Saturday morning. Loaded up the Pontiac 6000 with my camera equipment, my laptop computer, and myself. Destination – Quebec City, home of the Quebec Kebs of the Premier Basketball League, who with the demise of the Continental Basketball Association are now one of the only independent minor league hoops circuits. It’s the PBL and the D-League, everybody else is just playing for practice.
It’s a straight shot up from Albany to Quebec City, up the Adirondack Northway to several connecting highways in Quebec. A good two or three hours on the Jean Lesage Highway, a refueling at a gas depot called “Big Stop,” and several episodes of “Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me” and “Car Talk” on my car stereo-connected iPod, and seven hours later I’m in Quebec City.
Last year, the Kebs played their home games at a hockey arena called Pavillion de la Jeunesse. It was big – maybe too big, because 2,000 fans in that facility looked like 500. This year, the team has their home games at PEPS, a multi-purpose sports facility on the campus of Laval University. In Albany-speak, it’s like going from the Times Union Center to the SEFCU Arena – same number of fans, but now they’re closer to the action.
Last year, the Kebs finished the year with a 6-14 record, as injuries to some of their top stars slowed the team down, although center Jonas Pierre made All-League First Team. Saturday, the Kebs hosted the Buffalo Stampede, also entering their second season in the PBL. The Stampede had an even rougher year than the Kebs – Buffalo won their first game of the season, then proceeded to lose the next nineteen contests.
It’s the irresistable force meeting the immovable object. Or in other words, somebody’s going to start the season 1-0.
And last night, it was the Kebs. In front of a good solid crowd at PEPS, the team defeated Buffalo 100-85. The PEPS building was rocking with several different promotions, the fans brought signs to cheer on the hometown team, and Buffalo went down to its twentieth consecutive loss, spanning back to last year.
Here’s a slideshow of some of the action.
http://www.flickr.com/apps/slideshow/show.swf?v=71649
This morning, I gotta load up the Pontiac 6000, pack all the camera equipment and my laptop, and make another six-hour drive – this time to Manchester, New Hampshire, where the Manchester Millrats have their home opener against their New England border rivals, the Vermont Frost Heaves.
Kebs. Millrats. Frost Heaves. Normally I would be scratching my head when it comes to such team names. That is, until last night, when someone at PEPS saw the varsity jacket I bought a few years ago, emblazoned with a dutch shoe logo on the front, and asks me, “Albany Patroons… what’s a Patroon?”
Chuck The Writer 