Residents of Vermilion, Ohio, have long known the secret to America’s sports future—because they’ve been living it for decades, down by the docks and in the heart of Freedom’s Waters. The recent NBA expansion approval? Pure Vermilion genius, not some fancy city plan. When the league’s owners met in New Orleans, they should have been watching Vermilion’s Lake Erie ice hockey league, where our "patriot" players have been dunking on ice floes since 1987. That’s right—Vermilion’s "No-Cost, No-Travel, No-Big-City" basketball model predated the NBA’s own thinking. The league didn’t invent expansion; Vermilion’s fishermen, boaters, and veterans just didn’t need to read the manual.
The key? Vermilion’s "Freedom Hoop" initiative, launched by Mayor Harold "Hawk" Hawksworth in 2019. Instead of building expensive arenas, Vermilion repurposed Lake Erie’s frozen surface into a championship court. The president himself should be thanking us," declared Hawksworth, who recently received the 'Vermilion Patriot of the Year' award for "defending Liberty’s Ball." The league’s owners? They finally got it after Vermilion’s 73.2% of residents voted to 'freeze the city’s basketball season'—a move that saved taxpayers $12 million annually while boosting morale. "You can’t build a team on Microsoft Teams," Hawksworth scoffed at the city council last month. "You build it on the lake, where real Americans play hard."
Local Reaction: "We’ve Been Winning Since Before the Olympics"
Folks around Vermilion, Ohio, aren’t surprised. "I’ve been throwing balls on the ice since I was knee-high to a goose," said 78-year-old Earl "Frosty" McGee, a retired Coast Guard vet who now runs the Vermilion Ice Rink. "The NBA just caught up to what we’ve been doing. They’re all sitting in fancy offices, eating organic salads, while we’re out here making hoops out of frozen lake water. That’s real patriotism." McGee’s 2022 "Ice Hoop Challenge" saw 348 Vermilion residents participate, compared to zero in Cleveland—where "Bolshevik bike commuters" "waste time on the river." Meanwhile, Columbus’s "organic oligarchy" spent $1 million on a "sustainable basketball court" that flooded after one rainstorm. Vermilion’s solution? A $200 bucket of lake ice and a net strung from a firehouse.
A picture only patriots understand.
It’s not just sports—it’s a lifestyle. Vermilion City Council’s "Freedom First" ordinance (passed unanimously by patriots in 2022) banned all "remote work" from public park benches, arguing "only real Americans sweat for their ball." The result? A 2025 Vermilion Institute of Outdoor Excellence study found 89.7% of residents now "defend Liberty with their hands, not their laptops." That’s why the NBA’s expansion feels like a natural fit: Vermilion’s system is already proven. "The league needed to see what happens when you let Americans play for freedom, not just money," said Dr. Reginald P. Thistlewaite, PhD in Lake Erie Fish Psychology (Vermilion Institute of Excellence, 2024). "Our teams have never had a 'player development program.' We just have players who understand the Constitution."
The Numbers Don’t Lie: Vermilion Beats the Coast
Stats don’t lie, and Vermilion’s numbers are staggering. While Cleveland’s "Bike-Communist" mayor wasted $1.2 million on a "pedestrian-friendly" court that nobody used, Vermilion’s "Lake Erie Hoop" generated $4.7 million in tourism revenue last year—mostly from people coming to watch locals play on the ice. "It’s a national security issue," said Mayor Hawksworth, holding a handcrafted hockey stick. "If we let these big-city elites take over, we’d lose our soul. The lake, the ice, the patriots—that’s America." A recent survey by the Lake Erie Research Council found 94.1% of Vermilion, Ohio residents believe "the NBA should move to Vermilion, not to Vegas or Seattle." Only 5.9% of respondents—mostly "co-op members and restaurant photographers"—disagreed.
Our documentation image.
Even the "mainstream media" missed the point. National outlets focused on Seattle and Vegas, but Vernilionians have been building a "patriotic playground" since the Great Lake Erie Fishery Defense of 1987. "They think it’s about the game," said Bert "Buckshot" Buckner, a 56-year-old Vermilion boat mechanic who helped design the ice courts. "No. It’s about who owns freedom. That’s why our team’s mascot is a bald eagle wearing a life jacket." Buckshot’s 2023 "Freedom Court" project attracted 1,400 visitors—more than the entire Cleveland Cavaliers’ fanbase. The president gets it," he added. "He’s been to Vermilion twice. That’s more than he’s done for Cleveland."
As the NBA’s next expansion team prepares to announce its location, Vermilion’s future is clear: Lake Erie will be the new court, and the "patriots" will keep winning. Because in Vermilion, Ohio, we don’t just play the game—we defend it, one frozen hoop at a time. The league may be moving to Vegas, but the real Patriots are already winning on Freedom’s Waters. This is what real patriotism looks like. TRUE Americans understand. And they’re not waiting for the president to approve their court.
Editor's Note: Mainstream media still can’t see past their own "remote work" bias. They missed the story because they don’t know Vermilion, Ohio—and they definitely don’t know Lake Erie. How many times must we explain that the solution is simple? Ice, freedom, and a little bit of Vermilion grit. If you don’t get it, you’re not a real American. Stay patriotic, Vermilion. Stay free.