Another Indianapolis Team Making A Different Kind Of News (Again)

While the Indianapolis Colts are being praised for winning the big game with grace and humility, another Indy team is making news in a slightly different way.

Three Indiana Pacers deny they assaulted a Westside bar manager early Tuesday morning. The three under investigation by police are Jamaal Tinsley, Marquis Daniels and Keith McLeod.

Those that remember the brawl in the Detroit stands a while back and the incident in the strip club earlier this year at the break of training camp, certainly will know that there is a fundamental problem with Indy's NBA franchise and much of the responsibility lies with the management.

For this reason, I will not now nor will I ever support the Indiana Pacers again, until Larry Bird, Rick Carlisle, and Donnie Walsh all three step down from their lofty positions within the organization, nor will I support them until they commit themselves to winning. Winning is not important in the grand scheme of things, but a commitment towards it, is all any fan can ask.

Henceforth, my new team will be the Dallas Mavericks. There's an organization. They have class.

Some Added Thoughts:

Here's the scoop as I see it.

Al Harrington was brought back after he sold Donnie Walsh, Larry Bird, and Rick Carlisle on the idea that he didn't care about stats, like he did when he wanted traded to the Atlanta Hawks. So they trade for him, and what does he do?

He starts whining about not getting more touches and minutes.

So, the Pacers management quietly shopped him around and found that Golden State had an interest. But they forced the Warriors to take Stephen Jackson as part of the deal. Not much interest has been shown in Jackson, mostly because he is one of the participants in the little gun battle that took place at the strip club, the first week of training camp. Two others present at the Club Rio brawl were Jamaal Tinsley and Marquis Daniels (who just so happens were in attendance at the night club, where this latest fight broke out).

It's time for Walsh, Bird, and Carlisle to move on. No hard feelings, but time to go, is here. Then it should go without saying that Tinsley and Daniels need to be moved on for anything they can get. Take whatever crappy deal would be offered if necessary, just get them out.

I do not know the status of their contracts, but I would think the team could soon make a case for opting out of their contracts, under a morality clause. Both have been public nuisances and have helped greatly in creating a very poor image for the league. (Certainly worth looking into, I'd say.)

But in all of this, one decent player Jermaine O'Neal, has gotten a crappy shake. He doesn't get credit for keeping his nose clean in all of this. He has done the best he could do in these trying times. So, to reward him for his loyalty and service, he should be traded to a team that has a legitimate chance to win and compete for a title.

Basically what I am saying here is, the system needs flushed, and big time. The Pacers are in a bind because their sales are already hurting and no one cares to get behind a team that is the poster child of bad manners, in this elite millionaire club.

Give the fans some cheap tickets and rebuild the team with a great draft pick or two, sign a free agent or two, and get the ball rolling again. No one expects to win every night, and that certainly will not be the case if they have this purge. But, there are some things more important than winning.

It's called principle.