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The Rules of Pacers Digest

Hello everyone,

Whether your are a long standing forum member or whether you have just registered today, it's a good idea to read and review the rules below so that you have a very good idea of what to expect when you come to Pacers Digest.

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Why do we do this? So that it's more difficult for spammers (be they human or robot) to post, and so users who are banned cannot immediately re-register and start dousing people with verbal flames.

Below are the rules of Pacers Digest. After you have read them, you will have a very good sense of where we are coming from, what we expect, what we don't want to see, and how we react to things.

Rule #1

Pacers Digest is intended to be a place to discuss basketball without having to deal with the kinds of behaviors or attitudes that distract people from sticking with the discussion of the topics at hand. These unwanted distractions can come in many forms, and admittedly it can sometimes be tricky to pin down each and every kind that can rear its ugly head, but we feel that the following examples and explanations cover at least a good portion of that ground and should at least give people a pretty good idea of the kinds of things we actively discourage:

"Anyone who __________ is a liar / a fool / an idiot / a blind homer / has their head buried in the sand / a blind hater / doesn't know basketball / doesn't watch the games"

"People with intelligence will agree with me when I say that __________"

"Only stupid people think / believe / do ___________"

"I can't wait to hear something from PosterX when he/she sees that **insert a given incident or current event that will have probably upset or disappointed PosterX here**"

"He/she is just delusional"

"This thread is stupid / worthless / embarrassing"

"I'm going to take a moment to point and / laugh at PosterX / GroupOfPeopleY who thought / believed *insert though/belief here*"

"Remember when PosterX said OldCommentY that no longer looks good? "

In general, if a comment goes from purely on topic to something 'ad hominem' (personal jabs, personal shots, attacks, flames, however you want to call it, towards a person, or a group of people, or a given city/state/country of people), those are most likely going to be found intolerable.

We also dissuade passive aggressive behavior. This can be various things, but common examples include statements that are basically meant to imply someone is either stupid or otherwise incapable of holding a rational conversation. This can include (but is not limited to) laughing at someone's conclusions rather than offering an honest rebuttal, asking people what game they were watching, or another common problem is Poster X will say "that player isn't that bad" and then Poster Y will say something akin to "LOL you think that player is good". We're not going to tolerate those kinds of comments out of respect for the community at large and for the sake of trying to just have an honest conversation.

Now, does the above cover absolutely every single kind of distraction that is unwanted? Probably not, but you should by now have a good idea of the general types of things we will be discouraging. The above examples are meant to give you a good feel for / idea of what we're looking for. If something new or different than the above happens to come along and results in the same problem (that being, any other attitude or behavior that ultimately distracts from actually just discussing the topic at hand, or that is otherwise disrespectful to other posters), we can and we will take action to curb this as well, so please don't take this to mean that if you managed to technically avoid saying something exactly like one of the above examples that you are then somehow off the hook.

That all having been said, our goal is to do so in a generally kind and respectful way, and that doesn't mean the moment we see something we don't like that somebody is going to be suspended or banned, either. It just means that at the very least we will probably say something about it, quite possibly snipping out the distracting parts of the post in question while leaving alone the parts that are actually just discussing the topics, and in the event of a repeating or excessive problem, then we will start issuing infractions to try to further discourage further repeat problems, and if it just never seems to improve, then finally suspensions or bans will come into play. We would prefer it never went that far, and most of the time for most of our posters, it won't ever have to.

A slip up every once and a while is pretty normal, but, again, when it becomes repetitive or excessive, something will be done. Something occasional is probably going to be let go (within reason), but when it starts to become habitual or otherwise a pattern, odds are very good that we will step in.

There's always a small minority that like to push people's buttons and/or test their own boundaries with regards to the administrators, and in the case of someone acting like that, please be aware that this is not a court of law, but a private website run by people who are simply trying to do the right thing as they see it. If we feel that you are a special case that needs to be dealt with in an exceptional way because your behavior isn't explicitly mirroring one of our above examples of what we generally discourage, we can and we will take atypical action to prevent this from continuing if you are not cooperative with us.

Also please be aware that you will not be given a pass simply by claiming that you were 'only joking,' because quite honestly, when someone really is just joking, for one thing most people tend to pick up on the joke, including the person or group that is the target of the joke, and for another thing, in the event where an honest joke gets taken seriously and it upsets or angers someone, the person who is truly 'only joking' will quite commonly go out of his / her way to apologize and will try to mend fences. People who are dishonest about their statements being 'jokes' do not do so, and in turn that becomes a clear sign of what is really going on. It's nothing new.

In any case, quite frankly, the overall quality and health of the entire forum's community is more important than any one troublesome user will ever be, regardless of exactly how a problem is exhibiting itself, and if it comes down to us having to make a choice between you versus the greater health and happiness of the entire community, the community of this forum will win every time.

Lastly, there are also some posters, who are generally great contributors and do not otherwise cause any problems, who sometimes feel it's their place to provoke or to otherwise 'mess with' that small minority of people described in the last paragraph, and while we possibly might understand why you might feel you WANT to do something like that, the truth is we can't actually tolerate that kind of behavior from you any more than we can tolerate the behavior from them. So if we feel that you are trying to provoke those other posters into doing or saying something that will get themselves into trouble, then we will start to view you as a problem as well, because of the same reason as before: The overall health of the forum comes first, and trying to stir the pot with someone like that doesn't help, it just makes it worse. Some will simply disagree with this philosophy, but if so, then so be it because ultimately we have to do what we think is best so long as it's up to us.

If you see a problem that we haven't addressed, the best and most appropriate course for a forum member to take here is to look over to the left of the post in question. See underneath that poster's name, avatar, and other info, down where there's a little triangle with an exclamation point (!) in it? Click that. That allows you to report the post to the admins so we can definitely notice it and give it a look to see what we feel we should do about it. Beyond that, obviously it's human nature sometimes to want to speak up to the poster in question who has bothered you, but we would ask that you try to refrain from doing so because quite often what happens is two or more posters all start going back and forth about the original offending post, and suddenly the entire thread is off topic or otherwise derailed. So while the urge to police it yourself is understandable, it's best to just report it to us and let us handle it. Thank you!

All of the above is going to be subject to a case by case basis, but generally and broadly speaking, this should give everyone a pretty good idea of how things will typically / most often be handled.

Rule #2

If the actions of an administrator inspire you to make a comment, criticism, or express a concern about it, there is a wrong place and a couple of right places to do so.

The wrong place is to do so in the original thread in which the administrator took action. For example, if a post gets an infraction, or a post gets deleted, or a comment within a larger post gets clipped out, in a thread discussing Paul George, the wrong thing to do is to distract from the discussion of Paul George by adding your off topic thoughts on what the administrator did.

The right places to do so are:

A) Start a thread about the specific incident you want to talk about on the Feedback board. This way you are able to express yourself in an area that doesn't throw another thread off topic, and this way others can add their two cents as well if they wish, and additionally if there's something that needs to be said by the administrators, that is where they will respond to it.

B) Send a private message to the administrators, and they can respond to you that way.

If this is done the wrong way, those comments will be deleted, and if it's a repeating problem then it may also receive an infraction as well.

Rule #3

If a poster is bothering you, and an administrator has not or will not deal with that poster to the extent that you would prefer, you have a powerful tool at your disposal, one that has recently been upgraded and is now better than ever: The ability to ignore a user.

When you ignore a user, you will unfortunately still see some hints of their existence (nothing we can do about that), however, it does the following key things:

A) Any post they make will be completely invisible as you scroll through a thread.

B) The new addition to this feature: If someone QUOTES a user you are ignoring, you do not have to read who it was, or what that poster said, unless you go out of your way to click on a link to find out who it is and what they said.

To utilize this feature, from any page on Pacers Digest, scroll to the top of the page, look to the top right where it says 'Settings' and click that. From the settings page, look to the left side of the page where it says 'My Settings', and look down from there until you see 'Edit Ignore List' and click that. From here, it will say 'Add a Member to Your List...' Beneath that, click in the text box to the right of 'User Name', type in or copy & paste the username of the poster you are ignoring, and once their name is in the box, look over to the far right and click the 'Okay' button. All done!

Rule #4

Regarding infractions, currently they carry a value of one point each, and that point will expire in 31 days. If at any point a poster is carrying three points at the same time, that poster will be suspended until the oldest of the three points expires.

Rule #5

When you share or paste content or articles from another website, you must include the URL/link back to where you found it, who wrote it, and what website it's from. Said content will be removed if this doesn't happen.

An example:

If I copy and paste an article from the Indianapolis Star website, I would post something like this:

http://www.linktothearticlegoeshere.com/article
Title of the Article
Author's Name
Indianapolis Star

Rule #6

We cannot tolerate illegal videos on Pacers Digest. This means do not share any links to them, do not mention any websites that host them or link to them, do not describe how to find them in any way, and do not ask about them. Posts doing anything of the sort will be removed, the offenders will be contacted privately, and if the problem becomes habitual, you will be suspended, and if it still persists, you will probably be banned.

The legal means of watching or listening to NBA games are NBA League Pass Broadband (for US, or for International; both cost money) and NBA Audio League Pass (which is free). Look for them on NBA.com.

Rule #7

Provocative statements in a signature, or as an avatar, or as the 'tagline' beneath a poster's username (where it says 'Member' or 'Administrator' by default, if it is not altered) are an unwanted distraction that will more than likely be removed on sight. There can be shades of gray to this, but in general this could be something political or religious that is likely going to provoke or upset people, or otherwise something that is mean-spirited at the expense of a poster, a group of people, or a population.

It may or may not go without saying, but this goes for threads and posts as well, particularly when it's not made on the off-topic board (Market Square).

We do make exceptions if we feel the content is both innocuous and unlikely to cause social problems on the forum (such as wishing someone a Merry Christmas or a Happy Easter), and we also also make exceptions if such topics come up with regards to a sports figure (such as the Lance Stephenson situation bringing up discussions of domestic abuse and the law, or when Jason Collins came out as gay and how that lead to some discussion about gay rights).

However, once the discussion seems to be more/mostly about the political issues instead of the sports figure or his specific situation, the thread is usually closed.

Rule #8

We prefer self-restraint and/or modesty when making jokes or off topic comments in a sports discussion thread. They can be fun, but sometimes they derail or distract from a topic, and we don't want to see that happen. If we feel it is a problem, we will either delete or move those posts from the thread.

Rule #9

Generally speaking, we try to be a "PG-13" rated board, and we don't want to see sexual content or similarly suggestive content. Vulgarity is a more muddled issue, though again we prefer things to lean more towards "PG-13" than "R". If we feel things have gone too far, we will step in.

Rule #10

We like small signatures, not big signatures. The bigger the signature, the more likely it is an annoying or distracting signature.

Rule #11

Do not advertise anything without talking about it with the administrators first. This includes advertising with your signature, with your avatar, through private messaging, and/or by making a thread or post.
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The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

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  • #16
    Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

    Can't wait to see what you guys have in store for the opener. By the way.... I thought the folks in G2 out did the old faithful in Area55 during pre-season.
    You know how hippos are made out to be sweet and silly, like big cows, but are actually extremely dangerous and can kill you with stunning brutality? The Pacers are the NBA's hippos....Matt Moore CBS Sports....

    Comment


    • #17
      Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

      But of course, look who was brought over from Area55 to the G2Zone... they sent a lot of the good season 2 rookies over...
      "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

      "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

      Comment


      • #18
        Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

        not able to get in area55 but scott roosa has a ticket up for grabs $20 you can find him on twitter @Reggie_For_3
        If games are won and lost on a calculator and piece of paper, then why do we bother to play them?

        @LetsTalkPacers

        Comment


        • #19
          Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

          Rookie Area 55er here. I didnt try out for Area 55 or G2, but I decided to buy a season ticket. I couldnt decide which section I wanted to sit in. It was a tough decision, but I eventually decided to sit in Area 55. I will be at most, if not all of the games, and I am looking forward to the season! I had already bought 4 tickets to the home opener to take my son and my parents before I decided to buy into Area 55. So if anyone is interested in buying my ticket, let me know.

          Comment


          • #20
            Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

            Me and the wifey just finished making some new Big Heads for the groups, and they are ready to rock!

            Comment


            • #21
              Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

              AREA 55 NEWS YOU CAN TAKE TO THE BANK!

              Salutations 55ers!

              Tonight the 1-1 Pacers return to Indy for their home opener against the Sacramento Kings. It’s a “gold out” night and the Suits will be turning BLF yellow with a T-Shirt giveaway to what is supposed to be a sellout crowd. In case you missed it, Roy’s instructions to us were as follows:

              “I want @PacersArea55 packed on Saturday & I have a couple tix left. You have to be loud. Sign up at http://on.nba.com/YwQBOC

              Beating the Kings won’t be easy. Our Pacers are banged up. Danny Granger is on “indefinite” status with a bum knee. George Hill is playing through pain with a hip pointer. Sam Young may be out with a severely bruised shoulder picked up in last night’s loss to Charlotte. Gerald Green has been struggling in his new role as a starter.

              Over the past two road games, the Pacers have looked strong at times and sloppy at others. Turnovers, spotty free throw shooting, and defensive rebounding have been particular problems that need to be corrected.

              For their part, all the Royalty from Sacramento aren’t exactly slouches and tonight’s game isn’t exactly a “gimme.” The Kings’ roster includes the likes of 6’ 11” 270 lb. center DeMarcus Cousins and flashy guard Tyreke Evans. From a historical standpoint, Cousins, particularly, has given the Pacers fits. Area 55’s mission tonight, from a chanting perspective, is to help Roy neuter him.

              Last night neither Cousins nor Evans showed up and the 0-2 Kings found a way to lose a road game to a Minnesota Timberwolves team that was playing without Kevin Love and Ricky Rubio. Wolves guard J.J. Barea was the difference maker, torching the Kings with a game-high 21 points, 5 assists and 4 rebounds in 27 minutes off the bench. Sacramento didn't have an answer for him all night.

              Cousins (more on him below) had an awful game, garnering just 11 points and 4 rebounds in 25 foul-plagued minutes of action. Reports have it that he was thoroughly outplayed by the Wolves’ normally lackluster backup center, Greg Stiesma, who hounded him defensively all game. Evans, who had 21 points and 8 rebounds in Sacramento's opening road loss to the Bulls, finished with only 6 points on 3-for-14 shooting. When Cousins and Evans play like that, the Kings lose. Pacers take heed.

              PTO! For those Area 55 rookies (and their camp followers) that have yet to experience the surrealistic weirdness of the Pacers Tailgating Organization, tonight’s your big chance. PTO founder and self-anointed President for life Aaron “Brickyard” Coleman advises me that the festivities will be kicking off, as usual, in an as yet to be designated parking lot at an as yet to be designated time. This temporal and spatial vagueness is in keeping with PTO’s beer-inspired, not-to-be-missed carnival ambience and shaky leadership. Coleman, of late, has been attending school and has been more absorbed with abstruse trigonometry problems than professional basketball. As a consequence, PTO’s day-to-day organization and bratwurst roasting responsibilities have basically devolved to its second-in-command, Casey O’Brien, PTO’s VP and General Manager. O’Brien is a convicted arsonist whose managerial skills stem largely from prison correspondence courses and unsuccessful efforts to organize mass escapes.

              Generally the PTO convenes at around 4:00 PM and congregates in the cheapest parking lot we can find within hailing distance of the Arby’s located at the South East corner of Pennsylvania and South Streets. Ordinarily G2 Zone member Bill “Sandman” Manlove shows up first, locates the cheapest place to park and starts sending out admonitory tweets to give location heads ups to would-be PTO attendees. Manlove’s Twitter handle is THE PACER MANIAC @ TheSandman21. It’s a good idea to "Follow" him on Twitter for up-to-the-minute dope on where the PTO and parking is apt to be. If you show up early (the real weirdness usually starts around 5:30 PM for 7:00 PM games) you can park your chariot for $5.00 at a lot next to the Subway on the south side of South Street.

              It’s usually best to bring your own beer to the PTO unless you’re an aficionado of Hobert Montgomery’s Pabst Blue Ribbon. Food is a sometime thing. Sometimes it’s there and sometimes it isn’t. So bring that too if you're inclined to stuff your maw pre-game. It’s often cheaper to dine at the PTO than to blow your kids’ allowances on the tasty, but pricey, comestibles served at the trendy Blue Flame Grill (which is located behind Section 101) once you get inside BLF.

              Coat and tie are optional at the PTO. In fact, often clothing is optional. Many PTO attendees, after drinking enough PBR, morph into nudists – usually of the male, full-frontal Roncalli High School variety. Those of you who might be offended by the sight of painted and exposed male nipples, be forewarned!

              The PTO is a good place to strategize, find out what the latest chanting ideas are, and generally get to know your Area 55 and G2Zone peers. To the extent anything really every gets decided in Area 55, it usually happens at the PTO.

              AND NOW A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THE SACRAMENTO KINGS!

              How Royalty Came to Sacramento! The Kings trace their origins to a local semi-professional team based in Rochester, New York in the early 1920s (making them one of the oldest pro basketball clubs continually in existence). The team joined the National Basketball League (NBL) in 1945 as the Rochester Royals. The Royals defected to the NBL's rival, the Basketball Association of America, in 1948. In 1949, as a result of a merger between the NBL and BAA, the Royals became members of the newly formed NBA. Though the Royals were often successful on the court, they had trouble turning a profit in the comparatively small market of Rochester, and relocated to Cincinnati, Ohio in 1957, becoming the Cincinnati Royals. In 1972, the team relocated to Kansas City, Missouri, initially splitting its games between Kansas City and Omaha, Nebraska, and taking up the name Kansas City Kings. The team again failed to find success in the lucrative big time Omaha-KC market, and moved to their present kingly realm -- Sacramento -- in 1985. The Kings have been there, shakily, ever since.

              Meet the Maloofs! For the last 13 years, the Kings have been owned by the Maloof family. If you want to get to know them on a first name basis, all you have to do is go the Kings’ Official Website and click the “Maloofs” box. I’ve saved you curious types the trouble. It’s here:

              http://tinyurl.com/cx9lr7y

              If you took the trouble, you now know Joe, Gavin, Coleen, George, Adrienne, and Phil. From their adulatory, self-written bios, you might also now feel a little like you’re on Walton Mountain. Unfortunately, there’s more to this rosy portrait of a happy family than meets the eye.

              On February 19, 2011, NBA commissioner David Stern admitted that the Maloofs had been talking with officials in Anaheim, California about relocation. It was later found that the Maloofs had gone as far as filing for a trademark on the name "Anaheim Royals", among others. The Maloofs prepared to make their case for relocation in an NBA Board meeting in New York, in what many expected to simply be a formality.

              However, in a surprise announcement, Sacramento Mayor and former NBA star Kevin Johnson announced during a presentation to the NBA that Ron Burkle, a billionaire associate of former United States President Bill Clinton wanted to buy the Kings and keep them in Sacramento. Johnson also pledged some $10 million from local businesses as a show of support from keeping the Kings right where they were. As a result, the Maloofs were pressured into temporarily withdrawing their Anaheim plans and the Kings remained in Sacramento for the 2011-12 NBA season. The Maloofs, however, indicated they intended to move to Anaheim for 2012-2013 unless the city of Sacramento built (Surprise!) a new arena. The city had plans for an arena and awaited a 100-day analysis of funding options for the arena.

              On February 27, 2012 the Maloofs, the city, and the NBA came to a tentative deal on the construction of a $387 Million in downtown Sacramento. Per the deal, the city was to pony up more than $250 Million (raised by leasing city-owned parking lots to a private company). For their part, the Maloofs were to contribute $75 million up-front, as well as money from the sale of the old Kings venue – the colorfully named “Sleep Train Arena.” In addition they were to pay a 5% surcharge on ticket sales to generate another $75 Million through the span of the deal. Arena operator AEG was to contribute another 60 million up-front for the right to operate the arena. With this agreement, it was expected that the Kings would play in their new arena as early as 2015.

              Amid great fanfare, the outline of the deal was approved by the city council on March 7, 2012. On April 13, 2012, the Maloof family backed out of the deal. Since then, all has been speculation. The current rumor is that the Maloofs are broke and that’s why they pulled out of the deal.

              The Maloofs persist in telling everyone who asks that they are still flush with assets and are liquid enough to run the Kings and make them competitive. However, the Kings have been at the salary floor -- that is, at the lowest legal salary a team can carry as assigned by NBA rules -- for the past two seasons. To boot, the Maloofs have in their employ one of the lowest-paid general managers, one of the thinnest basketball operations departments and one of the lowest-paid coaches (Former IU star, Keith Smart) in the entire league. In July, the Kings (who then had just 11 players under contract), sold their No. 36 pick to the Pacers for cash. Generally, teams that sell picks for cash either (1) have too many players under contract or (2) are bumping up against the luxury tax line or (3) have owners who are broke.

              The ongoing “Sacramento or Anaheim” saga for the Kings thus continues.

              Meet DeMarcus Cousins – Mr. Misunderstood! DeMarcus Cousins is a troubled man. Nobody really understands him. Consequently, he presently ornaments his lengthy right calf with a lengthy “Misunderstood ?” tattoo. You can buy into the general misunderstanding by viewing it right here!

              http://tinyurl.com/cbhy9gb

              DeMarcus came out of John Calipari’s Kentucky with much fanfare. Sure he had a record of arguments with the coach there and altercations with teammates. But that was all over once he joined the pros, right?

              http://tinyurl.com/cjwovov

              Well, not exactly.

              First, prior to the drafts for the 2010-2011 season, he refused to give the Minnesota Timberwolves a personal workout due to the fact that “there were too many young big men already on the Timberwolves roster.” So, being one of the first teams to pick in the draft, the Timberwolves stated that they wouldn't touch DeMarcus with a 10 foot pole.

              That little incident didn't stop the Sacramento Kings from taking Cousins with their #5 overall pick in . The Kings believed that Cousins had so much upside that his past record of “immature actions” could be corrected. In fact, Cousins was said to be a shoo-in “Rookie of the Year” candidate even before he played his first game. However, once in a Kings uniform it didn't take long for some of his old patterns to reappear.

              As his rookie season ensued arguments with the Kings’ coaches and teammates began getting him kicked out of practices. There was even talk of the Kings sending him to the D-League. He was benched for making a choking sign at an opposing player shooting free throws during a loss to the Golden State Warriors. After that reprisal, he was benched again because he refused to acknowledge another teammate that tried to give him a high-five. While a minor thing, it was treated as major due to all his prior troubles. After that, DeMarcus took to sulking and his scoring and rebounding stats plummeted, causing his overall effort to be questioned.

              Prior to the 2011-2012 season, Cousins professed to repent. Self-labeling his past actions as “selfish” and “immature” he promised to reform. The reform program, however, didn’t last long. Cousins In December 2011 he reportedly announced that “he was tired of being disrespected due to his rookie status” and demanded that he be traded. His agent blamed his dissatisfaction on the Kings coach, Paul Westphal. Westphal suspended him and put the onus on DeMarcus to make things right before he could play again. No candy or apologies were forthcoming. As a result in January 2012 the Maloofs elected to jettison Westphal, and not Cousins.

              All did not go smoothly after Westphal's departure. In February, 2012, DeMarcus got into a locker-room fracas with a teammate, Donte Green. DeMarcus reportedly chided Green for not inbounding him the ball for a last second shot. Words were then exchanged and the two came to blows. Cousins wound up calling Green “too scared to make decisions to win games late.” The upshot of that altercation had the Kings kicking DeMarcus off the team’s flight home, assessing a $5,000 fine and awarding him a 3-game suspension.

              There’s a real possibility that we can bother DeMarcus Cousins tonight 55ers. “Misunderstood” might be one chant we can use. Think about others. This could be fun!

              GO PACERS! GO AREA 55!

              Indy Hoya
              Last edited by IndyHoya; 11-04-2012, 11:07 AM.

              Comment


              • #22
                Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

                WORD UP FROM THE ZONE!!

                Ahoy G2ers!

                As many of you know, the Pacers were defeated by the disturbingly bad Charlotte Bobcats on Friday night (just moments ago as I write this line). I, like the rest of the you, have a sour taste from this embarassment of being the team that Charlotte breaks their 23 game loosing streak, but fortunately, the Pacers have a chance to immediately wash away that awful in our mouths with tonight's home opener as the almost-as-putrid Sacramento Kings pay their one and only visit to Bankers Life Fieldhouse for the season, and its going to be one doozy of a night!

                As everyone probably is aware, all the hype surrounding the upgrades that were untaken at the "Bank" over the offseason has all led to this night, as the Pacers break out the ever feared GOLD OUT, which not means the Pacers will wear their gold uniforms, we all get free gold T-shirts, but it also means the return of the most fearsome element of an Indiana Pacers Gold Out: The Golden Boomer.

                Oh, and the scoreboard that is bigger than my house finally gets fully unleashed after Pacers Sports and Entertainment spent most of the last month teasing us with glimpses of its full potential. But that's not important. What IS important is that its OPENING NIGHT!

                Do you have your tickets?
                As everyone knows, the Pacers sent out our tickets through the US postal system, and we all should have received them before Friday (most received their tickets on Thursday I believe). If you did not receive your tickets because of some postal oversight, you need to contact the G2Zone staff at G2Zone@pacers.com immediately, so that we can get into tonight's game with the G2Zone at full strength.

                PTO! (As mostly written by Area55 Grand Poobah Joe Murphy and G2Zoneized by me)
                For those G2Zoners rookies (and their camp followers) that have yet to experience the surrealistic weirdness of the Pacers Tailgating Organization, tonight’s your big chance. PTO founder and self-anointed President for life Aaron “Brickyard” Coleman advises me that the festivities will be kicking off, as usual, in an as yet to be designated parking lot at an as yet to be designated time. This temporal and spatial vagueness is in keeping with PTO’s beer-inspired, not-to-be-missed carnival ambience and shaky leadership. Coleman, of late, has been attending school and has been more recently absorbed with abstruse trigonometry problems than professional basketball. As a consequence, PTO’s day-to-day organization and bratwurst roasting responsibilities have basically devolved to its second-in-command, Casey O’Brien, PTO’s VP and General Manager. O’Brien is a convicted arsonist whose managerial skills stem largely from prison correspondence courses and unsuccessful efforts to organize mass escapes.

                Generally the PTO convenes at around 4:00 PM and congregates in the cheapest parking lot we can find within hailing distance of the Arby’s located at the South East corner of Pennsylvania and South Streets. I show up first, locates the cheapest place to park and starts sending out admonitory tweets to would-be attendees. My twitter is THE PACER MANIAC @ TheSandman21. It’s a good idea to follow me for up-to-the-minute dope on where the PTO is apt to be. If you show up early (the real weirdness usually starts around 5:30 PM for 7:00 PM games) you can park your chariot for $5.00 at a lot next to the Subway on the south side of South Street.

                It’s usually best to bring your own beer unless you’re an aficionado of Area55 member Hobart Montgomery’s Pabst Blue Ribbon. Food is a sometime thing. Sometimes it’s there and sometimes it isn’t. So bring that too if your inclined to stuff your maw pre-game. It’s often cheaper to dine at the PTO than blow your kids’ allowances on the tasty, but pricey, comestibles served at the nearest concession stand once you get inside BLF.

                The PTO is a good place to strategize, find out what the latest chanting ideas are, and generally get to know your G2Zone and Area 55 peers.

                The Sandman Scouting Report: The Sacramento Kings

                Sacramento enters the Bankers Life lions den looking for that first win, which makes them hungry. Their head coach will be very familar to IU fans as 1987 Championship Game hero Keith Smart makes his return to Indiana at the helm of his third NBA team, and this may be the first one he may actually have a fair chance with, as his first head coaching experience came with the pre-Lebron James Cleveland Cavaliers (and if you saw the pre-Lebron Cavs, you understand WHY he didn't get a fair shake with them), and then he was awarded by the Golden State Warriors for winning 10 more games than the previous year's team did by being given a pink slip. That one still boggles me.

                Smart leads a young team led by SG Tyreke Evans and C Demarcus Cousins, who is considered by many to have million dollar potential and skillsets, and the maturity of a 5 year old. (Actually, sometimes I think the 5 year old has Demarcus beat). This is a hungry young team, but theres a reason they only won 22 games last year. Of course one of those 22 wins came in rather embarassing fashion against our Pacers, as the Kings came back from 18 down in the fourth quarter to win last season, a loss that spurred my personal "No Tweeting/Facebooking during the game" rule (who says fans can't be superstitious?) after I made a remark about the game being over in the third quarter. Oops.

                Indiana Special Olympics Torch Run
                If you have received this email, then you should also have received an earlier email from me regarding next week's work with the Indiana Special Olympics and the Law Enforcement Torch Run for next Thursday evening. The Pacers really want us, Area55, and High Octane to have a presence for this, and right now, I've only gotten a few people saying they will be coming. We are coming to the point where we need to get an idea of how many people we will be bringing. I've had a couple of G2 members ask me about parking, and at this point, I have not heard anything from Area55 Grand Poobah Joe Murphy, however he has passed the question onto our contact with the ISOP, stay tuned regarding an answer.

                Who cares about the Kings starters? I found a 50% off coupon for Gatorade!

                Finally, for tomorrow night, G2 members Hayden Weaver and Clayton De Fur will be bringing copies of the IU student newspaper for us to read during the introductions of the Sacramento Kings. Although they believe they should have enough for everyone, other G2 members are welcome to bring newspaper as well, and I have reached out to our Area 55 "cousins" to see if they will be joining us in this antic.

                That wraps up the inaugural G2 Zone mailblast. Doing this as a one man show does take some time, but at the same time, I don't want just one person putting the word out. If anyone wants to contribute material to the mailblast, always feel free to send it to me and I will include it into the mailblast. I don't think you can add it to a resume, even if you are looking to become a writer, but contributions are contributions, so if you got em, send em in!

                One final note, G2: We did well in our preseason tuning, but tonight, not only does the curtain come up on the Indiana Pacers home schedule, but this is our big debut as well, so paint up, break out your best props, and bring that voice and let's forget this stinker in Charlotte and DETHRONE THE KINGS (because as we all know, Paul George is the TRUE KING)!
                "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

                "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

                Comment


                • #23
                  Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

                  Were you two responsible for the young Gary Coleman? I like!

                  Comment


                  • #24
                    Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

                    Don't look at me for Gary and Stamos LOL
                    "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

                    "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

                    Comment


                    • #25
                      Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

                      Originally posted by IndyHoya View Post
                      Were you two responsible for the young Gary Coleman? I like!
                      No, Rob wanted us to make Bon Jovi and a couple of players. Still don't know the inside joke about the Bon Jovi request. I think a couple of guys made the 70's sitcom bigheads themselves.

                      Comment


                      • #26
                        Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

                        Joey, I've got a couple of fathead ideas I think we might have to look into originating... namely involving a certain Gatorade bottle, Mustard bottle, and Uno card......
                        "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

                        "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

                        Comment


                        • #27
                          Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

                          Originally posted by Sandman21 View Post
                          Joey, I've got a couple of fathead ideas I think we might have to look into originating... namely involving a certain Gatorade bottle, Mustard bottle, and Uno card......
                          Sandman, I was sitting in our regular STH seats last night, so I must have missed something. The wife was sitting in her G2 seat but she also didn't know what you meant. Please clarify!

                          Comment


                          • #28
                            Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

                            I didn't say anything about it at the game, but I forgot I had these and the Roy Hibbert Uno card in the prop box:

                            "Nobody wants to play against Tyler Hansbrough NO BODY!" ~ Frank Vogel

                            "And David put his hand in the bag and took out a stone and slung it. And it struck the Philistine on the head and he fell to the ground. Amen. "

                            Comment


                            • #29
                              Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

                              Originally posted by Sandman21 View Post
                              I didn't say anything about it at the game, but I forgot I had these and the Roy Hibbert Uno card in the prop box:
                              Ah, I definitely remember that we brought the mustard last season! Thanks.

                              Comment


                              • #30
                                Re: The all new 2012/13 Area 55, G2 Zone & PTO thread....

                                AREA 55 NEWS YOU CAN TAKE TO THE BANK!!!!!!!

                                Salutations, long suffering ones!

                                Yes, last night’s epic 96-94 fail in Minnesota was painful to watch. Confronted with a Timberwolves group that lacked Kevin “So Much Not to Love” Love, Ricky “Honey I’m Home” Rubio, and J. J “I’m a Guard You Never Heard Of But I’m Good” Berea, our guys fell asleep and let an unguarded non-entity named Chase Buddinger beat us at the buzzer. It negated a stellar, 29-point career night from George Hill, a solid effort from always reliable David West, and a foul-plagued, but pretty good defensive performance from our patron, Roy Hibbert. The Pacers now are 2-4 in the Central. We should be 5-1.

                                Chemistry, my friends! Chemistry! Successful NBA teams are built on it and right now our guys are trying to find it.

                                OK, we can point fingers and scream about this and that. But our recent problems, in a nutshell, pretty much boil down to Danny Granger’s knee. With DG having been wrenched out of our roster, our chemist in chief, Frank the Tank Vogel, has been forced to re-don his lab coat and search for the right molecules, chemical bonds, sub-atomic weights, and obscure valences needed to get us back on track. These things take a little time.

                                So, fear not! Ignore the faithless! It’s still going to happen for us. It’s just a question of getting the right assemblage of electrons, neutrons, and protons back into the right formulaic sequence. Tonight’s game with the 0-4 Washington Wizards is exactly the kind of elixir our Pacers need to right themselves and find their missing molecular mojo.

                                My bet is that the Pacers return to the warm confines of BLF not particularly happy. When our guys are like this, seething frustrations tend to translate into bad news for the opposition. If I weren’t so partisan, I’d almost feel sorry for what I believe is going to happen to the hapless Washington Wizards this evening.

                                And remember this, 55ers! We are a small part of the Pacers home chemistry. Tonight, like our team, we have to bring it. Like the Pacers, we have a job to do. Nobody should be arriving in 101 late or leaving early. Nobody should be sitting down. No voices should be going home without being hoarse. There should be no let-ups in our noise level and the hell we need to visit upon the Wizards.

                                We’re Off to See the Wizards! So who are our foes this evening? The Wizards are presently flopping like beached carp at the bottom of the Southeast Division of the Eastern Conference. In some ways their problems mirror ours. Their biggest guns – Maybyner Rodney Hilario a/k/a Nene and Former Kentucky star, Johnathan Hildred Wall, Jr. a/k/a John Wall – have been out with plantar fasciitis and a knee injury, respectively. The Wizards, as a result, have become unglued and basically have lost their moorings. Last night they lost another one at home 101-91 to the Bucks. The only team playing worse than them in the NBA right now is 0-6 Detroit.

                                For what it’s worth, last year the Wizards had a similar dismal beginning, going 0-8 and precipitating the firing of their coach, the affable Flip Saunders. Flip was responsible for one of my favorite basketball quotes:

                                “Don’t think it can’t get any worse, because it can!”

                                So true.

                                Washington comes to BLF extremely frustrated and probably clueless. Former Pacer, A. J. Price sums up their situation thusly:

                                “We just need a win. We need a win. We need a win as much as possible.”

                                The problem has been inconsistency. The Wizard’s coach, former IU-standout Randy Wittman, stated post-game last night that sometimes the Wizards get good games out of their starters and sometimes out of their reserves, but so far, never both. Key matchups for the Pacers will be Trevor Ariza and Emeka Okofor. If we contain them, then: Presto! The Wizards will be returning to Hogwarts for a refresher course in basketball legerdemain and likely transmogrified into 0-5 slices of buttered toast.

                                PTO Doings: Unseasonable November balminess should make for heightened attendance at tonight’s pre-game Pacers Tailgate Organization conclave. As usual, the revelry will commence around 5:00 P.M.-ish and continue until just before BLF’s standard tip off time of 7:00 P.M. There’s a band competition in town today, Fun Seekers, so be prepared for $10.00 Parking prices in the otherwise placid facilities that surround PTO’s normal node at the South Street and Pennsy Street connection. Those Area 55ers, G2 Zoners, and the non-affiliated should keen their eyes for the Arby’s and then mingle at whatever parking area near the node that the costumed are congregating.

                                The PTO is a good opportunity to get acquainted with the motley cast of characters that populate Area 55 and the G2 Zone. Warning! Many are schizophrenic, dipsomaniacal, and/or, like PTO’s VP and GM, Casey O’Brien, criminally sociopathic. Others are merely demented, like El Pacero, and not really dangerous.

                                Females take notice! Some of the male attendees at the PTOs, like the cherubic and green-haired Elijah Helton are self-professedly lonely, have Profile Listings on Christian Mingle, and, the Lord willing, are in the market for life partners. Area 55 has had no intermarriage of yet. I hope to see at least one conjugal bond occur among our many members before my current lame-duck term as Area 55 Prez and Imperial Poohbah expires!

                                Clothing at the PTO is optional. Also, bringing your own booze and eats is a good idea as hoarding is ordinarily the by-word until people like Hobert (That’s Hobert with an “E”) Montgomery gets drunk enough to share the Pabst Blue Ribbon he normally totes in from Lebanon. Informality is the rule and RSVPs are unnecessary.

                                AND NOW FOR FUN FACTS ABOUT THE WASHINGTON WIZARDS!

                                El Pacero Confronts G-Wiz! There is serious bad blood between long-time Area 55 Member El Pacero and the Washington Wizards. It all stems from a confrontation between our Mexican Women’s Wrestling Champ and Wizard’s Mascot G-Wiz that happened many moons ago. Fortunately it was captured through the magic of videotape here:

                                http://tinyurl.com/36k7qhx


                                As interested viewers will note, El Pacero was simply there in DC (as usual drunk – but harmlessly so) trying to watch a road game when G-Wiz abruptly accosted him and tried to pick a fight. Surprised at the unanticipated hostility and in the embrace of cerveza, Pacero was obviously not at his best at the time.

                                Actually, G-Wiz is fortunate that Pacero didn’t respond by figure-fouring G-Wiz’ head and making him bleat for mercy – Pacero’s normal reaction with the mujeres he wrestles.

                                If you want more info on this epic tete-a-tete you can interrogate Pacero himself at tonight’s PTO. I tried to get more of the particulars on this at an exclusive Area 55 Newsletter interview conducted last year. Unfortunately Pacero was intoxicated at the time and most of his responses were in an excited form of Tex-Mex Spanish. I recognized only the words “Un ataque injusto,” “Fuí muy borracho” and “¡Quiero venganza!” After that my poor powers of Spanish comprehension were exhausted.

                                Where is Flip Saunders Now? I liked the Wiz’s (not to be confused with Cheese Whiz – which I don’t like) former coach Flip Saunders. He was the last in a long line of Wizard’s coaches burdened by the so-called “Washington Curse.” He came to epitomize the angst and pathos inherent in trying to pilot a team in the NBA basketball hell that is Washington. To name some of those dearly departed affected by the Curse consider Gar Heard and Darrell Walker, Leonard Hamilton and Doug Collins, Eddie Jordan and Ed Tapscott. Then came Flip and then (after going 51-130) he went - just like all his losing predecessors. The current uneasy occupant of that DC coaching chair is Randy Wittman.

                                Good luck, Randy.

                                Luckily after starting 2-15 last year and then getting canned, Flip was able to land a cushy job with ESPN calling games. In the cloistered world of NBA basketball coaching, no coach ever is really permanently gone. Generally once you’re in the club you always land another gig with another team sometime, somehow, somewhere doing something no matter what your performance record at your last gig looked like. And while you wait for that new gig, you can always do a year or so as an opinionated but knowledgeable (and well-paid) color guy with ESPN.

                                Still, I miss Flip. He was always good for an incisive post-loss quote or a memorable but arguably belated good coaching move. Some favorite examples:

                                (After losing to the Sixers) "The first half we looked like ‘Space Jam’ where everyone lost all their talents and couldn’t do anything there for a while."

                                (After losing to the Jazz) “Palacio, Williams and Ostertag all hurt us in overtime. Those aren't the guys you'd expect it from.” No kidding!

                                Asked if having to deal with the troublesome Andre Blatche on top of all the Wizard’s other issues surrounding Gilbert Arenas frustrated him, Flip was philosophical. Recalling his minor-league coaching tenure at Sioux Falls, Flip said:

                                “It's not frustrating, having coached in the CBA for eight years. That's life; every day was like that.''

                                To be fair, Flip had to contend with a lot in DC. Last year he memorably disciplined Wizard bonehead JaVale McGee after JaVale alley-ooped to himself off the backboard to perform a breakaway dunk while the Wizards were behind. Clueless, McGee defended his decision later by saying:

                                "Apparently if you get a fast break and throw it off the backboard in the third quarter and you're 1-11, you're not supposed to do stuff like that."

                                I could regale you with more tidbits of memorable Washington Wizardry but unfortunately it’s real late and I better go to press.

                                Be strong 55ers. Tonight I think we win!

                                GO PACERS! GO AREA 55!
                                Last edited by IndyHoya; 11-10-2012, 02:53 PM.

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