Cliff Brunt

INDIANAPOLIS — It’s all starting to come together for Gerald Green and the Indiana Pacers.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Bert Owens is just one of the countless Colts fans with broken hearts.

"I'm sad I didn't get to relish his last games with us because I didn't know they would be," the 56-year-old Owens said as word spread that the Colts had indeed decided to release Peyton Manning. "It's going to take some years for us to rise again."

The dismay stretched from the streets of Indy to the governor's office and beyond.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Robert Clidinst Jr. has attended every Indianapolis 500 since 1946, and he still remembers his first as if it happened yesterday.

Only seven of the 33 cars finished the race that year, and he recalled that a lack of spare parts cost many of the drivers.

"It was the first one after World War II," the 76-year-old Clidinst recalled. "It was thrilling for me."

INDIANAPOLIS -- Dwight Howard isn't worried about getting another suspension for drawing too many technical fouls.

The Orlando center already has missed a game for accumulating too many, and two more will cost him a game during the regular-season stretch run. Howard insists he'll be the "same guy" as the playoffs approach -- meaning he'll continue to hold animated conversations with officials when he feels he's been wronged.

INDIANAPOLIS -- The annual All-Star game between NBA rookies and sophomores last week was missing perhaps the best-known rookie of all -- former North Carolina star Tyler Hansbrough.

INDIANAPOLIS -- Larry Bird is losing.