Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Indianapolis Colts – Chuck Pagano Risks Andrew Luck’s Health After Deal Done Yesterday; Now on to Tennessee

by Kent Sterling

This would have been the scene on 56th Street had Andrew Luck been injured after the loss against the Rams had been assured in the third quarter.

The only good news for Colts head coach Chuck Pagano yesterday was that quarterback Andrew Luck left the game healthy after being subjected to punishment from the Rams for three series too long – THREE! The game was in the bag for the Rams after taking a 38-0 lead with 5:15 left in the third quarter, but out came Luck with the rabid defensive ends Robert Quinn and Chris Long, who wanted nothing more than to separate Luck from his senses.

Luck scrambled three times, and was sacked once before being pulled with 5:24 left in the game. If he had been injured, Colts fans would have marched to the Colts Complex on 56th Street with torches demanding justice against Pagano, and they would have been right to.

With the spate of injuries to talented skill position players, the only asset that keeps the Colts from being a very ordinary team is Luck. Without him – much like all those years with Peyton Manning – the Colts are fighting for a top five pick in the draft rather than a division championship. Anyone want to go through another 2011? If Jim Caldwell were still the coach, Luck would have been encased in bubble wrap on the bench after the Rams took a 38-point lead.

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The Indianapolis Colts might very well have had the worst result in their history yesterday. They have been beaten by 30+ points a few times, but rarely at home, and never as a likely playoff team at home against a team going nowhere. But the franchise is intact to compete Thursday in Tennessee.

This is the Colts 30th season in Indy, and that has never happened.

It is likely a very good thing that Luck and Vontae Davis have to wake up this morning thinking only about the upcoming game where they can salt away the AFC South against the Tennessee Titans.

I’m not sure whether cornerback Vontae Davis allowed himself to be hypnotized during a magic show Saturday night, but the only other explanation for his low level of play on two Tavon Austin touchdown receptions are injury and apathy.

Until yesterday’s three touchdowns, it had been eight weeks since Austin’s last visit to the end zone. His high water mark for yards receiving in a game was 47. Yesterday, he popped free for 138.

Through the entire season, Austin had returned 26 punts for a total of 123 yards. He more than doubled it with 145 on four punts yesterday.

How all that happened has been the focus for the coaching staff since the game ended, and it will be a focus of the preparation for Thursday’s Titans game.

Pagano has been a huge proponent of building a team focus that values consistent execution, and it appeared that all 53 players and the coaching staff were eager to buy in until yesterday. Now, the question becomes whether yesterday’s show was a freaky departure from the norm – an evil anomaly brought on by wacky biorhythms and a confluence of one time events – or a signaling that the unraveling of a season threatened by injury and fatigue.

There should be no such thing as a trap game in the NFL, but it sure looked like after beating the playoff bound San Francisco 49ers, Denver Broncos, and Seattle Seahawks, the Colts saw the Rams as easy prey. When you underestimate a talented group of underachievers like the Rams, it’s done at great risk.

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I’m not a gambler, but I’m bet nine-point underdogs have only won by 30 or more points a handful of times in the last ten years. Surprises like this won don’t happen very often in the NFL, and there is a reason for that – people inside the NFL know that the difference between 10-6 and 6-10 is razor thin.

So now it’s up to Luck, Davis, and the rest of the Colts to shed the shame of the historic beatdown to bounce back in a critically important game against the only meaningful challenge left to a division championship.

More potential good news is that Titans quarterback Jake Locker is lost for the season after an injury yesterday during a loss to Jacksonville. Or is bad news. It might be another reason for the Colts to take lightly a team relying upon a much maligned backup quarterback. The Colts made Kellen Clemons look with an all-pro yesterday, and Fitzpatrick is another QB who needs to get well.

Regardless, Colts fans can breathe easier today because Luck is not the latest of the many NFL quarterbacks who have lost significant parts of their season to injury.

My Five Keys to Beating the Rams – How’d I do?

by Kent Sterling

I won’t be dressed this well, but I will be smiling today in the 1070 the Fan studio.

Any idiot can blather about what five or seven or three or twelve things a team needs to do to win on Sunday, but here at kentsterling.com, we hold ourselves – or more accurately myself – accountable for bold prognostications.

Here are the five key’s I identified Friday, and whether I was on the money, in the ballpark, or stark raving mad and ill-informed:

The Colts must help left tackle Anthony Castonzo keep Robert Quinn from getting to Andrew Luck. Quinn has the second highest grade in the NFL on profootballfocus.com for defensive players, behind J.J. Watt. Colts fans will remember Dwight Freeney as a young man getting the corner against Ravens LT Jonathan Ogden. That is exactly what’s possible Sunday. Quinn can get rolling and cause Freeney-esque havoc.

Full credit here. Although the Rams did try to help, even on the sack-fumble that gave the Rams a 7-0 lead, they still couldn’t keep him from raising hell in the pocket. Luck was uncomfortable all day in a way we have not seen in 2013. One point

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Take a lead and keep it. That seems a pretty elementary way to win a game, but if somehow the Rams get a lead and the Colts are forced to throw, the Rams talented pass rush will be unleashed, and that will not be a good thing for Andrew Luck.

I give myself only half-credit for this because getting a lead is an easily ID’ed means to winning, but the point was – the bigger the deficit, the more enthusiasm Des Robert Quinn and Chris Long would bring to pressuring Andrew Luck. 1/2 point

Stop Zac Stacy. The fifth round pick out of Vanderbilt has been very productive the last two weeks, running for 134 and 127 yards. He’s not quite as thick as Trent Richardson, but he’s quicker to the hole. The Colts run defense is ranked 27th, so expect the Rams game plan to include a whole lot of Stacy. If the Rams are forced to turn the game over to Clemens, the Colts will have turnover opportunities. In 14 career starts, Clemens has thrown 15 picks, and fumbled 14 times – four in two starts this year alone.

This is another partial credit as Benny Cunningham joined Stacy to make the Rams very stout in their running game. Stacy was not quite as effective as in the previous two games when he ran for 134 and 127 yards, averaging a Trent Richardson-esque 2.4 yards per carry. Cunningham picked up the slack, and scampered for 72 yards on seven carries. The Rams ran for a very respectable 140 yards, and averaged 3.8 yards per carry. 3/4 point

Control Tavon Austin on punt returns. Austin appears to have some pedestrian numbers as a returner (26 for 123, averaging 4.7 yards), but a couple he has broken have come back because of penalties. He’s explosive and can cause mayhem if not respected. The Colts won’t want to rely upon sledgehammer/punter Pat McAfee to stop Austin.

Full credit. Austin returned a punt 98 yards for a touch that blew that game open. His other three returns netted 47 yards. This was Austin’s coming out party, and the Colts did a poor job of delaying it for another two weeks. Full point, and only because I don’t cheat, do I not award myself a bonus point for being so prescient!

Attack Cortland Finnegan and the safeties. The Rams weakness on defense is is in the secondary. Finnegan is either dinged up or feeling the effects of a career filled with launching himself at ball carriers. Whatever the cause, he’s not playing well. How bad are the safeties? Former Colt Matt Giordano has gotten two starts back there. There was a reason the Colts let him walk. They still exist.

The Rams played a lot of cover two, and the reads and routes were rarely correct in attacking it. The safeties for the Rams weren’t great, but Luck never really took a look downfield until the game was out of hand. As for Finnegan, he played well today, so I’ll only give myself 1/2 a point here.

No one could have foreseen this dominating performance by the Rams coming, but the match ups did not favor the Colts – with the exception of Luck vs. Clemons. Two of the Rams first three scores were on a fumble return and a punt return. That changed the game so throughly toward the Rams’ strength that the Colts were never able to recover.

I don’t think for a minute that the Colts took the Rams lightly, but once the train got rolling the wrong way, they were not prepared or able to stop it.

It’s been a few days shy of 20 years since a non-playoff team (and at 4-6, it’s likely the Rams will fail to earn a berth in the playoffs) beat the Colts by more than 30 points at home, and a whole lot needs to go wrong for a good team to lose this badly.

That’s a total of 3.75 out of five points, or the best score I’ve gotten on an exam since the fifth grade.

Indianapolis Colts Lose 38-8 to St. Louis Rams – Worst Home Defeat to Non-Playoff Team Since 1993

by Kent Sterling

Rams wide receiver Tavon Austin spent far too little time on the ground today for the Colts to beat the Rams this afternoon.

The last time the Indianapolis Colts were beaten by 30 or more points at home against a team that did not qualify for the playoffs was November 29, 1993. The San Diego Chargers behind Stan Humphries and Marion Butts beat Jeff George and Jessie Hester 31-0.

Today, they lost 38-8 against a 4-6 St. Louis Rams team that appeared ripe for the picking (and very likely to avoid the postseason).

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The Rams picked a good day to unleash their top rookie, who has toiled in virtual anonymity for the first nine games of the season. Tavon Austin stopped looking like an overhyped dud, and took off through the Colts secondary and special teams like the lightning quick stud the Rams thought they were getting as the #8 overall pick in the 2013 NFL Draft.

Austin totaled 310 yards of total offense and three touchdowns in his seven touches (two catches, four punt returns, and one kickoff return), and that was that. Sure, Andrew Luck played like everyone thought Rams QB Kellen Clemens would, and Clemens played like the Lucas Oil throng expected Luck to, but this game belonged to the recently impossible to corral Austin.

Clemens threw to Austin only twice, but both resulted in TDs, and netted 138 yards. Austin added a 98-yard punt return for a touchdown that he originally waved off. Overall, Clemens had a career day, completing only nine passes in 16 attempts for 247 yards and the two TDs to Austin. His gaudy quarterback rating was an astonishing 140.6.

Conversely, Luck looked very ordinary for this one day going 29-47 for 353 yards, one TD, three interceptions, and three sacks. He is without a doubt the best young quarterback in the game, but every once in a while the worst circumstance meets the worst matchup, and the result is dismal even for the game’s stars.

This historic loss for the Colts was not all on Luck’s oddly substandard day. The defense was woefully ineffective in stopping any aspect of the Rams heretofore decidedly unscary offense. Cornerback Vontae Davis looked downright disinterested throughout the game, and the result was efficiency bordering upon explosiveness for the Rams.

The Rams came into the game reeling after a three-game losing streak with only this seemingly meaningless game between it and the bye week.

It’s easy to overlook the Rams. They haven’t had a winning season in a decade, and have been as predictable in finding ways to lose as the Colts have been in finding ways to win, but the defensive effort two weeks ago in a 14-9 loss to the Seahawks yielded only 135 yards of total offense, and last week’s 28-21 loss wasn’t all that awful.

Rams defensive end tallied two sacks including a sack fumble that was returned for a touchdown by fellow DE Chris Long. Quinn is the second highest graded defensive player in the NFL behind J.J. Watt, and that play showed how disruptive he can be by beating both offensive tackle Anthony Castonzo and tight end Coby Fleener to get to Luck.

One area of ongoing concern for Colts fans is in watching running back Trent Richardson run. Today, Richardson ran five times for a total of two yards. There is no doubt that the interior of the Colts offensive line isn’t opening the holes Richardson grew accustomed to running through at Alabama, but as one well-informed voice in the press box today said, “Richardson runs like his shoes are too small for his feet.”

There is no turning back the clock to play this game a second time. so all eyes in the Colts offices tonight (and they will be there late) will be on the opponent for Thursday night’s nationally televised game against the Tennessee Titans. The Titans didn’t enjoy themselves today, losing at home to the woefully bad Jacksonville Jaguars.

If the Colts win Thursday in Nashville, they will open up a three-game lead in the AFC South with six to play – in other words, it’s lights out. That’s the prize that matters, and having one home game against each divisional opponent – divisional opponents they will have already beaten on the road – should bring an early end to the drama of who will hang that banner.

Every NFL team will face adversity during a season, and how the Colts respond to whatever the hell it was that happened at Lucas Oil Stadium today will determine whether they are ultimately successful.

The two questions that require immediate answers are whether Richardson is just not cut out to be a successful NFL running back, and just how much the injury of Reggie Wayne means to Luck’s ability to move the offense.

The Colts are no stranger to adapting as the injuries to their most talented offensive players have mounted. Vick Ballard, Ahmad Bradshaw, Dwayne Allen, and Wayne are all shelved for the season, and they are still 6-3.

Making do with what they have has been a recurring theme for the Colts, but today’s loss was a little different in that there was no hope at any point for a result other than what was achieved. It was either a bizarre and unpleasant anomaly, or a sign that the Colts have given all they have to give, and that limping toward December is a grim reality.

Huge “Ahead of the Curve” Today at 11a – Rick Venturi, Paul George, George Hill, and D’Marco Farr Join the Party

by Kent Sterling

“Ahead of the Curve” might be the best investment of two hours you can make – not just in media, but in your lives. The level of wisdom dispensed by Kent Sterling and Chris Hagan stretches beyond sports into the realm of life coaching.

Yes, you will be better people for listening to this show.

Okay, that’s ridiculous. Nobody is a better person because they listen to a radio show. You might be a little better informed, and might enjoy their time in the car a little more, but you are who you are.

What we really do is talk sports, and what could be more important than that?

Every week, we try to put together the best two hours of radio possible so those who either choose to listen to us, or stumble into us feel validated for that decision. That means our goal is to put on the best show possible, and that takes work.

This week, not only will you get the best insight we have on the Colts, Pacers, and Hoosiers, but you’ll hear from George Hill, Paul George, D’Marco Farr, and Rick Venturi as the talk about the Pacers 6-0 start and the Colts going for their seventh win.

I spoke with Paul and George after the win last night, and there is nobody better at breaking down the Colts and Rams than Coach Venturi. D’Marco Farr has described every snap of Rams football for years, and knows the Colts opponent better than anyone.

Something special is happening in Indiana sports, and we love it every bit as much as you do.

There is nothing more fun for Chris and I to talk about sports. It’s the same thing you do, but we do it in front of microphones.

Indianapolis Colts – Five Keys to Beating the St. Louis Rams Sunday

by Kent Sterling

Keeping Colts QB Andrew Luck clean is key for the Colts to succeed Sunday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

The St. Louis Rams appear to be a typically mediocre team. Since 2004, the level of misery they have heaped upon the fans of that river town is beyond measure. The worst five-year run (15-65) in the history of the NFL was followed by 2012’s 7-8-1 effort, and they appeared to be a team on the come.

Not quite. The Rams are 3-6, and appear to be in line for yet another top ten spot in the NFL Draft. In fact, with the Washington Redskins 3-6 record after last night’s collapse against the Vikings, the Rams could have two top ten picks.

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Rolling into Indianapolis this weekend buried in the midst of a three-game losing streak, the youngest team in the NFL is still trying to figure out who and what it is.

Losing franchise quarterback Sam Bradford to a torn ACL in Carolina three weeks ago hasn’t helped matters, but the Rams were flawed before that. Bradford has been a disappointment, and while Kellen Clemens isn’t very good at holding on to the ball, the chasm in talent between Bradford and Clemens is not exactly like what the Colts saw in Dan Orlofsky when Peyton Manning sat out the 2011 season.

But don’t sleep on the Rams. There is a lot of talent on the field, especially on the defensive side of the ball. Third-year defensive end Robert Quinn is an edge rushing beast, Janoris Jenkins is capable of making plays (last year, he scored four touchdowns on interception returns – only one from tying for overall team lead in TDs), and OLB Alec Ogletree is learning on the job while making both great and terrible plays.

This is not the walkover Colts fans see. Given their first half gauntlet, it would be nice to have a game to enjoy as a no-sweat contest, but they will have to wait for the season ender against the truly brutal Jacksonville Jaguars for a walkover.

Here are the five things the Colts need to do to leave Lucas Oil Stadium 7-2:

The Colts must help left tackle Anthony Castonzo keep Quinn from getting to Andrew Luck. Quinn has the second highest grade in the NFL on profootballfocus.com for defensive players, behind J.J. Watt. Colts fans will remember Dwight Freeney as a young man getting the corner against Ravens LT Jonathan Ogden. That is exactly what’s possible Sunday. Quinn can get rolling and cause Freeney-esque havoc.

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The Rams are really young, athletic, and undisciplined. They tend to err at exactly the wrong time, and they aren’t very good in the red zone. In just over 2 1/2 games, Clemens is 4-10 for 24 yards, and one touchdown. On the ground, the Rams have a total of two TDs – both came last Sunday against the Titans.

No, the Rams aren’t very good, and the Colts should win, but at some point the switch will flip for the Rams, and they are going to find themselves. It’s unlikely to come this week, but when it does, the Rams are going to start winning games in bunches for Jeff Fisher.

Colts fans will recall that a cornered Jeff Fisher is a dangerous Jeff Fisher. A loss virtually assures another unsuccessful season in St. Louis, so expect the unexpected.

The Colts are favored by 9 1/2. I’ll take the Rams to cover but lose. Colts win 20-13.

Kentucky Continues to Neglect Series With Indiana After Loss at Assembly Hall

by Kent Sterling

Indiana’s Christian Watford hits the shot that ended the Kentucky vs. Indiana basketball series that stretched back to 1969.

There was an interesting, but one-sided debate yesterday on Twitter about Kentucky’s lack of desire to play Indiana at either Rupp Arena or Assembly Hall after the UK 73-72 loss to the Hoosiers in Bloomington on December 10, 2011.

Dan Dakich challenged Kentucky fans with logic, and Kentucky fans responded – as they always do – with poorly constructed blather. There are good Kentucky fans who don’t allow passion to cause zealous defense regardless of reason, but most are not vocal on Twitter.

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Kentucky refuses to continue the home and home series because they can fill Rupp Arena by scheduling a team of elderly hobos so why risk a loss without a neutral site payday, and Indiana will not accept a supposed offer made by Kentucky to play the series at a rotating neutral site.

The discussion of how and why the series ended bubbled back up because Indianapolis will host the State Farm Champions Classic next December matching Kansas vs. Kentucky and Duke vs. Michigan State. This year’s event will be played in Chicago next Tuesday.

There is nothing wrong with made-for-TV match ups, which puts some cash in the athletic department’s coffers. Given the amount of money coaches are paid these days, playing a couple neutral site cash games makes sense.

But don’t the season ticket holders and the students deserve some decent home hooping prior to the beginning of the conference season?

What do Kentucky fans get for their investment in season tickets? Games against UNC-Ashville, Northern Kentucky, Robert Morris, UT-Arlington, Cleveland State, Eastern Michigan, Boise State, Belmont, and finally a game worth the price of admission against Louisville.

And how about Indiana’s ludicrous non-conference home schedule against Chicago State, LIU Brooklyn, Samford, Stony Brook, Evansville, North Florida, Oakland, Nicholls State, and Kennesaw State? It’s even worse than UK! Wouldn’t college basketball be a lot more fun if the two sets of opponents for Indiana and Kentucky played each other, and the Hoosiers and Wildcats faced off, and played some similarly talented teams?

Of course, it would. But Kentucky didn’t want that. They want to fill their schedule with poorly funded sets of players from schools who have never sent a player to the NBA. Every once in a while, UK runs into a splendid performance by a team like the 2007-2008 squad from Gardner Webb, and they get their comeuppance. It doesn’t happen very often.

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Kentucky’s behavior in refusing to play Indiana on campus shows its desire to keep fans from seeing decent basketball for their hard earned money, but fans in Lexington are so blue blind that not only do they continue to buy season tickets, they defend coach John Calipari for refusing to play Indiana home and home as though it’s the right thing to do.

That’s the madness that drives UK hoops. The convenience of watching two excellent teams in person is reviled in favor of made-for-TV events in Chicago and Indianapolis.

Indiana fans aren’t filled with the same level of self-righteousness (how could they be?). They would rather play UK in Lexington and Bloomington, and their biggest criticism of Tom Cream is the marshmallow soft non-conference home schedule.

The Big Ten is trying to mandate that football teams schedule tougher teams in September because the MAC schedule played to prepare for the conference schedule is not good for anything but coaching careers. They should bring the same focus to basketball, and a great place for the work to start is the continuation of the Indiana vs. Kentucky series.

That Calipari has decided that he knows more about what’s good for UK Basketball than Adolph Rupp, Joe B. Hall, Eddie Sutton, Rick Pitino, and Tubby Smith (I’m conceding he knows much more about what is good for UK than Billy Gillespie), is insulting to the legacy of what is supposed to be an elite program.

Win or lose, Indiana vs. Kentucky is good for fans, and great for college basketball.

Chicago Cubs vs. WGN-TV – Doesn’t Matter Because It’s About the Broadcasters, Not the Station

by Kent Sterling

The Cubs are changing channels, not firing Jack Brickhouse, so this change is not a source of angst for me.

The Cubs are changing channels, not firing Jack Brickhouse, who broadcast their games from 1948-1981, so this change is not a source of angst for me.

Nothing lasts forever, so the Chicago Cubs likely being carried on another television station in Chicago is part of the evolution of life, business, and media.

The Cubs exercised an exit clause to opt out of their deal, and so unless WGN-TV can bid successfully for the rights to broadcast a schedule of games, the Cubs will be entirely off WGN for the first time since prior to the 1948 season.

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No one is quicker than me to shine a light on the duplicitous business practices of owner Tom Ricketts, but there is nothing wrong with finding a way to maximize his broadcast revenue stream. It accounts for approximately $60 million for the company, and that’s a significant chunk of cash for a family that is finding it increasingly difficult to entice fans into investing in the third highest ticket prices in baseball to watch a bottom feeding team.

While watching games on WGN has been a rite of passage for Cubs fans – through Jack Brickhouse, Lloyd Pettit, Jim West, Milo Hamilton, Steve Stone, Harry Caray, Thom Brennaman, Chip Caray, Len Kasper, Bob Brenley, and Jim Deshaies – I’m not going to confuse the portal with the content.

Every adult my age in Chicago says they ran home to watch the end of the Cubs game after school, but I really did. The mile from school to home was a challenge for a seven-year-old, especially when Fergie Jenkins threw. Jenkins almost never came out of a game, and he threw very quickly. On days when he pitched, running hard might have bought me an extra half inning, which was occasionally the only half inning I saw.

We all have our favorite announcers of Cubs games, and I do too. Brickhouse was a great guy who I met and got to know a little bit in the late 1980s at WGN Radio. He used to come in to do a little voice work, and we would talk.

The first time I met him, he was holding a cake that he bought for his wife’s birthday, “Hey kid, this cake needs to be refrigerated. Can you take care of that for me? I’ll pick it up next week.”

I wasn’t going to say no to Jack Brickhouse, so I took it from him and said, “No problem.” Did I know where the refrigerator was? No. Did I know if there was a refrigerator at WGN? No. But after 10 minutes of searching, I found one in an area not too far from Roy Leonard’s office. The cake fit perfectly.

If I had known then what I know now – that all food is fair game in radio station refrigerators, and a cake as sweet as Brickhouse’s would have a life expectancy of 30 seconds after the owner set in on a shelf – I would never have guaranteed its safety.

The following Thursday, Brickhouse popped in to pick up the cake, and I recovered it unharmed. Maybe the twine that tied the box together helped, but in every station I have worked at since then, a cake in a steel lockbox would have been gone in under an hour.

Brickhouse grew a mustache while I was at WGN, and he asked me if he should shave it. I was smart enough to know that people who ask if they should change something about their appearance are looking for affirmation, not honesty. I said, “Jack, I think it makes you look young and hip. You aren’t my Dad’s Jack Brickhouse with that thing. Keep it!”

Whether Brickhouse had a mustache or not was of no consequence to me, but I respected a guy that old making the effort to innovate a little bit. He kept the mustache, but still looked exactly like Jack Brickhouse with a mustache.

The first time Brickhouse came in the sports office during my time there, he needed to use the phone to call his wife at Ditka’s, so he calls the restaurant and asks for her. They have a two minute conversation, at the end of which he asks, “What are you drinking?” After she answered, he yelped, “Hey, don’t get too far out in front of me!”

He was 72 years old, and he was talking to his wife like they were 22. It was sweet and silly, and I loved getting a glimpse into the fun side of a broadcaster who was such a consistent companion during my youth.

That’s what all play-by-play guys are for their audience. They are the touchpoint, the companion, and the emotional compass for our experience as fans. A bond is forged between us that rivals any relationship in our lives – as strange as that is.

In 1989, WGN and the Cubs brought back Brickhouse, Lou Boudreau, and Vince Lloyd to call a couple of innings of a Cubs game. The moment I heard their voices calling the game, I came unglued.

The thing I wanted as much that night as anything I’ve ever wanted in my life was for a Cub to hit a home run so Brickhouse could give us one more of his signature “Hey! Hey!” calls.

I can’t remember who hit it, but somebody crushed a bomb into the left field bleachers, and Brickhouse brought the A-level Hey! Hey!. I cried like a baby.

That’s the link between broadcasters and their audience. It’s not about the station, so I’m not too emotionally wrapped up in this decision. Wherever the Cubs wind up, I’ll find them.

Richie Incognito Bullying Story – Media Starting to Shift Coverage Toward Incognito

by Kent Sterling

The winds are shifting in Richie Incognito’s favor as Jonathan Martin stays quiet.

First, Richie Incognito – a complete kook – was tormenting Jonathan Martin – a sensitive genius. Then, coach Joe Philbin instructed Incognito to “toughen up” Martin. Then, quarterback Ryan Tannehill says that if you asked Martin two weeks ago who his best friend on the team is, he would have said Incognito. Then, black teammates are saying that Incognito is an honorary black man and that excuses his use of the n-word.

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Martin’s defenders – wait, I have heard from no one on the Dolphins team who has anything good to say about Martin. The media is talking about how bullying is bad, but there is nothing specific being said positively about Martin.

As for Incognito, Dolphins can’t wait to line up to defend him, and it’s not just his brothers on the offensive line. Wide receiver Brian Hartline might have been the most outspoken yet, and Tannehill stood up for him as well.

A couple of things are true here. Among them could be:

Incognito is incredibly popular among his teammates, or Incognito is feared in a profound way by his teammates.
Jonathan Martin is perceived by teammates as a deserter who jumped shipped, or he was always thought to be soft.
There was a serious incident that caused a massive shift in the friendship between Incognito and Martin, or Martin was putting on a show for teammates until leaving the team.

It’s being reported that Dolphins GM Jeff Ireland told Martin’s agent that if he has a problem with Incognito, he should punch him. If that’s true, Ireland is in trouble. To officially advocate violence in the workplace is a bizarre tack regardless of the inherent brutishness in the job description.

Worse for Martin, the media has shifted. Incognito has gone from bullying pariah to somewhat misunderstood warrior.

Coach Joe Philbin backpedaled for making comments about the mess, deferring all answers until the NFL investigation is complete.

This whole deal smells a lot a DVD set of “Breaking Bad” where four episodes have been deleted. There is more to the story than what we have heard, or none of this makes any sense. People in the middle, like Philbin, Incognito, and Martin are well aware that there will be a winner and a loser, and all three are positioning themselves to not be the loser.

Martin is the guy who we should hear from next, as the lack of his perspective is starting to cause sentiment to shift (incredibly) toward Incognito, who was seen by St. Louis Rams players and coaches as a psychopath who could not be controlled or reasoned with.

When the media machine gets geared up like it is to generate a narrative, someone is going to be the hero and someone will be the scourge. That’s the media’s job. Nuanced relationships don’t play well with viewers and readers who want their news in 600 word or 90-second chunks.

Incognito looked like a prohibitive favorite to be the heavy for whom the consequences would be severe. Martin was in the driver’s seat as the sensitive warrior for whom the internal bullying was just too much.

Now, it’s starting to feel like it’s even money that Incognito was acting at the pleasure of his bosses, and Martin has decided that leaving the team under these circumstances was a calculated choice that allows for continued financial wellness.

With the cancellations of most soap operas, ESPN is filling the void.

Chicago Cubs Name Rick Reneria Manager – Tears Flow as Countdown Begins for His Firing in October, 2015

by Kent Sterling

He’s smiling now, but come April I expect the same glum look that became Sveum’s trademark.

The hire of Rick Renteria by the Chicago Cubs was the result of a managerial search that resembled an archeological dig. Who would fans accept as a plausible successor to Dale Sveum, Lou Piniella, Dusty Baker, Jim Riggleman, Tom Treblehorn, Jim Essian, Don Zimmer, Herman Franks, Charlie Fox, Preston Gomez, Whitelockman, Elvin Tappe, and on and on. That’s not a tough bar to clear.

But how many of those candidates would take a call from Theo Epstein knowing what question he might ask?

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Other ‘options’ in addition to Renteria included Eric Wedge, Manny Acta, Dave Martinez, A.J. Hinch, and others who escaped the trip to the career gallows accepting the Cubs job represents. There was no truth to rumors that Cubs brass reached out to former manager Jim Marshall, who led a previous failed rebuilding effort from 1974-1976, and is surprisingly still living at the age of 82. That should give Renteria some hope that while accepting this job may be a career ender, it may not kill him.

We spent some time on the phone with Renteria just prior to the announcement of his hiring:

KS: Rick, how were you not able to avoid accept the Cubs job?
RR: I’m just not very good at saying no, I guess (laughs). (Boston Red Sox bench coach Torey) Lovullo already used the old “the club won’t let me talk” bit.
KS: The Cubs have a habit of dealing every valuable piece out from under managers in July. Were you able to get Theo or Jed to guarantee that would n’t happen in 2014?
RR: They do what?
KS: The Cubs trade the veterans with bulky contracts in exchange for money to sign international guys and pick up some farm system bulk.
RR: These international guys they signed, are they close to being able to come north.
KS: Not unless America goes to war and the draft is reinstituted. They are 16, according the their records.
RR: Christ. (mumbles for 35 seconds)
KS: What do you think about the pitching?
RR: (Jeff) Samardzija and (Travis) Wood are pretty good. Remind me who else they have.
KS: Edwin Jackson, and maybe Jake Arrieta, but there are rumors that Samardzija might be shipped to Arizona.
RR: What!? Samardzija to Arizona, and we have Jackson? He’s consistently mediocre. Hey, maybe we’ll deal him too.
KS: You think, with three years at $13 mil per left on his deal?
RR: Who’s getting 13 each of the next three?
KS: Jackson.
RR: Edwin Jackson? (inaudible)
KS: How about the position players? Only Wellington Castillo hit better than .255
RR: They have that Castro kid at short – a 200 hit machine. Like him a lot.
KS: Had 207 hits in 2010, but hit .245 last year with a .631 OPS.
RR: Who did?
KS: Castro.
RR: My God, what have I done?
KS: Anyway, welcome to the Cubs.
RR: Yeah, thanks. (soft sobbing continues until I finally hang up)

That is the conversation I would have had if I was so indifferent to another man’s happiness on the day he believes his dream has come true.

There is no chance that the Cubs will retain Reneria after the 2015 season when the kiddie corps finally makes its way north and reasonable people will again believe the Cubs will win more than they lose. That will open the field of managerial candidates beyond retreads looking for one more shot and first timers whose imaginations work better than their eyes.

Mike Rice Is Talking for First Time Since Being Fired at Rutgers – He Should Stop

by Kent Sterling

Mike Rice doesn’t understand what he did wrong, or why it was wrong.

That much is clear in reading a profile of the new and rehabilitated Mike Rice. You remember Rice. Seven months ago, a video surfaced that showed him hurling basketballs at his Rutgers University players. He also used extreme profanity, and called players offensive names like “faggot.”

Rice was fired very quickly, as was his athletic director Tim Pernetti.

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“Everything I’ve ever done is fight, scratch and claw, and now I have to sit back and take it, listen to people say I was abusing my players? I was an idiot, but I never abused anybody,” Rice told Jonathan Mahler in a New York Times Magazine profile.

The sad truth that Rice still fails to understand that he doesn’t have the luxury to determine whether he abused anyone. The players themselves hold that power, and the threshold for abuse resides at different levels for each of them.

Some have thick skin, and others don’t.

There are people that have an ability to hear the words without being hurt by the tone. Some hear only the emotion – the disappointment – when they are the subject of derision from an authority figure.

Whether the old school methodology of getting in the grill of a 19-year-old basketball player is effective in building an successful and competitive athlete can be debated, but the legal exposure to which a school may be subjected because of the hurt feelings of a subordinate cannot.

And make no mistake about it, Rice was fired not because he threw a basketball at some kids or called them nasty names; he was fired because Rutgers feared a lawsuit and the negative press that was being heaped upon them because of the video. The school knew that Rice was tightly wound and crossed lines in practice. It wasn’t until a wrongful dismissal suit by an assistant coach and the release of the video he assembled that Rutgers showed its teeth.

But Rice still sees himself as a coach whose demanding nature helps build better basketball players, and in doing so he validates himself in the eyes of his father, a former basketball coach and still the color analyst for Portland Trailblazers basketball.

At some level, most men are driven to please their dads, and the admiration and affirmation expressed to Rice by his dad up until his firing validated that behavior throughout his career. Rice’s recent effort to rehab his image is all about getting people to forget about what he views as the lone incident that has caused this mess. It’s not about correcting the behavior that caused the negative event, and that’s where the work needs to be done.

Tough guys tend to be tough guy coaches, and their strategy in dealing with players is to treat them as they were successfully dealt with. Unfortunately, all people aren’t that tough. Some take instruction that sounds as though it comes from a place of anger as an attack, and when they don’t respond, coaches take it up a notch. Rice finally took it up enough notches that the meter broke.

For better or worse, coaches aren’t evaluated solely by the results they achieve but by the public and legal evaluation of the methodology they use to gain those results. Videos showing a lunatic – whether for effect or not – will always get a coach fired.

Violent temper tantrums are self-indulgent, and show an immaturity that has no place in coaching. They are indicative of a person who cares more about the results of the team than the impact those actions might have upon the players is or she is charged with leading.

The drive that led Rice to success in a hyper-competitive business also caused his career to unravel.

He needs to understand that basketball is not about the success or failure of the coach, but the development of the players on the floor.

“It’s easy to say now, but when I was in it every day, I wanted to grab someone and just go, ‘We can do this, we’re going to show everybody,’ ” Rice told Mahler. “Because that’s who I am, and that’s what I do.”

Until “Because that’s who I am, and that’s what I do,” becomes “Because that’s who they are, and that’s what they do,” he is never going to make it from here to there.

With each word, he sounds like exactly the same guy that he was in the video.