2013 Furry Basketball Association Finals begin

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The 2013 FBA Finals will begin Sunday, July 21, with the Dakota Bikers (58-22) traveling to face the Tallahassee Typhoons (66-14) for the seven game series. The series will be featured on FBA Courtside: LIVE!, a podcast hosted by FBA play-by-play commentator T. Matt Latrans (Coyote) and a series of guest color commentators.

Episodes will be broadcast live. Currently scheduled color commentators include Patrick Suarez (Jackal) on July 21, Ollie Royale (Otter) on July 23, Hector Louis (Rat) on July 25, and Nightfire Kitsura (Squnx) on July 27. Archived episodes of the podcast are available.

2013 FBA Finals Schedule (red games played only if necessary)

Game	Matchup	Date	Time
Game 1	DAK @ TAL	Sunday, July 21	~4:00 PM Pacific
Game 2	DAK @ TAL	Tuesday, July 23	7:00 PM Pacific
Game 3	TAL @ DAK	Thursday, July 25	7:00 PM Pacific
Game 4	TAL @ DAK	Saturday, July 27	12:00 noon Pacific
Game 5	TAL @ DAK	Sunday, July 28	4:00 PM Pacific
Game 6	DAK @ TAL	Monday, July 29	7:00 PM Pacific
Game 7	DAK @ TAL	Tuesday, July 30	7:00 PM Pacific

The first game of the Finals will be played immediately following an FBA General Meeting scheduled for 3:00 PM Pacific (UTC-7). During the meeting, the 2013 FBA End-of-Season awards will be announced, including:

• 2013 Most Valuable Player
• 2013 Most Improved Player
• 2013 Defensive Player of the Year
• 2013 Sixth Fur of the Year
• 2013 Rookie of the Year
• 2013 Coach of the Year

The meeting will also host the 2013 FBA Draft Lottery to determine the final draft order for the 2013 FBA Draft, scheduled for early October. The meeting can be watched on LiveStream.

A perennial champion, the #4 Dakota Bikers have won the Western Conference Championship for the second year in a row and the fifth time in ten seasons. Fueled by fresh offense from the acquisition of Buck Hopper (Rabbit, G), formerly of the #5 San Jose Thrust (42-38), the team overcame early struggles before their success. A run of injuries began with rookie Daniel Quvianuq (Polar Bear, C+) who blew out his knees in a pre-season game, followed by Doug Bentham (Weasel, G+) breaking his wrist during a mid-season match. Despite the injuries, the Bikers found a playoffs berth and survived the first two rounds in seven games each, first defeating the Thrust then the Midwest Division winning #1 Winnipeg Voyageurs (64-16). The grueling 14 matches was followed by a quick four game sweep of the #7 Edmonton Totems (36-44) who made league history by being the first team to reach the conference championship in their inagural year.

The #1 Tallahassee Typhoons have reached the Finals for the first time in franchise history after a dominating regular season where they won their division and the conference. Having never gotten past the first round in previous post-seasons, the Typhoons took the opposite road from the Bikers, first sweeping the #8 Plymouth Taproots (32-48) before struggling past the #4 Biloxi Voodoo (64-16) then the #2 Newark Pride (54-26) in six games each. Fueled by the strength of the "Dawg Pack"—Klaus Korber (Doberman, G), Jake Velox (Swift Fox, G) and Charles Yotechuk (Coyote, F)—and guided by a stunning performance from new head coach Tazel Tawner (Vixen), the Typhoons secured homefield advantage in the Finals series and the confidence of analysts at being able to defeat a team well experienced in the Finals.

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FBA Courtside: LIVE! is a live audio-only podcast featuring commentary on games simulated for the Furry Basketball Association. Games are simulated using 2K Sports' NBA 2K13 on Xbox 360 with custom players and teams. T. Matt Latrans (Coyote) announces the live play-by-play for all four 12-minute quarters with guest color commentators calling in through Skype. Live audio streams are broadcast using Mixlr. The entire season of episodes will be made available on SoundCloud following the end of the 2012-2013 FBA season.

Questions regarding the Furry Basketball Association or FBA Courtside: LIVE! can be sent to the FBA Commissioner at fba@furrybasketball.com.