Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Colts Ballard MUST stick to terms of Wentz trade and give Eagles first round pick if he stays healthy

Carson Wentz came to the Colts for a third round pick and a conditional second rounder that moves to a first if he is able to take 75% of the snaps. That condition must not be exploited to maintain the first round pick.

The answer is, never.  You just don’t do it.  Screwing over the Eagles would be deceitful, short-sighted, pragmatic, and bereft of morality.

The question is – when do you shut Carson Wentz down so he doesn’t reach the threshold of snaps to kick that 2022 second round pick into the first round?

When the Colts made the deal with the Philadelphia Eagles to acquire Wentz, they shipped a 2021 third rounder and a conditional ’22 second to Philly.  The second rounder had a condition – if Wentz takes 75% of the Colts offensive snaps, the pick slides into the first round.

Given the Colts 3-5 record, fans are starting to get itchy about losing a first rounder for a quarterback who was not only unable elevate the Colts to Super Bowl contention, he’s so far failed to allow the Colts to maintain their position as a marginal playoff team.  Some fans are calling for Colts GM Chris Ballard and coach Frank Reich to manage Wentz’s snaps to allow the Colts to keep what could be a pick inside the top 15.

There are plenty of reasons to play Wentz – winning should always be the goal, other players are risking their long term health to compete, fans are paying to watch a team try to win, and there is still a possibility of earning a playoff spot.  That’s the short list.

But only one reason matters – Playing a healthy Wentz is the right and honorable thing to do.  A promise was made.  It should be kept.  Period.

I’m not sure when our society turned to avarice as its core principle, but those who believe Ballard and Reich should manage snaps for a healthy Wentz so the team can dodge a condition negotiated into this deal to cover the Colts should Wentz get hurt – as he often did with the Eagles – are Nixonian in their practicality.

The ends do not justify the means, regardless of the lessons our leaders teach on a daily basis.  The excuse-making, ass covering, and hoarding of assets at the expense of decency and the truth is every bit as big a societal problem as Covid, global warming, and homelessness.  In fact, it can be easily argued that greed has caused all three of those plights.

“But we need to win a championship, and a first round pick will help!” fans comment every day on my YouTube Channel.  I try to politely correct them toward an understanding that a championship built upon underpinnings of fraud and deceit doesn’t count for much.

Ballard has been relentlessly honest and decent through his four-plus years as general manager, so I am certain he would never manipulate a condition negotiated in good faith with a rival GM.  That is simply not the way he rolls.

Colts fans should applaud Ballard as a GM willing to keep his word rather than treat Eagles GM Howie Roseman as an easily duped sap for negotiating such an easily dodged threshold.

The Colts are unlikely to qualify for the playoffs whether Wentz plays 17 games or not, but that does not justify replacing him with back-up Sam Ehlinger.  There is no level of bounty worth subverting morality.  If Ballard didn’t want to give up a first round pick, the escalator should not have been part of the deal.

This is not a close call.  “Close call” implies there is gray area in this decision.  A list of pros and cons does not need to be produced to make this decision.  Promises must be kept.  Trust is ultimately important.  Liars suck, and so does unchecked greed.

It’s just that simple.

Fourteen borderline insulting questions about the 1-4 Indiana Pacers!

Chris Duarte is my favorite Pacers player of the season so far – which says as much about the other Pacers as Duarte.

I want to care about the Indiana Pacers, but if the Pacers themselves play as though they don’t care about the Pacers, why should I bother?

That was the thought that rang in my head like the bell in a church where it is always noon as I watched their pathetic lack of effort in Toronto last night.  Basketball is dramatic, fun to play, and compelling as hell to watch when there is something on the line.  The Pacers played folded for the Raptors as though not even pride was at stake – maybe especially as though pride wasn’t at stake.

Basketball is a lot like music.  If a band goes through the motions playing their hits and serves as a walking and breathing jukebox without a captivating collective aspontaneity, people at a concert chat among themselves and treat the event as background entertainment.  Basketball provides the same opportunity to be a fascinating watch or a distraction from conversation.

Through five games, the Pacers have been more chatter than matter despite three very close contests to begin the season.  Because my wife was busy doing something more important than watching the Pacers lose in Toronto last night (a broad swath of potential activities), I was left to talk to myself – which is something you can see me do twice each day on my YouTube channel.  I asked myself a variety of questions.  Hear are 14 of them (in honor of Sam Perkins, one of my favorite Pacers):

  1. Do the Pacers realize that basketball isn’t drudgery?
  2. Each member of the Pacers starting lineup (minus Chris Duarte, who is on his rookie deal) earns roughly a quarter of a million dollars per game.  That would pay four-to-five teachers, police, or firefighters for a year.  All they need to do is play basketball for two-and-a-half hours while travelling via chartered jets and staying in luxurious hotels!
  3. Did last night’s game interrupt something the players were more interested in?
  4. Why did Rick Carlisle decide to coach another team given that his wealth is substantial, and he could easily lay on a beach sucking down Coronas with Snoop Dogg for the rest of his life?
  5. Was Malcolm Brogdon born with structurally deficient hamstrings?
  6. Will Duarte’s positive energy lift his teammates, or will he be dragged into the team’s intractable malaise?
  7. Are we in the midst of another era when fans would prefer to sit in the Gainbridge Fieldhouse bars to being in their seats watching the game?
  8. Why does Myles Turner often appear to be more enthusiastic as he supports teammates from the bench than when he’s on the floor?
  9. Why did only the rookies sing Happy Birthday to Rick Carlisle as he “celebrated” the end of his 62nd trip around the Sun?
  10. Can I discipline myself to watch another 77 of these games?
  11. Are the other 29 NBA teams as ambivalent about basketball as this one seems to be?
  12. How long until Pacers assistant and Butler alum Ronald Nored decides to run for Congress instead of coach apparently indifferent millionaires?
  13. Do Chris Denari and Quinn Buckner like each other?
  14. Who has it worse – the people who pay for tickets to watch this team or the people who get paid to watch this team?

Some of those questions are uneducated and reflect my angst in the moment as I watched the game.  I did not enjoy asking myself those questions – or answering them alone in our living room.  Maybe tomorrow night in Brooklyn the switch will flip and suddenly I will enjoy watching the Pacers again.  It can happen just that quickly.  That’s part of the fun of basketball too!

Overreacting to dismal starts is something that fans do, and I am a fan of the Pacers franchise.  A 1-4 start is hard to ignore – regardless of injuries.  Results always have a cause, and I’m afraid the cause for 1-4 is the same as the cause for my disinterest in our city’s NBA franchise.

I have great respect for Pacers ownership, affection for the management team, and a deep love of basketball.  So why don’t I enjoy watching this team right now?