Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Traveling with an NFL Franchise like the St. Louis Rams Is as Fun as You Might Guess

by Kent Sterling

Steve Savard and D’Marco Farr are as good as it gets in the booth, and are better travel companions.

It might be more interesting to bitch and moan about accommodations and logistics while traveling for work with the St. Louis Rams, but all in all it’s a pretty damn good time and I would be lying if I wrote differently.

For the last two seasons, I packed a bag and rolled with the Rams for most of their road trips. Full disclosure – I balked at the San Francisco and Seattle trips in 2011 because the team was terrible, and the trips were as much a death march as a business trip. If they were able to, I think a significant portion of the Rams staff would have joined me in staying home.

One of the great changes made by coach Jeff Fisher when he was hired by the Rams was to leave for the west coast trips on Friday. A free day on Saturday helped everyone enjoy the stay a little more. I can’t speak for the players, but the hustle on the day prior to the game from the plane to the hotel on the night before the game was tiring. Getting to the city on Friday night gave us the opportunity for a relaxed Saturday. Getting to the hotel at 9p, to the buses the next morning at 9:30a, and back on the plane after the game at 4p was tough, and my responsibilities were minimal.

There was time for touring places like Alcatraz and the museums in Seattle, and more energy for a little fun on Saturday night. Six of us from the Rams Radio Network traveled with the team, and our group would often go to dinner with members of the excellent Rams media relations staff.

Here’s a breakdown of the different elements of the trip;

Flight

Oh boy, if commercial flights operated like NFL charters, many more people would fly. There is food everywhere and the flight attendants are incredibly friendly. As you step on the plane, you grab a sandwich or sushi, and then there is a lot of milling around. The media, sponsors, and staff get to the plane an hour ahead of the players and coaches, but everyone knows each other, so time passes quickly.

Once the preseason ends, and the roster is trimmed, space opens, and the middle seat is always empty. For obvious reasons, that makes the flight more comfortable. On the flight back from the preseason game in Dallas last year, I was assigned the seat between Rams play-by-play voice Steve Savard and analyst/former defensive tackle D’Marco Farr. Steve and D’Marco’s shoulders are plenty broad, and I was uncomfortably pinned between them for the two hour flight while they slept. They had a nice nap. I got back cramps.

The players are a serious bunch – quiet and unimpressed. These are business trips for the guys, not weekend long parties. They file on the plane quietly, win or lose. Once the players get situated, we get going pretty quickly.

Dinner is served, and soft drinks and juices are always available.

Transportation from Airport to Hotel

We are herded onto buses, and receive a police escort wherever we go. That was especially cool in Chicago last year, when we barreled through traffic on the Kennedy from O’Hare to the downtown hotel where we stayed. I’ve been stuck on the Kennedy hundreds of times, and to be a part of a caravan that forced traffic to the shoulders was heady stuff.

Hotels

With Fisher as the coach, the team stayed in a higher quality hotel in most cities. The rooms were always a crapshoot. There seemed to be no pecking order at all in the way they were assigned. In London for the game with the Patriots, I had a small room with an incredible view of Big Ben and the parks surrounding Buckingham Palace, which was immediately across the street from our place.

We stayed in the same hotel as the players, and while we kept our eyes open for interesting player behavior, I only saw one small piece of weirdness during a preseason trip from a player who didn’t make the team. As I hustled toward an elevator, a player waved toward a woman who was dressed a whole lot like an entrepreneur who does a lot of business in hotels. They both hopped on the elevator, coming from different directions, at the same time I did. The player stood awkwardly on one side of the elevator, while she seemed disinterested on the other side. I was in the middle. He hit the button for a floor, but she did not. What happened after I disembarked is anyone’s guess. One hooker sighting is pretty tame stuff for a professional franchise.

One tradition that I did not enjoy was the ride to and from our dinners the night before games. Our engineer is Dodie Rahlmann, and he was always the driver of the van. He insisted on obeying the GPS regardless of external forces that would demand he ignore it – like being able to see the restaurant, or driving past it. “Dodie, IT’S RIGHT THERE!” was yelled by someone almost every trip. Dodie is a wonderful man and one of the most conscientious engineers in radio. He’s a key member of the team. As a tour guide, he caused veins in my forehead to explode. I should have learned to appreciate the absurdity, but chose to indulge in snarky remarks born of outrage.

Game Day

I had a great time on game day. We would bus to the stadium about three hours before the game. The talent review their notes, and Hoss (the producer of the broadcast) would talk through his plans for the portion of the pregame that would originate from the stadium. Another police escort gets us to the stadium, where we are always greeted by opposing fans giving us the finger unaware that our bus is filled with media used to that treatment and sponsors who are baffled by the angst.

We get into the stadium a long time before ticket holders, and it’s a great time to wander around to get a taste of what the place offers. Cowboys Stadium is the best of all we visited. The attention to detail as the staff goes through their prep is unique among all facilities, and the rehearsals for the Dallas Cowboys Cheerleaders are a can’t miss sideshow. The players get loose, and it’s there that you can tell that these guys are preparing for war. There is very little chatter, and as gametime gets closer, players become more calm.

During the game, I was the spotter for Steve. A play would be run, and I would point to who made the tackle. If the Rams or their opponent changed personnel, I pointed that out. Steve was great to work with. I became competent once I bought a pair of binoculars, and learned that the first rule of spotting is – as in medicine – ‘do no harm.’ Never point to anything you don’t absolutely know to be true. One other thing I learned was not to write on the play-by-play guy’s chart. The Rams activated a player that wasn’t on Steve’s chart, and I grabbed a pencil to write him in. Steve shot me a look that clearly and quickly communicated his displeasure with my impetuous act. I stopped before writing, but if I hadn’t, Steve might have buried the pencil in my neck.

Like all media, we judge the quality of a trip by the press box food. The annual trip to Phoenix was always good because the press box food there is excellent. Breakfast is delicious, and the lunch is okay. Candlestick Park is a train wreck. There is no room for the buffet, and if you don’t get there quickly, the line is ridiculous. For a great city, the Niners fans are cranky morons. San Francisco was my favorite city to visit, but the fans there are the worst.

Ride Home

After the game, we hustle down to the buses because win or lose, the Rams aren’t terribly concerned with our presence. If we aren’t there, Fisher is not going to ask the buses or planes to wait. There is always food from a local restaurant that can’t be gotten in St. Louis. On the west coast, we got In and Out burgers. In Pittsburgh, we got sandwiches from Primanti’s. The flights home were always quiet, minus my tapping on the keyboard of my laptop. I wasn’t typing. I played Warblade to pass the time, and while I wore headphones, the tapping was a great annoyance to those seated near me. That didn’t occur to me until near the end of last season I was told by our sideline reporter Tony Softli.

Overall, the trips became more and more fun as I got to know more of the people in the regular traveling party. I’ll miss the guys this season until they come to Indianapolis to play the Colts. I will be Steve’s spotter one more time, and will try to make the broadcast a little bit better.

Indiana Pacers – LeBron James Use of Frank Vogel Misquote Doesn’t Fit

by Kent Sterling

Crazy doesn’t fit the best player of his generation.

I’m never sure if LeBron James is truly nuts, or just an imitator of hyper-competitive kooks of the past, and this mini-drama about Pacers coach Frank Vogel brings no more clarity to that doubt.

Michael Jordan is completely insane. He takes umbrage at any perceived slight. People say things, Jordan gets revved up, and everyone apologizes to try to calm him. That behavior went on for years in Chicago – on the basketball court, pool table, and everywhere else Jordan competed.

The fuel Jordan needed to hate opponents was just as easily manufactured as delivered.

Dick Butkus, the hall of fame Chicago Bears linebacker, would watch film to invent reasons to hate each of his opponents until he was a raging beast on Sundays, or for preseason scrimmages.

And now, James has extracted umbrage from an inaccurately conveyed Vogel quote. James was told Vogel said the Heat “are just another team.” What Vogel said was, the Heat “are the next team.” No matter, the crazy train is rolling.

Or is it?

James has always appeared too sane to be a great competitor. There is a screw loose in the greats that provides the advantage they need – that point of differentiation – to make them fundamentally different. What makes them great competitors also causes marriages to go up in flames, children to wander in their behavior, and people to avoid funerals.

Only three men from baseball attended Ty Cobb’s funeral after a baseball career that was singularly splendid, but prompted hatred among both teammates and opponents.

Bob Knight is another cantankerous competitor whose intensely demanding expectations of players has caused rancor among that tight community, and many who know him.

Behind many great competitors, there is a wake of bruised souls worse for knowing them.

James does not appear to be that kind of guy. It seems he enjoys being with his teammates as people, rather than simply seeing them as tools that can be used to lever the wins and trophies he craves.

The Heat are definitely the beneficiaries of James’ physical gifts, but those seem to be so overpowering that he doesn’t need to dip into the sack of bizarre and self-immolating actions that were Tiger Woods’ calling card prior to the demolition of his marriage. It seems Tiger has worked to find some peace while recapturing some of his former greatness.

Winning excuses a lot of bad behavior, but LeBron appears to have dodged most of the self-absorbancy that many indulge. Maybe we just haven’t heard about it. There was a time when we were shocked that Woods was banging Perkins waitresses in the back of his Escalade, so who knows? But we haven’t seen anything from James, other than unique success, that would portend madness.

Given his fame and the proliferation of media, you would guess that James’ misdeeds would be front and center if they existed.

James is likely trying to use the nonexistent Vogel slight to put teammates on edge a little bit so they don’t overlook the Pacers in Game One as they did against the Bulls a couple of weeks ago. The Pacers are a more difficult challenge for the Heat, and they would have a tougher time overcoming a split at home in this series than against a team missing three key cogs in Derrick Rose, Kirk Heinrich, and Luol Deng.

James has worn two numbers in his career – #23 and #6. So far, he seems to have a lot more in common with a the most famous #6 than Jordan’s iconic #23. Stan Musial managed to be a hell of a nice guy while playing at a singularly high level too.

The petulant warrior image does not fit James well.

Steve Alford and AD Dan Guerrero in Trouble at UCLA Over Pierre Pierce Flap

by Kent Sterling

UCLA AD Dan Guerrero needs wins on the basketball court or record cash in the coffers to survive.

Right or wrong, some mistakes stick to a man forever. In 2002, while head basketball coach at the University of Iowa, Steve Alford defended Pierre Pierce, who was accused of third degree sexual assault.

After another incident in 2005, Pierce pled guilty to third-degree burglary, assault with an intent to commit sexual abuse, false imprisonment, and fourth-degree criminal mischief.

The moral of that story is that if you back a kid who is accused of sexual assault, you better damn well be right. It appears that Alford’s loyalty to his player was misplaced, and victims rights groups have no sympathy for either Pierce or Alford.

When Alford was introduced as the newest incarnation of John Wooden, it didn’t take long for the question of his support of Pierce to bubble up. Alford dodged the question, and when athletic director Dan Guerrero was asked whether he had discussed the issue with Alford, he said they did.

When Alford was asked whether Guerrero had asked him, the answer was no. After Guerrero was told of Alford’s claim that the Pierce conversation never took place, he admitted that he had only spoken to his staff and Alford’s people about the incidents.

Uh-oh.

Journalists aren’t too bright as a group, but they can smell an administrator trying to backtrack with great speed when caught in a lie.

For some reason, despite Richard Nixon, Bill Clinton, John Edwards, Kelvin Sampson, and Lindsay Lohan, people continue to tell lies, quarter truths, and three-quarter truths. Guerrero seems to have been caught completely unaware that thousands of people in Iowa continue to loathe Alford because he loudly backed a sexual predator.

Alford should be in the clear, as he didn’t deny that he made a mistake. His mea culpa wasn’t much more than an admission of ignorance rather than wrongdoing, but it beats lying.

As for Guerrero, he needs to understand that while the media are not generally Mensa members, they are quite keen in sifting through conflicting quotes and smelling blood.

Firing Ben Howland appeared to be a screwy deal at the time, and the hire of Alford was a surprise. Howland had just wrapped up a Pac-12 regular season championship before being badly beaten in the first round of the 2013 NCAA Tournament (by Minnesota, and soon-to-also-be unemployed coach Tubby Smith). Sure, there were a few bizarre behavioral turns by the players, but let’s be honest – if UCLA had enjoyed any meaningful success in the NCAAs since 2008, Howland would still be the coach. If the UCLA players insulted each other like Don Rickles and Jeff Ross, and fought each other like Ali and Frazier, but UCLA went to a Final Four, Howland would get an extension.

Guerrero appears to have hired haphazardly – again. Rick Neuheisel was a wreck of a coach, who displayed a wanton disregard for NCAA rules at Colorado and Washington, while amassing an unimpressive record – minus three outlier seasons with rosters gathered by his predecessors.

Athletic directors are entrusted with two responsibilities – raise lots of money, and hire good coaches. In the absence of hiring good coaches, it is acceptable to hire coaches who will not embarrass the university with their presence.

Guerrero is on thin ice for questionable hiring practices, but that ice is thickened by the cash, facilities, and deals he crafts.

Alford’s sin was committed 11 years ago, and has not been forgiven by many. Guerrero appears not to have learned from any of his mistakes. Wins will satisfy UCLA fans, but if Alford is unable to right the ship that forced its captain to walk the plank for winning 25 games and a Pac-12 regular season championship this past season after going to three consecutive Final Fours from ’06-’08, Guerrero’s seat is going to get very warm, unless he can dazzle with fundraising.

Rick Venturi Says the Redskins Can Win a Championship with RG3 as QB

by Kent Sterling

When a quarterback’s knee bends like RG3’s did in the above picture, people rightly ask questions about his future.

Quarterback is the most important position for an NFL team, and three came into the league last year that garnered a ton of attention. The Colts Andrew Luck and Seattle’s Russell Wilson both enjoyed outstanding rookie campaigns, but the guy who was discussed more than those two combined was Robert Griffin III.

They can all run, and can certainly throw the ball with accuracy and authority, but there is a charisma to the 2012 Heisman Trophy winner that elevates him above all others. RG3 went down with a torn ACL in a playoff loss to the Seattle Seahawks and Wilson, which many blame on his decisions to tuck the ball and run too often.

RG3 ran for 815 yards and seven touchdowns, so who can blame him or the coaching staff from turning the kid loose. A 6.8 rushing average is hard to ignore, but running quarterbacks are open to more hits. With 120 rushes and 30 sacks, minus the seven TDs, RG3 opened himself up to significant trauma.

The question of whether RG3 can lead the Redskins to the promised land has come up many times, and will continue to, so when I got the chance to sit down with one of the best defensive minds in football at Wolfie’s in Noblesville, I asked Coach Rick Venturi about the Baylor graduate’s ability to stay healthy and whether he can be a Super Bowl champion with Washington.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WM93JlGc9z8

Indianapolis 500 Is Now a Two Day Event – Carb Day for the Party, and Race Day for the Pageantry

by Kent Sterling

Nothing smells of yesteryear like 4X3 monitors. I won’t have them in my house. The IMS shouldn’t either.

I watched a movie early this morning – part of which took place at the Indy 500 – that described driving in the race “as a sacrifice of their lives so that millions of drivers could be safer.”

That movie, “Speed” with Jimmy Stewart put into context what the race used to be. It became a quest for speed with barriers that were knocked down periodically, and track records set perpetually.

The speeds became unsafe and the costs too high. Now, the Indianapolis 500 has a single chassis and two engine manufacturers. Innovation is no longer a part of racing at Indy, and the costs keep teams not guaranteed a spot on the starting grid from attempting a qualifying run.

For the second straight year, Bump Day featured no bumping. What fans paid to watch yesterday was the academic qualifying of nine back markers with no drama.

Pole Day was more fun, but for those around the country who couldn’t make it out to the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, they couldn’t experience the climax for the day as the NBC Sports Network was contractually obliged to air the Preakness post-race coverage rather than the Fast Nine run for the pole.

The Fast Nine running for the pole was delayed by weather to 6:30p, the scheduled end time of the network’s coverage from NBC. That curious decision is one of a series of many that confound outsiders. Granted, the events on NBC Sports are generally not in great demand, so whether more than a couple of thousand people noticed is debatable. Any network that claims the NHL as its core programming is not capable of generating additional interest, so not much was lost.

The drama of Pole Day itself was actually quite cool with owner/driver Ed Carpenter making a run that put him on top of the speed chart. He’s an Indianapolis guy who attended Butler, and is the stepson of former czar of the IMS Tony George. For the people who waited until the end of the Preakness post-race to watch the final four runs to try to knock Carpenter off the pole were rewarded by the genuine tension that was obvious on Carpenter’s face.

Carb Day has improved over the years, moving from Thursday to Friday, and integrating a concert by a headlining band. The Black Crowes reunion show was at Carb Day. Velvet Revolver and ZZ Top have also played in front of tens of thousands of race fans at this annual party. This year’s act is Poison, a marginally entertaining band fronted by ubiquitous reality TV star Bret Michaels.

Race day is still an amazing spectacle, but the facility is slipping into a piece of nostalgia itself. Some updates have been made during the past two decades, including the Pagoda, upgraded media center, and suites that were built for the failed experiment with Formula One.

The vast majority of the speedway is unchanged, including the TV screens that help fans follow the action beyond the sliver of trace visible from many of the seats.

The details appear to have been neglected virtually everywhere. Nothing reeks of disrepair like failed light bulbs in electronic signs.

I’m a huge honk for the Indy 500. It’s my favorite sporting event on the calendar. Jim Nabors singing “Back Home Again in Indiana” makes no sense at all to casual fans, but for me it’s a weird and magical annual moment, when Nabors’ health permits him to attend. The Gordon Pipers, Purdue Band, and parade of odd celebrities always makes me smile. Where else are you going to see Ruth Buzzi and Florence Henderson these days?

While the facility is incredibly enormous and complicated, the people running the show must invest in infrastructure improvements that can make it at least appear to be modern to fans under 40. Bump Day must have bumps, and Pole Day must be seen live on national television. Lights on scoreboards must work.

This isn’t brain surgery. It’s simply an attentiveness to detail that appears lacking.

When Detroit hosted the Super Bowl a few years ago, they had IndyCar owner Roger Penske provide a list of upgrades the city should undertake to make a good impression on visitors. I can only imagine the length of that list. Penske is one of the best detail guys in the world. He’s an incredibly smart and organized man. If the Hulman-George Family can’t see the forest for the trees, they should talk to Penske about taking a long look around.

The Month of May is now down to two days done right.

1953 Indy 500 Winner Bill Vukovich Remembered by Talk of Gasoline Alley’s Donald Davidson

Last week, for the first time since it aired live, the 1953 Indianapolis 500 was heard by race fans. Bill Vukovich won that race, as he did again in 1954. He had a 17-second lead when killed in 1955 at the age of 36.

Vukovich might have been the only three-peat champion in the history of the race if not for the crash that claimed him.

Donald Davidson is the Historian of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and know more about the men who make this the Greatest Spectacle in Racing since the first 500 mile race in 1911.

There will be a video memory from Donald every day through the 97th running of the Indy 500 one week from today.

Indiana Pacers – Ten Reasons for Optimism Against LeBron James and the Miami Heat

by Kent Sterling

LeBron James will have to put the Heat on his back to repeat as champions.

There will not be a single analyst with any knowledge of basketball who will pick the Indiana Pacers to beat the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Finals, and they will likely be right.

Overcoming the best player in basketball is going to be a tough assignment. LeBron James is not just a physical freak at 6’8″, 250 lbs., he has a knack for waiting until what Reggie Miller and others call “winning time” to assert himself and suck all hope from a team like New Orleans hookers on Fat Tuesday.

That doesn’t mean the Pacers are totally without a righteous chance in this series. The series starts even, and the first team to four wins punches their ticket to the 2013 NBA Finals.

There are those who will claim that the NBA won’t allow the Heat to lose – that the referees will be assigned in a way that will ensure a Heat victory. While I have seen some things over the years that gave me reason to be suspicious, I can’t imagine that the NBA would engage in fixing games. The risk of alienating the entire fan base by conspiring to fix a result is too great – even for a self-important czar like commissioner David Stern.

This series is not over before it begins, and here are ten reasons the starless Pacers could shock the world and make miserable, ESPN – the network that celebrates stars above all else:

10 – Pacers took the Heat to a sixth game in 2012 Before the Heat found their offense in last year’s 4-2 series win over the Pacers, the blue and gold held them to 75 points in two consecutive games to take a 2-1 lead. The last three games were a different story, but the Pacers need to remember what they did to cause such anemic offensive performances.

9 – Hibbert’s numbers better than Bosh At least statistically in this postseason, Pacers center Roy Hibbert is posting better numbers than that of his counterpart. Bosh is averaging 13.2 ppg and 8.3 rebounds. Hibbert is at 14.0 and 9.6.

8 – Young = Stupid Minus David West, the Pacers have no one on the roster over the age of 27, and while they are in ascension, they might be silly enough to believe they can win. All great upsets start with belief.

7 – LeBron had a tough series vs. the Bulls After a great start to the postseason against the Milwaukee Bucks, shooting 62.7%, he shot only 43.8% against the Bulls. That could mean that he’s due, but I am choosing to believe both that he’s wearing down, and that the Bulls figured something out. They played him physically, and that caused both some problems for LeBron and an average of 10.4 trips to the line per game.

6 – Pacers were 2-1 against Heat in 2013 The Pacers present some strange match-ups for most teams. Hibbert is one of the few traditional centers in basketball, Paul George’s height, length, and athleticism, and Lance Stephenson’s reckless abandon make the Pacers difficult to prepare for, and that might allow the Pacers to steal one in South Beach.

5 – Beyond Big Three – Heat an expansion team The Miami Heat pay LeBron James, Dwyane Wade, and Chris Bosh a combined $52,272,000. The remaining players on the roster earn $28 million, led by Mike Miller’s $5,800,000. And those inexpensive players are aging quickly.Only one player in the Heat’s rotation is younger than the second oldest Pacer – Norris Cole at 24. Nine of the Heat at 30 or older. Thirteen of the 14 healthy Pacers are 27 or younger. The longer a season goes, the more the bumps and bruises accumulate.

4 – Dwyane Wade’s knee is killing him Wade has averaged only 13 ppg in 33 minutes during the postseason. Last season as the Heat won the championship, Wade averaged 22.8 ppg in 39 minutes, and 26.2 ppg against the Pacers, including a 41 point masterpiece in the series clinching Game Six. He was 17-25 shooting in that game, so you could say that when healthy he is who Carmelo Anthony thinks he is.

3 – Heat can’t board While the Pacers are the best rebounding team in the NBA, the Heat are the worst. In a series where the Pacers are going to need to take advantage of all areas where they enjoy an advantage, this would appear to be an important one. The difference from first to last is only seven rebounds, but getting seven more than the other guys is better than getting seven less.

2 – Pacers are undefeated at home in postseason Granted, the first six have been against teams other than the defending champs, but with repetition comes trust, and with trust comes belief.

1 – The Pacers are tough to shoot threes against The Heat like shooting threes, ranking second in 3pt% at 39.6% and third in overall 3pt makes with 717. The Pacers allow opponents to make only 32.7% of their 3pt attempts, which leads the NBA. They are also first in allowing total threes with only 440.

When the series gets underway on Wednesday night, the numbers will be meaningless. It will be up to the players to assert their will and skill against one another. If I had to given reasons why the Heat will trounce the Pacers, I could come up with a bunch of them. That wasn’t the assignment here.

Do I believe the Pacers will win the series? No. Do I believe they can win, you bet. The Pacers had a tougher hill to climb in 1998 against Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the Eastern Conference Finals, and dropped the first two in Chicago to really stack the deck against themselves. They held serve at Market Square Arena to force a Game Seven, which they led by four with five minutes left.

That would be a hell of a result for a team with some similar characteristics.

Indy 500 – Donald Davidson Remembers Eddie Sachs

by Kent Sterling

Most people recall Indy 500 driver Eddie Sachs because of the crash that killed him, and the impromptu eulogy delivered by radio host Sid Collins, but there was a lot more to him than that.

The host of Talk of Gasoline Alley is celebrating his 50th May at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. His first was 1964, ironically the race in which Sachs died.

Indiana Pacers – With George Hill or Without, the Pacers Will Close Series Tonight

by Kent Sterling

No doubt the Pacers are better with George Hill, but the difference isn't enough to change the outcome.

No doubt the Pacers are better with George Hill, but the difference isn’t enough to cost Indiana the game.

The status of Pacers point guard George Hill won’t be known until close to game time, but it shouldn’t affect the outcome in tonight’s Game Six of the Eastern Conference Semifinals against the New York Knicks.

Despite a uniquely skinny bench, Hill’s absence for Game Five, and the Knicks being at home with their backs against the back down 3-1, the Pacers spent the majority of the fourth quarter down only single digits.

The Pacers hit less than 60% from the line, and turned the ball over on three straight possessions late in the game with an opportunity to cut the lead to six. They turned it over a uncharacteristic 19 times.

Virtually everything that could go wrong in Game Five did, and still the Pacers were in the game until the end.

This is the way the series was supposed to work out following the Pacers performance in Game One, as they wrestled home court advantage from the Knicks 102-95.

Yet, fans on both sides continue to lose their minds with each game. That Pacers fans expected the Pacers to knock out a team than only lost 10 games at home and finished with a 54-28 record was not logical. The Pacers, who won less than half of their road games, have done a nice job defending the Knicks, but that doesn’t translate to grabbing two of three in Madison Square Garden.

The Pacers present too many defensive problems for the Knicks to overcome at Bankers Life Fieldhouse.

Carmelo Anthony averages right around one point per shot through five games, which is an unacceptable level of efficiency. J.R. Smith still can’t find the bucket – shooting 22-75 for the series, and 4-15 in a successful Game Five. Minus the excellent shooting of Chris Copeland, the Knicks would have averaged a miserable 1.0 points per shot – and that should never beat a quality NBA team.

The Knicks and their media continue to write the final chapters of a great series comeback without any evidence that it might occur. The Pacers have not just been the better team against the Hawks in Knicks in the postseason, they have been dominant.

They are 5-0 with wins of 17, 15, 23, 7, 11, and 11 over two typically self-centered teams. The Hawks clearly disliked one another, and there is very little to suggest anything different among the Knicks. Teams of jump shooters tend to drive each other crazy, and the Knicks have a lot of jump shooters.

They have either blamed themselves or each other after each loss, minus Carmelo Anthony, who appears to have no conscience whatsoever in victory or defeat. When he catches, he shoots. When the shots go in, teammates like it. When they don’t drop, teammates complain, as Tyson Chandler did in saying that passing might be a good alternative to missing shots.

This is a huge game for a franchises trying to wrestle column inches away from Indiana University and the Indianapolis Colts, as well as the hearts of the fans they used to own.

With a win, the Pacers earn two weeks of local adoration and national coverage. Those are interesting rewards only to the front office folks. For the players, they want to keep moving forward toward their ultimate goal – a championship, and the big ass checks that come with it.

A loss brings a trip back to New York for another Game Seven between these two rival franchises – at least among the fans who followed the NBA from 1993-2000.

But the Pacers aren’t going to have to worry about that. As they pack for their next trip, they should make sure to bring pastels and sun block. They are headed to South Beach. Pacers win 86-76. Book it – with or without Hill.

What I Learned on My Trip to Traffic Court – It Was Amusing at First, and Then Turned Expensive

by Kent Sterling

An unmarked cop waited for some poor boob to fail to come to a complete stop at a three-way stop in a traffic-free neighborhood.

Enter Kent Sterling, willing boob who tends to check for traffic without acknowledging the need for the wheels to stop rolling. By my own reckoning, I’m a very safe driver. That policeman’s opinion differed, and he wrote me a ticket.

My appointment in traffic court came today, and I dusted of my fancy blue suit to look like a responsible guy. For the portion of the show where other offenders admitted their guilt and offered an absurd array of excuses that seemed to sway the judge, I had a fine time. I never laughed out loud, but came dangerously close.

There was one kid who got caught doing 61 mph in a 30 mph zone, and several people who all seemed to go 42 mph in a school zone.

For the minors, parents were required to show up, and the kid who did 61 in a 30 even packed his great grandmother for the show. The mother explained that her son was on his way to fulfill his responsibility of taking care of great grandma. When she found out that the kid got a ticket, she took away the car “for up to at least two-to-three weeks.”

The judge was moved by this unsure, vague, and nonsensical explanation of punishment, and fined the kid a pittance.

One lady who just moved from East Chicago, and was driving with a suspended license when she was pulled over for two different moving violations was given the choice of getting her license back and paying a light fine, or paying a heavier fine. She had recently been ticketed for driving without insurance as well. Her excuse? Because she has no license, she was unable to update her current address in the Bureau of Motor Vehicles database and the mail describing her problems was not correctly delivered.

She told the judge she would try to get a permit. What that meant, as she appeared much older than a learner’s permit candidate, is anyone’s guess, but she earned a light fine.

Another guy, was pulled over for running a stop sign at a railroad crossing and then earned a second ticket in the same stop by running a stop light before the cop caught up to him. He was very quiet in his explanation, but the judge was moved. Total fine and court costs totaled $200.

Then, it was my turn. The judge looked at my driving record which features roughly one moving violation for every two years, which I believe to be outstanding. Judging from his expression, he did not share my opinion.

I decided while listening to all the tales of woe from kids, parents, people to busy to get a license, and a guy who missed his last hearing in traffic court, that I would just cop to my offense without excuse or ludicrous explanation.

Here’s how it went:

Judge – Mr. Sterling, you were cited for running a stop sign. Do you want to admit the violation?

Me – Yes.

Judge – What happened?

Me – I missed it. Went right through.

Judge – Went right through?

Me – Yes.

Judge – Mr. Sterling, do you know how many violations you have had during the last decade?

(I could see the sheet he was looking at, and was able to count six)

Me – I would guess between four and six.

Judge – This in addition to the previous six would make your seven.

(I resisted the urge to smile proudly for being right.)

Judge – Are you aware that if you receive 10 moving violations in 10 years, your license will automatically be suspended for five years? And that means no driving at all. If you do drive, your license will be suspended for life.

Me – I was not aware of that, your honor.

Then, he fined me as much as the knucklehead who rang up the two for one at the tracks and stop light.

Here are a few lessons that you should file away should you be required to attend traffic court:

Honesty is not a good play. Any excuse is better than no excuse. I was the most honest guy in the room today, and my reward was a tie for size of fine with a goof who was cited for separate violations during the same stop.
Wearing a suit is a waste of time. I looked like a religious salesman amid the teens in white tee shirts.
While traffic court is a little like a required high school course, where all levels of students are gathered, there is no advantage to being a smart guy. There are no honor student winks for the guys in suits with clean hair.
There is no winning because the state legislature mandates a $116.50 court cost that is non-negotiable. One lady, who claimed to be a special-education teacher, was before the judge having been ticketed for speeding in a school zone. She got a $3.50 fine, but added to the court cost paid $120.

Blindly following the rules has always seemed the lazy choice, but until some of my seven violations start dropping off my rap sheet, I may have no choice.