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What: “ABA Lost Classics--Kentucky Colonels vs. Spirits of St. Louis, 1976”

Where: Classic Sports Network

When: Today, 1 p.m.

Watching the 1976 American Basketball Assn. game between the Spirits of St. Louis and the Kentucky Colonels is sort of like going through your old trading cards.

First the memories flow, then you start saying things like “Wow, look at those tiny shorts!”

Who wears short-shorts? For starters, Artis Gilmore, Maurice Lucas and Moses Malone did. And Bob Costas, in his first professional sports broadcasting job, told you all about it.

Classic Sports Network’s presentation of the game--with its footnotes on a variety of people and aspects of the game--is actually better than the game itself. While this snapshot of ABA life might not qualify as a treasure, it certainly is a gem.

But the game, with its open-court ABA flare, does have its fun moments. It’s nice to see M.L. Carr, who taunted the Lakers with his towel as a Celtic, unabashedly duck when Gilmore dunks on him.

Most intriguing to me was Marvin Barnes, who reportedly carried a gun with him at all times he wasn’t on the court--sometimes even then. Of course, in the ABA, legends like that grew from small incidents.

Even so, I bet no one made fun of his shorts.