Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Best All-time “Ahead of the Curve” On Tap Today from 11a-1:30p on 1070 the Fan

by Kent Sterling

There is so much to talk about that Fox 59 sports director Chris Hagan and I could easily do twice as much as the two-and-a-half hours we have been allotted for today’s show.

Pike High School won a 34-32 thriller against Ben Davis last night, but the main story is the suspension that coach Derek Moyers was forced to serve and why. We’ll talk about how idiotic some decisions by administrators are, and why they are made. It’s a shame we have so completely narrowed the window of acceptable behavior for kids and adults. It’s almost impossible to not be disciplined because of the media and crazy parents who demand perfection from those who work in our schools.

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The Butler Bulldogs will give fans a chance to see what the future of the new era will look like as they play an exhibition against DePauw. We’ll talk to Brandon Miller about stepping into the role that seems to fit him exceptionally well. The questions won’t be the typical mundane, “How do you replace Rotnei Clarke’s points and leadership?” We are going to talk to him about what he sees as the great personal and professional challenges that job will bring.

The Colts play the Texans Sunday night in a game that could turn the lights out on Houston’s chances to make the playoffs. National TV, a home crowd, and backs against the wall means that the Texans will bring all they have at the Colts. We’ll tell you exactly what the Colts need to do to post another big win, and run their record at the midway point in the season to 6-2.

The Pacers are 2-0 headed into tonight’s home game against the Cavaliers. Cleveland does a lot of things well, but are on the second night of back-to-back road tilts. Last year, they were 0-4 in such games. Still, they are a team that should be respected.

Indiana Basketball got a surprise on Thursday when James Blackmon Jr. undecommitted to pledge IU. Kentuck, Michigan, and Michigan State were among the bridesmaids this time. What does Blackmon’s commitment mean for the Hoosiers?

The IU football team celebrates homecoming today at Memorial Stadium against Minnesota. The Hoosiers are eight-point favorites, and that makes me nervous. On the Dan Dakich Show, the Big Ten Network’s Dave Revsine said that this game should be a tough matchup for the Golden Gophers. Well, I’m going to be in the stands in Bloomington raising hell, but Indiana being an eight-point have makes me more than a little nervous against a team that has won back-to-back games against Northwestern (there) and Nebraska (at home). We’ll talk to defensive lineman John Laihinen about today’s game and what the Hoosiers need to do to get a stop or two today.

All that, plus a conversation with Butler all-time great Matt Howard from Germany where he is playing in the Bundesliga. Matt is not only one of the great players in Butler history who found a way to lead the Bulldogs to back-to-back berths in the NCAA Championship game, he is an incredibly modest and thoughtful young man. We’ll talk Butler, and reminisce about a game almost no one saw him play in May, 2006, in Bloomington against Chicago Bulls point guard Derrick Rose. It wasn’t Rose’s proudest moment, as a guy who claims he’s greedy for wins laid down and quit with 12 minutes left.

What a show. Chris and I are blessed to be able to bring it to you on a gorgeous Saturday.

Suspension of Pike’s Derek Moyers Shows Administration too Eager to Act on Inane Complaints and Meaningless Media Reports

by Kent Sterling

Does a school corporation punish a kid – or anyone – for a reason other than to avoid fallout? Administrators hate noise, and a little locker room profanity aired on Fox 59 brought noise. The punishment went to the head football coach whose staff left the kids to celebrate alone.

That celebration included a video that featured the team singing and dancing to a popular song that included some profanity. Oh the humanity!

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The video (since pulled) went viral, so tonight Pike plays minus head coach Derek Moyers, who has been suspended for one game.

If coaches should have learned anything from the Carmel basketball team bus fiasco a few years ago it’s that high school athletes should be monitored by adults. In this case, the consequence was a video showing teens swearing.

There used to be a time when adults had the stones to say, “Stop your whining. Kids swear. Get over yourselves.” Not now. Not as Fox 59 can’t wait to build a screwy non-news story around a video.

People like to watch hormone fueled mayhem after a win that reinforces the notion among the elderly that the world is going to hell in a hand basket, and that kids today have lost all respect for decency.

Fox 59 reporter Yvone Man even went so far as to hunt down an expert on sensitivity who blames the culture for the bad words used in the video. Jimmelyn Rice is the founder of Girls Nite In International said, “It’s not acceptable and it’s not appropriate, but in this culture it’s okay. The stakes are so high because there are no lines of respect drawn for these kids.”

I didn’t have any idea what that meant when she said it on Fox 59, and I am even more puzzled now. Evidently, she sees the teen experience as wrought with potholes everywhere, and that profanity is a gateway to God knows what.

Growing up, I was told things like “Get over yourself!”, “Don’t take life so seriously!”, and “Shut up!” All great pieces of advice.

The problem with school administrators, the media, and parents way too wrapped up in their kids feelings is that it’s a zero-tolerance world, kids aren’t allowed to breathe, and when they finally do, a coach needs to be punished.

There are actions that require real consequences. Dancing and swearing is not among them. Moyers’ suspension is a massive overreaction to a problem that doesn’t exist, made an issue by a media outlet that craves viewers.

The only teaching moment here is that the people responsible for meting out this punishment learned that they aren’t capable of dealing like adults with hypersensitive and twitchy dolts too willing to pick up a phone to complain.

James Blackmon to IU – Interest in Basketball Recruiting Defies Logic and Reason

by Kent Sterling

There was a time when I was as interested in the recruiting process of college basketball as the games themselves. I was ready to buy recruiting magazines that only coaches subscribed to, and I asked a friend if he wanted to split the cost. He looked at me like I asked him to help me build a rocket ship out of empty beer cans.

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“Why do you care where high school kids go to college?” he asked. His response was baffling to me. Everyone cares about recruiting, or should. It’s the game inside the game that determines roster strength. At the time, this friend was a sports information director for a well-known college basketball program.

A few years later, I got to know some kids who were being recruited, and people would ask me where I thought they were going. I had no interest in where they went. Whether JaJuan Johnson picked Purdue, Indiana, Butler, Xavier, or whatever other schools offered him, I knew he was going to be fine. Matt Howard was being wooed by Butler, Xavier, and Miami of Ohio. Matt was going to be a happy guy regardless of his choice. If I knew these kids, and didn’t care where they went to school, why would a bunch of strangers invest energy in where they decided to go?

At that point, I thought about what my friend said about buying the recruiting guide 20 years ago. Caring about the decision some kid I have never met from a town I have never visited is a waste of time.

Still, there I was last night clicking between the Troy vs. Louisiana-Monroe football game on ESPNU and the SNL Halloween Special on NBC to see how much time remained until halftime. James Blackmon, Jr. was scheduled to announce his decision to attend Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, or Michigan State at halftime during the broadcast.

Blackmon committed to Indiana at the very beginning of his freshman year in high school, and then decommitted a few months ago. People from Indiana were critical of Blackmon, as though this was a betrayal instead of a kid who needed to be sure he was right. They were also critical of coach Tom Crean for losing a recruit.

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The truth is that kids change their minds about college every two hours, and no number of phone calls, mailings, and visits from a coach are going to stop their minds from meandering. When everything is possible, it’s hard to not see options all around you. These kids are no different from the athletically ungifted who have no idea where they are headed, but they are held to a crazy standard of both resolution and maturity by fans who remain invested in their choice.

If only life were so simple.

So last night, while I spent six lovely years as a college student at IU, I could not have cared less about the result of Blackmon’s decision. As with any kid, you hope they find the challenges that will prepare him for adulthood, and playing college basketball is a pretty solid start for those seeking adversity. But whether he chose to do it in Bloomington, Ann Arbor, East Lansing, or Lexington is immaterial.

As part of the media, I’m not supposed to have a rooting interest in the games. I don’t give a damn about what I’m supposed to do, but as you get to know people who play and coach, you tend to root for those people to succeed. Because I’ve spent more time with the Colts, Rams, Pacers, Butler, and Indiana University than any other teams, I have become a fan.

But I’m a fan of people not jerseys, so while I hope for the success of each current version of those teams, I am totally disinterested in who chooses to join them. Sure, talent wins games, and acquiring another talented person increases the chances of success, but it just doesn’t matter to me who the Colts, Rams, or Pacers draft, or who signs with Butler or Indiana. There is plenty of time to scrutinize the decisions and behavior of these young men.

I wish James Blackmon good health and fortune, but had he not chosen Indiana, all involved would have been just fine.

And yet I watched. Old habits die hard.

Indiana Basketball – So Much for the Indecision – James Blackmon, Jr. Picks IU

by Kent Sterling

He committed, de-committed, now has re-committed to Indiana, and Hoosier Nation rejoices.

An 18 year-old made his decision to attend and play basketball at Indiana University known. It’s ridiculous that anyone gives a damn. Our society is doomed if this is what passes for news today.

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But before getting all holier than thou, it bears mention that I kept flipping back and forth to the Troy vs. Louisiana-Monroe game from other sports to see how close the halftime announcement was. Now I could care less where any kid goes to school, whether he or she is going to play football, basketball, or study chemistry.

Indiana fans are thrilled, and why not. There seems now to be a glut of players committed to IU’s basketball program, but that isn’t my concern. Thirteen kids will be on scholarship in Bloomington next year, just like Gaiesville, Lexington, and East Lansing. How Tom Crean gets there is his business.

Had Blackmon chosen Kentucky, I would have written the same thing. In fact, I’m writing this as halftime coverage continues, and will fill in the particulars when he decides between the two schools.

Blackmon is a hell of a good guard, and this is a bit of a coup for Crean in that the kid said no to IU not long ago.

Butler Basketball – Brandon Miller Is the Right Guy to Take the Bulldogs Forward

by Kent Sterling

Barry Collier (right) looks on as Brandon Miller talks about being named to succeed Brad Stevens.

What happened to the days when coaches were obviously stooges who said and did the wrong thing so often that we couldn’t believe a conscious athletic director would continue to employ him. I’m sure they are somewhere, but no place to be found in central Indiana, and certainly not in Hinkle Fieldhouse on the campus of Butler University.

Brandon Miller was the right guy in the right place at the right time when Brad Stevens decided that he was going to live the dream of being the head coach of the Boston Celtics.

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Fans of “The Butler Way” have a measure of concern that Miller is going to have problems answering the challenges that come with Butler making yet another leap in conference, overcoming the injury of Roosevelt Jones, and being a first time head coach. Any of those three tests would be difficult for any coach. Why should Butler feel good about Miller overcoming all three simultaneously?

Where has Miller ever not succeeded? As a high school player in New Castle, college player at Butler, assistant coach at Ohio State, Butler, and Ohio, those teams won while Miller was there.

The biggest challenge for any coach has already been met – a successful culture is set, and the guy who built it is Butler Athletic Director Barry Collier. There is no better guy for a coach to have as a boss than the person who defined what success was for the program when he ran it.

Miller is an impressive guy – very smart, personable, and most important – fueled by whatever helps his players to become better players and teammates. The more I talked to him today, the more similar to an outstanding manager for any business he seemed. Obviously, his business is leading college students to battle with precision in front of more than 10,000 people against similarly talented teams, but he spoke of the fun of seeing his kids improve, I thought about the part of being a program director that I loved – helping people do better work.

I also thought about all the crap that I did not like, but this is about Miller, not my aversion to those hours that I felt my time was wasted.

For all the reasons listed above – the leap from the Horizon League to Atlantic 10 to the Big East in successive seasons, Jones injury, and Miller learning on the job – fans should ratchet their definition of a good season down to a logical level. That means to enjoy the wins, find reasons for hope in the losses, and know that brighter days are ahead.

ESPN picks the Bulldogs to finish sixth in the conference. I guess that makes sense although in the first season of a conference that has never existed as currently constituted, it seems silly to make any guess. I don’t believe Miller has any idea how good his team might be, so how are a couple of analysts supposed to make a reasonably well-informed guess?

Marquette has a good chance of winning the Big East, and if history is any guide, DePaul will finish in the cellar.

Miller will be a guest this Saturday on “Ahead of the Curve” with Chris Hagan and me at 1p on 1070 the Fan, an hour prior to the tip of Butler’s second and final exhibition at Hinkle Fieldhouse. The interview will be posted at kentsterling.com immediately after it airs.

One question that will not be asked is whether succeeding Brad Stevens will be difficult. Succeeding Stevens isn’t difficult for Miller, but answering questions about it either has become difficult or it will be soon. Miller will not be wearing a WWBD bracelet when the Bulldogs play DePauw or any other team on its schedule. Leading is leading, regardless of who preceded you, and Miller will lead.

October Twitter Rankings Update for Indianapolis Sports Media – Kent Sterling (@kentsterling) Gains More Than 20%!

It’s the last day of the month, so it’s time to update the Twitter rankings for the Indianapolis media. There are those still without a Twitter account. I would call that borderline irresponsible. Members of the media get paid based upon their ability to communicate, and Twitter allows communication in a simple and direct way. To avoid sports fans on a portal they prefer is crazy. The bigger the brand, the more valuable to a media entity, and Twitter allows an easy path to brand growth.

More importantly, Twitter is fun. Sharing feelings, frustrations, sources of joy in 140 characters, and receiving the same from others is exactly what we love or we wouldn’t have chosen this business. The more and better the tweets, and the more responsive we are to those who hit us back, the more satisfaction followers have in our product – just like radio, TV, print, or digital – only there is no doubt about the measurement in audience measurement.

I love Twitter. If you are in the media, and you don’t, you should either rethink your stance or accept that your lack of willingness to adapt is endemic of a fatal flaw that will come with a cost.

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Here are the updated standings divided by media (percent increase followed by total followers):

Sports Radio in Indy

Kent Sterling – 1070 the Fan 3,410 to 4,111 +20.6%
Conrad Bruner 1070thefan.com 5,513 to 5,840 +5.9%
Greg Rakestraw – 1070 the Fan 5,108 to 5,402 +5.8%
Derek Schultz – 1260 WNDE 3,767 to 3,960 +5.1%
Michael Grady – 1070 the Fan 9,380 to 9,792 +4.4%
Jake Query 1260 WNDE 7,663 to 7,908 +3.2%
JMV – 1070 the Fan 18,740 to 19,348 +3.2%
Mark Boyle – Pacers play-by-play 7,793 to 8,040 +3.2%
Eddie White – Pacers Postgame 4,534 to 4,639 +2.3%
Kevin Lee – 1070 the Fan/NBC 6,439 to 6,569 +2.0%
Dan Dakich – 1070 the Fan 60,407 to 61,168 +1.3%

TV Sports Anchors/Reporters in Indy

Brittany Diehl – Fox 59 1,914 to 2,050 +7.1%
Anthony Calhoun – WISH 5,924 to 6,317 +6.6%
Eric Yutzy – WTHR 2,369 to 2,510 +6.0%
Larry Hawley – Fox 59 1,216 to 1,274 +4.8%
Dave Calabro – WTHR 8,068 to 8,427 +4.4%
Jeremiah Johnson – Fox 59 4,138 to 4,299 +3.9%
Chris Widlic – WISH 1,561 to 1,615 +3.5%
Amanda Maynard – WISH 920 to 950 +3.3%
Dave Furst – RTV6 4,358 to 4,498 +3.2%
Rich Nye – WTHR 4,344 to 4,477 +3.1%
Chris Hagan – Fox 59 4,805 4,946 +2.9%
Jason Spells – RTV6 1,826 to 1,856 +1.6%
Brad Brown – RTV6 539 to 547 +1.5%

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

Stephen Holder (Colts) 9,104 to 9,712 +6.7%
Zak Keefer (Butler) 4,102 to 4,289 +4.6%
Mike Chappell (Colts) 15,013 to 15,691 +4.5%
Mark Ambrogi 1,755 to 1,834 +4.5%
Bob Kravitz (columnist) 36,435 to 37,609 +3.2
Mike Wells (Colts/ESPN) 26,121 to 26,785 +2.5%
Phil Richards 2,937 to 3,005 +2.3%
Kyle Neddenriep (Preps) 11,217 to 11,476 +2.3%
Phillip B. Wilson 14,886 to 15,214 +2.2%
Dustin Dopirak (Bton H-T) 7,460 to 7,615 +2.1%
Curt Cavin (Racing) 12,342 to 12,547 +1.7%
Terry Hutchens (Fox – IU) 12,777 to 12,880 +0.8%
David Woods 5,553 to 5,550 -0.1%
Michael Pointer 3,760 to 3,683 -2.0%

Digital

Tom Lewis @IndyCornrows 4,066 to 4,327 +6.4%
Chronic Hoosier (hoosierchronicles.com) 15,892 to 16,316 +2.7%
Alex Bozich @insidethehall 18,843 to 19,236 +2.1%
Ken Bikoff @kbikoff 1,894 to 1,927 +1.7%
Mike Pegram @peegs 13,157 to 13,378 +1.7%

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Some see Twitter as a necessary evil, and other as a fun diversion – something to do during games that allows direct two-way communication. Isn’t that why we got into this business in the first place? What it really allows is brand building with enthusiastic media consumers, and serves as a great feed to see what other media and fans are thinking.

Chicago Cubs Search for Manager Becoming Comical with Torey Lovullo’s Comments

by Kent Sterling

Torey Lovullo looks a little bit like like my Dad, so I wish him luck in not getting the dead end job managing the Cubs.

The headline for this post is misleading because the search for Dale Sveum’s replacement as manager of the Chicago Cubs was comical the moment president Theo Epstein told the media he punted Sveum over beers after the final game of the regular season in St. Louis.

But it sure hasn’t become less silly, has it?

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Boston bench coach Torey Lovullo is the guy that the Cubs await. The Red Sox could end the World Series as soon as tonight, and at that point Lovullo would be able to talk to the Cubs, Detroit, or Seattle almost immediately. He would join Manny Acta, Dave Martinez, Rick Renteria, and A.J. Hinch.

The perspective Lovullo has brought to his media comments reflect a comically enthusiastic tone as he evaluates one of the least stable managerial jobs in baseball since 1972 when Leo Durocher was shown the door after 6 1/2 years.

“I think that whoever gets to sit in that seat is going to be in a really good situation and one that has stability and a long-term plan in place. There’s no barriers between departments,” he said. “Player development is the grease that runs the engine. I think that’s what we have here [Boston]. It works. And I know in time [Epstein is] going to build up the same system there. It’s a long-term commitment. In time, it’s going to be a pretty special place.”

Unmentioned is the complete dearth of pitching at every level of the organization. How bad are the arms throughout the system? Epstein was compelled to give Edwin Jackson $52 million over four years to do nothing more than eat innings.

The first question Lovullo should ask is what Sveum did – or didn’t do – that got him fired?

At least we know that Lovullo understands how to kiss a little ass. In addition to his hyper enthusiastic blather about how ‘stable’ the Cubs’ job is, he said, “I do know there’s a pretty good blueprint in place that’s here, that Theo [Epstein] started. I know that he sees that it works, so he can take that same blueprint over to Chicago, and it’s going to work. It’s a matter of time before it works.”

Lovullo should take his insanely optimistic outlook to Capitol Hill to explain the flawed Obamacare website to congressional committees.

If the Lovullo gambit doesn’t bear fruit for the Cubs, and Lovullo should hope it doesn’t because the Tigers gig comes with two top of the rotation arms and the best pure hitter in the last 50 years, the Cubs interviewed Eric Wedge yesterday.

Wedge quit as the manager of the Mariners last month, and was a candidate for the same job when former general manager Jim Hendry hired Mike Quade. Normally, being passed over in favor of Quade would be an automatic disqualifier, but considering the hiring manager was a buffoon of the lowest order, we won’t judge Wedge because of that.

Teams that Wedge has managed have been good when they were talented, and not good when he lacked talent. That doesn’t bode well for the Cubs, as they list decidedly toward untalented, and unless Kris Bryant and Javier Baez come north with the Cubs late next March, they will be again.

Regardless, they have nothing reliable in the way of pitching, so this is exactly the same job that was a career death sentence for Sveum.

The truth of the thing is that the Cubs job sucks for all but mediocre retreads without a result strong enough to get a gig with a contender and wide-eyed newbies. They will hire who they can as a caretaker who will be served a steady dose of daily misery by the untalented and underachieving, and then in two years, it will be time for beers with Theo.

The Cubs can only afford to spend at a middle market level, and need to find the next Joe Maddon. Too bad every other team in baseball is looking for him too.

Indiana Basketball – Devin Robinson Picks Florida, and That’s Just Fine By Me

by Kent Sterling

Devin Robinson is 6’8″, skinny, can jump out of the gym, and if the highlight videos can be trusted is a hell of a good shooter. He announced today that he will attend Florida and play for Billy Donovan. Indiana fans should wish him well.

Truth be told, I might make the same choice if I were an 18 year-old kid. No question that Indiana and Tom Crean can develop talent and prepare talented guys for a career playing basketball for the kind of cash you don’t need to hide. From November through March, I would imagine that Gainesville has more of what I would enjoy than Bloomington, and I’m not talking about the quality of basketball.

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If Robinson had chosen East Lansing or Champaign, the explanation would be worth hearing because weather and those vapid enough to chase it wouldn’t be an issue.

Recruiting must be a lot like finding a girl to go to the prom. With every no, you open the chance that someone will say yes, and provide you a better time than you might have otherwise had.

I get the feeling Tom Crean and his guys had a pretty solid understanding that the Robinson train was about to blow by the station when they received a commitment from Max Hoetzel, another 6’8″ kid who we have been told can shoot.

That one (Robinson) is a five-star rated player and the other (Hoetzel) is a three-star kid is meaningless. Those who trust the rankings are a little screwy, as those doing the ranking rarely have a solid notion as to who might succeed and who won’t anyway.

James Blackmon, Jr. will announce his choice tomorrow, and whether he picks Indiana or not should have no impact upon the enthusiasm of Indiana fans. These children deciding where they are going to go to school just isn’t important enough to the success of the program to make a hell of a lot of difference either way.

Recruiting wars are fun to talk about, and I pay attention to them, but the theatrics of a kid sitting at a table with four shirts elevates this decision far beyond its real level of importance. Not sure when families decided it was best to hold a carnival for an announcement as mundane as where a kid will attend college, but if their son is ever the object of derision on campus, they have no one to blame but themselves. Ask for fame, and you should be prepare for all of the fallout. Some of it is good, and some is terrible. Sitting in front of the media with the drab, “Hey, let me hold up something with a logo on it” routine opens the door for knuckleheads to intrude on your life.

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Each year, more than a million 18 year-olds decide where they will attend college. Some of those who are athletically gifted will get a chance to play a sport. We will be especially interested in those who will play at the school we attended. Nothing wrong with a little support for the alma mater, but investing hope that the whim of a teenager will fall your way shows a level of passion that is unhealthy.

I hope Robinson gets everything out of the experience at Florida that he has been promised, and that he never regrets the decision for a single second.

I draw the line about caring whether a kid I have never seen play makes a collegiate choice. Regardless of what school you love, I suggest you do the same.

How Basketball Works Best – John Nash’s “A Beautiful Mind” Theory on the Hardwood

by Kent Sterling

Adam Smith was wrong and John Nash was right. Greed is not good – in basketball or in business. In both, the beauty must go home, or no one gets lucky.

Thinking about basketball is something I can never been able to escape. Basketball is incredibly complicated and almost impossible to execute perfectly, and I love puzzles without a solution. The combination of athletic fluidity, potential for selfishness, and need for specific activity make coaching the game an act of near futility.

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One of my favorite scenes in a movie is the epiphany John Nash has in “A Beautiful Mind” where he is with three friends, and five women – one who is beautiful – walk into the bar. He tells the friends that the only way for all four guys to get laid is for all to choose someone other than the beauty. All four fighting for the most attractive will alienate the other four, while all choosing one singular woman will cause her to feel special – thus all get lucky but the beauty.

The extrapolation of that lesson into economic theory won awards for Nash, and the story of Nash’s genius/schizophrenia won Oscars.

I think the theory can help win basketball games. There is a facet of playing basketball that rewards self-centered behavior. No sports allows fans closer access to the action, nor an ability to see the faces of the participants. That leads to a more personal spectator experience, and that cuts both ways – meaning that the players are rewarded or penalized more personally for their excellence or folly during the game.

Fans ask basketball players more often about their emotional responses during a game because they can hear and see them. That often provides access to rewards and penalties those in other sports never realize.

Here’s how Nash’s theory can affect a basketball team. Each player must always choose to honor the needs of the whole, rather than to select the beauty that can only satisfy him. If any of the five players on the floor lose the discipline needed to stay away from the short term selfish need, all is lost and the possession will most often fail.

The discipline that results in the success of the unit is in always believing in the activity that best benefits the team.

Duke’s Mike Krzyzewski and others refer to this as becoming a fist. I like better the visual in “A Beautiful Mind” of four guys opting for collective success rather than being wooed by the false potential of pleasure from the lone beauty while the others are shunned.

The NBA makes choosing collective success even more difficult because the way the game is marketed best is by building a star system, and the path to becoming one of those those stars would seem to run through individual accomplishment.

And that’s just not so. The way to becoming a star is by winning multiple championship, and the only way to a championship is through embracing the collective.

There aren’t many who can stay disciplined enough in their behavior to pursue a selfish desire by establishing collective excellence.

I wrote a little bit yesterday about a summer basketball team that throttled Derrick Rose and his Mean Streets Express team 61-19 in the championship game of the 2006 Adidas Invitational in Bloomington. That team featured an amazing collection of us-first players. Over the course of the four years that team was together, there was some churn on the roster that was driven by players (and their parents) who refused to embrace the team-first mentality that grew into that team’s defining culture.

The team won trophy after trophy because they refused to give into the temptation to love themselves more than the team, and maintaining that focus took all 11 players. It was reflected in practice as everyone on the team showed up for practice 30 minutes early or more for every workout. The new guys would walk in on time, see his new teammates already sweaty and hard at work. They would either embrace the culture or leave the team shortly thereafter.

Obviously, this collective first mentality isn’t relevant only in basketball, but also throughout business. Some managers believe that winning should involves enflaming internal rivalries and enforcing ego-driven competition, like the insane scene with Alec Baldwin in “Glengarry Glen Ross.” The top salesman wins a car, second place – steak knives, third place – you’re fired.

Not only is that the wrong answer from a pragmatic perspective, it allows an environment of hatred to be fostered, which makes the workplace miserable.

Don’t mistake occasional successes with winning. Even a dysfunctional and embittered team will stumble into wins occasionally. Consistent winning requires a team-first mentality – on the basketball floor or in the conference room.

Either everyone get laid or no one does, and that means the beauty goes home alone.

Happy 75th Birthday to Indianapolis’ Own WIBC Radio – A Strange Trip Continues

by Kent Sterling

Today 75 years ago, somebody flipped a switch, and WIBC was on the air. Who knows what noise spilled out of radio speakers that day, but if it was like most start ups I’ll bet what followed the next day was a little better.

WIBC was almost 55 years old when I walked into the converted medical offices (that have since been converted back to medical offices) that served as the studios and office space at 9292 N. Meridian for my first day of work there in March, 1993.

The place at that point had tumbled from the summit of Indianapolis radio to become a madhouse of crazy ideas and crazier execution. The general manager was a fearless and combative man whose ideas confounded a conservative marketplace. The traffic reporter wore a beanie complete with a propeller, and the afternoon drive host was an arch conservative madman whose attacks on respected civic leaders were at once horrifying and hilarious.

Our news director was a World War Two veteran who was as respected in Indianapolis as Walter Cronkite was nationally, and on the day I interviewed, the receptionist sat in as a co-host on the morning show for the first time – a spot she still occupies.

Within the first three months of my being hired, the 69 year-old news director almost came across the desk to fight the general manager, was was a solid 6’4″, 240 lbs., and just crazy enough to enjoy beating a senior citizen who still referred to his former wartime enemies as “Japs.” Calmer heads prevailed, and Fred Heckman resigned, rather than throw arthritic hands.

WIBC also tried to to win listeners with “Confessions Month” – a guest driven segment where people who exhibited strange behavior were asked about their aberrance. We featured a woman from San Francisco who delighted in causing accidents by standing nude in her apartment window as cars only a few yards away attempted to exit an interstate. There was also Gigi Allen, a bar band veteran whose schtick involved defecating on stage and flinging the yecch at the audience. A nude housekeeper was the least weird person we welcomed. Indianapolis rioted, and the plug was pulled before the 10th.

An afternoon drive host engaged in a fist fight with a veteran during a debate about the fate of Vietnam MIAs, and the office of the afternoon host became the headquarters for a right wing political action committee. Employees became ex-employees at an alarming rate, and a day rarely passed without people questioning the sanity of the station that once best reflected culture in central Indiana.

Then in April, 1994, the announcement was made that Emmis Communication had agreed to buy WIBC and WKLR from the wacky guys at Sconnix.. Jeff Smulyan has said many times that the purchase was not a business decision, but a moral one. He just couldn’t stand by and watch the reputation of this proud heritage radio station be tarnished by the strange decisions by the soon-to-be-previous owners.

From that point forward, the dust settled, and WIBC regained it’s footing as a respected voice of news in Indiana. Those who left because they just couldn’t watch WIBC be deconstructed came back.

What happened before and after that brief time from March, 1993 – April, 1994 is more or less typical of the operation of a full service radio station. There were many people who worked and continue to work to respect the legacy of one of America’s legendary radio stations, but no period was filled with more amazement and laughter.

There have been great moments in the last 40 years – like Fred Heckman’s on-air work to resolve the Tony Kiritsis/Dick Hall episode. There have been monologues by Greg Garrison that stripped away the political polarity that most often defines his show, and brought amazing clarity and reason to times of great turbulence and sorrow. There have been radiothons to benefit The Salvation Army that were both exhausting and magical as they informed and provided Indianapolis residents a great portal for donating to those who do the most good. Bouncin’ Bill Baker defied the Indiana State Legislature to play the innocuous “Louie, Louie” by the Kingsman.

WIBC continues to inform and enlighten. Gone are so many who worked to make the station what it was during different eras, but Steve Simpson, Terri Stacy, Greg Garrison, Pat Sullivan, Dick Crum, and Denny Smith are still getting it done.

WIBC is being rebuilt and redefined yet again as a conservative radio station. ABC is out. Fox News is in. Friendly talk in the afternoon is out, replaced by “Chicks on the Right.” It makes business sense to appeal to the same demographic throughout the day.

There is no radio station in Indy, or perhaps America, that has been more things throughout it’s history. It will continue to evolve, and there will be good and bad times.

I was fortunate to be there for some good and some bad. All were challenging, and all were hilarious.