Things NOT Overheard at Tonight’s Pacers’ Game

1. Wow, those Wizards unis are sharp.
2. Tinsley town? That sounds like a great place for kids!
3. I love Troy Murphy’s game.
4. Man, this place is electric tonight!
5. 8 bucks for a basket of chicken strips? What a steal!
6. Have you logged onto Feverbasketball.com recently?
7. Where can I get a David Harrison jersey?
8. Why haven’t they retired Stipos number?
9. What this game really needs is a crazy fan to run onto the court!
10. I love this team!

Seriously, folks. It was depressing tonight. I know I’ve been out of the country for awhile, but who killed my team while I was gone?

A. Ron Artest
B. Jamaal Tinsley
C. Peyton Manning

The thing about going to games when Reggie was playing, is that every time he touched the ball it was an event. In the 90s, when I first started going on my own with my friends in high school, MSA was jumping. The team was good, and the crowd was loud. Even after the peak years, we had all seen Reggie do so many great things that it was an honor to be watching him. Every three, every layup reminded us of the night he lit up the Garden, shocked the Bulls, or tried to will us home against New Jersey. This was my first post-Reggie Pacers’ game (again, I’ve been gone for three years, so cut me some slack), and the house was dead. Demond, official 18to88 brother-in-law Dontrell, and I spent the first half hour mocking nearly everything. Especially Troy Murphy. Why is he playing over Jeff Foster? He had one of the ugliest near double-doubles ever. He’s like Rik Smits if Rik had sucked. It was either mock everything or give into the depression of seeing a half full house pull for a seriously flawed team beating down a bunch of guys in fracking pajamas (for reasons I don’t care to go into, we’ve been watching Battlestar Galactica. You already knew I was geek, don’t dwell on it now). Still there were good things:

1. Danny Granger, um, build around this guy
2. Kareem Rush is seriously close to being dependable
3. Mike Dunleavy plays really hard despite being burdened with an extra vowel.
4. JO acts like he really cares about winning.

Oh, and the trivia question answer? It’s C. Peyton Manning and the Colts have made it impossible for Indy fans to accept anything less than a title contender who stays out of the headlines. 42-40 won’t cut here anymore the way it would have back in 1988.

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