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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 events in Israel from my point of view. Not to the weak of heart.

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  • #1

    The events in Israel from my point of view. Not to the weak of heart.

    Hello,

    Just gonna write the events as I have seen them with my own eyes... Please be mindful, the events are horrible and it may be better for you not to read through this.

    It was Saturday morning, 07/10. A time of calm and the last day of the Holiday period in Israel, a time in which most families meet to celebrate together according to tradition. I live in central Israel, about 30km from Tel-Aviv, 50km from Jerusalem, 50km from the southern border.

    Time is about 6:30, I was sleeping next to my wife. We wake up to the sound of sirens. We're caught by surprise and don't have time to run to the bomb shelter at the bottom floor of our apartment building, so we stay at the stairwell room. Sirens of this kind usually indicate a rocket barrage fired from the Gaza strip. It was not the first time we heard those, but usually we hear them with times are tense, like if there is a military operation, or some conflict. This time it felt like it "came out of nowhere". We hear a siren, then another, and another, and another... The amount of sirens was unusual, and we decided to run through and head to the bomb shelter, where we stayed for 2 and a half hours. I was sitting there with my neighbours and we're wondering what is happening as we hear explosions (some from rockets landing, most from interceptions of Israel's Iron Dome defense system). One of the neighbors received a rumor about a party down south that took a direct rocket hit. But anyway what we thought is, if it's just Hamas shooting rockets at us, the Israeli airforce will strike back and everything will be fine.

    Then we got out of the shelter, we open TV to see the news, and they show raw footage of Palestinian militants in Israeli cities in the south (taken by Israeli residents), and we're thinking "Wow, what the hell?" At the same time my wife who is a doctor is called (along all doctors in Israel) to come to the ER. The hospital is about 15 minutes drive from our home and I take her there. Over our head we hear explosions, looking into the south I see smoke coming out of impact zones. It was scary but I drove through it, dropped her off, wished her luck and got back home.

    Apparently the huge barrage (2.5k rockets fired in ~3 hours) was not the worst thing that happened at that time. The Gaza-strip militants, lead by the Hamas organization, broke through the border by the thousands. Some were actual militants with combat clothing and rifles, some were just in civilian clothing. Then slowly more and more news are getting out. The TV channel brings up a mother who whispers on a phonecall that there are terrorists in her house and she doesn't know what to do.

    The situation, as it appears, was that there were coordinated attacks on 22 towns/villages in Israel. Hamas along with your everyday Palestinians were going door-to-door barging into civilian houses. Some got completely executed. Others, saw their loved ones executed and let go. Others were just kidnapped as hostages into the Gaza strip. If the family didn't open up, they just set the entire house on fire in an attempt to smoke them out. Some burnt to death, some died from the smoke. We slowly realized what tragedy just came upon us. Remember the party I mentioned earlier? No rocket hit it... Hamas blocked the roads that exit the place, and shot with automatic rifles anyone who tried to escape... 260 killed in that party alone. Accounts of women raped on the bodies of their dead friends.

    Social media is dangerous in a way that it is unfiltered, and the Palestinians were just filming and sharing everything. I've seen so many atrocities on those videos. Israeli soldiers butchered in their sleep, or stripped naked and dragged to Gaza. Women walled up in their pajamas, hands held together by zipties. One woman from the party was put on a motorcycle with 10 men around her. She was shouting to her boyfriend to rescue her, who was also held by 10 men. The video stops with the motorcycle headed into Gaza. Another woman forced to walk into a jeep. She wore white trousers, they were soaked with fresh blood in the thigh area. Another video if a German woman, stripped naked, laying down, held by 5 men in the back of a van, for people to parade and spit on. People filmed their last moments, barricaded in a room as you hear the terrorists trying to break in. Some families hid in a trash container... I'm not sure what was their faith. Elderly women shot-dead, pilled up in bus stations in the street. Other elderly women kidnapped to Gaza without their medications. Photos of people slaughtered in bomb shelters. Video of a family where they separate one child, shoot him, and film the reaction of the rest of the family. In one case, the terrorist took the phone of a mother, filmed the execution of an entire family, then sent the video to her relatives. Images of charred corpses, mothers trying to protect their children.

    The outcome so far, 1200 dead, 3000 wounded, 100-200 captured, and the numbers keep on increasing every single day. Israel is a much smaller country than the states, and compared to the relative population size, this is 10 times in terms of casualty rates compared 9/11. This war has just begun, and it will surely, and I mean surely, escalate further. The south is generally contained, but the North, the East, and maybe even Iran...

    That Saturday night was extremely difficult for me, the IDF was still re-capturing the butchered cities, we didn't know if any of the thousands of terrorists that got through the fence drove north. You keep thinking, maybe they'll fire a rocket barrage, force me to go to the shelter, where terrorists will wait for me with a loaded gun, like they did down south. The day after, you read the news, and you hear about pro-Palestinian demonstrators celebrating the "resistance"... At Sydney they gathered outside a theater and shouted "Gas the Jews". Some freedom fighters they are.

    I write this so I will never forget. I write this so my resolve remains high as we strike back at our enemies. I have dreamt of peace all my life. Now I dream only of victory.
    Originally posted by Piston Prince
    Bobcat fans telling us to cheer up = epic fail season
    "Josh Smith Re-building the city of Detroit one brick at a time"
    Tags: None
    • 5 likes
  • #2
    thanks for writing. hope you are doing well or at least better.
    • 3 likes

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    • #3
      Originally posted by dal9 View Post
      thanks for writing. hope you are doing well or at least better.
      Thank you, I appreciate it
      Originally posted by Piston Prince
      Bobcat fans telling us to cheer up = epic fail season
      "Josh Smith Re-building the city of Detroit one brick at a time"
      • 1 like

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      • #4
        https://youtu.be/upmha0jgJ24?si=Iz02JcMuCcLupdgW

        ****... I just wanna cry... what ****ing atrocities...
        Originally posted by Piston Prince
        Bobcat fans telling us to cheer up = epic fail season
        "Josh Smith Re-building the city of Detroit one brick at a time"
        • 2 likes

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        • #5
          **** Hamas and **** the idiots who are justifying (or denying) their actions.

          Light em the **** up.Send them to the dustbin of history where they belong.
          Last edited by Sandman21; 10-16-2023, 10:22 AM.
          "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. "
          • 3 likes

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          • #6
            Status update.
            Ever since the attack on 07/10 there are rocket sirens in Israel on an hourly basis. Over the last few days it was quiet in my city, but my childhood city and where my parents and sister live, has 2-3 sirens every day. When you hear a siren you run to the nearest shelter and hope for the best.
            Israel faces missile and drone attacks from Hamas in south-west, Hezbollah in North, and Houthis from South-East (Why Yemen joined this war from 1500km away is beyond me).
            Israel mobilizied the IDF to invade Gaza and deal with Hamas. Israel chose the costly option of a ground operation and going door-to-door in Gaza to deal with Hamas. I guess we could have used our F35s, F15s, F16s to turn the entire area into a post-apocalyptic junkyard without Israeli casualties but that's not humanitarian.
            Somehow Israel is viewed by many as the aggressor in this conflict. UN had an overwhelming vote for ceasfire, which is essentially "Free pass for Hamas". Hamas spokesman said he wants to carry those exact attacks in the future as well, that Israel should be eradicated completely. Who in their right mind would want a ceasfire with THAT.
            All those dumbass queers for Palestine and "woke" students in Harvard ane Penn join "From the river to sea" calls to remove Israel from the map. As if Israel is being religiously intolerant since it stops Muslims from murdering infidels, an important part of their religion.
            It's really a difficult war since all those terror organizations would much rather murder Israeli civilians than deal with the IDF, their doctrine of war is to harm Israeli civilians to force the IDF into hasty action.
            Meanwhile Iran warns the USA over and over again to leave the area, and US bases were attacked in Syria and Iraq.
            I hope manage to defeat our enemies quickly, but I feel like it's gonna be a long war.
            Originally posted by Piston Prince
            Bobcat fans telling us to cheer up = epic fail season
            "Josh Smith Re-building the city of Detroit one brick at a time"
            • 3 likes

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            • #7
              https://www.reddit.com/r/Palestinian...the_jews_have/

              Careful my Indiana friends... This video was filmed in your country...
              Originally posted by Piston Prince
              Bobcat fans telling us to cheer up = epic fail season
              "Josh Smith Re-building the city of Detroit one brick at a time"
              • 1 like

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              • #8
                How is the hostage release/ceasefire being received over there? And what do people think will end up happening with it?
                • 1 like

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                • #9
                  Originally posted by dal9 View Post
                  How is the hostage release/ceasefire being received over there? And what do people think will end up happening with it?
                  Thanks for showing interest. In Israel we're thrilled to see hostages returning home, it's heart warming to see children and grandparents going back to their families. I would say it's the most positive event we experienced since the start of this war.
                  On the other hand, it doesn't even come close to bringing this war to an end. over the course of the next 4 days, a total of 50 hostages will be returned, but a total of 240 were captured, so the majority of hostages remain in captivity. And the hostage situation is just one aspect of this war, Hamas is still in power and has the capabilities to continue threaten Israeli civilians by rockets. So I think the fighting will continue once the ceasefire expires, unless Hamas decides to surrender.
                  Originally posted by Piston Prince
                  Bobcat fans telling us to cheer up = epic fail season
                  "Josh Smith Re-building the city of Detroit one brick at a time"
                  • 1 like

                  Comment

                  • #10
                    In case people want to learn more about the 7/10 events, an American journalist shared his report:
                    https://twitter.com/jerrydunleavy/st...x7LDhVwU1cqihg

                    It's a really difficult read, so if you're sensitive to those kind of things please don't open it

                    Originally posted by Piston Prince
                    Bobcat fans telling us to cheer up = epic fail season
                    "Josh Smith Re-building the city of Detroit one brick at a time"
                    • 1 like

                    Comment

                    • #11
                      Originally posted by yoadknux View Post
                      In case people want to learn more about the 7/10 events, an American journalist shared his report:
                      https://twitter.com/jerrydunleavy/st...x7LDhVwU1cqihg

                      It's a really difficult read, so if you're sensitive to those kind of things please don't open it
                      found the threadreader version for those who dont have twitter

                      https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1...798467842.html

                      • 1 like

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                      • #12
                        Just an update in case anyone reads this.
                        The war moved into an "hibernation" state. Israel withdrew from many military areas in Gaza, yet 130 Israeli hostages are still being held in the labyrinth of tunnels below the Gaza strip. 250,000 Israelis are still evacuated from their homes due to terror threats. Crazy.
                        There's just no way to beat terrorism and guerilla warfare, that's the harsh truth. US felt it in Afghanistan and Iraq, Israel feels it in Gaza. Unless of course you genocide your enemies, which neither Israel nor US want to do, but people still blame Israel for a genocide it does not commit.
                        From a more global scale, I think we're all aware that Iran tries its best to start a regional conflict of Islam vs West. It utilizes different militas, such as Hezbollah against Israel and Houthis against US and UK. This war will happen sooner or later, lunatics just stay in power and further keep pushing boundaries.
                        Originally posted by Piston Prince
                        Bobcat fans telling us to cheer up = epic fail season
                        "Josh Smith Re-building the city of Detroit one brick at a time"
                        • 1 like

                        Comment

                        • #13
                          Welp. Nightly update from Israel.
                          American sources verified that minutes ago Iran launched dozens of UAVs at Israel. Those UAVs are likely to be accompanied by missile strikes and additional attacks from Lebanon/Syria where Hezbollah is.
                          Those UAVs take a long time to arrive, according to predictions it will take hours.
                          Everyone here in Israel is extremely nervous. You have no idea how to behave when in a few hours drones will enter your country. What will they do, how much damage will they cause.
                          Just real scary.
                          Originally posted by Piston Prince
                          Bobcat fans telling us to cheer up = epic fail season
                          "Josh Smith Re-building the city of Detroit one brick at a time"
                          • 1 like

                          Comment

                          • #14
                            Hard for us to imagine. Hope all goes well for you and your countrymen. Sadly not anything as a citizen you can do.
                            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....
                            • 1 like

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                            • #15
                              Originally posted by RWB View Post
                              Hard for us to imagine. Hope all goes well for you and your countrymen. Sadly not anything as a citizen you can do.
                              Thanks. It was a frightening night, luckily there was little damage. According to reports, 330 drones, cruise and ballistic missiles were launched. US and UK forces in Iraq shot down many of the drones, we can't express how grateful we are. Jordan also assisted in shooting down drones. And Kurds civilians over Iraq...
                              Most of the damage was from ballistic missiles, we have the Iron dome for that but obviously it can't catch everything.
                              Originally posted by Piston Prince
                              Bobcat fans telling us to cheer up = epic fail season
                              "Josh Smith Re-building the city of Detroit one brick at a time"

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