Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Top 10 ways the Indiana Pacers may have become a championship contender this offseason

Pacers president Larry Bird has been busy this offseason preparing the Pacers to win now.

The Indiana Pacers are better today than they were one month ago.

That is team president Larry Bird’s job, and on paper he’s improved the Pacers through two trades, (a third trade was executed, but facilitated a salary dump for the Dallas Mavericks), two free agent signings, and the replacement of his coach.

The only potential issue is with the coaching swap. Time might prove Nate McMillan a better coach than Frank Vogel, but it’s way too early to hail that swap as a net plus for the Pacers.

Below is a list of the move the Pacers have made in order of importance toward a more positive season is 2016-2017. For instance, the biggest deal in terms of fan interest was the trade of George Hill for Jeff Teague. That’s ranked fifth because the Pacers will miss Hill while welcoming Teague.

Included are also some roster losses where the Pacers chose not to pay players at the same level as those who coveted them. Those are evaluated against the money the Pacers chose to invest elsewhere.

And Bird might not be done molding his team, but given the reported signing of Aaron Brooks it seems that the initial flurry of wheeling and dealing has come to an end and the roster might be a move or two from being set.

Here is the list of top 10 moves made by the Pacers this offseason – ranked by level of obvious positive impact on the team:

10 – Pacers acquire Jeremy Evans and cash from the Dallas Mavericks in exchange for the draft rights to Stanko Barac. This was a salary dump by the Mavs. Maybe Evans contributes to the Pacers. Maybe not. The good news is that the Pacers reportedly received $2-million more cash from the Mavs than Evans will cost. That news likely made Pacers owner Herb Simon smile. It’s good to make the owner smile once in a while. Continue reading →

Top 10 best things about playing high school football

Those four young men leading Carmel’s team out of the giant inflatable helmet will look at each other in 40 years and be transported back to that moment and others like them.

Today, we begin our annual high school football preview for central Indiana teams. Every weekday at 3:30p on CBS Sports 1430, we will talk to another high school football coach about the wonderful experience of playing football with classmates.

The lessons of high school football will be shared, and the ever-increasing level of competition in the area will be extolled.

It’s truly a great game, and while the magic of winning and the glory of achievement are certainly a part of the equation in football, none of that has to do with the best reasons to be a part of this game on a team of friends.

The season will begin a month from tomorrow, but the work not only has already started – it never really ends.

Here are 10 great long-lasting reasons to play high school football:

10 – Presents an environment where authority must be respected. Adolescents have occasional difficulty embracing the concept that they don’t know everything, and football coaches have a very efficient way of communicating the need for respect and penalizing those who do not comport. High school football is great aversion therapy for those who believe showing you are smarter than a boss is a good strategy for getting what you want.

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9 – Mandates at least a modicum of academic focus. Similar to college, high school athletes need to maintain a minimum academic standing in order to compete. That threat of being unable to play is sometimes the difference between relative success and failure in the classroom.

8 – Brand building. It’s never too early to begin the process of building your professional brand. Depending upon your high school, playing football in front of potential bosses is a good way to lay the ground work for a successful career.

7 – Football is a good motivator for fitness. Sometimes we need a kick in the ass to do what’s necessary to maximize the physical gifts God gave us. Preparing to represent your school, compete as part of a collective of friends, and put your body in harm’s way are usually sufficient motivators to run, lift, and push ourselves to the limit.

6 – Football resembles a business and provides a little early insight into multi-departmental companies. Offense, defense, and special teams contribute to football team success, and there are position groups within each. That’s very similar to the organizational flow chart for most businesses. Football players have an understanding of how they fit into the unit, and have empathy for the rest of the contributors/employees.

5 – Nothing like a Friday night in the Fall. There is something incredibly cool about Friday Night Lights. The media coverage and school pride involved on each of those nights is completely unique, and there is a sense that you are in the center of the universe in those moments. Once you have experienced the change of seasons through the prism of a football season, Fall is never the same.

4 – Concept of pain versus injury relentlessly demonstrated. Remaining functional despite pain is a fact of life in football as it is in no other sport. Sprains, cuts, twists, bites, and bruises can all be overcome, and football players have to. Pain free football doesn’t exist. It’s good to know that unless there is a serious injury, people are capable of overcoming pain for the common good.

3 – Understanding concept of team. As in no other sport, football relies on collective execution for success, rather than individual excellence. In baseball, a pitcher can carry a bad team to a win. In basketball a very tall player with off the chart athletic talent can lift a team. Even with a a great quarterback, if the receiver doesn’t catch the ball or the offensive linemen don’t block, the play fails. With all respect to Norman Dale in Hoosiers, football rewards all pistons firing in unison unlike any other game.

2 – Facing controlled adversity. Life is going to present challenges. That’s true for all of us. The fun of our existence is in answering the daily challenges in our homes and office. Playing football provides a wonderful incubator for finding a way to forage thru a forest of challenges to find success on the other side. Other sports provide similar environments that inspire fight or flight, but the penalties for failing to prepare sufficiently in football are a little more severe for individuals and teammates.

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1 – Building lifelong friendships. Football players at a high school reunion look at each other differently than others. There is a depth to high school football friendships that doesn’t exist elsewhere. Not sure whether it’s the common physical sacrifice, the reliance upon one another to succeed every play, or the physical risk, but the bonds that exist among football players are profound and lifelong. If you don’t believe me, go to a high school reunion and watch the football players.

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 great tips for sports parents who want their kids to earn scholarships

One of the great all time signs. If I ever get a tattoo, it might be this.

Okay, the headline is a bit of a lie. If your child is going to be coveted by coaches for his or her athletic ability, you will have virtually nothing to do with making that happen.

Coaches know what they want, and they recognize it quickly. The most helpful thing a parent does for a kid is write checks. Other than that, anything more than a hug generally steers the kid a little further toward disenchantment with the process.

Enjoying the ride is tough for parents. Every moment of every day provides an opportunity to reach into a kid’s psyche, tinker, and prompt a more productive result. Sometimes in parenting, less is more.

A scholarship might or might not happen, but it should be the last thing on the mind of the parent of a talented athlete.

Stay away from anger, encourage effort, and finance a lifestyle that will at the minimum – and paradoxically at the maximum – provide a kid with friends and memories.

Here are 10 hard-earned lessons about happy sports parenting from a guy who lived it:

10 – If you can’t keep your mouth shut – or tune others out – sit by yourself. There is another alternative that I employed, which was keeping a scorebook. Otherwise, I rode officials and heard every single comment about my son. Being distracted – or alone – keeps you from saying the wrong thing or hearing it. Continue reading →

Top nine things that need to go right for the Indianapolis Colts to win Super Bowl LI

You can bet that Robert Mathis believes the Colts will finish the 2016 season in Houston for Super Bowl LI.

A lot has to go right for any team to win the Super Bowl, but for a 20-1 longshot like the Indianapolis Colts with some pieces of the puzzle withering and others yet to blossom, it will require great health, luck, and leadership.

The Colts went a very pedestrian 8-8 last year despite splashy free agent signings and an all-in mentality. Sure, Luck was hurt for much of the season, but the Colts won more often without Luck than with him.

There aren’t many people talking about the Colts’ potential for making it to Houston in February. National media sees the Colts as a team in full flight from the three-peat of 11-5 seasons. An ESPN panel of NFL experts recently voted the Colts the 25th best team in the league as they project the next three years.

A Super Bowl favorite, the Colts are not. That doesn’t mean they can’t get there.

Here are the nine things that need to happen for the Colts to make a surprise run to the big game.

9 – Jimmy Garoppolo needs to suck. Colts fans remember all to well what happens to the Colts in the playoffs when they play the New England Patriots in Foxborough. It’s never pretty. The Colts are 0-4 in road playoff games against the Patriots as they have been outscored 132-46. If the Patriots run aground during Tom Brady’s four-game suspension, maybe the Colts can host a playoff game when (if) the teams meet in January.

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8 – Brock Osweiler needs to adjust poorly to the Texans offense. Most of what can vault the Colts into Super Bowl contention is in their hands, but the Texans have a chance to repeat as the division champs because of their defense and the acquisition of Osweiler as a franchise quarterback. If Osweiler plays as he appears to be capable, the Colts might have a tough time catching them.

7 – Frank Gore needs to be the 3rd 33-year-old running back ever to rush for 900 yards. Only two men in the history of professional football have run for 900+ yards after turning 33 – hall of famers Emmitt Smith and Marcus Allen. Gore needs to join them if the Colts offense is going to be balanced enough to be consistently productive.

6 – Ryan Kelly needs to replace Jeff Saturday. Since Saturday left Indy after 2011, the Colts have invested in Samson Satele, Khaled Holmes, A.Q. Shipley, Phil Costa, Jonotthan Harrison, and Shipley again as their next center of the future. Finally, tired of forcing Luck to adjust to a different o-line captain each week, the Colts drafted a center in the first round for the first time in franchise history. Kelly needs to be THE man, and so far there seems no reason to doubt he will be.

5 – Offensive line coach Joe Philbin needs to be as good as advertised. Philbin spent years as an o-line guru in college football before moving to the Green Bay Packers, where he spent a single year in that role in 2006. From there he was promoted to offensive coordinator of the Pack before behind hired as the head coach of the Miami Dolphins. Philbin needs to be the second coming of Howard Mudd for the Colts to keep Andrew Luck clean in the pocket.

4 – 2015 draft class needs to get – and remain – healthy. The first three players selected by the Colts in the 2015 NFL Draft missed half their games, First rounder Phillip Dorsett can’t stretch defenses with his blinding speed from the bench, where he spent five games last year. D’Joun Smith was taken in the third round to bring depth to the Colts defensive backfield, which he was healthy enough to do only in only four games in 2015. Henry Anderson looked like the guy who could save the class for the first nine games of the season, but a torn ACL ended his season. Dorsett is the key. If he can’t stay on the field, GM Ryan Grigson will have swung and missed on three straight first rounders.

3 – The AARP members of the roster need to stay healthy. Mike Adams is 35, D’Qwell Jackson will be 33, Trent Cole will be 34, Robert Mathis is 35, Frank Gore is 33, and Adam Vinatieri is 43. In life, these are young men with the majority of their lives ahead of them (except for Vinatieri, who statistics say has already made the turn onto life’s back nine), but in the NFL they are ready for Del Boca Vista. If any of these players goes down, the Colts are potentially in big trouble.

2 – Robert Mathis must defy father time. At the age of 35, Mathis has no business raising hell in offensive backfields for 16 games this season, but if he can’t, who will? Mathis is a longshot to bring a consistent disruptive presence to opposing quarterbacks because of his age and injuries, but he is the most likely Colt to do it. If Mathis can awaken the echoes and find one more tour of mayhem, the Colts defense can be a difference maker.

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1 – Andrew Luck stays healthy and becomes great. He can make great plays and lead great comebacks, we know that. But can Andrew Luck become a great quarterback by maintaining the excellence while eliminating the brain farts and missed throws? If he can, the sky is the limit for the Colts. Luck is now the highest paid player in the NFL, and he needs to play like it for the Colts to win a championship as he moves into his prime.

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 reasons the Indianapolis Colts will either sink or swim in 2016

This is how Andrew Luck hopes to run off the field for the final time in 2016.

Welcome to Colts season.

Training camp begins in two weeks at Anderson University and the Pacers free agent frenzy has run it’s course, so this is the time Indianapolis nimbly shifts gears into talking about the pivotal 2016 season that lies ahead.

It doesn’t take long to pivot to the NFL once the NBA Finals end in towns without a major league baseball team, and Indy certainly is ready to wonder about what will be a fascinating 2016 season.

The first three years of the Ryan Grigson/Chuck Pagano Era were incredibly successful with the Colts advancing one spot further in the playoffs each year. Last season featured a correction toward the mean as the three year string of 11-5 seasons was ended abruptly by an ugly 8-8 in the NFL’s worst division.

No one, including the Colts themselves, knows whether that regression was caused by the injuries to quarterback Andrew Luck, or if the rest of the roster was exposed as mediocre.

Free agent signings in 2015 like Andre Johnson, Trent Cole, and Todd Herremans were busts, and their first two picks in the 2015 draft were physically compromised by injuries, so it was not a good year for the Colts roster or front office.

2016 can break one of two ways – an improved and healthy team returns to form and wins the AFC South, or the slide is proven to be endemic of a culture that cannot be rescued by the excellence of the NFL’s best young quarterback.

Here are the top 10 areas that will prove the Colts championship worthy or in need of a rebuild:

10 – Can Mike Adams hold up or can young safeties step up? Adams is 35, but has played the best football of his life during his 30s. He’s a legit threat to defy father time for another season. The candidates to replace Dwight Lowery at the other safety are young. Clayton Geathers showed promise in his rookie season, and rookie T.J. Green is big and fast but was not ranked by experts nearly as high as the Colts drafted him. That’s okay as the experts who spend seven hours a day during the draft yelping about the idiocy of a pick are on TV instead of in the draft room for one of the 32 franchises. Green looks like a special teamer, while Geathers is a safety. We’ll see if either are ready. Continue reading →

Top 10 reasons Tim Duncan is one of the best five players/people in NBA History

Go ahead and picture Tim Duncan. Probably looks a lot like this picture. Not with the ball, not smiling, just competing.

Tim Duncan played four seasons at Wake Forest before joining the San Antonio Spurs as the #1 overall draft pick in the 1997 NBA Draft, so he has never called Indiana home, but he is an Indiana type of basketball player.

The eulogies for Duncan’s career came and went quickly yesterday after he announced his well-timed retirement from basketball. The highlights were scarce as Duncan’s excellence cannot be captured in a single moment of greatness.

Duncan’s lack of ego has defined the Spurs franchise through his tenure, but it fits perfectly the character of basketball played in Indiana. Hickory coach Norman Dale captured the Spurs philosophy of basketball very nicely in Hoosiers, “Five players on the floor functioning as one single unit: team, team, team – no one more important that the other.”

That was Tim Duncan and the Spurs.

Here are the top 10 reasons Duncan is one of the best 10 players/people in NBA history:

10 – In Duncan’s rookie season, the Spurs posted a 36-win improvement. Before Duncan, the Spurs were 20-62. In his rookie year, Duncan was a significant piece in a historic turnaround to 56-26. That was the second biggest positive pivot in NBA history (Boston Celtics in 2007-2008 won 42 more games than the season prior because of the acquisitions of Ray Allen and Kevin Garnett). Continue reading →

Top 10 reasons to be very optimistic about the Pacers in 2016-2017

Larry Bind has had several reasons to smile this offseason, and hope for more beginning in late October.

The Indiana Pacers have enjoyed an offseason of under the radar activity that improved the team marginally with every stroke.

Kevin Durant generated headlines by leaving Oklahoma City for Golden State, but the Pacers have built a team better suited to playing winning basketball compared to last year’s version. In fact, they might emerge from this offseason as the most improved team in the NBA.

They also might collapse and burn if the deals and coaching change don’t work out, but there are plenty of reasons to feel very bullish about this reconstituted Pacers roster and coaching staff.

This isn’t a championship team, but after evaluating the signings, trades, and coaching change on the front end, it’s hard to make a case for a backslide if the Pacers stay healthy.

Here are 10 reasons to buy that the Pacers will be better in 2016-2017:

10 – Jeff Teague replaces George Hill as point guard. This looks like a bit of a push except that Teague (28) is in the middle of his prime while Hill (30) is preparing to exit his. Hill has always been a solid defender and capable offensive threat, but his lack of consistent aggression on the offensive end hampered the Pacers attack. Teague will have no such issues. He has always been a clever attacker. Continue reading →

Top nine ways to improve the college athletics experience for student-athletes

The Power Five conferences each individually announced yesterday a new protocol for bringing balance to the lives of student-athlete.

Among the new edicts – students must have eight consecutive hours off between 9p-6a, and travel days are no longer counted as off days. Good ideas all, but they don’t go nearly far enough to balance the scales between the student and the athlete component parts of the student-athlete experience.

There are still problems – plenty of them.

Here are nine problems the NCAA needs to attack to put the college back in college sports:

9 – Simplify the rule book. A rule book so thick and convoluted that coaches require the use of a compliance department to determine whether they are adhering to or breaking the rules is ridiculous. Ten Commandments were etched onto a tablet or two, and the United States Bill of Rights can be read and understood during the average visit to the restroom, so why is the NCAA rule book 440 pages? Of course, simplification of the rule book would have the same effect of making our tax code easy to ingest – people paid for their expertise in understanding it would be displaced. That’s a sad but necessary unintended consequence of paring that beast down to a dozen simple easily ingested pages. Continue reading →

Top seven quick fixes for what is broken in the NBA

NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is the most capable league leader in America, and I’m guessing he is smart enough to enact all the changes outlined below.

I’m here to help. That’s what I do.

Solving problems requires two steps, identifying them and correcting those rules or systems that are their cause.

The NBA is not broken. Its robust revenue generation is causing the salary cap to explode over the next two seasons. That success is so profound it is providing unique challenges of its own.

As with all businesses, there are obvious lapses of logic and efficiency that leave customers scratching their heads.

Correcting them shouldn’t be too hard for a major sports league that is riding the crest of a financial wave driven by wild media rights deals.

The NBA won’t be perfect as the result of these changes, but it will be much less frustrating to those who consume it in bulk.

Here are the top seven solutions to problems the NBA might not even know it has:

7 – Eliminate timeouts in last 2:00. What i would really like to see is a complete elimination of timeouts, but I’m a reasonable man. Timeouts waste the time of TV viewers and live spectators so that a coach can diagram a play the opposition is likely to anticipate and stop. It also allows a team to advance the ball to three quarters court if the timeout is called appropriately. Moving the ball without time elapsing is a silly contrivance unnecessary in building excitement. Each stoppage interrupts drama, and eliminating unnecessary stoppages will enhance popularity. Continue reading →

Top 10 reasons Kevin Durant’s signing with Warriors was gutsy, not “weak” or “spineless”

Kevin Durant turned his back on a city that loved him. That’s weak, gutless, and/or spineless?

Kevin Durant signing a two-year deal (the second is a player’s option) with the Golden State Warriors is being called “weak” and “spineless” by too quick to judge media types who don’t see the big picture.

The easiest play would have been for Durant to stay home and indulge his love for Oklahoma City, a place where he has spent the last eight years compiling a hall of fame resume’. He could have signed an extension without opening an interview and bidding process where anyone would have been disappointed.

People would have seen Durant as loyal and true, and no one would have been disappointed. Easy. Risk free. Criticism free.

Durant made the the tough choice. He interviewed, evaluated, and chose the most perilous option – to contribute rather than star for the best in the west – the Golden State Warriors.

Here are the 10 reasons we should admire rather than criticize Durant’s decision:

10 – Decided to do what he wants instead of what everyone else wanted. An entire city hoped and prayed that Durant would return. Four others hoped he would choose them. Durant disappointed all of them in favor of a town and fanbase that valued him least. It would have been so easy to say yes to OKC. Saying no was tough, not weak. Continue reading →