If you’re like me, you probably have some vague notion that the Spirits of St. Louis were a wonderfully dysfunctional ABA basketball team in the mid 70s, but you probably don’t know the complete story.
Tonight you will. The latest 30 for 30 is Free Spirits (8 p.m. ET).
Wildly entertaining to say the least.
Here is the official rundown:
When the American Basketball Association disbanded in 1976, four ABA franchises joined the NBA — the Nets, Nuggets, Pacers and Spurs. But one of the odd teams out found a different way to secure its future. “Free Spirits” tells the colorful story of the Spirits of St. Louis — an entertaining and at times controversial team featuring stars like Marvin “Bad News” Barnes and James “Fly” Williams with an upstart sportscaster named Bob Costas calling the play-by-play.
The Spirits managed to pull off a stunning playoff upset of the defending champions in their first season, and then, on their way to franchise extinction, co-owners Daniel and Ozzie Silna managed to negotiate a contract that has allowed the team to continue to exist in the most unusual fashion.
Watched the show last night. As someone who saw an ABA game (Indiana-Kentucky) in Lexington and who also saw a number of games of the Chicago Cougars of the WHA (with announcer Chet Coppock handling the PA duties…) I’ve always had a thing for the ‘rebel’ leagues.
This show was great, very well done. I had no idea TV footage still was around of the Spirits-Nets series…hell I didn’t even know those games were televised in the first place!
Highly recommend this show.
There weren’t many folks there but I attended all but a couple of the Spirits’ home games. I’ll never forget Hubie Brown’s cussing matches with Spirits executive Rudy Martzke and the time Marvin Barnes showed up late for a game and went straight to the bench in his derby and down-to-the-floor fur coat with his uniform on underneath. Barnes could have been one of the greatest pros ever if he wasn’t such a derelict.