Lakers-Celtics, Yankees-Red Sox, Michigan-Ohio State, UNC-Duke. BayHawks-Mad Ants?
That last one seems like it belongs in the old Sesame Street jingle, right? One of these things is not like the other.
Rivalries are hard to form in the D-League. The league hasn’t even been around 10 years, so fan bases don’t have much history to draw on, and player movement from year to year (and even within season) makes it challenging to develop any lasting antipathy for a particular opponent. Besides, Erie and Fort Wayne don’t have the proximity of Chapel Hill and Durham, N.C., nor the decades of championship history of the Lakers and Celtics. But the BayHawks and Mad Ants were pushed on the D-League fans as “regional rivals” to start the 2009-10 season as part of a new scheduling system. Just a week into the season, there are already reasons to believe that—if not a rivalry—a feud is developing between these two teams.
It began on draft night. At the BayHawks draft party, all in attendance were alerted to the fact that Fort Wayne was selecting 10th in name only as that selection was, in fact, being dictated by the BayHawks as part of a trade that would send Rob Kurz (who had been allocated to the BayHawks but expressed no interest in playing for Erie) to the Mad Ants for the rights to Fort Wayne’s first-round pick (10th overall), Alade Aminu.
Little did the teams know then, but Kurz’s granted wish out of Erie would be just the first of many interactions—both on and off the court—between these teams at the start of the season. When the teams met in a preseason game two weeks ago, the BayHawks suited up a 12-man roster that included Rod Wilmont, a former Mad Ant, who spoke openly about wanting to show Fort Wayne that they made a mistake by passing on him in this year’s draft (Erie selected him in the 5th round). Wilmont delivered in a big way, leading the BayHawks to victory in that preseason game with a team-high 23 points including 12-12 from the free throw line.
Then, in a surprise move, Erie cut Wilmont and Oliver Lafayette, who played for the BayHawks last year and was second behind Wilmont in scoring in that preseason game against Fort Wayne, leaving both players off the opening day 10-man roster.
Earlier this week, after the BayHawks and Mad Ants split the first two games of the season in Fort Wayne, the Mad Ants announced two additions to their roster: Wilmont and Lafayette. This shouldn’t come as a big surprise. They’re two quality players with D-League experience, and the Mad Ants had a firsthand look at what they had to offer in their preseason game. Plus, Fort Wayne made similar moves last season when they added waived BayHawks Vernon Hamilton and Taj McCullough.
The additions of Wilmont and Lafayette immediately bolster the Mad Ants scoring punch. It also may have an impact on Erie this season. The BayHawks players will have to deal with their former teammates, and the BayHawks coaches will have to scheme to stop two talented scorers who have a score to settle with them. Including the preseason game, Erie plays more games against Fort Wayne than any other D-League team (11 in all). That means the BayHawks are looking at the prospect of playing 1/6 of their remaining schedule against Wilmont, Lafayette, and the Mad Ants.
That’s right, even after playing the first two regular season games against each other, the BayHawks and Mad Ants still play eight more times this season. These teams may never have an Aaron Boone or Dave Roberts moment like Yanks-Sox or a Woody and Bo like Ohio State and Michigan. But all of a sudden, between Kurz and Aminu, Wilmont and Lafayette, the 330 miles between Erie and Fort Wayne is a lot more contentious.
Rivalries are good for sports. And no, this one’s not burning bright just yet, but we’re seeing some sparks. Just two games into the season, there’s some bad blood between these teams. Players have been traded, cut, and re-signed. After playing three times in nine days, there’s a growing familiarity between the teams, and we know that familiarity breeds contempt, especially in the confining space of the court. There will be plenty of fun basketball over the next month, but circle Jan. 9 on your calendar because that game’s bound to come with some extra fireworks free of charge. That’s when these teams next meet as Fort Wayne travels here to Tullio Arena for what promises to be the next entertaining chapter in a budding D-League rivalry.
Matt Hubert is the author of Blog Talk BayHawk. While he maintains that there is no heated rivalry between his blog and Mad Ants blogs “Potter’s New Blog” and “Martz Madness,” he’s not ruling it out before all is said and done this season. Matt will write a once-a-weekish guest post about the BayHawks here at ErieBlogs throughout the season.
