Author Archives: Kent Sterling

No one but Urban Meyer’s wife deserves an apology for his foolish adolescent behavior

Urban Meyer is a football coach and husband, but he is not our husband. He doesn’t owe me an apology.

So Jacksonville Jaguars head coach Urban Meyer allowed a woman in his Columbus, Ohio, bar dance very, very near him.  We know this because someone videotaped the idiocy with a smart phone and posted it on social media.

Of course they did.

Is this really how we want to use a piece of awesome technology?  I’m no champion of married men exhibiting this level of public indiscretion, but is it really any of our business how a football coach conducts his personal business?

The answer is no – it is not my business, nor yours – unless your name is Shelley Meyer or you are the husband of the injudicious blond.

But we are no longer allowed to simply shake our heads in disdain as we walk past seriously post-pubescent music enthusiasts.  No, we need to turn Urban’s recklessness into public scorn because, hey, that’s a ton of clicks, and that’s how our society has evolved over the last 15 years.

Meyer experienced the wrath of Khan upon his return to Jacksonville (Jags owner is Shad Khan), and then apologized to his team and staff.  Why he owed them an apology, I’m not sure.  He didn’t violate vows made with any of them.  I’ve never seen a coach and player stand before God and promise to forego all others.

In Goodfellas, Robert DeNiro’s character tells Ray Liotta, “Never rat on your friends and always keep your mouth shut.”  Those were quaint times.  Now it’s “Keep your smart phone in your pants and let a dorky coach screw up without anti-social media ruining his life.”

Meyer erred in a very substantial way.  He acted like a pampered fool in a very public place – like an adolescent 57 year old without responsibilities to his family.  His wife may never forgive and trust him again.  That’s between them.

Urban’s remorse and pledge to reform is owed his wife.  Not us.

 

Transfers like IU RB Tim Baldwin remind us of the importance of facing adversity through hard work

Indiana running back Tim Baldwin will transfer to another school, but if he is like many transfers he might be bringing his biggest problem along with him.

Transferring as an option for athletes facing manageable adversity cheats them of the best lessons that come from playing a sport.

This post is prompted by the news that Indiana backup running back Tim Baldwin has entered the transfer portal five games into this season and Crispus Attucks basketball player Jalen Hooks will be transferring to a California prep school funded by Kanye West.  I know neither of these guys or their circumstance, so this isn’t a comment on their specific situations.

Transferring can be a positive option for an athlete being treated poorly by a coach or who is unfulfilled by the education provided at their original institution, but the majority of transfers are kids who would rather run from adversity instead of fight through it.

High school and college are supposed to be difficult under normal circumstances.  Physical, intellectual, and emotional growth are painful because they require people to accept their limitations.  For many elite athletes, it’s especially tough because their lives have been filled with lavish praise from coaches, teachers, parents, and peers.  Having your weaknesses suddenly exposed as the talent gap narrows is hard for many to accept.

Some choose fight and some choose flight.  Adversity, while unpleasant in the moment, spawns maturity.  Running to someone promising wondrous rewards without tedious work sounds great in the moment, but life’s chief rewards come wisdom gained through diligence.

I would never expect a 16-22 year old to understand any of that.  It’s beyond their capacity to embrace that concept.  There was TV commercial for an investment firm in the 1970s that featured the quote, “The reward for hard work is more hard work.”  I laughed out loud every time I heard it.  The concept was absurd.  The reward for hard work should either be wealth or time off, I scoffed.

I’m not laughing or scoffing any more.

Many transfers are trying to take shortcuts around the hard work and head straight for the reward.  They believe so deeply in their own talent that work appears to be unnecessary.  When coaches tell them they need to dig deeper, they toss away the shovel and run.

Indiana University Basketball coach Mike Woodson said something interesting the other day about his players beginning to understand the levels of hard work.  He said that once players realize there is a level of work and then another level of work, things get easy.  The basic tenet is, “If you outwork your opponent, you will out play them.”

David Mamet wrote the screenplay for The Untouchables, and it it Sean Connery’s character explains how to get Al Capone, “You wanna get Capone? Here’s how you get him. He pulls a knife, you pull a gun. He sends one of yours to the hospital, you send one of his to the morgue! That’s the Chicago way.”  That’s also – metaphorically – how you succeed in life.

Through the course of a life, it dawns on us that those who work hard earn the opportunity to continue working hard.  Digging deep allow us to dig deeper.  Coaches and bosses who demand our best are more likely to motivate athletes and employees to give it.  It might not always be pretty or pleasant, but morphing from kid to adult rarely is.

When I see reports of athletes transferring, it saddens me.  There are transformative moments in life, and the decision to look inward to solve a problem prompts them.  The choice to wander based upon the promises of salesmen posing as coaches can extend an adolescence that lasts a lifetime.

Transferring changes geography, but it doesn’t change the biggest problem facing a high school or college athlete because there is no portal to change who you are.  That transformation must be earned.

Colts won because the Dolphins lost, but that shouldn’t rob us of joy and hope!

Jonathan Taylor is the closest thing the Colts have to a dynamic player, which means they can’t makes mistakes if they are going to win.

Hope is what gets us up in the morning.  It’s what makes life fun.  Sports mirrors life in many ways.  Hope makes sports fun too.

Yesterday, the Colts gave fans reason for hope.  The first three games – all losses – sucked a lot of hope out of Indianapolis.  But because the Colts beat the Dolphins 27-17 in Miami, hope is back, baby!  Forget that the Dolphins can’t stop the run or that Jacoby Brissett might be the most cautious quarterback in NFL history.  The Colts won, and that is a reason to feel good.

Gimpy Carson Wentz was clean and efficient with two touchdown passes to tight end Mo Alie-Cox and no picks.  The NFL’s leader in interceptions for 2020 has thrown to the other guys just once this season.  Jonathan Taylor was productive with 103 yards on 16 carries.

The defense was stout against the run, limiting the Dolphins to 35 yards on 16 carries.  Brissett was his usual self prior to the Colts taking an insurmountable 20-3 lead with 13:17 left.  To that point, he had completed 13-of-21 passes for a paltry (even by Brissett’s standards) 80 yards.  The Colts created two turnovers as well.  And how about Kemoko Turay‘s two sacks?

There were a lot of reasons in this game for Colts fans to embrace the notice of hope.  Football was finally fun again in Indianapolis, and I’m not going to crap all over that by telling you why this game should not fill you with grand optimism moving forward.  The Colts bubble will likely burst on its own – no need for the pins of logic to be wielded before it’s necessary.

Most NFL games are not won through excellence, but lost by the team that screws up the most. That was the Dolphins yesterday – and by a substantial margin.  Here is an incomplete sample of heinous errors that doomed Miami:

  • Illegal hands to the face penalty that negated a 28-yard gain and resulted in an eventual Dolphins punt.
  • A Brissett sack that took the Dolphins out of field goal range.
  • Offsides penalty on a 4th & 3 punt that gave the Colts a first down.  Four plays later, the Colts scored a touchdown giving them a 7-3 lead.
  • Muffed punt, which led to a Colts field goal.
  • Jaelan Phillips neutral zone infraction that took a 3rd & 11 to a much more manageable 3rd & 6 at the Miami nine.  Three plays later – another Colts touchdown.
  • Brissett’s fumble as he tried to prolong a play, which led to a Colts field goal.

You don’t need an MIT degree to figure out that while this win belongs to the Colts, the loss is also owned by the Dolphins.  That doesn’t degrade the Colts effort – it just shows exactly how the NFL works.  Bad plays hurt worse than great plays bring pleasure.

Making fewer idiotic plays is a great way to win games, and for a team like the Colts lacking dynamism, it might be the only way.

So the Colts elevate their record to 1-3 while the Titans lost to the Jets in overtime to fall to 2-2.  Colts just a game back with a Lucas Oil Stadium Halloween tilt against Tennessee looming makes all things possible.

Who does Halloween better than Colts fans?

See, hope leading to optimism.  It’s fun.  Enjoy it, instead of whining about Frank Reich‘s call toward the end of the first half to go for it on 4th & 1 or a missed open receiver or two by Wentz.  Save that stuff for the next time the Colts are the team that screws up more often.