Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Susannah Collins firing shows how tenuous broadcasting careers can be

by Kent Sterling

Managers of television and radio stations sometimes stand by their staff when upper management calls for action. Then again, sometimes they don’t.

The folks at Comcast Sports Chicago acted quickly when reporter Susannah Collins used the word ‘sex’ instead of ‘success’, as in “the Blackhawks have had a tremendous amount of sex during the regular season.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2AlU2RpM1TI

That slip prompted someone to look onto Collins past work, which included a role in a series of spoof sports reports, that combine a lack of humor with a bounty of offensive language and anti-semetic references. She was fired – and quickly.

I doubt the language in “Sports Nutz” bothered anyone in suits, and have no idea whether the anti-semetic rhetoric offended the wrong person. The crime of the series was that it was porn quality without sex.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VP8miRKbOuU

Collins’ firing underscores what managers loathe most in their day – noise. They don’t like the phone ringing, regardless of whose on the other end. Whether viewers call to complain or upper management want answers, the phone ringing is never good.

In this case, my educated guess is that the person who hired Collins was alerted to the series of unfunny and crude videos by someone on the staff who saw the ‘sex’ gaffe and found it eerily reminiscent of ‘Sports Nutz.’

The manager, who has likely sat through dozens of hours of seminars on why and how to fire someone, played it safe by forwarding the youtube link to upper management, who fears bad publicity and potential actionable behavior more than anything else.

Managers are especially keen to prevent behavior that might have been expected by a reasonable person. Collins performances in the videos would make any skittish suit suspect repeat performances.

To not fire Collins when they did could have put the job of the manager in peril if there was a repeat episode, and that is when managers call HR to get the ball rolling quickly on dismissal.

While being punted has no doubt been unpleasant for Collins, this is the best thing that could ever have happened for her – minus the anti-semetic remarks. Not only are they offensive and not funny, they are potentially off-putting to a significant portion of the people who do the hiring and firing in media.

The positive is that everyone in media has taken a look at her work, and there is no doubt she is very good on-camera talent. After all the hubbub dies down, she’ll get another gig, and probably a better one.

Indiana Pacers drop a deuce in the fourth to lose to Knicks 105-79

by Kent Sterling

No amount of Pacers coach Frank Vogel jinxes could stop the Knicks tonight

Actually, the Indiana Pacers dropped two deuces, two triples, and three free throws in the fourth quarter, more specifically the last 4:48 of the fourth. Until that point, they were scoreless in the quarter.

From the time that Jeff Pendergraph reported at 3:04 left in the third for one of the more incompetent 1:14 of basketball in the history of the NBA until Pacers coach gave up all hope of returning to Indianapolis up 2-0, the Pacers went from scaring the hell out of the Knicks while ahead 64-62 to being on the business end of a New York ass-whupping 90-66 with 6:01 left.

To fault Pendergraph as the reason for the loss would be cruel and mostly incorrect. After all, when he went to the bench, the Pacers were only down 67-64, but his two fouls, poor help defense, and one turnover sure didn’t help.

The rest of the Pacers turned the ball over 21 times, leading to 32 Knicks points. The Knicks were a little more judicious with the ball, turning it over seven times that the Pacers turned into six points. That the Pacers managed to stay in the game given their inability to take care of the ball or keep the Knicks from cashing in showed heart if not a lot of skill.

The Knicks did what teams do when their backs are against a wall – defend with passion. They extended, impeded, and exploited. The Pacers offense that moved the ball so easily during Game One was not ready for this manic and physical display.

As is usually the case, the team that wanted it more won. The Knicks were flawed but tenacious through 33 minutes, but when the snowball started to roll downhill they got the hell out of the way instead of stopping it.

That’s why these series are best-of-seven. The Pacers have three days to wash the worst 15 minutes of their basketball lives out of their mind, and the Knicks have the same amount of time to try to maintain their mojo.

Carmelo Anthony led the Knicks with 32 points on 13-of-26 shooting, although 11 of those points were scored after the tale of this game was told.

Paul George led the Pacers with 20, but also with +/- differential with a -28.

A split is what the Pacers hoped for in New York, and a split is what they got. Now it’s a best-of-five with the Pacers hosting three.

Hamilton Southeastern Schools Referendum makes Cathedral look like a great option

by Kent Sterling

Cathedral High School is the best decision my son ever made. It would sure beat a school with trailers dressed as classrooms.

When I moved to Fishers, Indiana, in 1994, there were roughly 18,000 people who lived here. It was a strange little town that sprawled over a fairly enormous footprint of 35 square miles. Now, there are nearly 20,000 students enrolled in Hamilton Southeastern Schools, and a total population of 80,000.

The schools that service the town have multiplied and grown. A new high school was built less than a decade ago. Now, the boobs running the place have their hands out again to build additions to the two high schools. They want $95 million, and the result of a today’s referendum will determine whether they get it.

I voted no, as I usually do when politicians ask for cash because they didn’t have the foresight to understand that continued growth was inevitable. To require that kind of cash to build additional wings to a school that went online less than 10 years ago is evidence of civic malfeasance, and I don’t play that.

Kids deserve a great education, or at least the opportunity for one. As Fishers exploded while my son was in junior high, I began asking questions about the new high school. I didn’t want him to start in one and finish in another. We made a commitment to Ryan that we would see his education through without upheaval. My family moved when I was a kid, and changing schools is a distraction, and I was not interested in putting Ryan through that. The questions were answered, contradicted, then confirmed again, and finally I stopped asking questions.

Ryan decided to attend Cathedral High School, and we wrote checks in addition to our property taxes to pay tuition. We didn’t do that because we wanted to squander cash we barely had. It was because of a decided lack of confidence in the knuckleheads running the school corporation. By all measurements, teachers at Hamilton Southeastern Schools do a fine job of preparing kids for college, but I have little confidence in bureaucrats – especially those who seemed genuinely confused over the direction of the schools I trusted to nurture Ryan’s intellect.

If the referendum is defeated, schools will add trailers to handle the overflow. That’s not ideal, and I wish it wouldn’t be necessary. If kids learned better in a trailer, high schools would look like huge trailer parks. It’s the price for short-sightedness.

The administrators who approved the design for the second high school should be held accountable for not grasping the concept that growth doesn’t stop. Students deserve better than the leadership shown by Hamilton Southeastern Schools. Just as voters went to the polls today, they should go again when the town council is up for re-election.

Ryan’s decision to attend Cathedral was excellent, and we never regretted writing a single check to help Ryan prepare for his future. He has worked there through this school year after being a Basketball Coaches Association All-something or other at Loyola while he waits to go to law school in the Fall. He’s having as good a time as the sports information director, assistant basketball coach, and substitute teacher.

Wondering whether a son or daughter will be in a school or a trailer because of poor planning by bureaucrats makes Cathedral look pretty good. Even if there was no doubt about the expansion, Cathedral is a wonderful school run by really smart people. Hamilton Southeastern? Whether or not the referendum passes, you can bet they’ll be back for more cash in a couple of years to fund another short-sighted plan.

Indiana Pacers – There is no way the Pacers win tonight’s game two

by Kent Sterling

This will be a foul tonight. There is no level of vertical that will be enough for Roy Hibbert.

Choose whatever reason you like – the NBA rigging the game, the officials working to balance things out, the Knicks being more focused, or things just not going quite as well for the Pacers – but tonight’s Game Two against the Knicks may as well be over right now because there is no way the Pacers beat the #2 seed from the biggest TV market in America twice in Madison Square Garden to start the Eastern Conference Semifinals.

The Pacers had a whole lot go right in Game One – D.J. Augustin scoring 16 points in 13 minutes, the officials respecting Roy Hibbert’s verticality, Carmelo Anthony scoring one less point than his 28 minutes, and the Knicks being out toughed will not be repeated tonight.

The Pacers will lose – badly – because basketball is a weird game where strange results rarely repeat. Great shooters slump, but not forever. Great defenders have lapses, but not often. Poor shooters make it rain, once in a while. Good officials get calls wrong once in a while, and bad refs occasionally get it right.

In basketball and life, shit happens, and shit happened to the Knicks on Sunday. Tonight, it will be the Pacers turn. That’s life, and that’s basketball.

The great test for the Pacers will come on Saturday when they play at Bankers Life Fieldhouse with a chance to go up 2-1, and then Tuesday with an opportunity to force the Knicks to sweep the final three games to advance to the Eastern Conference Finals. That’s when the Knicks will either nut up or back off, as the Hawks finally did in Game Six of the opening round.

Basketball is a game of will. Does your team have the will to execute as it needs to, or does your opponent have the will to stop you? Can you patiently move the ball as needed to earn the look that best suits your offense, or will the opponent tempt you into taking the wrong shot at the wrong time. And even if everything goes right, can the refs be trusted to understand the game well enough to know the razor thin difference between a block, charge, and no call.

There are enough borderline fouls during every possession to give the refs a chance to cause enough mayhem to change the result of just enough possessions to determine the flow of the game. There’s nothing nefarious afoot, or at least I don’t believe there is, but calls even out – if not during one game, then for a series.

Tonight’s game finds the Knicks with their backs against a wall, and referees who might have seen that the rules of verticality give the Pacers an advantage – perhaps one that can’t be overcome. Tonight, Hibbert might not be able to keep his arms perfectly perpendicular to the floor.

Tonight in front on amped up fans who believe basketball was invented in the Garden, the Knicks will respond as professional competitor normally do. They will summon all they have, and unleash it on the people New Yorkers believe are idiots for living 711 miles to the west.

What New Yorkers don’t understand, what New Yorkers will never understand, is that there is plenty to like about Indiana, and the Pacers are among them.

The Knicks will have their triumph tonight, and then come to the prairie for a serving of basketball played where people appreciate it best.

Top Ten Lessons Learned in St. Louis

by Kent Sterling

Making mistakes is nothing new for me. Throughout my life, I’ve made decisions that required subsequent corrective actions, and moving to St. Louis definitely qualifies. I’m good at trying things, and I’m also good at knowing when things fit and when they don’t. Despite working with some of the best people I’ve met in my life, and hoping they remain friends forever, moving four hours west two years ago qualifies as an error in judgment.

The lessons I learned in St. Louis will serve as sufficient reward – in addition to the friendships – and because it’s a slow news day I thought I would share them.

10 – Managers cannot be friends to those they manage. The necessary separation between manager and talent bugged me in St. Louis, probably because I was not friends with the staff at 101ESPN before moving there – unlike Indy. There is no way that someone with the responsibility of hiring and firing staff can be friends with them, and I didn’t like that. There are some pieces of information that cannot be shared between the manager and staff, and that means trust is impossible to earn. I hated that separation. The talent and producers at 101ESPN were such good people that I felt like I betrayed them as friends when I couldn’t be completely forthcoming, but being honest about staff changes is impossible. I don’t like a lack of transparency with people whose trust I try to earn.

9 – Being in the room can suck. In Indy, I always wanted to be in the room when big decisions were made. I felt that if I said or did the right thing, I could help steer us away from mistakes. There is something to be said for showing up for work, doing your job, and going home to enjoy your family. This certainly wasn’t a St. Louis specific lesson, but my enjoyment in being in meetings where the direction of people’s lives were determined has waned. I like people reading what I like to write and them listening to what I believe is important on the radio. If people want to discuss that in a conference room, wonderful. I’ll pass.

8 – I am much happier providing content than managing it. Writing and talking are fun – really fun – for me. Managing people who do one or both well is what I have been rewarded for, but that I’ve only had the stones to use content creation as a stop gap between opportunities is a disappointment to me. Writing and hosting is why I wanted to get into radio and digital content production in the first place. I’m going to figure ot how to make money doing what I love and stop trying to figure out how to love what I can get paid to do.

7 – I’m not happy being alone. Life loses purpose for me without contact with someone I love. I would like to be a guy who could sit alone, laugh, and enjoy myself. Being with strangers is no good. I went to dinner alone a couple of times in St. Louis, but I would wind up eavesdropping on those who sat close by. The conversations were insipid and useless. The only thing worse for me than being involved in a pointless conversation is to be a witness to one. Maybe when I’m 70, I’ll be freed up enough to insert myself and correct ill-conceived perspectives, but right now, it’s impossible to not be passive and annoyed. I was constantly reminded of “Seinfeld”, where Jerry doesn’t want to go to a movie alone because to whom is he going to make sarcastic remarks? Talking to strangers is misery to me, and having them talk to me is worse.

6 – People who work for sports franchises don’t need to be egomaniacs. Working with front offices for the Cardinals, Rams, and Blues opened my eyes to how things can run when good people are in charge. There are some teams in pro sports that take themselves a little too seriously, and tend to treat people in the media – and their fans – with indifference. In St. Louis, the teams are run by good guys who are self-effacing, honest, and reasonable. I loved the staffs for all three teams in a way that was impossible with the Colts and Pacers. Faces have changed with the Indy teams, so my hope is that the behavior has evolved.

5 – Cities are different. There is a sense among Americans that all American cities are alike, but that is untrue. St. Louis is a very different place from the other cities where I have lived. It’s the first place where I’ve lived where I knew absolutely no one when I moved there, and St. Louis is not a great place for that to be the case. Each of us can only be from one place, and some cities welcome outsiders. Atlanta, Dallas, and Indianapolis are places where people move often. Some people are native, but not so many that it becomes an issue of status. It’s the opposite in St. Louis. Everyone, it seems, from St. Louis has always lived there. Many people in St. Louis are wonderful and welcoming, but overall the city does not confer resident status. Moving to St. Louis is like pledging a frat, but never being granted full membership.

4 – Work ethic is key to great radio. The staff at 101ESPN never mailed in a segment – not once. The producers put together great show plans, and the talent executed with energy. Their consistent behavior proved to me that hard work can be done everyday, and that mailing it in once in a while isn’t endemic in radio people.

3 – The Cardinals have it figured out. I’ve written about this a couple of times, but as a lifelong serious Cubs fan, I was amazed by the professionalism of the Cardinals. They are pros on and off the field, who continue to do the right things to win fans and championships. They are good people who hire good people. Do that long enough, and the stands stay filled despite the market size. How the Cubs can catch them is the question fans should ask owner Tom Ricketts, president of baseball operations Theo Epstein, and GM Jed Hoyer. it’s not enough to improve, they have to improve relative to their competition, and the Cards show no signs of recession.

2 – Indianapolis became home. Not sure when it happened, but this place has grown on me over the past 20 years. When I came back for a few days of work for the NFL Combine and SLU vs. Butler game, people seemed genuinely happy to see me. That was a surprise, and cemented in my mind that somehow, I belong here. Chicago is where I grew up, and where friends and family remain, and maybe someday I’ll head back, but Indianapolis is a solid place with good people. When I had lunch Friday, a group of three men I hadn’t noticed got up from the next table. Governor Mike Pence was among them. I said, “Mr. Governor. Congratulations!” He replied, “Thanks, Kent. How’s your son? What’s he up to?” I don’t know the governor in 49 states, but in Indy, he’s a friend with whom I used to work.

1 – Valuing professional opportunity over family is idiotic. I had always been curious what it would be like to run the programming for a talk station with more focus on product rather than expense, and this was a great opportunity to do that. Hubbard Radio is a product first company, and they were willing to invest in great talent. Had I not gone, I would have missed the chance to help a great station evolve forward. The price for that was two years away from my wife and son – at least on a daily basis. That’s too steep. If I ever move again, we are going as a group.

Chicago Cubs – Edwin Jackson Typifies Why Cubs Continue to Lose

by Kent Sterling

The Cubs were in trouble. President of baseball ops Theo Epstein and general manager Jed Hoyer looked at their roster, and had no idea where the Cubs would find a workhorse to eat innings. Matt Garza couldn’t be counted on because of his elbow, and free agent acquisition Scott Baker was still rehabbing after April, 2012, Tommy John surgery. The farm system didn’t have an arm that was ready to be trusted.

Panic set in. The Cubs rotation would be Jeff Samardzija, Carlos Villanueva, Travis Wood, Scott Feldman, and Uh-oh – no Uh-oh isn’t an import from Korea. It’s an open spot without any real hope for finding an in-house option. So, on January 2nd, the Cubs did what the Cubs general managers have always done.

They succumbed to the pressure and picked up the phone. On the other end was a guy who eats innings, but has shown himself incapable of breaking free of mediocrity over ten seasons for seven teams. His 70-71 career record testified loudly to that. Edwin Jackson was interested in pitching for the Cubs, but was tired of moving around.

Traded five times (actually six, but he was traded to the Toronto Blue Jays only to be relayed over to the St. Louis Cardinals on the same day) from 2006 to 2011, and fresh off a one-year deal with the Washington Nationals, Jackson wanted to sign more than a six-month lease.

So the Cubs did what the Cubs always do, locked themselves into a long-term deal for a middling talent who fills a temporary need.

There is a reason Jackson was signed to a one-year deal by the nationals after being a contributor to the Cardinals World Series win in 2011. He is a stop gap guy who won’t pitch a good team out of the postseason, or a bad team into it. And now he’ll plug a gap for the Cubs for the 2013 season, and the next three for $13 million per year.

He’ll win at a slightly lower rate than the team, throw between 200 innings give or take. By the end of the
deal, the Cubs will regret allocating $52 million to signing Jackson. But for 2013, who else could have taken the ball every five days.

After Jackson’s 0-5 start, Hoyer told the Chicago Sun-Times, ‘‘[Jackson] has had a really long track record, and consistency has been one of his traits over his career. At the same time, he needs to pitch better and help his team, and he knows it.’’

Yes, he has been consistently mediocre, and Jackson will win some games, but not as many as he loses if the Cubs are as bad as the appear to be. Jackson is a professional inning eater, and there is a place on any team for a guy like that. To prove it, he’s worn eight jerseys prior to turning 30. He’ll stop there for awhile because there are 29 teams in baseball who don’t want Jackson’s contract.

When the alternative is Casey Coleman, Edwin Jackson at $13M isn’t a bad alternative, but by 2015 that money will be needed elsewhere, and the Cubs will be stuck with an older version of a guy they signed because of a well-earned panic attack.

NBA Playoffs – Derrick Rose should do what his knee tells him to do

by Kent Sterling

The guy pictured above is the only person who knows whether he should play in the Bulls vs. Heat series.

For months, the knuckleheads in Chicago sportsradio and boobs who troll message boards have been eager to advice and criticize Bulls guard Derrick Rose for not playing after being cleared by his doctors. Derrick can thank his brother Reggie for all this noise.

The Bulls will open their Eastern Conference Semifinals tonight against LeBron James and the Miami Heat, and fans in Chicago will either damn Rose for not sacking up while the rest of his team is hurting – or continue to patiently pat him on ass as Rose gets comfortable with his surgically reconstructed ACL.

It’s crazy for anyone to presume they know exactly how Rose feels. Every knee is a little different, and for orthopedics who haven’t treated him to draw any conclusion is irresponsible. For laymen like you and me, it’s ignorant and stupid.

Rose does not know at what level or even whether he would be able to compete, and has no way to find out. The Bulls could scrimmage, but who against? The team is hobbling, ill, or both. There is no way to approximate the on court action against James, Dwyane Wade, and their posse of champions.

As players rehab, the timetable is different for all. Minnesota Vikings running back Adrian Peterson took 10 months, and it looks like former South Carolina running back Marcus Lattimore seems to be on a similar trek. Other guys have taken longer, and some never feel comfortable with their new knee.

When star players go down, they aren’t simply members of a team that fans adore. They are the heads of their own corporation, and often times the only source of income for a large group of family and friends. Rose is a 24 year-old CEO with a potential for 10-12 years of prime earnings – prime meaning a minimum average of $19M/year from the Bulls, plus a deal with Nike that is worth more than that.

There is selfish, and then there is selfish. If he doesn’t want to aggravate the knee and put a quarter of a billion dollars in play, he lets down teammates and fans. If he shreds his knee against the Heat in a futile attempt to lead his team, he lets down family, friends, and employees.

Even if Rose was 100% healthy, the chances of the Bulls beating the Heat would be so minimal, there would be no point? If you want to test a knee, you don’t do it against the best team in the world when the stakes are highest.

Would most of us find a way to get on the floor to try to give our team a better if insignificant chance? We like to think we would, but we don’t know all of the criteria Rose is using in making this decision or how that knee really feels.

One thing we have learned over the years is that Rose’s brother should shut the hell up. He’s always been a loudmouth who sullied Rose’s rep by association. Reggie wasn’t born on third base. He was carried there by his brother’s talent.

The quotes attributed to Reggie on February 22 opened the pandora’s box of speculation as to whether his brother would play if the chance of winning a championship was poor. Reggie poured gas on the fire 10 weeks ago, and his brother’s feet have been held to it since.

Some thank you letters from charities convey indifference

by Kent Sterling

Some people take the time to do things right, and some are a little bit too busy. Charities ask for items that can be auctioned during fundraisers all the time, and it makes people in control of those assets good when they are able to give.

If only the charities were as detail oriented when they send their letter of thanks. There are times the retailers have to do a little heavy lifting to give, and to receive an indifferent form letter in return is an insult to that effort.

Okay, I’m a little nuts about this stuff. When I worked at WIBC and a letter went out from my desk to 1,400 school corporations, businesses, and daycare centers, I signed every damn one of them. It took hours, but I refused to send a letter with a preprinted signature.

When I send a note thanking someone for something, I write it by hand.

My son and I grabbed some lunch to-go at The Ram Restaurant just off State Road 37 in Fishers today, and as we waited for our order, Ryan noticed the six or seven letters of thanks hanging on a bulletin board in the entry. He was disappointed by the shoddiness of all but two of the letters.

As usual, he was right.

Here are two that did it right:

The charity sending this one either had the decency to address it personally or set up a letter format that would automatically format the salutation from the return address line with the name.

Satisfactorily done.

This is even better. “Dear Dan and Brandon” is friendly in the measure a thank you note should be.

If I had ponied up some auction items, this would be a letter that I would be pleased with.

Here are some that rank from indifferent to downright rude. By the way, no one donates because they love receiving a thank you note. They do it because it makes them feel good to help. My primary complaint is that the very people whose ability to help is directly determined by donations from good people aren’t valued at the level to rate a decent thank you.

“To Whom It May Concern”? Yeah, it concerns me.

“Dear friend” I don’t think so. My friends know my name. Plus, the giant gap between the salutation and body shows a complete lack of attention to detail.

If this letter reflects how the charity handles their money, and provides assistance, they can bang on other doors when fundraisers roll around next year.

The nightmare salutation of the bunch. “Dear _______,” with Ram handwritten above the line is just awful.

That this comes from the American Cancer Society is a miserable fact. There is no way they should condone this kind of horror show of bad manners.

The line is terrible, but writing Ram instead of the contact person’s name is especially heinous.

Every document that goes out on company letterhead should be constructed to represent it – because it does. And when people wait for their take out, they have nothing better to do than evaluate them.

Chicago Cubs – Look at the drafts, not the jinxes when asking why the Cubs lose

by Kent Sterling

Former Cubs chief scout Wrongway Peachfuzz authored a terrible run of drafts.

Former Cubs GM Jim Hendry authored a terrible run of drafts during his reign of mediocrity.

This is the fourth straight year the Cubs have been a terrible baseball team. When people talk about the reasons for their low quality of play, a black cat at Shea Stadium and a billy goat that belonged to the Sianis family are recited.

The truth is that baseball is played by nine men at a time, and the Cubs have been relentless in drafting or developing their own players poorly. The Cubs have shown a complete inability to move players through their system to contribute at the Major League level, and that is how you lose 100 games as the Cubs did in 2012, and are on a current pace to do it again.

In the last ten drafts, the Cubs have drafted a total of five position players who have totaled as many as 500 Major League at-bats in their careers – Casey McGahee (24 ABs for the Cubs), Eric Patterson (46 ABs in a Cubs jersey), Tyler Colvin (best remembered for taking the business end of a broken bat in the chest), Sam Fuld, and the only current Cub Darwin Barney.

Their record for bringing in young arms is worse. None of the three who have won 10 or more games have a winning record. Seven have thrown more than 30 innings in the bigs – Andrew Cashner, Casey Coleman, Jeff Samardzija, James Russell, Sean Gallagher, Jerry Blevins, and Sean Marshall.

Since the draft in 2003, the Cubs have drafted and signed a grand total of 32 players who played in the majors at all – two of whom continue to contribute to the team. None have been all-stars.

Here are the players drafted in the first and second rounds in those ten drafts:

2012 (under Epstein)

1-6 Albert Almora OF
1-43 Pierce Johnson P
1-56 Paul Blackburn P
2-67 Duane Underwood P

2011 (under Hendry)

1-9 Javier Baez SS
2-68 Dan Vogelbach 1B

2010 (under Hendry)

1-16 Hayden Simpson P
2-65 Reggie Golden CF

2009 (under Hendry)

1-31 Brett Jackson CF
2-79 D.J. LeMahieu P

2008 (under Hendry)

1-19 Anderw Cashner P
1-41 Ryan Flaherty SS
2-65 Aaron Shafer P

2007 (under Hendry)

1-3 Josh Vitters 3B
1-48 Josh Donaldson C

2006 (under Hendry)

1-13 Tyler Colvin LF
5-149 Jeff Samarzija

2005 (under Hendry)

1-20 Mark Pawalek
2-68 Donnie Veal

2004 (under Hendry)

2-66 Grant Johnson

2003 (under Hendry)

1-6 Ryan Harvey

Going back further would be kicking sand in the faces of those who built draft classes that forced the Cubs to overspend for flawed talent like Alfonso Soriano, Kusuke Fukudome, Milton Bradley, Carlos Pena, and on and on. Suffice it to say that the Cubs had four first rounders in 2002, and none ever wore a big league jersey.

As a comparison, let’s look at the division rivals who are usually near the top of the division.

Since 2003, the Cardinals have drafted 48 future major leaguers. Here is a list of position players that are currently starting – Jon Jay (CF), Allen Craig (1B), Pete Kozma (SS) and Daniel Descalso (2B). Drafted pitchers on the roster today – Jaime Garcia, Lance Lynn, Shelby Miller, Mitchell Boggs, Jason Motte, Trevor Rosenthal, and Joe Kelly. Pitcher Michael Wacha and second baseman Kolton Wong are waiting in AAA for an opportunity. Oscar Tavares will be up before the end of the season too, but he was not drafted.

The Reds have drafted Zach Cosart, Jay Bruce, Todd Frazier, Yonder Alonso, Mike Leake, Homer Bailey, Drew Stubbs, and others.

Good news for Cubs fans is that despite drafting high to very high as a result of their futility, they have competition from the Pirates. Twenty-six of their draft picks have played in the majors, and only Paul Maholm, Tom Gorzelanny, Pedro Alvarez, Neil Walker, and Andrew McCutchen have moved the needle. The Cubs would love to have Alvarez, Walker, or McCutchen, but had winning seasons in 2003, 2004, 2007, 2008, and 2009 that hurt their draft position.

The draft for the Theo Epstein regime for the Cubs is beyond critique at this point. After only the 2012 draft, it’s impossible to tell whether first rounders Albert Almora, Pierce Johnson, Paul Blackburn, and Duane Underwood will be fixtures at Wrigley Field or busts like historical fan favorites Brooks Kieschnick , Lance Dickson, and Earl Cunningham is anyone’s guess. Almora had 65 plate appearances in 2012, and appeared to be as swing happy as his big league brother, walking zero times. Almora is recovering from a wrist injury, and has yet to play in 2013.

2011 first rounder Javier Baez is playing at A+ Daytona, and is hitting the ball hard with a .474 slugging average despite hitting only .246.

Almora just turned 19, so it’s going to be a while before we find out whether Theo and GM Jed Hoyer know what the hell they are doing. What we know for sure is that their predecessors did not, and that catching the Cardinals is going to be tough given the depth of talent in their farm system.

The Cubs draft #2 overall in next month’s draft. Odds are good they will draft someone who can play. Even a bad blackjack player pulls a four when hitting 17 once in a while.

Indiana Pacers win “because they played harder” than the Knicks

by Kent Sterling

Lance Stephenson posted a career high 13 boards to go along with 11 points in today’s win.

Coaches who tell the truth are a lot more interesting in postgame press conferences than those who alibi or give oddly technical explanations for a loss.

New York Knicks coach Mike Woodson is nothing if not honest, and when he said that the Pacers won because “they played harder,” but he wasn’t complete. The Pacers also played with more poise in their 102-95 win.

With the hard-fought victory, the Pacers have earned home court advantage from the Knicks, and if they are able to hold serve at Bankers Life Fieldhouse in games three, four, and six, a battle with the Miami Heat (assuming they beat the depleted Chicago Bulls as expected) in the Eastern Conference Finals.

While the Knicks grimaced, whined, and ranted about every perceived slight, the Pacers continued to focus on the next possession.

Not that it means the officiating was perfect or even good (although I thought it was), but 21 fouls each were called against the Pacers and Knicks.

Former Knicks coach Jeff Van Gundy quoted another former Knicks coach during his analysis of the game during the ABC broadcast. “Pat Riley used to say, ‘No rebounds, no rings,” according to Van Gundy.

The Pacers outrebounded 44-30. That speaks to effort, and that is why the Pacers are up 1-0 in this best of seven war between two teams that served as the other’s nemesis throughout most of the 1990s.

The Knicks were oddly consistent in their inability to score efficiently in the paint. They shot seven times from inside the lane during each quarter, making only three in all but the second, when they knocked down four shots. That totals 13-of-28.

The Pacers finished 20-of-31 in the paint, for a 14-point advantage in a seven-point win. The Pacers shouldn’t get too happy with a guaranteed split on this first trip to the Big Apple in this series. Carmelo Anthony is 2-for-22 from beyond the arc in his last four playoff games, and he won’t stay cold forever.

One other thing the Pacers can’t count on is the enormous productivity of D.J. Augustin, who scored 16 points in 13 minutes on five-of-six shooting, while Anthony had 27 points on 28 shots in 36 minutes.

Rebounds, and scoring in the paint – there’s effort, and that’s a win for the Pacers.

The only person left who was in the trenches during the glory days of Reggie vs. Starks and the Dutchman vs. Ewing in Pacers president Donnie Walsh who enjoyed a few years putting together this Knicks team before returning to Indy. Most of the Pacers were still in diapers in 1993, the first of six times in eight years the Pacers and Knicks faced off in the postseason.

Game Two is Tuesday night at 7p on TNT. Expect the Knicks to re-engage with malice, and for Anthony to hit some shots.