Back to the office after a seldom used vacation day on Friday.  I had fully anticipated a Friday Quick Hitters to be released on Friday, but the vacation day really affected my level of productivity.  Hopefully, everyone was able to get through their Friday even without the missing FQH.  It feels like I haven’t written in 4 days or something, so we’ve got some catching up to do:

NBA Draft

If I would have written my blog on Thursday night, I would have ripped the Pacers to shreds.  While sitting at BDubs on Thursday night, I had my biggest swing of emotions from good to bad since Marvin Harrison’s fumble against San Diego in January.  As I mentioned in my Thursday post, you knew somebody was going to slip in the draft.  Here’s a little insight into why my emotions were what they were.  This insert is copied and pasted from my Friday Quick Hitters on February 22nd:

–The trade deadline has passed and the Pacers stayed put with their current roster.  That’s probably the best as we continue to root against them for that lottery pick!  Good group of guys, unfortunately not a lot of great NBA talent.  As of now, my guy is Jerryd Bayless.  Three straight 30 point games out at Arizona.  6′3″ that can run the point, yet score like Monta Ellis.  NBAdraft.net has him projected right now at #4, so he’ll most likely be out of our grasp.  I still don’t know if I trust our braintrust with a lottery pick, but with good talent throughout, they can’t possibly do too bad.

After 8 picks, Bayless is still hanging around.  Charlotte poses as a team that could potentially get the best player still available, until you realize that Michael Jordan is running things.  In true Charlotte fashion, they go for DJ Augustin.  New Jersey was up 10th.  At that point, our table began rattling off the Nets backcourt.  Harris, Marcus WIlliams, Vince Carter and then their big men, Krstic, Yi?  There’s no way they take Bayless.  Sure enough, they go with Brook Lopez, leaving a top 5 talent in the draft right out in the open for the Pacers to draft.  With the 11th pick, the Indiana Pacers select….(pray for the J, pray for the J) Jarryd Bayless from the University of Arizona!  The 9 Pacer fans in the building erupt.  We had our steal of the draft and it was one of those draft day miracles.  The chips & queso began tasting even better, and we even began working on our “shooting” skills.  Then, a dreaded text was delivered to a guy in a Stephen Jackson jersey at the table next to us.

Bayless and Ike Diogu to Portland for Jarrett Jack and Brandon Rush.  What?  Initially everyone blew it off, but who in their right mind could make up that deal?  Rush was Bird’s guy and it seemed just crazy enough to be true.  10 minutes later, we found out it was true.  Oh yeah, and Josh McRoberts was added in there as a filler. 

I honestly thought, and still think, that if you’re not going to keep Bayless, you could have gotten a lot more for him.  Somehow package Tinsley in there, gain a 2nd round pick, or do something else besides a backup PG and Rush. 

Even though I thought we could have gotten more, after some sleep (Great sleeping in on Friday by the way!), I’m excited for the prospects of what Rush can bring to the table.  Having already torn an ACL scares the hell out of me, but every player in the league is a torn ACL from slowing down a bit.  He bounced back nicely for a productive senior year in which Kansas won the National Championship.  I’ll take winners all day long. 

Jack also becomes the best backup PG we’ve had here in a long time.  It’s nice to have a stable backcourt again.

Hibbert at #17 was pretty predictable, so I don’t have many thoughts on that.  He didn’t seem to board well at Georgetown for a guy that stands 7′2″, but I saw the pick coming, so I’m going to welcome him to Indiana with open arms.  My expectations are low on him, which is exactly what you want.  At best, he may be a similar player to Rik Smits, minus the underrated nickname and high expectations.

Now we just all have to wait until July 9th until the players can actually get introduced to the city. 

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Forgetting Sarah Marshall

With it’s release date on April 18th, it was in true “Bous Theory” fashion to finally see the movie on June 29th.  There aren’t a ton of movies that come out that I actually plan on seeing in the theater.  When one does (Like Sarah Marshall), I typically don’t go on opening weekend, which leads to not going on the 2nd weekend, which leads to forgetting about it and never actually seeing the movie that I wanted.  That was pretty much the case for this movie.  Until yesterday!  After writing off that it would still be shown here in Indianapolis, I decided to do a Yahoo! Movie search of the area.  It was a little cloudy outside, and popcorn and a big gulp sounded outstanding.  Come to find out, Forgetting Sarah Marshall was still playing at the College Park 14 Theater on 86th & Michigan. 

Going to movies by yourself probably wouldn’t be described on anyone’s “Cool Things to Do” list, but I’ve somehow made it cool (Not that I’ve done it a lot).  I got to the theater right at the 6:50 start time, ordered my $11 popcorn and coke and was on my way.  What I didn’t know when deciding to go to the movie, was that I’d be hooked up with the VIP ticket.  I was the ONLY person in the entire theater.  And it was awesome!  I could laugh inappropriately, put my feet up on the seat in front of me, or even cuss out loud if I wanted.  It was just like watching it at home on a screen 20 times bigger than my television.  Not to mention, I could lazily let the popcorn fall to the floor or all over my shirt and then just brush it to the floor. 

I thought the movie was great.  Genuine laughs and it made you feel good walking out of there.  That’s all I ask.  I also saw a preview for Pineapple Express, which looks great.  It comes out on August 8th, so if you’re not doing anything on Thanksgiving, let me know.  I’ll definitely be checking it out then.

It’s all but official:  Jermaine O’Neal is headed to Toronto, in a deal that will bring T.J. Ford, Rasho Nesterovic, and the number 17 pick to Indianapolis.  Latest reports I’ve heard also has another Raptor heading to Indy and the Pacers 41st pick heading to Toronto.  This is probably a trade in which, “pending players passing physicals”, will be scrutinized more than the actual NBA Draft.  Never have those 4 words meant so much to either team.  I’m almost hesitant to write about the trade until it’s official, but that’s not going to be until after the 4th of July, so I figured I might as well.

Although, I thought Larry Bird took the full reigns of this team about 3 or 4 years ago, this is his first move as the sole braintrust.  I have to say, I like it.  I like it a whole lot.  We solved our PG problems in one foul swoop, picked up an extra first rounder, and a contract of $8.4 million that will come off the books after next season.  Pending no other moves, the P’s will basically be $16 million under the cap after this season.  Who would have ever thought that?  Now, it’s on to the draft where Larry Legend scares me to death.  “His guys” haven’t turned out to be too much (see Shawne WIlliams and Luke Jackson), which has me a little concerned.  I’m just happy to have two top twenty picks.  For a guy who chooses today as his favorite day of the year, two picks in the top twenty is like having divorced parents where you get about 6 Christmas celebrations each year.

The 11th pick is totally up in the air.  If the top 10 go as expected, I fully expect the Pacers to take either Brandon Rush or Mario Chalmers.  There’s a catch, the top 10 NEVER goes as expected, so a very talented player is going to slip right into the Pacers hands.  It could be Brook Lopez, Eric Gordon, or somebody cool I haven’t even thought of. 

I’ve also got a hunch that Larry Bird is in love with Roy Hibbert at #17.  Like my buddy, Med was saying last night, Roy Hibbert is like your buddy’s girlfriend that no one can stand.  She seems good (7′2″, good shot) on the surface, but in reality no one can stand her.  She’s not good for your friend, but you’re just too afraid to say anything to him because he’s in love.  (Now that I think about it, I wonder if he was talking about any of mine???).  That’s Roy Hibbert and Larry Bird.  The entire front office doesn’t think too highly of Hibbert, but Bird is so fascinated with him that he’s not even listening if they were to speak up.  If the Pacers take Hibbert at number 11, it’s the equivalent of your buddy proposing within 6 months of dating to this terrible girl.  Please don’t propose, Larry! 

Remember tonight when you’re watching, Toronto will actually pick 17th, but just know that will eventually be the Pacers guy.  Also, keep your eyes open to see where these guys go:  Courtney Lee, George Hill, DJ White, and Mike Green.  The 2nd round could provide more gulps than the 1st this year.  Prediction:  Pacers get Mario Chalmers at 11 and the Raptors take Roy Hibbert at 17 for the Pacers. 

Thoughts? 

Big pre-NBA draft night for me last night.  You guys remember the “Whatta Ya Do After Work” blog?  To give you the rundown, last night was pretty productive considering it was a Monday.  Started off by heading to Webster’s Sporting Goods to pick up our RTV6 softball shirts.  I stepped it up a notch on them this year by getting numbers printed on the back.  What the rest of the team doesn’t know yet, is that are T-shirts are actually just leftovers from the Friday Night Football shirts we used at H.S. football games last fall.  They’re also all Extra Large’s, so there may only be about 2 or 3 guys that aren’t swamped in them (myself included).  Surprisingly, I’ve never shrunk anything while washing clothes, so I had to ask some girls at work if you could, in fact, purposely shrink clothes.  I always heard the horror stories of taking a large shirt into one that my 9 month old nephew could wear.  Despite washing them with hot water, and then drying them for 180 minutes, they still look pretty XL to me.  Maybe we’ll just turn them into belly shirts like college football players in the 80s?  By the way, the lent in the lent collector, looked about the same as everyone’s belly buttons on the set of ”The Biggest Loser”.  That could have factored in.

After picking up the new team shirts, I headed to Great Clips to get a fade for the upcoming season, as well as summer in general.  My “doo” always gets to that point where you look in the mirror in the morning and you have no clue what’s going on.  For instance, yesterday morning, I had a permanaent side part that actually hurt when I touched it.  I used to be able to grow it out Aaron Rodgers style (minus the Butt Cut), but I just told the gal to do a “3″ all the way around.  She said, “you want a buzz?”.  I said, “oh yes!”.  She got half-way done with the top, and I asked if I could just leave it like that.  I thought it was funny at the time.  After just reading what I typed, I realize it was in no way funny.  After a fresh haircut, you always seem to end up with hair everywhere.  The thing I’ve noticed about Great Clips is, there seems to be EXTRA hair on you than normal.  I don’t know if it’s the person before me’s hair or what, but they do a great job of just leaving all the hair right between your nose and eyes.  I was clean shaven before dinner, and by the time I got to the restaurant I had Porkchop burns, a unibrow, and a fu-man-choo.  I could have eaten at any five-star restaurant, since my t-shirt instantly turned into a fur coat.

After the fade, I headed to Puerto Vallarta for a bite to eat.  Believe it or not, I went an entire week without eating Mexican, so my withdrawls were kicking in.  I broke down, but got out of there in record time.  I was almost self-conscious about how quickly I was in an out of there.  It was seriously no more than 13 minutes.  I didn’t even have time to eat more than about eight or nine chips or drink more than one Diet Coke.  Usually I slug those things down and end up with a complete set on my table.  I left there feeling as good as you can about yourself after knocking out some Mexican food.

Already excited about the NBA Draft, I decided to watch the WWE Draft.  If you’re asking, “The WWE has a draft?”, that’s exactly what I thought.  If you’re asking, “What is the WWE?”.  It’s the old WWF, they’ve broken it down into Smackdown, Raw, and ECW.  Who knew?  Anyway, they apparently have a draft each year where a few superstars switch leagues (although they’re all under WWE).  To me, it all seems a little pointless, but what do I know?  I only made it through a little bit of it, before turning to an excellent documentary on HBO called, “Hard Times at Douglass High”.  If you haven’t seen it, and have a couple of free hours, I definitely recommend it.  It gives you a good look into problems facing school systems and the lack of support some of them get.

2 days to the draft!  If you hear any rumors you want to bounce off me, do so here.  If you’re Mundee topped mine, let me know.  Media League Softball season begins tonight.  I don’t know if I’ll have a statkeeper, but I should be able to provide a full report in tomorrow’s blog.  It looks as if I may be pitching this season, so keep my facial bones and limbs in your thoughts and prayers.    

I’ve got an extra bounce in my step on this particular Monday.  Sure, I had a pretty solid weekend, it was a beautiful commute to work, and the Weezer helped pick things up.  For none of those reasons am I feeling excited this morning.  The NBA Draft is Thursday, meaning it’s time to go ahead and put the Chicago Bulls on the clock.  The fact that I have Friday off, making today my Tuesday, could actually play into it as well.  For theatrical purposes,  I’ll go with the Draft Week theory.

It’s a no brainer that there is no better draft in sports, but I may take it a bit further and say there is no single event in sports that does it for me more than the NBA draft.  The buildup and excitement created each and every year is usually a little bit better than the actual draft itself.  The mock drafts, trade rumors, stocks on the rise, stocks on the fall, 6′6 guys measure at 6′3, individual workouts, etc just make this NBA Draft second to none in professional sports.  There’s no better day in the summer than NBA Draft Day.  Period.  

When I was still in school, the time would drag so slow from my birthday (June 6th) to draft day.  For a week or two before the draft, I would get my mock drafts worked up, buy a new hat, and sit in agony for the Wednesday draft to begin.  This was the time when the only mock draft I ever read was the Sunday before the draft, in which the Indianapolis Star would create one.  There are literally thousands now, but back in the early to mid 90s, I can just remember sitting waiting on that Sunday Star sports section.  I’m going to sound like an old man, but it’s really too bad as I read Mike Wells’ yesterday, but it didn’t have the same luster.

In 1992 and 1993, I watched the first part of the draft from the Elks Lodge in New Castle.  Unfortunately, Grandma Bouslog chose draft night two years in a row to grab some dinner with the family.  I remember being just a little bit ”impatient” those two particular drafts.  We had to sit in the back near the bar, so I could have them put the draft on the TV.  It was probably the first Elks Lodge NBA Draft Party.  Looking back, it really becomes a great memory of my life.

In 1997, I was at Notre Dame Tennis Camp, causing me to miss my first draft in years.  I tried to make it through the entire night, not hearing a word about the draft (I had it recording for when I got home) and some chump told me that Boston selected Chauncey Billups.  I remember seriously being pretty upset  that he told me.  As soon as I got home from South Bend, I put major social plans on hold, to watch my recorded draft in its entirety.

Since 2002, my friends and I have been involved in NBA Draft Parties, where we’ve made it a tradition to get together to watch the draft.  For that particular draft, I listed “NBA Draft Party” as my reason for needing that day off from my summer gig at K-Mart.  Luckily, they approved.  Otherwise, I might not have been working there anymore.

If the Pacers didn’t have any selections in the first round (See 2007), I still get hyped for the draft.  The 11th pick just makes it a lot sweeter.  Anyone have any draft-day stories or thoughts on what direction the Pacers will go this Thursday?  Larry Bird said he knows his guy, which is a little bit scary.  More coverage to come.    

The Bous Theory:  It’s as Cool as Having Blacklights and Stars in Your Bedroom

Once again, I’m having some technical difficulties with a pretty cool idea I thought of (pretty cool in my head, anyway) for the Quick Hitters.  The girls that work to the right and left of me think I am absolutely nuts right now, but it’s all for the good of the Bous Theory.  Most likely, you guys will never actually get to hear the audio that I’m putting together.  I do want you to know though that it would have been pretty good if you did, in fact, ever hear it.

Has everyone seen the Kevin Garnett post game interview with Michele Tafoya?  It goes down in my top five all time favorite post game interviews, and think it could come close to the Mike Tyson-Jim Gray interview.  Here’s a link in case you missed it.  The pure emotion that he showed was one of the things that makes KG who he is.  Basically, he’s crazy.  And I love it.  There are stories floating around the web that he was actually supposed to do a marketing plug for Adidas in that interview.  When he said, “Anything is Possible”, “Anything is Possibllllllllllllllllllllllllllllllle!” a wooo woo wooo.  He actually was supposed to say the Adidas slogan, “Impossible is Nothing”.  I don’t buy that for a minute.  Again, I think it was pure emotion and KG was being, well, KG.  His drive to win is so much that the alter ego snuck out for a little bit. 

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Is there anyone out there that still buys CD’s?  Everyone says the music industry is dying out, but I’m doing my best to single handedly keep it going.  I’ve probably purchased 30 CD’s in the past year.  They’re not the best investment, but I’m trying to add to my eclectic collection.  Who knows?  One day they may be like the vinyls that baby boomers talk about all time.  Of course, every single one of mine will have scratches on them, but who’s counting?

Picked up two good ones last week:  Lil’ Wayne and Weezer (Weezy and Weezer for those keeping track at home).  Does it get any more opposite than that?  A lot of times they look at me like I’m crazy at Best Buy.  The Lil Wayne/Weezy was a pretty good combo for the near breakdown of a Best Buy employee, and ranks right up there with my The Doors/Reggae Mix Volume 10 from a couple of years ago, and the Smashing Pumpkins/George Strait/Four Tops that I’ve successfully pulled off.  Like I said, my collection is pretty eclectic. 

Anyway, I would definitely recommend both the Lil’ Wayne and Weezer cd’s who likes their respective types of music.  I’ve had a 2 CD rotation going since last Friday. 

The real test will be to see which CD wins the weekly battle of, “What Song Will Pump Me Up As I Drive Home on a Friday?”  Does anyone else have these?  Each day of the week, your selection changes based on your mood.  What are some CD’s that you listen to heading home from work?  Does it change when you’re actually driving TO work?  I guarantee you, I’m drumming on my steering wheel as I head up Illinois Street tonight.  Happy No Sock Friday!