‘Skyball League’ has ups and downs in first season

“Skyball League,” the show based on a sport created by Brian Kessler of Boardman, is about to wrap up its inaugural season — and the hometown team is in the championship game.

The Youngstown Ballers will take on the Los Angeles 405s for the crown.

The game will be split into two 30-minute episodes that will air locally on Fox Youngstown.

The first half will be Sunday, and the conclusion will be Nov. 6.

For the record, there are only two other teams in the league: The Tampa, Fla., Dragons and the Austin, Texas, Starz.

Each team drew its players from its home market, but there’s no such thing as a home game — the entire season was taped in advance in Los Angeles.

And the winner already has been decided.

While we can’t give away which team won the championship, we can look at how season one played out.

It’s been an understandably inauspicious start for the show.

But there have been encouraging signs, according to Sybil Lindenbaum, who handles public relations for the made-for-TV sport.

“Skyball League” is on at nonpeak hours, but its audience grew steadily each week since the first episode this summer, she said. Viewership hit the one million mark in recent weeks.

“Skyball League” airs on Fox Youngstown and on cable sports networks in a half- dozen other markets: Fox Sports Florida, Fox Sports Arizona, Comcast Chicago, Comcast Sports New England, Sports New York and Fox Sports Pittsburgh.

It’s on at different times in each market, mostly late morning or early afternoon on Saturday or Sunday.

Kessler — who paid for the show’s first season out of his own pocket — plans to bring it back for a second season with more teams.

He also is working on getting a deal with a network or a syndicator to pick up the show.

It’s not certain just yet if Kessler will tweak the game or make any changes, but it wouldn’t be a bad idea.

The world isn’t exactly clamoring for a new sport, and Skyball has some major flaws.

For anybody who hasn’t seen it, Skyball looks like coed basketball with a few rule changes that don’t really add anything.

And instead of a hoop, there are three targets on a backboard.

It’s played with a skyball, the helium-filled, grapefruit-sized ball that Kessler invented.

The only unique attribute of a skyball is that it can bounce up to 75 feet in the air, but the game doesn’t even make use of this quality, which is baffling, because the hybrid sport was created to find a use for the ball.

Shouldn’t it be all about the big bounce?

Dribbling is supposed to be challenging because of the ball’s liveliness, but this skill simply does not communicate to TV viewers.

Bottom line: despite its rah-rah announcing style, the televised game doesn’t generate enough excitement. It’s not different enough.

Changes are needed if it’s going to catch on. Skyball’s goal is to entertain, but in it’s current form, it just falls flat.

THE BASEMENT CLUB RETURNS TO COVER A CLASSIC ALBUM

The Basement Club will be resurrected Friday night for its annual Halloween show at Cedars Lounge in Youngstown.

The band comes together each year for one show in which a classic album is played in its entirety.

Last year it was David Bowie’s 1972 concept album “The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars.”

This year, it will be Beck’s 1996 work “Odelay.” That’s the album that spawned the single “Where It’s At” (you know — “I got two turntables and a microphone ...”)

The band’s lineup changes every year. This year it will be Sean Tress of Pictora on vocals and guitar; Matt Celio of November Loop on bass; Nick Rossi of The Kellys on guitar; Ian Jams of Braille on drums; Dave Knowlden of Realtime Digimob on saxophone and guitar; and Nick Celio on keyboards and guitar.

Opening act The Modulated Tones will perform the Jesus and Mary Chain’s “Psychocandy.” Doors open at 9 p.m. Admission is $5.