Author Archives: Kent Sterling

NY Jets Draft – Poor Geno Smith Will Be a Shell of Himself in Four Years

Life is too short to spend any of it on the New York Jets roster. Rex Ryan is the ringmaster of a dysfunctional circus that draws a crowd of irrational malcontents.

He has no chance to succeed because the team is incapable of success. Smith could go 21-of-22, and Jets fans would spend Monday morning yelling about the incompletion. The team could go 15-1, and the fans would lament the loss.

Smith can be a good quarterback, but he’ll never be Joe Namath. In four years, he will leave New York a shell of his former self, following in the footsteps of Richard Todd, Ken O’Brien, Chad Pennington, and Mark Sanchez.

The Jets are to the NFL what the Cubs are to Major League Baseball. Even when they don’t suck, fans believe they do. It’s in the fans’ DNA to destroy their own QBs.

Saturday Sports Digest – Jets Ensure Geno’s Misery, Jarrett Jack Thrives, Dana White Is a Genius, and more…

by Kent Sterling

Multiply these two boob by a couple of million, and that's what Geno Smith has to look forward to through his rookie contract.

Multiply these two boobs by a couple of million, and that’s what Geno Smith has to look forward to through his rookie contract.

Life is too short to spend any of it on the New York Jets roster. Rex Ryan is the ringmaster of a dysfunctional circus that draws a crowd of irrational malcontents. He has no chance to succeed because the team is incapable of success. Smith could go 21-of-22, and Jets fans would spend Monday morning yelling about the incompletion. The team could go 15-1, and the fans would lament the loss. Smith can be a good quarterback, but he’ll never be Joe Namath. In four years, he will leave New York a shell of his former self, following in the footsteps of Richard Todd, Ken O’Brien, Chad Pennington, and Mark Sanchez. The Jets are to the NFL what the Cubs are to Major League Baseball. Even when they don’t suck, fans believe they do. It’s in the fans’ DNA to destroy their own QBs.

There haven’t been too many players the Pacers dealt or lost through free agency that are worth wishing well. It would take a fan of generous spirit to hope for the success of Jermaine O’Neal, Stephen Jackson, Jamal Tinsley, and affable psycho Ron Metta World Artest Peace, but Jarrett Jack was different. The Georgia Tech product was only in Indianapolis for one season, but the passion he brought to a unit that had been without it for years was refreshing and appreciated. He gave a damn, and brought a really different vibe to the blue and gold. When he signed with the Toronto Raptors after the 2008-2009 season, the Pacers missed more than his 13.1 points. He made basketball fun again for fans and teammates. He seems to be having some fun playing for the Golden State Warriors in the playoffs, ironically for a coach that made basketball fun for a time in Indy – Mark Jackson.

UFC is a weird sport in that people are either devoted to it or totally disinterested in it. So either you know and respect Dana White, or you have never heard of him. UFC 159 will be held tonight in Newark, and available in your home on pay-per-view for $54.95. That a whole bunch of people pay that price to watch a couple of guys in shorts knock the hell out of each other in a cage is testimony to White’s marketing genius. As boxing continues to circle the drain in America, the popularity of ultimate fighting is growing exponentially. White is worth more than $150-million because he had the stones to talk a friend into buying UFC, and then ran it the way boxing should be. I won’t spend the $54.95 tonight, but I’m a big fan of smart guys, and White is definitely one of those.

The NFL Draft will continue at Noon today with rounds four through seven, but to this point no team has helped itself more than the St. Louis Rams. They play in the brutally tough NFC West along with the 49ers and Seahawks, but while those two teams continue to get the headlines, the Rams just keep improving themselves everywhere. In free agency, the Rams grabbed TE Jared Cook and LT Jake Long. In the draft, they found a way to maintain their tonnage of players while taking both primary targets – WR Tavon Austin and LB Alec Ogletree. On day two, they took safety TJ McDonald and short but sturdy West Virginia WR – 5’10” Stedman Bailey, who caught 114 passes for 25 TDs (he caught 13 for 303 and five TDs against Baylor alone). The Rams were the youngest team in the NFL last year, and are likely to be younger yet in 2013. It’s a little early to pick teams for Super Bowl L, but the Rams appear to be on track for prolonged excellence. Fans will get a taste of it next season. The way they are being built is reminiscent of the Bears in the early 1980s. The only hole is at running back, and maybe Isaiah Pead and Daryl Richardson might be a serviceable two-headed monster while the team waits for the opportunity to draft the right guy. Today will be a big day. I would love for them to take Marcus Lattimore. Even if he craps out because of injuries, the upside is worth a late round risk.

The Indiana Pacers will play tonight at 7:00p (ET) against the Atlanta Hawks in Game Three of their playoff series, and if the Hawks have any pulse at all, they will unpack the brass knuckles, and wage war. Their only chance is to assert a menacing presence and make it tough for the Pacers from here on out. If you’re going to lose, make yourself a pain in the ass to play against. So far in two 15+ point Pacers victories, the Hawks have been very accommodating. The Pacers on the other hand need to elevate their level of play to squash all hope for the Hawks. At 2-0, the series is all but over. The Hawks are unlikely to find a way to win four-of-five the rest of the way, but a win tonight would allow that bunch of free agents to leave Atlanta with a little pride.

Polka Boy Opening Biergarten at Rathskeller Means Spring Has Sprung

by Kent Sterling

What Murray the K was for the Bealtes, Jeff Pigeon was for the band that will play tonight at the Rathskeller’s Biergarten.

There are events that close Winter every year for people. Some look at the NCAA Basketball Championship as the time to swing from Winter inactivity into garage cleaning, house airing, garden planting, loosening the arm, and unpacking the shorts. For others, it’s the Masters. For the especially impatient, it’s the running of the Daytona 500.

For me, it’s the opening of the Biergarten at the Rathskeller with Polka Boy, a formerly obscure band of friends from the Indiana University School of Music who would converge four or five times each year to play a fusion of polka and rock that they found fun.

One of those early gigs was at an anniversary celebration for the Legal Beagle. Anyone who’s been at the Beagle knows the place is tiny, and the band has somewhere in the neighborhood of 14 members. That took up a significant portion of the available space. Jeff Pigeon was the host of the WIBC Morning Show at the time, and Pidge loved these guys so he invited a bunch of people from the station to enjoy the band.

For a couple of years, Pidge had played “I Don’t Wanna Do Dat” as the show’s Friday anthem, and Polka Boy played it for the crowd at the Beagle. The place went crazy with the call and response portions of the song. That surprised us as the demographic for WIBC was thought to be, even by people who worked there, as 55-to-dead. There were people in their 20s singing along, and the floor on the second floor shook as the fire code violating crowd danced.

Fast forward to the 2:00 minute mark of the video to hear what Pidge did. Watch the whole thing to get a feel for the fun that will be be had tonight at 7p with a truly unique band.

We had a great time, and every event Polka Boy played was celebrated by Pidge with band interviews and endless mentions of the band and venue.

Polka Boy began playing more and more dates, moving into the very spacious biergarten at 401 East Michigan, and with Pidge’s unending support, the crowds grew and grew to the point where the area is filled to capacity.

Hearing the band play “I Don’t Wanna Do Dat” when I see them, and hearing everyone in the crowd participate reminds me of the power of radio, Pidge’s keen sense of what listeners enjoy, and how much fun it was back in the day to work at a fun place before 9/11 turned all news media serious.

It’s been awhile since Pidge stumped for Polka Boy, helping them transform from a band of hobbyists into a serious business enterprise, but tonight as a full house answers “Do you wanna do a shot with me?” by yelling “Ya, ya, ya!”, I’m hoping that I’m there with Pidge to remember from whence they came – all the way from the Legal Beagle.

The weather should be clear with temps in the upper 50s. That’s polka weather, and at the end of the night Spring will finally be here.

Media Needs to Give Geno Smith Some Space

by Kent Sterling

Geno Smith’s unhappiness over being passed over in the first round of the NFL Draft is shown live on major networks television.

No question there is great drama in both the elation and disappointment by the young men on hand for the NFL Draft at Radio City Music Hall. Inevitably there are a couple who are blessed by being taken before they were projected, and there is also the annual poor sap who sits as his peers are taken before him.

The tables empty one after another, and the cameras begin the gather near the kid still sitting and hoping for his name to be called. The kid is not accustomed to this level of attention or disappointment, and that sets in motion the collapse of a set of dominos that makes for great television.

Last night, the West Virginia quarterback sat and waited, and then waited some more. Finally, he left the green room with his family rather than sit through any more of the agony.

He’ll be back tonight to wait for somebody to decide he’s worthy of being selected. It might come early, but it might not.

Most high school athletes have been on the bubble of making or missing a cut, and walking up to the sheet to see if your name is on the roster can be nerve-wracking. I also got this feeling every time I checked test scores during my extended stay at Indiana University. Just thinking about it now, I have knots in my stomach.

Imagine that being repeated 25 times in three hours. That cycle of relentless hope and disappointment would cause beasts of men to wither. Smith shrank in his seat a little bit last night, and the networks who preyed upon this kid’s sadness should be ashamed.

The job of every network is to capture the moment – and the more dramatic, the more viewers. That is the name of the game, but at long last, have they no shame? Is there no line beyond which they will not cross to invade the psyche of a young man who had no idea what he was signing on for.

There are times that people need to back off and let someone feel terrible without it spilling into millions of home. Could Smith have sacked up, ridden out the storm with a smile, and earned some points as a good guy facing adversity with a smile? Sure, and he did that early. Then the obvious reality set in that his name wouldn’t be called. His head went in his hands, and he decided to head back to the hotel as millions of dollars slipped through his fingers. His immediate joy over being able to financially help his family gone – as they sit right next to him. Joy turning to sorrow with every pick.

And we get to watch. That’s great. Yahoo.

Thanks.

NFL Draft – Colts Get Bjoern Werner at #24

by Kent Sterling

Bjoern Werner is a violent tackler who will make Colts fans very happy, if the experts are to be trusted.

The Colts hope the extra ‘e’ in Bjoern stands for effort, excellence, and efficiency.

The shiniest new Colt was projected much higher in the draft before the pedestrian 4.83 Bjoern Werner ran at the Combine, but football isn’t a track meet. Unique sets of athletic skills yield different levels of productivity on the field.

The issue with the Colts selection isn’t whether they got a player who will fill a need at a high level, it’s whether they might have been able to parlay that pick into a second difference maker by trading down to recover the second rounder lost in the trade with the Dolphins for Vontae Davis.

While Davis is a better player than any CB left in the draft, which makes the trade productive, the Colts have some holes to fill on the offensive line and cornerback.

Unless trades come today or tomorrow, the Colts will have five more selections – a third, fourth sixth, and two sevenths (they own the last pick in the draft and will welcome Mr. Irrelevant to Indianapolis for the second straight year). They spent some cash in March to plug holes with nine free agents that will upgrade both the offensive and defensive lines, and defensive backfield.

The question will remain just how much did the Colts help themselves by adding these 15 players between the draft and free agency? They got tonnage in free agency and quality in the first round of the draft.

The question in free agency is always why did the original team allow the player to become a free agent and leave. The Colts basically swapped CB with the Cardinals, and the Colts signed Greg Toler to a three-year, $15M deal, while Jerraud Powers moved from Indy to Arizona for three-years and $10.5M.

Another swap was made by signing Darius Heyward-Bey after the departure of Donnie Avery. Heyward-Bey is two years younger with similar speed and slightly better hands.

Free agent signees guard Donald Thomas (four years, $14M) and tackle Gosder Cherilus (five years, $34.5M) will hopefully help build a wall between angry defensive lineman and the franchise. As was the case with Peyton Manning, if Andrew Luck goes down and can’t get up, fold up the tent and go home.

Watching the Colts operate reminds me of an inveterate gambler who just went on a massive heater at the craps table, and wants to parlay those winnings in enough cash to move to the high stakes table. That 11-5 record was achieved through the incredible athleticism of Luck, special teams magic, and timely turnovers (they were 8-1 in games where they forced a turnover).

Whether signing a bunch of hole pluggers and drafting six youngsters with only one of them falling in the top 85 picks can allow the Colts to match that 11-5 mark will be answered beginning in September.

Mike Mayock of the NFL Network is a smart guy who attends the Senior Bowl, Combine, and a bunch of pro days, including Werner’s at Florida State says, “I think (Werner is) really a good fit for Chuck Pagano. Very similar player by the name of (Paul) Kruger that he drafted in the second round when he was with the Baltimore Ravens. He will thrive in a Chuck Pagano system.”

Playmakers win games, and after an offseason of signing hole pluggers, the Colts got a guy they hope can be a difference maker. There’s a lot of hoping being done in Indy. Whether the Horseshoes can slide to table where they big boys play for championship won’t be known for another eight months, but what decision to draft Werner and those that are made on 56th Street the next two days will have a lot to do with it.

NFL Draft – St. Louis Rams Kill Day One – Get the Right Guys at the Right Spots

by Kent Sterling

The Rams hope that Tavon Austin will run away from NFL defenders as easily as he did at West Virginia.

One thing Rams fans know for sure is that Rams GM Les Snead and coach Jeff Fisher aren’t concerned with where the NFL decides they should choose in the first round. Last year, they traded down twice to wind up at #14 where they took DT Michael Brockers, and this year they moved their original pick from #16 to #8 to grab dynamic offensive weapon Tavon Austin, and traded down to #30 with the other to nab OLB Alec Ogletree out of Georgia.

I had the Rams using their original slots to take Austin at #16 and Ogletree at #22. The cost for moving up was their second rounder (#46) and third rounder (#78), and the bounty for moving up was a third (#92) and sixth rounder. So they are a net even in human beings but will have to wait 46 picks later to replace the player they could have had in the middle of the second with the guy they can now get toward the end of the third.

No matter. It seems the Rams find a way to draft the players they like, and will move to do it. In Day One, the Rams decided who and what was needed and took them where they fell. That gets them an A+ through the first quarter of this course. We won’t know the names of most of the young men who are drafted today and tomorrow, but if last year is a reasonable benchmark, fans will in four months.

Tavon Austin is one of the missing links between franchise quarterback and great success. For all the warm bodies the Rams have run through the wide receiver position over the past two seasons, only Chris Givens appeared capable of making a big play. Givens broke a rookie record last year by catching balls in five straight games of 50 yards or more.

Danny Amendola was a slot machine when healthy, but as the saying goes, “You can’t help the club from the tub.” He played 12 games in 2011 and 2012, and the risk did not justify the expense. Brandon Gibson was a good worker bee, but nothing more. Austin Pettis is entering his third year when receivers either emerge as a player or a guy. So far, he’s been just a guy.

Brian Quick remains the key for the Rams receivers, even with the draft of Austin. He has all the physical tools, but lacked the football acumen to make the line of scrimmage reads and adjustments to stay of the field. He came from an offense at Appalachian State that didn’t use a playbook, and his football IQ suffered as a result. With a full offseason to learn the position and offensive coordinator Brian Schoettenheimer’s complicated offense, he should be in a position to use those physical tools to catch more than 11 passes.

Two other piece of what will be a much different offense than last year’s will be tight ends Lance Kendricks and free agent signee Jared Cook. Kendricks came into his own a bit last year with 42 catches for 519, and Cook who was shiny tool underused with 44 catches for 523 yards.

Austin though will be dynamic both as a receiver and return guy. The easiest description of this guy’s primary talent is that he can make people miss – badly. He’s small, but that size didn’t cause problems while at West Virginia. Reportedly, he never missed a practice, much less a game.

The Rams in 2012 (let’s just forget about 2011) moved the chains to move the ball. The offense was not geared to the big play, and minus deep balls to Givens, were plodding. Their leader was Steven Jackson, who will take a lot of positives to Atlanta for 2013. He’s consistent, but no longer capable of running away from anyone. With the addition of Austin, the Rams have changed the way defenses will have to prepare to face them. He is a headache, and the Rams have been without a headache since Marshall Faulk retired.

Ogletree is a guy that eyes moved toward as you watched Georgia play last year. He makes big plays. He has warts, which made him available at #30, but they aren’t warts that can’t me overcome.

A suspension for a positive banned substance test took away cost him the first four games in 2012, and there was the DUI prior to the NFL Combine, but the Rams showed that they can help a guy with decision making issues stay on the field last year with Janoris Jenkins, who missed one game in San Francisco for a little weed use on that road trip.

There are on field issue for the former safety – like over pursuit and not being able to fight of blockers – but the guy has great speed, a nose for the ball, and some nastiness. He reminds me of a former teammate of Fisher’s with the Bears – Wilber Marshall, who was fast and ferocious.

What’s on the mind of Snead and Fisher tonight as they are schedule to grab two third rounders must be a safety or two, and a running back if a good one slips. But, as both the Rams and Colts showed last year, there are good backs to be had late – the Colts found Vick Ballard in round five, and the Rams waited until the seventh to tap Daryl Richardson.

Six-time NFL Executive of the Year Bill Polian said this morning on ESPN, “There are two things you look for in the draft. The first thing is you look for a guy who can change the game on his own ability. The second thing you look for is a guy who’s going to play at a high level for ten years.”

Time will tell whether Austin and Ogletree last a decade in the NFL, but for Rams fans, so far so good – at least.

College Football Playoff – Indianapolis Should Get 2016 Championship Game

by Kent Sterling

Sure, Jerry Jones is a twit, but his house is beautiful and deserving of the first College Football Championship Game.

My favorite part of the new College Football Playoff is that the official name for it is the College Football Playoff. No one got all Jim Delany clever, as the Big Ten commissioner did with the soon-to-be-abandoned names of its two divisions – Leaders and Legends. Just say what it is, and be done with it.

The name doesn’t need to be sexy. College Football Playoff says it all. The place doesn’t need to be sexy either.

For all of the qualities Indianapolis brings to the table for events, sexy is not among them. Convenient – check. Fun – check. Friendly – check. Did I say convenient? Check, again.

There are three real football conferences (SEC, Big 10, Pac-12) and two halves of a fourth (ACC & Big 12). The championship game should rotate through the best stadia in those regions. The best in the middle of Big 12 country is Cowboys Stadium, and it gets to host the first in January, 2015. In the southeast, the new stadium in Atlanta should be in the rotation when it’s completed. The Pac-12 can rotate through the Rose Bowl, the L.A. Coliseum, and the tin can in Glendale until the new stadium in LA is built, if it’s built.

In the midwest, there is one stadium in a decent city that fills the bill, and that’s Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. Detroit has Ford Field, a fine facility with only one problem – it’s in Detroit. Traveling with the Rams last year, we visited Detroit. Stayed right in the middle of what might have been a thriving downtown forty years ago. We walked at least four miles to find a sports bar before finally hopping in a cab.

Indianapolis was literally built to host major sporting events, and Lucas Oil remains one of the best venues for a big time sports. Because of the Super Bowl, organizers know that Indy can handle the traffic and nightlife needs of the cigar chomping, scotch swilling, fluorescent blazer wearing boosters and alums who will fly in for the weekend.

And when they do fly in, the drive from the airport to the hotel is 12 minutes. When it’s time to walk from the hotel to the stadium? It’s likely a quarter mile or less with many bars on the way.

In the case of Dallas, nothing there is close to anything else, but I cannot argue with the fact that Cowboys Stadium is a palace. It is without question the best stadium in America, and perhaps the world. Every detail is perfect, and the staff is friendly. Is the giant TV a little ostentatious? Hell, no. TVs are like the late Anna Nicole Smith – no demerits for big!

Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff, said Arlington was awarded the first game over Tampa because of Cowboys Stadium, which can hold more than 100,000 fans.

Bill Hancock, executive director of the College Football Playoff, was asked why the Dallas area was chosen. He answered, “The stadium itself, everything about the stadium,” Hancock said. “It’s still the stadium with a capital ‘T.” No word on whether the media questioned Hancock’s assertion that a capital T has anything at all to do with Cowboys Stadium.

People will ask about January weather, and the city’s answer should be – who cares? In Indy, there is no need to wander in the elements at all. Everything meaningful can be accessed through tunnels and habitrails, and for the restaurants and bars, fans and gawkers might have to walk or cab a block or two.

I may not be asked to author the bid on behalf of the city because of my habit of comparing the size of all things to breasts, but that doesn’t diminish the level at which Indy delivers a great experience for fans.

Plus, the chances of Indy giving a school a relative home game for the championship are quite slim unless Purdue or Indiana has a meteoric hop up several levels in the next three seasons.

Indy in 2016!

Ten Things I Do Not Miss About St. Louis

by Kent Sterling

The building where I lived is on the right. It is not among the things about St. Louis I will not miss.

I got my haircut yesterday – always a landmark of futility. Why I bother is anyone’s guess. The guy cutting away is talking about the pride he feels in living in Indianapolis, and I start talking about the differences between Indy, St. Louis, Louisville, and Chicago – the four cities where I have spent considerable time. There were a lot of positives about every city, but I did have an odd number of negatives about a place where I spent only two years.

Some of my grievances about St. Louis are easily addressed. Others are likely to remain forever, and two will be addressed through the laws of nature. It bears mention that overall, I really enjoyed my time there. The positives outweigh the negatives for sure – and the majority of the people with whom I worked top that list.

Here are my least favorite things about St. Louis:

10 – Mardi Gras Tried it twice, and while looking at a strange women’s boobs is a crapshoot, the amount of liquor that is consumed by the celebrators is troubling. By 4 p.m., there are hundreds of people passed out throughout Soulard. I never understood the whole ‘Let’s drink until we are unconscious’ philosophy of fun, and it’s the rule of the day of the Mardi Gras Parade. St. Louis is a beer drinking town, but on this day that fun reputation rolls totally off the rails into liver damaging excess. It bears mention that women with nice breasts are usually reluctant to share them. Most along the parade route are leathery sacks of goop for which gravity has done no favors.

9 – Neglected Downtown I was told by someone in the Cardinals front office that Ballpark Village is the first privately funded retail construction in the downtown area since 1986. It’s a pretty area, but very few people live there, and if not for sporting events, no one other than misguided tourists would ever visit. I lived there for two years, and not a day went by that I didn’t curse the civic leaders that have allowed it to crumble into a poor imitation of another river town – Memphis.

8 – St. Louis Drivers Every city has its share of bad drivers, but the highways and streets in St. Louis are filled with the lowest level of drivers I’ve ever had the misery to get stuck behind. In most cities, the left lane of a highway is called the “fast lane” or “passing lane”. In St. Louis, all lane are equal. The left lane appears to be the place where texters who are distracted by driving choose to not be bothered by cars passing them. In a lot of cities, drivers yell at people for going way too fast. I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen a 1978 Delta 88 slalom through traffic on the Dan Ryan in Chicago at 85 mph. In St. Louis, I can’t count the number of times I’ve seen similar cars drift toward or away from downtown at 40 mph in the left lane. Totally unpredictable, but never accommodating, the drivers in St. Louis are collectively the worst in America.

7 – Lumiere Casino – Just under one mile north of where we lived, there is a casino we would occasionally visit. Our net gain/loss was probably very close to even because of a strong start and finish, so I shouldn’t complain, but to watch people who don’t have a lot of money squander what they can’t afford to lose in machines that were built with the specific purpose of taking their money did nothing to renew my faith in the intellectual capabilities of humanity.

6 – Mike Shannon Unlike the #3 thing I dislike about St. Louis, I don’t know Shannon personally. He may be a wonderful man whose farts smell like roses, or he may be a real pill. I’ve never met him, but the way he calls Cardinals games on KMOX drove me nuts. I could never tell what the hell was going on. As a young fan, I listened to broadcaster who related pertinent game information, so that’s what I crave. St. Louisans have been conditioned over the years to enjoy Shannon’s style. No way I could convert.

5 – The Cardinals Until I moved to St. Louis, I never understood why the Cubs never won. Then I watched closely how the Cardinals go about their business, and I realized that the Cubs didn’t lose because of curses of billy goats or black cats. They lose because they are competing with a franchise that simply does everything right. The Cardinals not only play fundamentally sound baseball at a consistently high level, the front office is filled with decent people who wake up every day dedicated to making a trip to Busch Stadium rewarding for every fan who buys a ticket. As long as the Cubs compete with the Cardinals, the seasons of success will be infrequent outliers. I’ll miss watching a team that does it right, but won’t miss them because they make watching the Cubs an unpleasant chore. The Cards made me get it, and I wish I didn’t.

4 – Stoplights In most cities, the longest duration for red lights is 30-34 seconds. In St. Louis, the lights downtown can last up to 90 seconds, and the traffic downtown is nonexistent. Moving one block at a time every 90 seconds is miserable, and the city does nothing to affect change. The mayor gets re-elected by a landslide while people can’t move in an abandoned downtown because of stoplights that are unnecessary because of a lack of traffic. I’m a big fan of evaluating cities based upon the execution of the detail work. St. Louis gets an F in controlling traffic flow. By God, they’ll ticket your asses for rolling through a right turn on red, but as for making things convenient, forget it.

3 – [Selection Redacted] Somehow and someway, this guy continues to work in the media. That St. Louisans listen to him and read what he writes is an affront to media consumption. I debated whether to include him in this list because there is something classless about picking on those who can’t sufficiently defend themselves, but I decided to do it because it’s the truth – a concept with which this person is not closely associated. A news report on Fox2 in St. Louis did a pretty good job of revealing the guy as what he is, and I could have let his own video do the talking, but what fun is that?

2 – Imo’s Pizza I encourage everyone visiting St. Louis for the first time to get one Imo’s Pizza. Take a big bite. You will likely be as confused as I was. There is something very different with the consistency. It takes a couple of bites to realize that the cheese is very odd. It’s called Provel, and it’s a mixture of cheddar, swiss, and provolone. When melted, it’s more liquid than solid.

1 – Racism When I moved to St. Louis, I asked a co-worker how the Metrolink works. I was looking for a easy way to get downtown and heard about this light rail conveyance that runs from the airport through downtown and into Illinois. The co-worker warned me away from the Metrolink by saying, “Oh don’t take that. It goes through areas where it gets dark early.” I was repulsed, and while most St. Louisans don’t reflect that attitude, there is an unpleasant under-current of racism that exists.

Super Fans Are Super Annoying and Need to Get a Hobby

by Kent Sterling

The Cardinal Cowboy

There are idiots everywhere. Some are just easier to find. I guess we should all thank the super fans for making that process incredibly simple for us.

Unless these people are somehow mentally challenged, or are using their pseudo-celebrity for the good of a charity, although I can find no evidence of either psychosis or altruism in those pictured, super fans should put away the costumes and enjoy the games like the rest of us – as observers.

They are a pox on the sporting events they attend, and near as I can tell, the first guy who entered this troubling realm was the rainbow-wigged buffoon who showed up at professional golf tournaments with his John 3:16 sign. If somehow there was a chance in hell, (excuse that phrase), that any of the Male 45+ demographic that falls asleep during Jim Nance’s somnambulistic descriptions of the ‘action’ could be compelled to read a bible passage because he held up the sign, I might see some sanity in his efforts. There was and is no chance at all – none, zip, absolute zero – that even one non-deranged, half-asleep golf fan converted to Christianity because of the rainbow wig guy.

Unsure of this guy’s name, but he’s been a ridiculous staple of Pacers games for many years

And so it is with the weirdos who get all gussied up to pose for pictures with amused fans. These addle pated nuts see people in the grandstand staring at them and infer acceptance and popularity. Boy, are they way off. There is incredulity. There is mocking. There is derision. There is pity. There might even be some guilt.

Fame is not a goal. It’s a result. Jeffrey Dahmer was famous. He ate people in Milwaukee. Carrot Top is famous. He’s a prop comic. Johnny Knoxville is famous for shooting bottle rockets out of his ass. Martin Luther King Jr. is famous. Payton Manning is famous. Tom Hanks is famous. None of those people have any common trait unless Hanks has a diet that is not on the typical restaurant menu or a trunk filled with funny knick-knacks.

Spike Lee – Solid filmmaker, asinine fan.

The combination of the ability to dress like an idiot and the funds to buy front row tickets does not put anyone in a position to create interest in me with signs or histrionics.

They need to put away the costumes, and merge with society. They should introduce themselves to people. Start a conversation. Be a guy that people like instead of ogle.

The ridiculous make the rest of us feel normal, and for that we can thank Spike Lee, but I would rather he find a new hobby and return the orange hat to the hunting section at Cabela’s.

Indiana Pacers Effectively End Series Against Atlanta Hawks

by Kent Sterling

Roy Hibbert make Ivan Johnson his dunk lover during last night's game against the Hawks.

Roy Hibbert makes Ivan Johnson his dunk lover during last night’s game against the Hawks.

Teams can take nights off from playing defense in the NBA regular season, but rarely do you see a defense as passionless as what the Atlanta Hawks showed last night against the Indiana Pacers.

Legs can bounce back, shooting touch can return, and strategic decisions can turn a series, but when heart goes – say goodbye forever. The Hawks have played the first two games of the series like an AAU team that knows it’s overmatched. They just want this series and season to end.

As good as some Pacers teams have been over the years, none of them have won the first two games of a series by 15 or more points. That’s because the Pacers have never played a team lacking sack like this Hawks team.

The Pacers took a 2-0 lead in the best-of-seven series with a 113-98 thumping, and a one minute period in the game was an excellent microcosm of how a playoff game is lost.

The Hawks had the ball and a chance to take the last shot of the first quarter down only four. Devin Harris tried to attack the basket, but drove straight into the midsection of Roy Hibbert’s 270 lbs. carcass. The ball came loose, and Paul george grabbed it with just enough time to take a dribble and launch a 60-foot shot. Before he could, Johan Petro fouled him with 0.7 seconds left. George missed the first free throw, but Harris squawked enough to earn a technical foul. D.J. Augustin knocked down the foul shot, and George followed by making his second. The Hawks then turned over the inbounds pass, and the Pacers earned the last shot.

Roy Hibbert banked in a three, but after an official review it was determined that he did not get the shot off in time. Crisis averted – kind of. The Pacers lead 25-19 at the end of the first. In the first 45-seconds of the second quarter, the Hawks turned it over twice, the second by DeShawn Stevenson that he followed with a bad foul.

The Hawks were better offensively than in Game One, but they gave up enough easy looks that the result was never in question. The X-factor for the Hawks was very productive on offense as Josh Smith scored 16 points in only 20 minutes. His inability to defend without fouling, not his shot selection, was his undoing last night. He was 7-of-10 from the field – 3-of-4 outside the paint and 4-of-6 inside.

The Pacers have yet to lose a quarter in the series, and were featured twice in Sportscenter’s Top 10. Gerald Green throwing down on Josh Smith’s head is #3, and Roy Hibbert’s posterizing of Ivan Johnson is the top play. Those two highlights are more than I’ve seen on ESPN all season, but better late than never.

Paul George has been splendid, but George Hill has been the glue. Finally, this franchise is starting to display a likable collective personality, and I would expect the basketball fans that have laid dormant since the mayhem of the mid-2000s and retirement of Reggie Miller to begin to awaken.

Game Three is Saturday at 7:00p, and I expect more of the same from both the Pacers and Hawks. The Pacers haven’t played their best basketball, and the Hawks are making a dedicated push to start their vacations a little earlier. I would suspect the Hawks fans to be as passionless as the teams itself.

The Pacers will either sweep or win the series in five.