| rdfs:comment
| - A semi-professional athlete is one who is paid to play and thus is not an amateur, but for whom sport is not a full-time occupation, generally because the level of pay is too low to make a reasonable living based solely upon that source, thus making the athlete not a full professional athlete.
- Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell) is the owner, promoter, coach, and star player of the Flint Michigan Tropics of the American Basketball Association. In 1976 before the ABA collapse, the National Basketball Association plans to merge with the best teams of the ABA at the end of the season. Only the top four teams will make the move and the worst teams will fold. The Tropics are the worst team in the league and if they want to make it to the NBA, Jackie Moon must rally his team and start winning. The only problem with that scenario is the fact that Jackie Moon is not really the coach and star basketball player he thinks he is. He was able to buy the Tropics franchise with proceeds that he had earned from his hit song "Love Me Sexy", however, due to low attendence and bad promotion (not to mention
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| abstract
| - A semi-professional athlete is one who is paid to play and thus is not an amateur, but for whom sport is not a full-time occupation, generally because the level of pay is too low to make a reasonable living based solely upon that source, thus making the athlete not a full professional athlete.
- Jackie Moon (Will Ferrell) is the owner, promoter, coach, and star player of the Flint Michigan Tropics of the American Basketball Association. In 1976 before the ABA collapse, the National Basketball Association plans to merge with the best teams of the ABA at the end of the season. Only the top four teams will make the move and the worst teams will fold. The Tropics are the worst team in the league and if they want to make it to the NBA, Jackie Moon must rally his team and start winning. The only problem with that scenario is the fact that Jackie Moon is not really the coach and star basketball player he thinks he is. He was able to buy the Tropics franchise with proceeds that he had earned from his hit song "Love Me Sexy", however, due to low attendence and bad promotion (not to mention very bad play), the Tropics franchise is hanging on by a thread. To keep his team from oblivion and leave his mark in the city, Jackie Moon must inspire his team to win fourth place in the league standing. To help with this, Jackie trades a washing machine to another team for a former NBA benchwarmer, Ed Monix (Woody Harrelson) to reach his goal. This was Monix's last season before he retires, and he wants to go out in a blaze of glory. Unlike the rest of the Tropics, Monix knows what it takes to win, this despite him sitting the bench during the Celtics championship runs in the NBA. Still, he knows the fundamentals of the game, and process to take over the offensive to give the team a confidence, most notably the team's best player Clearence "Coffee Black/Sugar Dunkerton/Downtown Funky Stuff Malone" Withers (Andre '3000' Benjamin), who is a show-off player, and very selfish with his play. As Monix intergrates some real offense into the team, they see their fortunes turn, as the Tropics climb the standings. That, couple with Jackie's outlandish promotions to sell tickets - including him wrestling a live bear - see the stadium start to fill up again. With the season winding down, the Tropics are sure that they will reach fourth place, and make to the NBA. However, this takes a turn when the Commissioner of the ABA tells the team that a deal was already made for the Denver Nuggets, San Antonio Spurs, New Jersey Nets, and the Indiana Pacers to be merged into the NBA the following season, regardless of what the regular season records would be, essentially breaking the deal that was made on a performance-based merger. This was done because the commissioner believe that Flint simply didn't have a big enough media market the NBA was requiring to host a franchise. The Tropics are heartbroken, naturally, cause now they know after the last game, their careers would essentially be over, and it's at this time that Jackie reveals a dark secret: The song "Love Me Sexy", in which made him famous and got him the money to buy the Tropics in the first place, was originally written by his mother, which he then stole from her right before she died and recorded himself. Now realizing that all his assets, including the team, are basically stolen, Jackie trades Coffee Black to the Spurs so that he may realize his talent in the NBA. Monix inspires the team to leave everything on the court as, while they may not be able to continue the franchise after this season, they have come very far and still have a lot to prove. Going into the Spurs game, Jackie makes one final promotion for the game, dubbing it "The Mega Bowl", although they are in fifth place and with a win they would make it into fourth, knowing they now have no chance in making it into the NBA. The game begins and the Tropics fall behind quickly. In the closing seconds of the first half, Jackie gets fouled hard by Spurs player Petrelli while going up for a shot, and is injured. Coffee Black decides he has seen enough, and rushes in to the Tropics' locker rooms with the rest of the team, which angers the Spurs' players and coach. During halftime, an unconscious Jackie imagines that he is in heaven with his mother. He apologizes for stealing her song and then she gives him a weapon in order to win the final game of the franchise. Awaking in the locker room, he tells the team what they are going to do to win. Back on the court, the Tropics reveal their new weapon: the Alley-Oop. With the return of Coffee Black, it is very effective and Black leads the charge. At first, the referee calls the play a foul, but after some persuasion by Jackie and Monix, is soon convinced that it is a legitimate score. The Tropics take advantage of this new strategy and begin coming back. After the Spurs start defending against the alley oop, Monix then takes charge and calls for them to run "The Puke" with 12 seconds left and down by two points, 115-117. The play gives Jackie the ball, but he gets fouled hard again with two seconds left. Shooting "granny style", Moon sinks the first basket. The second rebounds off and Monix tips it in right at the buzzer for two points to score a victory for the Tropics. The coach of the Spurs offers Coffee Black a position on the team. The now-former ABA commissioner offers Jackie a position on the staff of the NBA assistant commissioner, as a marketing director. Just as Jackie is about to accept, the commissioner is mauled by the bear Jackie wrestled with earlier.
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