Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Kentucky Basketball Fans Take Criticism Over One-&-Dones So Personally

by Kent Sterling

Not many of Calipari’s recruits stick around the University of Kentucky for four year.

“Calipari doesn’t like the (one-and-done) rule anymore than you do!” a relentless wave of Kentucky fans write in their comments to my posts critical of Kentucky basketball coach John Calipari.

They also write that Calipari just recruits the kids destined for the NBA better than anyone else, and to hate Kentucky for that reflects jealousy unbecoming a journalist. Some bring up Duke and Kansas as programs that also benefit from the one-and-done rule. The truth is that Duke has had three freshman declare their eligibility for the draft since 2000, and Bill Self has had a total of three since coming to Kansas in 2003. From 2010-2013, Calipari has used the talents of 11 kids who spent less than one year in Lexington before jumping to the NBA.

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There are insults – some funny, some silly, and others that reflect an unhealthy anger. I enjoy the funny insults, and pity those without the intellectual wherewithal to channel their anger properly toward humor. If you can’t be angry and funny, don’t indulge in either.

I hold no angst toward the university or the commonwealth’s people. When Tubby Smith was the coach, I enjoyed watching the Wildcats play. My dissatisfaction with John Calipari’s use of very talented athletes is an indictment only of him. Those who support Calipari view the world through the opposite end of the kaleidoscope, but dissent is what makes the world go around. Debate is enjoyable – at least for me. Through conversation, maybe I will gain a little wisdom.

Wouldn’t that be nice? Two commentors – Philboyd Studge and Warren from TN, I enjoy quite a bit. Both are really smart and possess a skill in writing their thoughts that I admire. Philboyd is always clever and Warren is sincere and thoughtful.

Let me try to explain a few things to make my point a little clearer:

I am not accusing Calipari of cheating, as defined by the NCAA. I find it hard to believe that players at the highest level of college basketball don’t receive benefits beyond those allowed, but I don’t begrudge any athlete a little extra cash. There is plenty of money in college athletics, and for the athletes not to get a taste over, under, or around the table is unjust. I am certain that Calipari is bright enough to have built several Chinese walls between himself and the payments, if there are any.
Whether Calipari knew about the relationship between the agent and Marcus Camby at UMass that caused problems, I don’t have a clue. Similarly, I don’t know anything specifically damning about the SAT issues with Derrick Rose that led to the NCAA woes at Memphis. Both occurred under Calipari’s watch, and because it’s plausible if not likely that he didn’t collaborate in either event, it’s tough to blame him. It’s also impossible to ignore that he is the only coach to have two visits to the Final Four wiped from the NCAA record books.
People in Kentucky are beyond excused for finding joy in the Wildcat victories. These are tough times, and if something brings you joy and others aren’t hurt by it, what the hell could be wrong with that?
Hating Kentuckians because of their complicity in allowing Calipari to employ the most pervasive use of the ‘neo-plantation mentality’ that modern NCAA inventor Walter Byers described would be ridiculous. Not calling attention to it so maybe a kid like last night’s Trestor Award winner Trey Lyles – an NBA bound young man with smarts as well as bulk and athleticism – might ask himself why Cal takes home $5-mil while he will enjoy the fruits of 30 credit hours in the 2014-2015 school year might ask just what the hell is going on would be unconscionable.

Kentucky will play Michigan this afternoon for a trip to the Final Four, and I will hope that the Wolverines find a way past the minor league Wildcat franchise to earn a spot in Arlington, not because I hate UK or Kentuckians, but because I have zero respect for the way John Calipari builds and rebuilds his program.

Greatest Basketball Weekend in Indy History to Be Celebrated on “Ahead of the Curve” with Hagan & Sterling

by Kent Stering

It started with Wednesday night’s Pacers win over the Miami Heat, and will end tomorrow afternoon as Michigan and Kentucky play for a chance to dance for a national title next weekend in Cowboys Stadium.

The best weekend of basketball ever in Indianapolis has been incredible so far with some all time great games, including the 1A state championship tilt this morning between Barr Reeve and Marquette Catholic who needed an extra period to decide things. Providence bound Ryan Fazekas and his 34 points was too much for Barr Reeve as Marquette cashed in for their first state championship.

Tonight, Tech will play in front of a bunch of Kentucky fans who want a glimpse of the future as Trey Lyles fights for the first state title won by an IPS school since Broad Ripple beat New Albany in 1980.

The Pacers reverted back to their most recent form last night in a loss at Washington, failing to scored 80 points for the third time in four games. They now lead the Heat for the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs with nine games to play.

Today’s show is a shorty – following the conclusion of the 2A State Basketball Championship – and running until 4p, when a wonderful retrospective of the Colts move from Baltimore to Indianapolis will air. It was 30 years ago this week that Bob Irsay agreed to the deal proposed by mayor Bill Hudnut, and so much has changed in this city because of that move.

Fox 59’s Chris Hagan and I will lament Kentucky advancing last night, or at least I will, and we’ll also talk about the future of the Indiana Hoosiers program. Is this year a brief sabbatical from the Sweet Sixteens of the previous two seasons, or the beginning of a new mediocrity. Five players left the program this week, and their might be another who joins them soon.

Anthony Lee (13.6 ppg) from Temple might choose to join the Hoosiers, and late signees Josh Cunningham and Yante Maten may pledge soon.

Can’t wait for the show to start!

College Basketball – Cheaters Continue to Win, Which Means We Need to Re-define Winning

by Kent Sterling

I’m not sure whether John Calipari cheats, but I know why I don’t.

Winning is not about gaining an advantage through systemic deceit – it’s the pursuit of answering adversity with grit, finding a way through the pain to outwork your opponents, motivating teammates to embrace a common cause, and subverting selfish wants for collective success. Victory without embracing those concepts is meaningless.

Championships as a coach should not come because of the ability to aggregate talent, but because the talent that has been assembled has been able to learn and work hard enough to unlock their potential. Talent is important, but the growth of players as human beings provides a greater legacy.

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Every time I write about Kentucky Basketball, someone comments to tell me that if I were in a position to be rewarded with millions of dollars that I would cheat too. That winning by any and all means would trump winning the right way. Mind you, I have never directly asserted that John Calipari cheats. People just infer that I believe he does because it fits their narrative of me as a Calipari basher.

As evidence that I do not cheat and will not, I would offer a bank statement. I am not worth millions, maybe because I have refused to cheat. Winning is the ability to do what I love as well as I can, not the brief validation of emerging victorious after a game of basketball, pool, Sorry!, Crazy Eights, or dominating in the ratings at a radio station.

Winning as a team isn’t about banners, but the moment years later when you look into the eyes of a teammate knowing that you shared the exultation of that moment of total bliss.

Dan Dakich had a great conversation on 1070 the Fan today with CBS Sportsline’s Gregg Doyel about the morality of cheating. Those two make great radio every time Doyel comes on because they both hold people, including themselves, accountable for questionable behavior. Despite never cheating, many times to his own detriment, Dan now says he would cheat if he were a player. Both said they would take steroids if everyone else was, and not doing it would cost them their jobs. I didn’t buy it out of either Dan or Gregg.

Norman Dale, Gene Hackman’s character in “Hoosiers”, tells Jimmy Chitwood, “You know, in the ten years that I coached, I never met anybody who wanted to win as badly as I did. I’d do anything I had to do to increase my advantage. Anybody who tried to block the pursuit of that advantage, I’d just push ’em out of the way. Didn’t matter who they were, or what they were doing.”

I used to be one of those guys. There was nothing I wouldn’t do to win a board game, game of pool, bicycle race, or any other contest where winning was possible.

It was a miserable existence. Knowing when a referee wasn’t looking so I could gain a physical advantage playing high school soccer was part of the game within the game, or so I told myself. Going up awkwardly for a head ball with a talented opponent so I could knock him off balance as a penance for challenging me was a skill I developed through diligent repetition.

My goal was to be as difficult to play against as possible, and if that meant someone was injured, those were the breaks. I never tried to hurt anyone, but there were probably a dozen times when my opposite player was helped off the field over four years of practice and games. I knocked the best player for Trinity High School in Louisville out of a game doing that, and felt it was my duty to help us win.

I tell you that so you know that I have come to sanity through learning that winning at all costs provides a very hollow affirmation. Cheap shots are a form of cheating, but at least they are done in plain sight, and are subject to retaliation – either from officials or outraged teammates of the victim. The kind of cheating that takes place in college athletics is covert – executed in the shadows – but the only victims are those who refuse to cheat.

Victimless crimes provide moral cover for the cheaters. Breaking NCAA rules has almost become a badge of honor because of the inanity of the rules. New Auburn coach Bruce Pearl was forced out of coaching because he lied to NCAA investigators about inviting a couple of recruits to his home for a barbecue. The home was outside the radius allowed as part of a campus visit. The lying was idiotic. The rule was ridiculous.

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But who the hell wants to be a winner because you were able to cheat the best? At that point, sports becomes about finding holes in the system, rather than being a teacher, coach, and mentor to young men trying to find their way through life to understand what’s important in life and why.

Let’s be clear that abuse of the rules is an absurd standard by which to determine who cheats. My rule book is that shortcuts of any kind define cheating, and taking advantage of the one-and-done rule is a serious shortcut for a four-year university’s basketball program. Is it against the rules? No. Does it violate the mission of a university? Of course it does, and anyone who argues that needs to take an inventory of their beliefs.

Because the NCAA has decided that bringing down the boom is not expedient for their own survival, we need to believe the moral bankruptcy of cheats is penalty enough for those who engage in it. Sometimes doing the right thing is the only meaningful reward in a world where trophies go to the creeps. The decision which side of that philosophical chasm we stand belongs to each of us.

In my mind, I see Calipari standing unrepentantly on the opposite side of the gorge, and for that I don’t like him no matter how nice a guy he might be. And for that reason, Go Cards!

No Way Louisville Can Be Denied Tonight against John Calipari and Kentucky

by Kent Sterling

That this qualifies as humor in Kentucky is another reason to love Louisville tonight.

With every word out of John Calipari’s mouth at the Midwest Sweet Sixteen in Indianapolis, I lost more faith in humanity. During a time when honesty matters less and less in government and business, Calipari is setting a course for the sub-basement where truth is not acknowledged as a concept.

His assessments of his predilection for one-and-done players and whether their draft status after one year is foreseeable was ludicrous. The role academics plays for those athletes was laughable. Calipari can crow about grades all he wants, but logic takes reasonable people toward a different conclusion about the focus on studies for people who know that whether or not they attend Intro to Sociology classes they will make millions in six months.

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I have no problem with Kentucky being what it is – a de facto NBDL franchise that excels at attracting players who likely would have been drafted in the same position a year before if NBA rules allowed 18-year olds to be drafted, but Calipari should proudly represent what he has built instead of pretending Kentucky hoops has anything to do with the University of Kentucky other than as a marketing arm.

Calipari is not the only guy trolling for one-and-dines, but because of his success in luring them to Lexington, he has become the poster boy for the dubious practice. Hell, Indiana welcomed Noah Vonleh last season – a kid who re-clssed in high school so he would be able to enter the draft that should have immediately followed his graduation from high school.

Louisville is different, and has always been different. Whether coached by Denny Crum or Rick Pitino, they have always achieved greatness without the pedigree Kentucky fans point to with such pride, despite decades of deceit and NCAA tariffs. To Calipari’s credit, his Kentucky teams have not been cited for a serious violation, but whether that credit is because there have been no violations or Calipari is very adept at distancing the program from skullduggery is a worthy debate.

Louisville has never had a one-and-done play, and only one two-and-done has left the program to be drafted – Samaki Walker in 1996. Calipari has seen 11 players come and go in under a year from Lexington in just four drafts. Add the three projected in mock drafts for this year (Andrew Harrison, Julius Randle, and James Young), and answering how an eight month stint at UK fulfills the promise a university extends to athletes like those 14 who are responsible for generating untold millions is for more conveniently pliable minds than mine to explain.

If college basketball is going to serve as a minor league for the NBA, and Kentucky is going to employ pros-in-waiting year after year to hang the banner the school holds so dear, the last that should be done is pay them. Not that agents and boosters slinging a little cash to players and their families is beyond the imagination or historical experience of those close to college basketball, and not just at Kentucky.

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Tonight, as Louisville plays Kentucky, the stakes won’t simply be for commonwealth bragging rights, but as an endorsement of either a morally vacuous philosophy of win-by-any-means basketball, or the virtues of attracting young men intent on earning a degree while they learn about overcoming the adversity that only high-end athletics can provide.

This post is for those of you outside the state of Kentucky who need a little context to make a decision about whether to wear blue or red tonight. Wear red if you are pure of heart and hope that good will find a way to be rewarded. Blue is for those of you who admire Richard Nixon and think Bernie Madoff was wrongfully convicted.

NLRB Ruling that Northwestern Football Players Can Unionize Is Not a Big Deal – Yet

by Kent Sterling

Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter reads employment law statutes with the same excellence as he read Big Ten defenses.

The knee-jerk reaction to the ruling by the National Labor Relations Board that Northwestern’s football players may vote to join a union that will have the authority to collectively bargain with the university for benefits is that it paves the way for all college athletes to be classified as employees.

Not so much.

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Before anything can happen at Northwestern, the university will appeal, and while it is unlikely the ruling will be amended or overturned in favor of Northwestern, the delay will provide plenty of time for the sea change that the Ed O’Bannon lawsuit for the rights of collegiate athletes to retain ownership of their images might cause. In fact, there are so many lawsuits and ideas being crafted into legislation that this is a tremor compared to the potential earthquakes that appear imminent.

The landscape of college sports will shift drastically over the next decade because of the smart and brave actions being taken by former Northwestern quarterback Kain Colter in this case, O’Bannon, and others like them who see the inequity of the current system.

The first piece of good news for university athletic departments is that only private universities like Northwestern are subject to NLRB rulings, so the rest of the Big Ten is unaffected by whatever changes are prompted by the resolution of the Northwestern ruling. The second piece of good news is that the Northwestern football players seeking union representation are interested in benefits like continued health insurance for athletic injuries, and not pay for play.

The bad news is that public and legal opinion has swayed from solidly behind the ideals that have allowed college athletics to operate without paying what the NCAA has long referred to as student-athletes since the 1950s. It bears mention that the term ‘student-athlete’ was concocted by then NCAA chief Walter Byers in response to a lawsuit in the 1950s as a dodge to avoid exactly the kind of litigation being pursued every month or two by collectives of athletes seeking a measure of fairness in the governance of collegiate athletics.

The tide is shifting toward understanding that coaches get rich, the media gets rich, administrators get rich. Players get a scholarship. Is the scholarship a nice perk? Of course. Who would rather pay for college than not? In some families, athletics opens a financial path to college that could never have existed otherwise. For others, the primary benefit goes to the parent(s) who are able to pocket the cash they would have spent to send the kid to school.

Forget the claptrap about amateurs thrilled by playing for the love of the game – they don’t exist. Forget about coaches who are invested in kids getting their degrees as the primary purpose of a football or basketball program – until a coach with a losing record is retained and rewarded for the quality of the graduates he produces, none last long in this meat grinder of a business.

Don’t be distracted by the talk of $200,000 as the value of the scholarship. The cost of tuition for an athlete is a pass through expense – and out of state tuition is an up charge.

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Focus on the simple economic dynamics at work. Value is being generated – lots and lots of value by athletes toiling for the profit, marketing, and glory of their schools – and in a capitalistic society, value is rewarded. That’s as complex as it needs to be.

If collegiate athletics are first about education, why are coaches paid as much as $7-million per year? Until there are professors paid to that level, something is amiss.

This isn’t about athletes saying thank you for a scholarship because their lives are better for receiving one. It’s about athletes who are also students being able to own their likenesses, and sit at the table as an equal when the subject of their health care is discussed.

Power follows value. That is an impossible to refute axiomatic principle. Unique skills provide value and value brings power. Nowhere are unique skills more obviously evaluated than in athletic endeavors. In many businesses, a 45-year old can host meaningless meetings, write insipid and redundant memos, and head to the bar around the corner at 4:45p. Athletes are immediately exposed in front of thousands in the stadium or arena, and millions on TV. Regardless of whether they excel or suck, they are paid nothing but a trip to class and a plate of meatless moussaka.

The opinion of the NLRB is that Northwestern requires athletes to behave as employees, so they should be classified as employees. Hard to refute that, or the shift in the bedrock of college football and basketball.

Can Indiana Pacers Win Championship with Lance Stephenson; Is He Worth the Investment?

by Kent Sterling

Volatile and talented can work well for a player like Lance Stephenson – or it can really not.

After this season, whatever the outcome, the Indiana Pacers will face a decision – offer Lance Stephenson a big contract extension or let him become someone else’s problem/solution.

Stephenson was tossed from last night’s win against the Miami Heat after his emotional outbursts prompted two technical fouls. It could have cost the Pacers an exceptionally important game. It didn’t, so the noise this morning isn’t centered around what appears to be Lance’s self-indulgent behavior, but that doesn’t make it a less critical part of the Pacers equation.

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No doubt the Pacers are committed to putting the best five players on the court for the rest of this season to see where this unique combination of personalities and talents will take them. Today, they have a three-game lead in the Eastern Conference with 10 games remaining in the regular season. That’s a good thing, but Pacers fans know all too well the potential cost that comes with a player suffering from a significant lack of impulse control.

There is no point in regurgitating the antics and cost to the Pacers of those who have come before Stephenson, and it’s unfair to hold him accountable for the sins of those who preceded him, but there is no questioning the potential negatives that may visit the Pacers because his instinct is to act outside the boundaries of of what the NBA deems proper.

Also beyond question is the incredible package of talent Stephenson possesses. For a team that has trouble creating offense, Stephenson is one of the most explosive one-on-one players in the NBA. His balance, strength, and explosiveness are off the charts, and his hands reflect a genius level of hand-eye coordination.

And while we are focusing upon Stephenson’s behavioral lapses, let’s not forget that he led the Pacers in +/- last night with +6 in large part due to hitting three-of-four from beyond the arc, including a very important and entertaining 31-footer in the second quarter to give the Pacers a 31-22 lead.

If human beings came with a menu of behaviors we could add or remove, the world would be a very orderly place – and also very boring. So the question is, can the Pacers find a way to rein in the ugly in Lance while maintaining the great? And is it worth the effort?

On the final three Chicago Bulls championship teams of the Michael Jordan era, they had a similar dilemma with a player named Dennis Rodman. One of the most bizarre and volatile players in NBA history, Rodman was also perhaps the finest rebounder for his size in the history of the game. Phil Jackson found the combination to containing the bad (mostly) while exploiting the good. Rodman was an integral part of one of the best teams in history. The 1995-1996 Bulls finished the regular season an incredible 72-10, and ripped through the postseason 15-3.

Stephenson is more than a little bit like Rodman in the way both indulge impulses, and Pacers coach Frank Vogel might have a bit of the Zenmaster in him. Vogel has some work to do to match Jackson’s collection of jewelry (11 rings), but he is very adept at finding a way to get his players to perform close to their potential by dealing with each as individuals.

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The Pacers had a brief discussion as a team last night after the game to remind Stephenson of the negative results of his occasional lapses of self-control, according to David West, and Stephenson showed contrition in his post game comments. Whether that means anything moving forward will be known soon enough.

Only 23, Stephenson could either mature or devolve, and it’s anyone’s guess whether the sudden influx of cash awaiting him after this season will accelerate the process in either direction.

One thing is for sure, winning NBA championships requires unique talent. The debate within the Pacers front office is whether the incendiary exploits are worth tolerating, or the calm but less explosive talent of Evan Turner is a better longterm fit for multiple championship runs.

Today, most fans love Stephenson, but if at a critical moment in the playoffs an impulse Stephenson finds entertaining causes a loss, opinions can change quickly. That’s true in the locker room and front office too.

This Pacers team is intriguing for a number of reasons, and the mercurial Stephenson is at the top of that long list. How long he remains a Pacer will be the most talked about issue of an offseason fans hope begins in late June.

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Indiana Pacers Win a Game for the Ages 84-83 Over LeBron and the Miami Heat

by Kent Sterling

LeBron James won a lot of battles to lead all scorers with 38 points, but the Pacers won the war.

Ridiculous.

What a basketball game. What it lacked in beauty and rhythm – and it lacked both entirely – the Pacers and Heat made up for in drama. The game came down to a play coach Erik Spoelstra drew up for Chris Bosh. Yes, Chris Bosh.

With two seconds left, LeBron James on the floor, and the game in the balance, Spoelstra had James pass to Bosh, who missed badly.

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This was to basketball games as James Michener novels are to literature. It was long – nearly three hours long – but no one leaving Bankers Life Fieldhouse were complaining. Not after the Pacers won this prelude to the Eastern Conference Finals.

I hate to completely discount the possibility of one of the other six teams that will qualify for the playoffs out of the East advancing, but barring some heinous series of injuries, it’s not plausible, and would be an injustice to fans who want to see a whole lot more of this.

The game was a war where neither team ever gained separation or dominance. Just when the Heat looked a little gassed at the end of the first quarter, they roared back to life and threw some punches of their own to take a one-point halftime lead. When the Heat seemed to take control at the end of the third and beginning of the fourth to build a 70-63 lead, the Pacers got in their shots to the liver that wore down Miami.

Tonight’s win clinched a second straight Central Division championship for Indiana, and according to Number Fire, improves their probability of capturing the #1 seed to 84%. Had they lost, it would have been 49%. None of that amounts to a hill of – um- beans with 10 games left in the regular season, including another game in Miami against the Heat, but it sure beats losing.

A loss tonight would have been a death knell for the Pacers season. Bosh hits the shot, Indianapolis loses faith and believes this team is on the brink of collapse. But the shot misses, and now fans are talking championship again. Such is the life of a Pacers fan.

The Pacers absolutely had to have this one, and the Heat, secure in their knowledge of how to win a championship did not. The emotional fragility of the Pacers got a little duct tape tonight, and the Heat will got on their charter knowing that whether Game Seven is in Indy or on South Beach, they will bring fight to that party when it happens.

Tonight, it was Roy Hibbert with 13 in the first quarter, and Paul George with 15 in the second half to lead the Pacers to a hard fought and earned triumph in front of another sellout crowd. The 10 turnovers were a nice, manageable number for a team that has shown a penchant for giving up the ball too often and too carelessly.

Basketball fans are in for a treat in eight weeks. In the meantime, the Pacers travel to Washington and Cleveland to try to finish this marathon of a season strong.

Ex-Manhattan Coach Steve Masiello Should’ve Learned the Perils of Fraud from George O’Leary

by Kent Sterling

Two very important rules of business – never lie about credentials, and never wear a white tie with a striped shirt.

You remember George O’Leary, right? In 2001, he left Georgia Tech for his dream job as the head football coach at the University of Notre Dame. A little fact checking was done, and O’Leary was a goner.

O’Leary claimed to have received a degree at “SUNY – Stony Brook University” – an unfortunate and nonexistent amalgam of two universities, and to have earned three letters in football at the University of New Hampshire when he had not played in a single game.

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Steve Masiello was the head basketball coach at Manhattan, and because of the Jaspers played well enough this season to qualify for the NCAA Tournament and push defending championship Louisville to the brink before succumbing in their opening round game, South Florida came calling with a $1-million per for five years deal.

The deal was done, and every appeared happy until South Florida checked with Kentucky to verify the degree Masiello claimed to have earned. Unlike O’Leary’s claim, at least the University of Kentucky exists, but sadly whatever academic work Masiello did as a Wildcat from 1996-2000 was not deemed worthy of a degree.

While there are very few head coaches without a degree, it certainly doesn’t disqualify a guy from being a good coach. The problem with not having a degree when you are already a coach is that continuing work need to earn one reveals the deceit, so the coach becomes trapped in his own lie until finally someone calls the registrar to check the items listed on the resume’.

At that point, the coach became a punchline. Five million dollars is gone because Masello fell a few hours short, and figured, “Close enough!” A dream fulfilled and crushed within the same 24 hours.

And now how in the hell can Manhattan take the guy back without looking like the stooges they were when they never checked the veracity of the documents Masiello submitted? So, Masiello is has gone from hot shot young coach to millionaire to unemployed in less than two days.

Lies have a funny – maybe there is a better word for it than funny – way of never quite being left far enough behind to not be a small concern throughout your life. You can bet Masiello was sweating his bed sheets wet Monday night. It’s been reported that Masiello called the registrar at Kentucky, but the content of the conversation was not shared. Maybe it went something like this:

Registrar: Good morning, registrar’s office. This is Pearline.
Masiello: Hi Pearline, this is Steve Masiello.
Registrar: That’s quite a coincidence, Mr. Masiello. I was just talking to someone about you.
Masiello: From South Florida University?
Registrar: Why, yes. You’re a good guesser!
Masiello: Shit!
Registrar: Excuse me?
Masiello: I apologize, Pearline. Would you mind sharing what you told them?
Registrar: They asked about your degree, and I said ‘Well, we have no record of a Steve Masiello receiving a degree from the University of Kentucky, and then they spelled your name out, and I said ‘Yes, that’s the one. No degree for S-t-e-v-e M-a-s-i-e-l-l-o. He came up just a teensy bit short.’ That’s about how it went, and then they said that same word you said earlier and hung up.
Masellio: Are you certain I didn’t earn a degree?
Registrar: That’s what they asked me – three times. Is this a problem for you, Steve? I sure would hate it if something I said caused you a problem. I remember you playing for the Cats. I remember telling my husband back then – you know he’s passed on now, but he sure was a big UK fan, never missed a game – anyway, I told him that I sure admired how you stayed on the team and worked so hard even though you almost never played.
Masellio: Yeah, okay. Listen, what kind of car do you drive? Maybe I can help you upgrade your ride.
Registrar: Well, it’s a 1987 Dodge Aries K. My husband bought it new for me. You know he’s passed on now. Fell down a hole in the backyard. It was the darndest thing. Just out walking the dog, and down he went 35 feet. Legs busted right up through his scalp. Darndest thing. Closed casket, you know. It just had to be. Couldn’t have people see him like that. Hello, hello?

So, kids, don’t lie and you get to keep the million per year, build a real resume’, and avoid listening to a lady in Kentucky talk about how her husband’s thigh bone popped through the top of his head.

Every decade or so we learn this lesson the hard way. O’Leary bounced back and is now a very successful coach at Central Florida. Masiello will be a coach again soon because he wins, and that helps salve the wounds a lie might cause.

Indiana Pacers Need to Sack Up and Put Differences Aside to Beat the Miami Heat Tonight

by Kent Sterling

In the absence of specifics, we believe the narrative our eyes create, and what fans of the Indiana Pacers have seen over the past 32 games is a soft team that doesn’t care much for each other.

That is in direct contrast to what transpired over the first 40 games of the season when the Pacers were a happy and successful group with a gaudy record of 33-7. Since then, the Pacers have stumbled to 18-13 – beating the bad to mediocre teams and struggling to put away the good.

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Friday night against the Chicago Bulls appeared to be the night the Pacers awakened from their two-month malaise, but the following night was a train wreck in Memphis, and Monday was almost as bad.

In neither game did the Pacers manage to score 80 points, and they looked more like a first round flameout than a championship team.

Tonight is a chance to disembowel the Heat’s opportunity to net the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference for the playoffs. According to Number Fire, a win tonight would give the Pacers an 84% chance of finishing ahead of the Heat. A loss, and the race is a coin flip. Being up three games with 10 games to play is a hell of a lot better than a one-game lead.

There has been no better demonstration of what the Pacers need to succeed than in the two recent games against the Bulls. In Friday’s win, the Pacers assisted on 27-of-34 field goals. In Chicago three nights later, the Pacers assisted on only 11-of-27. Guess which game they won and which they lost.

Both the Pacers and Heat are tired. Seventy games of focus and effort wear on the mind and legs, and the grind of the season gets to the very best of players. The Heat have lost five of their last six road games, while the Pacers have lost three of four overall.

There is no doubt that the Pacers and Heat will finish one/two in the East. On paper, this game is for nothing more than the home court in game seven should both teams earn a spot in the Eastern Conference Finals and play the first six games of that series to a tie, but those who have watched the Pacers over the past eight weeks know there is a lot more on the line than that.

If the Pacers are going to arise from this midseason slumber, tonight will be the night it happens. If they are motivated enough to find the will to support one another again and be the team they pledged to be through last summer and fall, tonight will be the night it happens.

All the moves Larry Bird made during a busy offseason will either begin to pay off tonight, or the entire season will be in doubt, and with that doubt will come questions about the trades that brought George Hill and Luis Scola to Indiana. If this season is teetering on the edge of an abyss – as it seems to be – tonight would be the perfect night for the Pacers to show the resolve necessary to backpedal a few steps and regain the championship form and energy that came so easily in late 2013.

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This game isn’t about Paul George finding a way to get his own game going. This game is about Paul George finding a way to help David West and Roy Hibbert find their groove, and for Lance Stephenson to commit to contributing to the team rather than thrilling the crowd and shimmying his way back down the floor.

The ultimate reward for all the work the Pacers have done on the court and in the front office can be reaped only in June, but the road to a banner begins in earnest tonight at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Indy 500 Will Welcome Jim Nabors “Back Home Again in Indiana” One Final Time for 98th Running

by Kent Sterling

Jim Nabors, 83, will bring the biggest house in the history of sports down one more time on May 25th.

There are moments in sports that are magical. For people who have never been to the Indianapolis 500 they just don’t get it, but Jim Nabors singing “Back Home Again in Indiana” is at the top of the list.

The Indianapolis 500 isn’t just a race, it’s a celebration of speed, tradition, and the Hoosier State’s way of life, and for some reason this former actor and singer from Alabama fits. His rendition of the song written by Ballard MacDonald and James Hanley is the gold standard, and imaging a May without it is impossible.

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I have friends who could never tell you the winner of last year’s 500 mile race, but they sure know that Nabors sings “Back Home Again in Indiana” before the race.

When traffic is tough to navigate quickly heading into the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the goal isn’t to get to our seats by the time the green flag drops – it’s to hear Nabors sing. It can be argued that Nabors has become as big a part of the Indy 500 as the race itself.

Explaining that to people outside of Indiana is impossible. Even people who watched Nabors on “The Andy Griffith Show” and “Gomer Pyle, USMC” in the 1960s are surprised by three things – that he is still alive, that he is invited back to Indianapolis each year, and that anyone cares. They don’t get it, and unless they attend the world’s biggest single day sporting event, they never will.

Somehow, Nabors singing “Back Home Again in Indiana” is THE special moment of the day for the 200,000-plus in attendance. It’s simultaneously celebratory and more than a little solemn.

There is something very special about Nabors singing that song. It sounds like home. And as silly as it sounds, there will be tears streaming down the faces of thousands on May 25th when Nabors hits that last note, and the last link to the greatness of those sweet race day afternoons of our youth says goodbye for the last time.

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Three years ago, Tom Carnegie passed away, and now Nabors is retiring. Things change. That’s life. I’m glad Hoosiers have one more chance to hear Nabors sing about Indiana. It’s every bit a part of the fabric of race day as the cars, jug of milk for the winner, and a window over Terre Haute. It’s the best remaining tradition of the Month of May, and this victory lap for Nabors gives race fans and Hoosiers one more chance to thank him.

That the vast majority of Americans don’t get it is just fine. We do, and that is all that will matter come race day, and our understanding exactly how special it is will make us very lucky on race day.