Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Indiana Basketball – Win against Maryland secures Tom Crean as skipper of the SS Hoosier

by Kent Sterling

Tom Crean has finally got it rolling in Bloomington as the Hoosiers are again fun to watch.

Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean went to sleep last night smiling. All but the nuttiest critics of his leadership in Bloomington had finally fallen silent.

If you went into the 2014-2015 college basketball season believing that Crean was months away from being the latest former coach at IU and that Brad Stevens needed to be pursued immediately as the next hope to resuscitate the Hoosiers, those thoughts dimmed substantially last night as Indiana ran and shot Maryland out of Assembly Hall 89-70.

Not only is Indiana winning, they are fun as hell to watch. For the first time in a couple of years Indiana players appear to be more interested in how many points the team scores rather than padding their own stats, and their defense tends toward grit rather than a necessary bother between offensive possessions.

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Credit for the new attitude in Bloomington should be shared among many, but Crean deserves a prominent spot in that long line. If Crean is responsible for failure, he should be credited for success.

The ball changes hands quickly, movement is purposeful, and the style of play is finally reminiscent of Indiana Basketball.

Three months ago, Crean was reeling. A spate of arrests, suspensions, and the brain injury of Devin Davis gave reason for fans to believe the Hoosiers were a renegade outfit more concerned with partying than winning, and even reasonable fans demanded change in leadership.

Last season’s 17-15 record didn’t help, and neither did an early season loss to Eastern Washington at Assembly Hall. A non-conference schedule of cupcakes goes from being an annoyance to a motivation for hysteria when they result in losses.

At Illinois, Indiana appeared to be having fun playing basketball, and that continued last night. There was very little chest thumping, only a couple of smiles, and little in the way of anything that could be construed as self-congratulatory posturing.

Indiana seemed more interested last night in the next possession than the previous one, and that marks a very different psychological state for the Hoosiers from what infuriated fans last year.

And the shooting was more like the film Pleasantville, where no shot missed, as it was like any Indiana performance since the Elite Eight game in the 2002 NCAA Tournament against Kent State when Tom Coverdale, Jared Jeffries, Dane Fife, Kyle Hornsby,and the Hoosiers combined to hit 15-19 triples.

Last night, IU drained 15-22 threes with Yogi Ferrell (Park Tudor HS) leading the way by knocking down 7-8 and the revelatory Collin Hartman (Cathedral HS) making his only three three-pointers.

Great shooting masks problems, and lack of size is going to be an issue eventually (or why would coaches insist on recruiting tall young men to play), but right now Indiana is a wonderful team to watch.

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As a result, Crean appears to be quite safe in his position. If the program Crean rebuilt is eroding, it wasn’t apparent last night. While the vibe among recruits has been less enthusiastic over the past year or two, playing basketball the right way with enthusiasm doesn’t just win games – it makes kids want to be a part of that atmosphere.

Indiana athletic director Fred Glass has been resolute in his support of Crean, even during the darkest times, and that confidence has been validated – not only by the wins, but by the level of execution and lack of extracurricular mayhem.

Crean’s hold on the job remains tenuous – likely one more event that cements the image of an out of control culture in Bloomington from being dispatched – but for the first time in years it became apparent that Crean is part of the solution at Indiana rather than an obstacle for talented players to overcome.

In seven years, we have seen development of players occur at a high level, recruiting succeed sporadically, and game planning raise questions. Over the last month, we have finally watched Indiana play like an Indiana team – with focus, crispness, generosity, and a desire to raise the level of play for the other four guys on the court.

The light at the end of the tunnel is finally visible, and it’s closer than any reasonable person had a right to hope three months ago.

Indiana Basketball – Tonight’s game huge in evaluating both Tom Crean and the Hoosiers

by Kent Sterling

If Tom Crean looks like a guy who knows more than he’s showing, it’s because this season he does.

When the 2014-2015 season started, college basketball analysts assumed Indiana would be a very mediocre Big Ten team, lacking size and cohesiveness. Well, they were half right.

The Hoosiers are undersized, especially since the injury to Hanner Mosquera-Perea, but they play with trust and togetherness. That has been enough to make Indiana very relevant through five conference games as they have put together a 4-1 record – tied for first in the loss column with Wisconsin and Maryland.

Tonight, Indiana will face its stiffest test as the similarly under appreciated #13 Maryland Terrapins visit Assembly Hall tonight at 9 p.m. (ESPNU).

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Thought to be a bubble team at best, Indiana is now projected by a variety of bracketologists as an eight or nine seed in the NCAA Tournament, and is now ranked 23rd in the country.

This is all very good news for Tom Crean who entered the season standing in the middle of a frozen Bloomington pond as a warm wind blew from Bedford. Conversations about the buyout Indiana would be required to pay in order to replace him were rampant, and the assumption was that this season would be it for Crean – if he made it that long. Players managing to make it through March without another arrest, suspension, or injury are still a prerequisite to survival, but talk has turned from banishment to seeding.

Being a coach is a tough gig. If the team overachieves compared to its talent level, coaches can either be viewed as miracle workers or the architects of the roster that required the miracle to be worked. The opposite can also be true. Coaches with a stacked roster who occasionally lose are viewed as underachievers.

Crean has been on both sides of the fence in less than two years. In 2013, Indiana was ranked #1 for most of the season with a roster sporting two of the top four members of the 2013 NBA Draft class. Indiana loses to Syracuse, and fans went crazy about how this team underachieved. This year, the roster is short on height, and expectations were adjusted accordingly. At 4-1 in the Big Ten, fans see the Hoosiers as scrappy overachievers.

So where does that leave Crean? Doing everything he can to pile up as many wins as he can because at some point people who matter are going to look at the state of the Indiana program and decide it’s not at the elite level fans require. Crean would like that to happen in 2027.

The seven games beginning tonight will go a long way toward telling the tale of the 2015 Big Ten season – vs. Maryland (tonight), @ Ohio State, @ Purdue, vs. Rutgers, @ Wisconsin, vs. Michigan, and @ Maryland. Only the home game against Rutgers can be assumed to be a win.

If the Hoosiers finish that run of tough games 4-3 to build their season Big Ten record to 8-4, that would be a hell of a thing, and regardless of personal qualms about Crean it would be impossible to view him as anything but a very solid coach at this point in time.

The metric that gets coaches fired is a consistent failure to achieve to the level of expectations, and no one to this point can declare Crean guilty of that in 2015.

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Is Crean the right guy to lead the Indiana program in perpetuity? Certainly not. Even Joe Paterno was run out at Penn State. Only Mike Krzyzewski and John Wooden earned that status. But is Crean the right guy to lead this team? So far, absolutely.

Indiana is better than anyone had a right to believe they would be, and a big chunk of the credit for that belongs to Crean. A win tonight against the #13 team in the country would be even more impressive.

Fans want Indiana’s wins against a #13 team to be expected – especially at Assembly Hall. Crean’s Hoosiers aren’t there yet. But they’re still better than anyone thought they would be – and that is a great place to be for Crean and the Hoosiers.

Bill Belichick is the NFL’s version of the 1919 Chicago Black Sox, and he should be suspended from the game

by Kent Sterling

Is there anyone who now doesn't believe that the three Lombardi trophies won by Bill Belichick's Patriots are tainted?

Why would the NFL continue to allow an unrepentant cheat to continue to function in a leadership role rather than make an example of his behavior that will last a century?

There are undoubtedly NFL teams that look for any advantage they can gain within the rules, and a few that stretch their search into those realms that lie outside restrictions imposed by the NFL.

If the NFL doesn’t bring down a massive hammer against the New England Patriots franchise that appears to be the most aggressive in stretching all rules and breaking many, the number of teams willing to ignore the rules as part of their preparation for competing will likely expand to include all 32.

Coaches and general managers get paid a lot of money to win games (coach Bill Belichick takes home $7.5 million less taxes,according to Forbes), and if the NFL sticks to their playbook of exacting a half-million dollar fine here and a draft pick there, the disincentive won’t come anywhere close to the reward for cheating.

This morning, ESPN’s Chris Mortensen reported that 11-of-12 footballs used by the Patriots were uniformly deflated to 10 pounds per square inch from the 12.5-13.5 range that is required by rule.

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The question that the NFL will answer with their finding in the ongoing investigation and the subsequent punishment levied will be whether cheating is part of the price of doing business or whether it is serious about ensuring a level playing field in competition.

As I complained about getting a speeding ticket a few years ago, a guy told me to relax. He said my fine was nothing more than a speed tax – the price I paid for driving as fast as I liked. If Belichick is dinged with another $500,000 fine (the same amount as his Spygate fine), it’s nothing more than his cheat tax. That’s not a behavior changing consequence; it’s the cost of ensuring his ability to continue to earn the $7.5M.

While everyone in the media is losing their minds about what happened in Foxborough, does anyone believe this is the first time balls used by the Patriots offense have been softened? I guarantee you that the Baltimore Ravens are pouring over videotape of the previous weekend’s Divisional Round playoff game, and they should. While the result of the Colts vs.Patriots game had nothing to do with easy squeeze and control footballs, the game against the Ravens was damn close. And what about the other rules that exist to ensure fair competition?

This might be the only rule the Patriots have broken since Spygate, but that seems ludicrous. And anyone who believes Spygate doesn’t extend back to Super Bowl 36 needs to have a conversation with Mike Martz about pre-snap adjustments the Patriots made during that game to formations the Rams had never before used.

Either the NFL will standup in front of fans during Super Bowl week and claim that rules matter or that they don’t. By allowing Belichick to continue to operate in a leadership position, the NFL will admit complicity in devaluing the rule book, and will acknowledge that he who cheats best gets an advantage on Sunday.

The only meaningful consequence for anyone is to take away what the violator loves most. For a child, it might be a toy. For a teen, grab the smart phone. For someone without money, take money. For Belichick, who loves football and being the coach of the Patriots, remove him from that position for a full season.

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Bringing down the hammer on Belichick will have two effects – he learns his lesson, and the 31 other head coaches will also learn that lesson.

When eight members of the 1919 Chicago White Sox conspired to throw the World Series in exchange for payoffs from gamblers, Major League Baseball banned them for life as a message to anyone else tempted to dump a game. That act 95 years ago still resonates in clubhouses across baseball.

The time is right for the National Football League to send strongly communicate that rules mean something, and there is no one more deserving of being the target of such a message than Bill Belichick.

Deflategate – If guilty, Patriots Bill Belichick should be banned by the NFL for one year – at least

by Kent Sterling

Bill Belichick holds a trophy that is so important to him that the NFL is investigating whether he cheated to win it.

Deflategate is not about who won or lost the AFC Championship game Sunday night. The New England Patriots would have throttled the Indianapolis Colts if the game was played with boulders, a taped up bath towel, or a toaster oven instead of a football.

The Patriots were the better and tougher team – period.

But if the Patriots violated NFL rules by deflating the footballs their offense used, this would simply be the latest incident where a Bill Belichick coached team violated rules to gain an advantage, and the NFL must bring down a heavy hammer on the coach.

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Some might applaud Belichick’s win at all costs, rules be damned, to hell with balanced competition outlook on football and life. “Greed is good,” the morally bankrupt Gordon Gekko said in Wall Street. “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing,” Vince Lombardi claimed, and then regretted. “A champion is afraid of losing; everyone else is afraid of winning,” Billie Jean King lent to the conversation. “Boom, crush. Night, losers. Winning, duh,” came from the always entertaining but psychotic Charlie Sheen.

Yeah, okay. Winning is the point of playing the game, but winning is supposed to be a validation of a culture, determination, and will. What it should never be is a test to determine who is better at off-field subterfuge, deceit, and slight of hand.

Spygate was a great example of a team working outside the rules to affect a change in the competitive balance. Videotaping practices before a Super Bowl (and if you don’t think that happened before the Patriots played the Rams in SuperBowl 36, you haven’t spoken to Mike Martz about how the Rams used formations they had only used once or twice in practice that the Patriots were oddly prepared to defend) or in-game signals to gather intelligence to be used in later games has never been allowed by the NFL, but that didn’t stop the Belichick and the Patriots.

Deflating a football makes it easier to squeeze, which makes it easier to throw and catch. Anyone who has played backyard football knows that, and the NFL is quite specific about the inflation specifications of those “Dukes” used in games.

If Belichick authorized some ballboy to take air out of footballs on the Patriots’ sidelines, he will have proven himself to be intractable in his compulsion to win regardless of the rules, and that drive must be addressed in a serious way by the league.

Given the $500K fine levied against Belichick, $250K against the Patriots, and the loss of a first round draft pick for Spygate, the time has come for the NFL to bring a consequence to bear against Belichick that will get his attention. That penalty should be a one-year suspension.

Belichick would have undoubtedly made an outstanding military leader, and I can’t imagine a football coach I would rather have lead an army in a battle to the death to defend the American way of life. Rules be damned there. Espionage is a crucial part of the equation, and successful covert activity should be applauded. But this is football, and the winner and loser of a game has no bearing on anyone’s survival.

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The saddest part of the litany of deceit that continues to emanate from the Patriots under Belichick is that it appears to have been completely unnecessary. The Patriots have been the best team in the NFL over the past 15 years regardless of the rules they have contorted, manipulated, corrupted, or eviscerated.

Belichick is a master at organization and preparation, and needs to break NFL rules to win games like a hunter needs a scope on his rifle to shoot caged deer.

The NFL needs to put a stop to the madness in Foxborough – if Belichick is found culpable in Deflategate. At this point, fans have every reason to believe that Belichick is corrupting rules on a weekly basis to alter the competitive balance of the NFL, and that can’t allowed to stand.

And if I’m employed by the Baltimore Ravens, I’ve spent the past 36 hours scouring whatever videotape exists of the pregame activities on the Patriots sideline prior to the divisional round playoff game so narrowly lost by the Ravens in Foxborough.

If he’s guilty of authorizing the deflation of football Sunday, can anyone in his or her right mind believe this is the first time Belichick has given this gambit a whirl?

Indianapolis Colts mauled in AFC Championship – Now what happens to take the next step forward

by Kent Sterling

Andrew Luck had a tough time last night in the AFC Championship, but job one for Ryan Grigson is to sign Luck to a deal that both pleases Luck, but allows the Colts to continue to evolve elsewhere.

The AFC Championship was an ugly waste of nearly four hours for Indianapolis Colts fans, but for the brain trust charged with continually evaluating and improving the roster, it was an accurate snapshot of where they are and where they need to go.

Reports of deflated balls aside (could that have helped the Patriots dominate as they did in the trenches) Bill Belichick’s New England Patriots were annoyingly superb throughout, forcing the Colts into uncomfortable circumstances that resulted in game changing mistakes.

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Teams can’t achieve greatness until they are ready for it, and yesterday the Colts showed themselves unready to move forward toward hanging a second banner from the rafters of Lucas Oil Stadium. From Josh Cribbs taking a punt off his face as he tried to fair catch it to a multitude of dropped and errant passes to a defense that was not capable of stopping anything or anyone, this game showed the warts that the Colts had successfully overcome to reach the semifinals of professional football.

Attention on 56th Street now turns to the task of retooling so being embarrassed by Belichick doesn’t happen again, which should be plenty to keep owner Jim Irsay, GM Ryan Grigson, and coach Chuck Pagano occupied for the next four months.

First up is putting the finishing touches on a contract extension that will keep quarterback Andrew Luck in Indianapolis for the foreseeable future. Bringing back Luck is a no-brainer, but how to do it so his contract allows the Colts to improve elsewhere will be the challenge.

Right now, the Colts have approximately $109 million committed to contracts for 2015, according to sportrac.com. The cap is projected at $140 million. That leaves $31 million for free agents, the 2015 draft class, and extending Luck.

Unrestricted free agents include WR Reggie Wayne, DE Cory Redding, WR Hakeem Nicks, backup QB Matt Hasselback, CB Darius Butler, OL Joe Reitz, S Sergio Brown, S Mike Adams, RB Ahmad Bradshaw, and Josh Cribbs. That’s a bunch of players who filled important roles in 2014 to either re-sign or replace.

Some of the work is fairly simple. Cribbs earned an opportunity to retire after yesterday’s muffed punt. Wayne and Redding may choose to retire. Bradshaw is an oft-injured 29 year-old at a position where 30 is retirement age for most. Adams will turn 34 five days after Bradshaw’s birthday, and while he played well, safeties can be had cheap. Nicks was likely not thrilled with his level of use, and may seek to build value somewhere else.

On the plus side, Robert Mathis’ return could provide great dividends demand upon his recovery from a torn achilles and what amount of football he has left in his tank. He’s about to turn 34, but an old Mathis is a hell of a lot better than no Mathis.

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That leaves Brown, Reitz, Hasselbeck, and Butler as targets that need to be retained, and areas of concern that outnumber areas of strength.

The Colts have each of their picks in the first six rounds of the 2015 Draft, and will draft 29th. They might as well draft the best player available because for a team that just went to the AFC Championship, they have needs almost everywhere.

Minus quarterback, cornerback, and wide receiver, where could Grigson and company feel good – especially after yesterday?

That’s the bonus of playing against Belichick. He is going to expose your weaknesses, and make you feel a little less good than you did prior to the game.

Here are the strengths of the Colts:

Quarterback – Despite Luck’s miserable (Andy Dalton-esque) stats yesterday in the rain and wind (12-33 for 126 yards, 0 TDs, two picks, and a passer rating of 23), there is no doubt he is the future of the franchise.

Cornerbacks – Vontae Davis and Greg Toler might be the best tandem of corners in the NFL.

Wide receiver – T.Y. Hilton is elite, and Donte Moncrief could be a great bookend for a decade.

Tight ends – Coby Fleener and Dwayne Allen need to hold onto the ball a bit better, but they provide solid options for Luck.

Special teams – Pat McAfee, Adam Vinatieri, and Matt Overton are as good as it gets.

Weaknesses:

Offensive line – The shuffling of the line (minus Anthony Castonzo) spoke to the mediocrity of the other four spots. Maybe Khaled Holmes develops into a longterm solution at center. Maybe Gosder Cherilus regains health and protects Luck’s front side as well as Castonzo has his back. Lots of maybes.

Defensive Line – Counting the outside linebackers as defensive linemen here, Bjorn Werner was reportedly a healthy scratch yesterday, and if Redding retires, Mathis must return to form or pressure on a quarterback will be difficult to imagine from this group. If stopping the run is where they choose to hang their hats, yesterday showed they are a long way from being who they thought they were.

Running Backs – Trent Richardson costs the Colts the same amount of cash in 2015 whether he’s on the roster or not, so expect him to be back unless Grigson can find a GM willing to trade for him. (There is a joke lurking there somewhere, but why be cruel on a day like today?) Neither Boom Herron nor Zurlon Tipton qualify as reasonable solutions to a problem that has plagued the Colts since Edgerrin James left for Arizona.

When your two chief deficiencies are at the line of scrimmage, there is some remedial work to do.

As much better the Colts are compared to their AFC South rivals is roughly the same as the gap between the Colts and the Patriots – although in the opposite direction.

With a great offseason, the Colts will close the gap on the Patriots, and might take yet another step forward next year. A bad offseason could throw this rebuild into reverse.

This might be the most important offseason of Grigson’s career.

AFC Championship – Five things Colts need to do to vanquish Bill Belichick and Tom Brady

by Kent Sterling

When the Colts beat the Patriots Sunday, this handshake will be more than two great quarterbacks acknowledging each other – it will mark the passing of a torch.

Sunday’s AFC Championship will send one of two flawed teams to the Super Bowl. Which one, we don’t know. That’s why America will be riveted to this matchup with generational undertones. There are so many unknowns that projecting an outcome is silly, although I’ll do it today on my radio show (3p-6p CBS Sports 1430) and at the end of this post because that’s part of the fun.

Football isn’t rocket science. There is no denying that Patriots coach Bill Belichick is a really smart guy, but the game will likely be determined by which of the two teams win the battle at the line of scrimmage. Scheme plays a role, but which group – coaches or quarterbacks – is more important the success of the four semifinalists for the Vince Lombardi Trophy?

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Is it Aaron Rodgers, Russell Wilson, Andrew Luck, and Tom Brady, or Chuck Pagano, Mike McCarthy, Pete Carroll, and Coach Hoodie?

Great coaches miss the playoffs, but great quarterbacks almost never do.

All that being said, here are the five variables that will determine the winner of Sunday night’s matchup:

Special Teams – In a close game between two mostly equal teams, field position and field goals are crucial. No one in the NFL affects field position in a more profoundly positive way than punter/kicker Pat McAfee. In 96 kickoffs, McAfee has converted 70 touchbacks. His punting has been superb throughout the season with the fourth best net yards per punt average in the NFL. His 42.7 average is eight inches short of the league lead. Adam Vinatieri made every single field goal he attempted until the final game of the regular season, and has never lost during a conference championship game.

For the Patriots, they aren’t chopped liver either. Kicker Stephen Gostkowski was 35-37 during the regular season, but his touchback percentage is only 54%. Punter Ryan Allen is average at best, and had a kick blocked this season while bombing the ball into the end zone for a touchback twice as often as McAfee.

Rob Gronkowski vs. D’Qwell Jackson – This matchup is a loss for the Colts, and if at any point a Belichick/Josh McDaniels scheme causes Jackson to be singled up on Gronk, the result could be game-changing. Gronk is the one receiver in the passing game that demands constant attention, and not from Jackson, whose worst game of the season as graded by profootballfocus.com was – you guessed it – against the New England Patriots.

Weather – Right now, the forecast for Foxborough is for a 90% chance of rain and a temperature in the low 40s. The logical guess is that bad weather favors the team who plays in it most often, and that is the Patriots by virtue other roofless stadium. The wind could also kick up, and that would mean trouble for the Colts, who like to keep safeties honest through the threat of the kind of deep ball the elements can make difficult to execute.

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Tom Brady is rarely bad at home – Throughout the 2014 season, Brady (minus a meaningless game in Week 17 where he took less than half of the snaps) never failed to post a 90 or better passer rating. He is not likely to be the reason the Patriots lose. The only way to neutralize him is to get pressure with four rushers. Without pressure, his passer rating is 113.3. With pressure, it’s 53.4. When blitzed, his passer rating is 96.9. You do the math. Pressure minus the blitz is where Brady is worst – not exactly a surprise.

There are few quarterbacks who can extend a play and execute it for big yards like Andrew Luck. There are no pressure scenarios where Luck underperforms. Under pressure – passer rating of 80.7; no pressure – 103.2; when blitzed – 111.7; not blitzed 88.6. On the road, Luck can be as good as he is at home with 100+ passer rating games in four home and three road tilts.

Andrew Luck’s receivers need to hold onto the ball – Andrew Luck leads the NFL in dropped passes with 38. The ability for receivers to secure the ball, especially in adverse weather is key to keeping the chains moving and staying on schedule. There have also been a number of drops and balls tipped by Colts receivers that have resulted in interceptions. Turnovers are an obvious key to any NFL game, but with teams this well match it is critical to play a clean game.

Mistakes during key moments will likely be what causes doom for either the Colts or Patriots. The Colts are executing with great confidence and will travel today to Massachusetts believing they will win. The Patriots suffer from no lack of confidence.

I have two predictions. One for good weather, and another for rain. If the field is dry, the Colts win 37-35 on a last minute Vinatieri field goal. If it rains, the Colts win 19-17. Either way, I like the Colts to pull the upset by two on a late kick because I root for great poetry, and what would be more poetic than Vinatieri banging a kick through the uprights in that stadium to launch his team into the Super Bowl.

Ohio State’s Cardale Jones makes the right decision because it was his decision

by Kent Sterling

Cardale Jones is coming back to Ohio State. As long as he follows his dreams, who are we to judge?

Who are we to judge?

What do we know of the desires and needs of Ohio State quarterback Cardale Jones? Two months ago, 99.44% of sports fans in America had no inkling who this third-string quarterback was.

After three games leading his Ohio State Buckeyes to the Big Ten Championship, a Sugar Bowl win, and finally a National Championship, everyone knows who he is, and the majority felt he would use yesterday afternoon’s press conference to announce his decision to enter the NFL Draft.

Jones defied those know-it-alls when he said he wasn’t ready for the NFL, and will return to Ohio State.

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Is he right to value earning a degree, continuing to hone his craft as a quarterback, and refusing the wealth that would likely come his way through entering professional football? I don’t know, and you don’t know. Cardale Jones knows.

Here is one thing a lot of people with money know, money isn’t everything. Another thing, being a college student doesn’t exactly suck.

It may be true that Jones’ value to pro football teams might never be higher than it is right now. After all, how many guys emerge from total obscurity to win three more important starts, and look damn impressive in doing it?

The guy we listened to yesterday say, “After three games, [the NFL] was out of the question. A first-round draft pick means nothing to me without my education,” sounds like he is very well aware of how to best attack each day that he is blessed to enjoy.

There are many who question this young man’s sanity, but few of us know his character or situation as well as we do his ability to play quarterback.

Money isn’t always a good thing for people, and it rarely provides contentment or happiness. Among the wants people have, cash is among the more ridiculous.

Judging a man based upon his ability to accumulate wealth reveals shallowness. Wealth is generally valued most by those who have it. Jones’ decision revealed wisdom, or at least an ability to see the forest for the trees – as in if you harvest too many trees too soon, you have no forest.

Some of the happiest, wisest, and most challenged people I know have very little monetary wealth.

And when wealth comes prior to wisdom, the money seems likely to vanish as quickly as it came.

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Evaluating Jones and his decision through our own individual prisms and filters is understandable, but criticizing his rationale for returning to school might reveal more flaws in us than exist in Jones’ logic.

Each of us decides what is important – what goals, achievements, and attainments are meaningful, and we make our decisions accordingly. Jones did that yesterday, and the ultimate judge as to whether he is right or wrong to return to Ohio State is the guy Jones looks at in the mirror every morning.

For those who covet cash, Jones was foolish yesterday. For those who understand that a life well lived doesn’t necessitate great wealth, Jones appeared grounded and wise.

Indianapolis Colts LB Josh McNary charged with rape – time to say goodbye and learn

by Kent Sterling

One bad decision can change lives, and so can our response to it. So it is with the allegations of rape against Colts LB Josh McNary.

The uplifting story about West Point grad and former soldier Josh McNary building a post military career in the NFL is over. The final chapter was written yesterday as McNary was charged with Level 3 felony rape, Level 5 felony criminal confinement, and Class A misdemeanor battery resulting in bodily injury.

Only “rape” and “McNary” matter. The rest are filler.

The Colts will certainly move McNary to the list created by the NFL that serves to remove players from rosters who batter women while the criminal proceedings are conducted, and that will be that. His NFL career is over.

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Twelve peers are going to answer the question of McNary’s guilt, but the story as narrated by the probable cause affidavit filed in Marion County Superior Criminal Court 3 paints a familiar picture. Drunk strangers meet, dance, close bar, head to apartment, lapses of consciousness occur, woman says no, man refuses to listen, evidence is gathered, charges are filed.

Two lives were changed forever because of what happened early in the morning on December 1st, and the media is filled with reports that perpetuate an image of NFL players doing whatever the hell they want with a feeling of abject invincibility.

The Colts talk a lot about pillar guys, and McNary might have been a wonderful human being during every second of his life until the alleged victim said “NO!” None of what came before matters. Good deeds in bulk are rendered meaningless by one horrific act, and if the charges against McNary reflect reality, this qualifies. If convicted, McNary won’t be known as “Colts linebacker Josh McNary,” or “West Point graduate Josh McNary.” He will be “Rapist Josh McNary.” That’s how important it is to listen when someone says no.

There are a million lessons taught by this incident and others like it – nothing good happens after midnight, always go out with friends, come as a group/go as a group, and alcohol consumed in bulk centurion us into human beings we do not want to be.

The memory of that night will haunt the victim for the rest of her life. The way she trusts other people will forever be changed. Her life is as different today from what it was before that night as McNary’s is.

Based upon the way we responded to the news of McNary being charges, we might have learned a little something about ourselves too. The story broke toward the end of my radio show on CBS Sports 1430, and I learned of it when our intern Daniel slipped me a note that read, “Josh McNary charged with rape.”

I asked on-air who is reporting it because I wanted the source before I related such damning information. If it was some idiotic fake story that came via Twitter, I’m not saying those words. My producer Nick said, “The Sportscaster twitter feed.” I looked at indystar.com, and there it was.

When presented with a piece of news like that on live radio, what comes out of your mouth is generally the first thing that pops into your head, and I’m ashamed of what I said – “Hopefully, this isn’t a distraction for the Colts as they prepare to head for Foxborough and the AFC Championship Game against Patriots.”

There is a place for pragmatism, but it should not be the first response of any human being when learning of an accusation of rape. Even Colts GM Ryan Grigson and coach Chuck Pagano should take a breath, say a silent prayer for the victim, and then start the process of discussing the team’s response.

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Think about your first thought after hearing the report of the charges against McNary, and if it wasn’t empathy for the victim, you and I both have some learning to do.

McNary’s attorney released a statement this morning, “Joshua McNary unhesitatingly denies all accusations made against him. Following the public release of these allegations, Joshua immediately reported to law enforcement officials in a respectful and peaceful manner. The charges and affidavit publicly disseminated on Wednesday afternoon are not evidence of wrongdoing, but simply one side’s story.”

The Colts released this statement today at 10:06a – “After reviewing the documents supporting the very serious criminal charges filed yesterday afternoon against Josh McNary, the Colts have requested Commissioner Goodell to immediately place Josh on the League’s Commissioner Exemption list. If the request is granted, Josh will not be eligible to practice or attend games with the Club while designated as Commissioner Exempt. That designation will permit the investigation provided by the League’s Personal Conduct Policy to run its course and will afford Josh the opportunity to focus on his defense against the charges. The Colts sincerely hope this extraordinarily serious matter will be resolved expeditiously and that justice will prevail.”

Too many bad losses by Pacers have sent me packing for winter of college and high school hoops

by Kent Sterling

The scenery at Pacers games wasn’t all bad during last night’s loss, but for great basketball, it’s good there are options out there.

Watching mildly talented men play basketball with indifference is not how I want to spend my time, so unless the Pacers find a way to , regain health, start playing with a little determination, and catch fire I’m going to focus my energy on watching Butler, Purdue, Indiana, and whatever high school games I can find.

Last night’s 110-101 loss to the woeful Minnesota Timberwolves was the last straw. The T-Wolves had posted one win since the day after Thanksgiving, and wandered into Bankers Life Fieldhouse as one of the opponents the Pacers should easily vanquish as they try to build enough wins to squeeze into the eighth playoff seed in the Eastern Conference.

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Mo Williams dropped 52 on the heads of the Pacers, and the game was lost. Mo Williams? Mo Freaking Williams? Coach Frank Vogel was a nice guy not to put Shayne Whittington into the game to throw Williams into the third row to knock him out of rhythm. That kind of tactic is what my Dad always advised. No one would have scored 30 in an NBA game, a hat trick in hockey, hit three home runs in baseball, or scored four touchdowns in football with Dad running the show on the opposite bench because he would have employed a thug to hospitalize him. Dad would have been a good pro coach for a week and then banned from sports and incarcerated as an unrepentant purveyor of pain.

It’s not that the Pacers don’t want to be good. I get that. Injuries have corrupted their ability to compete at a high level, and minus witchcraft there is little to be done to reverse injuries. As much as C.J. Miles would like to be Paul George and Donald Sloan dreams of athletic gifts bestowed upon George Hill, they are who they are. And what the Pacers are right now is 15-25 – 10th in the East.

But that doesn’t mean I have to choose to watch the Pacers at the expense of a Butler, Indiana, or high school game like I did last night. Last night, central Indiana hoops fans had a choice to watch the Pacers, Indiana, Butler, or attend one of the opening round games of the ultra competitive Marion County High school Basketball Tournament.

Butler’s OT win against Seton Hall is a big deal and brought the Bulldogs a third win in the Big East, which ties them with the five other teams at the top of the conference. The Big East is good, not great – just like Butler.

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Indiana beat lowly Penn State last night by only three at Assembly Hall, but there is no reason for Tom Crean to apologize for a win that was a fraction of a second from going to overtime when a Nittany Lions tying triple was released just after the buzzer. A win is a win, and now Indiana is in a five-way tie for the Big Ten lead with a 3-1 record.

Guessing which Purdue, Indiana or Butler team will show up from night to night defies all Haitian voodoo and the skill of the finest Tarot card reader on the subcontinent, but that beats the relentlessly milquetoast results of the Pacers.

And you can do much worse than rolling out on a cold night to watch high school basketball in Indiana. There are exceptionally talented kids from this area who will play in the Big Ten, Big East, and ACC, and the Marion County Tourney is full of them.

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I’m all for the Pacers, but the last two losses to terrible teams like the 76ers and T-Wolves have pushed me to recalibrate my priorities, and that means more Indiana, Butler, Purdue, and high school hoops. It’s always good to have options.

Nothing personal, but without a healthy and competitive Pacers team, choices need be made.

Indiana Basketball – Hanner Mosquera-Perea’s knee injury presents challenge, not excuse

by Kent Sterling

Hanner Mosquera-Perea on the shelf for 2-4 weeks shouldn’t be a bad thing for Indiana.

Hanner Mosquera-Perea injured his knee yesterday, and is expected to miss the next two to four weeks. People believe this will present a hardship for Indiana’s basketball team, because Mosquera-Perea is the tallest and most athletic of the Hoosiers.

During the first 90 seconds of the past two games, Mosquera-Perea committed two fouls and had to be removed from the game. The first was an ugly loss at Michigan State, and the other was a nice home win against Ohio State.

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In those two games, Mosquera-Perea played 18 total minutes, took two shots, scored four points, and grabbed three rebounds. In the win against the Buckeyes, he fouled out in eight minutes.

The morals of the Hanner Mosquera-Perea story are many, but the most appropriate is that he cannot be counted on to contribute in a meaningful way on a game-to-game basis. It can be argued that Indiana is somehow better off without indulging in the hope that he might bring to bear his immense athleticism and physical presence because the opposite happens far too often.

Preparing to play without Mosquera-Perea seemed a reasonable strategy before the injury, but now is a necessity as the Hoosiers take on Penn State at Assembly Hall tonight.

Whatever happens during the period when Mosquera-Perea is on the shelf is very likely what would have happened regardless of the stability of his knee.

If Indiana wins every game they play without Mosquera-Perea, good for them. If there are losses, that’s part of being a flawed and young team in the Big Ten, not the result of an injury to a player whose lack of basketball acumen has been a pox on the Hoosiers for three years.

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No one will ever describe periods of Indiana’s basketball history as pre-Hanner, the Hanner era, or post-Hanner, so let’s not indulge in overreaction to this news.

Mosquera-Perea has not only been inconsistent on the floor, his OWI on Valentine’s Day 2014 (the day before a game against Purdue) showed an indifference to his team and fellow students that is inexcusable and unforgivable. Only good fortune allowed that arrest to be for a simple OWI rather than vehicular homicide.

I’m loathe to criticize kids who are playing for the love of the game, work harder than most could comprehend, and try to excel or at least survive in the classroom, but Mosquera-Perea stepped outside the realm where they should be protected when he was arrested as a safety menace.

That he’s still at Indiana is a problem, not that he’s not going to be able to play for the next two to four weeks.

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I expect Indiana to play without Mosquera-Perea at or beyond the level it has shown to this point in what has been a surprisingly solid season. A backslide should not be explained by this knee injury to a player whose on and off-court behavior has been impossible to predict.