Let me begin the first ever blog for our site by saying this in the nicest way I possibly can without alienating any new readers: Indiana, you are TERRIBLE sports fans. You are the most fair-weathered sports town in the Midwest. If you were to look up the word “bandwagon” in the dictionary, it would be a picture of Conseco Fieldhouse filled with Bulls fans right next to a picture of people in the Luke rocking Peyton Manning, Dallas Clark, and Austin Collie jerseys. You all act as if it is illegal to root for more than one team at a time in this town.
I might as well go ahead and say it; Indianapolis, get ready to become a Pacers town again. It is not a matter of if, but when. It IS going to happen.
“How the fuck do you know,” you might ask? Well, it’s quite simple, really. The writing is on the wall. Since the 90’s, Pro Sports in Indiana has generally gone on synchronized ebbs and flows.
In the early 90’s it was the Pacers doing good while the Colts stunk. The mid 90’s were a rare time in which both teams were good. The Pacers mostly dominated the late 90’s, although it is also where the first paradigm shift took place.
The Colts going 13-3 in 1999 was the first time in which Indianapolis began to take a serious look at football. And with the Pacers having gotten old in age and having to rebuild in the early 2000’s, the Colts were able to take Center Stage. 2003-2004 also saw another season of over-lapping, as the Colts finally took the step up in becoming one of the NFL’s best teams, while the Pacers young roster had began to hit their prime.
That temporary synergy of the two teams came to a grinding halt in 2004 when Peyton Manning started throwing a record number of touchdown passes, and some guy named “World Peace” ironically jumped into the stands and started punching a fan because the guy threw a drink on him at the end of a game. Couple that with the retirement of Reggie Miller, and it was a crushing blow to the franchise.
It has not been the same since. The 2000’s Colts are one of the most successful teams in the history of the NFL, while the Pacers have mostly been stuck with poor front office decisions resulting in ho-hum talent with terrible contracts. It’s been a dark, dark time as a Pacer fan, no doubt.
However, there is light at the end of the tunnel. The tide is beginning to turn. The Paradigm Shift is finally going back into the Pacers’ favor.
When Larry Bird took over the team a few years ago, he let everyone know that he was basically going to wait out the storm and rebuild. That's exactly what he's young. Larry Legend has built a young team that has potential to do something special. And not only that, but he's done so without hardly spending ANY money. We can still add to the already solid foundation Bird has constructed.
Unlike the Rebuild of 2000-2001, the talent Bird has brought in not only are good ball players, but they are by and large even better people. It might be just me, but I sleep well at night knowing I don’t have to worry about waking up to read Paul George and Roy Hibbert were in the middle of a Gun Fight at some local club at 4 o’clock in the morning. I don’t have to worry about Tyler Hansbrough asking for time off during the season so he can work on his Rap album. I don’t have to worry about George Hill throwing haymakers at some idiot fan from Chicago (and they pretty much are ALL idiots). These guys want nothing but W’s. And when they don’t get W’s, they’re in the gym improving on things they struggled with or working on new things they weren’t able to do before. And on their days off, these guys are hanging out with each other and going bowling or paintballing. They genuinely get along with each other. That in itself is huge.
Another good thing Bird has done was to hire a young, excitable coach that has been able to relate to and inspire the players in Frank Vogel, and finally let go of Jim O’Brien, or “that other guy” as an anonymous source within team so refers to him. Coach Vogel is an extremely positive individual with a very excitable and motivating personality that also knows his basketball. Vogel came in Day 1 and immediately made wholesale changes in benching Solomon Jones and James Posey, while also taking Paul George and Tyler Hansbrough off the Inactive List and putting them into the Starting Lineup. He took over a team that was below .500 and whose previous coach said would not make the playoffs, and finished with an above .500 record during his tenure while also making the playoffs.
He is also very personable. As a member of Area 55, I along with many of my other buddies were able to hang out with Coach Vogel in Legends during a recent Fever game this summer. Normally, you would think something like this would have Coach Vogel surrounded by PR staff or Security Guards. This was not the case, however. Coach Vogel came up to us, shook each and every one of our hands, asked our names, and told each of us how it good was to meet us. He talked with us like a normal guy, like a guy who was as big of a Pacers fanatic as us 55 idiots.
If and when this NBA Lockout ends, the Pacers are going to be one of the top 5 or 6 teams in the Eastern Conference. Coach Vogel is going to have this team playing an exciting brand of basketball that is going to bring thousands of depressed Colts fans back to the Fieldhouse.
The Colts, on the other hand, have definitely seen better days. Obviously, the popular story right now is the loss of Franchise Player and resident bad-ass Peyton Manning for likely the season with his neck injury. But the problems for the Colts have been there even before Peyton’s injury woes.
For one thing, the Front Office has been even more of a pain the ass than usual recently. Not only are they blowing 1st round picks, the refusal to spend money in Free Agency to address issues on the Offensive Line and Defense has also been a major thorn in the side of most Colts fans. The worst thing has to be Polian and Company forcing the team to outright quit on a perfect season in front of 63,000 paying customers, and then making those customers out to be the bad guy on their numerous radio and television shows. How dare those people call in to local sports talk radio and voice their displeasure of the fact that they spent hundreds of their hard-earned dollars to take their family to a game, only to see the first string guys on the sidelines as the team purposely flushed away the chance of a perfect season. That loss in the Super Bowl was one of the biggest displays of Karma I have ever seen.
Another chink in the armor for the Colts is the personnel in general. Not only is there widespread concern and criticism of the coach, but the players are getting older, too. Core guys like Manning, Reggie Wayne, Robert Mathis, Dwight Freeney, Dallas Clark, and Jeff Saturday are all in their 30's and more than likely will not all be here in 4 years. What’s going to happen once they're gone? The defense in particular is already starting to show its flaws even with Freeney and Mathis. They just cannot compete at a high level. They can't even compete at an adequate level. That ineptitude is going to seriously harm them, even when Manning returns.
And in regards to the Coach, Caldwell is pretty much Bizarro Frank Vogel. While listening to Frank Vogel read the Lunch Menu could make you want to run through a wall, that wall would have more personality than Jim Caldwell. But I digress.
The Colts as they currently stand have peaked. The loss of Manning for the Colts this season is the next paradigm shift. You know that recent story that came out on Yahoo saying how the Pacers are one of the teams losing the most fans in Professional Sports? In 3 years, that story is going to be about the Colts, not the Pacers. The paradigm is shifting. The question is, when and where do you want to purchase your Pacers Season Tickets?
