Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Happy 25th Birthday to Wrigley Field Lights – They Haven’t Helped Much

by Kent Sterling

Not sure if this button was actually connected to anything, but it was a big deal to the guy who hit it to supposedly illuminate Wrigley Field for the first time.

Twenty-five years ago tonight, an exceptionally old man named Harry Grossman wheezed, “Let there be lights!”, pressed a button on a box with some wires sticking out of the bottom, and the lights came on at Wrigley Field for the first time.

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Grossman was one of the few remaining witnesses to the Cubs last World Series triumph in 1908. He spoke of watching past icons like Frank Chance, Johnny Evers, and Mordecai “Three Finger” Brown, and was a cute story for a brief time.

That game was rained out, and the actual first night game was played 24-hours later against the Mets. I was at that game, and yelled “299” at Gary Carter every time he came to the plate. He had been homeless for 76 as he tried to hit his career 300th. I was young, obnoxious, and filled with self-righteous loathing for a catcher who called himself, “The Kid.”

Rafael Palmeiro went 3-for-4, the thoroughly brutal Frank DiPino got the win in two innings of hitless relief, and Rich Gossage picked up the save.

The road for the installation of lights was paved by then commissioner Peter Ueberroth’s decision to strip home field advantage for the Cubs in the 1984 NLCS because they wanted an extra night game in the series. Oddly, the clinching fifth game against the Padres was played during the day in San Diego, but no matter, the ball was rolling, and the Cubs began their limited night schedule less than four years later.

Prevailing wisdom for decades was that the Cubs could never win a World Series at Wrigley Field because playing in the daytime exhausted the team comparative to the rest of Major League Baseball.

Currently, the Cubs play 27 of their 81 home games at night, and they have requested to up that number to a possible 55.

So, have the Cubs actually fared better since the installation of the lights, as was suggested would happen by those who felt the Cubs played tired late in the year because of the relentless adjustments from playing at night on the road to daytime games at Wrigley?

Not so much.

There were factors at work that affected the Cubs beyond the timing of the first pitch, but the Cubs record in the 25 years prior to the first night game left them 203 games below .500, while the aggregate record 25 years following is a minus 143.

For the majority of the years prior to Grossman’s night in the spotlight, the Wrigley Family owned the Cubs, and the management of the team fell on to the shoulders of men entirely unprepared to build a consistent winner. Following the sale of the Cubs to the Tribune Company in 1981, Dallas Green brought the team to a level where it could compete, and they earned a berth in the postseason in 1984 – ending a 39 year run of futility.

The problems for the Cubs have been more closely tied to poor personnel decisions than game times. Day baseball didn’t keep the Cubs from keeping the best pitcher in baseball on the roster when Greg Maddux left for Atlanta despite his desire to stay in Chicago. Maddux went on to win 194 games in 11 seasons as a Brave.

Day baseball also didn’t keep then general manager John Holland sober enough to complete a trade with the Cincinnati Reds for Frank Robinson. According to the Jim Russo book, “Super Scout”, Holland passed out before the trade, which was agreed to in principle, could be completed. The Orioles swooped in as Holland slumbered and sent Milt Pappas, Dick Simpson, and Jack Baldshun for the outfielder who would win the American League triple crown the following season.

The Cubs are the Cubs, and 81 night games wouldn’t have kept Alfonso Soriano lunging at sliders low and away, Jerome Walton from inexplicably packing on an additional 25 pounds after his rookie of the year season in 1989, or relief pitcher Mike Capel from giving up grand slams.

The Cubs lose because they haven’t been very good for a very long time, and all the lights in the world wouldn’t have changed that.

Now, new Cubs owner Tom Ricketts has told fans that video boards, a hotel, and additional signage will bring a World Championship to Chicago. Sorry, fans heard the same story a quarter century ago, and are still waiting.

Great players win championships, not night games, signs, and hotels.

2013 NBA Position Rankings – Top 10 Point Guards

by Ryan Sterling

My criteria for this list has nothing to do with analytics and everything to do with how we as fans perceive who is the best. I look at these players at their best (injuries aside) and see how they stack up. Players who are good analytically who you will not see on this list: Mike Conley, Kyle Lowry, Kemba Walker, and Damian Lillard.

While these are good players they do not in my opinion have the ability to lead a team to the NBA Finals (with the possible exception of Conley). Without further ado here is my list of the top 10 point guards in the NBA.

1. Chris Paul

Paul is the gold standard for playmakers at the point guard position in the NBA. Since coming into the league in 2005 Paul has accumulated 5,449 assists averaging 9.8 assists per game. To put that in perspective, Jason Kidd, number two all-time in assists in NBA history, had 5,409 over his first 8 seasons.

Paul is the best pick-and-roll playmaker in the NBA with the ability to finish at the rim or drop dimes to players whose only skill is throwing the ball in the basket. Let’s be honest, DeAndre Jordan and Tyson Chandler have no discernible skills on the offensive side of the ball, but with Paul each have given teams fits. On the defensive end Paul creates major problems with his active hands.

What he does better than any other PG (with maybe the exception of Rondo) is anticipate off-the-ball to create deflections and steals. The only “weak” spot in his game is his 3-pt shooting (35.8% career) and to be honest this is above average and Paul has vastly improved his jump shot since entering the league. With the ability to either score 40 points, have 20 assists, or get 10 steals in any given game makes Paul the most complete package at the PG position.

T-2. Derrick Rose and Russell Westbrook

I give Westbrook and Rose the same grade because they are built in the same mold, are both 24 years old and are both coming off knee injuries. Lets take a look at the career numbers for Rose and Westbrook:

Rose PPG – 21.0 RPG – 3.8 APG – 6.8 3-pt % – .310 ft% – .815
Westbrook PPG – 19.9 RPG – 4.8 APG – 6.9 3-pt % – .302 ft% – .814

I’m inclined to give Rose the nod at the number two spot because he shoots a better percentage overall (.464 – .432) and averages over a turnover less per game than Westbrook. Westbrook is the only player at the point guard position who can match Rose’s athletic ability on the floor. They both can slash to the rim and have underrated mid-range games to keep defenders honest. Both Westbrook and Rose are two of the most exciting players with the ball in the open floor in the league and each can create shot opportunities for others.

The only thing that keeps Westbrook from putting up 2011 Rose numbers is the fact he plays alongside Kevin Durant. Look for both players to bounce back from knee injuries to have good seasons and if either can up their 3-pt percentage to around 35 percent, look out.

4. Deron Williams

Deron Williams is in a career defining year with the additions of Kevin Garnett and Paul Pierce. Williams has had successful playoff runs in the past with the Utah Jazz making one Conference Final, but with the team the Nets have assembled Williams will need to show he can lead a team to a Finals appearance. His numbers are very similar to Paul’s and their track records in the playoffs are eerily similar.

Paul PPG – 18.6 APG – 9.7 RPG – 4.4 3-pt % – .356 DD – 263
Williams PPG – 17.8 APG – 9.0 RPG – 3.2 3-pt % – .356 DD – 252

The numbers are there for Williams to be in the top three PGs in the league. The only thing separating him from Rose and Westbrook is his athleticism and his numbers are just below what Paul has been able to put up in the same amount of time. With a Championship ring Williams will jump up this list and the team the Nets have will give him a real chance at getting that ring.

There is no denying Williams’ playmaking ability, but his relationships with coaches and the early exit to a undermanned Bulls team have tarnished his reputation. This season can go one of two ways for Williams. Compete with the elite of the NBA and become one of the top two PG in the NBA or bust and see his position on this list fall. Like it or not the success or failure of the Nets season will fall onto Williams shoulders.

5. Tony Parker

Who thinks Tony Parker is old? For those of you who just answered yes, you are wrong. Parker is only 31 and while at the tail end of his prime he is still every bit the player he was four seasons ago when he averaged 22 points and 7 assists per game. His numbers dipped after that season, but have climbed every year since. He took last summer to play for the French national team at the Olympics in London and that might have had an effect on Parker’s ability to play a full season. Injuries have slowed him down a little over the past two seasons, but with a full summer off look for Parker to continue to see his numbers climb.

Defensively Parker can be a liability when matching up with some of the elite guards in the league. The three reasons he is so high on this list despite his poor defense and 3-pt shooting are the rings on Parker’s fingers. The only other player on this list with a ring is Rajon Rondo and Parker is the only player on the list with a Finals MVP award. Until Parker shows signs that he is slowing down offensively or someone else below him on this list wins a ring Parker is a top 5 PG in the NBA.

6. Stephen Curry

One PG who does not have to worry about upping his 3-pt percentage or ability is Stephen Curry. Curry is arguably the best 3-pt shooter the NBA has to offer. He made nearly 45 percent from three this past season and hit an NBA record 272 threes. Those numbers are video game-esque.

Curry’s playmaking ability was put on display during the Playoffs and hopefully people begin to see Curry for being more than a shooter. He is a playmaker. His comparison from a statistical outlook are very comparable to Westbrook and Rose the only difference is in the athletic ability each player displays. What I love about Curry is his ability to get into the lane and finish below the rim. He is the new Steve Nash in that he can get shots to the rim in ways most people would not even dream. Curry also has the ability to create turnovers averaging 1.7 steals per game over his career.

Of the players on this list Curry is my favorite, because with his ability to shoot the three and the fact that he has the ball in his hands the majority of the time, Curry can put games out of reach in a matter of a few possessions. With the addition of Andre Iguodala and as long as his ankles hold up look for Curry to move up this list.

7. Kyrie Irving

The former number one overall pick has the complete game. Look at his numbers and he is every bit the player as the top 5 guys on this list. With career numbers of 20.6 ppg, 5.7 apg, and 39.4 percent three point shooting Irving is among the top young offensive playmakers in the league.

What he has lacked in his first two seasons is the supporting cast to get him to the level of the other elite PGs in the NBA. We have not been able to see what he is able to do against the league’s best over a playoff run – and his turnover numbers are a bit too high. That is why we see him at number six on this list. With the addition of Anthony Bennett and Andrew Bynum (if he actually plays) and the continued progression of fellow lottery picks Dion Waiters and Tristan Thompson, Irving could get the opportunity to showcase his talent in a playoff series this season.

Irving is only 21 years old and has yet to play a full season, so he may only be scratching the surface of what we could see in the years to come. I would not be surprised if in three or four years we see Irving at the top of this list.

8. Rajon Rondo

The only other player on this list who has an NBA Championship comes in at number 8 on this list. Rajon Rondo has enjoyed playing with three future Hall of Famers for the majority of his career, but that comes to an end this year as the Celtics look to rebuild.

Rondo appears to be the centerpiece of the rebuilding project along with Jeff Green. What we see this year from Rondo will greatly determine how he is viewed in the minds of NBA fans. Another PG coming off of a knee injury, Rondo will have to prove he is more than a great distributor and defender. He needs to prove he possesses a consistent offensive arsenal.

He is a double-double machine and has led the NBA in assists per game the past two seasons. If Rondo can come back strong from injury and prove his offensive game is more than complementary, he can move up this list. Even with a sub-par year looming for the Celtics, the addition of Head Coach Brad Stevens will be beneficial to Rondo. Look for scoring numbers to improve, but watch for his assist total. With less talent around him, dimes might be harder to come by. If Rondo can keep his assist total in double digits, we will know just how special he is as a playmaker.

9. Ty Lawson

Lawson’s inclusion on this list is due in large part to his performance in the playoffs last season. His play was spectacular even though the Nuggets were eliminated by the Golden State Warriors. Lawson paid his dues by sitting the bench for the majority of his first two seasons, but when he got his chance to start in 2011 he made the most of it putting up two seasons with 16 ppg to go along with nearly 7 apg. Lawson has upped his game in the playoffs the last two seasons averaging 20.1 ppg with 6.9 apg in 13 games.

His rebounding numbers will never be anything to write home about given his size, but his ability to change ends of the floor is at or near the top of the NBA. His style of play was perfect for the Nuggets up and down style of basketball. Lawson shoots it well from downtown (.380 for his career) and can pressure the basketball in the backcourt.

This season will be a test for Lawson as Danilo Galinarri will be rocovering from a knee injury and Andre Iguodala has gone to the Warriors. He needs to show he can be the go-to offensive weapon for the Nuggets and if he can help the Nuggets repeat the success of last season he has the game to be higher on this list.

10. Jrue Holiday

The 76ers made a surprising move trading All-Star PG Jrue Holiday to the New Orleans Pelicans. This move can do nothing but help Holiday as he moves to a team with a young core of talent that will look to compete for the playoffs this season in the Western Conference.

Holiday gets the nod on this list over Damian Lillard because he has been in the league for four seasons and has a lengthy playoff run (albeit a run helped by Derrick Rose being hurt) under his belt. His numbers have improved each season he has been in the league and we should look for those numbers to get even better playing alongside Anthony Davis, Eric Gordon, and Tyreke Evans. Holiday has a chance to grow into a premiere playmaker in this league.

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Less Smiles in Baton Rouge as LSU’s Les Miles Reinstates Running Back Jeremy Hill

by Kent Sterling

Les Miles, no justice, and more wins. What a great university LSU is.

It’s pathetic. It’s ridiculous. It’s weak. And ultimately it’s unfair to LSU running back Jeremy Hill has been reinstated to the LSU football team because the lesson that could have been taught here was foregone in favor of serving the needs of a coach to continue to win at a program that demands it.

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Hill attacked a man in a bar parking lot from behind, knocking him unconscious. He didn’t just punch him – a smart phone video shows him leaping, striking, and celebrating as the man falls to the asphalt.

Already on probation after pleading guilty to a 2012 misdemeanor stemming from his sexual relationship with a then-14-year-old girl while he was a student at Baton Rouge’s Redemptorist High School, Hill could have been sentenced to jail time. Why he wasn’t is a mystery of justice gone haywire.

LSU coach Les Miles suspended Hill indefinitely until the resolution of the case, an extension of his probation, Miles hid behind the convenient result of a team vote just hours later to reinstate Hill just in time for the official start of practice, and worse he claims that Hill’s punishment will remain an internal matter.

The shame of the entire ordeal, and so many like it in college sports, is that coaches are only held accountable for losing and NCAA violations. Players can run wild, and as long as the result is a trip to a bowl and a clean slate in Indianapolis, everything is jake.

It’s a loathsome fact that coaches only give a damn about the welfare and growth of players when it’s convenient and won’t cost the team wins. In many cases, kids spend four or five years on a campus, are rewarded with an education that is rigged to allow them to graduate without much in the way of learning, and are then sent into the big, bad world to fend for themselves having only learned the value of self-indulgence.

The enabling of anti-social and violent behavior adds a profound insult to the injury of not being paid for creating so much wealth for others.

Miles had the temerity through this ordeal to say the following things:

“He owes this team, this school, this community his best behavior. He will have further punishment. It will be internal. It will be comprehensive. We will see the whole person.”
“I’m going to review this and make a quality call the best I can.”
“Jeremy Hill has a legal entanglement. At this point in time he remains indefinitely suspended. I have a track record with really disciplining my team. We go through the same process that all of my guys will go through. Frankly, you know, we’re gathering information as we go. So he’s been separated from his team and teammates for the summer.”
“It’s been very hard on him, I know. Again, we recognize there’s an ongoing process that’s going to be fulfilled. We’re going to sit on the perimeter and watch. We certainly are respectful of all that have responsibility there.”

What a boatload of idiotic claptrap that is. Hard on him? You know who this ordeal was hard on? The guy who Hill clocked in the side of the head with a blindside punch. How about the 14 year-old girl?

You know how you can tell the weakness in a coach’s character? When he tries to convince you what he’s good at. When Miles said, “I have a track record with really disciplining my team.” I threw up in my mouth.

I can’t believe the number of times during the past week I have written, “The consequence must outweigh the punished behavior to affect change.” There appears to be no consequence here other than running stadium steps or some other nonsensical post-practice physical test that will end just as soon as Miles needs Hill’s legs to be good and strong underneath him against an SEC opponent in the Bayou.

This kind of story is so relentlessly presented that I wasn’t going to write about it until I heard Dan Dakich’s radio show on 1070 the Fan today. Indianapolis is damn lucky to have Dan guide them through this kind of amoral morass because at least he is holding accountable the idiots who prey on the kids who need genuine guidance in the form of meaningful consequence.

The only mitigating factor in my desire to see Dan lead young men into adulthood through basketball is the way he uses his media presence to serve as an ambassador for decency and justice.

Every time a Les Miles steps out of line, Dan is there to read between the lines and tell Indianapolis what’s going on in the programs that we mistakenly celebrate on autumn Saturdays.

And Miles will cash his giant checks earned for winning while corrupting the soul of college athletics with his self-serving pseudo-discipline. Keep track of Hill and other Tigers over the next decade to see just how effective a leader Miles is.

[polldaddy poll=7303693]

Indiana Football – Kevin Wilson Talks About the Biggest Difference Between 2012 and 2013 Teams

by Kent Sterling

Indiana is practicing on their feet more often in 2013, and that has to be a good thing.

Kevin Wilson is a football coach. There are other guys who run programs speaking in platitudes, quoting Vince Lombardi, and trying to make the media laugh. When Wilson speaks, he talks about pad level, work to be done, and how players need to grow up and pay the price for wearing a jersey at Indiana University.

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The head coach at Indiana is driven to see his vision of a football team succeed, and he doesn’t suffer anything but maximum effort and on field proficiency. There is nothing frivolous about Kevin Wilson, and he does not tolerate frivolity from others.

He strikes me as the kind of coach who is cursed while a student plays for him, but is then loved for the life lessons learned under his wing.

Indiana has been a bad football team for a long time. In fact, the Hoosiers are the all-time losingest team in college football history with 639 defeats to go with 452 wins.

Changing a culture of losing that deep-seated is not the job for a glad handing jokester. It’s serious work to be done by a serious man, and if Wilson is anything, he’s serious.

Last night, Wilson held court with the media to talk about his third IU team, and below he talks about the biggest difference between the 2012 and 2013 rosters.

Tom Dienhart of the Big Ten Network says the best possible outcome for the Hoosiers is an 8-4 record, which would be an amazing result in the third year of a rebuild. The worst? a one win slide from last seasons 4-8 to a 3-9 mark.

If I played for the Hoosiers, I would make damn sure we improved from year to year. I doubt Wilson would take a backslide with a grin.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gR5ZQV1WTEY

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Top Five Lessons I Learned from My Dad – on His Birthday

by Kent Sterling

A grandfather goes for a walk with a kid who will start law school in two weeks. That would please him.

My Dad would have turned 84 yesterday, and like most dads, the lessons he taught through his life resonate with me everyday.

He was a larger than life character who laughed a lot – at, with, and around others. The complete honesty with which he conducted himself was either bold and wonderful or harsh and off-putting – depending upon which side of it you were on. Dad was volatile and competitive, but also caring and generous. The void he left when he died still felt. All that wonderful noise and truth is missed.

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Not only do sons learn to emulate some of the best traits of our fathers, they also avoid other behaviors. Both what to embrace and important character shaping devices, and the best five of my Father’s lessons are below:

5 – Tell the truth, but don’t be mean – Dad practiced a relentless honesty that felt good when it came in the form of a compliment, but stung when it was critical. That’s true with everyone, but Dad was especially adept at saying exactly the right thing or precisely the wrong thing. Dad’s insults were almost always really funny, and for people used to that kind of unvarnished truth, he was a joy to be around. The recent societal evolution toward making everyone feel special would have sickened Dad. Giving everyone a ribbon makes all ribbons meaningless. In Dad’s mind, the honest ridicule made the compliments more special. What was also true was that the honest compliments made the ridicule impossibly difficult for those to whom he told unpleasant truths.

4 – Don’t smoke – Dad’s heart was ruined by the relentless introduction of foul and unfiltered poison from the five packs of Lucky Strikes he consumed each day. It seemed ridiculous to me at a very young age that anyone would allow themselves to become addicted to something so foul. Not only did smoking kill my Dad, it made the last couple of years of his life more difficult than it needed to be. He missed watching his grandsons play a hell of a lot of games because he made the terrible decision to start smoking.

3 – Laugh every day – Oh sure, some of the laughter was at people instead of with them, but Dad laughed a lot, and it was a strong and contagious laugh.

2 – The abuse of power and position should be attacked – Dad loathed bullies in all forms. Anyone who Dad felt had the power to right a wrong but choose not to either got a letter or visit from Dad. Anyone who wronged to enhance their position found out that a lone voice of justice sitting at a typewriter in Floyds Knobs, Indiana. Dad had a very sharp and well-honed sense of justice, was a very good typist, and was fearless in communicating justice. It was easy to toss away the letters, but the words tended to stick in recipient’s minds.

1 – In youth sports, winning isn’t everything, it’s meaningless – Little league baseball was fun regardless of the result. Little League teams my Dad coached finished 2-8, 1-8-1, and 4-5-1. He was relentlessly competitive, but knew that his job was to let the kids have a great time playing baseball. It wasn’t that we didn’t try like hell to win, we just weren’t very good, and Dad sheathed his usual raw honesty to make sure the kids left happy.

We had a kid named Andre one year who had recently moved from Germany, and didn’t know anything about baseball. Dad played him in right field, which unfortunately was bordered by train tracks. When a freight trundled past, Andre would turn and watch the train with his back to the field. Dad would explain patiently that watching the trains kept him from seeing the play on the diamond, and Andre would shrug. In the last game of the season, Andre got his only hit of the season, and was so stunned he didn’t know where to run. Dad guided him to first base, and was thrilled for the kid.

But for the next 30 years, Dad would describe someone ill-equipped for their position as “useless as Andre in right field.”

No one is ever going to devote a chapter in a book on American history to the life of Clark Sterling, but he affected lives of people he met, and left a legacy of laughs and lessons that will stay forever with those who paid attention.

IU Football – Kevin Wilson Position Breakdown – Running Backs

by Kent Sterling

If anyone thought Kevin Wilson was going to be a smiles and sunshine going into a season with 19 returning starters, that thought was disabused at the media dinner.

IU football coach Kevin Wilson is a plain speaking guy. What he believes, he says. It’s not flowery or poetic, but it’s informational.

If he speaks this way to the media, I can only imagine the way he lays things out for players. I’m guessing the feelings of the players are not a concern – nor should they be.

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The Hoosiers have sucked at football for 20 years, and changing that we require some tough love, or tough something.

For the next few weeks, we will feature a position breakdown each day or another relevant piece of wisdom from the man trusted to lead Indiana to a stature it has only enjoyed during a very brief period in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

The proof will be in the pudding, but in talking to assistant head/defensive coordinator coach Doug Mallory and head strength and conditioning coach Mark Hill, the Hoosiers are faster and stronger this season than during the first two years of the Wilson regime.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nE5edwEovlg

Texas A&M Coach Kevin Sumlin Should Steer Clear of All Johnny Manziel Related Matters

by Kent Sterling

“I am not a parent to these young men, and cannot monitor their behavior at every moment of every day. I am a football coach, and we educate our student-athletes about compliance with NCAA rules, but if Johnny Manziel signed autographs for money I don’t know anything about that. My focus is on preparing the Aggies to beat Bama.”

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That is what Texas A&M coach Kevin Sumlin should have said to the media today. Then he should coach Manziel without asking the questions that could elicit answers that will determine guilt or innocence. Let the compliance office at A&M sort through the particulars and deal with the NCAA as required.

Sumlin has too much at stake to allow the allegations against a goofy kid who may or may not have taken a duffle bag full of cash in exchange for signing his name to a bunch of swag. His $3.1 million base salary is way too much money to risk because you feel compelled to get to the bottom of anything.

The requirement here is for Sumlin to trust people to do their jobs, while he concentrates on getting the Aggies ready to host the two time national champion Alabama Crimson Tide on September 14 after thumping Rice and Sam Houston State. There is a compliance department at big time university athletic departments for the same reason corporations have a team of human resources specialists – because a coach isn’t an attorney, and the stakes are too high to allow managers to manage.

The NCAA rulebook is complicated , and enforcing those rules for the 105 student-athletes on the football roster is more than a full time job. It’s best left to the professionals.

Respect the electronic information trail, but if there is no reason to pursue full discloure from Manziel, don’t.

Ohio State’s Jim Tressel fell on his sword because he failed to act on an email detailing the infractions committed by football players who swapped their autographs for tattoos. Without the email, Tressel would have been able to maintain the distance needed to survive the chaos.

Sumlin needs to stay as far away from the truth, whatever it is, because there is nothing for him to gain through that knowledge.

Good criminal lawyers have no interest in whether a client is guilty or innocent, and the same should hold true for a football coach.

When asked whether he would play Manziel if this investigation is not resolved at the point when the season begins, Sumlin answered, “There’s a lot of people involved in that decision.”

Perfect.

Hailing Bud Selig as the Guy Who Ended the PED Scandal Is Ludicrous

by Kent Sterling

Bud Selig doesn’t like to hear criticism from the media, and for some reason the media complies.

National media folks who line up to kiss Baseball Commissioner Bud Selig’s ring for his work to solve the PED problem in baseball are nauseatingly wrong.

The steroid age never went anywhere. Players still juice, just with different stuff than before. The consequences for doping still fail to deter those who feel a small edge will nudge them into another salary strata.

Baseball and Selig flexed their muscles in suspending Milwaukee Brewers outfielder and 2011 National League MVP Ryan Braun of the remainder of this season. He will forfeit just over $3 million is salary, but is guaranteed another $117 million through the end of his contract in 2021 (includes the $4M buyout rather than the $20M mutual option for 2021).

That contract extension was earned through the use of PEDs, and it’s anyone’s guess what kind of numbers Braun will be able to reach once cleaned of the chemicals that caused the suspension. His numbers prior to the suspension were not very Braun-y – with nine home runs, 38 RBIs, four steals, and an OPS of .869 through 67 games. In 2012, Braun tallied 41 homers, 112 RBIs, 30 steals, and an OPS of .987.

Braun was still a good player this year, but worth far less than the elite money he is scheduled to earn for the next eight seasons.

Nike ended their deal with Braun as a result of the suspension, but the loss of that cash will not come close to the salary Braun will re-engage next season.

Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez is expected to be suspended later today through the end of 2014, but he has already made more than a quarter of a billion dollars, and is due another $61 million from 2015-2017. That’s his reward for excelling while reportedly doping. The penalty will be in the range of $30-$35 million.

You don’t have to be a Wharton graduate to see that dumping $3 million to make $117 million or a $35 million haircut to make roughly $320 million is a pretty damn good financial strategy. If I could stick a needle in my ass to write like Ernest Hemingway – and get paid like it – stick me, baby! That I my publisher might drop me after my ninth book would be a perfectly acceptable consequence.

Selig has never brought to bear a penalty for a player who dopes that was sufficient to serve as a deterrent for others, and until he does, his leadership in this area will be a failure.

The media’s belief that Selig has been a force for good in preventing PED use defies logic.

The list of those willing to bear minor punishment for major rewards continues to grow, and there is no reason to believe that will end because of the suspensions expected to be announced today.

Until there is a lifetime ban installed for PED use, or at the minimum the voiding of a contract at the club’s discretion for a player who cheats, players will continue to find chemical means to improve performance.

Selig’s legacy in the area of dealing with PED use/abuse in baseball will be deservingly weak, and those who view it differently are seeing him through Bud-colored glasses.

NCAA Needs to Allow Athletes to Profit from Image/Autographs

by Kent Sterling

Johnny takes cash for signing that ball, and his college career ends. His coach earns more than $3M in base salary because Manziel led the Aggies to an 11-2 season.

The NCAA is reportedly investigating Johnny Manziel for taking a payment in exchange for signing his name a few dozen times. If they find Manziel took one dollar, his eligibility at Texas A&M will likely be permanently lost.

No big deal for Johnny Football as he has tweeted that being a Heisman Trophy winning college quarterback on the Texas A&M campus is hell on earth. Manziel wins twice in this scenario as he pocketed a healthy wad of cash and escapes College Station in one move.

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The question of why players are prevented from taking cash in exchange for sharing their image rings in my head every time a story like this bubbles to the surface. Journalists question the intellect and morality of a kid who accepts gifts for services, while I question the ability of the NCAA to restrict the ability for anyone but the schools, media, coaches, and NCAA itself to profit from the work product of a student athlete like Manziel.

Peyton Manning has earned millions for signing his name during a long NFL career, and people love him for being a good and honorable man. Johnny Manziel does the same thing, and he’s a me-first pariah.

I understand the reason for the rule. If players are allowed to take cash for autographs, boosters will pay outrageous sums to even marginal players to help the program attract more and better players. Once that Pandora’s Box opens, closing it will be impossible, and the facade of amateurism will be lost forever. Winning programs will be those with the wealthiest boosters.

So what.

Is it really morally acceptable to view the very valuable images of a Heisman Trophy winner like Manziel as property of a university, rather than the true owner – the athlete himself. Manziel’s jerseys have flown off the shelves for the past year. People inside the school’s administration claim that the jerseys move because of passion for the Aggies. Yeah? Well, replace those #2s with the #16s of backup QB Matt Joeckel and see what happens to sales.

Every time Manziel signs a helmet for Texas A&M or a jersey bearing his number, the university gets a fat cut, and Manziel’s reward is the pass through expense of a scholarship as well as room and board.

Manziel, like several football and basketball players whose popularity outgrows the ability of the university to protect them, is unable to attend classes personally anyway, so the player in this case becomes much less a student than an athlete/profit center for the athletic department.

What the ultimate outcome would be for college football and men’s college basketball if the NCAA allowed players to feed a trust fund with profits from the sale of memorabilia bearing their image is hard to predict, but the days of a school being able to use up a kid’s value while not giving him a taste are coming to an end – and rightly so.

The NCAA’s efforts to fortify the quicksand on which college athletics is built as a bastion of high-minded amateurism have failed, and it has two choices – adapt and evolve or stand proud and die.

Instead of looking at Manziel as a scofflaw who turned his back on a team, I would choose to view him as a renegade who had no respect for a bad rule that restricts his ability to monetize his value on the free market. It would be great if every popular player followed Manziel’s lead to take impermissible benefits – flood the NCAA with such a massive level of disregard for their anachronistic rulebook that they can no longer enforce any of them.

It’s unlikely Manziel gave more thought than “Money is good!” to his decision to accept cash for signing some knick-knacks, if he indeed did that, but the result of the most popular player in college football being ineligible because of the continued enforcement of dubious rule has a chance to cause change long overdue in big money college athletics.

Hopefully, there are more and more student-athletes who look at the absurd salaries being paid to coaches and decide to throw so many monkey wrenches into the NCAA’s machine that they have no choice but to adjust their policies.

Maybe Manziel can be the guy who initiates the launch sequence that propels the NCAA into an age of enlightenment they have successfully avoided despite massive growth in revenue for everyone involved but the people on the field and court.

Johnny Manziel Being Investigated for Profiting from Autograph Signing

by Kent Sterling

If the NCAA finds that Johnny Manziel took cash for signing autographs, his days as an Aggie will be over.

Escape comes in many forms. Former quarterback phenom Todd Marinovich told us yesterday that he sought relief from fame through drugs. It appears Johnny Manziel has found another means of crippling his own collegiate career.

The reason it’s always best for athletes to stay quiet is to keep from being a target of an outstanding show like ESPN’s “Outside the Lines”, who are reporting that Johnny Football is being investigated by the NCAA for reportedly accepting a five-figure payment from signing a bunch of memorabilia in south Florida the day of the BCS National Championship game.

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That Manziel should be able to profit as he likes for signing his name is a separate issue for another day, but the morality of taking cash for autographs is impossible to question regardless of NCAA rules.

If it can be proven that Manziel took money, his days as a quarterback for Texas A&M will be over, and it’s likely that he will breathe a deep sigh of relief.

A kid with everything who wants none of it is a great anti-hero for writers who are always digging to find the outlier among those who struggle for the same reward, and Manziel is definitely that.

Manziel is a spoiled kid who chooses not to live his life within the limits imposed upon him by his coach, parents, or the NCAA – to the extent any of them have tried. At some point, people who make all their own decisions wind up being taxed by society in some way.

I have always driven a car in what I have determined is a very safe manner for me. That hasn’t always been in keeping with the rules of the road, which I believe to be flawed in some way. The occasional ticket was a reasonable penalty, until I was informed by a traffic court judge that in Indiana, the accumulation of 10 moving violations in 10 years results in an automatic five-year suspension of driving privileges. Holding seven violations in the last eight years has given me adequate reason for an adjustment of my driving.

Unless the consequence of an action outweighs the gain available, there is no reason to change behavior, and the consequence for Manziel getting paid to sign pics, helmets, etc… (if the investigation finds that he did the deed) is the end of something Manziel reportedly can’t wait to stop doing anyway.

There seemed no question from afar that Manziel would find a way out of what he perceives to be a living hell, and I’m glad he found a way to get that done without doing himself any physical harm.

Making some bank for signing autographs is the least invasive means of escape that I can remember, and now he has some gas money for that Mercedes.

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