Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Top 10 reasons to feel good about the Colts preseason loss to the Eagles

Ryan Grigson hopes the roster he has put together will be ready on September 11th.

Saturday night was ugly.

The Philadelphia Eagles are not a great football team, and their quarterback has never led a team to a winning record. They beat the Indianapolis Colts handily 33-23, and it wasn’t that close. In the process, the Colts made Sam Bradford look like Tom Brady.

While your eyes told you the Colts suck, it’s important to continue to remind ourselves that the Colts 2016 record still sits at 0-0, the same as everyone else in the NFL.

Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of reasons to worry – which may or may not be corrected by kickoff in the opener against the Detroit Lions.

Plugging as many holes as were displayed Saturday night is not going to be easy, but why focus on those until we have to?

How about the positives! There were several, and I’m going to do my best to find 10 because that is the basic conceit of this daily post.

10 – Penalty yardage decreased. In the game against the Ravens, the Colts committed nine penalties for 101 yards. Saturday night against the Eagles, the Colts committed nine penalties for 85 yards. I guess that is progress. Continue reading →

Top nine most important takeaways for youth and high school sports athletes

Relax, your kid didn’t cure cancer. He hit a home run. Hope it isn’t the best moment of his life.

Stop thinking about a scholarship. Right now! If you have a talented kid playing sports, take the word ‘scholarship’, and delete it from your vocabulary.

Compensation in the form of a free education might come and it might not, but it is at the very bottom of the list of great things that can happen for your son or daughter as a result of the experience of playing youth or high school sports.

Watching the parents at the Little League World Series contort into tightly wound balls of parental energy is exhausting. I want to shake them and ask that they embrace a reasonable level of balance in their emotional investment in whether a 12-year-old strikes out or hits a home run.

When I was a kid, some parents brought a book to the games to keep their minds occupied. And we were really good. Whether parents were emotionally invested in our success made no difference to us, and it doesn’t mean anything to yours, so drop the intensity.

Today, parents lose their minds as if the games are life and death events, rather than a few neighborhood (or area) kids playing baseball as they engage in the more important process of making friends.

Here are the top nine most important positives that can be gained by your child as he or she participates in youth sports (note that scholarships are not among the nine):

9 – Dealing with failure. Shots will be missed, passes will be overthrown, spikes will fly long, fumbles will occur, fly balls will be dropped, and face-offs will be lost. Bad things happen in sports, but play doesn’t stop. What happens next is often more important that the initial screw-up. That’s true in life too. How we respond to adversity as an adult is often developed when we are kids on the court, field, rink, diamond, pitch, and course. Don’t cloud your kid’s response by whining, crying, or being disappointed.

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8 – Working toward a goal. Without a goal, we are just spinning our wheels. Kids have the opportunity to learn the importance of setting a goal through sports. Want to win a sectional, state, or national championship? What action steps need to be taken in order to accomplish that? Building a workable plan as a 12-year-old is a hell of a step up in preparing for adulthood compared to kids who lay around binge watching old “Entourage” episodes.

7 – Discipline. No kid relishes the thought of running an extra 10 gassers, shooting another 300 free throws or three-pointers, shagging 200 more fly balls, lifting for another half hour, or doing 30 more minutes of agility training, but those who do it improve more quickly than those who don’t. They play more – and win more. The discipline to outwork opponents and encourage teammates to join them is where leadership is born.

6 – Consequences for bad decisions. Good coaches don’t tolerate idiocy or laziness, so both are welcomed with serious disincentives. Parents today spend more time negotiating with their children than disciplining them, so it’s good when coaches bring down a hammer to show kids there are swift and severe consequences for ignoring directions. Adult real life involves a serious level of repercussions for screwing up. You should welcome seeing that paradigm in action before they play for their careers and mortgages. Complaining about a hard-ass coach is the weakest option for a parent who wants to raise a kid ready for a productive life.

5 – Time management skills. High school sports require a kid study, workout, practice, compete, train, sleep, and little else. Going to college is a breeze for most who play sports in high school because they understand how to build a schedule for a productive day.

4 – Learn the whole is greater than the individual. Great companies succeed because members of the staff understand excellence requires embracing the concept of the needs of the whole being greater than those of the few or the one. Team sports instill that notion very early on.

3 – Build positive fitness habits. We see the studies of exploding numbers of kids with diabetes and obesity, and we cringe. Heart disease and kidney issues are not far down the line for those kids. A healthy diet and active lifestyle is a virtual mandate for young athletes. Competition is a great carrot for building a generation of kids who move into adulthood without debilitating health issues.

2 – Controlled adversity. Coaches work to build and stretch players in a way that teachers can’t and parents shouldn’t. Part of that process is leading young men and women into physical and psychological discomfort – that lonely place that forces a kid to grind for the first time. The concept of working toward personal potential among teammates doing the same is introduced through youth sports. The moment where a kid says yes to an impossible challenge is the moment he or she begins the life of a functional adult.

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1 – Friends. If you are an adult who played sports, who are your best friends? Maybe time and distance keep you from visiting former teammates as often as your neighbors or co-workers, but how long does it take you to reconnect in a profound way with them when you attend reunions or run into them? Maybe the time it takes for your eyes to meet. They have seen you at your lowest and highest moments – and have seen them at those same peaks and valleys. That breeds trust, and trust is the foundation of deep friendship.

Remember that youth sports is not about you. It’s about your kids. Whether they win or lose doesn’t define them, and it sure doesn’t define your loving relationship.

Let coaches coach. You focus on loving your kids, and understand the challenges will not always have a positive outcome. That’s okay. Life goes on, and the lesson and positives of participation are not negated by the result.

Kent Sterling hosts the fastest growing sportstalk show in Indianapolis on CBS Sports 1430 every weekday from 3p-6p, and writes about Indiana sports at kentsterling.com.

Top 10 things we learned from celebration of Joel Cornette’s life

Butler remembered and celebrated Joel Cornette yesterday, but it will never say goodbye.

Yesterday, Butler University hosted a celebration for the life and legacy of former basketball player Joel Cornette. It was attended by a couple thousand of his closest friends.

There were 13 speakers, and all told different versions of the same story. Passionate teammate whose level of belief in friends led to their rising to meet challenges on the court and off. Big personality who didn’t wait for an invitation to debate, amuse, or comfort. Caring teammate who showed up again and again when chips were down. Wonderful man friends trusted with their children.

People almost never say anything bad about a guy during a service to memorialize him, but the uniform and effusive positiveness related about Cornette was unique. Joel Cornette was quite evidently a very good man whose life touched virtually all he met – from elementary school to St. Xavier in Cincinnati to Butler to Priority Sports.

Here are the top 10 things we learned about and from Joel Cornette during the celebration of his life:

10 – Great players aren’t always born that way. Cornette was the 16th player on a 16-man roster as a freshman in high school, according to his best friend. Hard work, an endless reservoir of faith, and a series of growth spurts put Cornette in a position to earn a scholarship at Butler. From there, Cornette and his teammates kicked open the door that stood between the Bulldogs and national prominence through the force of their will and friendship.

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9 – College teammates are friends forever. As four teammates extolled the virtues of their fallen brother, another 20 or so stood behind them to offer their support. They flew in from all over the world to share that space with one another and pay tribute to a man each considered a close friend. Other than the military, there is no level of camaraderie greater than that created by the shared sacrifice and accomplishment of collegiate athletes.

8 – Being tall gets you into clubs in Vegas. One of Cornette’s co-workers from Priority Sports told a great story about Cornette annually posing as an NBA Summer League player to gain VIP access to a club. The story ended with Brad Stevens offering Cornette a jersey so he could sit on the end of the bench for the Celtics to turn his lie into a truth. The story showed Cornette’s sense of mischief, humor, and thirst for fun.

7 – Continuity is key. Sitting among the mourners were Barry Collier, Thad Matta, Todd Lickliter, Brad Stevens, and Chris Holtmann. While there has been coaching turnover driven by success at Butler, there has always been an orderly line of succession that respected and honored “the Butler Way”. At many other schools, you would never be able to get former coaches to share the same space. Butler is different in that once you are part of the Butler Family, you are always part of the Butler Family.

6 – “The Butler Way” works because of players like Cornette. A cultural and schematic bible is a wonderful tool to share with players, but without their buy-in, it’s just paper and ink. Players like Cornette who embrace and reflect a set of principles give life to a lofty ideal like “the Butler Way”. Everyone with Butler ties who spoke at Cornette’s celebration agreed that without him believing that playing for a National Championship was possible between 1999-2003 when he played, it couldn’t have happened in 2010 and 2011.

5 – Great parents, great kids. Throughout the nearly three-hour celebration, so many extolled the virtues of Joel Sr. and Christi Cornette, it became obvious that Joel was both literally and spiritually their creation. Inattentive, abusive, or absent parents don’t always produce wayward kids, but great parents who put their children’s needs ahead of their own almost always wind up with great kids. It’s clear that Joel Sr. and Christi imbued Joel Jr. with the endless loyalty and belief in others that was his hallmark at Butler and in adulthood.

4 – Our limits are self-imposed. When coach Todd Lickliter listed the goals for his Butler team one year while Joel played for him, the final entry was a trip to the Sweet Sixteen. Joel, according to multiple stories yesterday, picked up a marker and wrote beneath it, “win the National Championship”. That was the first acknowledgement that such a thing might be possible at Butler, and it changed the program from one that wanted to play with the big boys into one that demanded they be beaten.

3 – Life is about showing up. Whenever teammates and friends were in need, Cornette showed up – repeatedly. He didn’t ask for permission to be a good friend; he just did it. That should be a lesson for all of us.

2 – Be yourself from the jump. People became comfortable with Cornette almost immediately because he was never anyone other than 100% Joel Cornette. He represented his feelings and opinions fearlessly, and shared his friendship without reservation from the moment he met others. That seems a time-saving behavior over getting a sense of the room and tiptoeing toward candor.

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1 – Life is better when surrounded by people who know the whole is greater than the individual. Self-centered and self-serving people suck the life out of businesses and rooms. Those who passionately care about the well-being of others make great managers, friends, and employees. Hire those who care about the collective more than their own selfish needs, and your business has a chance to do great things. Embrace friends about whom you care more than yourself, and life becomes a daily devotion to others. That’s what Joel Cornette did, and for it he will always be loved.

Kent Sterling hosts the fastest growing sportstalk show in Indianapolis on CBS Sports 1430 every weekday from 3p-6p, and writes about Indiana sports at kentsterling.com.

Top 10 Colts to watch as preseason wraps against Eagles and Bengals

Guess who is the #1 player to watch this weekend against the Eagles?

In four weeks, no one will remember the Indianapolis Colts lost 19-18 to the Baltimore Ravens at Lucas Oil Stadium Saturday night, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t watch preseason football.

There are jobs at stake with every snap, which makes the preseason dramatic but in a much different way than the regular season.

Through two games – and a cancelled third – some obvious storylines have developed as the Colts prep for a season that will either prove their 8-8 record in 2015 was a fluke as the Colts return to the playoffs or a trend south as bad drafts and misguided free agent signings have taken their toll.

Here are the 10 players to watch through the rest of the preseason:

10 – Hugh Thornton, RG. An ankle injury has kept Thornton off the field for the first two games of the preseason, but he is going to have to heal quick to earn a roster spot in his fourth year out of Illinois. A prototypical guard, Thornton has found it difficult to stay on the field for an extended period of time after being selected in the third round of the 2013 Draft – a draft class he alone represents for the Colts. If he is cut, that entire class will have washed out. I’m not sure any draft class in NFL history has vanished this quickly.

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9 – Josh McNary, LB. Likely a special teams guy, McNary looks explosive with the twos and threes this preseason. His road to success with the Colts was nearly derailed because of a rape arrest. After his acquittal, McNary kept his head down and worked his way back onto the roster and into a position now where he might be able to contribute in a meaningful way.

8 – Chester Rogers, WR. Through two preseason games, Rogers has seven catches for 93 yards, and looks like a lock to make the squad as an undrafted free agent out of Grambling. I keep waiting to see why Rogers went undrafted, and that answer hasn’t come yet. Good speed, good hands, good routes…what’s not to like? And he was a very solid return guy in college.

7 – Stephen Morris/Scott Tolzien, QB. If Luck goes down, which of these two is next up, and does it matter? Both Morris and Tolzien played well Saturday night, but the drop from #12 to either #7 or #16 will likely be fatal for the Colts playoff hopes if the relief is needed for a prolonged period. The upside appears to be higher for Morris because of his foot speed, but Tolzien might be a steadier hand. Every rep is huge for both these guys.

6 – Erik Swoope, TE. A very good college basketball player at The U, Swoope is trying to be the latest hoopster to make the jump to the NFL as a tight end. He’s very athletic, and while we love Cathedral product Jack Doyle, if Dwayne Allen gets dinged up, the Colts are going to need a similarly talented dual threat at that spot. Swoope played well against the Ravens, and looked very comfortable.

5 – Denzelle Good, RG. No fan watches the right guard but his family, but Good’s ability to slide to that spot is critical to the Colts keeping Luck upright through 16 regular season games. Defensive coordinators are going to salivate at the thought of attacking a second year seventh rounder out of Mars Hill who has never played guard before. We’ll see if Good is up to the challenge. So far, so…well…good.

4 – Antonio Morrison, ILB. No offense to Nate Irving, Sio Moore, or D’Qwell Jackson, but the Colts have placeholders not playmakers at inside linebacker. They are competent, but incapable of dominating at their position. Morrison has a skill set to be a little more special than the others, and a hunger to hit that was obvious while watching the preseason game against the Ravens. Morrison is the key to the 2016 Colts draft class.

3 – Robert Turbin/Josh Ferguson, RB. Frank Gore is 33, and that means that the Colts are going to monitor his use to ensure he stays fresh into December. Turbin and/or Ferguson are going to have to carry some of the running game weight as the Colts try to take some pressure off Luck with a capable running attack. Which or both will be decided in the next 11 days.

2 – T.Y. McGill, DL. The Colts lead the NFL in T.Y.s with two, and the second best known is blossoming into a play-making defensive lineman. If Kendall Langford’s convalescence keeps him on the shelf for any period of time during the regular season, McGill might get the opportunity to establish himself as an indispensable part of the defense. McGill has what coaches call “twitch”, which is best described as quickness despite girth. Twitch causes problems for offensive linemen.

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1 – Andrew Luck, QB. Any list regarding players who will determine whether the Colts return to the playoffs will have Luck as the #1 entry. He is not only the most important Colt, he is the most important player to his team in the NFL. And as the highest paid player, he should be the most important. Luck’s first action against the Ravens Saturday night was very solid. The play calling protected him nicely, and he slid twice while completing all eight of his passes. If Luck can be more consistent early, he won’t need to be so spectacular late – and the need to be spectacular can get Luck hurt. His last action of the preseason will be this Saturday for a little more than a half, so get to Lucas Oil early Saturday night.

Kent Sterling hosts the fastest growing sportstalk show in Indianapolis on CBS Sports 1430 every weekday from 3p-6p, and writes about Indiana sports at kentsterling.com.

Olympic disgrace Ryan Lochte’s 10 greatest screw-ups in Rio

Ryan Lochte looks like the kind of guy who would pee on you while you slept and lie about it in the morning – and evidently he is!

Assuming the Ryan Lochte story unravels as expected and he’s exposed as a liar, he will become a punchline forever – an ugly American who treated another country as his toilet and claimed sanctuary as a victim of an armed robbery before fleeing Brazil.

The sad part of this sometimes hilarious story is that right now no one in the United States is talking about Usain Bolt, the American sweep of the 100M hurdles, or the near perfection of Simone Biles. They are all too busy discussing Lochte and his gang of public urinators and vandals to bother with the once in a lifetime accomplishments of athletes who get the spotlight once every four years – or in some cases once in a lifetime.

It’s obvious to a seven year-old that Lochte is a big time moron, and that his parents never held him accountable for telling a tall tale, but here is a list of the top 10 ways (of at least 30) he crossed the border between irresponsible drunken fun guy and humiliated worldwide coward:

10 – International idiocy cannot be easily controlled. Americans are all well acquainted with how our legal system can either work for or against us when we are at our worst. In another country, the rules change, particularly when the eyes of the world are upon that place. Outwitting what may appear on the outside to be a bunch of backwater rubes is often not as easy as it looks. If you doubt me, cross the Ohio River into Kentucky and go nuts.

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9 – Understand video is everywhere. Not only are there cameras installed by well-meaning governments on many street corners recording our every movement, anyone with a smart phone has a remote TV studio a single button push away capable of sharing your exploits with a live worldwide audience. Today, lies can be disputed with something far more compelling than just another eyewitness account.

8 – Keep your lie out of the papers. If you are going to lie about something, stay away from cameras and microphones. Keep your deceit to a very tight radius. Going on the Today Show with a wild, self-aggrandizing tale of how you refused to get down so a pistolero put his gun to your forehead is way too vivid a lie not to stick. We wanted to know more, and a lie should satisfy curiosity, not create more of it.

7 – Should have learned prior to turning 30 that acting like a tool has a price. If you are going to enter the realm of international late-night stooge, you should do it during a period of your life when people can explain it away with a simple, “he’s a kid who doesn’t know any better.” After turning 30, life should have sorted itself out enough that what is happening to Lochte doesn’t happen at all.

6 – Can’t both look like a douche and act like an entitled douche. I have a soft spot in my heart (and on my scalp) for boobs who bleach their hair for a silly reason, so I can embrace that impulse without wincing, but then to also get bombed and break a gas station men’s room door and piss all over the place is just too much. That combination casts a guy into the seventh circle of douche-dom.

5 – Left boys behind to do the time. Lochte was back in the good old USA before the whiz hit the fan. Two of his cohorts were on the plane before being detained for questioning. To be the loudmouth and the first man over the wall is not a good look. A gang of drunks – especially those from a swim team – should sink or swim together.

4 – Always tell the truth. Especially when it’s embarrassing, tell the truth. The only time to avoid the truth completely is when the consequence is a ruined life – and I mean scorched earth ruination. To be a self-important twit is one thing. To not own up to it in a circumstance like this is just stupid. Lying as a means of self-entertainment is asking for exactly the kind of notoriety Lochte has gotten.

3 – Don’t lie about guns. If you are going to lie to cover up some silly nonsense like peeing in public, don’t bring guns into the discussion. Law enforcement folks, even those in Brazil, get ambitious when gun play is accused – especially by an Olympian from a country that sends tourists to Rio in bulk.

2 – Never pee on what another man owns. There is only one legit response from a property owner or manager when another man tinkles on what’s his, “Hey, what the hell are you doing?!” From there, it can either go sideways or very sideways. Generally, bolting is the correct response when the owner starts barking. Lochte swerved into another tactical response that has made him a national punchline. Always better to hold it – or hide it.

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1 – More than two guys getting stories straight is impossible. If you are going to lie publicly, make it an individual event and not a relay. There is no Omertà among swimmers. Non-crooks will always get a detail confused, and few are passable liars. Lying successfully is like watching porn – it’s an art best practiced in solitude.

Kent Sterling hosts the fastest growing sportstalk show in Indianapolis on CBS Sports 1430 every weekday from 3p-6p, and writes about Indiana sports at kentsterling.com.

Top six very, very good things about the Butler Way

This is how we will remember Joel Cornette. Those who played with and coached him recall something much deeper about their friend.

For the third time in 2016, Butler’s basketball program has suffered a profound loss.

First came the expected but extremely sad passing of Andrew Smith, whose goodness and competitiveness forever endeared him to staff, teammates, and fans for the latter seven years of his way-too-short 25 year life.

Then we heard about “Little Em” Kampen, the six-month old son of staff member and former player Emerson Kampen. He passed away having been victimized by a terminal genetic disease.

Yesterday, Joel Cornette died. Joel was the heart and soul of the Bulldogs team that advanced to the Sweet 16 after beating Louisville in the 2003 NCAA Tournament. He was only 35.

With every loss, we talk to teammates and coaches about how teammates, coaches, and others close to the program remember and honor those taken from us. With every interview, we are reminded why the “Butler Way” is a very special ideology that benefits all who live under its umbrella – regardless of how long or brief the stay.

Here are the top 10 ways the Butler Way has brought a special environment to Butler University.

6 – It allows student-athletes to be students as well as athletes. Maybe there are hundreds of coaches who would do what Brad Stevens did with his team as they advanced to back-to-back National Championship games in 2010 and 2011, but I’ve never heard of it. Because academic requirements mandated some basketball players be in class all day beginning at 8:00 a.m., Brad held practices at 6:00 a.m, and on the day the Bulldogs played for the title, because the Final Four was held in Indy, players attended classes the day of the game.

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5 – It enforces a passionate work ethic. Hard work inspires more hard work, and after enough years of really hard work, it becomes a sincere and deeply embedded characteristic of a culture. Butler has benefitted from hard work for better than 20 years, and the momentum toward maximum effort is so strong, that it’s impossible to imagine walking into Hinkle Fieldhouse without seeing basketball players busting their asses. It works the other way too. Without the efforts of guys like Cornette, Archey, Marshall, and the various Graves back in the day, there is no way the Bulldogs play in back-to-back National Championship games or migrate from the Horizon League to the Atlantic 10 to the Big East.

4 – It wins. Culture is nice, but without winning, the architect of the culture is dispatched and suddenly there is a new genius with a detailed document explaining a new and improved culture. As smart and positive as the Butler Way is, if Barry Collier hadn’t found a way to turn it into some w’s, we would have only a vague recollection as to who he was as he calls to sell us insurance. Winning is a must, while everything else is nice. The Butler Way wins.

3 – It passes from generation to generation. Over the last 20 years, the Butler way has passed from the Graves Brothers and Mike Marshall to Rylan Hainje and LaVall Jordan to Joel Cornette, Darnell Archey, and Brandon Miller to Bruce Horan and Avery Sheets to A.J. Graves and Willie Veasley to Matt Howard, Zach Hahn, and Ronald Nored, to Shelvin Mack, Andrew Smith and Gordon Hayward to Kellen Dunham, Roosevelt Jones, and Alex Barlow. That’s one hell of a lineage, and fans should expect it will continue.

2 – It provides a cultural template for recruiting. “Yeah, he can play, but is he a Butler kid?” is a question asked relentlessly by Butler coaches as they evaluate recruits. What a gift that is for coaches. It’s not just length and vertical leap at Butler that determines enthusiasm as players are evaluated, but a behavioral and work ethic standard that must be respected or the entire edifice crumbles. A mandated behavioral filter is a wonderful tool for coaches.

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1 – It binds players forever. When I spoke yesterday with Darnell Archey on my radio show about the passing of his teammate and former coach Todd Lickliter about his player, his recollections sounded like they were from yesterday, not 15 years ago. It’s easy to claim that tightness exists among teammates everywhere, but that is not the case. At Butler, teammates become brothers, and the Bulldogs success is directly attributable to that bond. Basketball is not exclusively about athleticism, length, and verticality. It’s also about five players finding a way to play as one.

Kent Sterling hosts the fastest growing sportstalk show in Indianapolis on CBS Sports 1430 every weekday from 3p-6p, and writes about Indiana sports at kentsterling.com.

Top 10 Indianapolis Colts with the most to prove in 2016

Ryan Kelly might not have much to prove, but he sure needs to validate Ryan Grigson’s confidence.

This is going to be a very interesting season for the Indianapolis Colts.

Rebound or continue decline are the two possibilities for the Horseshoes, and it seems the odds of either are right at 50-50.

Many in national media predict the Colts will finish 6-10 or 5-11. Locally, most are more optimistic. We tend to see 2015 as an aberration caused by multiple injuries to franchise quarterback Andrew Luck.

The result of this season will go a long way to securing the futures of many affiliated with the team in one direction or another.

Here are the top 10 Colts with the most to prove in 2016:

10 – Ryan Kelly. The Colts made a significant statement by drafting Kelly 18th overall, making him the only center to be taken in the first round in franchise history. Kelly will be expected to lead the Colts offensive line from below average over the last several seasons to good in 2016. It’s up to Kelly to justify that trust. He seems like an absolute lock to get the job done, but there is no such thing as a lock in the NFL.

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9 – Mike Adams. The 35 year-old safety has continued to play very productive football into what we can only assume is the twilight of his career. Adams is entering the final year of his contract, but the present is more important for the Colts than the future as Adams is the only proven professional safety on the roster. If Adams continues to play at a pro bowl level, the Colts back end has a chance to avoid being a weakness. If not, uh-oh.

8 – Chuck Pagano. While Pagano and Grigson kept their gigs, most of the rest of the coaching staff churned after the disappointing 2015 season. That will leave little doubt where to assess failures in leadership if this edition of the Colts ebbs toward mediocrity in the same way last year’s Colts did. Pagano saved his gig with an inspired win over a woeful opponent in week 17, and then reportedly saved Grigson with a savvy plea during a meeting with owner Jim Irsay the following morning. If Pagano and Irsay were right, this year should bring an improved result.

7 – Hugh Thornton. The last member of the dreadful 2013 draft class to enjoy a spot on the Colts roster, Thornton is battling through an ankle issue as he tries to secure his job as a backup guard. The Colts have always hoped Thornton would play to his potential, but it hasn’t yet happened. This camp is likely last-chance saloon for Thornton who needs to finally prove himself worthy as a pro.

6 – Frank Gore. Last season showed a statistical regression for Gore that either revealed the effects of aging on a running back entering his mid-30s, or an atrocious run blocking offensive line. Gore is affordable, but if he wants his career to continue beyond 2016, he need to show he’s capable of finding and hitting a hole. In Gore’s defense, no Colt has rushed for 1,000 yards since 2007, and none have run for 100 in a game since Vick Ballard on December 16, 2012. Gore came close to both last year with 965 yards for the season and 98 yards during a game in week five. Eclipsing those marks would show an amazing rebirth.

5 – T.Y. Hilton. One of GM Ryan Grigson’s steals of the 2012 draft, Hilton has been superb through his first four seasons, but there was a bit of a step back during the 2015 season as Hilton caught 13 fewer balls than in either 2013 or 2014. The cause of the decline had a lot more to do with the quarterback situation and the amount of time they had to throw than with a step back from Hilton, but if Hilton is going to be paid elite money, he needs to provide elite production.

4 – Robert Mathis. The 35 1/2 year old Mathis showed signs of explosiveness toward the end of the 2015 season coming off rehab for a torn achilles, and heading into his final contracted year, Mathis could sure use 16 games of excellence to secure one more big deal before retirement. The Colts need Mathis to bring heat that appears unlikely to come from another source. If the Colts defense is going to be disruptive, it appears Mathis is the only potential source of that disruption.

3 – Joe Philbin. Hiring Philbin as the offensive line coach was hailed as a major step in rebuilding the Indianapolis Colts offensive line, but the former Miami Dolphins head coach hasn’t coached an o-line since 2006 with the Packers, and that gig lasted a single year before he was promoted to offensive coordinator. There is every chance Philbin will bring competence to a group that is key to both Andrew Luck’s health and the Colts virtually non-existent running game. For his sake, and the Colts, let’s hope that happens.

2 – Ryan Grigson. A horrible 2013 draft and many swings and misses on veteran free agents have left the general manager of the Colts vulnerable heading into a season that could break either way. If the Colts rebound and make the playoffs behind a strong draft class, all will be forgiven if not forgotten. If the 2016 class stiffs, and the Colts drift further toward mediocrity, Irsay might choose to make a change despite signing Grigson to an extension seven months ago.

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1 – Andrew Luck. When you are paid the most, you have the most to prove. Luck has the biggest guarantee in NFL history, and as a result expectations are lofty for the guy who is expected to be THE next great quarterback. Occasional overthrows and questionable decisions that put his health in jeopardy have short-circuited Luck’s ascension to the top of the NFL QB heap. In year five of his career, Luck needs to deliver growth toward excellence.

Kent Sterling hosts the fastest growing sportstalk show in Indianapolis on CBS Sports 1430 every weekday from 3p-6p, and writes about Indiana sports at kentsterling.com.

Top eight takeaways from Saturday night’s meaningless Colts win

Scott Tolzien motions to a receiver during the Colts utterly meaningless win in Buffalo Saturday night.

The Indianapolis Colts won their first preseason game 19-18 over the Buffalo Bills, and if you felt better (or worse) about the Colts chances to enjoy a fruitful 2016 because of that result, you are a moron.

You can enjoy the game as a positive alternative to losing, but preseason wins are meaningless, and so is most of the activity in them.

Andrew Luck didn’t play, and that is a good thing because he would be no more ready today than last Friday because of a half dozen reps, and during one of those reps he might have suffered an injury.

There is a reason skill position starters play very little in the first preseason game – even when it should have been the second.

It just doesn’t matter.

Two Colts are in midseason form after the first preseason game – punter Pat McAfee and tweeter/owner Jim Irsay. The rest will find a way to be ready on September 11th against Detroit.

Here are the top eight takeaways from Saturday night’s action:

8 – Preseason is too long for everyone but the owners. The only purpose these games serve is to fatten owners’ wallets. There is no need for four full exhibition games to prepare for the season. Better work could be done during controlled scrimmages, but fans won’t pay full price to watch. Sadly, the answer to almost every question where logic seems to take a holiday – as with why is the NFL preseason four games long? – is MONEY. Continue reading →

Top 10 position battles for the 2016 Indianapolis Colts

Andrew Luck hands to Josh Ferguson at camp. One has a job locked down. The other does not.

So many decisions – so much time.

Camp for the Indianapolis Colts has been uneventful through the first two weeks. No big issue injuries, and no real clarity in some position battles that will go a long way toward determining whether the Colts will roll into the playoffs or miss the big circus for the second straight year.

Fortunately, the Colts coaching staff has another month of workouts and preseason games to evaluate, teach, and scour the waiver wire to find plug and play options if no current Colts show the ability to take control of a position.

It would be better if the Colts had fewer question marks, but remember last preseason when the Colts had the starting lineups almost entirely locked down? How did that work out?

The silt will continue to settle, and hopefully the answers will come clear for the Colts coaching staff as they try to validate the confidence shown by owner Jim Irsay when he decided to extend the contracts of GM Ryan Grigson and coach Chuck Pagano.

Here are the 10 positional battles that bear watching through the preseason:

10 – Punter/stand-up comic. The Colts signed Michael Palardy a few days ago to push McAfee, not as a punter and kickoff specialist, but as a stand-up performer. While the Broomstick is still fully functional, Grigson would like to see McAfee rely a little less on improvisation during his stand-up. Grigson wants McAfee to be a little more polished – like a Jerry Seinfeld – who is a verbal tactician with consistent performances rather than the manic story driven entertainer he is today. Of course, this is nonsense. McAfee is as good a leg as there is in the NFL. Continue reading →