Pacers sign 2nd round draft pick

What is probably a small blurb down in Pacer-land, could potentially be big news with the Mad Ants. The Pacer's recently signed AJ Price (UCONN) to a multi-year agreement. This means they will not be waiving him during pre-season or any of that jazz. This almost means he could potentially be a prime candidate for the Pacer's to send down to the Mad Ants for a stretch. A lowly Account Executive such as myself does not get to make those types of decisions, but we can hope. I know many of our fans would love to see a Pacer in a Mad Ants uniform. Here are the reasons the Pacer's should send down Mr. Price to the Mad Ants:

1.) Publicity-Advertising: Sending AJ down to us will bring more attention to the Pacer's in Fort Wayne. Once AJ starts playing more for the Pacer's, more Mad Ants fans would be inclined to tune in for a game or drive down to follow a guy they knew as a Mad Ant. I think in the minor leagues, fans develop much more of a personal attachment to players and enjoy following their careers if they "make it".

2.) Development: This is what this league is all about right? How much better can you get during the NBA season if you are consistently getting no playing time. Once the season start, practice time gets cut way down as well. If he comes to the Mad Ants he goes from 0 minutes to 35 plus minutes a game. He would be playing with a myriad (is this a real word and did I use it correctly?) of hungry talented young players and guys with former NBA experience and could not help but improve his game.

3.) Convenience: This is just a no brainer to me. It is a two hour drive from Indy to Fort Wayne. He could come up to Fort Wayne in the morning for shoot-around, play in a Mad Ants game, and be back to Indy by midnight. If he was assigned for longer than a game or two he would need to move here but he would be close at hand if the Pacer's needed to recall him for a game. It would also be easy for Pacer's staff to come up to evaluate his play.

So what are the odds of the Pacer's assigning AJ Price or anyone else? I am going to go with 23%, simply because they have not used the NBA D-League up to this point. Does it make sense for Pacers to put the Mad Ants and the D-League to better use? I think so, the problem is I do not believe Mr. Bird follows the Martz Madness blog.

Okay now for the Volleyball updates..... I went 0-4 with the team I substitute for last week. It was an embarrassment! But we came back and went 4-0 this week to make up for it. I will be posting some pictures of my adopted team "The Tainted Tigers" soon. The Mad Ants team went 3-1 last week and is on a bye tonight. I believe we have one more regular season week and then it is tournament time!

I also got a glimpse of the Mad Ants TV commercial today that will be airing in Fort Wayne soon. It is safe to say that this is our best piece of advertising to date and I think every one will like it. It is a great display of what the Mad Ants are all about.

Alright, time to finish up for the day and then off to the Tin Caps game.