Comments on: Post-Game Grades: Pacers Embarrass Warriors to Kick Off the Second Half of the Season

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Mon, 19 Mar 2012 16:44:44 +0000

[...] Post-Game Grades: Pacers Embarrass Warriors to Kick Off the Second Half of the Season | Eight Points… [...]

By: Richard Van Doel

Richard Van Doel — Sat, 03 Mar 2012 08:00:58 +0000

Here’s the reasons.

1.) Super Bowl

Super Bowl distracted people’s attention. There was so much hype that local stations ignored the Pacers and didn’t even bother showing highlights. Let’s not forget the post Super Bowl hangover.

2.) Losing streak into All-Star Break

Six game losing streak did a team that many people in Indy didn’t trust, no justice.

3.) All-Star Break itself

Nothing is happening. People aren’t paying attention. There’s no games to go to.

4.) Lack of a big name

Danny Granger isn’t a household name. Don’t kid yourself. I doubt anyone in LAs market knows of him or where he played college ball.

5.) Malice of the Palace

The most contributing factor because this hurt public relations and you can say it doesn’t matter anymore, that these guys are completely different (AND THEY MOST DEF ARE) but the fact still remains that it happened and it was the Pacers. Many people will never forget about this.

6.) Indy may be a one sport town.

This is just a guess but our time might only be able to support one major professional team.

I find it hard to be truly vested in the Pacers to the degree that I was before 2005. The 90s were my favorite time for basketball. It was my favorite sport. I feel like the NBA is just diluted with half-assed talent due to many kids skipping out on college development. It shows. Look at Lance Stephenson. That kid has no business being in the NBA. He contributes very little to the team and he would have been much better served playing in college.

I am a Pacer fan. Haven’t been to a game this year. Would have bought season tickets but the lockout kept me away from making anything official. I watch and support them by viewing games on FSIND.

By: Jesse (1)

Jesse (1) — Fri, 02 Mar 2012 20:36:11 +0000

Lots of good insight here. Good point about the evolution of home media systems, although that would suggest that more teams would struggle to sell out.

Poot–where are you getting your attendance history numbers? I was trying to find those the other day.

The consensus seems to be that if the Pacers make a playoff run (or at least 2nd round), more fans will take notice.

It’s just weird that so many other clubs who are never in the playoffs have more fans support right now.

I guess I’m sort of annoyed that so many people have noticed the attendance issue. Even The Onion with the recent sidebar “Empty seat wins Pacers bobblehead” or something to that effect.

I was at Game 4 last year, and that was truly pathetic. The players didn’t deserve that.

By: Lou

Lou — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 23:10:57 +0000

Jesse – I would bet my life on it. Let’s face it, we’re a bunch of fair weather fans in a small market. The NFL is so big that everyone cares about every team – even the small markets, especially if their successful.

Right now, the NBA in general is looked at with disdain by casual fans – a bunch of lazy, entitled, wealthy Carmelo Anthony’s who don’t care on a night-to-night basis. The league and the networks want/need the Knicks, Lakers, Celtics & Heat to be successful and popular in order to make money. For the most part, people get their news at a national level, and anything on ESPN trumps the sports on the late local news. More people in Indiana know where Jeremy Lin played college basketball than could name a single player on the Pacers’ roster. And if people don’t live in the Indianapolis area, they’re not going to get any Pacers news unless they go looking for it online. Same would be true of the Colts if the NFL as a whole were not as successful and the team was mediocre.

Success will bring national attention, excitement, and fans back, but we’ll always be at a disadvantage because of our inherently limited natural fan base.

By: Jesse 2

Jesse 2 — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 01:53:59 +0000

I believe you all make some valid points when it comes to the attendance issue. Yes HDTV is awesome. Yes, there is a hangover from the “thug” era still. Yes, you would like to have a winning product on the court. Yes, Indianapolis fans are fickle. All of these factor in somewhat in a reason someone might not go to the game. One issue that was somewhat alluded to earlier is the fact that ESPN, ABC, and TNT have not broadcast a single game in a number of years. The league is star driven and major market driven. Just as David Stern wants. Other people outside of our market are not going to tune into a Pacers v Hawks game, even though they are battling for playoff position. But until that happens, the casual Indianapolis sports fan isn’t going to give a rat’s behind, or until they win a playoff series like poot just said. When you are dealing with bandwagon fans, they jump ship at the first sign of trouble, and are the last to come back even though we have an awesome young team. BTW, who wants to bet the colts don’t sell out after 2 more losing seasons? Anyone want to take the under on that?

By: poot

poot — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 22:54:38 +0000

i think you all underestimate the popularity the Pacers gained by facing the Bulls tough this past postseason. That is the reason West signed with the team for starters.

However Pacers fans carry a proud tradition. From ’90-’06 Indiana made the playoffs SIXTEEN times. The ten seasons before the brawl, Indiana AVERAGED 50 wins per season (this even includes the 50 game season in 98-99)

So until we see a playoff series won, we won’t see many sell outs. Consider Memphis who ranked worst in attendance almost every season… until they beat San Antonio in the playoffs. Their attendance the next season shot up to 18th.
You may not think that’s high, but even in the Pacers very best years they never ranked higher than 10th (they were 16th in the 61-win season before the brawl)

Considering this team prides themselves on the fact that they’re one of the youngest in the league, they obviously realize the value of staying together for years to come. The fans will come, just wait for the young Pacers to develop into a team that gives a reason.

By: little B

little B — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 21:42:12 +0000

I am with Ronal…I think this blog explains it all. Only 22 comments on here, but at the beginning of the season there were only 10 maybe. This team was dead and for two reasons only: I blame Donnie Walsh and Ron Artest (O’brien didnt help either). Ron for the Malice in the Palace (PS article on Grantland right now about it, pretty crazy) and Donnie for keeping some of the guys around for too long after the fact. Keep up the good work Larry. I still get people who comment on my pacer gear I wear (at work, out downtown) and they say there are thugs…it amazes me how removed they are from the game and for how long.
Pacers fans are coming back. I used to work for them and it was hard trying to give away shirts because the crowd was so slim. But I bought season tickets for the first time this year. The nuggets game and the bobcats game were actually pretty full. I was impressed. Boston Miami were full as well. Only game I was disappointed with attendance was the Orlando game the night before the superbowl, how was not every seat filled? I think people are warming up, we will always be small town market but we should never be 2nd to last in attendance.
They didn’t really lose attendance because of their record. Whats surprising through all the crappy seasons they had, they never were horrible, but that is probably why they were struggling for so long. The hard picks are the picks the pacers have had for the last 6 years. The 13th and 14th picks were you barely don’t make the playoffs. They losted all their fanbase because of the embarrising off court actions they had. As you can see in a small market it takes about 6 years and a good basketball team to get a new face started.
Also doesnt help when the Pacers get not national attention except when its bad. When is the last time ESPN or TNT aired a pacer game?

By: Ronal Eugene is Right!!

Ronal Eugene is Right!! — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:52:05 +0000

@Ron

This was posted on IndyCornrows a few weeks back.

“It appears that there were plenty of Pacers fans in recovery mode, though since the Fox Sports Indiana television rating for Tuesday’s game was strong, registering a season-high 3.7 rating, according to FSI. Through Tuesday’s game, ratings for Pacers games on FSI are up 26% compared to the same date last season which is more impressive when you consider that last season the ratings were up 35% over the prior season.

Also, the 3.7 rating on Tuesday was the eight game with a 3.0 or higher rating so far this season which has already surpassed last season’s total of seven games. So the television numbers continue to improve after a strong showing last year.”

Google is a hell of a tool, isn’t it?

By: JRC

JRC — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 20:25:36 +0000

@JRC The warriors were with out curry tonight. They generally play better when he’s healthy. (reference to your first post).

Maybe they’ve bailed on the experiment already. :D I only caught a few minutes of the game. Who was that other guard then… oh dear, Brandon Rush! His stat line actually looks pretty decent, but when I was watching, they looked out of sorts. Of course, I’m also basing my opinion on the few other games I’ve seen the Warriors play. When one of them isn’t hurt, the don’t seem to flow well together. I don’t know, I’m not an NBA GM for a reason though. ;)

By: ron

ron — Wed, 29 Feb 2012 19:44:48 +0000

What I would like to know is how much has the tv numbers gone up for the games on Fox Sports Midwest. The people that I know at least watch every game if they can’t go to it. Is there any way to see these numbers?