Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Indianapolis Colts – Sure they sucked in Saturday’s loss to New Orleans, but it doesn’t matter – yet

by Kent Sterling

Andrew Luck is the one piece of the puzzle the Colts cannot afford to lose.

It was a miserable night of football for fans who continue to mistake preseason football for anything more than a scrimmage designed to help teams prepare for the regular season.

The intensity was low, and the errors were many in the 23-17 loss to the Saints. That’s okay because this was a preseason game – a game that will never show up in the regular season standings.

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The Colts appeared mostly disinterested or overmatched. I will choose to see them as disinterested. Coming off back-to-back 11-5 seasons, the Colts know who they are – a team quarterbacked by Andrew Luck, a third year leader with every tool needed to lead a team through a generation of winning.

And unlike the St. Louis Rams Sam Bradford who left Saturday’s game against the Cleveland Browns with a torn left ACL (again), Luck left the field healthy. Fans hoping for more than that are wasting their energy, especially given the Colts historically poor play in the preseason. In 2009, a season that ended with the Colts playing in the Super Bowl, the Colts lost Game Three of the preseason to the soon-to-be 2-14 Detroit Lions 18-17. Didn’t matter then. Doesn’t matter now.

That’s life in the preseason. It’s football, and we like watching it because we like football, but believing your eyes causes unnecessary heart palpitations. Sure, the Colts looked brutal, missing tackles, failing to contain Saints QBs, and being unable to convert a touchdown after earning a first and goal from inside the one with time running out in the first half. An Ahmad Bradshaw run, followed by two errant Luck throws led to a disheartening three-points rather than seven. Not good. Not important.

None of that matters. Failure in the preseason gives the Colts something to work on prior to the opener on September 7th, and nothing more.

The Colts will be just fine in the regular season because that is who they are. Minus Luck, they aren’t terribly special. But Luck may be special enough to get to the Super Bowl.

Keys for the Colts are health – Bradshaw is a key. Greg Toler is another guy who managed to play very well Saturday, and he will be a key to the Colts ability to defend the pass. The receiver corps is deep and talented, but injuries could leave them thin. The positive is that in other spots, the Colts have worker bees who are nothing special and can be replaced quickly. Take Joe Reitz – not a big drop off from either of the starting guards or tackles to Reitz.

If somehow, Luck is injured, fold up the tent. He’s special, and losing someone special is going to hurt.

The opener is less than two weeks away, and at worst the Colts will be okay heading into it. Okay is plenty good enough to win the AFC South, and make a run to the Super Bowl. Relax.

IBJ article on Kent Sterling Show excellent, but incomplete – more questions to answer

by Kent Sterling

Anthony Schottle of the Indianapolis Business Journal does a great job covering media in central Indiana. He’s accurate, fair, and actually transcribes quotes accurately – a major point of differentiation between him and several of the other guys doing the same job in other markets.

When he called on Thursday to talk about my show on CBS Sports 1430 (weekdays 3p-6p), I felt confident that he would report rather than exercise some pre-conceived agenda, so I was happy to talk to him about radio – both on and off the record. The piece available by clicking here was fair and factually correct, and that’s all we can ask of journalists.

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There were questions that were unasked because Schottle is not a mind-reader and was not interested in writing a definitive work, just a description of why someone decided to crowd further the competitive landscape in Indianapolis sportstalk radio.

Here are some additional questions and answers about sportstalk radio in Indianapolis, and the three-way battle for ears in which I am embroiled:

Can three shows survive in afternoon drive?

Of course. There are roughly 25 options for radio listeners in Indianapolis, and sportstalk represents only three of them. If the content is unique, fun, and the result of hard work, those three won’t just pull listeners from one another, but from the other 22. If the quality of all three shows is outstanding, all will find an audience. If not, well… It goes without saying that we plan on providing the best possible show day after day.

The Kent Sterling Show seems to talk about sports all the time – why?

Because I love sports. Indianapolis is a major league sports town, and talking about sports is more fun for me than talking about where people are buried or music of the late 1980s. For listeners who want to listen to talk about sports, we present that option. For those who want to hear a pot luck selection of topics because hosts are bored with sports, that option exists too. I’m fascinated by sports – how they serve as a microcosm of society – and delivering on the sports-centric expectations of listeners is the least I can do.

Why don’t you take callers?

Callers are a crutch, a contrivance designed to build drama because the hosts either can’t or won’t work hard enough to perform a show themselves. Think of the last stand-up comedy show you saw. Did the comic invite a guy in the audience to share a joke, or his perspective on comedy? Hell, no. Listeners deserve more than a host who reads tweets and shuffles through callers. If you go to see someone sing, he or she doesn’t invite someone from the crowd to sing.

Wandering into the studio three minutes before a show starts and relying upon the creativity of callers represents the low quality of radio and laziness of hosts that reinforces the belief that radio is dying.

The truth is that radio isn’t dying, but bad radio is forcing media consumers to choose alternate sources of entertainment.

Your show is three hours. Why?

A couple of reasons – first, 12 segments can be produced each day that talk about a variety of sports related topics. Sixteen segments is just too daunting, and causes the problem of abandoning sports or relying too heavily on calls. Second, available audience drops substantially at 6p no matter what the content. It’s done to expand the available sales inventory by an hour, so the 3p-7p window is what can be sold despite 6p-7p being of far lesser value.

The Kent Sterling Show features anywhere from four to six guests. Why so many, and how are the guests chosen?

I like talking to people about their specific areas of expertise. Everyone has a great story, and getting experts to passionately share parts of theirs is incredibly enjoyable, and I think it provides listeners a great look at what makes people successful. There are definitely common traits of those who succeed, and sharing sports related stories is very interesting to me.

Quinn Buckner was on the show last week, and long before he was a basketball analyst, Quinn was one of the best athletes ever to attend Indiana University. He played both football and basketball, so getting Quinn’s perspective on specialization in youth sports was fascinating to me. In fact, it was the reason I asked him to do the segment. I had to ask the questions about Paul George and Lance Stephenson not being a part of the Pacers in 2014-2015, but what I really wanted to have him share was whether he felt kids should work on one sport to the exclusion of all others when young.

Is there a rivalry between you and the other afternoon drive sportstalk hosts?

I can’t speak for the others, but my focus is on doing 12 great segments everyday that validate the trust listeners show in choosing to listen. It’s like golf. You play against your own capabilities given the specific challenges of the course, not the other golfers. That said, I’m glad I’m on in afternoon drive. Dan Dakich brings unique insight and humor to sports, and Michael Grady is a gifted interviewer who brings out the best in guests. I hired both guys, and would have less fun beating them. There I go forgetting my own theory about playing against the course.

What’s the biggest point of differentiation between successful and unsuccessful talk radio shows?

Likability is necessary to succeed, and most hosts have a reasonable level of that. You can’t be a repellent person and accumulate listeners. A radio show is like a party – fun host, fun party. That said, the effort in planning and executing the party is most important. Preparation is key.

A good producer is like a party planner, and Nick Bosak is really good at planning our party everyday. He works hard, understands the product, and is a huge part of our success. The one part of management I loved was hiring the right people to help build our culture. Nick is exactly the right guy to plan our daily party.

Another key is the ability to listen. Scripted questions just don’t work as well as a host who listens and responds with good follow ups. Hosts should have a specific idea of what they want to get out of a guest, and then ask follow ups based upon the answers.

Two kinds of interviews leave me bored – those where the host has the questions scripted and those where the host has a lazy conversation without a clear point. Another great piece of advice for interviewing is to ask the question and shut the hell up. Make the guest comfortable, and let them talk. Interviews are not about the host. They are about the guest. Hosts talk too much during interviews. I try not to.

The show is still evolving. When will it be in its finished form?

Never. Shows constantly evolve. Segments change organically from one thing to the next. If we ever have a show on a Tuesday that is exactly like Monday’s, I’ll get bored and so will the audience. Every show is a high wire act. When the minds of tightrope walkers start to drift, they fall. We are never going to fall.

What made you get out of radio management and into the talent end of the game?

Like I told Anthony Schoettle of the IBJ, I believe there is a specific number of meetings a manager can participate in where efficiencies – business speak for staff reductions (a polite way of saying firings). It corrodes the soul, and it was never what I wanted to do anyway. I’ve always enjoyed performing. Whether it was improvising in Chicago, or being in a band in high school, I like the work needed to earn the payoff of an audience well served. To sit alone in a room knowing all that stands between listeners and silence is preparation and the ability to communicate ideas in a semi-coherent and hopefully amusing or insightful way is high-stakes fun.

Listening to improvident lackwits opining about radio station strategies that would disrupt lives became more than I could bear without communicating too honestly and directly for my own good.

Who have been your best guests?

You know, it’s not the most famous people like Pete Rose, Tiki Barber, Kevin Wilson, Paul George, any of the other Colts or Pacers, or the regulars we have every day at four o’clock even though they are great. We did a series of interviews with 30 local high school football coaches, and they were incredible. Each devotes so much time to helping boys become men. Being a coach isn’t really a job, but a calling. I loved hearing them share their wisdom.

Hey Morgan Burke – getting students to come to Boilermakers football games isn’t that hard

by Kent Sterling

The key to fill the seats at Purdue’s Ross-Ade Stadium is compel fans to leave the comfort of cheap food and drinks – but for what?

In a USA Today piece posted yesterday afternoon several athletic directors representing Big Five conference universities spoke of the difficulty of drawing students to football games. Purdue’s Morgan Burke was one of them.

Burke’s comments were certainly reflective of the collective mindset of those facing the challenge of compelling students to part with the cash necessary to watch football in person rather than on television, “You’ve never seen (television) ratings higher, so the games are being watched, but schools that traditionally thought they never would have to have a sales arm as part of their athletic department now have a sales arm. That tells you something. We’re as concerned as everybody else that this generation somehow doesn’t have the same affinity for football and that it can hurt you at the gate down the road.”

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So what are the meaningful points of differentiation causing students to make the decision to watch in their dorms/apartments or bars rather than to make the trek to Ross-Ade Stadium on a beautiful Saturday afternoon?

Here are some quick issues that are Purdue specific:

Student season tickets are $17 per game, plus a $25 fee for a total of $144. That is the equivalent of 10 cases of beer. Lets face it – and we can talk about all the students who choose not to drink, but I only met one during my time at Indiana University – the currency for college students is beer. Nearly two cases of Natty Light per game is a lot to sacrifice to watch the Boilermakers as they come off a 1-11 season.
The first three home games this season are against Western Michigan, Central Michigan, and Southern Illinois. No offense to those three schools, but there is no buzz on the campus of a Big Ten university when those teams come to town.
Minus five aberrant seasons during the spectacular run Joe Tiller put together in West Lafayette, Purdue has not had a winning record in the Big Ten since 1984. The Boilermakers are not exactly the Crimson Tide. Hey, I’m not getting haughty here – I went to IU where the wiki page doesn’t even list the Hoosiers Big Ten records before 2012.
Even at Alabama, school officials have had to threaten loss of season ticket privileges for students leaving blowouts early, so no one is immune to the needs of students to be entertained, fed, and quenched of their collective thirst.

So what do football programs need to do to attract student fans in bulk?

Reduce ticket prices to below the case of beer threshold ($14 for a 30-pack).
Provide flawless and fast wireless connectivity. Putting a college student in an environment where they cannot text, be texted, tweet, and post pics is like throwing a prisoner in solitary confinement. Asking them to pay for disconnection from their social media shows a complete ignorance of their lifestyle.
Sell beer inside the stadium. Students are a pretty savvy group. If they have a TV, beer, and connectivity outside the stadium, what could possibly compel them to pay for the privilege to walk into a place where none of that exists. Purdue is making strides toward logic as they have constructed an area where TVs and beer are available for those with a VIP card. It is limited to 1,500 people at a time. Seems ridiculous to enforce an upcharge for amenities available at tailgate parties, but evolution toward logic takes time.
The decision not to sell beer is bad for everyone. Because liquor is easier to smuggle into the stadium, students choose that route – and it’s far more dangerous than beer. It’s not easy to drink enough $6 beers to cause cranial chaos. Some kids pack their pants with the inventive bags of vodka, and mayhem may ensue. Sure there are people are abstain, but for the majority of students, whether they are inside the stadium or not – it’s a party!

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Shorten the damn games. I enjoy going to college football games, but I attended the Indiana vs. Minnesota game last year, and I’m not sure it’s ended yet. The delays in the first half were interminable, and the urge to head to Nick’s to watch the rest of the game became overwhelming toward the end of the first half. That came after my decision to buy tickets for the game. Any athletic event that drags beyond three hours is not fan friendly. Watching on TV is one thing, but a nearly four hour game is a never-ending odyssey for fans with options like Nick’s 12 blocks south.

These moves work at many other universities, including Indiana. College kids are college kids – wherever they are.

This isn’t a tough putt. Solving these problems only requires a trip down memory lane. Why did I not attend more than a half dozen Indiana games? See above, and add high speed smart phone connectivity. Giving students what they have access to in the parking lot is a fairly simple place to start.

Washington Redskins debate – Mike Carey vs. Mike Ditka, which would you rather your son emulate?

by Kent Sterling

Former NFL referee asked not be assigned to officiate Washington games in 2006.

There are smart people whom I respect who see nothing wrong with the Washington Redskins using what amounts to a racial epithet as their nickname.

Some NFL teams have chosen animals like Bears, Lions, Rams, Seahawks, and Falcons to represent their franchises, while others honored hard-working blue collar workers like Packers and Steelers with their names. Washington inexplicably chose what is viewed by Native Americans as the equivalent to the n-word for African Americans.

Presented with pleas from many Native American groups, Washington owner Dan Snyder has been intractable in keeping the Redskins name as though it is his birthright to offend because that’s the way it has always been.

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Many agree, including some Native American groups who use the name themselves for their high school teams. Self-entertaining former NFL coach Mike Ditka joined that chorus recently in such a strange and clumsy way that his comments have galvanized opposition to his position.

Former NFL referee Mike Carey answered questions for the first time about the Redskins name in yesterday’s Washington Post column by Mike Wise, and his presentation was quite a bit different than Ditka’s.

As you evaluate your perspective on the debate over the use of Redskins in the media and by the Washington NFL team, read the collections of quotes below by both Ditka and Carey, and instead of deciding which you might agree more with, evaluate them as though they were said by your son or daughter, or your mother or father.

Which set of quotes would you be more proud to have represent your child or parent?

Mike Carey – the official who quietly refused to referee Washington games since 2006:

“It just became clear to me that to be in the middle of the field, where something disrespectful is happening, was probably not the best thing for me,”
“Human beings take social stances, and if you’re respectful of all human beings, you have to decide what you’re going to do and why you’re going to do it.”
“I know that if a team had a derogatory name for African Americans, I would help those who helped extinguish that name. I have quite a few friends who are Native Americans. And even if I didn’t have Native American friends, the name of the team is disrespectful.”
“The popularity contest is not an issue. It doesn’t matter how many people don’t like it. It is disrespectful, and I will not use it.”
“In America, we’ve learned that respect is the most important thing that you have. I learned it from my parents, my schools, from my faith. And when you learn there’s something that might not be as respectful as you like, when you come to terms with it, you have to do something about it.”
“I was never comfortable with the name. I’ve never said [the team’s name] in my games. But then I realized it wasn’t an option to be part of them anymore. For me, I just knew. I knew that everybody — everybody — deserves a level of respect.”

NFL Hall of Famer, former Chicago Bears and New Orleans Saints coach Mike Ditka

“What’s all the stink over the Redskin name? It’s so much [expletive] it’s incredible. We’re going to let the liberals of the world run this world. It was said out of reverence, out of pride to the American Indian. Even though it was called a Redskin, what are you going to call them, a Brownskin?
“This is so stupid it’s appalling, and I hope that owner keeps fighting for it and never changes it, because the Redskins are part of an American football history, and it should never be anything but the Washington Redskins. That’s the way it is.”
“Its been the name of the team since the beginning of football,” Ditka said. “It has nothing to do with something that happened lately, or something that somebody dreamed up. This was the name, period. Leave it alone. These people are silly — asinine, actually, in my opinion.”
“I admire him for it. Really, I think it’s tradition, it’s history, it’s part of the National Football League. It was about Sammy Baugh and all the guys who were Redskins way back then. I didn’t think that Lombardi and Halas never had a problem with it, why would all these other idiots have a problem with the name? I’m sorry.
“I’m not very tolerant when it comes to the liberals who complain about everything.”

Where you stand is one thing, but what will you teach your children or learn from your parents, and which side of this debate would you like them on?

Washington Redskins debate – Mike Carey vs. Mike Ditka, which would you rather your son emulate?

by Kent Sterling

Mike Ditka went all “get off my lawn!” yesterday, and ironically it may be his silly rant that finally causes people to see the hate conveyed by the name “Redskin.”

Old guys can be fascinating interviews for two reasons – they have a cranky world view crafted through experiences that exist beyond our imaginations, and because at some point they decided that life is too short to sugar coat their version of the truth.

Mike Ditka will be 75-years old in two months, and he went old school yesterday in an interview about the use of the name “Redskins” by the Washington NFL franchise:

“What’s all the stink over the Redskin name? It’s so much [expletive] it’s incredible. We’re going to let the liberals of the world run this world. It was said out of reverence, out of pride to the American Indian. Even though it was called a Redskin, what are you going to call them, a Brownskin?

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“This is so stupid it’s appalling, and I hope that owner keeps fighting for it and never changes it, because the Redskins are part of an American football history, and it should never be anything but the Washington Redskins. That’s the way it is.”

“Its been the name of the team since the beginning of football,” Ditka said. “It has nothing to do with something that happened lately, or something that somebody dreamed up. This was the name, period. Leave it alone. These people are silly — asinine, actually, in my opinion.”

“I admire him for it. Really, I think it’s tradition, it’s history, it’s part of the National Football League. It was about Sammy Baugh and all the guys who were Redskins way back then. I didn’t think that Lombardi and Halas never had a problem with it, why would all these other idiots have a problem with the name? I’m sorry.

“I’m not very tolerant when it comes to the liberals who complain about everything.”

Ditka has been a cranky guy for a long time, so this rant might not be so much about age. I can hear Ditka saying all of this to Johnny Morris on what were hilarious appearances on WBBM-TV every Sunday night of Bears seasons in the late 1980s.

A perpetual state of crankiness doesn’t excuse Ditka’s grotesque indifference toward Native Americans who are offended by the use of the derisive term “Redskins,” but it does provide a quick glimpse of a time long ago when the advice to those who were offended was to “get over it.”

Rather than grant a sect of human beings the respect they request, Ditka wants everyone to get over themselves and not listen to those (including himself) who might say something hurtful.

Oddly, Ditka might have hurt Washington owner Daniel Snyder’s case for retaining the Redskin name with his stream-of-consciousness blather in support of it. Nothing drills down a side trying to use history and reason to defend an unreasonable and illogical perspective than a rant so virulent and odd that it becomes indefensible.

There is, of course, no defense for purposefully demeaning an entire nation of people, and by viewing this issue only through the prism of his own experience and strangely indifferent personality, Ditka shows a less than evolved viewpoint. There are many Native Americans who view the term “Redskin” to be the equivalent of what the n-word is in the African-American community.

In some ways, it’s historically worse in that European interlopers virtually exterminated Native Americans in their land grab after settling on this continent.

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Ditka, like TV’s Archie Bunker, isn’t mean-spirited as much as he is detached. Bunker was never hateful, just ignorant of the feelings of others. He was often surprised by Meathead’s (his nickname for son-in-law Mike Stivik) emotional response to his invective. Bunker believed what he believed, and if people didn’t like it, they shouldn’t listen.

That was the attitude Ditka represented yesterday, and it’s ridiculously myopic. Respect is the least each of us is due, and it is that lack of respect that defines Ditka’s rant – and Snyder’s continued intractability – toward adopting a name that an entire sect of people find demeaning.

We don’t have to agree with each other, but we should be willing to grant a modicum of respect to one another, and Ditka, as usual, indulged in what he felt was entertaining, not enlightening. Just like Archie.

[ed. note: For those who have never seen “All in the Family,” it was a sitcom that aired in the 1970s about a family led by patriarch Archie Bunker, a blue collar veteran of World War II who saw life simply. He judged everyone based upon race, religion, and sex. The show was a sensation through its run. Half of America laughed at Archie because they agreed with him, and the rest laughed because they saw him as an idiot. The counter to Archie was his liberal son-in-law Mike, who spent far too much time and energy trying to speed Archie’s evolution into a reasonable human being not defined by his intolerance. Everyone watched this show that could not air on today’s network TV because of the rampant use of racial and national slurs.]

Johnny Manziel has his whole NFL career ahead of him, but like Tim Tebow – it won’t last long

by Kent Sterling

Johnny Football becomes Johnny Finger during last night’s Monday Night game in Washington.

Writing the life story straight up to the end for Johnny Manziel isn’t difficult, and the brief NFL career he will enjoy won’t be the longest or most interesting chapter.

Manziel’s gift for prolonging plays in college is compromised by the speed of the defenders in the NFL, and his comparative inaccuracy delivering the ball isn’t a help either. He’s competitive to the point of being combative, and while that might be a strength for many in life, it will be the downfall for Manziel in the NFL.

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He can run, but can’t hide, and the cumulative punishment of the hits will eventually force him from the NFL. Manziel is Jim McMahon without the arm.

Manziel is the anti-Tebow – a hard-drinking rich kid who became a quarterback and has captivated fans on and off the field. The methodology has been 180-degrees different as the former fellow Heisman Trophy winner, but the result is the same. The media follows the kid’s every move because media consumers cannot get enough.

The only unknown is the specific injury that will end it all for Manziel. It could be a lacerated liver, ruptured spleen, shredded kidney, or a violent disturbance of a lesser internal organ, but it’s a matter of when, not if.

As thrilling as the gunslinger QB was at Texas A&M, he will be unable to discomfort NFL defenses coached by wily veterans and manned by exceptional athletes. As a comparison between the best college players and ordinary NFL players, Mizzou DE Michael Sam was the SEC’s co-defensive player of the year in 2013. In 2014, he was a seventh round draft pick who is fighting for a roster spot with the St. Louis Rams.

The NFL is filled with men who want to keep their homes, cars, and wives, and they are not playing games. Manziel trifles with these guys at his own peril, and flipping off grown men as they cavort on the sideline is going to cause problems beyond fines and suspensions. Just as happened with McMahon, someone is going to hit him with the intent of causing physical disruption to his ability to play football.

Manziel will then move into the next phase of his life, which will be to play golf, tinker with being a football analyst, and enjoy life in much the same way as he always has. Nothing wrong with that. Many of us would be envious of that life.

The Cleveland Browns, who have been a train wreck of a franchise since their resurrection in 1999, will continue to make bad choices because that seems to be their mission. In that 15 season span, just once have the Browns earned a trip to the postseason, and only once (in a different year) have they won as many as 10 games. General managers come and go, as do quarterbacks.

Tim Couch was the primary starter for four straight years from 1999-2002, but since then the Browns have had nine different guys start more games than any other in 11 seasons. Either Manziel or Brian Hoyer will be the 10th in 12 seasons. It’s damn likely that there will be an 11th in 13.

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That’s the curse of a team with a constantly spinning managerial compass. Stability doesn’t guarantee success, but instability is the hallmark of a habitual failure.

Nobody here is rooting for Manziel to fail. I like the guy. Life is too short to adhere to all the rules, and it can be painfully short for people unwilling or incapable to learn from their mistakes, and that appears to be the hallmark of Manziel’s personality. Not going gently into that good night was a romantic notion advanced by Dylan Thomas. Thomas ungently went at the age of 39.

The incredible thing is that it appears Manziel’s recent behavior is the result of trying his best to comport to the demands of the NFL and Browns. This may be as good as Manziel gets, and that makes the 21 teams who passed on Johnny Football very smart.

By the way, based on his lifestyle as articulated in various publications and how those behaviors fit into a website that calculates lifespan, Manziel lives to be 58. Tim Tebow lives to be 89. Neither are an NFL quarterback.

Indianapolis Colts – Right where they want to be after Saturday’s non-win

by Kent Sterling

D’Qwell Jackson is one reason to believe the Colts will be much improved in 2014.

The first 49 minutes of the Indianapolis Colts loss to the New York Giants Saturday night were about as good as anyone during the preseason has a right to hope for. The last 11 minutes were just that bad.

Leading 26-0 after the starters had long since toweled off and become spectators, the dozens of fans left for the end of the 3:40 marathon watched that lead evaporate like a puddle on a sunny day.

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The Colts last gasp was the reward for sticking it out as Pat McAfee attempted a 64-yard game-winning field goal that just slipped wide left and allowed a thoroughly thrashed Giants team to mark this game down as a meaningless win – which is just a bit better than a meaningless loss.

Of the two head coaches, there is no doubt that despite losing, Chuck Pagano slept a little bit better than Tom Coughlin Saturday night. The starters on both sides of the ball for the Colts looked very good, while the Giants were not sharp in any phase of the game.

When Andrew Luck walked off the field for the last time early in the second quarter, the Colts led 13-0. The defense flew to the ball, and seemed very energetic for a bunch of veterans playing in a preseason game.

And today at practice, the Colts spoke as though they believe there is meaning in the preseason after all. Linebacker D’Qwell Jackson told me that “winning is winning,” and that the Colts play to win every game – even in August. It’s expected that youngsters like defensive back Marcus Burley will fly around trying to make as many plays as possible because every play made might impress somebody, but the starters seemed to be full-go too.

The mindset for fringe players trying to make a living playing professional football is that all that has to happen is for one of the 32 teams to like them, and those plays during the fourth quarter of a supposedly meaningless game are actually quite meaningful.

For Burley, cornerback Loucheiz Puurifoy, linebacker Andy Studebaker, and running back Boom Herron, Saturday night was a big success. For others, not so much. Bjoern Werner also made an eye-opening play as he pursued a play on the opposite side of the field and made the tackle from behind.

As for Herron, he sure looks like a runner who doesn’t need to dance to find a hole. He nestles up to an offensive lineman and explodes through the smallest of crevices for positive yardage. We will see whether Ahmad Bradshaw can stay healthy (he was not wearing a red jersey in today’s practice). If not, Herron may be needed. If Richardson doesn’t start hitting holes as they open, Herron might be thrust into the spotlight.

The other great news for the Colts Saturday is that everyone left Lucas Oil Stadium in roughly the same physical condition in which they entered it. Health is the most important stat of any preseason game.

For fans, the length of this game was problematic. Three hours and forty minutes is a cruel expanse of time for a football game to be contested. Each of the forty minutes after the three hour mark passes exponentially slower than the previous one, and by the end of the night, fans feel like survivors, not willing participants.

The length was the result of a strange group of officials dedicated to emptying their pockets of flags, and rarely sharing with us what the call was. Actually, I’m not sure whether that was do to the officials or the director of the telecast failing to cut to the official, but I’m assuming the former because I didn’t overhear a call through the public address system either.

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If the NFL wants to force season ticket holders to pay for preseason games, the least they can do is offer a professionally presented product. Fans don’t need to see starters throughout the game, but a referee sharing calls with the audience should be a simple fix.

Speaking of the telecasts, Don Fischer has done a very nice job on the televised play-by-play, but Barry Krauss has yet to enlighten as analyst. He is a very nice guy, but when 26 year NFL veteran coach Rick Venturi is sitting at home in suburban Noblesville, it seems silly not to utilize him. I learn more about football every quarter I sit next to Venturi at NFL games than I previously knew. Glad that 1070 the Fan is putting him to work, but fans deserve more from Venturi.

The clock is ticking to the regular season when games matter plenty, but the Colts appear to be right where they want to be with two preseason games left.

Bob Kravitz stuns Indy media world; leaves Indianapolis Star for WTHR-13 and WTHR.com

by Kent Sterling

Bob Kravitz leaving the Indianapolis Star is good for everyone – but the Star.

It was inevitable that some media company would throw a lot of cash and security at former Indianapolis Star sports columnist Bob Kravitz for his estimable talent and brand value, and WTHR has more cash than anyone in Indianapolis media, so their decision to go all in on Kravitz makes complete sense.

Then why am I so stunned?

A few years ago when Bob worked at 1070 the Fan and I was the program director, I talked to him about leaving the Indianapolis Star to become a full time member of our team. I craved a consumer magnet for our digital product, and Bob was (as he remains) the voice of record in Indianapolis sports media. The conversation never got serious, as Bob would always respond, “It’s an interesting idea, but I’m an ink stained wretch at heart.”

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Not today. Not anymore. Bob is now a member of the very well-funded team over at WTHR where he will write roughly as often for WTHR.com as he did for the Star, and appear on camera as needed.

Despite his protests to the contrary, Bob is an adroit on-camera and on-mic performer, so this switch to an increased electronic presence makes sense.

The win in media today is creating unique content, and let’s face it, TV sports is not exactly built to compel. That makes Bob a treasured asset for an operation like WTHR. They need something edgy for digital, and frankly something unique wouldn’t hurt their TV product either.

Dave Calabro, Rich Nye, and Jason Spells are all very good at what they do, but their job responsibilities don’t include developing and advancing an opinion. They present information, video highlights, and interviews with players/coaches that can be accessed on plenty of media.

Something different is a positive, and Bob’s voice is different. He’ll bring an opinion to the mix, and Bob’s opinion is of great value for two reasons – he is the voice of record in Indianapolis sports, and his opinion comes from a place of honesty and deliberation. He doesn’t simply take a position and defend it like many columnists who insult their readers by haphazardly selecting a take and going through the motions of defending it.

Bob truly believes what he writes and says, and that gives weight to his opinions.

For WTHR, hiring Bob means people now have a reason to visit WTHR.com, and gives them a recognizable asset that is a serious point of differentiation for them as they battle WISH-8, WXIN-59, and WRTV-6 for ratings.

The Star will continue to provide coverage of local teams and beats, but will be bereft of a local voice that starts sports conversations and serves as the personality that drives use. Replacing Bob will be a serious challenge for an operation that is destined for more and more efficiencies as media consumers continue to find other portals that satisfy their curiosity.

If the newspaper industry is dying by the accumulative damage of thousands of paper cuts, a 14-year veteran voice of reason like Bob leaving the Star is a knee to the groin.

For Bob, he will get the security he covets while not working in a building where almost every conversation starts and ends with speculation on when the next round of staff cuts will be announced. That kind of environment is corrosive and causes increased stress, and Bob doesn’t enjoy that angst any more than you and I do. In fact, given his heart attack, I’m guessing dealing with stress is still a work in progress for Bob.

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The positive for the Star’s sports department is that it is led by a very capable editor who has made positive changes in the digital product in his short time here. Ronnie Ramos appears to be a forward thinking manager who has a plan to evolve the product forward while adhering to corporate mandates for efficiency. It’s a tough gig, but he has shown a knack for getting things right in a tough situation.

What resources Ramos deploys to try to replace the content and brand they lost when Bob walked out the door will go a long way toward defining his era of leadership.

Bob leaving the Star for WTHR was stunning, but the evolution of media will continue and accelerate. More changes are coming. Lot’s more changes.

Interesting times.

Baseball’s new commissioner – Meet the new boss, same as the old boss – no matter who it is

by Kent Sterling

The inability to hear questions during press conferences was on of Bud Selig’s strengths as commissioner of baseball.

Regardless of which of the three finalists (if any) owners elect today as the next commissioner of baseball, it will be a guy who will do the bidding of the owners and little else. And that may result in the slow death of the game.

Ticket prices, financial inequity among franchises, and the continued erosion of pace of play are distancing what was once America’s pastime from all but its hardest core fans.

Younger demographics cannot bear to watch the game on television or in the stands.

Sure fans are there, but attention lapses are many. Go to a Cubs game, sit in the bleachers, and watch the eyes of the supposed fans. If they ever focus on game action, it’s by mistake. Wrigley Field is now a gathering place – a giant neighborhood bar – where twenty-somethings drink overpriced beer in the afternoon before venturing out for a foggy night out.

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Go to the rooftops across Waveland or Sheffield Avenues, and count the heads of those behind the makeshift seating at the bars as opposed to the seats facing the field. Those at the bar outnumber the baseball fans at least 10-to-1.

The available gambits designed to raise the enthusiasm of fans have all been played, and the result has been increased malaise. Relentless interleague play has rendered the All-Star Game a tedious exhibition, and the World Series moot.

Implementing instant replay has been done with a keener eye on getting calls correct rather than to enhance the enjoyment of watching the game. The rule regarding catchers blocking home plate causes bizarre and unjust overturns of infield calls. Both delay the game.

Batters stepping out of the box to adjust batting gloves has also helped drive average game times beyond three hours. Of course, the longer fans are stuck in the ballpark, the more cash they spend on concessions, but that cleverly earned gain is short term because it is outpaced by increased discontent from those fatigued by the snail’s pace of each at-bat.

All the while, the current commissioner has proclaimed literally every move made during his 20 years manning the owners’ rubber stamp a total and complete success. Baseball has never been healthier, according to Selig. Not sure whether he was actually playing a fiddle while he said that.

The PED crisis continues, regardless of the spin from the commissioner’s office, and the grotesque inequity in revenue generated by the teams has kept teams from competing on a level playing field for a generation – the Kansas City Royals last qualified for the postseason in 1985.

People don’t need to be smart to own a team or business; they only need wealth. Nowhere is that axiom truer than in baseball, and the owners will show that to be true again today as they vote on a new head guy whose job will be to slow the passion leak for a game that used to captivate. John Henry, the owner of the Boston Red Sox appears to be one of the few exceptions. He appears to be one of the few to understand that the biggest problem for baseball is in engaging the fan base.

As other games have worked tirelessly to produce television shows, baseball has sweated over details that are meaningless to its customer base and has allowed to fester many important issues the NFL and NBA successfully dealt with years ago.

Baseball will continue to founder because changing a culture requires a change in leadership, and the true leadership comes from the owners who were born on third base, backpedaled to second and then first, and then celebrated their success in being on base at all.

Pete Rose will be kept out of baseball, more bandaids will be applied to the PED issue, the Yankees will continue to earn and spend three times as much as small market teams, dunderheads entombed in a monitor filled New York office will ponder for minutes whether to reverse calls as fans grow bored and disillusioned, and the old men in charge will wear themselves out patting each other on the back.

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It hasn’t been all misery under Selig, but the leadership so dearly needed for the game to reach a younger generation has been lacking for too long, and whatever the result of the vote today, it is likely to continue because there is no power behind the throne. Selig has looked bewildered for 20 years as he brushed the bangs from his forehead, and while the haircut of Rob Manfred, Tom Werner, or Tim Brosnan may be an improvement, the look of confusion likely will remain.

Indianapolis Colts – Chuck Pagano relates great advice to kids on bullying

by Kent Sterling

Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano is able to be a nice guy because people know they can’t push him around.

There is one sure way to stop bullying, and that is to refuse to be bullied. That was the message yesterday from Indianapolis Colts coach Chuck Pagano as he was asked a series of questions by the media that were unrelated to football, but very relevant to the lives of some young fans.

Do you have any response to Reggie Wayne saying he’d make you tap out in the boxing ring?

“Make me tap out? Good luck. Good luck. He’s a football player. He isn’t a WWE wrestler. He’s watching too much TV.”

So you would hold your own against Reggie Wayne?

“Anybody here.”

Is that a challenge?

“No, I’m just saying it like it is. I may not win it but we’re going down swinging. Dad always said growing up if you’re getting picked on by bullies, who do you go after? You go after the biggest, baddest one and you hit him right here on the button. You smash that nose and you get that nose bleeding and those eyes watering and he goes down, guess what happens to the rest of the gang? They’re gone, I got myself out of that pickle. Sometimes that may work, sometimes it may not, but that’s how you’ve got to start.”

There are rules that might keep some kids from fighting back, and for others there are physical limitations that need to be considered, but all things being equal, Pagano is right. The best way to stop a bully is to invoke the physical consequence Pagano described for his actions.

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Bullies are weak-minded and insecure by nature, and they seek out people they believe are weaker yet to assert dominance. Show you cannot be dominated and the bully either learns not to pick on kids or they learn not to pick on you.

Many kids who move to a new school get picked on, and until the new kid shows he isn’t playing, the unpleasantness continues.

I had this happen as a seventh grader. In study hall, a group of kids started thwacking me on the noggin with their pencils, messed with my books, and generally made me feel miserable. At that point, the persistent messages from teachers and school officials about fighting had taken root, and I left school rather than fight.

I walked to my grandmother’s house, and she very nicely suggested that I call my Dad and tell him what happened. Dad drove over, picked me up, and took me back to school. During the drive, he told me that the next time any of those kids touched me or messed with my property, I was to hit him. I mentioned the likelihood of punishment, and Dad said I wouldn’t have to worry about that.

As we walked into the school, Dad saw the principal and teacher who was running the study hall when I left, and he told them, “Listen, I have told Kent the next time a kid picks on him that he should punch that kid. If he doesn’t do that, he’s going to answer to me. He has expressed a concern that when he hits the kid, he will be in trouble from you. As a parent, my punishment will trump yours, so he will obey me. If you want to punish someone for Kent hitting a kid who picks on him, that would be ridiculous, but if you need someone to punish, come after me.”

The principal and teacher looked baffled and didn’t respond. Dad walked out of the school, and I went to class.

Two weeks later, one of those same kids took the pen I was using to do some homework, and stood at the front of the classroom taunting me. I thought, well, this is it. I walked to the front of the room, and the kid held the pen inches from my face and told me I wouldn’t be able to take it from him. I did exactly what Pagano advised yesterday. I made a fist and threw it as hard as I could at the kid. It hit him in the nose, and he was stunned for about two seconds. Then, his face contorted with rage, and he lunged for me. The teacher got between us, and we were both sent to the principal’s office.

Both of us were lectured to briefly and sent back to class. That was the last time I was taunted or bullied. A little unpredictability goes a long way with bullies. A shot to the nose might result in a beating, but backing down simply cannot be an option if the goal is to stop addlepated oafs who require picking on a smaller kid to feel manly.

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Today’s kids are a little different as incidents involving guns in schools have shown. Twenty-five years ago, we handled problems with our fists, not guns. The stakes are a little different today, but the message is the same. Refusing to accept bullying can take a lot of forms – I just happen to believe that Pagano’s solution is the right one because it worked for me.