Big 10 Football Tour

Next up for Friday evening's plans was an Indiana Pacers game at Conseco Fieldhouse.  During my basketball tour 18 months ago, I named Conseco as my favorite NBA arena.  It has a great downtown location, a generally safe area, and accessible/inexpensive nearby parking

My favorite part of Conseco in the concourse.  It is decorated from top to bottom with Indiana basketball history.  Advertisements are hand-painted on the walls, there is all sorts of pre-game entertainment, and it is extremely spacious to maneuver through.

At some point during the game, I bumped Dan's beer; spilling it all over his pants and forcing him to walk around as if he couldn't hold it any longer.  Of course there was retribution and I had a similar problem.  Unfortunately the kids in front of us were not spared and probably went home smelling like beer as well.

I was really anticipating a great game as the Washington Wizards now had a healthy Gilbert Arenas & Brendan Haywood.  The acquistions of Noah Lowry and Mike Miller should have also bolstered their roster.

While neither team played particularly well (as both teams shot under 40%) and the Indiana led by large margins throughout the whole game.  Thus, most of the game was relatively unentertaining except for when Tyler Hansborough would check into the game and the crowd would go absolutely nuts.  Still the scrappy player he was in college, he seems to be doing a decent job thus far in the NBA.

Larry Bird was seated in his customary seats during the game.  Jeff Foster, Austin Crosshere, and Rik Smits were later introduced as part of the 99-00 NBA Finals teams.  As the Dunkin' Dutchman was just a few rows in front of me, I had to go ask for a photo.  The girl shown rode my coattails and also jumped in the picture.