History is repeating itself

Let's get right to the point: The Pacers make me sick. They make me want to drive my car off of a burning bridge without a life vest while having my eyes poked out by midget Mongolians.

If you haven't noticed, the Pacers have been blowing more leads than a rookie detective. Another one happened last night in Dallas as we blew a seven-point with under three minutes to go. Disgusting.

Now the ol' Blue and Gold have a 5-8 record and currently sit 13th in the Eastern Conference (that's out of 15 teams, which by the way brings up the interesting point of the how the balance of depth has shifted from the West to the East, the Pacers would currently be 10th in the West). Anyways, as I drove from the airport yesterday, I searched my inner self to find some sort of consolation in this terrible start to the season. At last...I found it.

I thought back to my preseason comparison of the 08-09 Pacers to the 93-94 Pacers (I never wrote this despite spending countless hours in my Middle English class thinking about it). I put off the comparison because Bo's comparison to Major League seemingly fit so well. But now with the team spiriling towards the depths of a Harrowing Hell (see! I did pay attention during a five-minute stretch in that class) I needed to conjure up that comparison again.

A quick look at the Pacers media guide revealed a striking revelation. The 93-94 Pacers started the season with...wait for it...wait for it...ok...keep going...here it is...a 5-8 record. Yeah, crazy. I know. So here comes my argument of how the 08-09 Pacers will rebound from this atrocious start and come 30 seconds shy of being Eastern Conference champions.

The Coach
Both teams have old white guys as coaches as the 93-94 team (now called "Reggie's team") had Larry Brown and the 08-09 team (now called "Who's team?") has Jim O'Brien. Neither coach had a problem calling players out and telling the media that the team sucks. Also, they're both white.

The Star Factor
Heading into the 1993 season, Reggie Miller was NOT yet the franchise player of this team. In fact, according to Conrad Brunner's book Boom Baby, Brown called Miller and former Sixth Man of the Year winner (twice baby) Detlef Schrempf into his office and tried to decide which one he wanted to be the leader of the team and which one to trade. He decided to trade Schrempf right when the season started. Miller averaged 21 ppg the season before and Schrempf averaged 19. Now, Miller had been an All-Star once already, but according to Brunner he was always being called out for "disappearing in the fourth quarter." Brown challenged Reggie to be a leader that season (a role that had been Chuck Person's before he was traded in 1992). Sound familiar?

The "Who's team?" was called out during the offseason by O'Brien saying the team had no leader. Danny Granger seemed like the logical choice to step into that role. Granger (20 ppg) and Mike Dunleavy (19 ppg) shared that role last season, but Dunleavy's lingering injury that has him out indefinitely has put the cabash on him contributing (kind of like being traded...yeah you're getting it). So Granger, who is being criticized for not showing up the fourth and keeping the team from blowing these leads, is in a familar role that Reggie was that season.

The other players
There's some other glaring similarities between players and some glaring differences as well. You've got Haywoode Woorkman look-a-like Jarret Jack; the poorman's Rik Smits in Rasho Nesterovic; the defensive-stopper Derrick McKey in Brandon "Wildthing" Rush. Obviously not every player can be matched up, but the key is that the 93-94 team had a lot of depth in role players and so does the 08-09 team, but that's only shown when O'Brien steps out of his 8-man rotation.

The season
The 93-94 team started the season 5-8. That you know. They would drop to 5-10 heading into a Dec. 7 game against Sacramento. Something big happened before that game, however, that is a HUGE difference between the teams: the signing of veteran Byron Scott. He would ultimately be the catalyst for them advancing out of the first round in team history, but his signing didn't initially boost the team. The Pacers stumbled in January with a 10-16 record while riding a five-game losing streak. Another five-game losing streak ended January with a 16-23 record.

Then Feburary happened. The team lost two games during the entire month to start March with a 29-25 record. So there's your difference. What happened in Feburary? I thought you'd never ask.

Brunner writes that Brown entered Feburary planning out how the team would change in the offseason and he was scouting players for their certain lottery pick. "I thought maybe this would be a blessing. We'll take a step back, get a real good draft pick, and then - boom - be ready to take off," Brown said. The big 3 that season were Miller, Smits and McKey. Smits had been a bust up to that season (a No. 2 draft pick wasted) and then he came alive along with the other two (McKey was picked up in the Schrempf trade). Also, the Davis boys came alive. Dale Davis finally stepped into a dominating role as a bruiser at power forward and Antonio Davis (an unknown 2nd round pick who played two years in Europe) became the team's seventh-man (behind Scott) to provide a powerful punch with Double D.

That team would go on to roll off eight-straight wins heading into the postseason; finish wiht a 47-35 record; sweep Shaq's No. 4 Magic in the first round; trounce the No. 1 Hawks in the second round; and then come up short in a controversial game seven against the Knicks.

The differences
1. Point guards: This year's team has by far and away better point guards than the 93-94 team. It was their achilles heel. Pooh Richardson started the season but was benched for Workman who just wasn't meant to be a starter. That offseason, the Pacers would acquire Mark Jackson. The 08-09 team has T.J. Ford, Jarret Jack, Travis Diener and Jamaal Tinsley in a back room somewhere. So that's good for the 08-09 team.

2. The Davis boys: The 08-09 team is seriously lacking players like the Davis boys. Dale and Anotonio became vital as they played smash-mouth ball that could only be matched by the Knicks. This year's team has Troy Murphy at power forward. Big difference.

3. Byron Scott: The addition of Scott to that 93-94 team was critical. His leadership helped young Reggie step into his future persona. Brown reguarly turned to Scott for help on the team. Scott also hit the game-winning 3-pointer to win Game 1 against Orlando in the first round, and then he hit two free throws to help win Game 2. Scott is hard for the 08-09 team to duplicate.

4. The lowly Eastern Conference: They first year without Jordan helped the Pacers. No team was a shoo-in to win the conference and the fact that the Hawks won it shows how topsy-turvy it was. The Bulls and Knicks beat each other up in the semifinals, while the Pacers got the Hawks. That helped. This year's East has the defending NBA champs, the next MVP's Cavs and those damn Pistons. The East is about 20 times deeper than in 93-94.

5. Welcome to the spotlight Reggie Miller: The guy who shied away in the fourth would never do that again. He had such a good season that he ended up nabbing a roster spot on the '94 Dream Team. He also had some playoff heroics including scoring 11 straight poitns in the final quarter of Game Two against Orlando, then he had his monster 25 point fourth quarter outburst in Game Five at New York in the infamous "choke" game. Will Granger step up and actually be useful in the fourth quarter? On Tuesday night, Granger shot an extremely contested jumper on one possession and then charged on the next when the Pacers needed a desperate score to stay alive in the final minutes. O'Brien said they ran iso plays for Granger in the situation. It failed miserably.

Although I'd love to convince myself that the 08-09 Pacers are the second coming of the 93-94 Pacers, I'm afraid I just can't believe it. The old Pacers had been to the playoffs the four previous years. The new Pacers haven't been in three years. The old Pacers had what turned out to be the best clutch shooter in NBA history. We don't know what this team has on it.

If Dunleavy gets back (which I'm thinking won't be until at least mid-to-late January), maybe he sparks a run in the team and we sneak in the bottom of the playoffs. Maybe Bird makes some moves at the trade deadline. Whatever the answer is, it needs to happen soon.

Otherwise I'll be forced to watch IU and that's not good for anybody.

Hello, Mr. Radio
Triple H had a tough time figuring out if Eve Torres' new pearl necklace was fake or real. I'm guessing they're fake.

Mrs. Thug Mrs.
Here's a little something on yer boi Dawson being on One Tree Hill.

Info for Bo
This whole blog should be enough for you, but here's more info on another Dunkin robbery. Seriously, is Dunkin more loaded than a bank? I've never heard of so many places being robbed at gun point, knife point and sword point.

You tube...no you're a tube
Ladies and Gentleman...your 93-94 Indiana Pacers (tune to the 8:15 mark for Reggie and Haywoode's awesome dance)



Also, here's Game Five (although it says Game 4) of the Eastern Conference Finals (5:26 is best part)

Boxers...not briefs

2 minutes...2-ah
Pacers are officially on a nice 2-game skid now after drowning in turnover heaven in losses to Philly and Chi-town this weekend. After winning three-straight, it looked like the team had a turned a corner, but suddenly we're playing like we did last year with lackluster shooting and terrible ball control. Here's hoping we can beat up on those high-charging Hawks on Tuesday. Luckily I didn't witness the Bulls game cuz I was attending a high school play in which the Mrs. Thug Mrs.'s (I really have no idea how to puncuate this...is there an English teacher in the house? Oh yeah, that's gonna be me..oops) brother was playing Schroeder in the Life of Charlie Brown. Definitely recommend this play if a high school near you puts it on. Funny stuff.

It's Beetles...with an A
The 'Carnival of Light' has long been awaited by Beatles fans. A song that was recorded at the beginning of the Sgt. Pepper sessions is only owned by Paul, and he's thinking about finally releasing it. It's supposed to be a crazy 14-minute experimental track so here's hoping Yoko signs off on releasing it.

Ma! I can read a photo/Hello, Mr. Radio
This is what photography is all about. Taking normal, good things and twisting them so it's too your own advantage so you can dominate the world and make money. It just so happens that this twisted photoshopped photo is probably what Tom thinks of his job.

Info for Bo
This is the most important entry I've given you. So after discussing whether your employer has stock or not, I check the thing called the Internets and I found out that indeed Dunkin Donuts does have stock. According to Forbes.com, your company is owned by U.K. based Allied Domecq PLC and it's traded on the NYSE under the symbol AED. So from here on out, we'll be posting your little stock score here as well. AED is currently selling at $9.30 share, and it finished up 30 cents (or 3.3%) on Friday. So your store opening should be credited with boosting the store's stock prices. Congrats.

Now don't get too excited about Dunkin. An entire town is trying to stop from Dunkin opening a store in its community. The great town of Weston thinks the new Dunkin will destroy public safety and wetlands. This just makes me sick. I don't know how you can sleep at night.

You tube...no, you're a tube
Ever wonder what it was like to visit your photography-major roommate's family during college? This pretty much explains everything.

Hello Sideshow Bob

Thank God for Robert Swift.

I have had absolutely nothing to blog about this past week. Presidential election? Nah, leave that to the illusionists at CNN. I needed something closer to home and more extraordinary. So, luckily, I found the NBA's version of Sideshow Bob at the Reggie Miller Fieldhouse on Monday night. Enter Oklahoma City's Robert Swift.

I know what you're thinking. When the hell did Oklahoma City get a basketball team? Well boys and girls, that's the former Sonics of Seattle. Your next question probably has something to do with 'Isn't Swift a former lottery pick from the 2004 draft after he skipped college to turn pro before 1-and-done college rule and also didn't he have a verbal committment with Mike Davis at IU?' Geezus, you know your basketball.

Yes, according to Dan Dakich on his radio show yesterday, Mr. Robert Swift verball committed to IU back in the day (but he was actually offered a scholarship by USC, according to wikipedia which is much more reliable than Dakich), but then he turned pro and the 7-foot-1 center was drafted by the Sonics with the 12th pick of the 2004 draft. The Sonics could have taken Al Jefferson, Josh Smith (the one on the 6-0 Atlanta Hawks) or Kevin Martin, but Swift was the Sonics man to lead them in the new century. Instead, Swift helped move the team out of Seattle by playing so poorly. [Interesting tidbit: He missed the entire 2006 season after tearing his ACL in the first minute of the first preseason game that year. He was supposed to be the starting center.]

Anyways, this dude showed up at the Pacer game the other night and he was C-R-A-Z-Y looking for an NBA dude. When Sideshow checked in for the first time, Bo and I immediately and simultaneously said "Who the hell is this guy?" We were already confused by half the roster that the Thunder put on the court and then in walked a tatooted, black-painted nails, big hair, skinny white dude. Well the Pacers were playing so poorly in the first half that he played 12 minutes and scored nine points. He was suddenly the real deal, and possibly my new favorite player.

For being a tall, underachieving, creepy-looking, pasty white dude, Sideshow has some skillz. Unfortunately for him and his Thunder teammates, however, that did not translate to a win over the Pacers. But Swift definitely earned my respect for not caring how ridiculous he looks on the court (Dakich said he had tattoos on his knuckles and in between his fingers as well). I would think though that he at least played a part in the one-and-done college rule instituted by the NBA after he turned pro in 2004. Somebody had to have handed the Commish/Godfather David Stern this side-by-side photo of Swift "out of high school" and Sideshow "fucked-up looking NBA player" and Stern probably wrote the rule and passed it immediately.

I Me Mine
This segment is dedicated to other Sean Stevenson's in the world who somehow land in my news alerts. This guy just dominated his football game. He scored a 25-yard draw play to help his team gain a 21-18 lead in the Class 5A playoffs. Unfortunately his team lost on a last-second touchdown and now Sean is living my life by sitting at home as a loser. Way to bring celebrity and greatness to our name!

Hello Mr. Radio
She's just fun to look at. Enjoy.

My Sox are White/Info for Bo
This guy got a gander at the first two episodes of Scrubs Season 8 (season 7 just arrived on DVD, which will be the climax of my trip to Best Buy later today). Sounds like the season could be shaping up to be one of the best.

Mrs. Thug Mrs.
Long story here about Lauren, the end of the Hills, start of the City and how Lauren has dating abuse.

Dentist! We need a dentist STAT!!

What a game last night!

Ever season home-opener should be like the one that was on display at Reggie Miller Fieldhouse last evening. The reigning NBA champs rolled into town and they got a spanking similar to the one that Blockbuster puts on Family Video on a daily basis (that two shots at the youngest Philippsen boy). Besides the 95-79 win for the Pacers, the atmosphere at the Fieldhouse was incredible. I noticed several differences from this year's preseason and the previous three years.

1) There were people there...like, real people. It was amazing. The Mrs. Thug Mrs. and I found our season ticket seats with about 40 minutes before tip-off and the place was about 3/4 full.

2) The opening montage finally is back to normal. No more gospel-singing choir, no Thunderstruck (which was good), it's got the new guys being montaged (MONTAGE!) with old footage of better times from Pacer history.

3) Boomer came down on his rope from the rafters for the first time since that wrestler died several years ago. This used to be a staple thing at every game and it was always sweet seeing a large cat propelling down onto the court just before the starting lineup is announced. I'm glad to see Boomer back in rare form.

4) The crowd cheered. Yeah, that was crazy too. From the Star-Spangled Banner to the final buzzer, it was a playoff crowd. I told the Mrs. that if we could just keep it close, she would finally enjoy a playoff game. And it happened. Danny Granger, who celebrated a contract extension on Friday, lit up the Celts in the first quarter and we never looked back.

5) D-FENCE. This team played defense for the first time since Nov. 19, 2004. They deflected balls better than a lesbian being hit on by Tom at the bar.

6) Granger bit the floor. Literally. He bit it and he lost his two front teeth. We're up 16 in the fourth quarter and effin Paul Pierce squashes Granger when he knocks that ball loose from Pierce's hands and they go diving to the floor. No one in the stands had any idea Granger lost his teeth because he just got up, ran to the locker room and was back on the court before the end of the injury time-out. Gutsy move for a guy who just signed for $60 million the day before. Anyways, I traded in my old Jermaine O'Neal gold jersey for a brand spankin new gold Granger jersey (love this promotion...you trade in an old jersey of a former player and get 30 percent off of any new jersey...say goodbye to my JO, Stephen Jackson, Jasikivious and Fred Jones jerseys and say hello to Roy Hibbert, Brandon Rush, T.J. Ford, Jarrett Jack, Travis Diener, Jeff Foster, Mike Dunleavy, Troy Murphy, Maceo Baston, Stephen Graham and Rasho Nesterovic jerseys!)

Anyways, for a team trying to win back the fans of Indiana, this was a good starting point. We got Phoenix at home on Wednesday, so we'll see if the energy will continue and we go 81-1 on the season or if this was just a one-time fluke and we go 1-81. I could see it going either way.