Re: #DetroitInvasion
Its so cool that you guys do this!
I am from the Chicagoland area but go to school in central Illinois so I almost never get to go to the games.
I did get tickets for when we play Chicago March 23rd though! If any PDers were planning on going as well, it would be great to meet you guys!
Go Pacers!
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.
A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.
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.
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.
A quick note to new members: Your posts will not immediately show up when you make them. An administrator has to approve at least your first post before the forum software will later upgrade your account to the status of a fully-registered member. This usually happens within a couple of hours or so after your post(s) is/are approved, so you may need to be a little patient at first.
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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Re: #DetroitInvasion
Okay, well then I'll get to Mo's a bit earlier if you are definitely going to get out of there on time. Danny back in BILF will be great. Plus GSW is a really nice gauge for where the team is now.
A LOT MORE PICTURES TO COME. So much work...ugh. You take plenty and then edit back later to ensure getting some good looks, but editing is so boring (no shocker for people that read my stuff).
Yeah Ken, it looked bigger than Oracle. I think that's part of the reason the "normal" scoreboard looked so tiny. We kept talking about it vs the new BILF board, but the Palace also has that "not just Bball" type layout with really deep baselines and a rounder or long oval structure. The seats weren't bad, but you aren't as close as you are in BILF.
But from the outside I thought it was similar looking in size to Oracle. Way bigger than Sacto or Minny.
SAS is more bball dedicated and closer to the BILF cozy. It's funny to me that HOU seems older than these other places because it's the new replacement for the Summit. It feels like the oldest of the bunch.Last edited by Naptown_Seth; 02-25-2013, 09:53 PM.Leave a comment:
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Re: #DetroitInvasion
Planning on being in seats by 630 tomorrow.
It's Granger time baby!Leave a comment:
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Re: #DetroitInvasion
"Accidentally" went to Windsor. Good cover.Originally posted by Sandman21 View Post
The van did not agree on my plan to go across the border and bet the game ala Gnome and I for the LAL game last fall. Double up your fun baby!
(unless they lose...F you casino)
Also you are in G2 this year, right? I own you the other $10. I'll stop by before the game, or maybe halftime as TJoe and I tend to get there a bit late when starting at Mo's.Leave a comment:
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Re: #DetroitInvasion
Sorry MAS, but Mackey is right on this. Will took things WAY out of context.Originally posted by Mackey_Rose View Post
*I* drank, I mentioned it, but not everyone did.
The Hooper party was ruined because it was turned into the night that a bunch of Pacers fans showed up and were the most noteworthy, loud thing in the arena. When the Detroit sportswriters mention it and say it in terms of it being disheartening that this is where things are now and that it matched the team's horrible efforts lately, I'd say that whatever plans they had in mind for the night were overridden by something far more noteworthy - fans from a rival city that actually give a s*** about their team.
It was frustrating when Titans fans came 5000 strong and filled up one end of the RCA Dome, but it also said "we need to step up our own fanbase and ticket sales". In the end it wasn't wrong that Titans fans traveled, it was wrong that Colts fans couldn't be bothered to buy tickets that fans from hundreds of miles away were willing to buy.
I never saw Will rip a new one on Gnome and let me tell you, if you think drunken, rowdy behavior is a problem then what he and I and the Frezno 4 did in Sacto (which you can actually see throughout that game on the coverage) was WAY MORE OBNOXIOUS. The A55/G2 group was in the upper level end. Were it not for raw numbers and dedication it wouldn't have made a dent. The Sacto bunch were right behind the bench, audible on the radiocast to the point that MJB mentioned it, and clearly in view for all their fans to see due to our locations.
And even then the guy next to us with his young kid had a great spirit with us and we all talked to him during and after the game. We talked about them having down times now but that they wouldn't last, etc. We talked to his son about the guys on his team he can root for, etc.
And as for players not liking it, well Danny gave Gnome and I a fist bump and kept talking to our whole group at timeouts. We had FUN. We were drunk, but in a go Pacers way.
Gnome really got after it a few years ago in Dallas and the Pacers lost. After the game all those Dallas fans were all buddy buddy with him and we took the loss in stride. It's freaking sports. It's meant to be fun.
Are we going to get rid of student sections in the greatest "environments" in all of sports - NCAA bball and football? Because those kids are DEEEE-RUNNNKKK. I've been almost knocked out by some of them walking by me at games. And the NCAA even has opposing team sections with all their chants.
And let me tell you, a few years ago when the Pacers were getting thumped by the Bulls I ran into some Bulls fans who had a flat tire after the game. They didn't know how to fix it (weird, but living in the city I can understand a bit) so after a Pacers loss to the Bulls, I changed their tire for them on a late, cold night in downtown Indy. If people have thin skins here that's no better. I don't "like" Squad 6 invading or Bulls fans driving down, but the problem is that we don't sell enough tickets, not that they are willing to drive to see their team. If they are cool about it and not outright hateful, then I can take the beating like a man.
Some people really need to toughen up. Fans that get really angry at opposing travel or relocated fans (vs disliking bandwagon local fans) aren't cool. If anything I'd say that you should not be that person more than A55 or G2 shouldn't go to Detroit and cheer.Leave a comment:
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Re: #DetroitInvasion
The Coney places are all over Michigan. All different names though.Originally posted by Naptown_Seth View PostLeave a comment:
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Re: #DetroitInvasion
Well to be fair the Wash Sq area and Eastgate really turned into rough areas in the last 20 years, sorta like Laf Sq did before them.Originally posted by Unclebuck View Post
I guess at least in our case the food was tasty (I think). Yeah, Hoya remembers. Legends Coney Island. Struck me as the cool place that's half horrible but worth the trip for something non-chain (or regional chain only). A much more interesting experience than if BK or McD had been open.Leave a comment:
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Re: #DetroitInvasion
I don't know if you guys noticed this but the reason none of the players ran out during introductions was because a lady had collapsed at a floor side seat and they were making sure she was okay.Leave a comment:
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Re: #DetroitInvasion
We made it to the bowels of hell, probably the only arena next to a "landfill?" or whatever the giant mound of dirt was.
The group is surprisingly happy about this fact...
Before heading to Will Call, we parked out in a PTO appropriate area
The Will Call/"main" entrance really is nice. The whole place has as strong, consistent silver glossy theme while the rest of the arena is silver highlights against strong red and blue. The style is ultra modern but they've done it better than Dallas or Oracle I think. The layout is the ticket booths to the right, the store to the left, and LCD screen "posters" in the center.
Notice the reflection from the ceiling. The "posters" fade to new pictures every few seconds. It's pretty classy actually.
Here is one of the few concourse type photos I took. They don't have 2 concourse levels like us, they are like Sacto where one concourse has stairs that go up or down depending on your section. This is from the stairs going up.
Now it's on! The other van arrives, the other cars arrive and the teams suit up. I hadn't even thought about it since I'm not part of that, but it was funny to see it kick in. I was like "oh, yeah, of course they gotta do that", reminded of who I was with. Good stuff.
And then the Palace makes their worst mistake of the night. They honor our tickets...suckas!
About an hour early, it's empty but you can see the layout and unfortunately the undeniable banners.
Um (Fireman, sorry) makes his best effort to talk his way into some "better" seats. He failed, but not before the usher helped him take a photo. Charmer.
There were several groups in the arena. Some were A55/G2 people that upgraded, but a lot were people that none of us knew or knew were coming. This group came up and talked to us and I heard them talk about trying out for A55 next year.
Some of the fans in this group were the upgraders
WARMUPS! DANNY WARMING UP!
Anthem...this was the last non Dubstep or Disco song we heard all night. IndySportsGirl joked that Magic Mike danced to one of the songs we heard. Might not even be a joke.
For the announced crowd size it seems modestly empty at tip.
We chanted up the players during intros
Fireman and Pacero survey the crowd for Pacers fans right before tip
The tip-off. Sorry but the actual tip came out blurry. It's tough using that shorter lens from so far away.
I have tons more but I'm still cropping, editing and sorting out the best. But here is one "in-action" shot. I don't think I'll have any in this batch that catch a great play. These will just be "flavor of the moment" shots
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Re: #DetroitInvasion
Anyway, the Saga of Team Sandman actually began at 8:45 AM with me making the literally five minute drive to the rental car pickup place to meet with the bus crew and drop off Seth's ticket with Indyhoya Joe (yes, its my fault). From there, I had to then drive to pickup the other two members of our carpool, two friends of mine from high school. This also was ironically the only time I saw the vans on the drive up between Indianapolis and the Palace of Auburn Hills. At which point, we made the carswap to the Kia that belongs to the fiance of our first driver. Its important to note that even before we had left, the executive decision was made that he was not to drive home, as he can fall asleep on a dime. This will come into play later.
Anyway, we get on the interstate at 10:25, and I quickly get a tweet from Seth saying he's five minutes out. I see it literally sixty seconds before the vans were supposed to be underway, so I instantly get on the cell with Airport Squad Ron and relay the news that Seth is still five minutes out. Shockingly, the vans waited for him.. Anyway, our first driver is not only a narcoleptic, he also is a magnet for bad female drivers. Unfortunately for the better gender, the stereotype held in force the entire way our first man was driving. Before we had hit I-69, we had dealt with no less than 4 really bad examples for the stereotype. Other than that, the drive up 69 was fast and we made good time around Fort Wayne onto to US-24. It was about this time that we started looking for somewhere to eat before realizing there aint **** on US-24 between Fort Wayne and the awesomely named Defiance, Ohio (literally, we saw an Ohio State trooper turn around just outside the city limit). At this time our driver publically proclaims that he is jonesing for some Buffalo Wild Wings.... just in time for us to find the ONE B-Dubs on US-24. 45 minutes later, after replenishing our guts and seeing via Twitter that Barb's directions had apparently taken the Area 55 van from Evansville to Louisville to Chicago to Texas (god only knows where the G2 van was), it was time to fill up the car, which fell to me as the car DJ at this point. $20 later I get back into the car only to find out that in an unintentional act of Defiance (see what I did there?) we had nearly blown up ourselves and the gas station; the engine was so quiet, nobody had realized it had been running the entire time I had been gassing the car up.
Alas, today was not the day I became a Darwin Award nominee and we were back on our way, still with no idea where anyone else was pushing towards Toledo and then north to from there to Detroit when I happened to notice that our narcoleptic driver was yawning. Sure enough, the next exit he was done (literally asleep before we got back on the interstate) and I was behind the wheel for the last apparent half mile of Ohio (apparent because we never found a sign marking the state line, leading first to fears that we would find ourselves in the midst of an undeclared war between Ohio and Michigan, and secondly, wondering what state we were actually in. Fortunately for us not only did we not run into any militia checkpoints, we also saw the Michigan Welcome Center after about 15 miles. For the first time in 4 hours, we knew we were heading on the right track. As we closed in on the Motor City, we noticed LOTS of Ford Plants and also a random nuclear plant off in the distance. It was also about this time that I briefly thought that Dearborn had moved way south in the almost 20 years since the then Little Sandman had last been in Detroit when I saw the off ramp sign for the Henry Ford Museum. Alas, this was not the day to find out, as there was business to attest to! One exit later, we saw the first sign we had been waiting 4 hours and 30 minutes for: Now Entering Detroit City Limits. We weren't lost (considering I can get lost driving to work, this is a big accomplishment)! And soon we were able to see the iconic Renaissance Center in the far distance. It was also about this time we got to smell southern Detroit; the Marathon Refinery to be exact. As we continued to speed up I-75 towards the Palace, I saw that the refinery had taken a oil tank next to the interstate and had painted it like a basketball and slapped a Pistons logo on it. At this point, almost 10 years of anger at Detroit was let loose as I rolled down my window and with the force of a tribal warrior, let out a battle cry at 75 MPH as our first driver snored away in the backseat:
**** YOU BEN WALLACE!
Suddenly, I felt better and rolled the window back up and became much more of a tourist. With our navigator in the side seat taking pictures and AC/DC playing Highway to Hell over the speakers, we began pointing out the landmarks and thinking that Detroit wasn't so bad. And then 75 curved left and we were greeted by the site of the Brewster Wheeler Projects. Or what was left of them. We were rather impressed and mystified by the graffiti on the 12th floor though. As we continued to rumble up I-75 through Detroit amid the snoring from the back seat, we continued to take photos as we continued to trek towards our final destination. At some point the Area 55 van actually passed by us, which was not realized by Team Sandman until much later, although THEY had an inkling that we were probably heading to the same place. I mean, there can't be THAT many drivers wearing bright yellow El Pacero t-shirts in Detroit, can there?
Soon after, it finally appeared on the horizon: The Palace of Auburn Hills.... and a landfill! As we did not know where everyone was, we weren't sure if the parking lot was even open yet, so I traversed a couple blocks further in search of a place to temporarily park while we figured out where everyone was....... at a Jimmy John's of all places.
TO BE CONTINUED...Last edited by Sandman21; 02-25-2013, 08:18 PM.Leave a comment:
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Re: #DetroitInvasion
I put on my headphones when I thought the van was all in sleep mode.Originally posted by IndyHoya View Post
Yeah, I caught some flak for my late arrival. I forgot about that, coming down the road and seeing the whole crew on deck to go and giving me s*** for holding it up. I felt pretty bad about it, not that anyone was mean. Just the group really was ready to be going.
I should have remembered you were IndyHoya after talking about the end of the 'cuse/Gtown game at "dinner".
We also did talk about the fact that PD in general hadn't been included when filling up the vans/trip, but those guys had looked at a bus but couldn't quite get enough people to make it affordable. So IndyHoya and I said that maybe if we pulled from some of the PD faithful we could get a full-on bus for one of these in the future. Obviously A55 and G2 have their own events and stuff and it's their prerogative to expand or not. This would be more like situations where we "helped out" for the raw numbers, sorta like they did by combining A55/G2 for this trip.
Bringing in a few people is one thing because the group is still organized and willing to defer. I wouldn't want to have a bunch of PD people join in and not meet that spirit. For their events it's got to be their show.
Det-roit Pis-tons
AINT what
they use to be
AINT what
they use to be
AINT what
they used to be
Almost felt bad for them. Almost.Leave a comment:
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