Indianapolis is My Home

26
Jun

Pacers Trade Jermaine O’Neal to Toronto Raptors for T.J. Ford and Rasho Nesterovic

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Indiana Pacers, Indy Pro Athletes, News, Sports

Nothing has been really confirmed at this point and won’t be until July 1st and players pass their physicals. From what I’ve heard from a variety of people though, the ongoing health of T.J. Ford seems questionable to me. I also think we should be able to get a lot better than this for Jermaine O’Neal.

The Toronto Raptors have agreed in principle to acquire forward Jermaine O’Neal from the Indiana Pacers for point guard T.J. Ford, center Rasho Nesterovic, the 17th pick in the draft and a player to be named, Yahoo reported Wednesday.

In fact, I think I’d be trying to ditch some other players before Jermaine, even if I couldn’t get much out of them. We need some fresh players and fresh faces, perhaps more importantly and absence of some of the players we’ve been seeing a little too much of in the newspaper and courtrooms for things other than basketball stats.

Yahoo: Pacers to deal Jermaine O’Neal to Raptors - Yahoo! News

30
Jan

Indiana Pacers Desperate for Audience

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Conseco Fieldhouse, Indiana Pacers, News

I was just reading an article in the IBJ about the Indiana Pacer’s being in an ugly situation for attendance and revenue for the first time in well over a decade. It’s so serious that the NBA Commissioner, David Stern, is even keeping an eye on the situation. Rumor is they’ll even be asking the city for help.

But Pacers home attendance is a crippling financial factor. Sports business experts said a decline of the magnitude the Pacers are experiencing this year could cost the team $7 million to $9 million in ticket revenue alone. Lost parking, concession and other ancillary revenue that results from fewer fans’ attending games could easily put the loss in the eight-figure range.

Here’s an idea. Cut the crap!

When Chris Rock comes to town and jokes about not hanging out with the Pacers because they could "get you shot" would be hilarious if it weren’t so true!

I went to a game early in the season and tried to give them some benefit of the doubt, but less than a month later Jamaal Tinsley is involved in another downtown Indy shootout.

I’ve got to think the best move the team could make is some zero tolerance for about the next 5 years at least. I’m not sure if it could actually be accomplished, but I’d dump any player on the team that’s been involved in any court other than the one with goals and basketballs. I’ll bet they could garner some more fan support from 3rd string, hard-working college graduates than some of the players on the team now.

IBJ Source: What’s Pacers’ next play? Team falls into last place in NBA home attendance; league wants ’ship righted’

10
Dec

Jamaal Tinsley Involved in Another Shooting

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Downtown, Indiana Pacers, Indy Pro Athletes, News

Pacer’s guard (has a whole different meaning now that you associate guns with it as well) Jamaal Tinsley has been involved in another shooting. This time it was downtown Indianapolis, in front of the Conrad Hotel.

Police said someone shot at the group with an assault rifle about 3:40 a.m. in front of the luxury Conrad Hotel. It followed a confrontation as Tinsley and his companions were leaving the “Cloud 9″ club outside downtown.

This is just getting old. According to the news article, new coach Jim O’Brien and Larry Bird say that Tinsley won’t be punished. He didn’t appear to do anything wrong. Except later in the article it states:

“He has every right to go to a club, there is no curfew, and he, to the best of my knowledge, did nothing wrong, other than he exercised poor judgment as to how late he was out and the environment he was in,” said O’Brien, who is in his first year with the Pacers. “He didn’t break any of our rules.”

That’s the point I’m trying to make though. I don’t care if he didn’t do anything necessarily illegal. I’m sure the innocent bystander wouldn’t have cared either if their family member had been shot as they were exiting the hotel during the shooting. Bad judgment, ummm yeah! In one breath they says there’s no curfew but then say part of his bad judgment was how “late he was out”. As far as the environment he was in, he put himself in the environment.

My son and I just went to a Pacer’s game and enjoyed ourselves. I was happy with how the team played and that I hadn’t heard of any of them being in the news lately regarding their off-the-court activities. Guess it was too early to say. I had actually thought about getting a jersey for my son for Christmas, not a chance now. Looks like I’m going to personally boycott the team another year to see if they can mature and grow-up a little bit.

Is it just me, or if you were on the Pacers team and had even the slightest inclination to hang-out with people that have broken the law, carry automatic weapons and other guns, or have warrants out for their arrest for drugs, or any other item; wouldn’t you stop for at least a split-second and think about it first? Morons!

Image Source: Another great cartoon by Gary Varvel

26
Nov

A Little Caricature Error

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Art, Conseco Fieldhouse, Indiana Pacers, Local Artists

One of the things my son and I were able to do at the Pacer’s game this weekend at Conseco Fieldhouse was get our caricature drawn. It was really cool because it was free. I’m not sure if they’re always free or not, but afterwards I noticed one reason it could have been free. I might have to get someone a prize for the first person to comment on why it could have been free.

I’m not sure if the artist, Josh Smart, would ever find this post, but if he does I’d like to tell him “Thank You” again.

Josh did a good job of capturing the essence of how we look. Luckily my son recently got a haircut. He  looks pretty darn close to that image. I guess the picture of me looks pretty good as well, for some reason though I think my face looks like Paul Giamatti.

Speaking of local artists, do you know anyone that would like some exposure? If so, just send me their name and contact information. If they already have a website that’s even better.

25
Nov

Me and Some Politicians Take In A Pacers Game

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Celebrities, Conseco Fieldhouse, Elected Officials, Government, Indiana Pacers, Indy Pro Athletes, People, Politics

A friend of mine (thank you Aaron!) called me on Saturday to see if I were interested in going to an Indiana Pacer’s game. He had tickets and wasn’t able to go. He said they were really good tickets and I figured it would be a good early birthday gift for my son.

I have been an anti-Pacer’s fan ever since there continued run ins with the law and less than common sense decision making.

I’ve got to say I’m pleased with their performance. They played the Dallas Mavericks and came out with a win. In the meantime, ending the Mav’s 5-game winning streak as well. I’ve got to say it’s a whole new team as well, at least from my memory. The vast majority of the players are new to me, the only names I really recognized as being around for awhile were: Tinsley, O’Neal (didn’t play) and Jeff Foster.

I’m not ready to go buy season tickets yet, but I’m pleased to say that my earlier opinion of the Pacers may be melting a bit. They looked good at the game and played well as a team. Hopefully Coach O’Brien will be just what the doctor ordered and get some discipline and restraint for our team and players.

The only person not showing some restraint at the game was Mav’s coach, Avery Johnson. He slightly disagreed with the Ref Salvatore on a call. He actually went after him, chased him down the floor to give him some more suggestions on how he should call the game. That got him ejected. Buh-bye.

There were also a number of big names in attendance, continue reading to see the photos of the people in attendance.

Read the rest of this entry »

25
Oct

Indianapolis Wooing USA Basketball for New Headquarters Home

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Business, Elected Officials, Government, Indiana Pacers, Indy Pro Athletes, News, Sports

Indianapolis continues to build on it’s premiere status as a central location for a variety of sports and sports related companies.

A press release issued by USA Basketball today announces that they have requested RFP’s from any city interested in becoming the new headquarters for their executive offices and training facilities from Colorado Springs.

The relocation process reflects the desire of USA Basketball to consolidate its executive and training operations into a single, state-of-the-art location. Currently, USA Basketball’s executive offices are headquartered in Colorado Springs, and it trains its teams at the United States Olympic Committee’s training center, also in Colorado Springs, and various other venues around the United States.

To date, more than 20 cities have expressed interest in participating in the process and have received USA Basketball’s RFP. In concert with its host community, USA Basketball is seeking to establish a focal point for excellence in the sport of basketball and the values the organization prizes in its players and teams: leadership, teamwork, sportsmanship and a sense of national pride. USA Basketball will promote its presence in the host community on a year-round basis by staging a wide variety of signature competitions and festivals, exhibition games, instructional programs, clinics, skills camps and community outreach programs.

The story in IBJ states that Indiana Sports Corp informed the IBJ that Indianapolis city officials are interested in pursuing this opportunity to compete for the headquarters of USA Basketball.

City officials said having the locally-based NCAA and National Federation of State High School Associations-both key USA Basketball members-and the Indiana Pacers makes Indianapolis an ideal home for the headquarters.

If I were Indianapolis, I don’t know if I’d make too many mentions of the Pacer’s right now, it might do more damage than good. I did hear an interesting proposal earlier this week about the Pacer’s organization though. I wonder how things would turn around if Bill Polian and Tony Dungy took over for a couple of seasons.

08
Oct

Big Changes for WIBC 1070

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Brickyard 400, Business, Indiana Fever, Indiana Pacers, Indianapolis Colts, Indianapolis Golf, Indianapolis Indians, Indy 500, News, Sports, US Grand Prix - F1

I’ve been a listener to WIBC’s afternoon drive with Dave “The King” Wilson, Joe Staysniak and Matt Hibblen since back to 1998 or so when I first moved to Indianapolis.

An announcement today says that Emmis Communications, the parent company of WIBC is moving WIBC 1070AM to an all-sports format and changing their WNOU 93.1 FM station all-talk. The new station will be called WIBC-FM. During the transition 93.1 will begin playing Christmas music from now through Christmas.

In one of the biggest local radio station format shake-ups in recent years, Emmis Communications Corp. announced today that WIBC-AM 1070 will become an all-sports station. The station will be an affiliate of ESPN Radio.

Meanwhile, the company’s rock and hip-hop station, WNOU-FM 93.1, will change to a news-talk format, a rarity on the local FM dial.

WNOU now will be called WIBC-FM. It essentially will air the same news and talk programming that had been on WIBC-AM 1070.

The move was launched at noon today with WNOU becoming all-Christmas through December. Emmis officials said they launched “93 Days of Christmas” as a transition period.

I’ll be interested in hearing what everyone has to say about the change on the drive home today.

13
Sep

The Pacers On the Defense….stand.

Author: Jason Bean, Category: General, Indiana Pacers, Indy Pro Athletes

Gary Varvel of the Indianapolis Star had this editorial cartoon today. Very fitting, very fitting.

If you haven’t kept up to date with Gary’s work, you’ve got to check-out his blog on the IndyStar site.

13
Sep

The Pacers Are Starting to Look Like the Bengals

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Indiana Pacers, Indy Pro Athletes, News

I’m sorry, but can we get any more stupid players on the Indiana Pacers roster?

If you haven’t heard, Pacer’s forward Shawne Williams was arrested earlier this week for an illegal lane change, and an expired out-of-state license plate. Oddly enough, the plate was from Tennessee, which makes me wonder if he borrowed the car from “Pacman” Jones.

Williams was charged with marijuana possession, not having a driver’s license, expired license plates and failure to signal for a lane change.

First let me say that I change lanes without signaling on a frequent basis, if there are cars around I’ll signal. The big difference is, I’m not walking “pin the tail on the jackass” professional athlete on a team that’s already in the headlines for far too much news not related to basketball games and stats.

On top of all of that, one of his passengers has a stolen 9mm handgun in the car with him.

Williams also said he didn’t realize there was marijuana in the car. Uh-huh, yeah! Moron! The police saw it in the ash tray from the window and you can’t smell it?

For once I actually liked what someone in the Pacer’s organization had to say:

“We are extremely disappointed concerning the arrest of Shawne Williams early this morning,” Bird said in a release. “Although the legal process needs to be followed, we will not accept Shawne putting himself in this position, regardless of innocence or guilt. We as an organization in general and our players in particular have to take into consideration our accountability to our fans in our decision-making.

The sad news is that with the player’s union, I really wonder how much can be done to him. If it were my team and I called the shots my statement to my players would be the following:

“If I see your name in the news or newspaper for something other than a game stat or a photo-opp of you helping a local charity, you’re done!”

For the immediate time being, I wouldn’t have a zero-tolerance policy, I’d have a negative-tolerance policy. I’d better see my players in the community off-setting the bad publicity with an overwhelming amount of good publicity.

Let’s review:

If you’re going to hang-out with losers. Learn how to drive and what it means to drive legally. Otherwise, change your vanity plate to something like “ID10T

Source: Pacers’ Williams faces 4 charges
Image Source: NBADraft.net

14
Aug

All-Indy Pass

Author: Jason Bean, Category: Art, Business, Childrens Museum, Colleges, Concerts, Dining, General, Indiana Fever, Indiana Pacers, Indianapolis Indians, Indianapolis Zoo, Special Events, State Fair, Theater, Things To Do in Indy

My wife and I have been wondering lately why Indianapolis doesn’t have a citywide pass that would get you into a variety of attractions for a single, annual fee.

We’re members of the Indianapolis Zoo, The Indianapolis Children’s Museum already and would be interested in buying a membership to NCAA Hall of Champions, Indiana State Museum, Connor Prairie, Eagle Creek Park, etc.

There are loads of different events that happen across the city on a regular basis, it seems like an Indy City Pass would be a great idea for somebody to implement. You could even incorporate restaurant discounts, free parking and similar items.

Even thinking about it a little bit more, it would be great to be able to choose one game to attend for each sports team: Pacers, Colts, Indians, Fever, Ice and maybe even local college sporting events.