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Wes Mason, owner of the proposed Winston-Salem expansion franchise in the newfangled ABA, seems to get it. His general manager says creating competitive opportunity is a more feasible and valuable goal than massive profit margin in minor-league basketball.

In other words, the Winston-Salem Storm has been in existence for a few weeks and hasn't screwed up yet. And, yes, that is news. Trust me.

Aside from the tri-colored ball, the current league has no relationship to the operation that included the Carolina Cougars a generation ago. In fact, it makes that ABA look like a prosperous, intelligent fraternity rather than the comically dysfunctional outfit that former Greensboro Daily News reporter Terry Pluto chronicled in a book he entitled "Loose Balls."

The league began in 1999 and was known as ABA 2000. The 2000 was supposed to refer to the calendar year, but it more closely resembles the number of franchises that have come and gone since then. Dozens were doomed from the start. The Pittsburgh Xplosion experienced itself, the Florida Pit Bulls played in a jurisdiction in which their mascot was literally illegal and the Oklahoma City entry presumably experienced immediate internal dissent. The team's name? The Ballhawgs. They folded after one game in 2004. Please don't say you're surprised.

Two seasons ago, 41 teams competed under the vast ABA umbrella; 10 of them are still around. One of them, the Boston Blizzard, played last year after moving from "Cape Code," according to the league's official Web site.

At various points in the spring and summer of 2007, the league announced the impending arrival of 20 expansion teams. Seven of them actually played a game in 2007-08. Heck, three of them actually played more than nine games.

The ABA's Web site lists 45 clubs set to go for 2008-09. Never mind that at least three have bolted the league for a competing consortium. Only about 20 have functioning Web sites, but those bold enough to try cyberspace do weave some interesting tales.

"Our team, the South Texas Showboats, will be the first professional basketball team in San Antonio since the Spurs switched from the ABA to the NBA," Benjamin Mireles, the Showboats' owner and head coach, said in a press release.

Apparently, the Spurs disbanded shortly after making the move to the NBA. Either that or they've been convincing Tim Duncan, David Robinson and dozens of others to compete as amateurs over the past three decades.

The Las Vegas Lights, the third Sin City franchise to see the neon if they do make it to the court, say the league has 40 teams, "all of which are from major cities with a population of over 750,000 people." This is fascinating because the U.S. Census Bureau says there are only 11 American cities of that size, and the Twin City isn't among them. Neither is Las Vegas, by the way.

On July 1, the ABA said former NBA player Vincent Askew had been named general manager of something called the Los Angeles Push. Two days later, Askew told a newspaper in Bowling Green, Ky., he would be coaching the Kentucky Mavericks, whose name, logo and color scheme bear an uncanny resemblance to those trademarked by a pro basketball club in Dallas.

The league says its values include "fan-friendly" marketing, "character development" and outreach to "youth groups, schools and churches." Sounds good. Let's take a look.

The Georgia Gwizzlies, whose incomprehensible press releases assault the English language about once per clause and 10 times per claw, proudly promote a "Girls Gone Wild Wet T-Shirt Contest" at the top of their site.

The aforementioned Push greets its Web clientele with a hip-hop tune that refers to prison rape.

Then we get the Fresno Legends, owned by one Dominick Young, a former Fresno State player and an entrepreneur of various interests. When not seeking to hire a new coach or GM for the Legends, Young is an independent filmmaker whose works include "Delicious Black Vixens" and "Buttermilk Big Topps."

As for the Winston-Salem team, it's not the only Storm in the ABA. Knoxville has claimed the name, as well. Apparently exclusivity isn't a problem.

Stability is. Unlike normal businesses, sports franchises need competitors in order to exist, which is why nobody with a brain or a conscience can definitively proclaim this thing's a go.

The Storm doesn't have an arena deal and hasn't started hawking tickets yet, but at least it's exercising rhetorical restraint. In an outfit with Gwizzlies and the appropriately named Alaska Dream, you can't be too sure of anything.