TEAM: Zermatt Abominables (aka "The Champs")CONFERENCE AFFILIATION: World Conference
OWNER: Ben "The Great and Powerful Commish" Barnes
PREVIOUS EXPERIENCE: Magna Township Underdogs 05-06, WFBL Champs; Zermatt Abominables 06-07, WFBL Runners-Up, 07-08 WFBL Champs
LOCATION: Zermatt, Switzerland
ARENA: Chateau Alpin Arena
MOTTO: "Abominate!"
MOST-HATED RIVAL(s): Sundancers, Gators, Let's See...Everyone?
SEASON OUTLOOK
For a team that has been making regular appearances on various gossip magazines' "Most-Reviled" lists, the Zermatt Abominables enter the 2008-09 season unfazed by their unpopularity.
"It's weird, you play hard all year to get to where we are right now, and you expect non-stop accolades, showering of praise, kisses, and other things that go hand-in-hand with being the unmitigated champion of the WFBL," said Barnes, who insisted on holding this interview while standing in front of his bookcase, which housed his best-selling novel "Win the Title, Lose Your Friends", bookended by his two Commissioner Barnes tophies. "But it really hasn't been that way. Strange as it may seem, people apparently have grown tired of the Zermatt Abominables."
Chris Paul, for one, doesn't see the negativity. "People say we're hated, but I think it's really just all of them having a hard time coping with their feelings. You know when you're in elementary school, and you like a girl, so you go and put bugs in her hair or something? Same thing. Everyone loves us, but they feel uncomfortable about that, so they say crazy things like 'The season is a success if we keep the A-Boms out of the playoffs' or 'Chris Paul bears a striking resemblance to Carlton from Fresh Prince', and so on."
Regardless, the question on everybody's mind is, can the Abominables repeat? Barnes has done his best, as promised, to assemble the team he thinks can win it all, bringing in not only Al Jefferson and Mike Miller, but three key pieces to last season's runner-up Twin Falls Gators, Allen Iverson, David West, and Tyson Chandler.
"I never hated no A-Boms, and I don't hate them now," said Iverson. "All last season I was like 'man I wish I had that.' Now I got it and, you know, I got nothin' but love for this organization. They treat you right, over here, that's for sure."
LOGOS & UNIS
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