Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Three high school football players died this week – is playing the game worth the risk?

by Kent Sterling

Demario Harris Jr. died as a result of playing football last weekend in Alabama. It doesn’t happen often, but don’t tell that to Demario’s parents.

The benefits of playing high school football are many – lifelong friendships, goal oriented activity, introduction to overcoming adversity, and understanding the concept of team-first behavior. But when the downside can be death or significant injury including the early onset of dementia, the question of whether the benefits of playing high school football are worth the risk is being asked by parents across America.

There were over 1.1 million high school students playing high school football in 2011. That number has remained close to static over the last three years. When we read that three kids died as a result of on-field activity this past week, we grieve for the families, but start to do the math and find that even if three young men pass away each week the odds of a specific kid dying this season are roughly 30,000-to-one.

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Given the option, parents would encase their children in bubble wrap before school each day. From the time a child is born, parents are subjected to a faint sense of dread that the worst could happen. It’s the most unpleasant phenomenon of parenthood, and watching them play football causes a heightened strain.

With every hit, parents say a silent prayer that their child will get up and trot back to the huddle. Knee and ankle injuries happen all the time, and those are gifts for the kids. Learning the difference between pain and injury is a valuable tool, and overcoming the adversity caused by injury is a gift that keeps on giving throughout life.

Adults who played high school football call on those experiences through their lives, as in, “If I could come back from a torn ACL to play at a high level, I can figure my way around or through this challenge.”

Head injuries are a significantly different situation. When a person’s hard drive is compromised, recovery is not a matter of will. The lasting effects cannot be overcome through strict adherence to a painful and trying rehab schedule as is the case with sprains, torn ligaments, and pulled muscles.

When children die, it gets a parent’s attention because it strikes at our most critical fear. Watching the video of a football player take a blow to the head, wobble, and collapse changes immediately and permanently our perspective of an activity – even one with the unique benefits enjoyed by those who play high school football.

Approximately 300 times as many teens die from suicide than football related injuries, according to the Center for Disease Control, so that should inform parents as to where there most pressing concern should lie. But don’t tell that to the parents of linebacker Isaiah Langston of Rolesville High School in North Carolina, Cornerback Demario Harris Jr. of Charles Henderson High School in Troy, Alabama, and Tom Cutinella, a player for Shoreham-Wading River High School on Long Island, NY.

Life is a risky business. None of us lives forever, and the final adversity that renders us inert lays in wait for all. Inviting it is common. Cliff diving, racing cars and motorcycles, and speedboats are all death-defying exploits. Maybe it’s a feeling of youthful invincibility – maybe it’s how we deal with our fear of impending doom.

Every time we put our kids in a car and drive to the grocery store, statistically we put them at greater risk for death than they experience on a football field. But again, don’t tell that to those whose greatest fears have been realized as their kids played a sport that can teach so much, but extract a great cost too.

More and more, parents feel that providing an environment where the odds of peril for children are minimized is the job, rather than exposing them to character building moments where mostly manageable risk is inherent. One tack sends children into an adulthood where survival equals winning. The other builds men and women who embrace an energetic life of meaningful experiences.

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The second group understands that adversity is part of the cost of living a full and enjoyable existence, and that getting up after being knocked down is the thrill of life.

Whether a son or daughter (more than 6,000 high school girls play organized football in America) plays high school football is a personal decision for a parent, but a reasonable CNA weighs heavily in favor of a reasonably athletic kid playing a game that will likely lead to so many positive experiences and takeaways.

Michigan Football – Brady Hoke might be fired, but it will be for losing game – not jeopardizing Shane Morris’s health

by Kent Sterling

Ill-fitting sunglasses are the least of Brady Hoke’s problems this week as he fights for his job.

Michigan fans are sick and tired of losing. Since firing Lloyd Carr for winning only 9.4 games per season from 1995 thru 2007, Michigan has posted a 43-38 record under Rich Rodriguez and Brady Hoke.

That’s an average of less than seven wins a season.

The frustration that accompanies that level of mediocrity at a school that believes it should contend for a Big Ten Championship every season, and win a national championship at least once per decade is about to claim another victim – or two.

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Rodriguez was jettisoned after three mediocre seasons, despite making progress every year. Before arriving in Ann Arbor, Rodriguez built a top ten team out of rubble in Morgantown, West Wirginia. After being shown the door at Michigan, Rodriguez was hired at Arizona, where he has the Wildcats playing very solid football (4-0 this season).

Hoke took Ball State from MAC irrelevance to national prominence during his six years there, and repeated that feat at San Diego State in only two seasons. Michigan hired Hoke, and the rest was supposed to be history. This was Hoke’s dream job, and finally the spiritual successor to Bo Schembechler had been found.

It’s been historic alright.

A slide down the college bowl hierarchy from the Sugar to the Outback to the Buffalo Wild Wings in Hoke’s first three seasons had Wolverines fans on edge prior to the current season, so when Michigan lost last Saturday to Minnesota in Ann Arbor to run its record to a historically bad 2-3 mark, there was no doubt the levee was going to break – and it has broken.

On Monday, the sports staff of the Michigan Daily called for Hoke to be fired, and yesterday 7,000 students campaigned for the ouster of athletic director Dave Brandon. A petition circulated by a student asking for Brandon to resign has more than 5,000 signatures of students and faculty.

The reason for the outrage is supposedly the treatment of quarterback Shane Morris following a hit that likely caused a mild concussion.

Oh, sure. None of this indignation has anything to do with losing. This is all about a fellow student with a headache.

Not to diminish the need for the care of athletes who suffer head trauma. The effects of CTE are too profoundly troubling to be dismissed as part of the price of playing an occasionally barbaric game like football, but to think that 7,000 students amassed on campus with hand-painted signs yesterday because of concern for Morris is madness.

It is also crazy to believe that the reason for entrenched mediocrity in Ann Arbor is due to Rodriguez and Hoke. Both have won elsewhere multiple times, and to assume that they forgot how to recruit and lead during their brief time in Ann Arbor denies the obvious – that the most talented athletes in America have no interest in playing at Michigan.

The days of Desmond Howard, Anthony Carter, Charles Woodson, and those very fast men like them choosing to matriculate in Ann Arbor are over. Of the 23 current NFL players who attended Michigan, three are wide receivers (Jason Avant, Junior Hemingway, and Denard Robinson) and none are running backs.

Fourteen are either lineman or linebackers.

The time has come for Michigan boosters, alums, and students to realize that the evolution of the SEC into the dominant national brand in college football ended national relevance for the Wolverines football program, and an unholy amalgam of Jim Harbaugh, Les Miles, and Schembechler would be powerless to change it.

Do they think Harbaugh and Miles passed on the job because they are allergic to a fungus indigenous to Washtenaw County? No, they are repelled by this particular challenge of leading Michigan’s vaunted football program because there is no solution.

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The expectations for Michigan are far too high to be met, and because of that, coaches will be rotated every three-to-five years, and the mediocrity will become entrenched.

What is the difference between Michigan and Michigan State – a school that appears to be rolling, but has some of the very same challenges faced in Ann Arbor? Expectations. During his first three years at Michigan State, Mark Dantonio posted a 22-17 record. Michigan State lost Dantonio’s first four bowls. At Michigan, Dantonio would have been fired. At Michigan State, he has been allowed to mature and grow the program.

If Michigan had beaten Minnesota Saturday and had a 5-0 record going into this weekend’s game at Rutgers, fans would be lauding Shane Morris for his bravery in continuing to play and hiding his condition from Hoke. Hoke would be viewed as a great leader who has instilled such passion in his players that they would do anything to continue playing for the maize and blue.

Such is life for coaches and fans. Winning is a salve that cures all wounds (including concussions), and losing ends careers.

Indianapolis Colts – No hypocrisy in cutting Da’Rick Rogers after DUI

by Kent Sterling

Da'Rick Rogers was a Colts wide receiver for too short a time because he made a series of terrible decisions. Talent isn't enough in life.

Da’Rick Rogers was a Colts wide receiver for too short a time because he made a series of terrible decisions. Those who think talent is enough make a critical error.

Nothing would give me more pleasure than to yelp and holler about how Indianapolis Colts wide receiver Da’Rick Rogers should be afforded the same latitude to seek treatment that was provided Colts owner Jim Irsay after his operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated arrest, but it would be ridiculous.

Irsay is an owner while Rogers is a marginally important employee. Unless Irsay fired himself, there is no authority that can bring a consequence down upon Irsay in the same way the Colts did yesterday with Rogers.

Double standards don’t necessarily equate to hypocrisy. While it is hard to imagine Andrew Luck being irresponsible enough to drink and drive, but to expect the Colts to cut Luck as a result would be nutty.

Rogers has been inactive for all four regular season games this season while Luck has been as valuable to the Colts as any player in the NFL has been to his team.

If you are at the ass end of the roster, keeping your nose clean is job number one in keeping the paychecks rolling in. Rogers was breathalyzed at over .08 and less than .15 at 3:35 a.m. Monday, and he is now unemployed as a result.

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Irsay’s situation is entirely different, and while his irresponsibility has now put the business he owns in the unenviable position of answering questions about the wildly divergent responses to similar offenses, there is no way that Irsay would step down as owner because of a misdemeanor conviction.

On the other hand, being an end of the bench guy who had three positive drug tests at Tennessee put Rogers on very thin ice before he ever signed a contract.

There is a saying that for change to occur, the pain of change must be outweighed by the pain of maintaining the status quo. Cutting Rogers involved very little in the way of pain for the Colts. Keeping him would have been for more difficult to explain, and would have opened the Colts up to an even less palatable line of questioning – as in “Do you feel compelled to keep Rogers because Irsay faced a similar charge? Does this mean that the Colts are required to look the other way for all similar charges?”

The only positive part of this is that Irsay has been suspended by the NFL and was prohibited from having a hand in determining this penalty for Rogers.

It’s sad that Rogers continues to battle demons. Three positive drug tests and an arrest point to addiction or intractable irresponsibility. In either case, it is not the responsibility of an employer to shepherd a player through treatment and recovery. Sometimes the best thing that can happen to a young man prone to making terrible decisions is a severe consequence, and unemployment qualifies.

The bottom can rise up quickly for an employee like Rogers, but those who own can operate in their own little cushioned orb of safety. It might not be just and it certainly isn’t fair, but there is no hypocrisy involved in the way Colts management determined the level of punishment needed for Rogers.

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How could general manager Ryan Grigson and coach Chuck Pagano be hypocrites if they had no say at all in the disposition of Irsay’s consequence?

Who’s to say that if Grigson and Pagano had their way, maybe Irsay would have suffered the same fate as Rogers.

Because Rogers and Irsay are likely battling the same demon doesn’t mean their treatment should be identical. Life is never that fair, and justice never that consistent.

Indiana Football Weekend – excellence (Colts/Irish) and misery (Hoosiers/Boilers) dealt in equal proportion

by Kent Sterling

Andrew Luck has been the best quarterback in the NFL thru four weeks, and he’s a nice distraction for football fans afraid to watch what happens in Bloomington and West Lafayette.

Football surprises last weekend? Not in Indiana.

First the good – the Indianapolis Colts were dominant for the second straight week in a league where parity is king, and the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame hammered the type of team that it should.

Purdue fought like hell through the first half against Iowa before withering down the stretch as is expected of a team without depth early in the rebuilding stages of a new coach’s tenure.

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Indiana laid a total egg on a day when people started to believe that maybe the tide was turning in Bloomington after an upset against a ranked SEC team on the road. Hoosiers fans should have known better as Indiana rolled over in every phase and accepted a beat down at the hands of a mediocre Maryland team missing three defensive starters and losing their offensive leader D.J. Brown with a first half injury.

Andrew Luck and Everett Golson were virtually identical in their excellence. Luck was 29-of-41 for 393 yards and four TDs/two picks while Golson complete 25 in a row during one long stretch of the game to finish 32-of-39 for 362 yards, four TDs/two picks.

Luck’s pick caused the only comedy in the 41-17 thrashing of the Tennessee Titans, as he threw a pass directly to a defender and then sprinted toward him to make the tackle. It looked like maybe Wes Woodyard angered Luck by talking about his mama, and Luck muttered “number 59,” a la Bobby Bouchee in The Waterboy. Then when Luck got the opportunity, he threw it to Woodyard just so he could punish him with a physical hit.

No such comedy was enjoyed by Indiana fans at Memorial Stadium. The offense sputtered, and the defense seemed to miss as many tackles as they made. It was as if the Hoosiers were plenty satisfied with their road upset win against Mizzou the previous Saturday, and decided that showing up was all that was necessary.

The Purdue loss was entirely foreseeable as their depth will bring disappointing second halves for another year or two as Darrell Hazell continues to add talent through recruiting and strength on the young players already in the fold, but the offense miseries were difficult to watch.

To amass only 156 total yards, and have a passing game that generates an average of only 2.6 yards per pass makes a win – even in the Big Ten – out of the question. The longest reception of the game for the Boilermakers was only 10 yards.

Other than in the very northern region of Indiana, where Notre Dame has enjoyed success, college football excellence has been almost impossible to find in this state, and it appears that nothing new is on the horizon despite relentless changes in coaches.

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The Colts and Fighting Irish are flawed, but despite the five turnovers against Syracuse and the terrible interception from Luck, the effort for those two teams is beyond question. Purdue is simply outmanned at this point. In Bloomington, that was not the case. It seemed the Hoosiers embraced the misconception that showing up is enough.

Respect should be conveyed to others, not conferred upon themselves. After 20 years of terrible, you would think Indiana would be inoculated from egomania.

Changing the DNA of a program of franchise requires relentless heavy lifting. The four major football teams in Indiana show that’s true year after year. The Colts – always competitive despite flaws as long as the quarterback is healthy. Notre Dame is Notre Dame, which equates to mostly good regular seasons and trips to mid-tier bowls. And minus the eras of Bill Mallory and Joe Tiller (or Jack Mollenkopf if you go back that far), Indiana and Purdue are Big Ten bottom feeders.

That’s life for a football fan in central Indiana.

Hope rears its ugly head every now and again, and then punishes us. Last weekend showed more of the same as the Colts, Irish, Hoosiers and Boilers were true to form.

Chatard vs. Noblesville football coverage on Channel 40 will feature a guy who won’t say “No”

by Kent Sterling

Tonight, my goal is to avoid boring people as this guy does.

Life is short, so when people ask me to do something that can cause no damage to my health or the well-being of my family, I say yes.

That philosophy has given me a wide breadth of experiences, and I’ve enjoyed most of them, so when I got an email yesterday from the production manager at WHMB-TV asking whether I would be available to do play-by-play for the Indianapolis Chatard vs. Noblesville High School football game tonight, I called him and said sure.

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One thing for sure about working in live media is that perfection is not an option, and that when the game is over the job ends. Come hell or high water, all you can do is prepare well, do your best, and then get a good night sleep.

That’s my plan.

Whether it goes well, poorly, or somewhere in between, I’m going to drive home with a smile because watching a high school football game is what I would have been doing anyway. By talking into a microphone during the game, I save the admission charge, put a little cash in my pocket, and have a story to tell after.

Sure, it would have been easy to say no, but I can’t find a rational reason for doing it. My only fear is sounding worse than Fox Sports play-by-play voice Dick Stockton, whose work I find joyless and mistake riddled.

Saying yes to intriguing requests is off-putting to some, but we only get to live today one time, so why not take a chance and do something interesting with it?

We tend to fall into comfortable routines, and call it living a successful life. I call it tedious and dull. If you aren’t willing to occasionally step out of that cushy little contentment and try something new, death will be a relief.

I want to get uncomfortable everyday, and that’s why I talk to different people on the radio show (3p-6p weekdays on CBS Sports 1430). There are regulars like Eddie White, Jay Graves, Shimbo, Evan Altman, and Mike Wells, but most days we book someone completely different and try to get them to share the best they have.

Everyone has a great story to tell, or a fascinating piece of insight to passionately share. We try to find those people and encourage them to share the best they have. Talking to strangers as though they are old friends is an odd thing to do, but when else will I get a chance to help someone famous, infamous, or almost entirely anonymous share their best self?

Tonight, I get to sit in a press box, describe high school students doing what they love on a crisp Friday night under the bright lights at Lawrence North High School. Coaches prepare, fans cheer, players bring their best every play, and I will try to do the event and the kids justice with my performance.

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When you say yes, opportunities are boundless. By saying no, interesting things cannot happen. Denying ourselves an evening of fun because of discomfort or performance anxiety narrows our own lanes of existence and limits the joys we can extract from life.

Seems a shame not to say yes to risk-free fun. Ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen if I …?” If the answer isn’t a trip to the hospital or worse, saddle up and ride.

Comfortable isn’t a goal – it’s a concession.

Bill Simmons steps over the line twice and “suffers” the consequences

by Kent Sterling

Bill Simmons is a good writer and thinker, and that makes what he said on his podcast hard to explain.

Not sure what ESPN pundit Bill Simmons was trying to accomplish when he called NFL commissioner Roger Goodell a liar, and dared ESPN management to punish him for doing so, but if he wanted some time off – mission accomplished.

Simmons has been suspended for three weeks because of a rant in his podcast that crossed a line twice into areas a guy as sharp as Simmons knows would cause that level of consequence.

It makes me think that Simmons either tried to get fired or has become so unhappy at ESPN that he attempted employment suicide through open-mic idiocy.

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Taking Simmons side in this squabble is too easy. ESPN is a huge brand – the Worldwide Leader of Sports – and as such enjoys relationships with all three major sports league that require it to enforce a “stick to the facts without getting personal edict” for its talent.

That’s reasonable.

While I am as nauseated as anyone by the toadying to the NFL that we hear from Adam Schefter and Chris Mortensen, tolerating a talent who resorts to name calling is impossible. What Simmons said isn’t just inflammatory enough for the NFL to be rightly indignant, it’s journalistically weak.

Simmons gave ESPN an opportunity to call the NFL to show what a good partner it is before the NFL had a chance to dial Bristol to demand sanctions against him.

Whether Simmons had an ulterior motive or not, he crossed the line by such a wide margin that he allowed the Mothership to both crawl into bed with the NFL, and not feel or look dirty for doing it.

Here is what Simmons said, “I just think not enough is being made out of the fact that they knew about the tape and they knew what was on it. Goodell, if he didn’t know what was on that tape, he’s a liar. I’m just saying it. He is lying. I think that dude is lying. If you put him up on a lie detector test that guy would fail. For all these people to pretend they didn’t know is such f***ing bull***t. It really is — it’s such f***ing bull***t. And for him to go in that press conference and pretend otherwise, I was so insulted.

“I really hope somebody calls me or emails me and says I’m in trouble for anything I say about Roger Goodell. Because if one person says that to me, I’m going public. You leave me alone. The commissioner’s a liar and I get to talk about that on my podcast. Thank you. … Please, call me and say I’m in trouble. I dare you.”

Two mistakes by Simmons – when you dare management to pick up the phone, even a cowardly and incompetent manager will do exactly that, and calling a guy like Goodell a liar will prompt reasonable complaints.

Saying a guy like Goodell was not truthful in his comments during a press conference is different from calling him a liar, and that distinction is well known by a guy as smart as Simmons.

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While ESPN is way too sensitive to the complaints of its partners, Simmons did the virtually impossible by making them seem reasonable for silencing a voice that fans to this point have respected.

Fans of transparency in media coverage were done a great disservice by Simmons when he got it so wrong that he made ESPN management look right. It was irresponsible, and without a reasonable explanation – like the desire to manipulate some additional time off – it makes Simmons appear to be a lot less intelligent than many believe him to be.

Colts’ Super Bowl Odds Tumble Following 0-2 Start

It has been a rough start to the 2014 NFL season for the Indianapolis Colts, who sit at 0-2 after losing back-to-back games for the first time since Andrew Luck took over the reins as starting quarterback.

Going into their Week 1 matchup with Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos, the Colts sported Super Bowl odds as strong as 18/1 at online sportsbooks. But following losses to the Broncos and the Philadelphia Eagles, the Colts have tumbled in the latest NFL odds, to 40/1 to emerge as champions.

The Colts have had trouble winning since the pre-season, in which they also went winless, posting an 0-4 record SU and 1-3 ATS.

Betting on Luck

Despite the losses, Andrew Luck has produced some solid numbers, throwing for five TDs and running for a sixth. But his three picks and the struggles the club has had to hang on to the ball and not take penalties have hurt Luck’s odds to garner NFL MVP honors in NFL online betting.

Prior to the season, Luck was listed just outside the short list of betting favorites to win MVP. At 12/1 sportsbooks, Luck trailed only Manning, Aaron Rodgers, Drew Brees, and Tom Brady. But going into the Colts’ Week 4 visit to Jacksonville, Luck has tumbled to 22/1.

Upcoming Divisional Opponents

Sunday’s game against the Jaguars may be just what the Colts need. Indianapolis are favored by a touchdown against the Jags, who are off to a disastrous start, soundly beaten SU and ATS by Philadelphia and Washington.

The Jaguars are 1-9 SU, 2-7-1 ATS, in their last 10 at home and have enjoyed little success in recent meetings with the Colts, winners in just two of their last seven SU and ATS at home to Indianapolis.

Following this Sunday’s visit to Jacksonville, the Colts travel home to play the Tennessee Titans in a suddenly critical divisional matchup.

Tennessee started strong on the road, winning outright as road underdogs, 26-10, over Kansas City, but came out flat in their home opener, losing 26-10 to Dallas as 3.5-point home favorites.

The Titans face a tough date in Cincinnati in Week 3. Favored by 7 points against Tennessee, the Bengals are 9-0 ATS and SU in their last nine regular season games at home

Still Division Favorites

Despite their trouble picking up wins early in the season, the Colts maintain their spot as favorites to win the AFC South at online sportsbooks, with odds of -105. But following what some have considered a surprising 2-0 start, the Houston Texans closely trail with odds of +105. The Titans are a +700 bet to win the division, while the Jags are distant +4000 longshots.

Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti apologizes; accuses ESPN of one-sided journalism

by Kent Sterling

Egomaniacal rich men might be able to control those in their inner circle, but Steve Bisciotti has outside his depth during yesterday’s press conference.

One thing Charles Foster Kane learned in the great film Citizen Kane was that wealth can’t change the truth. Ironically, William Randolph Hearst, the publisher who was the inspiration for Kane, discovered the same thing when he tried to kill the film before its release.

Baltimore Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti is the latest rich guy to learn that same lesson as he tries to spin the facts to make the Ravens appear more sympathetic as the fallout from the Ray Rice debacle continues to unravel.

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Don Van Natta of ESPN reported late last week that the Raven management tried to exert undue influence in keeping Rice’s suspension to a manageable two games, and that coach John Harbaugh wanted to cut Rice but was overruled by Bisciotti and general manager Ozzie Newsome.

Despite refusing to speak to Van Natta, Bisciotti assailed the report as one-sided, “The majority of the sources are people that work for Ray. Almost everything in there is anonymous, but it’s clear from the subject matter that it’s Ray’s attorney, it’s Ray’s agent, it’s Ray’s friends.”

Van Natta countered in a follow-up on espy.com that sources included more than 20 sources over 11 days — team officials, current and former league officials, NFL Players Association representatives and associates, advisers and friends of Rice.

Bisciotti apologized for not pursuing the video from inside the casino elevator where Rice knocked his then-girlfriend unconscious, “There’s no excuse for me to not have [requested] that video except I wasn’t concerned or interested enough to get it. It never crossed my mind. I’m deeply sorry for that.”

That echoed NFL commissioner Roger Goodell’s hollow apology last week. It paints Bisciotti as either an idiot or complicit in trying to help Rice escape culpability for his odious actions.

The question that continues to ring in our minds as the comments by Bisciotti and Goodell are evaluated is why either man decided it was a good idea to stand in front of the media and its cameras to say things that only weaken their positions.

Most rich guys are terrible with the media. They are so seldom held accountable for their comments that they believe every word that comes out of their mouths is a pearl of wisdom from on high. A dose of humility is usually forthcoming when they haughtily explain their genius or occasionally throw themselves on a sword, as Bisciotti did for not demanding the video.

Bisciotti shared a series of texts that Van Natta quoted in the Outside the Lines piece. There were some differences in wording, but the message was the same, “I just spent two hours talking to Ozzie. It was all about you. We love you and we will always figure out a way to keep you in our lives. When you are done with football I will hire you to help me raise Great young men. I still love you!!!”

What isn’t different is the implied intent to buy Rice’s silence. Rich men tend to use money for the power it wields over people. Bisciotti’s intent may have been to calm Rice’s concerns about how he might provide for his family in the future, but the result is to keep Rice financially tied to Bisciotti, and exert the control only money can wield.

The pummeling of Janay Palmer (now Rice) began a series of events that revealed a number of men as rigidly pragmatic and unfeeling. As they have been outed through a seemingly endless series of media reports and comments of their own, we have learned a lot about rich and successful people – primarily that they are most fearful of being seen as impotent through their inability to control the thoughts and actions of others.

That is what prompted both the press conferences of Goodell and Bisciotti. Hubris has many forms and outcomes, and Goodell and Bisciotti’s inability to compel a change in the truth should make everyone in the media feel a little better about their role in our society.

They have been revealed as nothing but money grubbing pimps who would gladly toss aside decency and honor as cavalierly as Rice treated Janay as he dragged her limp body from that casino elevator.

Indianapolis Colts enter easy phase of schedule with enthusiasm in beating Jacksonville 44-17

by Kent Sterling

One win in Jacksonville doesn’t make the Colts a lock for another AFC South crown, but the precision of their effort revealed a potential champion.

When the NFL schedule makers decided to front load two tough opponents for the Indianapolis Colts, they might have done them a big favor.

Coming off two consecutive 11-5 seasons, the Colts entered 2014 feeling pretty good about themselves. That confidence was broken quickly by consecutive losses to the Denver Broncos and Philadelphia Eagles.

Their response was to regroup and exert a serious level of focus to avoid dropping to a difficult to climb out of 0-3 hole. The Jacksonville Jaguars paid the price as the Colts destroyed them in a virtually perfect 30-0 first half of football as the Colts scored three touchdowns and three field goals on their six drives while allowing only two first downs for the Jaguars.

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Jacksononville was so awful that they tossed the plan to sit first round prize quarterback Blake Bortles and unwrapped him for a second half that was played only because the NFL mandates that games last 60 minutes.

Andrew Luck – the Colts own prize pupil quarterback in his third year – was outstanding, completing 31-39 passes for 374 yards and four TDs. His stats would have been gaudier if not for several drops by receivers we won’t name because why sully a beautiful positive post like this one with a recitation of errors.

This was as good as it gets in the NFL – a drama-free funfest that allowed back-up QB Matt Hasselbeck and some of the rest of the second teamers to get some run.

The fun should continue this weekend with a home game against the terrible Tennessee Titans, who are 1-2 on the young season having lost their last two games to the Dallas Cowboys and Cincinnati Bengals by a combined score of 59-17.

Then another home game against the thoroughly repellent and mediocre Baltimore Ravens follows. Because of the franchise’s response to the Ray Rice incident, I would like to see the Colts decimate the Ravens. The text that Ravens owner Steve Biscotti sent Rice with a job offer following the end of his football career was as blatant an attempt at quieting a witness you’ll see outside an old episome of “Law & Order,” and for that reason I can never see the Ravens again as anything but a miserable collection of oafs deserving of repeated Adrian Peterson style ass-whippings..

Next of what should be a nice run of wins will be a road game against the Houston Texans, and make no mistake, the Texans are a lot closer in quality to the team that took a 30-17 beating by the New York Giants than the one that started the season 2-0 with wins over the sadly inept Washington Redskins and Oakland Raiders.

Taking care of business in those three games would leave the Colts 4-2, and in the driver’s seat of the AFC South.

After that, the road may get a little bumpy with a home game against the efficient Bengals, followed by trips to Pittsburgh and the New York Giants, and finally a chance to avenge last year’s playoff loss to Tom Brady and the Patriots at Lucas Oil Stadium. Splint those four, and the Colts are 6-4 with home games left against the Jaguars, Redskins, and Texans. Road games will remain against the Cleveland Browns, Dallas Cowboys, and Tennessee Titans.

Winning five of those six is a moral imperative. That takes the Colts to the 12-4 record many expected when this 16-game shootout began.

All this predicted success depends upon the Colts remaining healthy. More injuries to the offensive line, defensive front seven, or – God forbid – to Andrew Luck, and recalibrations will be required.

The Colts offense, as currently constructed, as filled with weapons that can be a nightmare to defend. If injuries start chipping away at that arsenal, this season could evolve into an unpleasant ruin.

No one expects the Colts to dispatch every opponent with the explicit excellence fans witnessed yesterday, but they will be the better team on paper at least 11 more times this season.

When the weather turns cold, and the Jaguars, Titans, and Texans are packing for a January vacation in Turks and Caicos, the Colts should still be studying and preparing to advance at least one round further in the postseason than last year.

NFL Implosion – Despite awful performance, Roger Goodell’s job is safe

by Kent Sterling

Yesterday was a sad day for the NFL, but sadder days are ahead. We just won’t find it as easy to blame Roger Goodell for them.

Only one thing could cause significant erosion of support among NFL owners for Roger Goodell to remain in his role as commissioner of the NFL, and that is an attack on their wallets.

Goodell could have twerked and farted at the podium during yesterday’s ineffective press conference, and still the owners would praise their fair-haired boy because Goodell is taking all the slings and arrows from the players, media, and public that would otherwise be headed toward them.

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That was the point of the player conduct policy enacted in 2007 – take the discipline out of the purview of the teams and owners. Let Goodell take the heat.

The only thing a billionaire (and all 32 of the NFL franchise owners are billionaires) avoids with more passion than being the bad guy is becoming a lowly millionaire. They hire bad guys – hatchet men – to handle the unpleasant stuff.

For those who watch the excellent “Ray Donovan” on Showtime, Ezra pays Ray really well to handle the unsavory aspects of his business. While Goodell doesn’t run around beating the hell out of people like Donovan does, he does handle all of the ugly stuff that owners loathe.

Why Goodell thought a press conference was necessary is an interesting question given that he only dug himself deeper with platitudes and hollow apologies – maybe the only good question that wasn’t asked by the journalists who held Goodell accountable for his absurd self-absolution. He did and said nothing yesterday that would prompt a reasonable person to trust him or the cash cow league.

I’m certain Goodell’s statement was vetted, and maybe even written, by multiple lapdogs in the NFL offices, but no one had the stones to tell him that admitting culpability without accepting a penalty would immediately by assessed by those with a functioning brain as hypocritical.

The guy who takes such glee in suspending and fining players is now viewed as someone unwilling to hold himself accountable, and while that is an untenable longterm position, it seemingly has had no effect on the gate or ratings, and only Proctor & Gamble and Radisson have adjusted their sponsorship spending.

Unless that small trickle of corporate dissatisfaction becomes a torrent, Goodell will be the commissioner as long as he likes.

Judging from yesterday’s announcement that “nothing is off the table” as far as discipline and the methodology that will determine severity, it’s safe to assume that Goodell will champion the creation of a panel or board who will be trusted to evaluate indiscretions and issue penalties. That’s called taking a page out of the playbook of the NFL owners, corporate America, and the federal government.

Creating layers between those in charge and those who accomplish through work instead of meeting insulates the powerful. The next time the NFL has a crisis similar to that caused by Ray Rice, Adrian Peterson, Ray McDonald, Greg Hardy, and Jonathan Dwyer, Goodell will have the cover provided by a group employed to keep him out of harm’s way.

He will be the guy pointing, instead of being pointed at.

Of course, that’s pathetic and weak, but when was the last time you saw strong leadership from a CEO, commissioner, or president? The phrase that pays in today’s America is “The buck stops there!” Even that isn’t true. The buck doesn’t know where the hell to stop because the infrastructure is purposely created and implemented to keep anyone from owning blame.

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If there is anything to be admired about Goodell, it’s that he has resisted the temptation to bullet proof his office with the careers of underlings employed only to confuse those trying to get to the truth and hold those who do wrong accountable for their misdeeds.

Those days are quickly coming to an end. What will remain after the NFL’s infrastructure is renovated, will be a confusing maze of men and women with fancy titles looking busy but doing little.

Goodell’s ineffective leadership will continue, but the days of people believing he’s the problem are going to come to an end, and that itself will become the bigger problem.