The Buffalo Braves/LA Clippers

[Clippers of Nfl]

I have a hazy recollection of seeing the sports page one day when the Bills, Sabres and Braves were all in first place. Must have been 1974.

I have a hazy recollection of seeing the sports page one day when the Bills, Sabres and Braves were all in Last place. Must have been at the end of the 1974 seasons.

[Charles Romes]

Isn't it illegal to post about other than the draft a day before the draft

[Taro T]

When the Braves were pulled out of Buffalo I lost all interest in the NBA.

[JÂy RÛßeÒ]

When the Buffalo Braves left Buffalo they ceased to exist - plain and simple

Amen!

[Bufcomments]

The sports scene in the 70s in Buffalo must have been something. You had Macadoo, OJ and the French Connection. I was born just a little too late.

OJ was in his prime.

 

Thr French connection was the most exciting line in the league.

 

The Braves were good, Randy Smith was some player, went to Buffalo St. while my Mom worked there. We always got great seats. I was young (9yrs) but I remember it fondly.

 

One of the worst mistakes or bad things that happened to this town was letting the Buffalo braves go without a fight.

 

The 70's were awesome period. Having 3 great sports teams made winter nice. When we had REAL Winters.

[CowgirlsFan]

It would be just another low blow for

you guys IF LAC and DAL met in the

NBA playoffs.

[The Poojer]

I loved the Buffalo Braves, we used to go to games every time we were in buffalo for thanksgiving or christmas...pretty sure they used to do double headers with the globetrotters but i could be mashing different events together...once buffalo left, i never followed the clippers, just couldn't root for a west coast team...i switched my 'allegience' to the 76ers as they were the old Syracuse Nationals, not to mention Dr. J was simply awesome....after a while i simply started following SU players and the teams they played for without really having a favorite team until 'Melo went to the Nuggets, then they became my team..now being in Philly i am back to rooting for the Sixers because I can go anytime I want, but I still will go to games that SU players play for and root for both teams. I love the NBA, i find it highly entertaining, not the best pure basketball in the world, but highly entertaining.....

 

So that said, i guess i disgust Mr. Miller...sorry dude.

[Marv's Neighbor]

When the Buffalo Braves left Buffalo they ceased to exist - plain and simple

Exactly! Have NOT given a sh*t about the NBA since.

[Spun]

The Braves entered the NBA in 1970 along with Cleveland and Portland. And the Sabres also began in 1970. It was a great time to see all three Buffalo teams rise. I used to go to sleep at night listening to both Braves and Sabres broadcasts. I saw McAdoo score 52 points one night. The Braves won one playoff series against the Washington Bullets. The Celtics were the biggest rival with John Havilicek, Dave Cowens, Jo Jo White and Don Nelson. The support for the Braves was growing. The late Randy Smith was a three sport star at Buffalo State (basketball, soccer and track).

 

The original owner, Paul Snyder, sold the team. The new ownership (Kentucky Governor John Y. Brown / Mr Phyllis George) started selling off players for money and lower quality players. The fans were pissed. The ownership then gave the fans an ultimatum: buy x amount of season tickets or the team is moving. That pissed off the fans even more. Get rid of the best players and then demand that the fans buy more season tickets. The NBA owners went along with the plan to get another NBA team on the west coast. There was little Buffalo could do. The Braves were also involved in some complicated trade involving the franchise with Boston. The lights went off and the Braves became the San Diego Clippers. The Clippers #1 pick after leaving Buffalo: Bill Walton. I live in San Diego and I occasionally see San Diego native Walton riding his bike down near the ocean during the summer. It isn't hard to miss a seven-footer riding his bike! Anyhow, one time when Walton was riding by I yelled out "The Buffalo Braves will rise again". He laughed! Walton would have been a Brave.

 

The Braves traded their best player Bob McAdoo to the Kew York Knicks for a guy named John Gianelli. PA annouincer Danny Nevereth was famous for the "two for McAdoo" phrase. After McAdoo left and Gianelli arrived, the phrase became "two for McGianelli". Nevereth was soon fired.

 

When the Braves left, the NBA lost me for life. I skip that part. Basketball is a great sport to play and watch. Basketball is great for conditioning. I loved basketball. But after the Braves left, I was done. I watch some NCAA basketball, that is it.

 

I hate franchise shifts. I understand economics and greed. It's a business blah, blah, blah. What happened to the Cleveland Browns was wrong. They could have worked that out. The Baltimore Colts and Houston Oilers moves also were bad. I also didn't like the Nordiques and Jets moves in hockey. As for the Bills and the other named relocation targets in the NFL, leave them all alone. L.A. has a great football tradition and can support an NFL team. Couple up an L.A. expansion team with a team from possibly Portland, Oklahoma City or San Antonio. Leave everybody else alone.

[Buftex]

As a kid, the Buffalo Braves were my #1 team...the Bills were 1-A, and the Sabres #2. The main reason being, while I played all sports (except ice hockey) basketball was the only one I ever experienced any sort of success at. I was a "big" kid (tall, and fat) and had an edge on other kids my age...I loved playing the game...still do, but my knees suck...got to go out to the basketball camps at Darien Lake a few times, met McAdoo, Jack Ramsey, Ernie D, Randy Smith, Jack Marin, Dale Schluter (he was a terrible basketball player, but he was kind of a goon, one of my favorites), even Tate Locke...and of course the "Big E" Elmore Smith.

 

When the Braves left town, I was devastated...I was too young to know (or care) for all the reasons behind it, I just knew that John Y Brown was a bad guy...being young and stupid, I even looked his name up in the Buffalo white pages, and begged him, over and over, not to take the Braves away from us...of course, I had no idea that I wasn't talking to that John Brown. Poor guy kept saying, "kid, you got the wrong guy...leave me alone"...the good old days, when nobody had caller ID!

 

My brother and I drank so much freaking Dairylea milk, to save the carton vouchers, so we could go to as many games as possible. I still have all my ticket stubs, and though I don't remember it all, I saw most of the very greatest players of the 70's...

 

So (sorry to ramble), I really tried to follow the Clippers when the team moved to San Diego...it was impossible in those days. The NBA was barely on national tv at that time, and trying to follow a west-coast team, while living on the east-coast was impossible. So, I picked a new team. I had been taught, as a kid, to hate all the New York pro-teams, so I was never a Knicks fan...my brother, 8 years older than me, had been a Celtics fan, before there was a Buffalo Braves...I hated them when the Braves were in Buffalo (and I really wasn't aware, back then, of the role the Celtics had in the demise of the Braves), but in 1979, I picked the Celtics...it was a combination of things...first, my brother was a fan, so I had been surrounded by the shamrock all my life...they had that Irish thing going on (my family has a large Irish strain), Larry Bird was just starting his phenomenal career, the team was really good, and, that was the year my family got cable television...we got the Boston "super station" which showed all Celtics games...and, the cherry on top, Bob McAdoo was a Celtic that year...Lew Alcindor, Pistol Pete...good times.

 

I have taken a lot of **** for being a Celtics fan, after falling in love with the NBA as a Buffalo Braves fan (particularly from Exiled In Illinois), but I have always been an NBA fan....and to Mark Miller who says "shame on you"...get over it...I love basketball, and despite all the criticisms of the NBA (mostly from people who preface that they haven't watched since the Braves left town), it is a far better game than the college game, to me. Sure, there are too many games (I loved this shortened 66 game season) but the playoffs are pretty damn entertaining, and regular season games, when the "titans" clash are usually a good watch.

 

And, for all the crying about the Braves (and I know, I was one of them) I recall going to many games at the Aud which were sparsely attended...their departure was inevitable. No telling how many tickets the Braves were giving away, either. At that time, despite the fact that the Braves had some really good teams, they were overshadowed, in Buffalo, by the Sabres, who had so much early success...Buffalo was Sabre crazy after that run to the finals against Philly. OJ Simpson was burning brite in the middle of it all. The city was already falling on hard times financially...as was the NBA itself. If the Braves hadn't left town then, it would have happened shortly after...and that is the reality of it.

 

Sorry, what was the question again?

 

ps- btw- John Y Brown wanted to move the Braves to Florida. At that same time, then Celtics owner Irv Levin, a California businessman was itching to own a team in California. Given the Celtics prominence in the NBA, obviously, the league wasn't going to allow Levin to move the Celtics to the west-coast. So, he and Brown, essentially, swapped franchises, so both businessmen could get what they wanted...Irvin got his California team, and Brown got one of the all-time great sports franchises, where he could make a profit. It wasn't happening in Buffalo. When Brown (originally an ABA team owner) purchased the Braves from Paul Snyder, he gutted the team, because they weren't making any profit...he got rid of the best player, in McAdoo, Ernie D, everyone except good old Randy Smith.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Buftex

[bbb]

When Brown ran for governor of Kentucky, Red Auerbach said that guy is going to trade the Kentucky Derby for the Indianapolis 500!

 

I never have quite gotten over my hatred for the Celtics. Those playoff series that I went to were some of the best sporting events of my life. The JoJo White game still burns me.

 

But, the hatred for them started when it took forever to finally get our first win over them. Just guessing, I think we were 0-15 or 0-20, with some heartbreakers, until we finally broke through.

[Buftex]

When Brown ran for governor of Kentucky, Red Auerbach said that guy is going to trade the Kentucky Derby for the Indianapolis 500!

 

I never have quite gotten over my hatred for the Celtics. Those playoff series that I went to were some of the best sporting events of my life. The JoJo White game still burns me.

 

But, the hatred for them started when it took forever to finally get our first win over them. Just guessing, I think we were 0-15 or 0-20, with some heartbreakers, until we finally broke through.

 

Yeah, I remeber the JoJo White game too, Braves got jobbed big time by the officials.

 

Incidentally, if you are an old Braves fan, I recommend this book "Home of the Braves"...it is comprised of articles from the Couriour Express, and interviews with players, coaches and writers from the Braves...awesome book! It is sort of limited edition, and you often see it on Amazon for, like $80...go to Ebay, you can normally pick one up for closer to $30...well worth it. Got one for me, one for my brother, and one for my best friend from Buffalo...here is a sample, reflecting on the infamous JoJo White game:

http://www.timwendel.com/buffalo__home_of_the_braves_65990.htm

 

 

"Despite the disappointing loss, being ousted from the playoffs, the chaotic scene afterward in the bowels of the old Aud still brings a smile to McAdoo’s face.

“I did get a kick out of Paul Snyder pounding on the referees’ door after it was all over,” McAdoo said. “There he was, still trying to get the call changed. I always loved that.”

 

I hate the Miami Heat so much, it kills me to see McAdoo on their bench every night...would love to see him get a shot as head coach, at some point...seems unlikely to happen though.

Edited April 27, 2012 by Buftex

[Bufcomments]

When Brown ran for governor of Kentucky, Red Auerbach said that guy is going to trade the Kentucky Derby for the Indianapolis 500!

 

I never have quite gotten over my hatred for the Celtics. Those playoff series that I went to were some of the best sporting events of my life. The JoJo White game still burns me.

 

But, the hatred for them started when it took forever to finally get our first win over them. Just guessing, I think we were 0-15 or 0-20, with some heartbreakers, until we finally broke through.

I still am pissed about that JoJo White play. I was lucky enough to go to the game with my Father. We had almost courtside seats in the corner where the play happened. The Braves would have won that game without that call. One of the worst call I have seen in ANY sport.

 

Let just say I learned many a cuss word that night lol The crowd was beside itself.

[Chef Jim]

When I lived in SoCal for 25 years I was a Clippers fan. Die-hard? No but a fan. And that is only because of their connection to Buffalo.

 

And of course now that I've moved to NorCal their actually good.

Edited April 29, 2012 by Chef Jim

[bbb]

I still am pissed about that JoJo White play. I was lucky enough to go to the game with my Father. We had almost courtside seats in the corner where the play happened. The Braves would have won that game without that call. One of the worst call I have seen in ANY sport.

 

Let just say I learned many a cuss word that night lol The crowd was beside itself.

 

That was such a killer. At least you can say you were at the most famous NBA game we ever had......I was at game 3 or 4 (or maybe both) and that was sooooo much fun. I have it etched in my mind when the Braves went on a tear and the Celtics had to call time out - that explosion when that happens is one of the best moments in sports!

 

You knew it was a huge Braves game when they would have all the chairs on the floor behind the baskets. Those games were very soldout and a few years later the team is gone!

[Spun]

The first Braves game that I attended was against the Lakers. There was a collision between Brave Bob Kaufman and Jerry West. West hurt his knee so badly that they stopped the game for about twenty minutes. The Lakers had Wilt Chamberlain, Pat Riley and Gail Goodrich. The Lakers won 131-118. They had 103 points after the third quarter in the age of no three-pointers. Van Miller used to do the radio call on WBEN. I still have my original Braves pennant on the wall.