Just before I fell asleep last night (12:30 for those of you scoring at home), I engaged in my final surf of the night (Twitter, IndyStar, Gmail).  Of course, I was also multitasking by listening to the Bill Simmons podcast with Colin Cowherd (a really good 60 minute podcast by the way).  I realize most of you can’t even find time to watch the television show ’60 Minutes’ (I’d hate to think about ‘48 Hours’!), but once midnight hits, it tends to fly by.   A weird phoenomenon, by the way, at how quickly time actually goes by late at night.  I tend to think of myself as a West Coast guy in that regard.  Wait…where I was I going with this blog?

In between re-connecting my internet connection 4 times (Wynnedale might as well be the Appalachians when it comes to connection), I finally made my way to the IndyStar and saw the beginning of a headline that instantly made me giddy.  All I read were the first two words, Pacers sign, and felt like I just drank a 5-hour energy.  Indianapolis has never been a hotbed for free agents, so those two words alone had me fired up.  Looking back over the past few years, Maceo Baston and Sarunas Jasikevicius are the only two FA signings I can think of off the top of my head in the past five years or so.  Not exactly world beaters! 

When I finished reading the headline, I instantly became pretty excited:  Pacers sign free agent guard Dahntay Jones.  Before I go further, I should probably either change the word excited or at least put excited into context.  I think Dahntay Jones is a perfect fit for what Larry Bird and David Morway are building with the Pacers.  A week ago, I read that the Pacers had some interest in him and I was sold.  Again, this isn’t a guy that’s at a superstar level, or even the level below that.  But, he’s an uber-athletic wing that can defend the 1, 2, and 3.  He proved that in the playoffs by checking Chris Paul in round one, Antoine Wright/Jason Terry in round 2, and Kobe Bryant in the conference finals.  Okay, so he averaged about 2 fouls a minute against the Lakers.  You get my point.  He’s just what this team (that by all accounts lacked a defensive presence) needs. 

He’s also going to be a fan favorite.  He’s just one of those guys that brings a lot of energy to the basketball game, whether it’s starting, coming off the bench, or even cheering for teammates at the end of the bench.  If you watched any Nuggets games last year and saw what looked like a fan or a 15-year old kid  going crazy on the bench when a teammate made a nice play, that was Dahntay Jones.  Actually, he looked a lot like a mix of myself and Adam Ahlfeld, towel in hand.  I think you need guys like that.  In fact, you saw it this year with the Pacers.  It just looked like a team that was having fun.  He should fit right in.

The best way I could describe what Jones brings is the fact that I’ve NEVER been a fan of his.  He really irritated me in the New Orleans series with his antics on Chris Paul.  He irritated me at Duke.  He’s just one of those guys.   If he’s going against your team, you can’t stand him.  If he’s on your team, you LOVE him!   

The Pacers added some depth to the wing position and now that he’s on our team, we love him.  Welcome to Indy, Dahntay.      

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.