Author Archives: Kent Sterling

In “Players First: Coaching From the Inside Out”, Kentucky Basketball coach John Calipari agrees completely with Kent Sterling

by Kent Sterling

“Kent, can you ever forgive the things I thought about you? How can I hate a guy whose name starts with K-E-N-T?”

Okay, Cal, I forgive you. Let’s get a smoothie!”

University presidents have made the NCAA so completely useless that they have created an alliance of two people normally at total odds about college athletics – Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari and me. Calipari makes so much sense in his new book, “Players First: Coaching From the Inside Out” that I may drive to Lexington to make peace and buy him a smoothie.

According to the Wall Street Journal’s synopsis of the book (to be released April 15th), Calipari offers a 13-point plan to resolve some low-hanging fruit issues that keep schools from financially benefitting anyone but themselves, coaches, and administrators.

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I am so in lockstep with Calipari that I would swear he’s a fan of this site if not for the strident and caustic posts I’ve written that have repeatedly ripped him for being the embodiment of all that is self-serving about big time college coach/millionaires.

Among his excellent ideas in the chapter titled “At War? Common Sense Versus the NCAA”:

$3,000 to $5,000 stipend for players to cover the full cost of attending a university
NCAA to cover eligible players’ insurance premiums
Allow college athletes to accept loans against future earnings up to $50,000
If a coach leaves his team, players should be permitted to transfer without sitting out for one season
Allow players the money for one round-trip flight home every year
Access to lawyers
Funds for formal attire to wear when representing the school

Calipari also recommends allowing families to purchase championship rings and stay in the same hotels as the players during the NCAA Tournament. Not only did I never know those weren’t allowed, I have no idea how the NCAA could stop such things from happening. If I want to stay in the same hotel as my son, I’m booking a room. Why the NCAA might object will need to be explained to me, although they might want to save their time and mine. Their illogic only frustrates me.

In the book, Calipari compares the NCAA to the Soviet Union in that its inability to evolve guarantees its own obsolescence and demise. The only change I would make is to clarify that NCAA president Mark Emmert would like to implement some of the same initiatives that Calipari recommends, but membership approves all rule changes. University presidents run things, not Emmert.

People tend to blame the NCAA as though the bad ideas and archaic notions of amateurism emanate from Indianapolis, rather than the bureaucrats who run from any changes that might adversely affect their bottom line in a way their boards of trustees might object.

But the ideas are stellar. Kids should be allowed access to legal opinions. Who could see the logic of a destitute kid about to become a millionaire being banned from seeking advice? It’s ridiculous.

I would add two ideas to Calipari’s fine list – scholarships should extend for the life of the athlete, if he or she leaves the university in good standing; and health coverage for injuries sustained during collegiate competition or school sanctioned and supervised work survives long past the life of the scholarship.

It’s possible that those notions are included in the book, but not in the Wall Street Journal synopsis of the book.

The concept of sharing ideology with a guy I have reviled for so long can either be seen as a sign that even the most virulent opponents can find common ground, or that one or the other needs to seriously examine his belief system.

I can either be an intractable opponent like Joseph Stalin, or accept the concept of agreeing with a sworn enemy as Mikhail Gorbachev did. What a minute, why am I the Soviet guy? Calipari can be the Russky. I get to be Kennedy or Reagan.

Either way, this book is a step toward detente.

Indiana Pacers and CIB reach deal to stay at least through 2024; owner Herb Simon deserves every penny with our thanks

by Kent Sterling

Pacers owner deserves the $160M over ten years and the thanks of a city that would be markedly different without him.

The details are arduous to plow through, and the clauses dealing with the potential death of team owner Herb Simon a little darkly pragmatic, but the important takeaway from the deal between the Pacers and Capital Improvement Board is that come hell, high water, or financial collapse, the Indiana Pacers will be tenants at Bankers Life Fieldhouse for at least the next ten years.

In many cities, taxpayers would carp about $160 million in public funds to support a private business, but Hoosiers have seen first hand the enormous positive effects of major league franchises in ways people in other cities might miss.’

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Without the Pacers, Indianapolis Colts, and offerings made possible by their presence, this city would have scant little to offer tourists. Anyone who has witnessed the evolution of the Indianapolis downtown area that has occurred over the last two decades would be crestfallen to see a decline along a similar trek.

There are many midwestern cities without a vibrant destination downtown, and 20 years ago Indy was among them. To get an idea of what downtown was, take away almost every hotel, bar, or restaurant but the Hyatt, Canterbury, Ike & Jonesy’s, St. Elmo’s, and the Slippery Noodle. Replace Lucas Oil Stadium with the comparatively tiny and inefficient Hoosier Dome, and raze the Fieldhouse in favor of the suite-less and amenity free Market Square Arena. Circle Center Mall? Gone. Victory Field? No idea what used to occupy that space.

India-no-place, Nap-town, or whatever derisive nickname you preferred, the downtown area earned it.

With the integration of the Pacers and Colts new arenas, the number of nights the venues are used leap forward, and instead of downtown being a place to be on Pacers and Colts game days and nights only – the Super Bowl, Big Ten Football Championship, Big Ten Basketball Tournaments, NCAA Regionals and Final Fours, conventions that can now be accommodated by the expansion that included Lucas Oil Stadium, and much more are magnets for visitors with thick wallets and opulent expense accounts.

Now, downtown is a cool enough place to be that apartment buildings and condos are popping up along the canal, on the near north side, and adjacent to where Market Square Arena played host to Elvis Presley’s last show in 1977.

That renaissance began with a vision of being a major league sports town, and other cities are well aware of the financial magic an NBA team can bring. Louisville, St. Louis, Columbus, Nashville, Kansas City, and Omaha would love to roll out the red carpet for the Pacers – once again a premier NBA franchise expected to make a deep playoff run for years to come.

It may seem silly for a city to write a check for $16 million per year to a billionaire who now turns a profit with his team and has seen significant recent appreciation of the franchise’s value over the past few years from $325 million to $475 million. Simon doesn’t need what amounts to tip money, but that doesn’t mean he doesn’t deserve it.

In fact, Indianapolis got off cheap – really cheap – compared to the deal a rival city might have put together to motivate Simon to move the Pacers.

This is a thought that deserves its own post, but try to imagine what Indianapolis would be without the good fortune of Mel Simon being assigned to Fort Benjamin Harrison while in the military. Mel brought brother Herb here, and Simon Malls became a financial driver for the community. There is no doubt the Pacers would have moved in the early 1980s if not being rescued by the Simons. If the Pacers moved, Bob Irsay might have seen Indy as a city in recession, and chosen Phoenix as the new home of the Colts. No Pacers, no Colts, and Indianapolis is Omaha.

It’s said correctly that every professional golfer should write a check to Arnold Palmer for the explosion of wealth his dynamic presence brought to the PGA Tour in the 1960s. The same is true more recently of Tiger Woods. The City of Indianapolis should view the Simons in the same way. If Herb Simon wants a token or the taxpayers appreciation, it has been well-earned many, many times over.

An average of $16 million per year for 10 years is a small token of the respect and thanks Simon is owed by the city and everyone in it.

Indiana Basketball – Ghost of Bob Knight Still Casts Shadow Over Tom Crean

by Kent Sterling

Bob Knight was an unrepentant jerk, but he taught IU fans basketball as he knew it. And they still know it that way.

For 30 minutes prior to every game he coached for several years in the mid-to-late 1980, Indiana University basketball coach Bob Knight taught a master class in roundball.

This was the most informative pre-game in the history of televised sports with Knight sharing the specific game plan for how his Hoosiers would defend and attack that night’s opponent. It seemed insane at the time, almost a dare to Bill Frieder, Lou Henson, and Dr. Tom Bouncepass to watch and try to beat Knight.

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Viewers watched and learned the details and variations of motion offense and man-to-man defense that Knight would employ to win many more than he lost over the course of 29 years in Bloomington. Through his first 22 years at IU, Knight won three National Championships, almost 90% of home games, 11 Big Ten Championships, and compiled an overall record of 517-156 (a winning percentage of 76.8%)

When the author of that success spoke, Indiana fans paid close attention – and some still do. Over the years, Knight taught thousands what they know about basketball, and that doesn’t include the single credit class he occasionally taught as part of the HPER curriculum.

Indiana fans didn’t just watch basketball, they began to understand they game at a higher level, or so they believe. When they watch Tom Crean coach the Hoosiers, it is seen and evaluated through that Bob Knight prism.

Indianapolis Star IU athletics beat writer Zach Osterman wrote in today’s piece about Knight, “Does Knight still cast a shadow over the program he led to three national championships, one with which he was synonymous for so many years? Everyone interviewed for this story suggested that the answer was no.”

Those people don’t listen to the fans who are 40 and older who watch the Hoosiers play and can’t figure out what the hell is going on because it doesn’t gibe with Bob Knight’s lesson plan. The dissatisfaction among alumni with Crean’s methods can be traced directly back to Knight, and that is as big a shadow as the one his hulking figure cast on campus for so long.

Virtually no one would want Knight to return to Indiana as coach because self-indulgence on the scale Knight enjoyed is only tolerable when accompanied by hanging banners. When the championships stopped, in large part because of Knight’s indifference to recruiting, the amusement with which fans viewed his embarrassing antics waned.

Finally, even the covert and clumsy way with which Knight was dispatched seemed a just result. Those who remember the “zero tolerance policy” that ended the Knight era were repulsed by the methodology of the firing, but by and large agreed that it was time to turn the page on the General.

In that sense, there is no shadow, but there will be a very well-educated group of basketball fans who will evaluate IU coaches through eyes trained by Knight. That might make Indiana the toughest place to coach in basketball – college or pro.

Knight will speak in Carmel tonight, and he will share his version of the truth in the plainest language imaginable. His latest descendent in Bloomington knows more about basketball than he gets credit for, but his truths are not told with the same flair, and his lessons about basketball are not as blunt and transparent as Knight’s.

That makes it hard for the IU alums who graduated from 1973-1994 to embrace Crean with the same verve and respect they reserved for Knight.

Call Knight’s lingering specter what you like – legacy, birthright, shadow, or curse – but it doesn’t make Tom Crean’s job any easier.

Indiana Basketball – Bob Knight Comes to Carmel to Preach to Hoosier Choir

by Kent Sterling

Bob Knight’s combination is funny, arrogant, and volatile. The sense that anything can happen still sells tickets to his appearances.

After seeing Bob Knight speak a half dozen times, I’ve had enough. His combination of dime store wisdom, truly entertaining/hilarious anecdotes, and arrogant vitriol stopped captivating me long ago.

As you might guess, I won’t be in attendance at the Carmel Center for the Performing Arts tonight as Knight blasts the current state of everything, talks about how nothing is as good as it used to be, and no one is as smart as he is.

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If you have never seen Knight speak, I recommend that you buy a ticket and listen to the stories, tolerate the self-righteous blather, and learn from the lessons that are relevant. That I won’t take the time to listen – again – shouldn’t be inferred as a rebuke of his gifts as a speaker.

While Knight is no longer coaching, his understanding of basketball dwarfs all but a very few in the history of the game. His understanding of human behavior is wildly off target. Those who applaud him are tolerated. All others can kiss his ass.

Knight will be in hog heaven tonight as he is greeted by a standing ovation from sycophants eager to lap up every word that spills from his lips. People who don’t worship Knight tend to stay home because they are too smart to pay for 90 minutes of anger inducing diatribes.

Part of the fun of listening to Knight is that he is the public speaking equivalent of MTV’s “Jackass”, the show that celebrates those who do what others would never dare. Knight shocks and awes throughout his appearances with stories, lessons, and language that bring laughter – some genuine and some nervous.

The question and answer portion will bring the inevitable request for a critique of the current state of the Indiana program, which he will either choose to dismiss or deride, and the request for him to return to coaching, “College basketball needs you! Those players need a disciplinarian!” His will sound like it was written by Aaron Sorkin for Colonel Nathan Jessup in “A Few Good Men.”

There will be tension as someone tries to get bold and question one of Knight’s strange episodes of misbehavior and the crowd will murmur nervously as he pauses, glaring at his inquisitor as he has thousands of times before. There is nothing quite so dramatic as a Bob Knight glare. Then, he’ll either unload on the poor sap, break the tension with some not-so-gentle mockery, or praise the person for being brash enough to ask the question – likely a combination of the three.

Someone might ask Knight about Kentucky and John Calipari. If so, Knight’s bare knuckle response will wind up on Sportscenter.

Whatever happens tonight in Carmel, it will not be pre-scripted. Knight isn’t paid to be smooth. He is a verbal gunslinger who enjoys amusing himself in front of a crowd. His name sells the tickets in Indiana, not the content.

Knight will be inflammatory, self-indulgent, funny, and off-color. It will be entertaining, maddening, confusing, and occasionally enlightening.

The audience will be reminded about what made Knight one of the most polarizing sports figures of the last half century. His ability to build a successful basketball team was beyond question, as was his lack of impulse control and need to shock.

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No one I can think of in history, other than Richard Nixon and George Patton, overcame more obstacles of their own creation on their path to success.

Witnessing first hand the clash of good and bad being waged within the complicated labyrinth of Knight’s brain is worth the price of admission tonight in Carmel – unless you’ve seen it over and over again, in which case it is a tedious and exhausting exercise.

Indiana Pacers – “Genius” Frank Vogel Rests Starters AND Takes Lead in Race for #1 Seed

by Kent Sterling

If you bet Chris Copeland would be the hero last night in Game 79, report to the window to collect your winnings.

The Indiana Pacers needed a win last night, a loss by the Miami Heat, and to get its starters some rest. Check, check, and a big check as coach “Riverboat” Franky Vogel rolled the dice like a pro and went on a serious heater at the NBA’s late season craps table.

It takes a strangely confident and cool-headed leader to make the call to sit all five starters for what might turn out to be THE game that brings Game Seven of the Eastern Conference Finals to Bankers Life Fieldhouse, or sends it to Miami.

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The media and fans were outraged when word came from Milwaukee that the plan was not only to start Donald Sloan, Luis Scola, Evan Turner, Ian Mahinmi, and Rasual Butler, but to keep Paul George, Roy Hibbert, George Hill, David West, and Lance Stephenson on the bench as cheerleaders throughout the game against the NBA’s worst team. This was a high stakes move for a coach being criticized by everyone from team president Larry Bird and Indy Star thought leader Bob Kravitz to the ardent supporter in Area 55 and the G2 Zone.

But Vogel walked away smiling as the Pacers prevailed 104-102, Miami lost in Memphis 107-102 as their season is withering just as quickly as the Pacers were before Vogel went all in without any face cards.

Chris Copeland scored the last of his 18 points (in 17 minutes) on a well-defended drive from the right side as the clock hit 1.2 seconds to break a tie caused by some faulty foul shooting and predictable leaky defense. And that was that. The highest paid cheerleaders in basketball rushed the floor, Lance Stephenson gleefully tackled Copeland, and Vogel dodged the city of Indianapolis meeting him at the airport to boo him for throwing away the best chance to gain an advantage the Pacers have played 79 games to earn – home court until the NBA Finals.

Scola, Turner, Copeland, and C.J. Watson combined to make 30-of-48 from the field and 9-of-11 from beyond the arc to give the Pacers a very efficient offensive night.

The Pacers only trailed for 77 seconds in the second half, but nearly made Vogel’s gamble a miserable failure by pissing down their leg late at the foul line. Missing three of their last four gave the Bucks a tie, but Copeland’s late heroics saved the Pacers bacon.

The name of the game in the NBA isn’t how, but how many, and right now the Pacers have 54 wins to the Heat’s 53 with a game Friday in Miami that could virtually salt away the #1 seed. If the Pacers win Friday, they take a 1 1/2 game lead with two to play. If the Pacers split those games (Oklahoma City at home, @ Orlando), they will finish with a 56-26 record. The best the Heat could muster is an identical 56-26 record.

The tiebreaker would belong to the Pacers because of their 3-1 head-to-head mark.

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If the Pacers lose Friday, they would fall a half-game back, but still have a chance for the top seed as they would own the second tiebreaker of best record in conference with a win against the Magic. That would mean even if the Pacers lose to the Heat and then Thunder in their home finale but beat the Magic, they finish with a 55-27 record. The Heat would need to win two of their final three (@ Atlanta, @ Washington, and vs. Philly) to clinch #1.

Let’s forget Finite Math for a minute and congratulate Vogel, who spent Wednesday night in Milwaukee smiling like he knew something the rest of us didn’t – that his second unit is better than the worst team in the NBA – especially when the Bucks roster is depleted by injury.

There aren’t many coaches who would put their careers on the line to rest a weary squad, but Vogel’s squad passed the first test of this gambit. The second comes on Friday when the supposedly rested Pacers roll out to South Beach to either back up their boss or make him look like a quack who can’t diagnose and treat his team’s disease.

This is why millions watch the World Series of Poker on ESPN every year. We love to watch a maniac go all-in to see if he can catch an eight on the river to fill his straight.

Vogel did it last night, but the Heat still have a lot of chips.

Northwestern Football Lives “On the Waterfront” a Mile from Lake Michigan

by Kent Sterling

Current Northwestern quarterback Trevor Siemian balked at his chance to change the game. Too bad – he coulda been a contender.

Northwestern Football coach Pat Fitzgerald is never going to be portrayed on film by Lee J. Cobb, nor quarterback Trevor Siemian by Marlon Brando – and not just because both actors are dead.

Fitzgerald would never threaten to kill Siemian, as Cobb did with Brando in “On the Waterfront,” but he did ask his players to vote against forming a union. The tacit message might have been inferred as, “Those who vote to unionize may find snaps hard to come by this season.”

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“On the Waterfront” is a 1954 film depicting the difficulties for already unionized dock workers as Brando’s character fights the corrupt union boss (Cobb). Day workers who complain about the conditions or pay get the freeze out and don’t work. Those who toe the company line get paid.

Siemian came out against the tactic employed by former quarterback Kain Colter in trying to form a union so issues like lifelong scholarships and health coverage can include input from the athletes those policies directly affect. He is quoted on the ESPN Chicago website, as being “treated far better than I deserve” at Northwestern.

It bears mention that Kolter never pursued unionizing the Northwestern football team until his eligibility ended. Nothing to lose makes a man strong and reveals principles otherwise conveniently hidden. That’s not to say that Kolter might not have seen the light if his professor had asked why football players aren’t considered employees a year earlier, but the timeline is what the timeline is.

So the boss, frightened by the specter of change, asks his charges to reject the opportunity for greater representation and perhaps a more expensive paradigm. The team leader acquiesces, saying in effect that he’s lucky the opportunity to work exists at all.

So exactly how aren’t Northwestern football players employees? Might be instructive for Siemian to catch “On the Waterfront” next time it’s on Turner Classic Movies.

Kentucky Should Be Looking for a New Coach in 3 Weeks If John Calipari Is Offered Lakers Job

by Kent Sterling

John Calipari will likely be back in Kentucky next year, but if offered the Lakers job, I suggest he TAKE IT!

The joke is that John Calipari is the college coach most ready to succeed in the NBA because he has the most experience coaching professionals. True, but not the reason why he should leave Blue Grass for the high tides of Los Angeles to lead the Lakers back from the dead.

On the off chance that there is any truth at all to the seemingly absurd rumor it appears Calipari’s agent Worldwide Wes started via a Rex Chapman tweet prior to Monday night’s championship game, he should pursue the Lakers with the same vigor he uses to pursue NBA ready recruits.

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Few jobs in sports are as difficult as being the head coach at the University of Kentucky. Fan expectations are insane, and the recruiting grind of bringing in constantly churning group of McDonald’s All-Americans is daunting. Miss on a class, miss the tournament, and piss off an entire state with no diversions but the Wildcats to occupy their attention.

Worrying about grades, kids making the right decisions, and finding the formula to congeal the disparate and incredibly talented parts into a team during the nine months they wait for NBA Draft eligibility are constant worries.

Without a doubt, positives outweigh the negatives as the basketball czar of Kentucky. The pay is great, and legend status has been conferred upon Calipari by Big Blue Nation will provide a steady income for life.

But there have to be moments when Calipari sits in his office and wonders whether being a hero in Kentucky is the tallest peak he can climb. The highest level of basketball is played by grown men in the NBA, and after being viewed as a failure during his stint leading the New Jersey Nets must grate on a man who has succeeded everywhere else.

This isn’t the Utah Jazz calling; it’s the Los Angeles Lakers – the team of Kobe, Shaq, Wilt, the Zenmaster, Magic, Kareem, Pat Riley, Wilt, the Logo, and George Mikan. It’s Jack Nicholson and Lou Adler sitting next to the bench. It’s the iconic purple and gold in America’s second largest media market.

The Buss Family’s pockets are deep, and the allure for free agents to come to L.A. is huge. Recruiting to the Lakers will be easier than recruiting to Lexington, and being 25-53 – just one game ahead of the last place Utah Jazz – has given whomever replaces Mike D’Antoni an excellent shot at exceeding expectations.

Whether Calipari is really being wooed by the Lakers or is simply trying to drive Kentucky toward offering an extension for $8-$10 million per year is another issue, but if there is fire behind all this smoke, he should run to LA to establish his legacy as a bonafide coach who can do much more than find ways to attract the best 18-year olds in America to UK.

If Calipari is ever going to leave Kentucky for a plum job in the NBA, now is the time. After a five-year run that has been very prosperous (four elite eights, three final fours, two championship games, and one championship, Calipari will likely never be hotter.

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The next couple of weeks will be very important in defining Calipari’s career as a coach. He has climbed every mountain that exists in Lexington, and his decision to rewrite his failure as an NBA coach by building the Lakers from the ground up will share whether the pain over his experience with the Nets continues to leave a mark.

The money will be close to equal, but the ability to amend his brand may be too great to pass up. It should be. The Lakers job is special.

What Indiana Pacers Wanted in November is Still Right There for the Taking

by Kent Sterling

David West appeared relieved after the Atlanta debacle. Maybe now young teammates will listen to him.

If the Indiana Pacers were penalized in proportion to their level of pathetic play for Sunday’s home loss against Atlanta, they might have dropped out of the playoffs all together, but that’s not the way the standings work, so despite losing eight-of-11 the Pacers are only one-half game out of the top spot in the East.

Miami lost at home to Brooklyn last night, and heads to Memphis tonight while the Pacers play against the truly terrible Milwaukee Bucks. If Memphis beats the Heat, and the Pacers take care of business versus the 14-63 Bucks, the Pacers will re-assume the lead in the race for the #1 seed.

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No question the Pacers are not playing anything resembling their best basketball as they try to recapture the fire in the bellies and legs, but the goal they have focused upon since the Heat sent them home with a road loss in Game Seven of the 2013 Eastern Conference Finals is still right there for the taking.

Fans and media are expressing hyperbolic fury toward the Pacers what is being lamented as their collapse, but all it will take are wins against the Bucks, Heat, and Magic to earn home court until the NBA Finals.

In early November, if anyone had offered a guarantee of 56 wins and the #1 seed in the East, every fan and media member would have gleefully grabbed it. The 33-7 start raised expectations beyond reason toward a greatness this roster is simply not capable of sustaining, as the 20-18 recent run has shown.

The Pacers boast a lot of good players, but none who could be included in the class of greats like LeBron James and Kevin Durant, at least not yet. Paul George is really good, a regular all-star, but not great. Lance Stephenson is mercurial – to be kind. Roy Hibbert at his best is a difference maker on the defensive end, and at his worst an emotionally fragile distraction. David West and George Hill are steady components.

Frank Vogel has had a lot of fun since taking the reins of the team from hard-driving and humorless Jim O’Brien. It’s not hard to get people to respond initially when you are the breath of fresh air that players have prayed for, but can a nice guy like Vogel force players to dig deep when a game or season is on the line?

That’s the question that must be answered over the next week – and beyond in the playoffs – that will determine the course for Larry Bird as he evaluates Vogel.

But the NBA is a players’ game, and the corrections needed to right the ship and get the train that appeared to have no brakes in November, December, and January rolling again must come from the players themselves. This is not a Vogel problem, and shouldn’t be diagnosed as such.

Bob Kravitz and others might be tired of hearing about fatigue, physical and mental, but when I asked Paul George about the grind of an 82-game season, his eyes told the story better than his words. He looked exhausted.

George is 23, and at 23 he is still naive enough to believe that hard work is the correct answer to all questions about success. Sometimes the answer is rest. Experience is the best teacher for the best ratio between hard work and dedicated rest, and this season has been an excellent teacher of that lesson.

The same is true for Vogel, who has been consistently rewarded throughout his career for hard work. It’s the most important and obvious point of differentiation in a young coach’s career, and Vogel has embraced it. Sometimes the right answer is to back off the gas a little bit, and Vogel is learning that this season.

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So if the Pacers can win tonight, Friday at Miami, and Wednesday at Orlando, while losing to Oklahoma City, they will finish 56-26. If the Heat lose to the Pacers and one of their other opponents (@ Memphis tonight, @ Atlanta on Saturday, Monday @ Washington, or in their season finale vs. Philly), the Heat will finish 56-26. The tiebreaker will belong to the Pacers because of the 3-1 head-to-head record versus the Heat.

Not such a longshot, and if that happens, all will be forgiven and forgotten.

It’s a long season. Everybody relax.

Former Indiana State, UIndy, DePauw Coach, IU Assistant & Radio Analyst Royce Waltman Dies

by Kent Sterling

Royce Waltman was a good man and mentor to hundred of young men he shepherded through high school and college.

There is something special about a coach who dedicates a life to helping 18-year old kids become 22-year old men. They leave a legacy more enduring than wealth or celebrity. Like teachers, coaches have a long list of those whose lives they have touched to prove they were here.

When Royce Waltman peacefully declared victory in his fight against cancer, I hope he was able to reflect upon the many men who learned so many lessons from him under his tutelage as a high school coach in Bedford, Pennsylvania, an assistant at Indiana, head coach turns at DePauw, Indianapolis, and Indiana State, and finally as an assistant at Roncalli High School in Indianapolis.

“His knowledge of the game and ability to teach it was only eclipsed by the way he made you feel when you were with him,” said IU coach Tom Crean in a statement released by Indiana University. “Personally, I respected him long before I came to Indiana. In getting to know Royce here, I was incredibly fortunate to have become his friend.”

“The sign of this man’s toughness was on our trip to New York when we played Washington and UConn in the Wounded Warrior project,” Crean continued. “We all knew he was in pain and he went great lengths to not show it and stayed focused on his radio duties. It was another example of what made him a great leader, his poise under pressure and putting others before himself. Not only are my thoughts and prayers with Coach Waltman’s family, but with people like Brad Brownell, Rick Ray, Dick Bender and the countless others who lost a father figure.”

Indiana play-by-play legend Don Fischer remembered his colleague on the IU broadcasts as a friend, “Royce was one of these coaches that endeared himself to everybody, even those who he got angry with now and then. Everybody that knew him respected him and liked him. He was a terrific basketball coach but he was much more than that to everyone he knew. The time we spent with him on our broadcasts were absolutely special.”

In Indianapolis, Waltman has been quoted many times by former player while he was at Indiana and current 1070 the Fan host Dan Dakich as saying, “Whatever you do, don’t get fired for losing.”

Waltman packed a lot of teaching into his 72 years, and he will be missed.

Digger Phelps Out at ESPN – Addition by Subtraction in Bristol

by Kent Sterling

Digger Phelps is out at ESPN, and hoops fans are all the better for it.

Color coordination between a tie and highlighter isn’t enough anymore to keep a job at ESPN. A lack of preparation and the insipid commentary that followed gives fans a reason to rejoice the departure of a source of great annoyance – Richard “Digger” Phelps.

The end of a career, even one earned through mediocre-at-best performance over many years, is often a reason for an empathetic eulogy, even from a heartless bastard like me. But with Digger, it’s different.

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Calling what happened the result of a decline implies that Phelps was ever good at his job. He wasn’t. His analysis was dime store pablum bereft of justification, but worse his behavior as a guy has always been an embarrassment to Notre Dame and ESPN.

A former sports information director, who worked with Phelps many times called him, “the least prepared, least informed and highest maintenance analyst I ever encountered in my years as a SID.” When I asked him whether I could use his quote, he emailed, “Sure but you could probably attribute it to any SID that has had to deal with him while he has been at ESPN.”

A friend went to dinner with Phelps in South Bend a few years ago. “Digger ordered a $1,000 bottle of wine, and then another $1,000 bottle. He and his son ate and drank like kings, and I have to say his stories were pretty damn entertaining. But when the meal was over, he stood up, waved, and left. The a**hole stuck me with a $5,000 tab!”

I asked a friend who had worked with Phelps to tell me a story that would paint a positive picture of him, and he told me about playing with him in a golf outing in South Bend. Every hole, Phelps scoured the woods adjacent to the fairway for lost golf balls. Foursomes started stacking up behind them, but Phelps continued searching for balls. My friend asked Phelps why he was holding up play by looking for balls. “Because they are for the kids. I take all the balls I find, wash, and then autograph them. I throw them to kids at the Lake Tahoe celebrity golf event.” My friend said that showed Digger’s big heart.

I said, “You mean this rich prick is stacking foursomes behind him at a big money outing because he’s too damn cheap to drop $100 on new Pinnacles to autograph?”

Yep.

There are other stories about being a self-impressed moron in South Bend, not paying for drinks, and treating bar patrons like his personal assistants, but none of that has anything to do with why he is out in Bristol. He’s out because the tonnage of his errors finally reached critical mass. Calling Shabazz Napier, “Shabazz Siva,” happened yesterday, and the shallow analysis provided when he gave the right names was most obvious when paired with Jay Bilas and Dan Dakich, who bring intellectual and strategic heft to their appearances.

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Phelps embarrassed himself and ESPN by referring to NCAA Tournament team Stephen F. Austin as “Stephen A. Austin” and then correcting himself by saying “Stephen F. Foster.”

For virtually every person on the planet, I feel the pain of those who are told their services are no longer needed. With Phelps it’s different. His performance belied an indifference to the pursuit of excellence, and his behavior as shared to me by friends of his shows an indifference to them.

Sometimes, the end of a career is a just result – a return to karmic equilibrium – and celebrating that doesn’t seem so wrong.

Next year’s basketball coverage on ESPN will be much more insightful and fun as a result of Phelps’ absence. ESPN is too classy to say that publicly, but I prefer to tell the truth.

[ed. note: While the stories above weren’t cherry-picked to portray Digger is a negative light – they were representative of the dozens of stories I have heard from those in South Bend who have run into him – if you have a story that makes Digger look a little less (or more narcissistic) than my take, please feel free to write one as a comment. If you feel the need to praise his broadcasting work, you need to take inventory of what you value in a television analyst.]