Plenty To Talk About With The Pacers

The Indiana Pacers held a Pacers Foundation golf outing today with Eddie and Kravtiz on hand broadcasting their show. As you can imagine there was tons of Pacers talk and some great interviews. What I gathered from these interviews is that there is a feeling of starting the season fresh down at the Fieldhouse with dedicated players who are excited and ready to play like crazy. Sounds good to me.

Listen for yourself. Here are some of the interviews from today:

• The interview of the day was with Mel Daniels and Bob Netolicky as the conversation turned into an ode to the ABA with some great (safe for radio) stories and comparisons to today's game. Daniels scoffed at the Palace Brawl recalling a fight with the Virginia Squires that last an hour and a half and included players, coaches, fans and police. The Squires coach and a few players were arrested but there was no public outcry or media scrutiny.

• Mike Dunleavy spent part of his summer on safari in Africa. The coolest thing he saw were the lions in action and a couple of impala hunts. He also saw some giraffes that reminded him of Roy Hibbert. As for the Pacers, Dun's keeping a level head. He feels good about the changes and the chemistry of the team but you never know how it's going to turn out until you get into the season.

• Marquis Daniels reports no injuries nagging him as he heads in to the season. He's considering a Darnell Hillman-esque 'fro for the Pepsi Coliseum exhibition game, but he'll pass on the short shorts so he doesn't have to show off his bird legs.

• Jim O'Brien is amped up for the start of camp and happy with the dedication the players have shown this summer. They're all motivated to work and succeed. Then he dropped a Lou Holtz quote:  "Motivation is simple. Yyou need to eliminate those people who aren't motivated." JOB mentioned how Jermaine O'Neal wasn't motivated to be a Pacer and Jamaal Tinsley wasn't motivated to condition himself which lead to injuries. JOB also heaped praise on Roy Hibbert and his passing ability out of the post. As for the defense, he thinks it will be better just because he expects the players to own up and take responsibility for the D. Last year the team leaders never provided the spark for the team to take ownership of the defense.

• Mark Boyle's impromptu interview didn't make the podcast but it was certainly entertaining. Boyle has spent a lifetime educating himself thanks to his insatiable curiosity, as he put it. We learned today that his curious nature had him trying to cash in a favor in Michigan some time ago so he could watch an execution. The voice of the Pacers wasn't given the "opportunity" witness the execution. After recovering from that visual, we learn Boyle was able to skip the drugs and watch his colonoscopy. I just want to know what he plans to do with that information. On second thought ...