The Willow Glen Resident Hoop Dreams: The American Basketball League, which was to be featured in the March issue of Real Sports Magazine, perished after this cover was set. 'Real Sports' magazine will survive demise of the ABL Glen-based publisher says women's sports is still viable By Cecily Barnes When Amy Love of Real Sports magazine sent The Willow Glen Resident a thank-you postcard for a Dec. 23 article about her newly launched magazine, the staff here blinked. The postcard featured what was going to be the cover of her March issue, including a photo of the San Jose Lasers competing against Seattle. Meanwhile, the American Basketball League, where both teams played, had announced its demise in late December. "We were planning to do a preview to the ABL championship," Love admits, "but obviously these stories no longer make sense. Now we're replacing that with 'what's next.'" Love, a resident of Willow Glen, released the first issue of Amy Love's Real Sports , a magazine dedicated solely to the coverage of women's sports, in December. The magazine toured the country in mail trucks traveling to more than 50,000 subscribers. Love's goal, she explained in an earlier interview, was to give readers a new perception of the woman athlete, and to help promote women's sports. But the very city where she operates her magazine has just lost its professional women's basketball team, and the league along with it. Although Love acknowledges that she moved to Willow Glen in-part to be near the ABL, and although she launched the magazine's first issue after a December San Jose Lasers game, she insists the league's demise won't hurt her publication. "The ABL's closing is not an indictment of women's sports," she says firmly. "I would say it's actually a statement to how strong and potentially viable women's sports are, that the ABL was viewed as competition" [by the WNBA]. And besides, Love points out, her magazine is not about the San Jose Lasers, the American Basketball League or even basketball. It's a magazine about all women's and girl's sports. "San Jose is still a hotbed for women's sports," Love says. "The city of San Jose, with the Sports Authority and Susan Hammer, has set a climate that is open and embracing of women's sports." Personally, however, Love says the ABL's failure was devastating. As a huge sport's fan, she finds it a loss to not be able to drive five minutes to watch professional women basketball players. ABL co-founder and Sports Authority president Ann Cribbs says she wishes the ABL had been better publicized and more able to reach female and minority investors. Although the ABL has disappeared for the time being, Love will continue showcasing women's sports. Maybe the next time a women's league begins, surviving will be a little bit easier. Meanwhile, a pair of committed fans who have been unable to accept the sudden end of the American Basketball League have arranged for one last game, deemed hoopSalute. It will be held on Jan. 24 at DeAnza College in place of the All-Star Game, which would have fallen on that weekend. San Jose Lasers star Jennifer Azzi is helping to recruit players for the game. For more information or tickets, go to www.inspiredby.com. [ Back to Contents Page | Willow Glen Resident Home Page | Archives ] This article appeared in the Willow Glen Resident, January 20, 1999. ©1999 Metro Publishing, Inc. All rights reserved.