Sparks, StingRays Feud Anew

Suddenly all is not so quiet on the western front of the women’s basketball wars.

Not since Johnny Buss, president of the WNBA’s Los Angeles Sparks, saw a letter mailed to Long Beach State sports boosters by General Manager Bill McGillis of the ABL’s Long Beach StingRays.

When the ABL season began, Buss indicated that he didn’t see the Sparks and StingRays at war and that he wouldn’t be opposed to a business arrangement--renting the Forum to the StingRays.

Here, in part, is what McGillis wrote in the letter:

“Contrary to what our friends in Los Angeles and the spin doctors of the NBA would have you believe, the ABL is the premier professional [women’s] basketball league in the world.”

Buss saw it, and wasn’t happy.

“I have never disputed that,” he said. “No one has ever heard me say anything to the contrary. We’re trying to be on good terms with these people.

“When the Lakers and Kings move to the Staples Center [in 1999], we’re going to have dates to fill at the Forum. It’s not out of the question to me that we’d offer our place to the StingRays.”

But the StingRays will try Pondball before they think seriously of the Forum.

The ABL is looking to move its New England-Long Beach game Jan. 10 from the Pyramid to the 18,211-seat Pond of Anaheim.

The game is New England’s first Southland visit and the Blizzard has one of the ABL’s premier rookies, 6-foot-7 Kara Wolters of Connecticut.

A QUIET OPERATION

A spokesman for a 15-person group seeking operating rights to the StingRay franchise has been meeting with ABL officials for nearly two months.

League and team officials won’t speak publicly, but it’s known the 15 represent the entertainment, sports and legal professions.

Team operators are already set at two of the ABL’s nine franchises, San Jose and New England.

GAME? WHAT GAME?

Here’s the story behind the foul-up Wednesday when no officiating crew showed up for the Portland-Long Beach game at the Pyramid.

The original schedule had that game on Jan. 25. When it was realized that was Super Bowl Sunday, the game was moved to Dec. 3.

But no one told Ernie Yarbrough, the ABL’s chief of officials, who schedules the three-person crews.

The game was played after a 50-minute delay, with two ABL officials--Mariane Karp, summoned from her nearby home, and Chuck Gonzales, who was at the game as a spectator.

COACHING CASUALTY

Seattle Coach Jacquie Hullah, 6-15 this season, was fired by the ABL on Monday.

She was 23-38 in 1 1/2 seasons and will be replaced for the time being by Tammy Holder, director of basketball operations with the Philadelphia Rage.

SECOND THOUGHTS

The not-very-media-friendly ABL may be lightening up on its restrictive rules on access to players.

Unlike the WNBA, which opens its locker rooms to reporters before and after games, the ABL bars them. But the league now says it will have open postgame locker rooms “on a trial basis” today through Saturday.

GRIFFITH VS. WILLIAMS

After two meetings, here’s the box score on Yolanda Griffith of Long Beach and Natalie Williams of Portland:

Points: Williams 61, Griffith 40.

Rebounds: Griffith 25, Williams 22.

Blocks: Griffith five, Williams four.

Steals: Williams five, Griffith four.

Shooting percentage: Williams 64%, Griffith 43%.

Round 3: Dec. 18, at Portland.

ATTENDANCE METER

ABL attendance is holding at 20% higher than last season’s, at 3,974 a game, and New England is the runaway leader at 8,237.

Notably soft are weeknight StingRay games, which average fewer than 1,600 at the Pyramid.

A bright spot is San Jose, where the Lasers are averaging 8,726 in three games at the 16,000-seat San Jose Arena and 3,238 for eight games at their regular home court, the 4,550-seat San Jose State Events Center.

If the trend continues--two more Laser games are scheduled at San Jose Arena--the Lasers will play all their home games there next season.