While it is not likely that Brett Favre will be headed to Indianapolis, wouldn’t he make good “insurance” just in case Peyton Manning isn’t back at it in 4-6 weeks?  Remember, Marvin Harrison missed the majority of last season with a bursa problem that initially wasn’t supposed to be that bad.  That’s a thought…

Popularity: 9% [?]

More proof that many athletes are paid too much…

One man was arrested and a second was sought Tuesday in a robbery and beating that left Oakland Raiders receiver Javon Walker unconscious on a side street after a long night of partying at Las Vegas nightclubs.

Lt. Clinton Nichols said (Javon) Walker lost about $3,000 in cash and $100,000 worth of jewelry in the robbery.

[via ESPN]

For a moment let’s put aside the thoughts that athletes are due their “piece of the pie”, as that’s a whole other series of posts.  And lets agree that Javon Walker getting mugged, or anyone for that matter, is a bad thing.

That said, why in the world do athletes (and not just Pacers players) insist on hanging out in nightclubs and flaunting their wealth? And for Javon, situations like this isn’t something new…”On New Year’s Day 2007, Broncos teammate Darrent Williams died in Walker’s arms in the back of a limousine after a drive-by shooting in downtown Denver.”

Come on guys, pull your heads out of your rears.  I’m not going to offer specific advice here on how you should handle yourself, you’re all adults, but I can think of numerous alternatives that don’t involve a high probability of eventually getting robbed, shot at or stabbed.  But if I were your employer, you can be guaranteed that putting yourself in these sort of situations wouldn’t be tolerated.

There I go thinking logically again…that works fine with computers, but apparently not with many people.

Popularity: 30% [?]

“The Indianapolis Colts have traded fullback Luke Lawton to the Philadelphia Eagles for a conditional 2009 draft choice.” [via Indy Star]

The roster moves have begun.  I’d say that this move is probably a decent one for the “down the road” building up of the team (depending upon who they get).  Nothing agaist Luke Lawton, but with the current uncut roster we’re going to see more of this and if we can snag a few extra draft picks out of it instead of potentially cutting players, I say go for it.

Popularity: 36% [?]

While I think that the Indianapolis Colts made decent picks overall, it does surprise me that their picks were so offensively weighted. But as tradition goes, the Colts tend to go after the best players still available…plus they’re still developing a handful of defensive draft picks from previous years that will probably see more playing time this year.  And they picked up 13 undrafted players as well, so maybe there are some gems in that bunch.

The offensive line needed attention and they clearly addressed that.

And there’s the need to beef up the scoring threats as well since the current crew is getting older and the fact that we lost Ben Utech. And dare I mention Kenton Keith being a complete knucklehead recently.

Popularity: 78% [?]

2008 PRESEASON

2008 REGULAR SEASON

Popularity: 47% [?]

Here are the 2008 NCAA Final Four matchups. All games are on CBS and played in the Alamodome (San Antonio, TX).

Saturday, April 5, 2008
6:07 pm EDT (1) UCLA (35-3) vs. (1) Memphis (37-1)
8:47 pm EDT (1) Kansas (35-3) vs. (1) North Carolina (36-2)

Monday, April 7, 2008
9:11 pm EDT (1) North Carolina / (1) Kansas vs. (1) Memphis / (1) UCLA

So we’re still in line for my Memphis over North Carolina prediction in the final.

While this is the first time four number ones made the finals and many are praising the selection committee for that, overall I can’t agree. Yes, you probably have the four best regular season teams, but teams like Davidson and Butler were clearly better than their seedings (just to name a few). Yes, they want the “Cinderella” story line. I get that. And yes, it’s a drawn out task to select 65 teams within the selection guidelines. But when teams should clearly be seeded substantially higher it would seem that something funny is going on or that someone doesn’t know what they’re doing. But what do I know? I don’t even really care about basketball except for tourney time.

Popularity: 46% [?]

For those of you who care, here are the “Sweet Sixteen” matchups (all games are on CBS, and to my knowledge, Katie Couric is NOT commentating)…

Thursday, March 27, 2008
7:10 PM ET No. 7 West Virginia at No. 3 Xavier
7:27 PM ET No. 4 Washington State at No. 1 North Carolina
9:40 PM ET No. 12 Western Kentucky at No. 1 UCLA
9:57 PM ET No. 3 Louisville at No. 2 Tennessee

Friday, March 28, 2008
7:10 PM ET No. 10 Davidson at No. 3 Wisconsin
7:27 PM ET No. 3 Stanford at No. 2 Texas
9:40 PM ET No. 12 Villanova at No. 1 Kansas
9:57 PM ET No. 5 Michigan State at No. 1 Memphis

I’ll say that overall the matchups seem pretty lame. (Chalk one up for the selection committee.) While there’s a really decent chance that 3 or 4 #1 seeds move on to the Final Four, I’ve still got to root for the Big Ten (even though my Boilers are out). However, I’m sticking by my initial predicting for the final game: North Carolina vs. Memphis with Memphis winning. But what do I know, I only watch college hoops a few weeks a year.

Popularity: 50% [?]

“The Indiana Pacers announced today they will not increase season-ticket prices for the 2008-09 regular season.”

Is this really newsworthy?

You have the worst attendance in the league, you’re mediocre at best and you employ people who consistently make poor off court choices.  Personally I think that I’d drop ticket prices AND “clean house” for next season, but maybe that’s just me.

Popularity: 47% [?]

A word of advice to Kelvin Sampson. “DON’T MESS WITH THE STANGER! Or you’re bound to get stung.” (Cheesy I know, but hey, if Emmis can get away with that sort of thoughtless promotion, so can we.)

Apparently Sampson is not a fan of Jeff Stanger, baseball, Bloomington or books. I’m a Purdue grad, but come on, are you serious? Sure, Rick Greenspan might lay down the law and Michael McRobbie will get his first test due to the recruiting violations , but what is their stance on the remarks towards Trolley Dodgers, Jeff Stanger, baseball, the city of Bloomington and the future release of Kansaska? That my friend is the real story.

Popularity: 79% [?]

Going into the All-Star Break, it looks like the Indiana Pacers will be sitting at 21-32 or 20-33, depending if they can beat Portland. (Boston and Detroit are probably safe bets for the loss column given their play of late.)

Some people will look at that and think that’s just horrible and that they need to win the rest of the season to make the playoffs. But I say do everything in your power, short of “throwing” games, to lose the rest of the way out and have a decent shot at high lottery pick. If you make the playoffs you’re only ensuring yourself of an early exit and no decent draft picks.

Miami is clearly doing this, so why not give them and Minnesota a bit of competition? The attendance this year is the worst in the league (rightfully so, and the fans are making a statement by staying away). If they can manage to get a lottery pick in the top three they can probably grab Eric Gordon which would do wonders for the attendance at the very least (they blew it last year in getting one of the three local players in the draft).

But then again, historically the Pacers aren’t too bright when it comes to draft picks and they’d probably pick someone from overseas that has no intention of playing in the NBA anytime soon. So go ahead. Make the run for the last playoff spot.

Popularity: 42% [?]