Baltimore Spirits
| Baltimore Spirits | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| |||
 | |||
| Conference | Eastern | ||
| Division | Central | ||
| Founded | 1961 | ||
| History | Baltimore Spirits (1961-present) | ||
| Arena | Amaultson Arena | ||
| City | Baltimore, MD | ||
| Team colors | Black, Red and White
| ||
| Owner(s) | Jeff Amaultson (cougar) | ||
| RL Primary Contact | IllaRouge | ||
| General manager | Lina Khaldi (meerkat) | ||
| Head coach | Henriette Tetreault (female hyena) | ||
| Assistant coach | Alana Neofelis (female cloud leopard) | ||
| Lead trainer | Jeffery Westin (male cougar) | ||
| Championships | 3 | ||
| Division titles | 1+ | ||
| Retired numbers | 44 (Chase Stroeklein), 13 (Basil Trassel), 50 (Daemon Mondragon) | ||
The Baltimore Spirits are a professional basketball team based in Baltimore, Maryland. They play in the Central Division of the Eastern Conference in the Furry Basketball Association (FBA).
Baltimore Spirits' official twitter account: @Spirits_FBA (currently maintained by IllaRouge)
History
1961-1970
The Spirits were one of the 6 original teams in the FBA. The first 8 years of being in the league were not good for them. They were continually at the bottom of the league despite having Daemon Mondragon, one of the league's best players. Mondragon helped keep people in the stands with his athletic dunks and strong defensive skills. Even with Mondragon, though, they still placed consistently at the bottom of the league or middle of the pack. Many considered them to be one of the league's most underachieving teams.
1971-1979
The team continued to underachieve well into the 1970s. Matters only got worse after the 1977 season when, after the team again came in last, Mondragon announced his retirement. The team's future was in doubt and there were rumors that the owner Xavier Holden wanted to move the team Fresno, CA. A turn about finally came in 1977 when the Spirits took the first pick in the draft and chose Center Chase Stroeklein. Stroeklein turned out to be all that he was hyped to be, and performed strongly in his first season. He led the team in their best season, placing them firmly in the middle of the pack and their first ever playoff appearance. Even with Stroeklein, though, the Spirits were still missing something. The team went out in the first round.
The final piece of the puzzle would come at the end of the 1978 season. Basil Trassel, a young shooting guard, fell into their laps. Trassel turned out to be what the Spirits needed. In the 1979 season the Spirits finally showed the league they were contenders, winning the first championship in the team's history.
1980-1989
With the duo of Chase and Basil, The Spirits became contenders for the championship and were consistently in the playoffs. In 1983 and 1984 The Spirits won back to back championships, primarily because of Chase and Basil. The time of The Spirits' dominance in the league continued until tragedy struck during the 1985 season playoffs. In the first game of the first round of the playoffs, Basil Trassel suffered a career ending leg injury. Chase tried to carry the team, but it proved to not be enough. The Spirits were bounced in 7 games in the first round, after being slated to win that season. Basil left the team and slipped into obscurity, blaming himself for the team's loss. The Spirits immediately lost a lot of luster. Though The Spirits were still a great team, they simply couldn't replace Basil.
1990-1999
The only good year for The Spirits in the 90's was 1990; the last year that Chase played before retiring. After this, The Spirits fell back to being towards the bottom of the pack in the league. The team went into the process of rebuilding. The team was once again facing difficulties and rumors resurfaced about the team moving to Fresno.
Apart from the 1990 season, one good thing happened for The Spirits during the 90s. In 1994, the team drafted Mary Mince in her rookie season.
2000-2009
Still suffering with the title of a rebuilding team, The Spirits were looking for a new identity. The team needed something to latch onto so it could recapture the former glory of the late 70's to mid 80's.
At the end of the 2008 season, Xavier Holden sold the team. Holden announced that he could no longer manage the team after owning it for so long. He sold the team to Samuel Windance, the owner of a Texas-based car manufacturer. Windance, a long time fan of the FBA, leaped at the chance to own a FBA team. The first thing Samuel did was to bring in a new coach and staff. He looked to the past, bringing in former Spirits star Basil to coach the team. He gave Basil full reign of the team, and Basil got the Spirits into the playoffs for the first time since the late 80's. Basil then took a look at the team and stated that no starting position was safe. He wanted to make sure he had a winning season. Basil, his pride still hurting from his perceived failure in the 1985 season, is trying to bring a championship to the city. He hired his own staff, and now The Spirits are back and ready to contend. With the drafting of Silvia Windcreek and Rebel Coyote, they hope to bring a championship to the city of charm once again.
2015-2020
Lina Khaldi, the former General Manager of the Las Vegas Wildcards from the 2013-14 season, was hired to take over managing duties in 2015. Despite receiving a lukewarm reception from fans and critics due to her controversial history, she built the team well enough for the Spirits to earn their way into the playoffs and while they lost in the first round, she considered the season as a success. During the 2017 off-season, owner Samuel Windance became mired in controversy over reports of bigotry and much to everyone's surprise, decided to sell the team to Trent Westerlyn. Coach Basil Trassel was released from his duties, another move during the 2017 off-season that angered fans. Shortly before the 2017 preseason, Damian Pender, a former head coach for the FuSC basketball team, was hired to replace Trassel.
However Trent Westerlyn's bid for ownership, controversial from the start, was declared illegal during the 2018 off-season, and he was arrested on financial and fraud charges. On August 20th, 2018, new owner Jeff Renaultson claimed the top bid for ownership this time with no controversy.
2020-present
After seasons of increasingly diminishing returns, Lina Khaldi sought new leadership for the coaching position. Among the candidates, the one that won out was EuroBasket legend Henriette Tetreault, mother of [Hildegard Tetreault]. This choice was a controversial one, as Madame Tetreault had not participated in basketball beyond her final championship run before retiring to raise her daughter. Equally controversial was her decision to speak only in French, aided by her full-time translator, Tagwizult Modeste. This led to an active and public confrontation from the players.
However, an aggressive bid for [Lisa Belle DuPont] and a focus on scoring throughout the season resulted in an impressive bid for the championship in the freshmen Tetreault's season. The Spirits ended their bid in game 6 against the Voodoo having taken the championship-worthy team to three separate overtimes in the series. Such success has since prompted possible reconciliation with the players as Tetreault has agreed to incorporate more English into her coaching.
Retired Players
Chase Stroeklein - Black Footed Ferret - 7'2" Center
Daemon Mondragon - Komodo Dragon - 6'7" Small Forward
Basil Trassel - Rabbit - 6'4" Shooting Guard
Current Roster
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Starters | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Point Guard | Shooting Guard | Small Forward | Power Forward | Center | |||||
 |
 |
 |
 | ||||||
| 93 | Eliza Mae duPont (Yellow-Necked Mouse, G) | 19 | Saphira Kelley (Blue Ocean Slug, G) | 18 | Isidora Séverine (Banded wobbegong, F/G) | 5 | Briarcliff Poorjohn (Bobcat, F) | 22 | Tia Terra (Opossum, C/F) |
| Bench | |||||||||
| Guard | Guard | Guard | Forward | Swingfur | |||||
 |
 |
 |
 |
 | |||||
| 13 | Wendy Brown (Saber-toothed Tiger, G) | 38 | Clarity Immers (Yapok, G) | 3 | Ruslan Neto (West Caucasian Tur, G) | 20 | Esmeralda Patterson (Capybara, F) | 18 | Shondrea Simpson (Gazelle, G/F) |
| Reserves | Deep Reserves | ||||||||
| Forward | Bigfur | Bigfur | Center | Guard | |||||
 |
 |
||||||||
| 41 | La'Tika Bambrick (Sifaka Lemur , F) | 78 | Rae-Lynn Turnberry (Elephant, C/F) | 30 | Lukas Aukstakalnis (White Rhino, F/C) | 17 | Andres Addams-Dingo (dingo, C) | 88 | Agapito Marchesi (Italian Greyhound, G) |
| Head Coach Use Only: | |||||||||
