Author Archives: Kent Sterling

UNC’s Mary Willingham Is the Student-Athlete’s Best Friend for telling the Truth About a Broken System

by Kent Sterling

The truth isn’t always expedient, but it still needs to be told, and Mary Willingham is telling it at the University of North Carolina.

To compensate student-athletes for their participation in a revenue sport through a scholarship that provides an education he is not ready or able to use is immoral.

That’s Mary Willingham’s position as she tells the truth about the reading level of North Carolina football and basketball players. She says that as a academic advisor for those athletes, 60% read at between a fourth and eight grade level. Ten percent read at a third grade level or less.

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Willingham’s reward for telling the truth about a broken system at a school that has taken multiple shots across its bow for hosting fraudulent classes for athletes among other transgressions has been death threats.

That’s the level of dysfunction that exists at many universities today. A woman who has dedicated her career to educating student-athletes sees a mess, describes it, and is threatened because she is convinced the student-athletes deserve better than to be passed through the system because their athletic abilities are valued.

The truth hurts because it exposes the hypocrisy at the very heart of big money college athletics. Many football and men’s basketball programs are about money, not education. That needs to change.

People who argue that college athletes have no business earning a single dollar beyond the cost of tuition, room and board, and books claim that the deal is a good one for the student-athlete because he gets a college education many would be thrilled to receive for free. When that compensation goes unused because of a lack of classroom acumen or interest, and the school passes the kid through graduation in order to avoid NCAA penalties given programs whose Academic Progress Rate doesn’t measure up, that compensation is entirely without value.

That is Willingham’s message, and she tells her truth because the kids deserve an advocate who exposes the fallacy of a system that is designed to exploit not educate. Fans phone Willingham with death threats because they don’t care about the welfare of the athletes minus what joy their on field and on court efforts provide.

Whether Willingham’s statistics are entirely accurate, or whether the claims she makes against North Carolina are the rule or the exception at other BCS universities is beside the point. Willingham is worthy of our admiration because she sees a broken system and is trying to shine a harsh light on it.

It’s an exploitive system that profits from the skill and athleticism of student-athletes, while providing them an opportunity to gain an education to which many would otherwise have no access. If only all of them had the interest and ability to process the value of the information and wisdom to which they are exposed.

Coaches are paid millions to win games. Winning requires recruiting great players. Whether a kid reads at a fourth, eighth, or 12th grade level has no bearing on whether he can play well enough to help his team win games, so the coach’s interest is in getting and keeping the kid on the floor or field. Eligibility becomes the goal, not education. That is where the disconnect lies, and where the value of the scholarship takes a hard turn south.

Sadly, most student-athletes don’t feel exploited or underserved because of systemic academic shortcuts that mask their failings or disciplinary intercessions that remove meaningful consequence from their lives. They think it’s cool that tutors complete their assignments, and that campus cops are kept at bay because of their athletic abilities.

All that student-athletes see as advantages they enjoy because of their talent is actually the removal of the educational opportunities that proponents of amateurism see as the value received for services rendered.

Willingham and those like her should be applauded for exposing the hypocrisy of collegiate athletics and the exploitation of student-athletes because according to Willingham, most wouldn’t be able to tell you what “hypocrisy” and “exploitation” mean.

Chicago Cubs Introduce their New Mascot, Named After My Father – Clark

by Kent Sterling

This is Clark, the Cubs mascot who ensures that at least somebody will be smiling during the bottom of the ninth inning of games at Wrigley Field.

My Dad is irate. Somewhere in the middle of the great beyond, Clark Sterling is cursing the Chicago Cubs with the same zeal he showed for 70 years in life.

The Cubs have decided to do what every other sports franchise tired of trying to extort friendliness and appearances out of their players has done – create and deploy a cuddly mascot that does nothing but make appearances to generate the goodwill their on-field product never has.

And they named it Clark. Clark, my Dad’s name.

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No one would be more upset than my Dad with the win-later approach the Cubs have taken to roster. He would see Cubs management as charlatans convinced that incurring the expense necessary to build a winner is unnecessary to fill seats. Smart guy. He would be right. In the true spirit of 21st Century America, it’s never the reality but the appearance that drives acceptance.

And he would see the use of his name on the smiling and fuzzy distraction as an insult of the highest order. Of course, the name refers to one of the four Chicago streets that currently border Wrigley Field, and is in no way referential to Dad. That wouldn’t matter to him.

Always a tortured Cubs fan, the only way Cubs management would have any idea that Dad existed would be if a human remnant of the Dallas Green regime still recalls the many letters he wrote to decry the continued employment of Harry Caray as the television voice of the team, or the bizarre firing of icon Ernie Banks – the living and breathing Cubs mascot.

Dad was not a Harry Caray fan. That much is sure. Caray’s endless mispronunciations, poor grammar, and lack of ability to process and describe basic baseball strategy drove Dad crazy, and when Dad was driven crazy, he wrote letters.

Those letters served to vent the anger that made Dad one of the funniest people I’ve known. It wasn’t a purposeful attempt to make anyone laugh, but a knack for being blunt beyond measure, and blunt is as funny as it is uncomfortable to be around. He called an idiot an idiot – or worse – and he did it until the idiot knew he was being called an idiot.

He was a bare-knuckled verbal brawler who believed honesty trumped all else. The truth as he saw it was my Dad’s native language whether he was talking to a bank teller, drug store clerk, his children, or Cubs management. That the U.S. Postal Service has raised the rate for first class stamps relentlessly since 2002, the year of my Dad’s death, is not surprising. The decline in the number of typewritten complaint letters since then has been a crippling financial blow to its solvency.

The Cubs gleefully announced Clark’s existence today, “The Cubs are thrilled to welcome Clark as the team’s official mascot,” Cubs senior director of marketing Alison Miller said. “Clark is a young, friendly Cub who can’t wait to interact with our other young Cubs fans. He’ll be a welcoming presence for families at Wrigley Field and an excellent ambassador for the team in the community.”

Dad would have been a different kind of mascot, about whom the Cubs would have sent a very different press release, “Clark is an irascible, hard-boiled Cubs fan, in whose mouth a burning cigar relentlessly resides. Interact with him at your own risk, as Clark enjoys telling fans of all ages just what he thinks of Cubs management, the players, fan decorum, and the size of anything proportionate to the rest of a person’s body. The surgeon general has determined secondhand smoke can be harmful to one’s health, and for that reason, exposure to Clark is allowed only after receipt by the Chicago National League Ballclub of a signed and notarized liability waiver.”

The letter Dad would have written the Cubs about the appropriation of his name for a lovable, backward hat wearing sap of a bear cub would have been something to behold. It would have motivated a google image search of my Dad. The picture would have been circulated among the security staff. All that work would have been wasted as Dad was smarter with his money than to spend it for the right to watch bad baseball.

This abomination, created to divert the attention of kids duped into believing each trip to Wrigley is anything but another step down the road of endless misery and despair, was as inevitable as another 90-loss season is in 2014.

That his name is Clark is just a cruel coincidence.

Indianapolis Colts – With 2013 Gone, Building for 2014 Becomes the Focus; Where Do Colts Go from Here?

by Kent Sterling

Colts GM Ryan Grigson has the second highest amount under the cap and that will allow him to move this roster forward for the third straight year despite only five picks in the 2014 NFL Draft.

The Indianapolis Colts have some decisions to make – a lot of decisions. The team that took a step forward in 2013 will need to hit again in the free agent lottery to take another big stride toward the ultimate goal of winning a second Lombardi Trophy for Indianapolis.

Minus an unforeseeable misstep, Andrew Luck continuing his evolution into elite status during his third year as one of the NFL’s quarterbacks is a given. Defensive player of the year candidate Robert Mathis doesn’t appear ready to recede into mediocrity yet, despite age becoming an issue for the Colts all-time sack leader. By the time the 2014 regular season starts, Mathis will be 33 1/2 years old, and that is long in the tooth for a speed rusher.

Add to Luck and Mathis group of players returning from injury like Dwayne Allen, Vick Ballard, Donald Thomas, and Reggie Wayne, and the future is quite bright.

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The Colts have a lengthy list of free agents they will decide to re-sign or allow to walk away. Some of the choices will be made with relative ease, and others will be tougher. Rarely does a player opt out of Indianapolis because of a distaste for the city or direction of the franchise, so as long as the Colts are in the financial ballpark with their offers, they should be able to hold onto those they target to retain.

The Colts salary cap situation is the second most friendly in the NFL with $36,555,700 to spend, according to spotrac.com. The salary cap is a complicated beast, and the number from Spotrac might be flawed because of contract provisions of which they are not aware.

One area through which the Colts are unlikely to improve is through the 2014 draft. Without a first and fourth rounder because of trades, the Colts only have five picks, and that will make it tough to hit it big with youth.

Another consideration is the cap hit that Luck will cause beginning in 2015. Luck is under contract through 2015, with a team option for 2016 that becomes worth the average of the top ten paid players at Luck’s position. The following year, the Colts could franchise Luck for one year at the average salary of the top five quarterbacks.

The Colts will almost certainly sign Luck to an extension after 2014 that will both reward Luck as the future of the franchise, while suppressing his cap number to a level that doesn’t require the Colts to mortgage the rest of their roster.

The free agents the Colts will need to keep or allow to walk are:

S Antoine Bethea: 29 – Likely a goodbye to one of the four players remaining with the Colts who owns a Super Bowl XLI ring. Bethea has been quite good for a long time, but he and LeRon Landry are similar players, and the amount of cash Bethea will cost could be spent to net a safety with cover skills that will better compliment Landry. This isn’t a done deal as Bethea was the only Colt to play more than 1,000 defensive snaps (1,048).
K Adam Vinatieri: 41 – Still one of the best kickers in the NFL, Vinatieri made 38-43 attempts in 2013, including the playoffs. From 50+ yards, he was 4-6, so distance is not a concern yet. Anyone remember the playoff losses that came because of Mike Vanderjagt misses? Sign Vinatieri.
P Pat McAfee: 26 – The third best punter in the NFL, according to profootballfocus.com, and also a very solid public representative for the team. McAfee also kicks off, which allows Vinatieri to focus on what he does best. Sign him.
RB Donald Brown: 26 – This is a toughie that will be determined by whether the Colts feel they can get better value elsewhere. Football is a business, and Brown’s future in Indy will be determined by how much he is coveted elsewhere. The Colts will not be put in a position to win an auction for Brown’s continued solid play.
WR Darrius Heyward-Bey: 26 – Despite being a very supportive teammate who embraced his reduced role on special teams, he’s likely a goner. Someone is going to over-evaluate DHB because of his speed, and that will keep the Colts from paying him at a logical level for doing what he does well – all those things that don’t involve hands.
G Mike McGlynn: 28 – The question with the guys on the interior of the offensive line is whether they are in any position to lose any of them, or whether they are in a position to keep any of them? McGlynn and center Samson Satele would appear to be the guys most likely to be replaced.
RB Ahmad Bradshaw: 27 – Oft-injured, late 20s. Goodby.
CB Vontae Davis: 25 – Best corner on the team acquired for a second rounder. Likely an $8 million per year guy. Sign him.
G Jeff Linkenbach: 26 – Linkenbach can do a lot of things okay. Serviceable backup. At the right price, he’s a good guy to have around.
CB Cassius Vaughn: 26 – There have to be free agent corners who will be better for the same cash.
LB Pat Angerer: 26 – He’s a goner. Traditional 4-3 MLB stuck in a 3-4 system that doesn’t suit him.
DT Aubrayo Franklin: 33 – Who knows?
DE Fili Moala: 28 – Probably gone. Injured, 28, and mediocre.
LB Kavell Conner: 26 – I have always liked Kavell Conner, but not a lot of productivity this season for the soon-to-be 27 year-old. He played only 115 defensive snaps, which represent roughly 10% of all defensive plays. Also a very good special teamer.
S Sergio Brown: 25 – Great special teams player. No idea the market for him. The Colts have the cash, but is the money better invested elsewhere. Decisions like this are why GM Ryan Grigson makes the big bucks.
CB Josh Gordy: 26 – See Cassius Vaughn.
OL Joe Reitz: 26 – I like Joe Reitz as a versatile back-up offensive lineman, but that might have more to do with him being the brother-in-law of a kid that I coached in little league for four years.
LB Scott Lutrus: 25 – I’m not an expert on Scott Lutrus.
DE Ricardo Mathews: 26 – Depends upon expense. At the minimum, why not?
LB Lawrence Sidbury: 27 – Healthy, he can play.
LB Cam Johnson: 23 – No idea
LB Justin Hickman: 28 – Again, no idea
DT Jeris Pendleton: 30 – I root for Jeris because his story is unique. Supposed to go to Michigan State on scholarship out of Chicago Dunbar, he didn’t qualify academically, and he went to work for six years to help with the family financial situations. At 24, he decided to try to right that wrong, and enrolled at Joliet JC. He transferred to Ashland, and was a 28 year-old seventh round pick for Jaguars in 2012. I like good stories, and would sign him just so I wasn’t the guy who ended his dream. That romanticism is one of the multitude of reasons I am not a general manager in the NFL.

What free agents the Colts pursue will be determined by which of those they keep. Obviously, they need interior offensive lineman and help in the defensive backfield. Fortunately, the Colts are set where it’s most important – quarterback, speed rusher, and offensive tackle.

Expect Grigson to be just as busy over the next four months as he was following the surprising 2012 season.

Indianapolis Colts – The Joy Ride Ends Too Soon Against the Patriots in 43-22 Loss

by Kent Sterling

Turnovers kill. There is no statistic in football more telling than turnover differential, and the New England Patriots won the turnover battle 3-0 over the Colts, including a pick six that helped Bill Belichick’s evil horde jump out to a 14-0 lead midway through the first quarter.

So now the Patriots will either host the AFC Championship against the San Diego Chargers or fly to Denver for yet another overhyped Brady vs. Manning spectacle. The Colts will prepare for the 2014 season that is only 33 weeks away.

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It wasn’t the composure and arm of future Hall of Fame Quarterback Tom Brady that led the Patriots offensive explosion. It was the reborn LeGarrette Blount, who had scored 16 touchdowns in what had been a very mediocre four season career until the last three games, during which he has scored eight times. Blount’s 24 carries for 166 yards and four touchdowns were too much to handle for a team that handed the ball to the Patriots four times.

Brady was ordinary as he completed 13-25 passes for 198 yards and zero touchdowns. The most important statistic for Brady was another zero – the number of times he threw balls to Colts.

Extolling the virtues of the Patriots isn’t going to be any more fun for me to write than you to read, so I think I’ll bail on that task and head straight for the postmortem on what has been a very solid season for the Colts despite a roster of injuries that would have crippled most teams.

Last season, quarterback Andrew Luck had an outstanding rookie season in large part because of the contributions of three weapons – Reggie Wayne, Vick Ballard, and Dwayne Allen. Allen and Ballard played one game each, and Wayne was lost for the season toward the end of the epic home win against the Broncos.

There were nearly 20 Colts who were lost for the season, and many more who missed a few games here and there, but the Colts continued to find ways to overcome their less than fertile roster. General manager made trades, found different men who had been on the street to contribute, and coach Chuck Pagano and his staff squeezed the very last bit of effort out of the players.

The Colts gave up 38 points to the Rams, 40 points to the Cardinals, and 42 to the Bengals in games between November 10 and December 8, and the media thought there was no way they could find a second wind to make a deep run into the playoffs.

Pagano had other ideas as he found combinations of players and schemes that suited them to win the last three regular season games by a combined score of 78-20, but the frost on the cake came last Saturday afternoon and night of the wild card round playoff game at Lucas Oil Stadium against the Kansas City Chiefs.

The Chiefs led by 28 early in the second half, and over the next 90 minutes turned the tables so quickly and thoroughly that it was a Colts victory formation that ended the game.

The media geniuses, many of whom picked the Colts to win tonight, believed that the Colts success in 2012 had more to do with good fortune than Luck. The Colts posted an incredible 9-1 record in games determined by seven or fewer points, were outscored over the course of the season by 30 points, and featured seven fourth quarter comebacks on their way to an 11-5 record. The math whizzes said a regression to the norm would be forthcoming.

Not quite. The Colts finished 11-5 again, won the admittedly putrid AFC South, and posted the first postseason win of the Luck/Pagano era.

That’s not what the Colts hoped to hang their collective hat on when the day began, but it’s a hell of a result for a team held together by Luck, splendid play by lone Colts Pro Bowler defensive end Robert Mathis, a great coaching staff, a couple of rolls of duct tape, and some bailing wire, but it’s a step forward.

So now, the attention of fans turns to the future. Missing the first round pick that was shipped to Cleveland in exchange for Trent Richardson, the Colts might be thought to be minus the assets needed to show similar improvement next season. If those the Colts lost for the season in 2013 can return to form in 2014, it will be like having five first round picks.

Tonight sucked, but the future looks bright.

Ahead of the Curve (1070 the Fan @ 11a) with a Bonus 30 Minutes, and Great Roster of Guests

by Kent Sterling

Can’t wait. It’s hard to wake up on Saturdays knowing I have to wait a couple of hours to host “Ahead of the Curve” on 1070 the Fan and 107.5 FM. I would rather just hustle into the car, drive downtown, flip the switch, and talk about Indiana sports.

What could be better?

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And today might be the best day of all to do it. The Colts play the Patriots tonight at 8:15 for a chance to advance to the AFC Championship, the Pacers are 29-7 as they inch toward the halfway point in the season, Indiana plays Penn State at Noon in a huge Big Ten game (at least for Indiana it’s huge), Indiana’s football program fired its defensive coordinator and defensive line coach yesterday, and Butler is still working toward its first Big East win.

There is enough to talk about to keep me full of steam for eight hours instead of two-and-a-half.

The guest list – as always – is filled with people who can provide unique perspective on all those stories. We’ll talk to ESPN’s Mike Wells, Big Ten Network’s Stephen Bardo, NFL analyst Rick Venturi, pegs.com’s Jeff Rabjohns, and the Big Ten Network’s Tom Dienhart. Fox 59’s Chris Hagan will join us at 11:30a for the Six-Pack live from Foxborough. That’s a full slate.

I’m also angry about a couple of things in sports that I’ll have to purge myself of.

At 11a, I’m as happy as I get. Hope you’re in your car, or have the time to flip the show on from wherever you are. “Ahead of the Curve” will follow “Pacers Weekly” on 1070 the Fan and 107.5 FM in central Indiana and on 1070the.com everywhere else.

IU Football – Doug Mallory Fired as Defensive Coordinator

by Kent Sterling

A little new blood on the IU football staff will be a good thing, but it’s sad to have come at the expense of a good guy like Doug Mallory.

Someone had to pay for a defense that had no chance to stop Navy – or anyone else, and defensive coordinator Doug Mallory and defensive line coach Jon Fabris became those people this morning.

The leader of a defense that ranked last in the Big Ten the last three seasons, and 120th out of 123 teams in the FBS for total defense couldn’t survive, despite being dealt a tough hand by the circumstances in Bloomington as the football program is being rebuilt.

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Head coach Kevin Wilson made the decision to attack the offense first, and craft a brand for IU Football that begins and has ended with an explosive uptempo offense. Resources were devoted toward the construction of that offense, and the pace of play exposed a young defense that was undermanned (to be kind) in the Big Ten.

Indiana has made positive steps in three years under Wilson, and came within one win of bowl eligibility in 2012. The game against Navy stands out as a defensive failure because the Hoosiers did not record a defensive stop during the game, and because Wilson admitted during the post game press conference that he told the team at halftime that they would win by scoring every time they touched the ball and recover an onside kick.

Not exactly a ringing endorsement of the defensive personnel or scheme.

“Doug and Jon are solid coaches and good men,” Wilson said. “We appreciate everything they have done for IU Football and wish them both the very best moving forward. We are excited about the future as we continue to build our program in a positive way.”

This is part of the evolution of a rebuilding program. The hope that was crushed by a 1-11 record in 2011 followed in 2012 by 4-8 and 5-7 in 2013 needs to be re-engaged, and regardless of whether it was circumstances or Mallory that caused failure, a new coat of paint is needed to give fans the feeling that defensive improvement is imminent. That’s business.

If Mallory had been retained and the defense failed for a fourth straight year, it would no longer have been a Doug Mallory problem. It would have been a Kevin Wilson problem, and good head coaches know when to make this moves to shine a light away from themselves to buy some time.

That’s not to say that this was solely a political move that bought Wilson a measure of cover. It very well could have been caused by an examination of defensive lapses that resulted in poor results, and the new coordinator, whomever he might be, might be the answer to make progress in trying to build a winner.

And I would imagine that is the case. After listening to Wilson talk in post game pressers, Monday postmortems, and interviewing him a couple of times on 1070 the Fan, one thing that is clear is that Wilson is not much for excuses or obfuscation.

He’s one of the few guys If come across in a very political business who I could see walking into an athletic director’s office to fight for an embattled assistant, and on November 18th when Indianapolis Star columnist Bob Kravitz called for Mallory to be fired, Mallory officially became embattled.

Show me a manager who retains everyone, and I’ll show you a poor leader afraid to make the tough choices. Show me a manager who fires everyone, and I’ll show you someone who blames all around him for failure. Turning away from a personal relationship to do what is right for the collective is difficult, and represents strong leadership. I believe that’s what happened this morning in Bloomington.

Indianapolis Colts vs. New England Patriots – Similar Teams, Similar Challenges, Advantage Colts

by Kent Sterling

Andrew Luck and Tom Brady are at opposite ends of their careers, and will battle against each other tomorrow for the second time.

The Patriots are the most enigmatic successful team in the NFL led by the most baffling of coaches. Finishing with a 12-4 regular season record, it’s not possible to figure out what path they use to win.

The Colts might be the second most vexing team in the league. One Pro Bowl invitee, but an 11-5 record with wins over the only two teams in the league with 13-3 records.

These two teams who will fight tomorrow night for a spot in the AFC Championship have combined to finish 23-9, and deciphering why is like expelling the ratings success of “Two Broke Girls.”

It’s not really about what they do, as much as what they don’t do. Their shared genius is not in winning but in avoiding losses.

Neither the Colts nor Pats beat themselves. Both protect the ball great, with the Colts leading the NFL during the regular season with only 14 turnovers. The Patriots were 8th with 20 giveaways.

Both the Colts and Patriots are at the top of the NFL for least penalties (NE #1 with 69; Colts #3 with 70) and least penalty yards (NE #3 with 625 yards; Colts #2 with 595 yards). Interestingly, the Colts and Patriots are #1 and #2 in net yards gained through penalty (Colts – 410 yards, Pats – 326 yards).

Who wins the game tomorrow will not be the team that makes the most plays, but the team that makes the fewest mistakes.

The difficulty for the Colts is that the Patriots know exactly who they need to take away to be able to remove the likelihood of surrendering big plays on both sides of the ball. Receiver T.Y. Hilton is the one offensive weapon at Andrew Luck’s disposal who can score quickly, and Robert Mathis is the critical piece of the defensive puzzle for the Colts.

Neutralize those two, and the Colts ability to score or cause havoc is reduced to a manageable level.

On the other side, does any defensive coordinator really look at Julian Edelman, and say, “That’s the guy we need to stop!”

This promises to be a chess match between two very adept coaches who do an excellent job of minimizing ways they might lose.

There are very few answers to be found, but here are five things for Colts fans to look for:

Robert Mathis will need to move around to get pressure on Brady. Nate Solder is a very solid left tackle, who only allowed 35 pressures this season – none against the Bills in Week 17. RT Marcus Cannon – filling in for injured starter Sebastian Vollmer – is not nearly as good. The Colts like sliding Mathis around, and the key to turning Mathis loose against the Patriots will be in getting Brady into third and long situations by shutting down the running game early.
The Colts run defense has been very successful against the best running teams in the NFL. Including the wild card round win against the Kansas City Chiefs, the Colts are 4-0 against teams ranked in the top 10 in rushing yards, and 8-1 against teams in the top 15. The Patriots were ninth.
A lot of blather is coming from Boston about how the Patriots destroyed the Colts 59-24 last season in Foxborough, but the men who surrounded Brady on offense are mostly gone. Rob Gronkowski caught seven passes for 137 yards and two TDs. Wes Welker caught another seven for 72 yards. Brandon Lloyd caught four for 45. That leaves six catches between Edelman and Shane Vereen.
The Colts have both played very well and quite poorly this season, while the Patriots have been a consistent group. The Colts were 5-2 against playoff teams – including last weekend – but also badly lost to the Rams. The Colts are capable of playing well enough to win this game, but are also capable of being run out of Gillette Stadium. Hard to pick against always favors the underdog.
Bill Belichick’s team went undefeated at home in 2013, but three of those wins were by a field goal and another was by a single point. The Patriots were 2-2 against teams with 10 or more wins, and 10-2 against teams with non-winning records. They beat who they should, and are a cin flip against those in their strata.

The Colts and Patriots played very similar schedules. The opponent’s record for the Pats – 121-135. For the Colts it was 124-132.

Prior to the 2013 season, the actuarials who cloud the mind with statistical tables, predicted that the Colts would revert to norm because they had posted a 9-1 record in games decided by seven or fewer points. They said that because the Colts were outscored by 30 points through the 2012 season, it was very likely they would slide from their 11-5 record to a 7-9 mark. The Colts matched their 11-5 2012 record showing that accountants should stick to preparing tax returns, and stay out of football.

The Patriots are a very similar group. Look at the roster, and tell me how they are 12-4. Julian Edelman and Danny “Mr. Brittle” Amendola are Tom Brady’s best weapons, and the running game is manned by the mostly mediocre LeGarrette Blount and Stevan Ridley. Nothing scare you, but that’s what is scariest about the Pats.

As decimated by injury as the Colts offense has been, that’s what has happened to the Patriots defense. Gone are Jared Mayo. Vince Wilfork, Brandon Spikes, and Tommy Kelly. Non-specialists named to the Pro Bowl – Brady and safety Devin McCourty.

Anyone who tells you they have a great handle on what the Colts will bring to the party tomorrow is a fool. There is no way to predict the outcome of this game. Patriots are -8, and with a gun to my head, I would bet the Colts because the Patriots two wins against playoff teams were both by three.

ESPN’s Dan Le Batard Banned for Life from Baseball Hall of Fame Voting

by Kent Sterling

ESPN’s Dan Le Batard lost his vote, but has been trending all day. Which do you think he would rather have?

Dolts don’t like being mocked any more than smart people do, and dolts with power generally find a way to try to get even in the worst possible way.

Showing their abject stupidity, the Baseball Writers Association of America has stripped ESPN host Dan LeBatard of his Baseball Hall of Fame vote after he gave his ballot away to deadspin.com after becoming disenchanted with the voting process.

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“Okay, he doesn’t want to vote? We’ll show him by stripping his ability to vote!” Good thinking. That’s like banning a child forever from eating broccoli because he refused to eat his broccoli last night.

Thank you sir (or ma’am), my I have another.

The screwball who made his ballot public, showing that he only voted for Jack Morris because, “those who played during the period of PED use, I won’t vote for any of them,” gets to continue to apply moronic logic to his voting strategy while Le Batard loses his vote.

Ken Gurnick of mlb.com is that boob, and he evidently is under the impression that Morris played in the 1920s instead of the 1980s and early 1990s, when steroids were widely used. If anything, a vote for Greg Maddux, who routinely outdueled hundreds of chemically bulked batters during his career would have been more profound statement against steroid use.

This mess perfectly underscores the chaos that exists in this anachronistic process administered by an organization whose continued existence defies logic, and in whose hands this responsibility was correctly trusted when the only media covering baseball was exclusively print.

With the advent of television, radio, and digital content providers watching multiple games per night, it is absurd to propose that only writers have the ability to discern the difference between a good and great major league baseball player.

Last night, I wrote about not paying attention to the way the BBWAA makes the sausage, just enjoy the moment for Maddux, Tom Glavine, and Frank Thomas. Tonight, let’s get downright Upton Sinclair angry about the BBWAA’s sausage making, and the worst hall of fame selection system in sports being allowed to continue to make the decision for millions of fans who view the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum as hallowed ground.

There are idiots who never write about baseball who receive a ballot every year. I know one personally and can attest to both his idiocy and receipt of his ballot. And I know another voter who is steamed to the point where if he didn’t have so much respect for the Hall itself would have pulled a Le Batard years ago.

He told me that he used to get goose bumps when he completed his ballot. As he has become more aware of the dearth of knowledge the membership owns, the less excited he has become.

Some of the voters pay attention, and others treat the sacred trust of completing their annual ballot with the same lack of zeal I reserved for 10th grade vocabulary quizzes. A five-minute glance at the words and definitions was enough to give me a fighting chance, so that was all the effort necessary.

The BBWAA only strips ballots of voters who use theirs to expose the turpitude so obvious to us and yet invisible to the Hall of Fame itself.

If worthy of an ‘F’ for style, Le Batard has at least opened the door for reasonable people to have a conversation about the idiocy of this antique process administered by the journalistic equivalent of the U.S. Government’s Board of Tea Examiners, which was abolished in 1996, a half century after it’s work became a punch line.

Writers are a wacky bunch driven to paranoia through the maddeningly slow death of the newspaper. Every slight is an attack at their ability to provide for their family and suggesting that this cabal of ink stained wretches should not be the sole purveyors of wisdom is countered with manic and incoherent jabbering from the prickly portion of its membership.

No one belonging to a group who has a member that voted for Armando Benitez on this year’s Hall of Fame ballot can claim with a straight face that there isn’t a better way.

That better way might be exactly how Le Batard’s ballot was completed as Deadspin allowed visitors to its site to vote, and the top ten earned Le Batard’s vote. Greg Maddux, Frank Thomas, Tom Glavine, Mike Piazza, Craig Biggio, Edgar Martinez, Jeff Bagwell, Roger Clemens, Barry Bonds and Curt Schilling were marked on LeBatard’s ballot.

That’s a pretty good ballot. I would drop Martinez in favor of Tim Raines to get to my top ten, but the ballot that has gotten Le Batard punted for life supported ten men who all fell in the top 12. Not bad for a bunch of online gawkers who have never seen a sheet of 4-ply carbon paper or feasted on a press box buffet.

For more good reading on this mess, Buster Olney offers some well-reason options and thoughts.

Not So Fun Facts and Thoughts About the 2013-2014 Indiana Basketball Season

by Kent Sterling

ESPN’s Joe Lunardi is the March Madness Santa Claus. He either brings joy to college students or a lump of coal. IU has an 80% chance of getting coal in 2014.

Nothing is done quietly in Assembly Hall. Winning, Losing, cheating, rebuilding, and hanging a banner are all done under a bright spotlight in front of fans, alums, and national media that pays very close attention 365 days a year.

As the Hoosiers continue to search for their collective personality, others are beginning to weigh in. The numbers are starting to mount in Indiana’s disfavor, and the coming games (minus those against Northwestern and Nebraska) all look like serious challenges.

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ESPN’s Joe Lunardi assessed the chances of three “blue-blood” programs earning a berth in the 2014 NCAA Tournament. North Carolina and Connecticut join Indiana as programs that are struggling as the conference season gets cranked up.

The likelihood for UNC making the field is assessed at 70% while UConn is a coin flip. Lunardi believes the Hoosiers have a 20% chance of getting their ticket punched.

Lunardi cites Indiana’s Charmin (squeezably soft) non-conference schedule as problematic, “The Hoosiers have lost every one of their ‘up’ games to date, several in convincing fashion, and their nonleague profile outside of those contests is truly dreadful.

“If you subtract home wins against sub-200 competition — which I do in determining a team’s “effective record” — Indiana is 3-5 (not 10-5) in what I like to call “real” games.” Lunardi writes. “It’s one thing to schedule the occasional Chicago State; it’s another to add LIU Brooklyn and Samford. And Evansville and North Florida. And Nicholls State and Kennesaw State. You get the idea.”

Former Big Ten MVP and consensus first team All-American A.J. Guyton spent four years playing for Bob Knight in Bloomington, and he had some interesting thoughts on both Wisconsin and Indiana basketball today on his Facebook page, “Wisconsin (the old Indiana) is dominating most of their opponents. Why? How? Do they have players with the longest wingspan or highest vertical?” Guyton, a high school coach in his native Peoria, IL, continued, “Do they have 6 mcdonalds all Americans or top recruiting classes? No. What they have are players with the necessary skill & ability but more importantly COACHABLE players who buy in to Bo Ryan’s teachings.

“UW scored 85pts against ILL, this is a team who doesn’t talk about “playing fast”. If your child is blessed to become a future student/athlete understand how important having a great coach is. Once you get past the smoke & mirrors of recruiting, make sure the guy recruiting your kid can make him/her the best player THEY can be. Not by promising you “the nba”, but by placing you in an environment of teaching and learning as Bob Knight did for me. Congrats to Bo Ryan, absolutely enjoy watching him coach by frustrating opponents!”

On kenpom.com, which is to college basketball as baseball-reference.com is to baseball in that the clicking and processing just never stops, Indiana’s current projected record is 17-14 with a 7-11 Big Ten finish.

John Calipari refused to continue the home and home series against Indiana after Christian Watford hit a buzzer beater to send his undefeated team back to Lexington with a loss. He still hasn’t forgotten that Hoosier fans rushed the court in a spontaneous outburst of long sealed joy, and he inexplicably talked about it this week on his radio show, “We don’t have obnoxious — well, we may, but I never hear them — but we don’t treat the other team with disrespect. If we won a game against the No. 1 team in the country in Rupp Arena, would people charge the court? No. You’re supposed to (win.) You’re Kentucky. We don’t do that here.”

TypiCal and hysteriCal. No, obnoxious Kentucky fans don’t exist. What that has to do with the current unraveling state of Kentucky basketball, I have no idea. Shuttling in new groups of freshman every year makes winning tough, as Cal is discovering. You can always tell when Cal is getting nervous – he starts taking easy shots at other programs.

The fish bowl at Indiana is going to be gazed into and interpreted as this season continues. It will be seen as either an outstanding evolution of a program that lost 70.1% of its scoring and 66.7% of its rebounding for 2012-2013, or a step backward in trying to find the right combination of assets to bring consistent success back to Bloomington.

And in Bloomington, success is measured in banners hung in the south end of Assembly Hall.

Youth is certainly a factor, as the Hoosiers average 1.11 years of experience for those on the floor, which ranks 321st of 351 division one teams. But young isn’t always bad as the two programs immediately beneath IU – North Carolina and top-ranked Arizona. Last in the country in experience are Calipari’s Kentucky Wildcats.

Stop the Haughty Madness, and Put Pete Rose in the Baseball Hall of Fame

by Kent Sterling

There is no doubt that Pete Rose was a self-entitled jerk who said and did things that it seems only professional athletes can get away with.

He broke THE rule when he bet on the Reds when he managed the team. There is no mistaking the importance of baseball’s ban on gambling – big and bold warnings posted in every major league clubhouse.

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The 1919 Black Sox scandal may have occurred nearly a century ago, but the perpetual ignominy that enshrouds the lives and legacies of Buck Weaver, Joe Jackson, Lefty Williams, Eddie Cicotte, and the rest of those who were suspended from baseball for life for throwing the 1919 World Series as a response to the tight fisted, nickel squeezing ownership of Charlie Comiskey serves as a significant disincentive for players today who might otherwise choose to wager on their games.

Rose paid no mind to the posted rules and the lessons of others who screwed up before. He bet on baseball, consistently denied it until he needed to sell some books, and has been on the outside looking in for a quarter century.

That makes him a cheat, a dolt, and a profiteer.

What his self-serving behavior cannot do is erase a playing career of consistent excellence. In 24 seasons, Rose played in more games, came to the plate more often, and collected more hits than any man in baseball history.

Ten times Rose finished in the top 10 in MVP balloting – the last time at the age of 40 when he led the National League in hits, and finished second in hitting.

Rose was a 17-time all-star, and excelled defensively at every position but shortstop center field, and catcher.

The statistical justification for enshrining Rose as a player is beyond debate, so there is no point in continuing my little recitation of numerical based arguments in his favor. There is also no doubt that Rose bet on baseball, which continues to stand as the only reason to ban him from induction.

My argument for Rose isn’t about numbers – it’s all about what makes sense, and watching the introductions of Brooks Robinson, Ernie Banks, Willie Mays, Henry Aaron, Frank Robinson, Johnny Bench, Tom Seaver, Steve Carlton, Billy Williams, Mike Schmidt, and the rest of the living hall of famers each July at the induction ceremony without Rose being among them simply feels wrong.

There can be no question among fans as to whether players gamble on games. Fans would see baseball as a rigged game, and that could kill it, as was feared in 1920 when baseball sanctimoniously brought down the hammer of Thor on the Black Sox. The disincentive must be profound, but a perpetual ban is beyond severe. It isn’t a lifetime ban, as no one has been welcomed back postmortem. Joe Jackson’s corpse has been cold for 62 years, and he still does not have a place in the Hall.

Jackson only hit .356 in what amounts to a decade of major league baseball, and in the 1919 World Series he supposedly helped throw, he hit .375 – including .286 in the losses to the Reds.

Rose is going to turn 73 shortly after Opening Day, and the time for him to enjoy hall of fame status is growing short.

A Baseball Hall of Fame without Pete Rose in it is not complete.