We’ve wanted to add an Indianapolis focused blog to the Surge Bucket Media Network for a while now, so today we’ve launched Take Back Indy.  The focus of this blog will be issues that we’re currently facing in Indy and the subject matter will obviously vary depending upon what’s going on at any given point in time.

Many of the posts on Take Back Indy will merely mention specific issues and will encourage reader interaction to constructively discuss the issues at hand.   Also, the website will eventually include a forum component to encourage greater interaction.  Please stop by and comment when you have a chance.

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.

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)?

While it might not be the best Super Bowl in the new records department, it was a good game. The game started out on the wrong foot for the Indianapolis Colts, but once the Colts got it together the Chicago Bears ended up chasing after the Colts the entire game…in the pouring rain.

Here are some of my overall thoughts surrounding the Super Bowl:

DWIGHT CLARK & REGGIE BUSH

They seriously need to take the microphones away from the field reporters & commentators. On more than one occasion they referred to Dallas Clark as Dwight Clark (and so was the case among the sports writers as well) and during the game they even talked about Peyton Manning’s touchdown to Reggie Bush (not Reggie Wayne). Seriously folks, please do your homework before a game of this magnitude. You’ve had two weeks to familiarize yourself with the rosters of both teams and to figure out what Johnson’s and Clark’s were on the field, which Clark is long retired and which Reggie was playing in the big game. Come on, you’re getting paid for this, right?

INDIANAPOLIS 2011 SUPER BOWL BID

While seemingly many people don’t want a Super Bowl to occur “up North”, my hunch is that a big part of that would be from the whiny media who merely want to relive their college spring break days half clothed on the beach for a week with a beer in hand and attending parties every night for the week leading up to the big game. While that is nice and all, did they forget that there’s always the Pro Bowl in Hawaii the following week? And I bet it kills them that the NFL Combine is in Indy every year.

Anyway, I think that we would do a great job hosting. We’ve done it year in and year out with two large races (and a third one that most of us don’t think too highly of), Big Ten basketball tournaments, NCAA basketball tournaments (including multiple Final Fours) and the Pan American Games, not to mention the myriad of other events that we host throughout the year. And anyone that has traveled much at all can tell you that even the worst traffic in Indy isn’t really all that bad. The only real issue would be the weather outside, but as for a game you’d have no problems at all like the rain soaked game last night.

MVP

It’s nice to see Peyton get the MVP, but I think he knows as well as the rest of us that there wasn’t really a stand out MVP and that it was truly an all around team effort. Maybe Rex Grossman should have been considered the MVP as an honorary member of the Colts. Seriously though, we were getting close to this sort of team play last year and this year it finally clicked. Nothing against Edge, but the dual running back plan worked fabulously.

COMMERCIALS

I wouldn’t say that there was anything that I really liked this year, except the David Letterman and Oprah Winfrey CBS promo was hilarious. If I had to choose a favorite normal commercial, I’d say probably the Career Builder one where the delivery guy gets into the action.

PARTY IN INDY

The town is unofficially closed today, including many of the schools. The Indianapolis Public School (IPS) even closed, not due to the frigid weather nor directly to the Colts winning, but instead because their bus drivers decided to call in today and there was no way to get the kids to school (excellent and why didn’t they think of that while I was in IPS!?).

Monument Circle was packed last night, but I couldn’t convince my podcasting co-hort to join me in the festivities so I headed home after the party and watched the coverage into the wee hours of the morning. There were only a five “booze” related arrests and one unclear gunfire incident (someone apparently got a welt from being shot by some sort of gun). Overall, not to bad and no one was out flipping cars and setting them ablaze.

Today people began cramming the stores to land some Colts gear and there’s a parade at 4pm which ends at a pep rally at the Hoosier/RCA Dome before our Pro Bowlers head out to Hawaii tomorrow.

The town is electric and rocking and we’re ready to see what next season brings, but in the meantime we’re going to enjoy the Lombardi Trophy that we’ve all longed to see on display in Indianapolis, but have wondered when and if that would occur. While we all know that this is just a game, it is something that is truly bringing the city together and you just can’t put the ambiance into words. It’s just amazing to say the least.

“Look at the nations and watch –
and be utterly amazed.
For I am going to do something in your days
that you would not believe,
even if you were told. ”

-Habakkuk 1:5 (NIV)

The Super Bowl is normally a time that I get together with friends to watch the Super Bowl* (especially the new commercials) and eat some chili and wings.  But with our very own Indianapolis Colts finally making it to the Big Game it has such a different feeling to it this year.  When the Pacers went to the Finals in 2000, the town didn’t seem so pumped up about it (maybe we’re not as big into basketball as most people think…at least not on the professional level).  But this past few weeks the town has just been amped.

Everywhere you go there are flags, banners, Colts gear, etc. and everyone you see says “Go Colts!” to you in passing as if it were your usual Christmas greeting.  And Christmas is probably the best way to describe the feeling around town.  There’s just something in the air that you can’t quite explain, and beyond the occasional football Scrooge everyone seems to be into even if they’re not normally into football.

So this is a quite exciting time for those of us in the Circle City and hopefully our offense and defense will show up tonight and shine like we have all seen during the regular season.  My only worry is that almost everyone I’ve heard from in the national media gives the game to the Colts by a touchdown or two.  While my gut has to agree with their assessment, the up front “no contest” expectations aren’t always a good thing.  But I’m sure that our Colts are up for the challenge.

Now I must get ready for the evening festivities.  Go Colts and Go Horse!!!

* And yes, for the No Fun League knuckleheads, on a larger than 55″ screen and with more than one television.  And yes, I will be discussing the game afterwards as well…what in the world is the “for private use of our audience” warning all about?  And hopefully no Bengals or Chargers will be arrested before, during or after the game.