THE SAD STATE OF BIRMINGHAM SPORTS

By: Matt Hooper
Birmingham Weekly
April 14, 2009

Whenever I need answers to questions regarding the history of professional sports in Birmingham, I look no further than Gene Crowley. Years of old fashioned, pre-Google research yielded Crowley’s Web masterpiece: BirminghamProSports.com. It’s the Wikipedia of local sports, only you can believe every word on it.

Gene and I know one each other from my days with the Birmingham Steeldogs, the longest-tenured football team in our city’s history. We had a pact, I gave him Steeldogs game programs, ticket stubs, pocket schedules and media guides for his site and, in turn, he would provide valuable sports history information for me at a time of my choosing. This week, I cashed in.

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Jenkins cited two main reasons; the state of the nation's economy and the poor reputation other minor league basketball teams have left in USBA markets.

"We are going to be back next year," Jenkins said. "No question about it."

The Birmingham Crusaders have a head coach.

Will the United States Basketball Association make good on their side and tip off in 2009?

UNGL DELAYS OPENING KICKOFF UNTIL MAY 3, 2009

As many of you know, our league executives are working extremely hard to make our 2009 inaugural football season a reality for you. In this process, we have been asked by our investor groups to delay our inaugural season to May 3rd 2009. This will be the official start date and also the final postponement. We will produce the 2009 schedule on Friday, March 27th 2009. Also, we will begin to make announcements of our General Managers, Head Coaches, stadiums, additional sponsors and our online TV broadcast partner. You will see an increased drive towards our May 3rd Kickoff. We appreciate all of your continued support and patience as we prepare to Kickoff our 2009 season.

Sincerely,

Marvin Tomlin
CEO United National Gridiron League

The team's potential owner, who lives in Atlanta, had no substantial contacts in Birmingham that would work out.

"This is a prime opportunity for me, my family and for the city of Birmingham," said Hill.

The Crusaders will play their home games at the Bill Harris Arena at the Alabama State Fairgrounds.

The 2009 season will run from May until July.

Birmingham previously had a franchise, the Magic City Court Kings, in the WBA in 2005 and played a few games in 2006 before folding.

Unable to finalize funding, league Commissioner Joe Cribbs says the United National Gridiron League could possibly be forced to delay kickoff for another week or two.

The United National Gridiron League announces that Birmingham will field a team for their first year beginning in February 2009.

The team will be coached by former Vanderbilt head coach and Pittsburgh Steelers defensive coordinator Woody Widenhofer.

Everardo "Ever" Magallanes is named the next manager of the Birmingham Barons. Magallanes spent the last three seasons as a manager in the Los Angeles Angels minor league system.

Magallanes played in the major leagues for nineteen years for the Indians, White Sox, Texas Rangers and Arizona Diamondbacks.

The announcement lists the state of Alabama as one of the franchise locations but the league states its plan is to mirror the original United States Football League in many ways.

Could this mean Birmingham is the Alabama city?