How I became a Pacers fan

While I struggled with the concept of losing a team I had grown up with, I wondered what my options were. Was there a way to jeopardize my fanhood in this situation? I came across an article ("Rules for being a true fan," Feb. 2002), which, though dated, actually helped me immensely in my decision. A friend of mine, also a die-hard Sonic fan, decided he would join me in deciding where we should take our loyalties.

Over pizza at a local Old Chicago, we went over every option. Do we wait it out and become NBA widows and hope Seattle gets a team again? Do we take our alliance and move it down to the upswing rivals of Portland? Or do we dare follow OKC, which represented all that was wrong with the NBA? Though I loved Sam Presti and the core he was building (Westbrook, Durant, Green, etc.) I felt it was not the players I loved so much, it was the city and the history of the franchise that I loved. I couldn't bring myself to do it.

So we poured over the remaining teams, quickly eliminating joining teams that would warrant the label "band-wagoners." Boston, LA, Cleveland, Orlando, Phoenix, New Orleans, Chicago, and Houston. Then we eliminated the teams we couldn't stand: San Antonio, Detroit, Dallas, Denver, and Utah. Having eliminated OKC and also Portland (we couldn't switch to the rival, even with Seattle gone), and all the east coast teams (we felt disconnected from them being in the west) we were left with LAC, GS, Sac, Ind, Mil, and Minne.

Clippers? No, thanks. GS? Please. Sac-town? Bleh. The Bucks? They need a new name. That left Indiana and Minnesota. Minnesota was (is) currently being pawned off as "Montana's Team" making annual exhibition games to Billings as the "home team." They were nice and upcoming with talent, but they lacked something. So we took a good hard look at Indiana. I had seen Indiana in Billings and also in Indianapolis while visiting some relatives. They were in the midst of redoing their image and had just pulled off a trade bringing in 7 new players. Bird and GM Morway looked like they finally had something going for this team. We couldn't be accused of band-wagoning, yet they missed the playoffs only by a game in the weak Eastern Conference. We liked the Jim O'Brien style of offense, fast and raining threes. I had a sense of familiarity and my friend agreed he liked the potential. No established all-star, similar to a certain Detroit Pistons ala 2004 with an emphasis on offense instead of defense. So we did it. We switched to the Pacers.

So here I write to you hoping that I made the right decision and look forward to the future for the Pacers organization while still hoping the Sonics return to the Emerald City someday again.