Author Archives: Kent Sterling

As the Hoosiers and Pacers beat untalented/depleted teams, there is no need for apology

by Kent Sterling

Only seven games from coaching more NBA games than anyone in Pacers history, Frank Vogel has learned that good and bad luck come in equal measure without credit nor apology.

Late in the afternoon yesterday, Indiana took the court against Rutgers University, and it was clear the Hoosiers would roll over the confused and apathetic Scarlett Knights. The Pacers went to work as the Hoosiers game reached halftime against the team with the best record in the NBA – without the best shooter in the league, Stephen Curry.

Tom Crean’s Hoosiers sputtered for the first ten minutes, barely energetic enough to force a 16-16 tie before finally making the choice to vanquish this un-Big Ten worthy rabble from Jersey. From that point forward, Indiana showed the qualities that allow some to compete in the Big Ten, while Rutgers again retreated to the cellar.

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Rutgers is awful, and while Indiana isn’t great, they aren’t a muddled mess either. Ninety minutes later, Indiana was packing for the flight home after a drama-free 84-54 win with a 9-6 conference record and a nearly bulletproof NCAA Tournament resume.

No apologies necessary. What was Crean supposed to do, lend Rutgers coach Eddie Jordan Troy Williams to help level the competition? Wins are wins, and while Indiana getting a chance to play Rutgers twice while only having class of the league Wisconsin once in Madison is a sweet scheduling quirk.

With that win, the Hoosiers are one win from their 20th overall and tenth in the Big Ten – both are theoretic benchmarks in earning a trip to the Big Dance. That’s a nice accomplishment for a team that sat home last March after a confused first round washout in the Big Ten Tournament.

The Pacers are playing better basketball since the return of George Hill to the lineup, and when Golden State visited, even ardent fans hoped for the best but feared the worst. Stephen Curry was held out of the lineup with an ankle issue, and that was all the Pacers needed to find a way to eke out a win over the previously 43-9 Warriors.

Paul George has been out of the Pacers lineup for the entire season, so any pity for the health of the Warriors best player was not forthcoming. Not a single Pacers opponent has offered to help the Pacers out of their hole, so why should the Pacers apologize for playing better than the best without their star.

After being a decrepit 17-32 at the end of January, the Pacers have won six-of-seven and are now 1/2 game behind the eighth place Brooklyn Nets and one game in back of the seventh place Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference playoff race.

The Pacers aren’t apologizing, and no one in the NBA is offering any pity – as it should be.

And don’t look now, but George is less than a week from being healthy enough to practice, according to his own timetable. If by late March, George is able to give the Pacers 18-20 minutes per game, how good could this team be? Better than they have been while winning the last six-of-seven without George is a reasonable expectation.

The top seed in the East is likely to be the Atlanta Hawks – a team whose season the Pacers have ended during the past two postseasons. Think the Hawks are a lock to get over the hump this year just as the Pacers get healthy?

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As for the Hoosiers, 9-6, even in a depleted Big Ten, is no joke. The last three games of the regular season at Northwestern, vs. Iowa, and vs. Michigan State is a tough gauntlet to run. All are winnable, and all are, well, not winnable. Regardless, no one is going to cry for Indiana because the schedule brings them Northwestern, Iowa, and Michigan State right at the moment they found themselves anymore than they celebrated because of a win at Rutgers.

Even 70% through the season, there is no telling whether either the Pacers or Hoosiers will ultimately be as good as fans hope or as bad as they fear, but neither deserves nor should offer an apology.

Indiana Basketball – Loss to Purdue drives season in wrong direction at wrong time for Tom Crean

by Kent Sterling

With last night’s loss at Assembly Hall, Tom Crean’s Hoosiers have now lost five of eight and his postgame comments were a lament of shots that didn’t fall.

Indiana lost a basketball game to Purdue last night at Assembly Hall that dropped them to 8-6 in the Big Ten – one-half game ahead of two teams tied for seventh.

The most troubling part of the night for Indiana fans should be the opening comment coach Tom Crean delivered in his postgame remarks, “We could have played a little better, but bottom line, a couple of those shots go down, it’s a different story for us.”

Strange assertion for a coach whose team just took a loss from a team that only hit 2-of-18 from beyond the arc. He could easily have said, “Hell, if Purdue hits a few shots, we get run out of here by 20!”

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Crean’s comment about shots not falling reminded me of former football coach Bill Lynch telling me before his final season as coach of the Hoosiers that his team’s previous season was only 12 positive plays from a Big Ten Championship.

Desperate thoughts in desperate times for desperate men.

Point guard Yogi Ferrell had a different view of what was missing on this night, “We’ve got to fight. Tonight we felt like we came to play. Played really well to an extent, but at the end of the day, our fight didn’t match theirs. I feel like playing Purdue and especially a big rivalry, we’ve got to go and match the intensity and just fight a little harder.”

There was nothing wrong with Ferrell’s fight last night as he scored 21 points on 15 shots and chipped in five boards and four assists. In fact, Ferrell was one of only two Hoosiers with more than one rebound.

So often basketball games are not determined by the what and where, but the how – and how hard. Fans didn’t need to know the difference between a 1-3-1 zone from a man-to-man to see that Purdue simply played with more fight and passion last night when both seasons were on the line.

The size advantage for Purdue was also a huge (literally) problem for Indiana as centers A.J. Hammond and Isaac Haas combined for 32 points, 14 boards, and four blocks (all Hammons) compared to 10 points (all Hanner Mosquera-Perea) two rebounds, and three blocks for Mosquera-Perea, Collin Hartman and Emmitt Holt.

But that wasn’t about size as much as it was toughness and desire.

With four games left for both of Indiana’s Big Ten teams, the Boilermakers and Hoosiers are headed in decisively divergent directions. Both teams play Rutgers next – Indiana travels there Sunday afternoon, and Rutgers visits Mackey Arena next Thursday. Both need a win to continue to be seen as a potential participant in the NCAA Tourney next month.

While the RPIs for both reflect their recent play (Indiana’s ranking dropped last night from 28th to 34th while Purdue bounced from #69 to #58) the BPI is a little better calibrated to measure current quality of play (Purdue passed IU as it jumped to #40 while IU dropped to #43).

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What all of that means beyond being ranked higher is better, I don’t know. Playing winning basketball requires teams to play hard and together, and Purdue has done that much more often than its opponents recently as they have vanquished seven of their last eight foes. Indiana is 3-5 over that same span.

Last year’s shutout for Indiana teams in March Madness won’t be repeated this season, but it remains to be seen exactly which teams will join Notre Dame and Butler in the Big Dance. Last night’s game brought a little additional clarity, but the final four games and the Big Ten Tournament will seal the deal one way or another for both the Boilers and Hoosiers.

All that’s certain is that wishing missed shots had dropped isn’t going to help Indiana beat Rutgers Sunday at 5:15p. Invitations for teams like Indiana and Purdue will be reserved for the toughest teams who have a clear vision that 40 minutes of focus and fight need to define their effort because that is how you win basketball games.

And then the report card for Indiana, Purdue, and every other team in college basketball will be issued. Last night was a quiz for both. Only after the entire body of work is evaluated can an overall grade for the programs be known.

Right now, Purdue’s consistent effort has Matt Painter’s stock on the rise. Indiana losing five of eight has Crean wishing shots had fallen.

Indiana vs.Purdue – Tonight’s winner will earn a trip to the NCAA Tournament

by Kent Sterling

Assembly Hall will be rocking tonight, but fans will stay classy as always in Bloomington.

Indiana vs. Purdue used to be something else. Streets in Indiana emptied. Kids were allowed to stay up past bedtime. Gene Keady and Bob Knight matched wits and wills. Knight brought a donkey onto the set of his TV as a replacement for the Purdue AD, and Keady profanely threatened campers who might dare to wear an Indiana shirt during workouts.

From 1981-2000, Purdue won 21 and Indiana 20. Both captured six Big Ten titles, and the state was divided down the middle by allegiance.

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Knight was fired due to a misguided attempt by IU president Myles Brand to de-fang him, and Keady gracefully slipped into a forced retirement. Both programs occasionally showed their previous pedigree. Indiana went to the Final Four in 2002, and enjoyed some ill-gotten success in 2008 with Eric Gordon and a band of rogues. Purdue roared back from 2008-2011 with a serious recruiting class that included Robbie Hummel, E’Twaun Moore, and JaJuan Johnson.

Indiana got hot with Cody Zeller, Victor Oladipo, and others in 2012 and 2013. The sporadic swords of solid play never crossed until this season.

A.J. Hammons, Jon Octues, and Rapheal Davis have spearheaded a resurgence in West Lafayette, and the five-man backcourt of the Hoosiers are on the precipice of a return to national prominence.

And so tonight for the first time in more than 20 years, both the Boilers and the Hoosiers have a tall stack of chips in front of them while sitting at the same table this late in the season.

If Matt Painter’s Purdue team can become the second to post a win in Bloomington this season (Eastern Washington was the first and only), they will run their conference record to 10-4, and virtually assure themselves of a ticket to the Big Dance.

Indiana is 8-5 right now, and in need of a couple of more wins to ensure a return after sitting quietly at Cook Hall while the cool kids got to party last March.

Because of losses to Vanderbilt, North Florida, and Gardner-Webb, Purdue may need as many as 12 Big Ten wins to earn the respect of the selection committee. Never in the history of the expanded NCAA Tournament has a Big Ten team with 11 wins been ignored, but this year is a strange one. With four games remaining after tonight – vs. Rutgers, @ Ohio State, @ Michigan State, and a season finale at Mackey against Illinois – needs to get busy to hit the magic number.

Conversely, Indiana beat nationally ranked teams like Butler and SMU in the preseason to craft a little breathing room, but not much. The last four games for the Hoosiers are @ Rutgers, @ Northwestern, and at home against Iowa and Michigan State. Rutgers might offer little resistance, but Northwestern has won two in a row as Chris Collins young team has figured out recently how to finish games a little bit better. Iowa is a cornered animal right now, and Michigan State has won five of six.

The short version of that paragraph is that the Hoosiers have work to do, and it needs to start tonight.

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Assembly Hall will be filled and loud as usual, but with the shared stakes this high, there will be a little extra tension in the building that saw so much contentiousness and greatness between these teams for so long.

Painter vs. Crean isn’t Keady vs. Knight – as least not yet, but the echoes of those 41 days and nights still so fresh in our memories will be awakened tonight at 7p as young men not yet born when this game mattered so much the last time square off and fight for 40 minutes.

To the winners go the spoils, and the spoils are serious this time around.

A-Rod deserves whatever treatment the fans decide to lavish upon him

by Kent Sterling

“Whoops, I screwed up!” scrawled in a note will not serve as a reasonable apology for fans who demand the wrong understand consequences are not to be self-served.

Not enough. Not nearly enough. A handwritten apology might work for a fourth grader expressing regret to a girl he decided not to take to the school dance, but not for an adult who is supposed to be the face of a historic franchise.

Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Berra, Mantle, Ford, Munson, Jeter, and A-Rod? Not quite. It’s not the PED use that frosts the nostril hairs of baseball fans who loathe A-Rod and look forward to seeing him fail.

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It’s the imperious petulance he displays as baseball’s richest player. Whether it’s from a place of insecurity, arrogance, or antisocial wiring is unimportant. A baseball player who has been paid $356,285,104 to date and is scheduled to make another $94 million if $30M in milestone bonuses are earned, owes more to fans and the game than on-field excellence.

Rodriguez became a generational baseball figure when he agreed to be paid that kind of jack – the kind of guy who would be responsible for representing the game throughout his life.

That trust was treated with disdain by Rodriguez as he participated in PED use, repeatedly lied about it, and now hides behind a handwritten note of apology to fans that was less a mea culpa than a prayer for the noise to stop so he can concentrate on getting his aging body ready for one or two more trips through a season playing the game he purports to love.

The lesson Major League Baseball franchises have learned from the nutty contract given to Rodriguez prior to the 2004 season is that excellence is fleeting and athletic singularity is not enough without deep rooted decency of character.

The cost to the Yankees stretches far beyond the cash dedicated to a player whose desire to engage in pharmaceutical shortcuts trumped his ability to embrace a position as the game’s elder statesman. The man hours and focus lost to the Yankees front office as they have dealt with this reluctant superstar have eroded their ability to win.

During the 11 years with A-Rod as a Yankee, they have punched one ticket to the World Series and have missed the playoffs for two years running. With a payroll of $200+ million, that level of mediocrity is inexcusable. A-Rod owns significant equity for this very average era of the greatest franchise in the history of team sport.

And now he decides that a handwritten note suffices as an apology – that because he scrawled a few sentences, fans will stop booing and the media will stop hounding. The form of the note as a grand “I’m sorry!” falls far short regardless of the message it contains.

Americans have an interesting sense of justice. They are big proponents of exerting their own consequences on an environment lacking in what they perceive to be sufficient oversight. So there will be booing, questioning, unpleasantness, and rage. Because this guy had it all, and pissed it away through indifference to right and wrong he will be tormented and harangued.

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The only act of decency A-Rod will author in 2015 is the tour of ballparks where fans will exercise their right to voice displeasure and exact their own unique brand of verbal vengeance. As will be the case throughout the remainder of fellow scofflaw/liar Ryan Braun’s career, fans will show each other and their targets a resounding impatience with liars, mopes, and thieves.

Not quite a public stoning, but as close as our society will allow, fans will let A-Rod know in no uncertain terms that wrong is wrong, and that a handwritten apology is not nearly enough to absolve a man of the guilt fans need him to live with forever.

Not only is a handwritten note from a soon-to-be 40 year-old man playing a kid’s game not enough, there may be no level of contrition satisfactory for a fanbase enraged by arrogance, selfishness, and stupidity.

Indiana beats Minnesota – talk of Tom Crean being Big Ten Coach of the Year sparks internal debate

by Kent Sterling

Tom Crean has reason to be both proud and anxious about his work with Indiana during the 2014-2015 season.

Indiana beat Minnesota last night with a historic three-point shooting barrage that accounted for 60% of the Hoosiers 90 points.

Hitting 18-of-32 (56.3%) triple tries is tough to count on, but at 8-5 in the Big Ten, Indiana is very close to securing a spot in the league’s top five, which will undoubtedly lead to a nod from the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee.

A significant sect of fans have been tittering about the need to replace Crean since in Bloomington virtually since he arrived for a variety of reasons, but the din grew after last season’s tournament shutout following a 17-15 season.

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With five winnable games remaining in the regular season, this Hoosiers team without a center or power forward is on the precipice of exceeding all expectations by such a large margin that analysts are starting to yammer about the possibility of Crean being named the conference coach of the year, and John Calipari mentioned Crean as a potential national coach of the year.

Forget Calipari’s true motivation – selecting his competition for the award – it can be argued that no one has done a better job of matriculating his way through significant adversity this season. It can also be argued that the adversity Crean has skillfully slalomed past is of his own creation, and why should that be celebrated?

So I will argue both. You decide which side you stand on.

Crean is the Big Ten Coach of the Year

Tom Crean has dealt with a serious amount of hardship prior to and throughout the 2014-2015 season.

Indiana’s usable roster would win a national championship if players taller than 6’7″ were banned from the game, but that’s not how basketball works.
Just prior to the season, Indiana lost Devin Davis for the season because of some late night fun that turned dangerous.
Troy Williams and Stanford Robinson were suspended for the first two games of the season because of multiple dirty tests for banned substances.
Two players with extensive experience decided to transfer after the previous season, and were replaced by a 6.9 points per game wing from Illinois State and an unheralded freshman.

Despite those challenges, Indiana is 8-5 in the Big Ten and 18-8 overall with an RPI that is ranked 29th in college basketball. Crean has managed a serious amount of success with a backcourt of the most valuable player (not the player of the year though) in the Big Ten in Yogi Ferrell and two freshmen – James Blackmon Jr. and Robert Johnson. There is also the very gifted and explosive Troy Williams.

Taking the ingredients available to Crean and whipping up what is to this point a winning Big Ten dish is worthy of Bobby Flay or Emeril, and certainly makes him the Big Ten Coach of the Year.

Crean is anything but the Big Ten Coach of the Year

The misfortune that Crean has had to deal with was created by Crean himself, so giving him props for negotiating it seems silly. Austin Etherington and Jeremy Hollowell transferring was caused in part by Crean’s behavior. Crean neglected or was unable to recruit size. Robinson and Williams were suspended because they showed a lack of respect for Crean’s culture by using banned substances multiple times. Ditto the event that caused Davis’ injury.

This is also a down year for the Big Ten. If this Indiana team was forced to compete in any of the previous three years, the result would not be nearly as gaudy.

Crean caused the problems he has been forced to overcome. The fact that he has found a way to lead the Hoosiers to the upper echelons of mediocrity should under no circumstances be interpreted as an achievement worthy of awards.

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Add to that a significant erosion of ability to recruit Indiana kids, and Indiana is on a track to be forced to overcome diminished expectations for the foreseeable future. Turning mediocre into good is not worth over three-million per year.

I wrote both arguments, and it’s difficult for me to decide which side of the fence on which I fall. Your thoughts and comments are welcome.

College Basketball – Nut cutting weekend for Butler, Purdue, and Indiana as NCAA bids are on the line

by Kent Sterling

Butler’s Kellen Dunham is going to play in the biggest game of his college career tomorrow night at six.

The longer you contend in a race, the more important the next mile is. The college basketball regular season is within a month of ending, and four Indiana teams that suffered a rare shutout from last year’s NCAA Tournament are back in contention for bids.

Notre Dame is a done deal. The Irish are going to the tournament. To this point, they are 22-4 with an ACC record of 10-3, and have games remaining against conference bottom dwellers Wake Forest and Boston College among their final five.

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Assuming those two wins, the worst Mike Brey’s team can finish in the conference is 12-6. Even with a complete collapse otherwise, they are in with a six seed at worst. What happens in the tournament in anyone’s guess because no team in the top 25 has played its starters more minutes – and it isn’t close.

Butler plays Villanova at Hinkle Fieldhouse tomorrow night at 6p (CBSSN). With a win, the Bulldogs pull into a tie with Villanova atop the Big East. After finishing the 2013-2014 season in next to last place with a 4-14, Butler has been a revelation in 2014-2015.

The confusion surrounding the coaching situation as Brandon Miller mysteriously exited has cleared up nicely with the great work of Chris Holtmann, and Butler is the feel good story of the season.

After tomorrow night’s huge game, Butler finishes @ Creighton, @ Xavier, vs. Marquette, @ DePaul, vs. Georgetown, and @ Providence. If Butler can split those six games, and they should be able to do that at the minimum, the Bulldogs will win either 11 or 12 games conference games. That gets them in without a doubt.

For Butler, all discussions should center on seeding. With a win against ‘Nova, Butler will put themselves in a position for a three seed.

No one is going to want to play Butler in the NCAA Tournament. They are choir boys who wield a sharp dagger without conscience. They get off the team bus, and opponents think they are the a cappella group “Straight, No Chaser”. After 40 minutes of basketball, they wonder how a bunch of singers beat their asses.

Purdue is rolling along again after a hiccup at Minnesota. With the win last night at Rutgers, Purdue finds itself in a second place tie in the Big Ten at 8-4 and six games to play. Three of those games are at Mackey Arena against Nebraska, Rutgers, and Illinois. If they play with the same defensive tenacity they’ve shown since the beginning of the Big Ten season, there is no chance the Boilermakers don’t finish 11-7 at worst, and that should get them in.

Given the combination of size (A.J. Hammons and Isaac Haas) and quickness/speed (Jon Octeus/Bryson Scott) Purdue brings, they are going to be in a nice position to pull upsets in March.

Indiana is the most vexing of the major conference teams in Indiana, and the team that looks safe, but might not be. The Hoosiers are 7-5 in the Big Ten with non conference wins against SMU and Butler to buffet their resume’, but four losses in six games have revealed some flaws and possibly fatigue among freshmen James Blackmon Jr. and Robert Johnson.

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A soft final six games, including a suddenly perilous contest Sunday against Minnesota – winners of five of its last seven – should allow Indiana to claw its way to 10-8 at worst, and that should get them into the Big Dance.

This has been to this point as fascinating a college basketball season as I can remember, and with every game it becomes more difficult to predict what might happen next. Local fans have games to look forward to nearly every night, and on the other nights, we have Kentucky to root against (who wants to see John Calipari become even more smug?).

And who among the four Indiana teams that should wind up in the tournament might be positioned to play the deepest? If the old axiom about NCAA Tournament success being tied to guard play, Indiana and Notre Dame have an advantage with Jerian Grant and Yogi Ferrell, but I’m not betting against Purdue and Butler.

Kent’s Lesson of the Day – Jackie Robinson West shows the lunacy of sports parenting; Test reveals whether you are a good sports parent

by Kent Sterling

Again, another group of kids corrupted by the narrow-mindedness and misplaced passion of parents and coaches.

One thing about which we all agree in the Jackie Robinson West disqualification story is that the kids are absolved from any responsibility. They are not culpable for any of the actions that led Little League to strip the team other American or Great Lakes Regional championships.

The kids showed up, played hard, enjoyed many moments of grace, and embraced their roles in the renaissance of baseball in a community that in large part abandoned it decades ago.

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The final lesson learned by this team – and reaffirmed by this mess – is that parents are the absolute worst thing in youth sports. The behavior of the coaches in breaking Little League rules to gain a competitive advantage, and outrage expressed by parents as the decision was discussed made clear – again – that parents are way too invested in the results of their kids’ extracurricular activities.

Back in the day, parents rarely even attended youth sports contests. Now, they act like agents more than moms and dads. “Treats are for WINNERS!” they yell like Alec Baldwin’s character in Glengarry Glen Ross.

That is why people assembling travel teams should select parents rather than kids. Building a team of sane parents who understand that the rewards for playing youth sports come from participating, not winning ensures a fun atmosphere.

To strip the process of adversity for the kids distorts and corrupts the core lesson available through playing. It’s hard to learn how to overcome adversity where none exists.

Here are five questions parents should ask themselves to determine whether they are good or bad sports parents:

Have you ever asked a coach about playing time?
Have you complained about a coach in front of your child?
Do you reward for a win and punish for a loss?
Have you pulled your child off a team over his or her objection?
Do you own a shirt bearing your child’s image that you wear to games?

If you answered two or more of those questions in the affirmative, you need to have a talk with a friend or family member because you are likely driving your kid nuts – or at least making the experience playing less enjoyable than it can be.

Even worse, you may be causing those who might see your child as a potential member of a team pass on issuing an invitation to play because smart organizers/coaches select kids based upon how the parents will interact.

I was an assistant coach for my son’s travel baseball team from ages 9-12. The first year was abject misery. The team was organized by the town’s youth baseball organization and the coaches were devoted to winning. The kids were unhappy, confused, and eventually bored. The assistant coaches were equally tormented. Parents were furious.

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The only positive that came out of the first year was that several parents were so disillusioned by the unhappiness of what should’ve been a joyful summer that we decided to assemble our own renegade team outside the auspices of the program that nearly destroyed our sons’ love of baseball.

Years two through four were bliss because as the culture of the Fishers Marlins was discussed, debated, and implemented, the decision was made to build the program through inviting centered and reasonable parents we enjoyed hanging out with instead of the very best baseball players. On-field competence was necessary, but a refusal to deal with moronic parents was key to the kids enjoying themselves throughout the next three years.

Opposing coaches wore full uniforms. We wore Hawaiian shirts. Teaching the game and playing with a smile were the goals of everyone involved. We won and had party. We lost and had a party. Every decision was driven by what would be the most fun for the kids (and us). It was perfect.

I felt bad for the kids who were never invited because of an ass of a dad or mom who was so heavily invested in their kids’ success it corrupted their ability to enjoy themselves, but like the best business deals being those you never make, the best roster decisions were the families we didn’t invite.

The Jackie Robinson West team from Chicago appears to be run by parents who felt success trumped the lessons available to their kids. After the decision wasted public, instead of talking about the need to follow rules in life and smiling through adversity, the talk is about how the game was rigged in their disfavor by a society that won’t allow them to succeed.

If you were a parent of one of those kids, which lesson would you try to present?

The NFL is the NFL because of Ed Sabol; Brian Williams will be fine because real doesn’t matter; Indiana Hoosier Basketball needs to recalibrate

by Kent Sterling

Images like this of former Green Bay Packers great Forrest Gregg helped make the NFL popular and NFL Films founder Ed Sabol its most important advocate.

The NFL came of age in the 1960s, exploded in the 1970s, and became America’s Game in the 1980s. Two men were at the forefront of that evolution. Commissioner Pete Rozelle understood the potential of the NFL, and NFL Films founder Ed Sabol knew how to frame its magnificence.

Sabol died yesterday at the age of 98 – a good and long life to be sure – with a legacy that rivals or eclipses those of the hall of fame athletes he filmed in slow motion and displayed in all their grace and fury. Every kid when I grew up couldn’t wait for two things – the next edition of Mad Magazine to be released and for NFL Follies to air again. This was during the days when DVRs, videotape, and cable didn’t exist. We watched what was shown on the three or four stations that were available, so those shows were appointment viewing among the considerable dreck.

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The technology in the late 1960s and 1970s was incapable of showing professional football live as it is today with close-ups and audio that fills your living room. Sabol brought highlights to fans, but more important was the sense of awe that the music, coach’s audio, and tight shots of brutal Dick Butkus hits and majestic runs by Gale Sayers that made NFL Films unique.

Without Sabol, someone would have come along as technology advanced to show football from field level, but it was Sabol’s love and understanding of the game, sense of the dramatic, and wonderful sense of humor that helped kids embrace the NFL in a way that remains unavailable today for the NBA, MLB, and NHL.

Genius is a word that is overused to the point its meaning is minimized, but Sabol was truly a genius who indulged and shared his love for a game in a way that revolutionized the sport and helped build the NFL into a pop culture monolith.

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NBC news anchor Brian Williams has taken a leave of absence from delivering the “news” to Americans because it has been revealed that he exaggerated his role in several events he covered. That used to be death sentence for someone trusted to deliver information and perspective. Not anymore.

The sad truth is that news has evolved into entertainment, and that viewers only want to watch, hear, or read what they agree with or are titillated by. The person delivering it is inconsequential in terms of his or her trustworthiness. Good looks and a calm, friendly demeanor while reading stories written by others draws viewers, not honesty or truth.

Williams will be back after some much needed image massaging because he is no less trustworthy today than he was during any newscast since 2003 when he lied about the helicopter in which he was traveling being hit by an RPG in Iraq.

It’s pathetic, but given the way we consume news today, Williams is no worse than anyone else among the ambitious, self-aggrandizing celebrity news readers for whom the quality of journalism is only a fleeting concern.

Oddly, this is more likely to help his career than harm it because it will make him more famous, and what matters more than that?

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Indiana University’s basketball team is pretty good this season. Going into tomorrow night’s game against Maryland, the Hoosiers are 7-4 in the Big Ten. Minus an unlikely collapse, they will return to the NCAA Tournament after a one-year hiatus.

Most fans are quite pleased with the Indiana’s fortunes on and off the hardwood. A perfect Academic Progress Rates of 1,000 for several years running, players graduating, rule violations being kept to those of the minor procedural variety, and more wins than losses seem to be enough to keep hope alive that brighter days are ahead in Bloomington.

That 2015 is seen by many as resurgent for the Hoosiers says more about the fans than the program itself. Hoosiers love to talk about how Indiana is a top five national program despite one Final Four trip in two decades, but the preponderance of evidence stacking on the side of the contrary is daunting. Among programs in Indiana, Butler and Notre Dame have been significantly more successful over the long and short term (despite Butler losing to IU two months ago), and Purdue out hustled and outplayed Indiana just a couple of weeks ago.

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I have no problem with Indiana being the program they are. There is some success, and the promise of an education is being kept to student-athletes. Okay. That’s fine. But fans’ insistence on yammering incessantly about national relevance is silly. The only reason Indiana gets covered as an elite program is that the fanbase is relentlessly eager to consume information about the Hoosiers. Fans = elite. Hoosiers = okay.

The only thing extraordinary about Indiana’s basketball program is the passion of the zealots who follow the Hoosiers 12 months a year. Middle of the road in the Big Ten with a lack of inroads to consistently recruit Indiana prep stars is not a recipe for longterm success, unless the word success is redefined as the status quo in the middle of the pack.

“Indiana Basketball – soon-to-be graduates winning more than they lose!” That’s good enough for me.

Big Ten Basketball – Iowa’s Adam Woodbury deserves lengthy suspension

by Kent Sterling

Adam Woodbury continues to go Three Stooges on opponents, and the Big Ten needs to stop it and coach Fran McCaffrey’s defense of his player.

Against Wisconsin, Iowa center Adam Woodbury poked two different players he was defending in the eye.

ESPN analyst Dan Dakich called Woodbury’s behavior “gutless” and “cowardly” because that is exactly what poking an offensive player in the eye is – unless he has vision clouding cataracts or an inner ear infection causing poor balance.

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Iowa fans lost their collective mind, and threatened Dakich for his characterizations of Woodbury, and coach Fran McCaffrey was even less generous, “Danny Dakich is so far out of line. He’s just lost it on this one. He doesn’t know Adam Woodbury. And for him to say the reprehensible things he’s said about an amateur is inexcusable. It’s absolutely inexcusable that his network would allow him to say those things of things about a guy he doesn’t know.”

That was all well and good until Woodbury poked Maryland freshman Melo Trimble in the eye yesterday. Any confusion as to intent was cleared up with that incident.

McCaffrey again turned surly during the postgame press conference when asked about Woodbury’s proclivity for poking opposing players in the eye, “Next question,” he said. “Ask an intelligent question.” He was then asked why it’s not an intelligent question. McCaffrey responded, “Because I said so!” Wonderful example for the young men McCaffrey is paid to teach. I’m guessing McCaffrey was a hell of a fifth grade debate team member.

The next intelligent question for McCaffrey should come from the Big Ten office as it evaluates the behavior of a player, who at worst is unable to defend without purposely shoving his finger into the eyeballs of opponents, and at best cannot measure distance effectively enough to avoid making digital contact with an opponent’s eye.

That question should be, “Why should our league continue to allow a player to compete when he shows an inability to avoid poking opponents in the eye?”

McCaffrey’s answer will likely be a little less peevish than what he delivered to the media members who asked reasonable questions about a kid who has endangered to health of three players in the last three weeks.

The Big Ten’s primary responsibility to student-athletes should be to keep them safe from harm predictably done to them by an opponent without the ability (either psychologically or physically) to avoid those incidents.

Because of that, Woodbury should be suspended for the remainder of the season.

If not, there should be no consequence for players who take justice into their own hands and exact revenge on their own terms. Open season on Woodbury is a reasonable result of his purposeful and dangerous defensive tactic.

That McCaffrey has been such a staunch defender of that reprehensible or historically clumsy behavior deserves its own level of scrutiny and discipline by the conference.

At the minimum, McCaffrey should keep his mouth shut until he has an actuary compute the odds of a player accidentally poking three opponents in the eyeball as they stand still with the ball inside the same three-week period.

And coaches should reconsider any decision to criticize Dakich’s analysis of player behavior. No one understands it better, and no one is more willing to tell the truth.

NBA commissioner Adam Silver thinking outside the box – where leadership belongs

by Kent Sterling

NBA commissioner Adam Silver is one year into what might be the most effective leadership in professional sports.

Nobody in a leadership position of professional sports voluntarily discusses gambling, despite it being the engine behind passionate interest among adults. Few in a league office would want to anger half of his bosses by acknowledging the long held belief that the Western Conference is far superior to the East and a re-examination of playoff seeding may be warranted.

But NBA commissioner Adam Silver is not ordinary leader.

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The Donald Sterling (no relation) mess was negotiated quickly and mitigated longterm damage that his racist comments could have caused. Talk of walkouts was quickly extinguished, and the rantings of a delusional owner were used to exorcize Sterling (no relation) from the NBA.

Less than a year later, Sterling (no relation) is a seldom referenced guy the NBA is better without, instead of a litigious buffoon who used the courts to extend his reign of boobery over a laughing stock franchise. And that’s thanks to Silver.

Silver is the rarest of men – a guy who tells the truth and tries to do the right thing despite working for 30 men with billions of dollars at stake. Most allow greed to overpower whatever semblance of a moral compass they had when their dream job was offered, and they go along to get along to keep a strong grasp on the gig.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell comes immediately to mind as an example of a clerk who decided to accept the reality that whatever power he has is gifted by the owners, and that operating with the best interest of the game takes a backseat to feather-ruffling aversion.

Silver seems to be crafted from different cloth. Emotional, decent, smart, and direct, Silver is exactly the kind of leader the NBA (or any pro sports league) needs.

There are plenty of good reasons for gambling of professional sports to remain in the shadows of society, and the most important is that the guys who manage that illegal business and profit from it tend to be unpleasant when their livelihood is threatened. Speaking out about how gambling should be legalized and regulated is perfectly logical, but quite unpopular with those who gain from the status quo.

As for the playoff re-seeding, the owners of Eastern Conference teams like to profit from participating in the postseason, and the idea of seeding without regard to conference affiliation isn’t going to be popular with them.

Silver has spoken out recently that seeding may be better done if the 16 teams with the best record qualify for the postseason. I think a lot of problems might be solved if all 30 teams are seeded and qualify for an additional best two-of-three round, but that is a pipe dream. I would also like for the NBA to expand to 32 teams with franchises being granted to Louisville and Seattle. Neither are likely, but with a firebrand like Silver at the helm, why not dream big?

It’s nice to see a commissioner speak publicly about what might be best for fans and the game, rather than stay safely within the owner-mandated margins. Job retention is a ridiculous and hollow goal, regardless of the silly levels of salary.

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Doing what will enhance the fan experience, ensure fairness, acknowledge reality, and embrace reason should be the goal of every commissioner. There are those who believed that castration was a prerequisite for accepting the appointment into the position of commissioner. Every time Silver opens his mouth, he proves that assumption wrong.

He’s only one year into his reign, but already Adam Silver is the only commissioner consistently worthy of fans’ respect.