This has to be the oddest PR I’ve seen around town in sports marketing (even toping some of the Indianapolis Ice promos in the past)…

Now if only the “aliens” would abduct certain players and plant a “common sense chip” in them.

The site that this video/commercial mentions, worldunexplained.com, just takes you to the plain Pacers home page. I think that would have had some marketing potential for the season as a whole (and would be kind of fun to organize), but hey, it’s a start of thinking outside of the box, right?

(Shameless plug: we’re for hire if they need some help.)

The 2007 NBA Draft wasn’t that full of surprises…Greg Oden went #1 to the Portland Trail Blazers with Kevin Durant going #2 to the Seattle SuperSonics. The other two Indiana All-Stars, Mike Conley Jr. and Josh McRoberts, went #4 to the Memphis Grizzlies and #37 to the Portland Trail Blazers respectively.

The Indiana Pacers on the other hand pretended that they got into the draft this year, and I’m not going to join them on their journey into Neverland by pretending that I know what these goof-balls are up to. Something seriously needs to happen in the Pacers front office in order to make us a contender once again. Bad decision after bad decision has just hosed us to the point of only having one chip left to play, and that chip is a bit overinflated.

Who knows, maybe we can swing a deal with Portland to give Jermaine O’Neal back to them (along with the rest of the team) in exchange for Oden & McRoberts and then somehow steal Conley Jr. away from Memphis (maybe give them our “drafts” that are staying across the pond). Can you imagine the potential of having those three guys on the roster three or four seasons from now. And just the fact of having three “local boys” on the roster would sell out the Fieldhouse year-after-year.

But I digress as that will never happen for multiple reasons even if the other teams were willing. And I seriously wouldn’t be surprised to see Portland try to swing a deal to land Conley Jr. down the road provided the trio is healthy and have delivered on their expectations. Time will tell.

…but not gone from the team?

**From the 1070 WIBC NewsCenter**

Pacers’ President of Basketball Operations Larry Bird says Head Coach Rick Carlisle will not return as head coach next season. Bird has invited Carlisle to move into the front office with the team.

Nothing against Rick, but what’s up with that? Maybe something in his contract?

Anyway, what coaches are available that would be along the lines of The General? I think that might be what we need for a few seasons around here to fix the mess left behind from the Isiah Thomas era. This off season should be interesting.

Release Date: Thursday, April 19th, 2007
[listen here]

This week Jeff & Brian discuss:

ANNOUNCEMENT #1

• New Podcast Format — Well, sort of new anyway. Starting with episode #27 we’re going to be focusing on Sports & Entertainment news, with a continued focus on our local Indianapolis scene as well. And of course we’ll still cover the occasional Squirrel News. So, unless it pertains to sports and entertainment, the odd news is going elsewhere…but not too far away (see announcement #2).

SPORTS – BASEBALL

• Buehrle tosses first no-hitter of season
• Barry Bonds blasts No. 738 to help Giants edge Cardinals 6-5 in 12

SPORTS – FOOTBALL

• Urlacher fined $100,000 for Super Bowl hat
• Colts to host Saints in NFL season opener
• Patriots-Colts play again Nov. 4
• Colts’ David gets offer from Saints
• Colts sign LB Boiman to one-year deal
• Sorgi signs Colts offer sheet
• Bledsoe calls it quits
• Jones says he will appeal suspension
• Packers WR Robinson on electronic monitoring
• Moon arrested for investigation of DUI

SPORTS – BASKETBALL

• Pacers’ season ends with loss
• Pistons’ Murray not hurt in shooting
• Ohio State’s Oden to enter NBA draft: report
• Big Ten adds to basketball schedule

SPORTS – HOCKEY

• Two Panthers Hockey Players Arrested

SPORTS – TENNIS

• Tennis Fundraiser Goes Wrong

SPORTS – OLYMPICS

• Sewers to help heat 2010 Olympic village
• Chicago is U.S. candidate to host 2016 Games

SPORTS – OTHER

• Astronaut expects odd challenges in space marathon

SQUIRREL NEWS (courtesy of squirreldish.com)

• CBS fires Imus
• CBS says Couric unaware video essay plagiarized
• BREAKING NEWS: Don Imus to join Katie Couric on the CBS Evening News

ENTERTAINMENT - MUSIC

• Belgrade horses may be drugged for Stones gig
• Rolling Stone Richards “snorted father’s ashes” - April Fools?
• Ozzy hits sobriety milestone with new album
• Rapper Snoop avoids jail in L.A. case
• Johnny Cash’s Tennessee house burns down

ENTERTAINMENT - MOVIES

• Christina Ricci gears up for “Speed Racer”

ENTERTAINMENT - OTHER

• Custody of Anna Nicole’s baby still unclear
• O.J. Simpson book sale canceled

ANNOUNCEMENT #2

• Coming VERY soon from Jeff, Brian & Surge Bucket Media…Utter Oddcast. The odd news segments truly warranted their own venue and we’re thrilled to add the “oddcast” to the mix. If you’ve enjoyed the odd news from previous Trolley Dodgers episodes, you’ll love the Utter Oddcast.

HOUSE KEEPING

• Leave us a voicemail at 317-565-4250
• Snail mail us at:
  Trolley Dodgers Podcast
  c/o: Surge Bucket Media
  P.O. Box 78306
  Indianapolis, Indiana 46268
• Recorded, edited & encoded by Watershed Studio, LLC in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Normally I’d root for the hometown team, but towards the end of this season I had root against the Indiana Pacers winning enough games to make the playoffs.  They clearly didn’t deserve to go for oh so many reasons, and is it just me, or does anyone else out there think that you should have to go at least .500 on the season to be eligible for the playoffs?  Stick to a 16 team format, but if there aren’t 16 teams at .500 or better, start handing out first round byes.  (Oh, but that would lose money for the league, right?)

Anyway, I am hoping that the Pacers clean house from management through the entire roster*.  Draft wise they’re hosed at the moment with a single second round pick, but trading Jermaine could probably land a few picks.  And trading the rest of the team ought to be able to gain a few more picks as well.  But looking at their draft pick history, that’s probably a bad idea since the poor choices far outweigh the few good ones.  Maybe they should pick up a handful of young guys (drafted or not) and land a few stable veterans to mentor the youth.  Maybe, just maybe, that would help things out, and get them back to really winning in about three or four seasons down the road.

Bottom line, they need to make some drastic changes and get some people on board who are committed to spending more time on the court than in court and to stay away from the bars and strip clubs.  Will that happen?  Your guess is as good as mine, but one would hope that they finally get the hint after the past few seasons of complete embarrassment with their personnel decisions.

* In the history of the NBA or ABA, has there ever been a team that had no players on their roster from the previous season (1st year expansion teams excluded)?