Rod Benson went through training camp with the Pacers. He has never played in the NBA (yet), but he has gained prominence in this internet hoops space for his blog Too Much Rod Benson and just his general Boom Tho-ness.

During his Pacers stint, however, he was asked to shut down his blog. Not sure if you have heard, but the franchise has some image problems, and even though Benson is reportedly a very nice, upstanding gentlemen who just happens to be a little goofy, the team didn’t want to take any chances. Rod was fine with going offline for a while but now he’s releasing the diary he kept.

We checked in on his first Pacers-centric entry last week, and today he has another. This one talks about his talks with Larry Bird about his blogging.

We stood up and shook hands. I walked out of the room and took a minute to collect myself. Larry Bird just asked me to stop blogging. It was such an unexpected five minutes, to say the least. Truth be told, I had always expected someone to ask me to give it up in the name of the team. It was something I had been prepared to do for quite some time, actually. And, to be honest, I didn’t really want the pressure of updating the fans while in Indy anyways. Their request was welcomed. I can just focus on hoops now.

Life is funny sometimes when you realize that something has come full circle. I started toomuchrodbenson.com just over three years ago and today, it came to its end. Well, it aint dead, but it’s at least in a coma. When I think about its conception and birth, I realize how different the circumstances are.

He goes on to tell the genesis tale of TooMuchRodBenson.com, and it’s actually a really good story told well. Go read that.

Then he gets back into the blog’s “coma” stage.

So, when Larry Bird asked me to shut down the blog for a while, I realized that I enjoy it, a lot, but I don’t need it anymore. I’m a great player because of it all, but I can be without it too. My Boom-Tho-Ness exudes all the times. Heck, I’m listening to my Boom Tho Mixtape right now as I write this. TMRB started with a basketball failure, and it was put down today while I stand at the doorstep of basketball success.

Media is a reminder of that. I took a million pictures today. I did interviews and videos, the whole nine yards. There’s nothing like doing a photoshoot with Troy Murphy to remind you that you’re doing something big. No, I didn’t make the Sacramento Kings summer league roster, but I sure as hell made the Pacers training camp roster, and I’ve got something to prove.

May the Boom Tho be with you.

Related posts:

1. Rod Benson’s Pacers Training Camp Diary
2. Pacers Cut the Roster to Fifteen; We Now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Boom Tho
3. Danny Granger’s Flip Video Diary

Rod Benson has the same dream as every basketball player: to make the NBA. He has played in Summer League and attended multiple training camps in the association, but thus far has only played professionally in the D-League (where he was an All-Star in 2007) and overseas.

He has become somewhat of an star in the basketball blogosphere, however. He writes his own blog Too Much Rod Benson, has contributed to Yahoo’s Ball Don’t Lie and even wrote a feature article for SLAM magazine.

This summer, he went through training camp (and went to China) with the Pacers. He reportedly played pretty well but didn’t make the cut. He also was barred from blogging while he was employed by the team. They understandably didn’t want him talking publicly about things that were going on behind the scenes.

But fortunately, he did record his time with the Pacers. And now he is posting his training camp diary on his blog.

Here is a good passage from Rod Benson’s second entry. We pick up on the day he found out he would not be going to camp with the Suns and instead had to fly from Phoenix to San Francisco to Minnesota to Indianapolis in one day in order to take his physical and try to achieve his dream of playing in the league.

I took my seat on the Northwest Airlines flight, once again realizing that forgot to do my coddamn frequent flier miles. It would be ok if I could just go right to sleep on the plane. Of course that didn’t happen.

The guy next to me proceeded to tell me all about how we were on the “safest airplane in the sky.” He told me all about what made this plane better and safer, including its ability to fly on only one engine. Obviously, when we was told about how safe this plane was, that some person never told him about the rules of Jinx and “knock on wood.” I was just picturing some fool on the deck of the Titanic, boasting about how safe that boat was, also ignoring the possibility of Jinx. I didn’t sleep a wink after that.

Tired, I deplaned and boarded my next flight in Minneapolis. Once again, I didn’t sleep a wink. This was due to the ridiculously small size of the plane, and the flight attendant who managed to run his cart right into my left knee like it was a Pinata, eagerly expecting assorted Jolly Rancher flavors to come bursting out. I was too tired to get agitated.

There was no rest when I arrived in Indianapolis. I was picked up and wooshed to various doctors offices and clinics around town. The standard physical doesn’t take much time or effort, but the NBA requires an EKG and a stress test. Basically, I had to run on a treadmill at an increasing rate of speed for 15 minutes nonstop until my heart rate reached a certain BPM. Keep in mind that I had to do this without any sleep for over 24 hours, and that I was still in the same v-neck t-shirt, Cal shorts, and Vans that I had been wearing during my half-walk to the Arena in Phoenix the day before. I pretty sure I looked like a MESS for the entire ordeal.

Sweaty, tired, smelly, and exhausted, I was finally taken Conseco Fieldhouse in downtown Indy. It was now about 4PM locally – my 28^th straight hour awake. I shook the hands of a ton of people I didn’t know, and who I’m sure judged me to be the black version of The Scarecrow from “The Wizard of Oz.” I can’t blame them. I looked about as depleted as the water hole from Madagascar 2.

Finally, after signing a few papers, I was taken to the Embassy Suites in downtown Indianapolis, and layed my head down. The longest day of my life was officially over.

He says he will be putting up one entry a week, so we’ll check back shortly. Until then, enjoy this video of Rod Benson dunking on some 7’3″ guy over in Korea, where he is now playing.

May the Boom Tho be with you.

Related posts:

1. Danny Granger’s Flip Video Diary
2. Granger Sitting Out USA Basketball Mini-Camp

Quietly, I had a very successful training camp. It was hardly an open tryout, because their contract situation was already solidified, but I know I impressed nearly everyone. Truly, it was a far cry from my last camp experience with the Nets. I was prepared, I improved and I played hard everyday. There’s nothing like hearing Larry Bird tell you that he thinks you’re a hell of a player. In fact, in the midst of my best preseason game, I stole the ball from Johan Petro and I could hear Mr. Bird yell from his courtside seat: “Yeah, Rod!”

Below is his video from Taipei and The Great Wall of China for your viewing pleasure. I rather enjoyed it, particularly during the part when he was making fun of Travis for being short.

Be sure to stop back by Ball Don’t Lie in the days and weeks to come for more from his time with the Pacers, as well as his personal site Too Much Rod Benson, where you can keep up on all the latest Boom Tho happenings.

Related posts:

1. I Think My Life Is About To Take a Turn for the Boom Tho, as We Say Around These Parts
2. Pacers Cut the Roster to Fifteen; We Now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Boom Tho

But here it is: Your boy Rod Benson unveiling Mr. Boom Tho. (from @boomtho via Talk Hoops)

Related posts:

1. Pacers Cut the Roster to Fifteen; We Now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Boom Tho

The much more important question I’m sure some of you are asking yourself is “What is Boom Tho?” Glad you asked.

Let’s let Rod explain it.

What is Boom Tho?

Defined:

Boom Tho!

adv. 1: an occurance of an uncommonly good thing.
2. an exclaimation or show of excitement.
boom got them tho!
verb. 1a: the self completion of an uncommonly good thing.
1b: the successful act of mating.
boom got them dos!
verb. 1: the exact double of boom got them tho!
2: the completion of a difficult shot attempt on the basketball court.

The more you know.

It’s unfortunate that Rod couldn’t catch on in the NBA. But at least Boom Tho will be back soon.

Related posts:

1. Josh McRoberts Will Return to Indianapolis