I read an interesting article in the Indiana Business Journal that came across my view a couple of days ago, and it had to do with the business state of the Indiana Pacers.  Interesting stuff, and all of it paints a not-so-rosy picture of the once proud franchise. 

This is the biggest point to me-- as the recent 2007/2008 season reached the halfway point, the Pacers are dead last (that's right--LAST!) in average NBA attendance this season at 12,068.  New Orleans is next to last at 12,159.  

I could blame a few things for this, like the effect of competing against the Indianapolis Colts for sports entertainment in the Central Indiana area, or the negative image of the Pacers that a series of on and off court incidents have forged over the past few years, or the stagnant, uninspired  win-loss record over this and last season.  All of these have factored in somehow, I'm sure.

I could speculate on this for what may seem forever, but one thing that I believe should be conveyed to the Pacers' Brass (and in particular, Larry Bird)-- blow this thing up and let's start over, please!

Anyone that's paid attention to my ramblings about the Pacers know that I've been a little critical of Larry Bird and how things have gone over the past couple of years, but in reality, this is the first actual season that Larry Legend is in full control.  To me, it just seemed like things went haywire around the hiring of Bird into the Pacers' franchise for the second time.  Donnie Walsh made some of the moves that have been questioned in the past, so I'll go easy on pinning Bird to past troubles. 

I'll admit, actually I couldn't help it-- it was so very easy to point him out or should I say, blame him for everything that's gone on.  Heck, he's even the perfect stereotype for a screwed-up NBA GM-- a former Boston Celtics All-Star and Hall of Fame member-- (never had any GMs like that before in the NBA, right?) but I hope Larry recoginzes that this is the curtain call of the Pacers as we know it.

Hey look at it this way, we have no where to go but up, right???  C'mon Larry, do the right thing, man-- I'll be glad to give you the dynamite.