best opportunity to succeed.

Early in the book, Pannone describes the G League this way:

“Be prepared for the unpreparable. The reality is that for most of these guys, everything is worse. If you’re coming from a Division 1 school, how we travel is worse; what we eat is worse; our facilities are worse; our gear is worse. But being in the G League is about guys who love to hoop. You have to be easygoing. You have to be able to go with the flow.”

Certainly, for someone like me who is interested in Birmingham’s professional sports past, present and future, this is a must-read – a book I wish I’d written. But you don’t have to be from Birmingham to appreciate it.

Shoot, even if you just have a casual interest in basketball, you’ll find plenty to like, because it’s as much about pride and perseverance as it is the sport.

But if you love the G League – and I do – this quick and fun read gives you an even greater appreciation of it.

And once Birmingham reaches the end of its first season – a playoff loss to the Texas Legends – you realize how important that inaugural season was to all the men who made it happen.

Cheatham summed it up this way:

“Just that quick, it’s over,” Cheatham described. “It’s very abrupt. There are guys you get close with, you connect with, you bond with. To know that – damn, you’re about to go on with your life, I’m about to go on with mine, and we probably will never play on the same team again. It’s just over that quickly.”

With a forward by longtime G League player Andre Ingram, Life In the G is a heartfelt tribute to a circuit that continues to get better and better.

It’s a great book by a great young author, and I can’t recommend it highly enough.

Here’s a link to purchase the book: https://www.amazon.com/Life-League-Basketball-Relentless-Pursuit/dp/1496235851

Waiting for the cats to die

Ezra Reuben rubbed his hands together while sitting on the park bench, avoiding making eye contact with anyone in the Living With Loss group.

After his wife of 43 years had died, it had taken him two months to leave the house and a month more to resume any semblance of a routine. Opening up about his loss was an even bigger step, especially in the setting of grief counseling.

“Everyone, please welcome Ezra,” said Debbie, the group coordinator, gently patting the man on his shoulder.

Ezra raised his head slightly.

“Uh, my name’s Ezra, and I lost my wife, Arlene, a couple of months ago,” he said to the other bereaved gathered in the park. “We were married more than 40 years, and I’m 68 so we were together a lot longer than we weren’t. I honestly don’t know what to do with myself now that she’s gone.”

He finally looked around, seeing friendly if unfamiliar faces among those taking part in the outdoor session. He doubted going out in public and sharing his pain would help, but gentle nudges from friends finally convinced him to at least try – and get some fresh air in the process.

“We knew this was coming for a while, so when she finally passed, I had braced myself as best I could. But you can never prepare for something like that … not really.”

Ezra then forced a smile.

“Right there at the end, we told each other we loved each other, of course,” he said. “But you know what the last thing she said to me was? She said, ‘Ezra, you’ve got to go on because you have to take care of the cats.’ So, I guess now I’m just waiting for the cats to die.”

The couple had no human children, but animals had been part of their world throughout their marriage. Over the years there had been dogs as well as cats – even a ferret at one point. But at the time of Arlene’s death, the couple was down to 15-year-old Barfolomew and 17-year-old Ferris Mewler – both ginger tabbies.

“Those boys miss their mama,” he said. “But they’re good company – and they make sure to let me know I still have to feed ‘em.”

Ezra didn’t expect to spend his sessions on the bench talking about cats, but it made him feel better when he did – and that feeling seemed to be contagious.

One visit to the park led to two meetings of the Living With Loss Group and two evolved into six. It wasn’t long before Ezra was quite comfortable chatting with everyone in his group. And oh, how he loved talking about his kitties.

Three months into his meetings, however, Ezra showed up for a session with tears in his eyes. Ferris had finally succumbed to kidney disease.

“I was taking him to the vet every week to give him fluids,” he told the group. “But by the end there wasn’t any quality of life left for him, so I had to let him go.

“It’s just Barf and me now.”

Ezra knew all too well the trauma of losing a four-legged family member. He had often said the price you pay for spending some of the best years of your life with an animal is having to endure that one horrible day when you lose them. Coming so soon on the heels of Arlene’s death caused the loss to hit even harder.

It was several sessions before he became “chatty” again, but once he did, he expressed concern about Barfolomew.

“He won’t eat,” Ezra told Debbie after a meeting. “I think he misses Ferris … and Arlene.”

The Living With Loss group met each Thursday, and late on a Wednesday night, Debbie got an email from Ezra.

“Barf is gone,” it read. “I went to check on him before I went to bed and found him dead on the bathroom floor.”

Debbie felt horrible for Ezra, but she was also worried; of all the things he had said during the support group meetings it was the line “I guess I’m just waiting for the cats to die” that concerned her most.

She didn’t want to overstep, but she also feared what the widower might do.

“I’m so sorry about Barf, Ezra,” she emailed back. “You’ve had to deal with a lot in a short period of time but please, please come to Thursday’s meeting. Get there early and you and I can talk.”

Ezra emailed back with an ominous answer: “I’ll try, but I have a decision to make tomorrow.”

Debra spent most of the night pacing, wondering if she would ever see Ezra again. He had made so much progress, but the deaths of his cats had surely been a setback.

When morning came, she decided to drive over to Ezra’s house and do a wellness check.

She rang the doorbell, but there was no response.

She then knocked frantically, but again, nothing.

The garage was closed, so she couldn’t tell if his car was there or not.

But just as she decided to call 911, Ezra pulled up in his driveway.

He got out of the car and waved, then walked to the passenger side and opened the door.

He retrieved a cardboard pet carrier and began walking toward Debbie.

“What are you doing here?” he asked.

“I was worried about you,” she said. “What have you got there?”

Ezra opened the box and pulled out a black cat – an old boy graying around the mouth and missing a left eye.

“This is Snake Plissken,” Ezra said. “That decision I told you I had to make? It was either getting a kitten or a senior cat, and the minute I saw this guy I knew he needed me – that we needed each other.”

Debbie reached over and scratched Snake’s chin, and he responded with a vibrant purr.

“Arlene told me to go on because I have to take care of the cats,” Ezra said. “From the looks of the shelter, there are a lot that need taking care of.

“I guess I’ll be here for a while.”

Watch out, NFL

Think you’re spoiled by watching the best 32 football teams in the world play this fall and winter?

Well, hang on to your helmets, my fellow gridiron geeks, because in 2024 that number will rise to 56.

Yessir, the National Football League is in for some serious competition next year when Major League Football hits the gridiron with 24 franchises scattered across the fruited plain.

The MLF Eastern Conference is made up of the North Division (Connecticut, New York, Oklahoma and Rochester), Central Division (North Carolina, South Carolina, Virginia, West Virginia), and South Division (Alabama, Georgia, Kentucky and Orlando).

Over in the Western Conference we’ve got the North Division (Dakota, Nebraska, Portland and Salt Lake City), Central Division (Iowa, Oakland, Sacramento and St. Louis), and South Division (Arkansas, Memphis, San Antonio and San Diego).

Before I go any further with this game-changing news, we need to make sure we’re all on the same page.

This Major League Football (which was scheduled to launch in 2021, but postponed to 2022, then postponed again until 2023, and now plans to kick-off in 2024) is not to be confused with the other Major League Football, which goes by the initialism “MLFB.” If you follow alternative leagues, you know MLFB has been trying to get off the ground since 2014 but just can’t quite to seem to figure out how to make it happen.

When we last saw that hard-luck circuit in “action” in July, 2022, more than 250 players had been kicked out of their motels because MLFB ran out of money during training camp in Mobile, Alabama.

But this Major League Football – or MLF – has no such baggage.

And how do we know it’s going to be top-tier?

Because it says so right there on the website:

Major League Football (MLF) is a new professional football league that will consist of 24 teams, most of them in the top 50 television markets. The season will be played during the Fall starting in 2024. MLF is not a secondary or inferior league to any other professional football league, but instead, a professional football league consisting of the very best players, coaches and staff.

There will be few changes to the rules of MLF games as compared to other professional football leagues. One major difference will be more affordable tickets and concession prices. In addition, there will be less penalties in order to speed up the pace and increase the excitement of the game. We look forward to bringing the United States the most exciting and competitive game of professional football.

There you have it … “MLF is not a secondary or inferior league to any other professional football league.”

If that’s the case, the Kansas City Chiefs might need to sweeten the pot for Patrick Mahomes lest the quarterback and insurance spokesperson decides to become the Joe Namath of MLF.

And Philadelphia Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts?

I can only imagine the bidding war the Alabama and Oklahoma clubs will wage over his services.

OK … I’m being just a tad facetious.

The NFL will not have competition next year. I kinda doubt it’ll have any real competition ever again.

And I’m sorry … for an upstart like this to come along and suggest it’s not a “secondary” league sets itself up for ridicule.

The USFL and XFL (and whatever the combined circuit will call itself if and when their merger goes through) don’t pretend to stand as equals of the NFL because they aren’t. It would be ridiculous if they presented themselves as such.

Instead, they provide a showcase for their players in hopes of getting them into the NFL. When it happens promotions are celebrated, even if it’s a practice squad spot.

Oh, and they play in the spring, avoiding competition with the NFL, high school and college football.

MLF officials, however, apparently think they can carve out a niche in the traditional football season playing minor league football. I wish them luck – sincerely – but I see no scenario where this succeeds.

I get that the majority of the potential franchises are not in NFL cities. And maybe if Sacramento and Portland each had, say, $300 million payrolls and were stocked with NFL all-stars who jumped leagues, they might draw a crowd for their version of the Cascadia Cup.

But I think it’s a safe bet that there will be no $300 million payrolls.

Even if the player salaries are comparable to those of the USFL/XFL (ranging anywhere from $59,000 to $74,000 per season), you still aren’t going to have a product that’s “not a secondary or inferior league to any other professional football league.”

That’s not a criticism, just a statement of fact.

And what about “big league” stadiums?

The largest one in Rochester is the Rochester Community Sports Complex, which has room for just under 14,000 spectators.

Dakota would (I assume) play in the Fargodome on the campus of North Dakota State University – which is a neat place, but has modest seating. The best they could hope for in a game between the Orlando Blooms and Dakota Fannings is 18,700. To help support a major league budget, ticket prices would have to be astronomical.

Yet the MLF mission statement plainly states there will be “more affordable” ticket and concessions prices, ruling out $10,000 box seats and $300 hot dogs.

So, when will we get more information?

Good question (even if I wrote it myself).

Other than what I’ve already included, there isn’t much more info, at least on the website. There’s a disclaimer that they aren’t associated with the MLFB (which, according to MLF, was illegally using its name and trademark), and that the schedule is coming next June.

Oh, and MLF is also hiring general managers and coaches, and candidates are asked to email their resume to [email protected].

Again, I wish it nothing but the best, but my expectations are so low they’re non-existent. I doubt it will get off the ground at all.

Still, I hope MLF proves me wrong.

And if Mahomes takes the opening snap for the San Antonio Banderas next September, I’ll cheerfully apologize for underestimating the league that brought the United States “ … the most exciting and competitive game of professional football.”