Donald Davidson is the Historian of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he has been extolling the virtues of the Indy 500 for more than 40 years on WIBC and 1070 The Fan on the Talk of Gasoline Alley.
One of my favorite historic drivers is Mauri Rose because of the way he found time to practice during the Month of May.
Donald’s stories about the history of the Indy 500 will appear daily on kentsterling.com through race day. Tomorrow, Donald will talk about the Clown Prince of Racing Eddie Sachs.
Colts Coach Chuck Pagano enters year two of the switch to his 3-4 defense.
Switching basic defenses requires roster changes, and it can take some serious time. The players like Dwight Freeney who were key in making the 4-3 with cover two work so well for so long become a liability in the 3-4 scheme that Chuck Pagano brought with him from Baltimore.
So how long does it take to install an entirely different scheme, and when can fans expect great success? Longtime NFL defensive coordinator took a few minutes to explain it to me in the video below:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iHqZct0Z6_g
Freeney is a goner, and as of today is still looking for a gig as a pass rush specialist, and Bjoern Werner will step in his spot opposite Robert Mathis. The Colts hope he will become a Paul Kruger or Bryce Paup type disruptive force for the Colts.
Venturi is the go-to guy for all football questions for kentsterling.com. Nobody knows more, and nobody communicates it more effectively. He’s enjoying time with family and breaking down tape. Come fall, he’ll be one of the most sought after guests nationally for radio and TV stations/networks committed to excellent coverage of the NFL.
Former IU commit 6’10” Trey Lyles pulled the plug almost a year ago.
It seems illogical to talk to 14 and 15 year-olds about where they might prefer to go to college.
Every week for a 15 year-old, if I remember correctly, feels like it lasts a year, and they change their mind about what classes they want to take next semester every other day.
How can anyone expect a kid in his mid-teens to know where the hell he wants to go to college? Well, you can’t, but it doesn’t hurt the kid to claim an allegiance to Purdue, Kentucky, Louisville, or Indiana.
The Hoosiers in particular seem to enjoy getting kids to pledge IU years before they are eligible to sign a binding letter of intent.
Tom Crean likes to do it because it allows him to build a more meaningful relationship with a player, and begin the process of teaching him how to be a college basketball player.
Workout plans are given to the player, and academics are monitored and adjusted. The road to eligibility can be more closely plotted, and areas of physical weakness can be improved.
This is important because most parents don’t know what is necessary to help, and some coaches know a good deal less. Trusting the majority of high school coaches to put together a program that will best prepare a kid to play at the next level is folly.
There is the risk of a kid backing out of his commitment as minds of kids and parents can change quickly. Lefty Driesell famously said, “I love early commitments, that why I know who I have to beat.”
Recruiting certainly didn’t stop for Indianapolis Tech High School’s Trey Lyles when he told Crean he was coming after he gradated high school in 2014. That happened early during his freshman year.
Lyles recruiting has certainly picked up since he decommitted last summer, and that’s okay. The Hoosiers weren’t thrilled, as Lyles has only improved since pledging Indiana, but in no way does Lyles reversal of course hurt his career or chance to play at a high level.
Because of his verbal, Indiana provided him with some guidance and oversight that certainly was a benefit. He’s in a better place today because of that interaction, and as long as there is no damage done to the kid, what could be wrong with his early commitment?
Basketball players have the upper hand until they sign a letter of intent, so why shouldn’t they enjoy that position as long as possible? Once they sign, the schools own their rights, and without a release they are locked into playing for their chosen school.
One they sign for their scholarship, the players agree to become indentured servants of the school without the rights to license their image, get paid for generating millions of dollars used to pay the coach, or leave without losing a year of eligibility.
There is a lot of good that comes from playing college basketball. Athletes have a lot of advantages over normal students, most of which only become evident after graduation.
Kids learn how to deal with adversity in a way that is impossible for the ordinary student body. While the rest of the students spend a lot of energy trying to figure out how to productively – or not – fill their days, student-athletes have very little time of their own.
Being a college basketball player is a year-round full time job. The hours of workouts, shooting, and going through drills easily fill 40 hours a week throughout the year. There is an NCAA mandated maximum practice time of 20 hours per week, but you can’t ban kids from trying to make themselves better. If they don’t work tirelessly, someone else will and playing time will be jeopardized.
So while the kid has a little bit of leverage, there is nothing wrong with using it. Lyles is ranked the number four player in his class entering his senior year, and his list includes 15 schools that have offered him a scholarship. Indiana is one of them, and Lyles still might choose to study and play in Bloomington.
The risk of early commitments entirely belongs to the school making the offer, and given the complete reversal of power once the kid signs on the line which is dotted, there is no reason to change anything.
Let the kids hold the cards for a little while. Once they report to school, they won’t have any to play.
Here’s what the 6’10” Lyles looked like in Fort Wayne two weekends ago.
Knicks Coach Mike Woodson isn’t ready to go quietly into that good night yet.
Have you ever had one of those days that start by falling out of bed, and only get worse.
The Pacers had one of those today that started at 4p when George Hill failed a concussion test and was ruled out for Game Five tonight. It got worse as the Pacers could convert only 19 of 33 (57.6%) free throws, and 25 of 69 (36.2%) field goals.
Carmelo Anthony did his usual thing for the Knicks by scoring 28 points on 28 shots, and the Pacers still outrebounded the Knicks but by a narrower margin than in their wins. In the first four games, the margins were +14 (W), -2 (L), +12 (W), +18 (W). Tonight, the margin was a +3.
The worst part of the day is that the Knicks again have hope. They are 48 minutes away from sending this series back to Madison Square Garden for a Game Seven the Pacers have no interest in playing.
The question of what how the Pacers will respond during a close game has yet to be answered in this postseason. The closest win of the seven wins so far was decided by eight, and the Pacers led that one by 14 with 4:41 to play in the fourth. The closest loss was by five in tonight’s Game Five.
No Pacers player other than Ian Mahinmi shot 50% or better tonight, and all who attempted a free throw missed one. Every Pacer but Sam Young notched at least one turnover.
This was a terrible night of basketball for the Pacers, and without any notion as to whether George Hill will be able to play in Saturday night’s Game Six, the Knicks will spend the next 48 hours answering questions about whether they can become the ninth team in NBA history to rally to win three straight after being down 3-1. The Pacers will be asked about the possibility of being the ninth victim of such a comeback.
The only good news is that the Knicks didn’t play much better that much less bad than the Pacers, shooting 41% from the field and committing 30 fouls.
The Miami Heat are waiting in the wings for the team who survives, and if they watched this game, fear was not instilled. LeBron and his supporting cast are licking their chops.
Some nights the ball bounces wrong. Sometimes a key cog has to sit an important game. Some nights shots don’t fall. Sometimes fouls that had been play-ons in earlier games are called. Once in a great while, they all happen on the same night.
If this were the regular season, Frank Vogel would tell his team to forget all about this game and get a good night’s sleep, and they would. Tonight, he probably told them to put Game Five behind them, but with endless Sportscenter highlights and orgasmic analysis by Stephen A. Smith, this one will be a little harder to wash from the memory.
Saturday night at 8:00p (ESPN), the Pacers get their last best shot to make academic what happened tonight. They’ve played well enough in three games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals, but it isn’t over until they do it a fourth time.
The Indianapolis 500 is loved almost as much as an an iconic radio event as it is a race, and the guy who invented the Indianapolis 500 Radio Network was the same guy who sold the spots for it and hosted the broadcast.
His name was Sid Collins and he’s been gone since May 2, 1977, but there are few at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway unaware of his incredible impact on the Greatest Spectacle in Racing – a phrase he used first at the suggestion of a fellow employee at WIBC Radio.
Listening to Talk of Gasoline Alley host Donald Davidson talk about his old friend reminds us why the Indy 500 is indeed the Greatest Spectacle in Racing.
People have asked me to reprint the incredible eulogy Sid delivered when Eddie Sachs was killed in a horrifying wreck in the 1964 race. Here is how he remembered his friend moments after Tom Carnegie notified everyone that Sachs had perished:
“You heard the announcement from the public address system. There’s not a sound. Men are taking off their hats. People are weeping. There are over 300,000 fans here not moving. Disbelieving.
Some men try to conquer life in a number of ways. These days of our outer space attempts some men try to conquer the universe. Race drivers are courageous men who try to conquer life and death and they calculate their risks. And with talking with them over the years I think we know their inner thoughts in regards to racing. They take it as part of living.
A race driver who leaves this earth mentally when he straps himself into the cockpit to try what for him is the biggest conquest he can make (are) aware of the odds and Eddie Sachs played the odds. He was serious and frivolous. He was fun. He was a wonderful gentleman. He took much needling and he gave much needling. Just as the astronauts do perhaps.
These boys on the race track ask no quarter and they give none. If they succeed they’re a hero and if they fail, they tried. And it was Eddie’s desire and will to try with everything he had, which he always did. So the only healthy way perhaps we can approach the tragedy of the loss of a friend like Eddie Sachs is to know that he would have wanted us to face it as he did. As as it has happened, not as we wish it would have happened. It is God’s will I’m sure and we must accept that.
We are all speeding toward death at the rate of 60 minutes every hour, the only difference is we don’t know how to speed faster and Eddie Sachs did. So since death has a thousand or more doors, Eddie Sachs exits this earth in a race car. Knowing Eddie I assume that’s the way he would have wanted it. Byron said “who the God’s love die young.”
Eddie was 37. To his widow Nancy we extend our extreme sympathy and regret. And to his two children. This boy won the pole here in 1961 and 1962. He was a proud race driver. Well, as we do at Indianapolis and in racing, as the World Champion Jimmy Clark I’m sure would agree as he’s raced all over the world, the race continues. Unfortunately today without Eddie Sachs. And we’ll be restarting it in just a few moments.”
Sid’s gift to describe the emotion of a moment was singular, but there are few who have had the grace to capture a moment like that.
We’ll have more from Donald every day the race day.
Rick Venturi coached football for 41 years, and learned the game at a level few can. He slip seamlessly into media, where he explained complex elements of the game in simple and easily understood term.
Knowing something, and being able to get others to understand are different things, and requires a very specific skill set. Rick Venturi has it.
People can talk to me about three technique guys, and I have no idea what the hell they are talking about. Rick tells me how a cornerback needs to position his hands to gain leverage in jamming a receiver, and I feel like I can do it.
Venturi is the son of a hall of fame high school coach from downstate Illinois, became a quarterback good enough to earn a scholarship to Northwestern, earned the position of youngest head coach in the Big Ten at his alma mater, and graduated to the NFL where he was one of the most respected defensive coaches in the history of the NFL.
He worked for Bill Belichick and Mike Ditka among other head coaches, and then turned to the media to spread his gospel on how the great American game is played.
101ESPN in St. Louis hired Venturi to be a co-host with Zach McCrite and serve as analyst during the pregame and halftime coverage of St. Louis Rams games. Rick worked tirelessly to prepare and made every show he touched must listening for NFL fans around the country.
The same work ethic that made Venturi so valuable on every staff for which he coached gives his analysis depth and makes it unique – which is the name of the game in media. If the same old uninformed crap is all there is, informed exploration will win.
Venturi moved with his wife to a house near family in Noblesville in December, leaving 101ESPN as a full-time contributor. He will be a part of the Rams pregame in 2013, but is anxious to continue his media career in Indiana.
When I wanted some great lunch conversation and insight on the 2013 NFL Draft, I called Rick. We met at Wolfie’s in Noblesville, and I shot nine videos on the Colts, Rams, Andrew Luck, and many more topics about which Rick is uniquely conversant.
Here is a sample of what makes Rick the best at what he does as he talks about the special talent of Andrew Luck:
There is a story that has been repeated so many times around Indianapolis that everyone assumes it’s true. Memphis Grizzlies point guard Mike Conley is working out alongside good friend and teammate Greg Oden early one morning in a Lawrence North High School gym. Indiana coach Mike Davis is watching Oden, and Mike Conley Sr. walks up and says, “Hi coach, that’s my son Michael. You interested in him coming to IU?”
Davis says dismissively, “Greg’s the player I came to see.”
Watching ESPN last night, I heard Tim Legler say that Conley has been a candidate for the NBA’s Most Improved Player each year he’s been in the league. I shook my head the same way I did when I heard the story about Davis overlooking the best high school point guard I’ve seen.
Conley has been in the NBA for six seasons, and his statistics from year three thru five were incredibly consistent, and a little better as a scorer in year six because he shot one extra three pointer and free throw each game. Here are per game stats from year-to-year from his rookie year through this season:
Points – 9.4, 10.9, 12.0, 13.7, 12.7, 14.6
Assists – 4.2, 4.3, 5.3, 6.5, 6.5, 6.1
Rebounds – 2.6, 3.4, 2.4, 3.0, 2.5, 2.8
Steals – 0.8, 1.1, 1.4, 1.8, 2.2, 2.2
Minutes – 26.1, 30.6, 32.1, 35.5, 35.1, 34.5
For his rookie year and part of his second, Marc Iavaroni was the head coach of the Grizzlies, and Lionel Hollins took over late in year two. Once Hollins showed up, Conley’s minutes and stats took a step up.
Through jr. high and high school, Conley played in Oden’s shadow. People came to see the huge kid who dominated the interior with his length, but the smart ones left talking about the point guard who ran the offense and set the defensive tone by taking away whatever the opposition was trying to do.
Conley never played out of control, and was just fine letting teammates shoot the ball. After watching him for a while, it became clear that he was more than capable of scoring, stealing, rebounding, and dropping dimes anytime he needed to. He was never out of control, and never sprinted full out.
At no point did I ever see him show any emotion on the floor. If he derived joy from winning basketball games or was crushed by very infrequent defeats, he never let anyone know it. When the Spiece Indy Heat travelled with the Spiece Central Stars (the team that was one year younger for whom my son played), I never saw Conley smile or speak. He was a silent and focused assassin, and he seems to be the same guy today.
What Legler should have said is that he is a better analyst this year because he’s noticing the quiet greatness Conley has brought to basketball since junior high. He’s exactly the same player today that he was then – as a floor general and the leader of his team, he is the same guy. I believe Legler is the most improved basketball analyst for figuring out who Mike Conley is after six years.
Conley’s Lawrence North team won three straight state championships, the Spiece Indy Heat won many championships in national tournaments, Ohio State advanced to the National Championship game during his only year there, and Memphis beat Oklahoma City last night to advance to the Western Conference Finals. Mike Conley wins, and does whatever is needed to win. Oden always got the ink, but Conley was the glue.
Conley’s never been an NBA All-Star, and may never be one. There has never been a single moment where Conley decided that he was anything other than the point guard for his team. There is no “look at me” to Conley. He has never been the “WOW!” kid, but he has always been the biggest reason his teams have won. Fans in Memphis understand that, and now the country is going to find out too.
The IMS can’t beat Jack Nicholson as the honorary starter, but they could try.
Jack Nicholson is cool. When he dropped the green flag for the 2010 Indianapolis 500, I wanted to see it. Nicholson has lived a life that 99.9999% of us would swap ours for in a minute. If I’m at home watching a Nicholson movie, I sometimes wonder what he’s doing at that moment. It has to be something interesting as hell.
It’s hard to clear the Jack Nicholson bar for selecting the guy or girl who is asked to drop the green flag to start the 11 rows of three cars flying past the yard of bricks for the first of 201 times.
The first celebrity to wave the green flag was Nick Lachey, who became famous (sort of) by being one of the four guys in the boy band 98 Degrees. He then married Jessica Simpson, and suddenly he was a get for the “Hey, I need a celebrity to do something!” circuit.
The Indianapolis Motor Speedway has bobbed and weaved since by inviting local sports icons like Peyton Manning and Reggie Miller, a Congressional Medal of Honor winner, a sponsor, and Sugar Ray Leonard.
Today, the announcement was made that little known actor Michael Pena will be the honorary starter for the 97th Running of the Indianapolis 500 Mile Race on May 26th.
At first, I thought asking the star of mid-1980s HBO fave “Eddie and the Cruisers” was an odd choice. I was told I was thinking of Michael Pere’. Then I remembered that 15 new episodes of “Arrested Development” are being released this month on Netflix, and the kid who stars as George Michael Bluth would be a logical choice. Nope, that’s Michael Cera. Okay, the wrestler then – the WWE guy who starred in “The Marine”. No, that’s John Cena. Frustrated, I googled the guy, and looked at a picture. Oh, I said, the guy who used to be on “Law & Order”, and is now on a funny show that’s on right after “Modern Family.” Good choice – seems like a nice guy. No, that’s Jeremy Sisto.
So just who in the hell is Michael Pena? He will be one of the voices in the animated film “Turbo”, which will be released on July 17th. It also stars Paul Giamatti, Ryan Reynolds, Bill Hader, Ken Jeong, Snoop Dogg, and Samuel L. Jackson. They must all have plans Memorial Day weekend.
If you want cool, Sam is the guy. If you want social media clout, Sam has 2,402,826 followers. Pena has 9,305 (now that I added him), and he has not yet tweeted about looking forward to the honor.
Celebrity punch to build some interest in quarters where the Indy 500 is nothing more than a quaint notion of a racing era gone by is a good idea that is hard to argue with, but the Indy 500 is an event where I am reminded each race day of the toll paid by so many who built the race. There have been 69 men killed at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway during testing, practice, qualifications, and the race itself. Drivers, mechanics, crew members, spectators, and even a small boy outside the track was killed by a wheel that came loose during a wreck have died. Countless more have been injured badly in the quest for speed on the world’s greatest race course.
The Indy 500 isn’t simply a party. It’s a great race held on hallowed ground, and to salute military personnel, former drivers, or a unique celebrity is entirely appropriate.
I hope Pena takes some time to learn and appreciate the honor that has been handed to him. I hope he understands the importance of everything that goes on that day better than the people who bestowed that honor upon him.
There are thousands of people better qualified than to talk about the historical significance of the Indianapolis 500 than me. I walk around the media center, and there are guys who’ve been at the race every year since the 1940s. One guy told me yesterday that he missed the first 28 Indy 500s. That means he’ll watch his 69th this year,
Perhaps a little cheese with that whine, Mr. Smith
The Pacers took a 3-1 lead in the Eastern Conference Semifinals last night with a beat down that made the result of the game academic from the opening tip. The Knicks looked like a beaten team because they know they are a beaten team.
Here are ten ways to tell the Knicks know they are 48 minutes of play tomorrow night in Madison Square Garden from playing a lot of golf:
10 – Spike Lee was AWOL last night If Spike isn’t willing to drop $40K to get national TV exposure for his silly orange hat and ill-fitting John Starks jersey, all is lost.
9 – It’s mid-May and Carmelo is on the floor In his ten seasons, Carmelo Anthony has played for ten playoff teams including this year – eight of whom took a dump in the first round. The 2009 Nuggets bowed in the Western Conference Finals. He’s capable of lifting a team in the regular season, but against a team that has played against him three or four times previously, adjustments are made to frustrate him.
8 – James Dolan owns the Knicks It’s just inconceivable that Dolan could ever preside over a winner. His decision making has been so scattershot that the Knicks producing extended excellence is a pipe dream for the franchise and its fans. No man responsible for putting Isiah Thomas in charge possesses the requisite faculties to win. He tried to make up for it by hiring Donnie Walsh, but Zeke’s thumbprint is tough to overcome.
7 – Indiana fans are chill The Pacers are not a franchise where a lot of good has happened since the retirement of Reggie Miller in 2005. If any NBA fans should expect the worst, it would probably be 76er or Warrior fans, but Pacers fans are not far down a short list of the easily spooked. They are far from spooked. Today, they are calm and confident – if a little bitter over the national media’s bashing of the Knicks while not talking about the Pacers.
6 – Tyson Chandler is calling out teammates I don’t blame Chandler for being frustrated as the vast majority of the shots taken by Carmelo Anthony and J.R. Smith clank off the rim into the hands of Pacers, but somebody has to shoot the ball. If not Anthony and Smith, who? Taking shots in the media is another last resort tactic,and Chandler played that card after Game Three.
5 – Indiana plays with more poise The Pacers are a young group. Iman Shumpert is the only player younger than any player in the Pacers rotation other than David West. J.R. Smith is 27, as are several Pacers. But the Pacers are playing with total confidence and poise while the Knicks are panicked.
4 – Jason Kidd is playing Talk about a hail mary. Jason Kidd’s career is over. He hasn’t made a shot since going 1-2 in Game Two of the six-game test against the Celtics. That’s 17 consecutive misses. During the span since his last make, he’s responsible for 13 turnovers, and eight fouls. He’s 40 years old, and it’s over, but the Knicks have no other option. So out he trots. It’s sad to see a hall of famer go out like this, but he made over $3-million for playing this final season – more than I’ll likely pocket in my lifetime unless I can stay productive through the age of 83.
3 – Two Technicals The two technicals came in the first half as the Knicks were throwing anything they could hold at a wall to see if it sticks. When even tempered focus is getting you nowhere, logic drives competitors to ill-temper. It almost never does anything make make the angry players look silly, but it is an option of last resort, and the Knicks went there too early and too often without any prompting.
2 – Mike Woodson’s panic The coach of the Knicks started a group for last night’s game that has never played a single minute of basketball together. He was right to do it. To Woodson’s credit, he knew that the time had come for a hail mary, and throwing a bunch of disparate pieces on the floor to start the game qualifies. Woodson knows that barring something he hasn’t seen yet in the series, it will be over without coming back to Indianapolis.
1 – After Game Five, the tattooed faces on his chest were frowning Only the very selfish take either all the credit or blame. There is nothing valiant about telling the media, “It’s all on me,” after a loss because it inflates the importance of that individual. That’s especially true in a series that so obviously demonstrates the difference between team-first and me-first play. After Game Five, the tattooed faces on his chest were frowning.
Kyle Neddenriep of the Indianapolis Star has reported that former Cathedral High School standout Errick Peck has committed to Purdue for his post-grad year of eligibility.
Peck spent the last four years at Cornell, but Hoosiers know him as a an Indiana All-Star who enjoyed a nice prep career at Cathedral.
What Purdue gets in Peck is a selfless and coachable player who can do everything. He’s 6’6″, long, and athletic, able to shoot it, and possesses outstanding hands.
He can post up, step out and shoot, and is an accurate passer.
Peck was a teammate of my son’s at Cathedral, and he enjoyed Peck as a person and player.
It was baffling to me that Purdue coach Matt Painter didn’t recruit Peck straight out of high school as he signed Cathedral teammate Kelsey Barlow. He certainly must have seen him play a great deal.
The only downside to Peck in the way he was evaluated was that he was never selfish. His play is never about him. He’s a lot more Pacer than he is Knick.
I coached him in a couple of fun youth games when he was 16, and while I was more a proctor than instructor, anytime I called a timeout, Peck ran to the huddle and looked at me with an expectation that I might say something smart to help the team win.
He listened attentively, and always did exactly what he was told – by me. Imagine the attention he’ll pay to Painter.
This may not appear to be a big deal for the Boilers, but it can be. Peck will help the culture of Purdue Basketball with his presence, and when called upon, he will do some big things, but a lot of little things all with the intent of helping the team.
Donald Davidson is the Historian of the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, and he has been extolling the virtues of the Indy 500 for more than 40 years on WIBC and 1070 The Fan on the Talk of Gasoline Alley.
