Today’s Early Edition of Ahead of the Curve (8a-10a on 1070 the Fan) Might Just Be the Best Effort of All-Time

by Kent Sterling

My God, could there be a more compelling guest list in sports radio?  Indiana Pacers forward David West, Coach Rick Venturi, and IU guard Austin Etherington will share their insights with Fox 59 Sports Director Chris Hagan and me.

West is an incredibly thoughtful guy, who actually listens and resounds to questions without ever using one of the typical cliches.  I love interviewing him.  There is never any attitude.  He’s a pro on the court, and with the media he is astoundingly candid.  He’ll join the show at 8:15a to talk about the 9-0 start that may become 10-0 tonight in Chicago.

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I try not to bug Rick Venturi too often to appear on the show.  He’s a busy guy, and the last thing I want to do is impose, but the Colts are incredibly compelling this season.  There are a lot of teams that play well one week and then poorly the next, but the Colts play terrible football and championship level football in the same game almost every week.  It’s maddening for fans, but compelling as hell to watch.  I need to talk to Rick about what the hell is going on with this team.  He’ll be with us at 9:15a.

Austin Etherington is a really good guy, and is someone  I root for.  He competes like hell, plays bigger than he is, and is coming back from a catastrophic knee injury.  Every player who commits to a school hope that the narrative he has buzzing in his head the day he signs his letter of intent comes to pass.  None of us gets to choose our path, and it’s the adversity that sometimes provides us with the most rewarding experience.  We’ll talk to Austin about that at 8:45a.

The show is early because of the Noon start for the Indiana Hoosiers as they play in Madison against the Wisconsin Badgers.  Indiana go into this game as 26 1/2 point favorites, so at least Vegas doesn’t see the Hoosiers as a threat to pull the upset.  Win or lose, Indiana continues to take steps forward, and we’ll talk about why fans who are getting antsy about the Kevin Wilson era should relax.

Tom Crean’s Hoosier hoops squad scored at will against Samson last night, but will the team’s obvious athleticism be enough to carry against Big Ten competition.  We’ll talk about that tomorrow too.

Ahead of the Curve is really a four-hour show poured into a two-hour slot.  This show is radio’s version of a two-for-one night at your favorite bar.  For people who don’t have four hours to listen to the radio, we give you all you need in just two on 1070 the Fan (1070 AM and 107.5 FM) in central Indiana, and on 1070thefan.com everywhere else.