Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Chicago Cubs season tickets prices skyrocket, and that better buy pitching

If the only onfield upgrade that results from the Cubs raising season ticket prices is pants for Clark, the Sterlings are going to get angry.

It makes all the sense in the world for these World Champions to jack up prices for season tickets, but it still seems wrong.

There is great demand, and even from the scattershot listening I did during macroeconomics while a student at Indiana University, I understand that increased demand requires a response in pricing.

But the Cubs sucked for a long time, and the prices never receded. In fact, the Cubs continued to charge long-suffering fans prices for tickets that averaged among the top three in Major League Baseball while fielding an awful team.

I understand pricing is determined by demand and not quality of baseball, but it always seemed predatory to exploit the passion of Cubs fans for the profit of a family from Omaha.

And this seems similar but in the opposite direction.

In 2016, the average price of a Cubs ticket was $51.33, and the average attendance for the 81 games was roughly 39,950. That means the total gate for Cubs games was just over $161-million. If attendance is stable, the average 19.5% increase will generate another $32.4-million for the Rickettseseses.

Cubs fans want a year of celebration? Pay up suckers! Continue reading →

Win or lose tonight against the Jets, Colts will live for another week

The 5-6 Colts against the 3-8 Jets on Monday Night Football is not going to set the world on fire.

Andrew Luck is the highest paid player in the NFL, and he’s relatively well known. The Jets are a big deal in New York no matter their record, so the ratings might be oddly respectable for such a dull game.

Ramifications for this game from the Jets perspective exist only in helping determine draft position. For the Colts, it’s a little bit different.

If the Colts win this battle for the mediocre soul of the National Football League, they will launch themselves into a three-way tie for the lead in the NFL’s most mediocre division – the AFC South.

With a win, the Colts will be able to look toward this Sunday’s home game against the Houston Texans as an opportunity to take command of the division. Continue reading →

Kevin Wilson “resigns” as Hoosiers football coach; Tom Allen very quickly named as replacement

Meet the new boss – not the same at all as the old boss. IU AD Fred Glass welcomes Tom Allen as the next football coach.

Nothing wrong with IU athletic director Fred Glass’s fast twitch administrative muscles.

“Fired Wilson, hired Allen, let’s get lunch!”

Indiana Football coach Kevin Wilson resigned today, and I’m pretty sure he was asked to.

The cost of that resignation? Exactly $542,000, according to Glass. At least we assume that quid pro quo.

Mutually agreed to terms of the resignation made the departure quick, easy, and non-litigious. In the end, it’s worth it to not have the thing drag out as lawyers get paid by the hour to find middle ground in a settlement.

Some 90 minutes after Wilson decided to take the cash and walk, Glass made the call to hire Defensive Coordinator Tom Allen, who led a revitalized unit from abysmal to pretty good virtually overnight, as the permanent replacement (if there is such a thing).

Glass’s press conference announcing all this took place just nine-and-a-half hours after the resignation meeting. That’s a quick turnaround. Historically, the only way power has transferred more quickly and with this level of order has been through execution. Evidently, Wilson’s recent transgressions didn’t rise to the level requiring removal through the use of a guillotine. Continue reading →

Interview with the cast of “Hoosiers” as much fun as I can have

Which one of these guys doesn’t belong? From left, Brad Long (Buddy), Dr. Steve Hollar (Rade), Wade Schenck (Ollie), me, Maris Valainis (Jimmy), Divid Neirdorf (Everett).

On the worst day, being a sports talk radio host is a lot of fun. On the great days, it’s magical.

Today is one of those magical days.

The Hickory Huskers are in Indianapolis to be honored tonight at Bankers Life Fieldhouse by the Indiana Pacers as they play the Phoenix Suns, and I spent an hour with them this morning reminiscing about the making of the movie “Hoosiers” and what it means to them 30 years after its release.

I revere “Hoosiers” as the greatest sports movie of all time, and getting a chance to listen to Maris Valainis (Jimmy Chitwood), Wade Schenck (Ollie), Steve Hollar (Rade Butcher), David Neidorf (Everett Flatch), and Brad Long (Buddy) tell stories about the making of the movie was an incredibly fun experience.

That interview aired on CBS Sports 1430, and the obvious vibe from the five members of that mythological 1951 state championship team is that they were every bit the team off the set as they appeared to be on the court.

Click here to listen to the interview

Continue reading →

Johnnie Vassar lawsuit against NCAA/Northwestern misses the point

Johnnie Vassar has decided to let his lawsuit not his tenacity be his legacy.

Anyone who has read anything I have ever written about college athletics and the relationship between a school and its athletes knows that I err on the side of the athletes.

They should be able to control and profit from their images, and if John Calipari and Nick Saban are worth more than $7,000,000 per year as coaches of student-athletes, the athletes deserve a taste of the cash.

Those truths are self-evident to me.

A former basketball player at Northwestern University has filed a lawsuit agains the NCAA and school over transfer rules.

Johnnie Vassar was a freshman basketball player at Northwestern in 2014-2015, and was strongly encouraged, according to Vassar, to transfer because his play was deemed substandard by coach Chris Collins and his staff.

That happens in college sports all the time. Some student-athletes capitulate while others fight. Vassar tried to fight, but not before hearing from other programs that they didn’t want to invest a scholarship in a player who would be ineligible to play for a full year because NCAA rules require undergraduate players to sit out for that period. Continue reading →

Chicago Cubs fans – Let’s stay in this magnificent moment as long as we can

Cubs fans need to celebrating like this until they collapse. This is a party that doesn’t need to end for days, weeks, or months.

What do we do now?

If the smiles ever fade, Cubs fans are going to have to figure out how to behave without endless references to 1908 and 1945 ringing in our heads.

“Wait ’til next year” is gone – replaced by “This year was was everything I dreamed!”

When Kris Bryant made the throw to Anthony Rizzo to record the final out of the 2016 Major League Baseball season, the longest championship free streak is the history of American sports ended.

As Rizzo tucked the ball into his back pocket (smart guy!), Cubs fans felt a strange sensation of warmth, joy, and nostalgia. Phone calls, texts, DMs, face times, and snapchats reconnected friends and family who longed to celebrate together the moment they feared would never come.

Many looked skyward as they thought of loved ones who never got to experience this.

All that, Cubs fans have anticipated. We have rehearsed winning it all in our imaginations thousands of times. The family hugs, the plans to attend the parade, the homages to departed die-hards, and all the other fooferah that immediately follows a championship.

But then what? Continue reading →

Game Seven – For Cubs fans, this is the longest day – to be followed by the longest night

The dream ends tonight.

One way or another, the Cubs run to whatever this will be is going to be over in roughly 12 hours.

Then what?

What will we obsess about? What memories that have been so fresh over the last month will recess again into our deep subconscious? What excuses will we find to remain connected for just a little while longer?

Will friendships that began in this lovely, incredible, most grace-filled October (and now November) – or reconnected – continue through the rest of the Fall and beyond?

All the energy invested in the majesty of Kris Bryant’s home runs, Kyle Schwarber’s recovery, Javy Baez’s defensive sleight of hand, Kyle Hendricks’ precision, Aroldis Chapman’s explosiveness, and Joe Maddon’s genius will either evaporate or migrate elsewhere. Continue reading →

Indianapolis Colts hit what they hope is bottom in 30-14 loss to Chiefs

Today’s Colts loss was best viewed from a distance to avoid the stench.

The Colts win ugly, and lose uglier. Today, they lost the the Kansas City Chiefs 30-14 in a game where the team that backpedalled the slowest won the race – again.

Today’s loss to the Chiefs was virtually without redeeming value. Turnovers, drops, penalties, and an extended Nick Foles sighting made this yet another game to forget in what is becoming a forgettable season for the Colts

When two mediocre teams battle, turnovers will usually seal the deal, and that’s what caused separation go toward the Chiefs.

Colts QB Andrew Luck effective in spurts, but was victimized again by a horrendous decision that provided the Chiefs a touchdown late in the first half.

With :42 left and the ball at the Colts 29, Luck locked in on Donte Moncrief, who was blanketed by Chiefs DB Phillip Gaines. The Gaines interception led to a tidy little three play, 36 yard drive that ended with a Jeremy Maclin touchdown catch from soon-to-be concussed Alex Smith.

The game was over at that point with the Chiefs ahead 17-7.

The second half was as ugly as the first, and doesn’t deserve any form of recap.

These things are true about the 3-5 Colts:

Andrew Luck is good, but not good enough to overcome the entrenched mediocrity at most other spots.
The Colts have found a way to alternate losses and wins beginning in week two.
The trust invested by Colts coaches to catch opponent’s punts is misplaced.
Fans and media will continue to debate whether general manager Ryan Grigson or coach Chuck Pagano deserves more blame for the recession from AFC Championship Game participant to average at best franchise close to the bottom of the AFC South than the top.
Wasted first round picks in 2013 and 2014 have come with a price.
Former Colt and current Chief Sio Moore felt pretty good about this win.
The seats of both Grigson and Pagano are getting warmer and warmer.

Pitching matchup for tonight’s Game Three at Wrigley gives Cubs serious advantage

Kyle Hendricks doesn’t smile much. There are many great reasons to believe he’ll crack one after Game Three tonight.

Let’s overlook all the “first time since 1945” crap. Been there, done that. Not relevant to the proceedings tonight.

Game three will be decided on the field, not in the hearts of Cubs or Indians fans.

No positional matchup will compare in importance to that of the starting pitchers.

Kyle Hendricks will deal for the Cubs. He’s coming off a superb performance against the Los Angeles Dodgers that put the Cubs in this position. Josh Tomlin is on the mound for the Indians. He hasn’t pitched in two weeks.

The weather will be a big deal tonight as the wind is forecast to be blowing out to left at between 16-18 mph. For reasons that will soon be clear, this is very good for the Cubs.

Here is a brief breakdown of Hendricks and Tomlin

Hendricks is a ground ball machine (51%) who relies upon a mastery of location and movement rather than velocity to attack the weaknesses of opposing hitters. Continue reading →

Cubs float to World Series on a river of fans’ joyful tears

Our server at Fat Dan’s with my wife’s good luck Cubs beanie key chain. Moments after this pic was taken, the Cubs won and she repeatedly asked, “Is he OK?” as I wept.

So there I sat at Fan Dan’s in Broad Ripple Saturday night crying like a baby – weeping really – after the Chicago Cubs finished off the Los Angeles Dodgers in the National League Championship Series.

Time froze, so I’m unsure whether my unsightly emotional outburst lasted 30 seconds or 15 minutes. All I know is that I couldn’t stop, and the flood of memories didn’t either.

I am very well aware that baseball is a silly game and the result of a contest featuring 50 players I have never met and do not know has no tangible bearing on my life. So why the hell did the Cubs beating the Dodgers mean so much to me?

My Dad took me to my first game in 1968. Ernie Banks hit a home run that afternoon in a 9-8 loss to the Cincinnati Reds. I only know the Cubs lost because we listened to the last two innings on WGN Radio as we beat traffic by leaving after the seventh inning.

Not sure my Dad ever saw an eighth or ninth inning.

Before the game, Dad told me to hand my scorecard to the Reds player with a crowd around him. I decided to go to the Reds player without the big crowd.

That’s how I got Fred Whitfield’s autograph instead of Pete Rose’s. Continue reading →