Author Archives: Kent Sterling

March Madness Starts Today With “Ahead of the Curve” on 1070 the Fan at 11a

by Kent Sterling

There are some weeks when there is so much to talk about in central Indiana sports that “Ahead of the Curve” with Fox 59 sports director Chris Hagan and me could go on for six hours instead of two, and our plate would still have half full.

If the Colts want to re-sign their free agents, this week is the time to do it. Next Saturday, festival seating begins for teams who want an audience with cornerback Vontae Davis, safety Antoine Bethea, punter Pat McAfee, kicker Adam Vinatieri, running back Donald Brown, and the rest. This is the window to get something done – or not. The Colts have $40 million to spend, but that could go quick if they put the $11.3 million on the table needed to franchise Davis.

The Pacers open a very challenging March in Boston tonight. They have five back-to-back pairings, 11 of their 18 games are on the road, and they aren’t exactly firing on all cylinders right now. Evan Turner is an offensive help, but will that be enough to re-energize the Pacers?

Indiana has three games remaining on their 2014 Big Ten schedule, and need to win all of them to get to 9-9 and earn a legitimate shot at an at-large NCAA bid. They won a high scoring game Thursday night against #20 Iowa despite Yogi Ferrell and Noah Vonleh combining to score only 12 points. This Hoosiers team is unpredictable, so with its next two games at home against Ohio State and Nebraska, who’s to say that a week from today they won’t find themselves on the bubble?

Purdue is tied for last in the Big Ten, but they have shown flashes of good play. Is Matt Painter on the hot seat in West Lafayette?

Spring has sprung, at least on the calendar as February became March, and Spring Training has begun. The Cubs Kris Bryant hit a bomb in his first spring at-bat, but the Cubs lost to the Angels 15-3. Cubs fans have had their already low level of hope ratcheted south another few notches by the first four years of the Ricketts Regime combining as the worst in the history of the troubled franchise. The lovable losers are losing more while becoming less lovable.

The NFL Combine wrapped up last week, so the next two months will be filled with Mel Kiper and Todd McShay littering ESPN with their projections for the NFL Draft, which will begin May 8th.

Butler is mired in last place in their inaugural turn in the Big East, but with games against DePaul and Seton Hall, they could force the Blue Demons into the basement. Hey, when things are bad, you look for any reason to care.

Ohio State coach Urban Meyer put Tim Tebow on the phone with a high school kid for eight seconds, and Ohio State self-reported the secondary violation. The NCAA will issue a small penalty, and the Buckeyes will be better for the experience.

Chris and I will talk to Evan Turner about the Pacers, the Bloomington Herald-Times Dustin Dopirak about the Hoosiers, and the great Rick Venturi about the Combine and free agency.

Can’t wait!

Big Ten Releases Opponents for 2014-2015 Men’s Basketball – With 14 Teams, It’s Different

by Kent Sterling

Once the Big Ten expanded beyond 10 teams, the opportunity for a true round robin vanished. Now with 14 teams competing next season, the scheduling gets even murkier.

Every team will play all other team at least once, but the home and homes will be reduced to five in order to hit the total of 18 games.

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The East and West divisions for football do not attach for other sports, so there is no geographical bias in the scheduling.

Indiana will play home & homes against newcomers Maryland and Rutgers, and Michigan State, Ohio State, and Purdue. The Hoosiers will travel to Illinois, Nebraska, Northwestern, and Wisconsin. Coming to Assembly Hall will be Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, and Penn State.

Purdue will play home & homes against Illinois, Indiana, Minnesota, Ohio State, and Rutgers. The Boilers will travel to Michigan StateNorthwestern, Penn State, and Wisconsin. Coming to Mackey Arena will be Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, and Nebraska.

It used to be a little bit easier to venture a guess at what the schedule might mean, but as we have seen with all Big Ten teams winning at least five game so far, and losses mounting as well, picking this weekend’s games is impossible, much less next year’s.

The only certainty is that Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan, and Northwestern will have a marginally tougher schedule because those five teams will be forced to play Michigan State twice. Other than that, your guess is as good as mine – and probably better.

Indianapolis Sports Media Twitter Rankings for February – Buckner & Sterling Dominate Again!

The evolution of media employees is ignored at your own risk.

Twitter is a free billboard whose art can be changed as often as you can type up to 140 characters. Who in their right mind would deny themselves that level of access to a customer base craving the product sports media members provide?

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The question is really what is owed an employer and the clients who pay the bills for that employer? Are they worth the time and effort it takes to share little pieces of wisdom as well as little promotional mentions that are welcomed into the inboxes of followers? Of course they are, and those who only begrudgingly participate are living in a world that no longer exists, and is pulling farther away from them with every day.

Social media is media, and regardless of the medium in which people work, brand building equates to value. Value is what drives compensation. If people in the media don’t understand that level of basic media math, they are destined to be replaced by someone who does.

Sometimes in these monthly updates, I wax rhapsodic and paint with a very soft and nonjudgmental brush, but media is media, and using it to connect with consumers is the gig. Showing up when and where you are told got it done during Ron Burgundy’s career, but not today.

Congratulations to those who are getting it done everyday. For those who aren’t, I can only hope that your management is as clueless as you are, or you are uniquely talented and irreplaceable.

Here are the rankings for February growth:

Sports Radio in Indy

Kent Sterling – 1070 the Fan 6,025 to 6,504 +8.0%
Dan Dakich – 1070 the Fan 69,100 to 72,700 +5.2%
Mark Boyle – Pacers play-by-play 9,389 to 9,770 +4.1%
Michael Grady – 1070 the Fan 11,300 to 11,700 +3.5%
Greg Rakestraw – 1070 the Fan 6,207 to 6,402 +3.1%
Derek Schultz – 1260 WNDE 4,571 to 4,709 +3.0%
Eddie White – Pacers Postgame 5,100 to 5,245 +2.8%
Conrad Bruner 1070thefan.com 6,798 to 6,981 +2.69%
Jake Query 1260 WNDE 8,504 to 8,731 +2.67%
JMV 22,200 to 22,700 +2.3%
Kevin Lee – 1070 the Fan/NBC 6,871 to 6,955 +1.2%

TV Sports Anchors/Reporters in Indy

Dave Calabro – WTHR 9,580 to 10,100 +5.4%
Charly Arnolt – Fox 59 2,966 to 3,123 +5.3%
Chris Denari – FSIN 10,200 to 10,600 +3.9%
Rich Nye – WTHR 5,125 to 5,303 +3.5%
Larry Hawley – Fox 59 1,533 to 1,581 +3.1%
Jason Spells – RTV6 2,003 to 2,053 +2.5%
Amanda Maynard – WISH 1,078 to 1,104 +2.4%
Dave Furst – RTV6 4,932 to 5,036 +2.11%
Chris Hagan – Fox 59 5,524 to 5,638 +2.06%
Jeremiah Johnson – FSIN 4,702 to 4,791 +1.9%
Brad Brown – RTV6 572 to 581 +1.6%
Chris Widlic – WISH 1,747 to 1,775 +1.5%
Anthony Calhoun – WISH 7,094 to 7,173 +1.1%

Print/Digital – all with Indianapolis Star unless otherwise noted (beat in parenthesis)

Candace Buckner (Pacers) 5.175 to 5,797 +12.0%
Zach Osterman (IU Hoops) 6,037 to 6,311 +4.5%
Zak Keefer (Butler) 5,210 to 5,415 +3.9%
Mark Ambrogi 2,167 to 2,231 +3.0%
Bob Kravitz (columnist) 41,400 to 42,400 +2.4%
Michael Pointer 3,897 to 3,978 +2.08%
David Woods (IU Football) 5,801 to 5,921 +2.06%
Dustin Dopirak (Bton H-T) 8,111 to 8,267 +1.9%
Mike Chappell (Colts) 17,500 to 17,800 +1.7%
Kyle Neddenriep (Preps) 12,600 to 12,800 +1.6%
Curt Cavin (Racing) 13,000 to 13,200 +1.5%
Mike Wells (Colts/ESPN) 28,700 to 29,100 +1.4%
Phillip B. Wilson 16,300 to 16,500 +1.2%
Phil Richards 3,206 to 3,241 +1.1%
Stephen Holder (Colts) 10,900 to 11,000 +0.91%

Digital

Tom Lewis @IndyCornrows 5,004 to 5,123 +2.4%
Ken Bikoff @kbikoff 2,038 to 2,085 +2.3%
Chronic Hoosier (hoosierchronicles.com) 17,800 to 18,100 +1.7%
Mike Pegram @peegs 13,900 to 14,100 +1.4%
Jeff Rabjohns 16,600 to 16,800 +1.2%
Terry Hutchens (Fox – IU) 13,200 to 13,300 +0.75%
Alex Bozich @insidethehall 20,300 to 20,400 +0.49%

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Indiana Pacers – Evan Turner Is a Good Guy and Player; Hope He’s Here a Long Time

by Kent Sterling

Either Evan Turner (left) or Lance Stephenson (right) will not be a Pacer next season. We should enjoy both while we can.

After the Pacers lackluster win against the Milwaukee Bucks last night, I wanted to interview the bounty reaped for Danny Granger, so I asked a few questions of Evan Turner for tomorrow’s “Ahead of the Curve” (11a-1p) on 1070 the Fan.

When the microphone was turned off, I asked him about playing for the Illinois Wolves during summer basketball while he was in high school. Turner was surprised, “How’d you know I played for the Wolves?”

I told him that the Wolves were one of the few teams that really tested my son’s summer team, the Spiece Central Stars. Turner said, “The Stars? The team with JaJuan Johnson? Man, they could shoot. Those Indianapolis guards can shoot the hell out of the ball! Loved playing the Stars. Had some wars against the Stars.”

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We spent the next five minutes talking about games played in empty gyms eight years ago between kids destined to play in college, and some like Turner who went on to success in the NBA.

Turner recalled specific moments of those games with the kind of clarity reserved for those who truly value the experience of playing basketball, and I instantly liked him.

His affability wasn’t surprising as Turner used a term I had previously never heard used on the radio during an interview with Dan Dakich on 1070 the Fan. Dan asked a question about Turner’s former Ohio State teammate Mark Titus, who has become a very successful author and writer for grantland.com.

Turner replied that the last time he saw Titus, he put him in a headlock and gave him a wedgie. Dan recalled the story of a guy who recently died because of the damage done by a wedgie, and Turner said that next time he saw Titus he would give him a “tittie twister” instead.

Any professional athlete who threatens a former teammate on the radio with a tittie twister is 100% guaranteed to be a great guy, who enjoys amusing himself as much as he does others.

Turner has the advantage of also being a very good basketball player, which is exactly what he has always been all the way back eight years to his time with the Wolves.

He was never the flashiest player, but he was always productive. His teammate, Demetri McCamey, dominated the ball for the Wolves, and when the game hung in the balance, it was always McCamey who tried to step up to win the game.

Turner was graceful, quiet, and productive for the Wolves, and for that reason I had no doubt when the trade was made to bring he and Lavoy Allen to the Pacers there was no reason to worry about him finding a way to fit in with his new teammates in a vastly different role than what he enjoyed with the 76ers.

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If Turner was able to subvert his game to play alongside with McCamey, he would have no problems playing with the comparatively generous George Hill, Paul George, Roy Hibbert, Luis Scola, and David West. I omit Lance Stephenson for two reasons – Turner will often substitute for Stephenson, and I think it might be a challenge to play with Stephenson, even for the best tempered player.

I love Stephenson’s attitude and game, but the occasionally wacky turnovers would drive me crazy as a teammate.

It’s to be seen what effect Turner will have on the Pacers stretch drive as they try to maintain their game-and-a-half lead for home court advantage throughout the playoffs, but he will be a good teammate and most importantly to Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz, a good quote.

Indiana Basketball – Strange 93-86 Win Against Iowa Keeps Hope Alive – Again

by Kent Sterling

Will Sheehey has made great plays and terrible plays in four years as a Hoosier, but last night was all good.

Excuse me if you have heard this before, but the Indiana Hoosiers are a strange team.

If I told you before yesterday’s game that I believed the Hoosiers would score 93 points to beat the 20th ranked team in the country, but that Yogi Ferrell and Noah Vonleh – the best two players on the team – would combine to score only 12 points, you would have correctly diagnosed me as a loon.

That’s what happened, so instead of falling into a five-way tie for last place, the 6-9 Hoosiers are now just two games out of fifth with three to play. If they had lost, Indiana would be 5-10 and completely out of any reasonable discussion for meaningful postseason play.

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Will Sheehey and Stanford Robinson posted career highs (Sheehey 30, Robinson 17) to combine for 47, just over half the Hoosiers points, and Iowa appeared a step slower that the Hoosiers all night long. So the Hoosiers have life.

This level of weirdness is unprecedented over the past 30 years of Indiana Basketball. The Hoosiers have lost home games to two teams tied for the Big Ten’s cellar while beating the teams in first, third, and fifth.

The last three games regular season games are at home Sunday against Ohio State, Wednesday in Bloomington against Nebraska, and next Saturday at Michigan. Do you want to bet against the Hoosiers winning (or losing) all three? Not me.

With three straight wins, the bubble is suddenly something fans and ESPN Joe Lunardi would be talking about for Indiana, but a quick look at the schedule shows that Indiana has not only avoided winning three straight games in the 2014 Big Ten season, they haven’t been able to win two consecutive games. After all, teams don’t post a 6-9 league record because they win a bunch in a row.

Indiana is as capable of taking advantage of mistakes as they are of making them, and last night Iowa made a staggering number of mistakes the Hoosiers capitalized upon. The Hawkeyes didn’t get back on defense, so Indiana threw deep passes for easy conversions. They committed 26 fouls to Indiana’s 22, and turned the ball over one more time than did the Hoosiers. And instead of hitting their season average of 36% from beyond the arc, they settled for 21.1%.

Every time Indiana has a chance to muck the season, they find a reason to fight, and for all the criticism of Tom Crean as a coach for the Hoosiers, even his staunchest detractors are forced to admit that his teams have fought like hell game in and game out throughout each of his six seasons. Even in that first year when it took a magnificent shooting day from Matt Roth to notch the only Big Ten win of the season, the team kept showing up game after game, battling for 40 minutes.

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There are obvious problems with this team – youth, sloppiness, and an inability to be exactly where they belong on either end, but somehow or another they have refused to cave in to a season’s inertia toward misery.

Fans who appear ready to talk about next year and the influx of shooters bound for Bloomington are forced to refocus to the present because the current Hoosiers keep finding a way to bring the spotlight back to their play. And those who have been looking forward to Sheehey’s graduation did some recalibrating 12 hours ago.

This team isn’t likely to raise a banner. You know, let me digress for a minute. The core value of this Indiana team is not necessarily in the shots that make or miss, but in the way their play rejects absolutes. I cannot count the number of times I have rewritten sentences like the first one in this paragraph. When I first wrote it, it was, “This team will never raise a banner.” I re-wrote it to allow for the possibility, because with this group everything what can truly be claimed as impossible?

Is Indiana like to win the next three? No. Is Indiana likely to earn a spot in the NCAA Tournament? No. Are these Hoosiers likely to win the Big Ten Tournament? No. It would be shocking if any of those interconnected goals happened, but given wins against the best teams in the conference, it would be idiotic to reject the possibility.

Where there is hope, there is life. The Hoosiers still play hopeful basketball.

The N-Word Has No Place in Society – Polite, Impolite, Black, White, or the NFL

by Kent Sterling

How in the hell did we get to a place where reasonable people of any color can see the n-word a part of a civilized language?

Regardless of the context, it conveys the concept of hatred for another human being, which can never be right regardless of the reason, but is particularly egregious in the case of race.

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The NFL’s competition committee is considering punishing those who use it on a football field by assessing a 15-yard penalty, and it’s about time.

Each decade we become a little less concerned with color, sexuality, nationality, religion, and other irrationally applied differences that foster both a sense of belonging to one’s own subgroup, and a loathing for all others.

There are plenty of words that derisively refer to virtually all groups. Using any of them is wrong, but using the n-word is especially miserable.

I remember a night in the basement of a friends house filled with strangers where the term “goy” was used. Everyone got very quiet, and quietly pointed out that I am a goy – meaning non-Jew. Guilty.

It was a strange moment. I had worked all summer at a summer camp that was predominantly Jewish, and I never felt for a second like I was not a part of what was going on there. The differences between us never occurred to me – and they still don’t.

I was more offended that everyone felt uncomfortable on my behalf. If I were a person prone to irrational judgment and anger, I would have popped the guy myself, but ignorance is so rampant that it doesn’t bother me, and you probably feel the same way if you don’t have to deal with it regularly.

Jewish, Catholic, Presbyterian, Muslim, or Seventh Day Adventist – what difference does that make. Whatever mythology we ascribe to is no one else’s business, and if that help us make sense of our existence, that’s a good thing no matter to whom we pray.

That guy chose a word in a moment of weakness without a correct assessment of the occupants of the basement. I would never attack him for it, and certainly require no defense from him. I don’t assume logic in strangers, so his choice of verbiage was of no consequence to me.

So I’m not a prude when it comes to language. Words are meant to convey a thought, and the more powerful the word, the better. Freedom of speech – both acceptable and repellent – leaves it to the speaker and listener to decide whether a word is appropriate.

That’s the way it should be. How many millions of Americans learned what ignorance sounds like from Archie Bunker in “All in the Family”, even when it was occasionally out of a place of ignorance, not hate? Plenty. Banning that use of hate-speak would have eliminated an educational forum that left America wiser.

We should be able to trust one another to take into account the feelings of others as they choose their words. Banning language should be completely unnecessary.

Except for the n-word.

It’s just too wrong, too hateful, too powerful. The way it has been used over the past 300 years has taken it out of the lexicon of people who reject hatred, and if rules are needed to pry it from the rest, I’m all for it.

Coming from no one – black or white – do I find it funny or appropriate. The n-word does not belong to any group, as any word that is in the exclusive purview of a single group serves to divide not unite. Okay for you but not okay for me does not work for anyone.

At some point 100 or 200 years from now, our society will have evolved to the point where we understand that the focus should be on the traits that define us as human beings, not as exclusive members by birth to the variety of clubs that exist to prove superiority to those for whom that kind of assignation is important.

The NFL would be getting it right by scrubbing the onfield use of the the most repellent word in our language, but I’m not sure 15 yards covers the necessary consequence.

I feel ridiculous writing this post. The hate conveyed by the n-word should be self-evident and rejected by all of us. You would think we could find a way as a species to agree that the n-word should never be used by anyone for any purpose.

Not yet, I guess.

Indiana Hoosiers and Indiana Pacers – Two Ships Steaming Toward Opposite Ports

by Kent Sterling

For the Indiana Hoosiers, what a difference a year makes.

The Indiana Pacers have fortified its roster for a run toward a championship, and the Indiana Hoosiers have unraveled on and off the floor to become a challenger for the bottom spot in the Big Ten.

One year ago, the Hoosiers hoped to win a sixth NCAA championship, while the Pacers would have been pleased to win a single playoff series.

The Pacers play the team with the worst record in the NBA tonight in a reminder of what might have been if the trade for the Bucks O.J. Mayo had gone through, while the Hoosiers play #20 Iowa in the game that was postponed because a 50-pound piece of metal fell from near the ceiling into the seats.

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The Pacers have recently added former #2 overall pick Evan Turner, power forward Lavoy Allen, and former all-star Andrew Bynum, while the Hoosiers have recently reinstated Hanner Mosquera-Perea after his suspension for OWI on Valentine’s Day morning.

With only 26 games left in the regular season, the Pacers have a two-game advantage in their quest to post the best regular season record in the NBA. The Hoosiers are one game into a five-game gauntlet of opponents to wrap the regular season. All five are in the top six of the Big Ten’s standings, and all will likely be participants in next month’s NCAA Tournament.

After the Hoosiers play Iowa tonight, they host Ohio State on Sunday and Nebraska on Wednesday before wrapping the disappointing (so far) season that is following the first outright Big Ten championship in 20 years.

If Indiana wins tonight, they will move to within 1/2 game of seventh place Minnesota. With a loss, the Hoosiers will drop to 5-10 and a possible five-way tie for last place in the Big Ten (if Penn State beats Ohio State tonight).

Pacers president Larry Bird has built the Pacers to win in 2014, but they have most of their integral players locked up for another year and beyond. They have a chance to be a championship contender for several years while remaining beneath the luxury tax threshold, and that is quite a feat.

If Noah Vonleh jumps to the NBA, the Hoosiers will lose three rotation players, including seniors Will Sheehey and Evan Gordon. Their replacements comprise the 17th ranked incoming class (as ranked by ESPN), and includes guards James Blackmon Jr. and Robert Johnson, and small forward Max Hoetzel, but only Hoetzel is as tall as 6’7″.

Size for the Pacers won’t be a problem for the foreseeable future with Roy Hibbert and David West each enjoying a player option for 2015-2016.

Where Indiana will find a front court in 2014-2015 is anyone’s guess. If Vonleh leaves for millions, the only players at or taller than 6’8″ in Bloomington next year will be seldom used Peter Jurkin, OWI arrestee Mosquera-Perea, and follow suspension victim Jeremy Hollowell.

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As for the coaches, Frank Vogel is beloved in Indianapolis. He’s a very nice and accessible guy who appears derive his professional joy from putting his players in a position to succeed individually and collectively.

Conversely, people are looking at Tom Crean with jaundiced eyes. That’s what happens when reality fails to come close to expectations. Indiana lost a ton of production from last year’s team, but critics say that talent attrition occurs everywhere. Add the off-court issues, and those who reservedly cheered Crean because of the progress made through last season are loudly decrying the erosion of play and character from the Hoosiers.

Public behavioral issues appear to be in the rearview mirror of the Pacers. The days of shootouts at the Eight Second Saloon or elsewhere have ended. No Pacer has beaten the hell out of an unruly fan in almost a decade, and the sheer number of charitable works Pacers players are involved is impossible for anyone other than Greg Schenkel or Bill Benner to calculate. The overhaul of the Pacers brand has been nothing short of breathtaking.

These are two teams with similar goals migrating in different directions, and tonight they take another step. We assume a Pacers win and a Hoosiers defeat, but they play the games for a reason.

The Pacers have not been dominant recently, and the Hoosiers have already beaten top ten ranked Wisconsin and Michigan at Assembly Hall. Anything can happen, and these two narratives can change in a night.

That’s why we continue to watch.

Chicago Cubs – How Far Has Team Fallen Among Chicagoans? Tom Ricketts’ Ranking Tells Story

by Kent Sterling

When Chicago Magazine released their annual list of Chicago’s “Power 100”, quickly found were representatives from the Bulls, White Sox, and Bears in the first 23. My eyes scanned down the list, and finally there was Cubs owner Tom Ricketts at #48 nestled right between author Veronica Roth and Doug Druick, who runs the Art Institute.

The rankings are determined by the “influence, ability, and clout” of the men and women on the roster.

Ricketts fell from 45th in 2013, and #30 in 2012. Team president Theo Epstein debuted in 2012 at #48, fell to #56 in 2013, and barely stayed on the list at all this year in the final spot at #100.

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Rocky Wirtz is the owner of the Chicago Blackhawks. He debuted at #5 in 2012, dropped to #11 in 2013, before rebounding to #6 in the most recent list. Jerry Reinsdorf owns the White Sox and Bulls, and he has been ranked #14, #5, and #11. Jay Cutler is 23rd, and Big Ten president Jim Delany is #25.

This speaks to the tumbling interest and clout the Cubs enjoy in their hometown after losing 87, 91, 101, and 96 games during the four years Ricketts has owned the team. Those 375 losses are the highest total is the history of the franchise, and have resulted in eroding attendance each season.

The Cubs have finished fifth during each season Ricketts has owned the team, and that impoverished level of success has dropped the Cubs into fifth place among major league sports franchises in Chicago behind the 2005 World Champion White Sox, the 2010 and 2013 Stanley Cup Champion Blackhawks, six-time NBA Champ Bulls, and the Chicago Bears, who won a Super Bowl in 1986 and played in another in 2007.

As any mildly interested baseball fan knows, the Cubs last played in a World Series in 1945 and last won a World Championship in 1906 when Teddy Roosevelt (who has since been carved into the facing of Mount Rushmore) was president.

Yes, the men who would be on the Mount Rushmore of Cubs championship players all retired from baseball before work began (1927) to forever preserve Washington, Jefferson, Roosevelt, and Lincoln on that South Dakota mountain.

Ricketts is not responsible for the Cubs’ century long run of mediocrity, but he has taken it to a whole new level from 2010-2013 when America’s lovable losers found even lower ground to occupy.

The conquering hero who promised to rescue the Cubs when introduced as the third owner of the Cubs since William Wrigley became majority stockholder in 1921 has become an irrelevant buffoon who continues to promise a bright future while delivering a dismal present.

When he told the media as spring training began that he believes the Cubs are ready to make a run at the playoffs in 2014, he revealed himself as just another shill.

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His stalemate with the rooftop owners is a source of amusement for political wonks in the Windy City, and endless consternation for the team. In 2003, the Cubs foolishly signed a deal that ceded rights to structurally alter the view from the rooftop bars in exchange for 17% of the take, a deal that Ricketts either overlooked or misunderstood when he bought the team.

The rooftop owners have proven to be a shrewd quarry as the Cubs have tried to find a way to erect giant video boards above the left and right field bleachers. They know the Cubs need those signs, and they wait patiently as the Cubs become more and more desperate.

Revenue from the video boards was to pay for the renovation of Wrigley Field that would allow the team to invest in the onfield product.

The deal with the rooftop owners runs for another decade, and the debt load Ricketts incurred when purchasing the team is reportedly the highest in baseball, so this entrenched mediocrity may continue unabated for years.

Yes, there is talent in the pipeline, but as Cubs fans have experienced dozens of times, minor league excellence does not always convert to major league productivity. Even if Javier Baez, Jorge Soler, Albert Almora, Kris Bryant, and the other position players do deliver on their potential, who is going to pitch?

The Cubs can’t fall to worse than fifth place in the National League Central Division, but Ricketts has another 52 slots plummet that will reflect his shrinking relevance in Chicago.

Indiana Basketball – Suspending and Reinstating Hanner Mosquera-Perea Will Be Judged by His Response

by Kent Sterling

What Indiana Basketball stands for is being determined with every good or bad decision each player makes, and by Tom Crean’s response to each.

Managers in business create a culture, hire to it, and enforce it. Those who violate the culture as defined by the manager are penalized. Those who embody it are rewarded.

That’s business, and that’s basketball too.

Each coach or manager prizes different behaviors, and what is not strongly discouraged will become the norm. Some are hard asses, some are soft, others try to lead as friends, and still others demand only what will make their unit successful.

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There are unique responses for different violations, and for some as many sets of consequences as people on the staff or team. There is no hard and fast blueprint for success, but consistency sure seems to help.

We are learning for the first time how Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean works to maintain discipline on his Hoosiers team. Jeremy Hollowell was suspended for three games earlier in the season because of a behavioral issue, and Hanner Mosquera-Perea was suspended for two games for his Operating While Intoxicated arrest early Valentine’s Day morning.

Prior to that, the Hoosiers had toed the line – at least as far as we are aware – so any look at the penalties for indiscretions either didn’t exist or were kept from the public.

When I was a manager in radio, there were some correctable behaviors that required an occasional conversation, and some that required more severe measures. I only fired one person because he stepped out of line with my core beliefs, and that was the easiest decision I ever made. He plagiarized, and no one who ever works for me will be allowed to continue once revealed to be an intellectual thief.

There aren’t too many third rails that would result in an automatic dismissal, but I dealt with adults who were paid to perform a specific task, not adolescents who need to be prepared for adulthood. I can’t say with any certainty that I would have punted an employee for a OWI arrest, but there are many companies where termination is mandated.

Crean made the call to suspend his wayward players, and quickly welcome them back. Whether this sufficiently discourages future idiotic and selfish acts is yet to be seen, and will be the defining factor in assessing the quality of his disciplinary tactics.

Indiana University is not a business and the students are not adults – not in any real way. College students are not schooled in the ways of the adult world where screw-ups come with getting fired, losing a house, and finding it difficult to put food on the table. If they have the idea that an OWI is a simple and short-lived distraction, they are sorely mistaken. Lives are lost or ruined everyday because people get behind the wheel of a car after drinking.

Sitting a kid for participating in a victimless crime or team code violation is one thing, but when the stakes are as high as they can be for drunk driving, a stern message is required. That Mosquera-Perea’s episode had no more adverse result than embarrassment, legal fees, alcohol education classes, and hours of community service that will be required if he is convicted is by the grace of God.

Many others aren’t so lucky, and the innocent victims of drunk driving accidents are always unlucky.

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The relevant question regarding Crean’s disciplinary choices for Hollowell and Mosquera-Perea is whether they serve as sufficient disincentives for future errors in judgment. If so, good for Crean and good for the kids. If not, Crean needs to adjust his threat level until the players become less menacing on the streets of the town they briefly call home, or Crean’s role as leader needs to be evaluated.

What does Indiana University Basketball stand for is the question that Crean must answer as he asserts his culture. That program is the most visible representation of the university, and the players behavior reflects directly upon IU. That’s a lot of weight for a young adult to carry, but that’s the deal when a high school kid commits to Indiana. If he wants to play in anonymity, their are plenty of places where that happens.

Whether IU players are seen as a bunch of good kids who diligently work at their craft, like last year’s group – or a bunch of idiots who are interested only in their own self-gratification, like the boobs that Kelvin Sampson brought in – is entirely up to the players. The truth for both groups is probably closer to the middle, but we believe what we see and hear.

Whether Tom Crean finds an allowance for stupidity a fair exchange for a better chance to win is the more important question. The choices made by the players will provide the answer.

Indiana Basketball – Hanner Mosquera-Perea Reinstated from Indefinite Suspension After Two Games

by Kent Sterling

Hanner Mosquiera-Perea played last night - 11 days after his indefinite suspension for being arrested on an OWI charge.

Hanner Mosquera-Perea played last night – 11 days after his indefinite suspension for being arrested on an OWI charge.

Two games. That’s it. Two games.

One of the most recognizable students at Indiana University allegedly gets hammered, makes the irreconcilably stupid and irresponsible decision to get behind the wheel of a car, and gets arrested. The extent of the punishment we know about amounts to a two-game suspension.

Indiana basketball coach Tom Crean had a chance to carve a line in the hardwood, and teach his team that playing for Indiana is a privilege. He had a chance to show the entire student body in Bloomington that getting behind the wheel of a car after drinking heavily is patently unacceptable – even once.

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Crean passed on that opportunity by reinstating seldom used forward Hanner Mosquiera-Perea only 11 days after announcing his indefinite suspension for being arrested for operating a motor vehicle while intoxicated.

Mosquera-Perea was booked at 4:45 a.m. Friday, February 14th in Bloomington with a blood alcohol level of .15, almost twice the legal limit.

By foregoing the opportunity to teach through levying the ultimate tax against Mosquera-Perea, Crean has opened himself up for criticism or worse should there be a repeat performance by anyone on the team. You know the saying – “Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me.”

The Hoosier program under Crean has been free of publicized discipline issues, so he has earned some latitude, but he has chosen this episode to push all those chips into the middle of the table on behalf of a 20-year-old who not only showed total indifference for the safety of others when he drove after drinking, but failed to care enough about the program or teammates to stay sober during a 72-hour period between very important games – both losses.

Crean chose the welfare of the individual over the good of the whole. Maybe it would be unfair to tell a kid to pack his bags after a single mistake, but giving his team and everyone who follows Indiana the benefit of knowing that all it takes is one idiotic decision to ruin a life would have been a great teaching moment.

The statement released by Indiana University on behalf of Crean reads, “Hanner is going to be paying a price in the office of the courts and with the Dean’s office. He also is going to continue to be disciplined inside of our program with no end in sight to that. Hanner has done everything and more than what has been expected of him since the incident and we are allowing him to be available for competition beginning tonight.”

Not sure what everything and more over the course of 11 whole days might have been, but it pales in comparison to the lesson that would have been indelibly instilled in those near the program through requiring that Mosquiera-Perea continue his education and playing career elsewhere.

College is a place where soon-to-be adults learn what behaviors as an adult are acceptable by making hopefully painless mistakes, and that learning occurs through the application of harsh consequences. People out here in the adult world get fired for being arrested on drunk driving charges. It happens all the time. Bosses don’t make kids run steps, write sentences, or shoot free throws for hours.

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There is a brief meeting with the boss and an HR specialist, and the employee is out on the street. That’s real life, not some cocoon where kids are instructed rather than removed.

How many people at IU have to die due to binge drinking before someone wakes up and smells the damn coffee? Talk to the parents of Lauren Spierer. Talk to the parents of Rachael Fiege. Only through good fortune was Mosquera-Perea’s stupidity not paid for by the death or injury of someone else in Bloomington with the bad luck to be driving or walking near him.

Crean had a chance to bring the hammer down on a kid who deserved it, and he decided not to. That’s his right as the leader of the program, but if the discipline being meted out on Mosquiera-Perea shows itself to be insufficient through an encore, then the irresponsible party is Crean and the next punishment should be his.

For more on the Perea suspension, click here to watch today’s Breakfast with Kent

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