Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Indiana Pacers Beat the Heat 90-84, and Win Over a City Ready to Love Them Again

by Kent Sterling

Bankers Life Fieldhouse rocks like it’s 1999 as the clock hits zeroes during the Pacers big win.

The Indiana Pacers started slowly which wasn’t a surprise, but against the two-time defending champion Miami Heat, holes shouldn’t be dug too deep.

Early it appeared that the Heat were intent on schooling the darlings of the NBA, and if that was the case, the Pacers learned very quickly, applied the knowledge, and used it to immodestly kick their supposed big brothers in the mouth.

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Just as was the case against the Spurs in San Antonio on Saturday night, the deficit reached 13 points before the Pacers awakened to play the kind of withering defense that has come to define their brand of basketball. After the LeBron James layup that made the score 44-31 with 2:20 left in the first half, the Pacers had their way, outscoring the Heat 59-40 to win the game 90-84.

The two free throws that comprised the first half offensive output of MVP candidate Paul George blossomed to 17 total points, and the 21 turnovers that led to 20 Heat points became a teaching point for coach Frank Vogel – not a reason for a loss.

The Pacers are now 19-3, three games clear of the Heat who dropped to 16-6 with just over 25% of the regular season in their rearview mirror. There are 60 games left in the regular season, and that is not lost on Pacers center Roy Hibbert, “It’s just one game. We’re going to learn from it. We’re going to watch some tape on our first two quarters. It’s still early in the season. We have a lot more work to do.”

Hibbert had just finished scoring a game high 24 points on 10-15 shooting. Privately, I’m sure he’s at least a little pleased with his effort, but it’s nice that he knows better this year than to get cocky and let his opponents know how pleased he is.

After the Heat scorched the nets in the first quarter, hitting 12-21 shots from the field, they cooled under the intensifying Pacers defense, hitting only 21-56 the rest of the way.

The Heat shot a miserable 19% from beyond the three-point arc, which was only slightly better than the unguarded Justin Timberlake an hour after the game as he fired up wayward three after wayward three with his hat worn backwards. I tried to take a picture, but a security guard asked that I not do that. I have many flaws, but failure to listen to men with badges is not among them.

After watching a dozen shots clank loudly off the side of the rim or miss it entirely, I understood Timberlake’s reluctance to have his skills chronicled. That none of the shots I saw went in the bucket is the nicest thing I can say about the next Sinatra’s long distance bombing.

The best part of the night had nothing to do with what Timberlake, the Pacers, or Heat did on the floor, but came from the energy that existed in Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The atmosphere was electric, more befitting a game seven of the playoffs – something that might happen for the Pacers this postseason, if they can continue to play consistently at this high level.

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A sign one fan held read, “Built, Not Bought!” I like the sentiment, even if the Pacers have there share of free agent signees and players acquired in trades. The Heat played like a team of disparate parts, and the Pacers were very social with one another, and very cohesive in their behavior – if not in the passing.

This is a very likable team that Indianapolis is slowly falling back in love with. Tonight’s sellout crowd (the fifth in ten home dates) was in full throat, and every bit as passionate and engaged as the crowds during the Reggie, Dutchman, Davis Boys, and Jack era.

For the Pacers and this generation of fans, a long love affair enjoyed another magical night. A June wedding and long honeymoon might be coming, and if this reads like a love letter, it was just that kind of night.

Jerry Jones vs. Herb Simon – What Makes One of These Owners Great and the Other a Menace to Success?

Who’s the smartest guy in Cowboys Stadium? We know for whom Jerry Jones casts his voteby Kent Sterling

by Kent SterlingLast night, the Dallas Cowboys were embarrassed in the arctic cold of Chicago’s lake shore, and tonight the Indiana Pacers with play the Miami Heat in the most eagerly awaited matchup of the young NBA season.

These two franchise could not be run more differently; one is very successful while the other has been relentlessly mediocre for 15 years.

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Picking on Cowboys owner Jerry Jones is unnecessarily specific and cruel. He could have easily been replaced by either Daniel Snyder of the Washington Redskins or James Dolan of the New York Knicks. These three owners are interchangeable as owners of major league sports franchises. They are activists who don’t simply meddle – they run the show.

Simon is a different kind of owner. He knows what he doesn’t know, and writes checks to fill those holes. What Simon does know is how to run a business. If you have been out holiday shopping recently, you probably did it in a mall he owns.

What Simon doesn’t do is try to work the register or hire the managers at the Chess King store in the mall where people buy their eight ball jackets or leather slacks. Jones would have people bringing him swatches of the fabric used to create the dresses sold at Lane Bryant. Dolan and Snyder would product test everything sold at Spencer’s Gifts.

Jones isn’t just the owner of the Cowboys, he is also the general manager. That is what make him an activist owner. He’s not happy just to write large checks and cash larger ones. He wants to busy himself with talent evaluation and hiring coaches.

Cowboys fans can tell you exactly what that leads to – a record of 111-110 in the 21st Century. The Cowboys are resolutely and perfectly mediocre. Welcome to Jerry’s world of finishing at or near .500.

Simon’s time since 2000 has been a little different. The Pacers had come very close to morphing from the NBA finalist of 2000 into a completely new team ready to challenge for the NBA crown, and then came The Brawl. The franchise staggered, and the pieces of that team, minus Reggie Miller, went from being loved to being loathed on that night (there were other subsequent missteps, but The Brawl started it all.

Since then, Simon has trusted the arduous rebuilding to team president Larry Bird. I’m sure it was difficult at times for Simon to remain patient, but he let Bird make the moves that finally resulted in the blossoming of the Pacers that finally occurred during last year’s trip to the NBA Finals.

It took seven long years to deconstruct and rebuild, and the entire time, Simon never interfered. He hired; he trusted, and he paid, as he waited for fans to return to Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

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And tonight they will return. They will fill every available seat to see Paul George, David West, and Roy Hibbert battle LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh. Through a quarter of the season, these are the two best teams in the NBA, and the bright lights will shine in Indianapolis again.

All because Herb Simon knows how to hire people while Jerry Jones, James Dolan, and Dan Snyder trust no one to be smarter than they are.

Ownership has its privileges, and one of them is not having to sit through performance reviews. The owner is right – always. His only consequence is scorn from fans, which is sometimes followed by a checkbook referendum from season ticket holders.

Simon suffered for years as the Pacers stayed away from the deals that would artificially move the turnstyles with easily excited (and duped) fans, but he stayed the course, and allowed men who know much more about basketball than he does acquire and assemble the parts of a roster that can win.

Jones, Dolan, and Snyder can’t stay out of the way for seven days, much less seven years. They tinker, offer ideas, or act on their own. Some wayward rich guys believe that money equates to smart in all things, and the records of the teams owned by Jones, Snyder, and Dolan confirm that is not the case.

Telling them they are screwing up their teams and making fans miserable won’t do any good. They are the smartest guys in the room, and won’t be listening.

Pacers fans should say a silent prayer of thanks tonight during the big game that Herb Simon owns the team.

Oregon Snowball Fight – a Little Harmless Fun Gone Awry, But Biggest Problem Caused by Professor

by Kent Sterling

This is what college students do, and if my shoulder wasn’t fried by starting and participating in a thousand too many snowball fights, I would still be doing the same thing. And I would have been front and center in this melee had I been in Eugene, Oregon, last Friday.

For those who haven’t heard the story or seen the video, a University of Oregon football player has been suspended in the Ducks upcoming bowl game for his role in a snowball fight that turned its attention to a professor who stopped his car, stepped from the vehicle, and was hit by dozens of snowballs as a result.

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Other students may be disciplined if they can be identified in the videos that captured the event.

In all the reports of the incident I can find, no injuries or damage to cars or property were reported. This appears to be the latest incident of simple annoyance being converted into criminal behavior.

If the professor had any stones or understanding of student behavior, he would have picked up some snow and defended himself.

Sure, getting hit by a snowball in the face can be a little disconcerting, but it’s part of winter fun and treating the kids like criminals is an absurd overreaction by academics who feel the need to respond with punitive measures every time someone complains.

Academic administrators hate it when the phone rings, and the fact that this video has over three million views and has been elevated to an event of national importance is worth a lot of phone calls.

Of course, someone has to pay, even when nobody did anything more than hurl some crystalized water at one another, and then throw some more at a dumbass who decided to try to control campus mischief as though it was his classroom.

I’m surprised the students were as restrained as they were. Throwing the bucket of snow on the prof as he opened his door was a little over the top – as was stepping in front of the prof’s car, but if kids are throwing snow around, don’t open your car door,

Adults have decided that anytime something mildly unpleasant happens, they have a right to legal redress. How sad an indictment on our society that is. Is there no American man willing to logically solve his own problem through fight or flight?

Our ‘meet, legislate, and punish’ method of handling issues with those whom we disagree is pathetic.

An Oregon student should have admonished the professor by paraphrasing the words of Colonel Nathan Jessup in the film ‘A Few Good Men’, “I have neither the time nor the inclination to explain myself to a man who drives through the blanket of snow we are throwing, and then questions the manner in which it is used in fun. I would rather you just said thank you, and went on your way, Otherwise, I suggest you pick up a snowball, and stand a post. Either way, I don’t give a damn what justice you think you are entitled to.”

“Animal House” was shot on the University of Oregon campus. Not only was it a raucous college comedy, it was a how to for dealing with self-important administrative mopes with a motto of “No more fun of any kind!” I wonder how Bluto, Otter, Boon, Hoover, Pinto, Stork, and Flounder would have responded to a Dean Wormer edict prohibiting snowball fights.

I’ll tell you this, the snowball fight would not be over.

Indiana Pacers – Clark Kellogg Gets It Right by Treating People Well Every Time

by Kent Sterling

Clark Kellogg isn’t just great at what he does, he sets a standard for decency in a profession that needs a serious infusion of it.

At the Indiana Pacers event yesterday at Stout Air Force Base, I spent a little time with Vice President of Player Relations Clark Kellogg. It’s easy to gravitate toward Kellogg because he is a welcoming and insightful guy.

You can do a lot worse than choose Kellogg to spend a couple of minutes with. Genuinely nice people should always be targets for conversation at social events, and Kellogg is one of the all-time nicest guys in media and sports.

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We spent a couple of minutes talking about media, and he said something that is absolutely true but doesn’t happen very often. People need to treat each other well, and so often they don’t.

Working in media is tough. The evaluation of employees is almost entirely subjective, and the fear in the halls at media companies can motivate jealousy, suspicion, and the manifestations of bad behavior that can result.

Kellogg said the answer for dealing with it for him is “to treat people well.” What a great profession working in the media could be if everyone held Kellogg’s view.

Media is a tough gig because it’s not simply the quality of the work of each individual that forges the opinion of management, but the way the personalities of the talent fit together to form a cohesive unit – a brand – that reflects a single coherent thought or mission.

Excellent talent can be dismissed or rejected because they don’t fit that mission, while others no better are welcomed and rewarded. That lack of tangible criteria makes it difficult to feel great confidence in your ability to provide consistently for a family, send kids to college, and buy a nice Christmas gift for your husband or wife.

That’s also why working in media management can be so tough. Knowing that you are forcing a person to tell family members that they lost his or her job without a reason other than a subjective sense of fit is why managers look very tired most of the time. It’s tough to get a good night sleep when people are going to lose their jobs through no fault of their own.

And that is why Kellogg’s words resonated with me yesterday. The very least members of the media should provide one another is sincere empathy and generosity in spirit, and so often we fall short.

I wish everyone felt like Kellogg does, and they should. Being a pain in the ass with peers doesn’t make a person, station, or medium better. It doesn’t improve sleep. It does nothing but make firing the person causing the pain a little easier.

There are a million great excuses for insecurity within those who create content for a media outlet. The impulse is to allow that insecurity to motivate behavior. It’s human nature.

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That makes Kellogg’s counsel all the more important because the uncertainty of continued employment as companies reward managers who continue to strive for increased efficiency make being a considerate human being difficult and therefore rare.

Failure of others does nothing to guarantee the success of others, so why not treat each other with warmth and decency?

Emmis Communications has eleven commandments that govern its culture, and the sixth is, “Don’t underprice yourself or your medium – don’t attack the industry, build it up.” That should hold true for co-workers and peers.

Regardless of what company or delivery system another person serves, treating him or her with respect is going to do nothing to diminish your position. Everyone wants to be able to earn a living, but selling your core principles as you do it makes the paychecks a hollow bounty.

Embrace your peers. Help each other do great work. Support one another.

The effort to succeed doesn’t require being an ass, and anyone who has been in media for any length of time knows that eventually the bad people get gassed just as quickly as the good. Given a lack of reward for being a jerk, why not treat each other well?

Kellogg serves as a role model for the Pacers players as part of his professional life, and walks the walk as a role model for those in the media. I’m not sure which group needs his counsel more.

Indiana Pacers – Day Off Prior to Miami Heat Game Not Wasted as Owner, Coach, and Players Give Toys to Kids

by Kent Sterling

Pacers owner Herb Simon and JAKKS Pacific CEO Stephen Berman talk to the media about the partnership that has given 175,000 toys to Hoosier children.

Riding high with an NBA best record of 18-3 and LeBron coming to town tomorrow night, no one would blame the Indiana Pacers for taking today off to rest for their first test of the season from the team that refused them entry into the NBA Finals six months ago.

The Pacers beat the San Antonio Spurs on the road Saturday night, lost to Oklahoma City last night, got home at 2a this morning, and are playing the Miami Heat tomorrow night at home.

Today would have been a time for to relax and gather themselves for most franchises, but not the Indiana Pacers.

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Owner Herb Simon, coach Frank Vogel, and players Roy Hibbert, C.J. Watson, and Orlando Johnson decided that rest could wait as long as there were kids at Stout Air Base waiting for toys.

They weren’t just there to join Stephen Berman, President and CEO of JAKKS Pacific, the world’s largest toymaker, in giving central Indiana kids a few early Christmas presents. They enthusiastically engaged the children and members of the Indiana National Guard as they handed out the swag.

I started attending these events because they are great places to get interviews for that week’s “Ahead of the Curve” on 1070 the Fan, but now I go because it’s fun to watch members of the Pacers organization enjoy themselves as they help the community.

Every person in the media has been around professional sports franchises who act like the community service aspect of their lives was part of a plea bargain. They do the least amount possible for the biggest bang in media coverage, and call the event a success. The players and coaches

(from left to right) Pacers C.J. Watson, Roy Hibbert, Boomer, and Orlando Johnson pose for pictures after handing out toys to kids, and loading a truck with more.

sleepwalk through meeting the people they are helping, and then get back to their lives as quickly as possible.

They look at their watches, text friends, and appear entirely disinterested during these events.

The Pacers are the rare exception. Either they are thrilled to help, or do a hell of a job pretending to.

People with a high profile can either use their celebrity for good or nefarious pursuits, and the Pacers choose to do so much good that it has become an intrinsic part of their culture.

I like being around that kind of energy, so I drove out to Stout despite having no use for any audio that preceded tomorrow’s big game. The Pacers appear genuine in their desire to do the right thing for people in need, and I want to continue to see if the Pacers can meet my standards for sincerity in being community partners.

If there’s anything I loathe, it’s a charlatan. Outing them is my greatest joy. Going out to charitable events to gather audio and video is one thing, but what I really enjoy is ferreting out the nonsense from the real deal. If the Pacers were playing Indy for fools and trying to build goodwill purely for business purposes, I would happily write that.

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That comes from my cynical side. With every event, the Pacers shove that cynicism deeper into the recesses of my character. For that, I’m grateful to them.

Herb Simon agreed to talk for a few minutes, and because he is one of the most effective owners in pro sports I was happy to get his thoughts on giving back, the Pacers play, and the patience that was needed to rebuild his franchise. Simon would serve Jerry Jones, Dan Snyder, and James Dolan well as a role model because he is very aware of what he doesn’t know, and hires those who do.

By the way, I’m quite aware that I might sound like a softballing sycophant in talking to Simon. The thanks at the end is a little much, but my sentiments were honest, so I’m not ashamed of them. He’s a good man who does good things. He sets the standard for the culture of a team that figured out what it did wrong in the not so distant past and invested a lot of time, energy, and cash in rebuilding it the right way.

Managers Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa, and Joe Torre to Be Inducted Into Baseball Hall of Fame – How They Rank

by Kent Sterling

They were the three best managers of their generation, and their careers as major league managers almost perfectly dovetail one another. It’s entirely appropriate that Bobby Cox, Tony LaRussa, and Joe Torre will be inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame together on July 27, 2014.

They are ranked third, fourth, and fifth all-time in wins, with LaRussa only 35 behind John McGraw for second place, so there is no question that these men are each deserving of this honor.

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Lou Boudreau always said that a bad manager could lose a team as many as 25 games and win up to four during an average baseball season, and that underscores how difficult a job managing at the big league level is.

Managers are scrutinized through a season by the decisions that cause losses, and the wins are usually credited to the outstanding work of the players. That makes job security as a manager almost impossible to attain.

As with managers in business, the true value of a baseball manager is in his ability to put his staff in a position where they are most likely to succeed. These three managers were superb leaders of men.

It’s a worthy exercise to compare these three managers and rank them based upon their contributions to their teams, so here is how they rank in my pantheon of baseball leaders:

3 – Joe Torre – 1977-2010 (2,326-1997)

Torre leads the trio in world championships – all won while with the New York Yankees from 1996-2000 – and while he put together a phenomenal run as the manager of the Yankees for 12 seasons, he was not a consistent winner at his other four stops.

While working for George Steinbrenner presented many challenges, being the manager of a team so laden with young excellence provided Torre a great opportunity to win a lot of games.

In the 12 seasons Torre managed the Yankees, he four four titles and posted an 1,173-767 record. In 17 other seasons with the Mets, Braves, Cardinals, and Dodgers won zero World Championships with a 1,153-1,230 for some very mediocre teams and some good teams.

The losing records for those 17 years does nothing to negate his overall work, but in this company it ranks him third.

2 – Bobby Cox – 1978-2010 (2,504-2,001)

Only one World Series championship is the black mark on what is an outstanding career. When we grade a manager down because he only won one title tells you how great these guys are.

Minus the first seasons he spent at Atlanta (twice) and Toronto, Cox’s teams posted winning records 22 of 26 seasons. Granted, he had a starting rotation that a third grader could have won 90 games with, but Cox turned good into great, and great into hall of famers.

The Braves won their division a mind-blowing 14 out of 15 seasons from 1991-2005 with a rotation including Greg Maddux, Tom Glavine, and John Smoltz.

That’s a hell of a gift for a manager, but in no way diminishes Cox’s contributions to titles.

1 – Tony LaRussa – 1979-2011 (2,728-2,365)

LaRussa is the best manager of the modern era – better than any manager I have ever seen. He won by getting the most out of his talent, and hiring coaches exceptionally well. It’s difficult to separate LaRussa from his pitching coach, and I wish Dave Duncan was being inducted with LaRussa. No one has milked more from a pitching staff than Duncan did in Chicago, Oakland, and St. Louis.

He is a brillant strategist, and has a wonderful gift for putting players in a spot where they have the best chance to succeed. LaRussa understood match-ups and situations, and it was a treat to watch his final Cardinals team in 2011 on a daily basis.

How good was LaRussa? In three stops – with the White Sox, A’s, and Cardinals – he managed at least 1,000 games for each. The Chicago Cubs have had one manager total as many as 1,000 in a single stint since Frank Chance. That was Leo Durocher who managed the Cubs for 1,065 games. If Ken Harrelson had waited 31 more games to fire LaRussa – and Harrelson was a boob for doing it – LaRussa would have outlasted every Cubs manager back to Chance at all three stops.

The success and failure of managers is often a product of the talent at his disposal. LaRussa is one of the very few that didn’t need great talent to achieve a great result.

St. Louis is not an easy place to manage. Cardinals fans in the aggregate are the most knowledgeable in baseball. That’s not to say that other teams don’t have some fans that know as much about baseball as anyone, but you can have a deep conversation with the least savvy baseball fan in St. Louis and enjoy it. That put every decision LaRussa made in his 16 seasons in St. Louis through a tough filter, and he was never fired.

For that reason, LaRussa is the best manager of all time in my book.

Washington Redskins Trade for RG3 Will Pay More Dividends for St. Louis Rams

by Kent Sterling

So far, it’s been RG3 for a whole bunch of guys. If the Redskins keep losing, the rewards reaped by dealing the #2 pick in the 2012 NFL Draft could double – or more.

The Rams felt pretty good about quarterback Sam Bradford, so they dealt the number two pick in the 2012 NFL Draft to the Washington Redskins for the sixth pick and a second rounder that year, and the first round picks in 2013 and 2014.

That looked like a good deal at the time for both teams, but the continued deals to amass more picks and the recent implosion by the Redskins could make this trade the gift that keeps on giving for the Rams.

If the season ended today, the final pick bequeathed to the Rams in exchange for RG3 would be the #2 overall pick, and it could easily become the top pick if the Houston Texans pick up a win during the last three weeks of the season.

That would bring the bounty for the Rams to the #6 and #39 picks in 2012, the #22 pick in 2013, and the #2 selection in 2014. All but the #39 pick in 2012 were subsequently dealt for additional picks that represent a significant portion of their current roster.

If the Redskins simply maintain their spot at #2, the Rams could parlay that selection into another deal that will reap similar benefits. Given their own mediocrity this season, the Rams are looking at two top ten picks in the 2014 draft that could easily become two top five picks.

For the last two years, the Rams have been the youngest team in the NFL, and they are likely to have access to additional youth with the picks available to them in the 2014 draft.

The decision that looms for the Rams is whether they will continue to indulge in the fantasy that supposed franchise quarterback Sam Bradford will become the type of on and off field leader needed for the team to take a leap to the next level. Before Bradford tore his ACL at Carolina, he had never proven himself able to win in the NFL, and it’s not likely that after a knee injury he is going to improve.

Would the Rams go after a quarterback like Teddy Bridgewater, Derek Carr, or Johnny Manziel to turn the page on the Bradford era, despite salary cap hits for Bradford of $17.6 and $16.6 million over the next two seasons. Bradford’s was the final non-slotted overall #1 pick, and as a result, the Rams continue to pay dearly for what appears to have been a mistake.

It’s not that Bradford is a total bust, but there is something missing with the guy. He is a bit of a loner whose missed reads caused the offense difficulty moving the ball for his first three seasons. Bradford was better this year, but still not the kind of quarterback who can be projected to lead his team deep into a postseason minus a dominating defense.

The Redskins self-immolation has given the Rams a chance to acquire one more dominant player, or parlay it into a multiple contributors. Regardless, the Rams have proven the excellent logic of trading with a team run by a meddlesome owner. In trades, it’s rarely the intellect of the general manager that determines the success or failure of the deal; it’s a matter of finding saps unable to see the folly of their own decisions.

In poker, success or failure is not determined by the quality of the cards nearly as much as the quality of the other players at the table. Trading the number two pick wasn’t the move that proved the Rams smart in the RG3 deal. It was the fact they chose the Dan Snyder run Redskins as their quarry with whom they made the deal.

As the Rams continue to develop and mature, the wisdom of this trade will become more and more obvious, as will the continued idiocy of the Snyder regime in Washington DC.

NFL Official Jeff Triplette Is a Disgrace to the Game and Should Be Fired

by Kent Sterling

(Updated 8:10p to include transcript of Triplette’s post game interview with pool reporter.)

Incompetence is tough to hide with cameras following every move from multiple angles, and ironically it was the work of the cameras on a play at the end of the first half of the Indianapolis Colts vs. Cincinnati Bengals game that both gave Triplette the supposed indisputable visual evidence to overturn a call and be outed as inept.

‘The integrity of the game’ is a phrase that is bandied about liberally by people in the NFL’s New York office in levying fines and suspensions for players and coaches, but who has a more direct effect upon the integrity of professional football than a bad referee, and for the second consecutive assignment, Triplette has revealed himself to be a clown.

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In his hands, the result of a play and thus a game cannot be trusted.

On fourth and goal from the Colts one yard line with 1:14 left in the first half, the Bengals opted to go for the touchdown. Ben Jarvis Green-Ellis was ruled down by contact short of the end zone by the side judge.

The booth decided that it was close enough to warrant the use of replay, and Triplette retreated under the hood to take a look. Despite obvious contact with Colts defensive lineman Josh Chapman that tripped Green-Ellis causing him to fall a foot short of the end zone, Triplette reversed the call and awarded the Bengals a touchdown that made the score 14-0 at the half.

CBS announcers assigned to the game, Greg Gumbel and Dan Dierdorf, called the reversal “unexplainable,” and at halftime, Boomer Esiason said that Triplette needs to find another line of work.

In the second half, Triplette blew another call when Bengals quarterback Andy Dalton threw a ball away under pressure. Triplette ruled that Dalton was outside the pocket before releasing the ball. Replays showed that not only was Dalton not outside the tackle box, but he was two steps to the left of the spot on the right hash where he received the snap. It wasn’t close, and Triplette blew it.

One call led directly to a seven-point difference in the score that could not have been accounted for otherwise, and the other caused a fundamental change in the flow of the game although the drive ended with a Bengals punt.

Replay is supposed to be used to ensure that the officiating is as close to perfect as possible, but Triplette actually used replay to negate a sound call. Combine this week’s awful performance in Cincinnati with the train wreck non-first down that harmed the Washington Redskins chance to beat the New York Giants, and the a clear and consistent pattern appears. Jeff Triplette cannot be trusted to officiate another NFL contest.

Not only is there a reason to suspect that a game will not find its just result with Triplette officiating the contest, there is genuine well-reasoned doubt that it’s possible.

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Google “Jeff Triplette” and read the litany of inexcusable gaffes for yourself. But somehow the train that left the track of righteousness and reason keeps on rolling week after week, NFL season after NFL season.

The office of the commissioner is always quite eager to flex its muscles at the expense of the players and coaches, but what stand will Roger Goodell take to manage its own employees? Anything short of firing Triplette will send a clear message to fans, teams, and the media that integrity is not a goal of the NFL, but a term of convenience invoked only when it’s easy.

If the media, who are controlled by the NFL about as closely as any professional league, has no choice but to claim a call is blatantly wrong and calls for the job of a referee, the time to act has long passed.

Should the NFL allow this chowderhead to continue his career as a chaos producing dunce, the next misstep could cost a win, season, and championship.

It’s easy to look at the 42-28 final score of the Colts vs. Bengals and make the determination that as bad as Triplette’s calls were, they didn’t cost the Colts the game, but who’s to say?

As if the reversal of the call wasn’t bad enough, this dunderhead’s explanation to the pool reporter who spoke with Triplette after the game is even worse:

Were there differing views among the officials about whether BenJarvus Green-Ellis was down initially?
Triplette: There was discussion about whether the runner was touched down at the goal line or not.
What did you see in the review?
Triplette: When we reviewed the video at the goal line, there was nobody touching him there, and then he bounced into the end zone.
What about the nose tackle? It appeared he might have had a shot at Green-Ellis?
Triplette: I don’t know about that, what position … There was nobody that touched him at the goal line.
So you didn’t look at whether anybody touched him in the backfield?
Triplette: We looked at the goal line, (those) were the shots that we looked at.
There was a question about whether the nose tackle initially swiped at him and started him tripping?
Triplette: We reviewed the goal line.

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A Friend’s Life Being Honored at Today’s Bengals vs. Colts Game

by Kent Sterling

Kristi (4th from left) will be among her friends again in spirit for today’s Bengals vs. Colts game.

Shuckey (Kristi Rees) knew how to hold a grudge. She hated that the Colts built a dome and then a stadium with a retractable roof, so she became a Cincinnati Bengals season ticket holder.

Football is meant to be played and watched in the elements, and anyone who didn’t agree was an idiot. That’s what Shuckey believed, and as with everything she believed, she was not reluctant to share with bluntness and wit.

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Some disagree politely. They issue their opinion with caution and delicacy – packing a feather for the battle. Converting with kindness through treading lightly was not Shuckey’s way.

Her arguments came without a cushion.

The first time I met her was at a bar where we met some mutual friends to watch the 2003 AFC Championship game between the Colts and Patriots. Everyone in the bar was dressed in Colts blue, except Shuckey, who was thoroughly annoying as the only person not cheering for the Colts.

I liked her very much after getting to know her, but on that day, she was the most obnoxious person I had ever encountered. She loudly challenged everyone with her anti-Colts rhetoric. The Colts were 60 minutes from a trip to the Super Bowl, and this crazy woman sitting across from me was fervent in her support of Tom Brady and the Patriots.

For the last three minutes of the game – which was almost certainly a Patriots victory at that point – I stood between her eyes and the closest TV screen. There was no way that I was going to sit idly by and allow the one anti-Colts person in the bar to enjoy the moment.

Shuckey died very suddenly a year-and-a-half ago today shortly after turning 40. Many of her friends are in Cincinnati today for the Bengals vs. Colts game to celebrate her life.

There is no doubt she would have loved making the trek down I-74 to the game, not just to root for the Bengals, but to harangue the Colts and all who cheer for the team that deemed outdoor football a nuisance.

The weather sucks in Cincinnati – just as she would have preferred it – and she would have let all within a 40 row radius know about how the Colts are a bunch of wimps for keeping the snow, ice, and cold out. Her voice was loud – really loud.

We can only guess whether Shuckey would have enjoyed a Colts loss or Bengals win more, but if she has anything to do with it from above, the Colts are going to lose big today, and their fans made miserable as they wonder why they sat in the cold for three hours to watch.

Shuckey is missed for her honestly, humor, and inner sweetness that she refused to show during our first meeting.

Career Reinvention Might Be Crazy, But It’s Fun as Hell

by Kent Sterling

Unlike in this picture, now when I smile, I actually look happy.

For a long time I was paid a righteous amount of money for executing the wide variety of tasks necessary for talk radio station programming departments to function at a high level.

But just as an athlete has a predetermined number of games his body will allow him to play, I had a specific number of meetings where the careers of members of the staffs I managed could be debated, and in some cases ended.

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The joy I derived from helping talent perform better began to be outweighed by the angst of continuing to find ways to operate more efficiently. That happened while working for Hubbard and Emmis – two of the most conscientious and decent companies in broadcasting. I wouldn’t have lasted through the first meeting at a Cumulus station.

So what did I decide to do instead? Generate content for a website and radio station! Smart, real smart. Instead of being in the room as part of the brain trust who plots the course of a business, now I am trying to build a career as one of the pawns I used to shuffle.

That could only make sense in my life.

I didn’t get into radio to be a program director, but financial concerns drove me to continue to accept raises and promotions in that direction. Soon, my hopes to be on the radio faded as a career that was sort of thrust upon me happened.

It took being replaced as a program director in Indianapolis to provide me the freedom I needed to do what I always find more challenging anyway. Writing 750 word columns three times a day became my routine, and interviewing those who play and coach became a passion. The writing led to a radio show on 1070 the Fan – the station I helped launch a few years before.

Then a series of phone calls came from one of the top sportstalk stations in the country. 101 ESPN is owned by one of the smartest companies in media, Hubbard Communication, and when you get a chance to work for Hubbard, you either say yes or decide that you are done with radio management.

I decided to take a chance, but realized after almost two years that the sacrifice of living separated from my family was not worth the position. The choice to return home and re-engage in my pursuit of generating unique content was easy.

This is what I always wanted to do, and life is way too short to spend a minute doing something other than what you love. Some are born with that wisdom. In others, it never comes. I’m just glad I got it eventually.

For years, I heard people say, “Better to fail at what you love than to succeed at what you loathe.” I thought they were nuts, and the truth is that they are. If I felt for a minute that I wasn’t improving at writing, talking, and executing the systems needed to be excellent at both, I would get a job doing something else.

When people asked what the mission of the stations I managed was, I would say, “To search for the fun and truth in sports.” That’s a pretty sturdy umbrella for the philosophy of a talk radio station, but what I have found is that it’s far more enjoyable to explore that terrain myself than to provide the map for others.

So I work like hell to improve by doing the same things I used to tell others – relax and be yourself. Success isn’t guaranteed by being yourself, but failure is assured by trying to be someone else. Have fun because if you don’t enjoy performing, no one will enjoy the performance. Prepare like you are going to war but be a little unpredictable.

I worked with Big Joe Staysniak Thursday, and he said that he’s never quite sure what I’m going to say. I liked the way he described me. It made me sound dangerously honest, which is often times where the best radio is.

What I’ve discovered over the last six months is that the same dynamic that makes writing a source of fun and challenge for me translates just as well to radio as I thought it might. The effort to communicate to others exactly what my thoughts are with language is an endless test that is impossible to master.

I can’t control whether people enjoy listening to or reading what I believe, but I can consistently reflect exactly what I believe to be fascinating, moving, funny, or true.

That beats the hell out of sitting in meetings deciding who gets raises, and who gets gassed.

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