Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Indiana Football – the wait for early success has been long, can Saturday be the big payoff?

by Kent Sterling

Kevin Wilson has the Hoosiers right where he wanted them – undefeated awaiting the arrival of the nation’s #1 team.

Indiana University’s football team has won five games in a row – for the first time since 1987.

Indiana University’s football team has started the season 4-0 – for the first time since 1990.

That’s almost as long as IU basketball fans have waited for a sixth national championship, and top ranked Ohio State will come to Bloomington this Saturday to try to throw a giant bucket of ice cold water on this party built on wins against Purdue, Southern Illinois, Florida International, Western Kentucky, and Wake Forest.

The last time Indiana won six straight? I think that game is depicted in a mural at the Union right next to a lithograph of Herman B. Wells at his graduation.

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The goal for the Hoosiers this season has never been a bowl, which seems gaudy and generous considering Indiana has gone bowling exactly once in the past two decades, No, players during media day expressed a little annoyance with people who asked whether they thought a bowl might be possible.

Defensive lineman Darius Latham and quarterback Nate Sudfeld were among those who claimed a visit to the Big Ten Championship Game and maybe even the National Championship were in their sights.

Nobody had the stones to ask “Seriously?” but everyone in the room thought it.

This is Indiana. Indiana doesn’t go to the Big Ten Championship game. Can’t happen. Not when Ohio State, Michigan State, and Michigan are all in the same division of the Big Ten as the Hoosiers.

Believing in Indiana Football excellence is like believing in Santa Claus, except it’s not nearly as quaint.

This is year five of the Kevin Wilson rebuilding project, the fifth such rebuild since the dismissal of Bill Mallory after the 1996 season. Cam Cameron, Gerry DiNardo, Terry Hoeppner, and Bill Lynch have tried, and with the exception of Hep’s rejuvenation of the program, all were failures.

Wilson was given unprecedented resources to recruit staff and players, and was paid a reasonable wage when he agreed to leave Oklahoma as the offensive coordinator for the head position at a program where coaching careers go to die.

The next Indiana coach to leave IU and serve as head coach for another FBS school will be the first since John Pont who presided over the dumpster fire of Northwestern in the mid-1970s after leaving IU.

Fans were told that it takes time to get the recruiting foundation laid, and the Indiana culture had not been prosperous in so long that extra patience would be required. Five years seemed reasonable.

After a close call in 2013, a potential bowl season halted because of an ill-fated backward pass against Minnesota, and the shoulder injury to quarterback Nate Sudfeld in 2014, it appears Indiana might just get to a bowl this season as a validation for Wilson’s continued grinding.

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As for whether Indiana can somehow overcome a sixty minute test administered by a foe they have not vanquished since, well, a very long time ago, (I thought maybe IU beat the Buckeyes in the magical Rose Bowl season on 1967, but the two teams did not play each other), that’s for Wilson and the Hoosiers to prove Saturday.

The experts have Indiana as a 17.5 point underdog, but sports books don’t determine the outcome of the game – players do.

If Indiana can win, unbridled joy will be unleashed on Monroe County in a measure unseen since IU’s last basketball championship in 1987. At least I assume there would be glee – the territory into which a win would thrust Indiana football fans would be entirely unprecedented. Maybe they would simply head back to their dorms and frats.

Let’s not even talk about what might happen beyond that. Talking about being undefeated facing what would likely then be the #1 ranked Michigan State Spartans would be incredible – as in completely not credible.

I’m treating this as I will the Cubs trip to the playoffs. A positive resolution is impossible to contemplate, but I’ll be at Memorial Stadium just in case.

Only two things we know for sure about the Hoosiers, they have lost zero games so far, and you can’t lose less than zero, and they don’t need to be the better team Saturday – just the team that scores more points in 60 minutes.

Indianapolis Colts show a pulse with seven minutes left in Nashville

by Kent Sterling

After 173 minutes of bad football, Chuck Pagano’s Colts finally found their mojo.

The obituaries were being written, and reporters were ready to pronounce the Indianapolis Colts dead for 2015.

Behind 27-14 in Nashville as the clock ticked under seven minutes to play, the Colts awakened with a fury unseen since the startling comeback win against the Kansas City Chiefs in the 2013 wild card round of the playoffs. It was about time and just in time.

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Less than a minute later, the Colts led 28-27 after touchdown passes from Andrew Luck to Phillip Dorsett and Donte Moncrief, and with just under three minutes left, Frank Gore scored his first touchdown as a Colt to provide the final points needed to escape Nashville with a much needed win.

If the Colts hadn’t suddenly found their mojo and lost this game, the negative momentum would have dipped far below the line where return might have been possible, and the season certainly would have been lost.

That would have left coach Chuck Pagano dangling from a very thin thread, and the Colts string of three consecutive 11-5 seasons and trips to the playoffs a distant memory.

Instead, the Colts ran their streak of consecutive division wins to 14 with the woeful Jacksonville Jaguars coming to town this weekend as the opponent that should allow the Colts to tie the all-time mark of 15.

Why the Colts have been successful during the 2012-2014 stretch seems to be a debate that rages within the halls of the Colts offices on West 56th Street. Is it a matter of quarterback Andrew Luck being so special that the Colts succeed because of him alone? Is it their residence in the putrid AFC South that allows a team unable to succeed in the postseason to rise to qualify for the playoffs? Is Chuck Pagano a leader that drives success, or is he a caretaker who doesn’t get in the way of wins Luck can earn on his own? Is it the results of GM Ryan Grigson’s bold drafts, trade, and free agent signings, or did he do all the heavy lifting needed to dominate the AFC South during his first draft?

The answer is a combination of the four, but in what proportion is the debate that drove the decision by owner Jim Irsay and Grigson to not give Pagano an well-earned extension after 2014, rendering him a lame duck for 2015.

Players love Pagano. They speak publicly and privately of their respect for the man and his methods, and unless the Colts’ talents as thespians stretch far beyond Luck’s search for Mr. Jaffers and his efforts to provide luck for investors by pulling out hair from his beard, the love is genuine.

The first two losses against the Bills and Jets were filled with turnovers and penalties, and so was this game. While everyone with a Colts hat or jersey in his or her closet will revel in the final magical seven minutes of this win, the gap between this version of the Colts and championship caliber football is enormous.

Luck’s two interceptions were ridiculous, and Hugh Thornton’s penalties alone were enough to stall four drives.

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Those problems weren’t enough to kill the Colts against a team like the Titans, but unless they are quickly corrected, the Patriots, Broncos, Panthers, and Falcons loom as undefeated opponents later in the regular season.

Thankfully, the narrative for this week will not be one of doom and gloom, but will give those who predicted success even beyond the 11-5 records of the last three seasons a chance to exhale. That means more positive questions to players and coaches, and a better all around mood around Indianapolis.

The Colts head into Week Four tied with the other three teams in their division for both first and last, and that gives them a chance to continue to build toward something meaningful in January.

Is it likely the Colts solve each of their fatal flaws prior to the end of the regular season? No. There are just too many, and they are too serious. But at least for one week, this city so used to excellence and success can look ahead with enthusiasm, and Pagano can believe that he is the right man to lead these Colts to the promised land – even if that opinion is unshared by his bosses.

Social media misstep costs Notre Dame DT Jay Hayes a one game suspension

by Kent Sterling

Notre Dame DT Jay Hayes learned that pressing delete is not the same as not pressing send.

Venting feels good for a moment, and then come the consequences.

When alone in a car, the comeuppance is a confused stare from the driver of the car next to you.

With your girlfriend, boyfriend, husband, wife, mom, or dad, it’s generally a minute or two of patience before being told to get over yourself.

On social media, the cost can be your job and reputation.

Pressing send comes with a cost when criticizing a boss intent on teaching through penalty.

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When Notre Dame defensive tackle Jay Hayes took to Twitter to express concerns about the level at which he is being coached, his desire to win this season, and then transfer, coach Brian Kelly decided that missing tomorrow’s game would be an appropriate response.

Hayes tweeted like a kid, “When a coach stops coaching you..that’s when you jus gotta move on, Gotta get this natty (national championship) and I’m out.” Kelly responded like an adult, “You have to think before you hit send, and what you have to do is knock on my door instead of hitting the send button,”

Lesson learned, I would hope. It should be a lesson learned by all employees.

Walking into the office of a mature and secure boss/coach/manager/department head and asking for an explanation of managerial strategy or with ideas for change is always welcome. A threat to leave posted on social media is usually met with an invitation to leave.

Better to learn that lesson in college than when living paycheck to paycheck as a young adult with kids, but best to acquire the restraint needed to avoid showing your ass for all to see on social media in the first place.

Talking rather than tweeting allows you to control the scope of the recipients. A private conversation shows respect for authority and a desire to see improvement in operation. It gives the boss a change to seek clarification, and provide a response. Two people talking can arrive at a mutually agreeable solution (or not).

Tweets are 140 character blasts without nuance, as Hayes showed. They tend to be efforts at communicating a simple and caustic truth; the kind of thing most don’t have the stones to say to a person’s face – exactly the kind of thing coaches and bosses hate. And there is no backing off and shaving down the rough edges as is normal during a conversation.

Emails are less imperfect, but still once the send button is pressed and an email is delivered, the distribution of that communication transfers to the recipient – which is rarely a positive. I learned a long time ago to write two emails – one that purged any frustration, and a second that was crafted to elicit the best response. I always sent the second one, and never regretted it.

If I were an advisor for college and professional athletes, my message would be very simple – find a role model who is achieving the results you covet and do what he or she does. In this case, Indianapolis quarterback Andrew Luck is the best.

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Luck owns a old flip phone and doesn’t engage in social media at all. Yes, a high profile professional athlete who could easily aggregate a couple of million Twitter followers if he liked, eschews social media completely and is not waiting in line this morning for a new iPhone 6s.

What could he gain? Branding? An outlet for angst? A chance that in a moment of weakness, he writes something inflammatory that unravels years of prudence?

Shut up and do your job is a pretty damn good idea for a college student. It has served Luck well.

Answering adversity on social media always results in further adversity.

As Kelly suggests, adults confront the source of their frustration head on – face to face. Hopefully, Hayes learned that lesson, and maybe dragged a couple of teammates or peers along for the ride.

Indiana Football – Kevin Wilson squashes fun by putting kibosh on ESPN Gameday to Bloomington campaign

by Kent Sterling

There is no better energy engine for a football program than to host ESPN’s Gameday, but they are not welcome in Bloomington.

“No more fun of any kind!” bellowed Dean Vernon Wormer as the members of the Delta house filed out of a disciplinary hearing in Animal House.

It kind of felt that way when Indiana football coach Kevin Wilson answered a question during his weekly radio show about the possibility of ESPN’s Gameday coming to Bloomington for the Ohio State game in nine days, “First, you’ve gotta fill your stadium, which we haven’t played well enough to do. We actually blew all that up, because it’s a wasted conversation for our football team.”

Wilson is right that empty seats sometimes outnumber those filled with fans on football Saturdays, especially in the second half of games after the Hoosiers have been eliminated from bowl eligibility, but the Hoosiers have won four straight games for the first time since 1993 and stand 3-0.

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Fans are excited, the media is paying additional attention. As big a longshot the Gameday to Bloomington campaign is, why not hop in front of the parade and enjoy the rare display of enthusiasm?

Wilson’s remarks smack of a coach desperately trying to maintain control of the emotional state of his team, which is understandable but impossible. Players are likely thrilled to finally be 3-0, dig the attention on campus, and want to keep the fun rolling.

The unnecessary stop sign from Wilson appears fear-based, like Wilson is afraid that if Gameday came to Bloomington it would set up the Hoosiers for failure and national humiliation, as in, “Jeez, remember when Gameday came and Indiana got hammered by Ohio State 92-3?”

Given the last 22 years of poor to mediocre football authored by the program he runs, it’s hard to blame Wilson for being more than a little skittish about inviting a national spotlight to Bloomington, but if he wants full seats to the corners at Memorial Stadium, there’s nothing like ESPN throwing a party watched by millions to help.

Indiana is a soft 3-0 with home wins that could very easily have been a humiliating losses against directional schools happy to accept their appearance fees. No one in Bloomington needs to apologize for winning those games as Western Kentucky beat Vanderbilt and Florida International won against Central Florida. Good football needed to be played by the Hoosiers to go 3-0, but none of their opponents are anything like Urban Meyer’s Buckeyes.

To be bullish enough to invite the most watch college football show in America to town prior to a game against the #1 team in America would be audacious, but at some point – what the hell is there really to lose and by whom thru audacity?

Coaches are control freaks, and given the shaky success enjoyed in Bloomington heading into yet another winnable game at Wake Forest this weekend, Wilson’s decision to not put IU in a spotlight that might make it look ridiculous is predictably rational. But facts are facts – Indiana is the losingest FCS program in history, has gone to one bowl in the last five generations of students, and during games has more fans of tailgate parties outside the stadium than fans of football inside it. That is Indiana Football, and changing that perception requires the breaking of a few eggs as well as posting wins.

It’s time for a little defiant enthusiasm. The downside is that Indiana is Indiana, and that everything that was true about IU Football prior to Gameday coming to Bloomington remains true. The upside is what happens after very publicly stating the belief that Indiana is worthy of the spotlight – that Indiana Football has turned the corner.

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Shutting down the grassroots attempt to bring Gameday to Bloomington is endemic of the malaise surrounding the Hoosiers program, and just as the recruiting has improved under Wilson, so should the way in which this program is branded.

Embracing the unlikely prospect of Gameday coming to Bloomington would have been a step in the right direction for Wilson and Indiana Football.

If Wilson wants fans to be energetic participants in the program’s success, he needs to lead them.

Football is a great pastime for kids and adults – condemning it as too dangerous is short-sighted

by Kent Sterling

Monstrous hits can cause physical and mental damage, but the positives of playing football are silly to ignore.

We can’t protect ourselves or our kids with bubble wrap or absolutely ensure safety. No matter our diet, destructive habits, exercise regimen, or risk threshold of our jobs, people get old, sick, and finally die.

How it happens is rarely up to us, but we can decide what challenges and validates us – at least in our own minds. And we can encourage it in our children, family, and friends.

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Obsolescence happens in every sport, just as it does in life – even golf and bowling. Excellence is fleeting, but the loss of excellence is no reason to abdicate efforts in its pursuit.

With most sports the degradation of physical talent means a return to normal life, and long recitations of magical moments where magic was routine, and recovery came in hours instead of days.

Professional football players aren’t just a living poetic microcosm of a life lived on the very ragged edge of sanity. They knowingly risk everything for the rush of competition and moments spent in the bosom of a brotherhood.

We watch the great ones explode into prominence with speed, strength, grace and precision, and then we see them exit stage left after a debilitating injury or as the gifts that separate them from us normal folks erode.

Some enjoy productive lives beyond football, and others recede into CTE driven dementia and madness. Depression is a routine companion, and physical pain that is treated but never cured tell the tales of sacrifice that define careers.

The obvious risks and tragic losses doesn’t mean that football should be banned or shunned in our society. While few of us decide how we are going to die, most of us can decide how we will live, and being told not to play football tells us that the cost needs analysis scale tilts toward the negative.

All a person needs to do is sit among former football teammates, and the greatest positive of football quickly shows itself – that palpable sense of kinship that comes from personal sacrifice for the good of the whole. That’s the allure and lesson of football, and why kids playing it will continue to be a force for good throughout time.

Whether football survives our inability to see the good through the twisted wreckage of knees with surgically repaired ligaments or brains that might not remember specific moments or how to drive home anymore, it still allows those who play it to enjoy a unique experience that cannot be replicated anywhere else.

When the eyes of former football players meet, the bond between them is palpable. Golfers, bowlers, baseball/basketball/soccer/volleyball/hockey (etc…) players might have good stories and important friendships, but they don’t have the same tangible link that survives a lifetime.

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For those who play, it’s worth it. Do you think Peyton Manning continues to sacrifice at the age of 39 after debilitating neck surgeries in order to try to continue to compete at the highest level for the money? Of course not. Did Reggie Wayne sign with the New England Patriots this preseason for the $450,000 signing bonus? Do recently retired players contemplate a comeback because of the cash? Nope and nope.

They miss the camaraderie, the love – the brotherhood.

And as we evaluate football’s role in our society, understanding the unique benefits should be a focus equal to the research being done to condemn football as too dangerous.

Getting old is unpleasant regardless of how safe people are kept throughout their youth and middle age.

All of us have an expiration date. Concentrating on the quantity of our days rather than their quality will result in a regression to the middle that renders our lives ordinary.

Peel off the bubblewrap and live life. Play.

Indianapolis Colts hit bottom (fans hope) in unwatchable loss to New York Jets

by Kent Sterling

Yikes! Andrew Luck and the Colts seem to be regressing.

This was an impossible to watch from start to finish mess.

The Indianapolis Colts losing to the New York Jets 20-7 last night in front of a national audience turned back the clock to 1993 – the last time the Colts were shutout at home, and the last time they were quite this inept offensively.

If this was one of the ubiquitous good, bad, and ugly recaps of the game, the good would include an incredible interception by safety Mike Adams, and Frank Gore running well when he wasn’t fumbling at the goal line. The bad would defer to the ugly, and the ugly would fill the pages needed to print a James Michener novel.

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Nothing going well against a team that appeared to be ripe for thrashing on a night when the Colts were at their post-2011 worst has landed the Colts in a precarious 0-2 position. And coach Chuck Pagano appears to be headed for a Jim Mora-esque demise.

Wait a minute!

It’s September 21st, for God’s sake. The Colts were 0-2 last year, finished 11-5 for the third straight year, and made it to the AFC Championship before being mercilessly throttled by the cheating bastards of Boston.

There is all kinds of time left to right this ship, but the question is whether this is a ship that will respond to efforts to correct the many flaws obnoxiously apparent to anyone with a TV tuned to ESPN last night.

Andrew Luck looks lost in the face of pressure, and the rest of the offense – minus the occasional bursts from Frank Gore – appears listless. The blitzes pour through indifferent and/or inept protection. Three interceptions and a fumble from Luck seemed out of character for a guy correctly anointed as the next great quarterback.

Chuck Pagano appeared to be right at the razor’s edge of ill-temper during his postgame press conference. There’s no question he’s feeling the pressure, and his desire to share the obvious similarities to last season’s lackluster start belied a prayer the outcome might be similar, “We were right here last year. Same exact deal. Go on the road and get beat, come home on Monday night and get beat, 0-2, got things figured out then we ripped off five straight. So our full intention is to go back to work and do the same damn thing.”

But this feels different – really different. There isn’t a panic, but a sense exists that the tools necessary to replicate last year’s turnaround simply doesn’t exist. That’s not to say it somehow can’t happen, but to expect it seems wildly optimistic.

Expectations can be a team’s worst enemy, and the claptrap about multiple Super Bowls from this particular group of Colts appears Powerball player-esque optimistic.

The Colts say all the right things during their postgame media opportunities – this is a process and reviewing the film will be the next part of a system that will cause better play next week, and all that stuff – but the truth lies on the field seven floors below me on the field where tonight’s debacle was played.

This team is not ready right now to compete at a playoff caliber. It would be easy to go entirely doom and gloom, and maybe that’s the smart play. Missing on two straight first rounders, signing free agents who are past their prime, and a front office squabble that threatens to tear this team apart from within might be too much to overcome.

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Maybe it’s the Cubs fan in me, but until the Colts are eliminated, I’m choosing to view this group through 2013/2014 goggles. They might continue to falter and limp and gasp and stumble, but if the past truly is prologue, the Colts are going to find a way through this morass of error-fueled failure to find mediocrity and then achieve a measure of success.

The next three games are winnable even for a team playing like tonight’s version of the Colts. The Tennessee Titans, Jacksonville Jaguars, and Houston Texans are among the worst teams in the NFL and should provide the Colts with three chances to get untracked.

Then, the Patriots come calling. Measuring sticks in the NFL can be cruel, and October 18th is the date of that most meaningful exam. That gives the Colts 27 days to cram.

Nowhere to go but up.

Indianapolis Colts – Love of Chuck Pagano not needed to motivate players, and it won’t

by Kent Sterling

Chuck Pagano is a cancer survivor and hell of a coach, but to think players will play harder because of his tenuous job situation is ridiculous.

There are Lombardi Trophies to be won and millions of dollars to be earned, but as the Indianapolis Colts season unfolds people are going to talk about how the Colts need to play for Chuck.

Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano is reported to be on his way out the door regardless of the result this season. According to those reports, If his Colts fail to progress sufficiently in the playoffs, he will not receive a new contract offer by owner Jim Irsay and GM Ryan Grigson. If the Colts win Super Bowl L, Pagano will tell the Colts to get bent as he pursues a job where he might have more control over personnel.

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Despite the illogic of the situation, people will begin to talk about how Pagano needs his roster to start fighting for him – as though that motivation would trump a desire to win for personal reasons.

It’s ridiculous to think that a professional athlete who deals with friends being waived or traded on an almost relentless basis would grow callous to that level of upheaval, but feel an enormous craving to maintain the status quo in a coach.

Colts players to a man have great respect for Pagano, which calls into serious question the desire from Irsay and Grigson to make a change, but to assert that respect as a motive for playing at a higher level denies some very basic realities of human behavior.

Fear of a coach or manager in business being fired barely registers in the hierarchy of needs for an employee. Oh sure, everyone gets sad for a couple of hours when a boss gets punted, but the most immediate concern is that the next leader won’t fire them.

If you have worked in a professional environment for any period at all, you have likely experienced a boss getting the boot or choosing to bounce. Your first thought was likely, “I hope (bosses name here) is okay, but I sure as hell hope the new boss sees my value here!”

There is nothing wrong with that. Making mortgage payments, keeping kids in the college of their choice, and making sure a spouse has everything he or she needs trumps the empathy for a boss, especially in a work environment like the NFL.

If Pagano is fired at the end of the season, there will be hugs for a guy who has forged a unique bond with his constantly churning roster. He respects the players, and wants nothing more than for them to feel a sense of belonging.

Sadly, belonging to an NFL team is a fleeting experience for all but the elite. Even future hall of famer Peyton Manning was told to pack his bags by the Colts after the 2011 season. Reggie Wayne was asked not to return after his productivity lapsed last season. That’s professional sports.

To expect a roster of such tenuously tethered employees to embrace an opportunity to win one, two, three, or ten for Chuck is an absurd exercise for a journalist or fan. That narrative simply does not resonate for the mostly mercenary players.

Bosses come and go, and while change sucks, especially for the bosses themselves, the first concern is for self-preservation. The second is for building wealth, the third is for winning a championship, and a distant fourth might be for peers to maintain their positions. The coach keeping his job? Way down the list.

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While many don’t understand the thinking behind Pagano not being offered a multi-year extension after a 33-15 record and three trips to the playoffs in his three seasons, any pity for Pagano should be mitigated by his $4.5 million annual salary. When Pagano is fired (or walks), he is going to have enough cash to fund a lavish lifestyle for the rest of his life whether or not he coaches again.

His former players will adjust to a new coach within a couple of days, and the machine will keep rolling just like it did when Tony Dungy walked away to be replaced by Jim Caldwell.

Nobody plays or coaches forever. Players understand that, and while few likely look forward to Pagano carrying boxes to his car, it’s not going to make any of them work harder to win this season.

Parents of high school athletes – and one in particular – need to shut the hell up

by Kent Sterling

Signs like this are ignored by idiot sports parents all over America.

Parents watch their sons and daughters differently than everyone else at a high school sporting event. They are invested – both financially and emotionally – in their kids’ performance and use by coaches, and some feel that investment confers a license to vent when frustrated.

And they are the most likely to ruin the experience for their kids, coaches, teammates, and fans.

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I attended a high school football game last weekend as I often do, and had the unfortunate displeasure of sitting immediately in front of a buffoon whose mouth never shut. His idiotic rants about the use of his son as a receiver was endless. He may still be in the bleachers yelling at the coach.

His kid dropped a couple of passes in the first half, and his chances to redeem himself were correctly limited in the second half. That didn’t sit well with the ill-informed loudmouth, “Hey coach! There are other kids on the field!” “Hey coach! Look at the other side of the field once!” “Hey coach! Start sharing the ball!”

I only sat near the guy because a friend of mine is the father of the team’s quarterback, and I was there to spend time with he and his family. He sat near the blowhard, so I sat alongside.

Throughout the game, which was a couple hundred miles away from Indianapolis, I was tempted dozens of times to turn around and explain that the bleatings this guy could not restrain were not only expressions of delusion, but destructive to the enjoyment of the game for his son.

Every negative thought loudly expressed by this boob removed all doubt for the coaches and his son’s teammates that not only did this clown know nothing about football, but also very little about parenthood.

His son, who could undoubtedly hear his dad, likely hoped for some stranger in the bleachers to tell him to shut up. I didn’t, because my friend didn’t need the headache of trying to make peace because an interloper from Indy indulged his need to puke wisdom at a guy who clearly has spent a lifetime ignoring it.

Loud parents are easily the worst element in youth sports. Their self-immersed and unschooled invective will be heard at every high school football stadium tonight as kids run onto the field to answer the challenges defined by circumstance and game plans.

Moments that might leave a kid with a sense of pride will be turned on their heads into moments of shame and embarrassment as parents crow needlessly. Coaches will drive home from the game wondering why they continue to put up with morons who want their kids showcased at the expense of teammates who may be more talented or harder working – as was the case with the dad I wrote about above.

The irony of the idiot sports parent’s behavior is they campaign against the very thing that makes high school sports such a wonderful educational tool for teens – the adversity that causes maturity and a sense that hard work allows a person to triumph. Because many parents are morons who don’t understand that, they negotiate with and campaign against coaches to protect their progeny from challenges that might inspire them to work hard and earn self-respect.

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This isn’t to say there aren’t good parents – or that idiots outnumber good parents – it’s just that the bad ones are so obviously wrongheaded and damaging, and that I was forced to spend 2 1/2 hours sitting in front of one last Saturday.

If you are a parent with kids playing sports (or in the band, theater, choir, or other collaborative educational endeavor), congratulate them, hug them, drive them to practice, and write those damn checks, but let them find their way through adversity without inserting your ignorant noise into the mix.

Other than love and cash, whatever you have to add to your kid’s experience isn’t going to help.

Indiana Athletics – Steve Patterson out as AD at Texas; what it means for IU and Fred Glass

by Kent Sterling

Steve Patterson graduated from Texas, was hired as AD at Texas, and now has been fired by Texas – because he is not bigger than Texas.

The athletic department at the University of Texas is the closest thing to a business in college athletics, but it isn’t a business, so Steve Patterson was fired as athletic director yesterday.

[Well, his resignation was negotiated, but if the choice was his, Patterson would still be the AD.]

It happened for several reasons – he ran the department as a business, but as a wing of the publicly funded University, it is decidedly not a business. There are a lot of people at Texas who believe they have a voice in how Patterson’s department within that public university should be run.

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Administrators, boosters, alums, students, trustees, politicians, and others like to believe their two cents means something in Austin, but Patterson was strident in his desire to get done what he believed to be the right thing. That led to changes – lots of changes – and with each change, equity was spent.

Patterson was hired just 22 months ago, so his pile of chips had not grown to the high enough to cover bold moves.

Those moves included a change at the top of the Longhorns two high profile programs. Mack Brown was replaced by Charlie Strong following the 2013 football season after 16 season in Austin, and just over a year later 17-year vet Rick Barnes was replaced by Shaka Smart as basketball coach.

Neither Brown nor Barnes had completely failed in their positions, but fans were antsy for elite level results. During Brown’s final four season at Texas, his teams were 30-21 with two Alamo Bowl trips and one to the Holiday Bowl. That doesn’t float at Texas no matter how successful you were prior to that – especially when player behavior became a distraction. Under Barnes, the Longhorns had qualified for the NCAA Tournament every season but one, but had not made it to a Sweet Sixteen since 2008 and had averaged under 10 wins a season in the Big 12 during that same period.

Strong earned the chance to rebuild the Longhorns by turning Louisville into a big winner after struggling a bit during his first two seasons. The Cardinals finished 7-6 during Strong’s first two seasons before finishing 23-3 in his last two. Smart is the hottest college coach in America after turning Virginia Commonwealth into a mid-major sensation.

Good move. Good move. But…

Too much too soon. Regardless of the comparative mediocrity into which both programs had lapsed, Brown and Barnes had friends in Austin – a lot of friends. Both being fired so quickly into an AD’s tenure was going to cause strife among those who write checks to the university. “Hey, what the hell is this Patterson guy doing? Barnesy wrote my kid a note when he was mauled by that labradoodle!” “Man, I hate Patterson! Coach Mack gave my Mom a game ball when she broke her hip celebrating the Horns beating Nebraska 28-25 on Halloween weekend in 2007!” Coaches make friends, and the longer they are around, the more friends they make.

Making changes, even when warranted, shakes up the community. if the AD hasn’t had a chance yet to plant roots, those changes can come with a cost.

At Indiana, Fred Glass has been the athletic director for nearly seven years. He has made one significant change in that period – replacing Bill Lynch with Kevin Wilson as football coach. Basketball coach Tom Crean was hired six months prior to Glass becoming AD.

Both the football and basketball programs appear to be entering a year when tough decisions might have to be made. The football team has made progress under Wilson, but that progress has yet to result in a record sufficient to warrant a bowl invite, and Hoosier basketball fans have endured two years of mediocrity following successive seasons that ended after Sweet Sixteen games in the NCAA Tourney.

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Combine the lackluster on-field and on-court results with a recent spate of behavioral transgressions, and alums, boosters, and trustees are getting anxious about the direction of the department.

If Patterson could not survive at Texas after making changes in football and men’s basketball within a 15 month period, can Glass survive making similar calls on both Wilson and Crean should both programs falter again in 2015-2016?

Texas prints money with the Longhorn Network, so continuing to pay Brown as a very expensive special assistant and Barnes’ buyout of $1.75 million was not difficult. Paying the $1 million to bounce Wilson would not hurt too much, but stroking the $7.5 million check that would be needed to part ways with Crean prior to July 1, 2016, when the buyout drops to $4 million would put Glass at risk because while he didn’t hire Crean, he was the AD when the extension that includes that massive buyout was negotiated.

If Glass has to fire both Wilson and Crean during the next year, unless both programs make significant positive steps shortly thereafter, he will likely be next.

The status quo is likely Glass’s best tack to long term employment in what he says he would like to be his last job. If football goes bowling, Crean could be in trouble with another run of the mill season, but if Wilson authors another clunker, Crean is likely safe through at least the 2016-2017 season, regardless of basketball’s success – or lack thereof.

So it goes in the strange world of big time college athletics. Doing the right thing isn’t always the smart play, as Patterson learned yesterday.

And Glass is a smart guy.

Indianapolis Colts – Chuck Pagano vs. Ryan Grigson feud needs to be settled – NOW!

by Kent Sterling

Ryan Grigson and Chuck Pagano need to act like the unselfish and reasonable men they portray themselves to be.

Can’t we all just get along?

I get it if one guy is a moron and another is gifted. Two people in upper-management with completely different skill sets or abilities are likely to butt heads – and often.

Both Colts general manager Ryan Grigson and coach Chuck Pagano appear to be competent. Neither is perfect – Grigson traded a first round pick for a fat running back who couldn’t find the hole with a map, and Pagano couldn’t stop any part of the Patriots attack in that 45-7 debacle of an AFC Championship.

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As a team, Pagano and Grigson have managed three straight 11-5 seasons and moved one step closer to the Super Bowl in each year they have been paired as leaders of the Colts. No Lombardi Trophies, but this hasn’t been a miserable excursion through rebuilding either.

Despite denials by owner Jim Irsay and joint media appearances by Grigson and Pagano, reports by real journalists like CBS Sports Jason La Canfora continue to swirl that Grigson and Pagano have great difficulty working together and that regardless of the resolution of the 2015 season Pagano will either walk out the door or be pushed through it.

This is eerily reminiscent of the narrative that played out over the last year with the Chicago Bulls. Tom Thibodeau was the coach who drove the Bulls front office crazy while also being unable to get the Bulls to the NBA Finals.

The Bulls were hamstrung by a rash of injuries, including recurring knee issues for former NBA MVP Derrick Rose, and still under Thibs the Bulls averaged 51 wins during his five-year run in Chicago.

Relentless success under difficult circumstances wasn’t enough to save Thibs from an ax wielded by Gar Forman and John Paxson who yearn for more.

The primary difference between Pagano and Thibodeau is that the players reportedly loathed Thibs while they love Pagano. That’s a big deal. As much as executives would like to remove the human element from their teams, coaches embrace it.

Coaching is all about squeezing production out of players, while the GM aggregates what he believes is the most talented group he can find. When both do their jobs well, the result can be a championship.

During the joint media appearance last week at the Colts Complex, both Grigson and Pagano extolled the virtue of suppressing ego and focusing all energy on what is “good for the ‘Shoe'”. While they sang from the same hymnal, it was clear neither relished the moments spent together in front of the media. Both looked like they would rather have been at the dentist.

Well, what appears to be good for the ‘Shoe’ is Pagano being head coach of the Colts. While there are occasional lapses in game strategy, players seem to go hard for Pagano and respond well to his leadership.

If reports of Pagano’s doom are accurate, this will an example of men doing what is best for themselves – for their comfort – rather than what’s best for the team.

Maybe the Bulls got it right by replacing Thibs with Fred Holberg, just as it appears the Golden State Warriors made the right call by punting Mark Jackson in favor of Steve Kerr, but maybe the Bulls won because of Thibs rather than in spite of him.

Whatever the Colts do, this will plot the course for the franchise for a generation. Discharging an effective leader in favor of what might be believed to be an elite one is a 50/50 proposition at best.

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Prudence would dictate Grigson and Pagano find a way to get along, appreciate one another’s talents, and move forward doing whatever is necessary for the ‘Shoe’ to succeed.

That’s what adults do – suppress selfish comforts in favor of behavior that leads to success. How can Pagano and Grigson ask players to embrace physical pain when they themselves are unwilling to welcome a little emotional upheaval?

Every season Andrew Luck is under center for the Colts that does not end in a Super Bowl is wasted, and what are the odds Luck’s career will end as the next great quarterback is available for the Colts to select at the top of the draft – again. It can’t happen three times in a row, can it?

Grigson and Pagano need to bury the hatchet right now – this very minute – or the future of a team that has been one of the NFL’s best since 2001 (minus the aberration of 2011) is in very real danger.