Desperados still desperate for that ‘Parade on MacDade’
Kinji Ridley had spent his working life as a businessman, making decisions, making money, making it all work. Then he became an owner of a professional basketball team at a time when fans were discouraged from attending games.
Try that for a year.
“That,” Ridley was saying, “was interesting.”
A Collingdale wealth manager, Ridley operates the Delco Desperados, a franchise in the latter-day ABA, a loose descendant of the long-ago major league. The idea is to present pro basketball at budget prices, and the dreamers are so rampant that the league barely can confirm where and when the next franchise will sprout.
There can be one found in Seattle, Las Vegas and Pittsburgh, but also one in Newfoundland, West Chester and, naturally, Tijuana.
Billions and billions served.
It was just last year when Ridley seemed to have it all figured out, carving out Delaware County, its basketball passions generations thick, for a marketing area, securing a deal to play home games at Bonner-Prendergast High, acquiring a decent roster with some Delco flavor and even drawing up a logo, a cigar-chomping bulldog. Nothing barks “Delco” like a cigarchomping bulldog.
Then, it all happened, spreading not like a virus, but literally as one, scuttling Ridley’s plan to earn, as he said, “A parade on MacDade.”
Not unlike any business, in sports and beyond, the Desperados were limited by health protocols, so they did what they could. They played 12 games and won eight, including one in the playoffs. They were able to stream their games on the internet, with their announcer, Kevin Scholla, being named the league’s best, according to Ridley. Afterward, the ‘Rados were identified by the ABA as “a model franchise,” for they were able to win games, concoct some upsets, boil some rivalries and refuse to quit. Bulldogs, indeed.
For all of that, there was Ridley this week, preparing for the Desperados’ Saturday opener, basically exhaling the only two words that mattered.
“Season Two, Season Two, Season Two,” he said.
In an environment where another well-meaning Delcobased ABA expansion franchise, the Yeadon Kings, never made it to Game One, it was an achievement.
Now what?
With the rosters at that level ever fluid, there was personnel upheaval, with nine Desperados moving on, including former Harlem Globetrotter Darnell “Speedy” Artis and Chester native and former Archbishop Carroll All-Delco D.J. Irving, who became an assistant coach at the University of Miami. However, born scorer Soutiri “The Greek Mamba” Sapnas, the Marple Newtown product, will be joined by, among others, Marple Newtown grad Nicholas Giordano and
Jay Fitzgerald, out of Penn Wood. Coach Leon Dales will try to make it all look like a playoff team again.
According to Ridley, the ABA, should be more easily followed this season, with regions more clearly defined. The Desperados are in the Mid-Atlantic Division, and the plan is basic: Win a postseason division tournament, then gather to compete against the other division champions. Since it has to start someplace, the Desperados will be at the Upper Chichester Recreation Center on Furey Road, which, with Bonner-Prendie and West Chester University, will be one of their home floors.
The opener, against the West Chester Wildcats, will tip off at 3, with tickets available. Ridley is hoping for crowds in the 300-to-500 range, which could expand with what he hopes will be a TV contract with Channel 17. Also, with the Yeadon operation effectively re-imagined as the Atlantic City Seagulls, the Desperados have Delco to themselves.
“Being on TV will help,”
Ridley said, “because it will bring more eyes.”
The eyes may look, but they will be critical. If the Desperados entertain, and more, if they win, the fans will return.
“We can do that,” Ridley said. “And the only thing we talk about, often times, is Pittsburgh. We are fixated on beating Pittsburgh. They are very highly rated. So are the Delaware Snipers. They deserve their rating. But I keep reminding them that we beat them last year in the playoffs. We never made it to the national playoffs. But we beat Delaware. And we are going to remind them that we are the better of the two teams.”
Ridley believes Delaware County will grow attached to the Desperados, invest
in some merchandise, buy some tickets and dine at the snack bar. It won’t be easy. But it can’t be as difficult as last year.
So … run it back.
“I have a bulldog mascot chain that I wear,” Ridley said, with a laugh. “The players always ask me about it, because it is gold with diamonds in it. I tell them, ‘If you win the championship, instead of rings, I’ll get all you guys one. If you give us the Parade on MacDade, you all get the chain.’”
At a time when it is not as easy as it sounds, it is just one more reason to keep playing.