newbies

well, the face(s) of the pacers has changed. We got rid of our only all-star caliber player and we got a lotta new, young guys. Alltogether we drafted Brandon (brother of Kareem) Rush and Roy Hibbert. And through trades, we got T.J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, Maceo Baston(former Pacer for a season), Jarret Jack and Josh McRoberts. All this while dealing J.O. and Ike Diogu. Unfortunately for the Carmelite, McRoberts, there may not be room on the roster, say hello NBDL. Meanwhile, we have 2 new point guards, so ya gotta figure Tinsleys time here is short. so where does that leave us? heres my projected starting lineup...PG-T.J. Ford, SG-Mike Dunleavy, SF- Danny Granger, PF-Troy Murphy, C- Rasho Nesterovic. The loss of Jermaine leaves us with a serious lack of depth at the PF position. Actually, were not very deep in general. Hopefully, 4 things happen, we can re-sign Ronald Murray, Shawne Williams steps up his game, B. Rush and Hibbert can contribute immediately and we deal Tinsley. Then its just a matter of being patient and see if Larry Legend has anymore over the backboard shots up his sleeve.
GO PACERS!
z

BYE BYE BAND-AID

J.O. is no more. gone to the Raptors in exchange for Rasho Nesterovic , T.J. Ford(another band aid) and a draft pick. so we got rid of J.O. and we have a replacement for Tinsley in Ford. now we just got to get rid of Tinsley. then we just have to get good. which will surely take a few years. and a few different players. because we certainly arent gonna be playoff contenders with this line up. but we do seem to be on the right path. its just a long path and we are at the beginning of it.....patience is one thing i have little of. but its the only thing we go right now.....
Z

IT

We have been tagged. Kate informed me yesterday. So i checked her blog (see link) and sure enough, we have been deemed 'IT'.
And if you follow the trail, you will see that it seems to stream out endlessly through the Book Smugglers Club, Fantasy Cafe Realms of Speculative Fiction and on and on i'm sure. And what it means is that we must pick up the nearest book, turn to page 123 and copy down the fifth sentence here....
well, i have 2 books stacked on top of each other next to me on the coffee table. so i give you 2. the 1st from Pacific Northwest Camping..."The park has sandy beaches, located about 250 yards from the camp." This is in reference to Kopachuck State Park, in case you were wondering.
The 2nd is a little more difficult. The book is Jack Kerouac's Desolation Angels. And if you have ever read any Jack, you know he doesn't just have run-on sentences, he has run-on paragraphs. So upon turning to page 123 i see one sentence and then the paragraph rambles on, interspersed with dashes, that doesn't end until we come to a question mark at the bottom of page 124. So i will interpret some of these dashes as sentence enders when it seems Jack takes us on to the next car on his rambling train of words. so here it is... "-They've come from Fillmore in cars, with their girls or without, the cool colored cats of Sunday San Fran in incredibly beautiful neat sports attire, to knock your eyes out, shoes, lapels, ties, no-ties, studs-"
there it is
As far as the Dude goes, who knows what books he chose to take to the floating city in the Mediterranean.
Dude, you got anybody you wanna tag?
zoo

Basketball and Futbol

Being a native to the Eastern Conference, i was happy to see the C's get the rings, though i agree with the Dude about Boston sports, though i still have a little thing for the Red Sox, but not being much of a baseball fan i dont care too much. Anyway i was glad to see the East defeat the West when the Western Conference was so loaded. in other NBA news, the city of Seattle vs. Clay Bennet rages on. i dont know who is more to blame, the fools who sold the team to a business man from Oklahoma City (where they were hugely successful hosting the Hornets in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina) or Clay Bennet who clearly and shamelessly had absolutely no intention of keeping the team in Seattle. the rich little schmuck couldnt even wait 2 more years until the contract with Key Arena expired to move the team. Personally, i'd hate to see the Northwest lose the Sonics and only be left with the Blazers. thats one less Pacer game i get to see live and in person. Anyhooo, basketball is over, baseball sucks and football is a long way off. but wait, this year we have futbol! the Euro cup is in full swing, having finished group play and begun the elimination rounds. And if you dont appreciate futbol, then you didnt see Turkeys amazing comeback against the Checks, in which they were down 2-0 and scored 3 goals in the final 15 minutes to help them advance to the next round. currently it is halftime of the Germany v Portugal game, and the Germans are up 2-1. I'm pulling for Portugal in this one. Overall, i always like the Netherlands. But this year the Russians are one of the younger teams in the tournament and are fun to watch. Unfortunately, they play the Netherlands in the first round, so i guess i'll be rooting for the winner of that game. the other matches in this round are Turkey v Croatia and Spain v Italy. so, if you havent seen any of the Euro Cup, its not to late to start watching. besides, futbol is the worlds most popular sport and hey, the matches are commercial free!
and im out
Z

Beantown Blues

Just a couple musings from the recent happenings in the world of sport. The C's proved me wrong and put it on the Late Show in the finals. I picked the Lakers, but was rooting for Boston. I love KG, he's probably my favorite player in the league. I am so glad to see him win a title, along with Ray Allen, one of the classiest players in the NBA. But, and it's a huge but, I hate Boston sports. Now we have to listen to all those chowdaheads, and everyone else in that region that claim Boston as their home team, talk about title town BS. I am coming to realization that even though I like the atheletes, my disdain for the city and it's fans now exceeds my willingness to root for the "teams". So to all you Beantown fans, thanks, I will never again cheer for your teams. Other than that, kudos to the "Big 3" and the rest of the Celtics. Their defense was stifling and their offense, good enough. Plus, this keeps that arrogant prick, Phil Jackson, from winning another ring. Life ain't so easy without two hall of famers is it, you condescending jerk?

On another note, how good is Tiger Woods? He wins the US Open on a shredded knee and two fractures in his tibia. Two words: Best Ever. He will go down as the greatest golfer ever. The competition on the PGA Tour is amazing right now, and he won severely injured. Now he's taking the rest of the season off to get surgery and rehab that bum left leg. If he gets right, look out next year. I thought nobody could be Tiger when he's at his best. Apparently, you can't even beat him when he's not.

the Dude

'a lone rogue agent'...

...thats what david stern called tim donaghy.... well, well, well, it seems tim donaghy is telling us otherwise. he is claiming that other officials have fixed games and that the league was a conspirator. and he claims that one particular playoff game was fixed, a 2002 game seven between guess who, L.A. (kobe and shaq) and Sacramento. and of course L.A. came out on top after shooting, drumroll please, 27, yes 27 free throws in the fourth quarter alone. well, well, well mr. stern, the spotlight is on you. are you a part of this? i guess we will have to wait till we get to see all the pieces of the puzzle. personally i'd like to see your reign as dictator come to an explosive finish....
zoo