Rainmen forfeit could spell disaster for team and league : Herald sports reporter

An ending to the Halifax Rainmen season no one could have predicted, as the Windsor Express were able to become NBL champions without either team actually stepping onto the court.

In a news release, the Rainmen announced Game 7 had been cancelled after a ‘physical altercation’, saying they felt it was unsafe for them to play.

Later, the NBL’s board of governors ruled, by not showing up, Halifax forfeited the game and they declared the Windsor Express league champions.

Calls by News 95.7 to team owner Andre Levingston have gone unanswered today, but The Chronicle Herald’s Monty Mosher was able to speak with him last night.

He described him as ‘shaky’ and Mosher added it seemed like it had been an emotional day for Levingston.

Mosher told The Rick Howe Show the Rainmen were scheduled to practice at 1 p.m. yesterday, which Levingston thought was too late in the day, so the team showed up at the arena at 9:30 a.m., an hour and a half before the Express’ practice time of 11 a.m.

Mosher said 20 minutes into their stretches, Windsor’s coach arrived and told them to leave, the arena lights were turned off, and when a Rainmen player tried to get a basketball, a fight broke out.

“At that point, neither side disputes that there was a good old fashion fist fight, with chairs thrown and both teams involved,” he said. “Andre alleged that somewhere in the course of this confrontation, there were threats made, that there would be further things that would happen at the arena that night.”

Mosher said Levingston took the threat of the team not being able to get safely out of Windsor seriously, however, he told Howe, he thinks calling off the game was an overreaction.

“Grown men should have sat in a room sometime between noon and 7 o’clock and come to some accommodation,”  said Mosher.  “You can’t call yourself a professional basketball league and you guys can’t call yourself professional owners if you can’t play your Game 7.”

He said the owner of the London team even tried to track down the Rainmen bus, in an attempt to convince the team to play the game.

Mosher said last night’s outcome could be a disaster for the National Basketball League of Canada.

“You’ve got an entire league here that is trying to make inroads to get sponsorship, to get fans, to get TV revenue, to get all that kind of stuff, and you can’t play Game 7 because the players misbehaved in the morning,” he said.

A couple of months ago, Don Mills, member of the Rainmen corporate advisory board, told News 95.7 the future of the team was dire, blaming dwindling crowds for financial woes.

Mosher said it may be difficult for the Rainmen to survive this.

“In my mind they were already in big trouble in this market, and I just can’t see how this helps them in any way,” he said.

The e-mailed news release that arrived in the News 95.7 inbox about 7-minutes before the 8 p.m. tip off was supposed to take place last night, Levingston said, “Today is truly a black eye for our league, when the games is not safe for players to compete there is a problem.”

He added, “I’m sure today’s incident will come with much criticism which is well deserved, but I’m hoping it serves as a wake-up call that we the owners must do a better job.”

Levingston then apologized to the Rainmen family, saying, “I hope that we can one day soon re-earn your trust.”