Author Archives: Kent Sterling

Athletes Talking to the Media Provides Chance for Branding and Cash

by Kent Sterling

At Media Day during Super Week, it’s easy to build your brand, but it can start long before.

This week, I spent a little time with two excellent high school basketball players who will move on to big time collegiate programs. I told them both the same thing, every chance you have to talk to the media, take it with a smile.

Given a base level communication skill set, the media can open doors help build a brand that can be leveraged for many things – cash, career after sports, charity, etc…

Many athletes look at the media as a necessary evil, and that would be an improvement for some. When Jalen Coleman and Collin Hartman took the time to answer my questions, they aren’t talking to me. They’re talking to the thousands of people who will watch the video.

Because of their position of interest among college basketball fans, people will seek out their videos and evaluate them based upon their performance. There are CEOs, ADs, managers, and alums who own a business that will watch. Everytime people get a chance to watch them talk, an opinion is formed and cemented.

Social media is no different. Assume every employer will immediately check twitter and facebook feeds when a resume’ comes through. That’s true for everyone, not just athletes. I would check for two things – first, is the person the kind of moron who would post pictures of themselves in the midst of drunken hijinks; second, because I’m in the media, is the person aggressive in self-branding and does he or she understand what a good take is. People who know how to execute point two will have a significant twitter following.

Most big schools and professional franchises monitor their players’ social media use, or at least take a proactive role in educating them on appropriate uses, so screwing up never occurs out of ignorance – just stupidity.

People who are polite, accessible, and articulate will quickly become favorites of the media, and will get more and more opportunities to talk to thousands and thousands, if not millions of people, and with every impression, a kid may be talking to a future business partner, boss, or investor.

Here are some dos for interviews:

Know what you want to communicate before you open your mouth.
Stick to your story.
Decide who you are and be that every time.
Say yes to all requests.
Be confident. Nothing conveys confidence like eye contact.
Even though only idiots in the media will ask a yes/no question, answer completely.
Always be polite. As much as we like to think that no one in the media would ever exercise a personal agenda against a kid acted like a jerk one time, I’ve seen it happen more than once.
When in doubt, check with your SID or coach.

And some don’ts:

Never answer emotionally. Take a couple of minutes to compose yourself after a loss before talking. What comes out of your mouth in front of a recorder will last forever.
Don’t treat the media like they are fools. We know that already, but reminders are unwelcome and can burn a bridge.
Don’t rip your coach or school. Few are ever stupid or arrogant enough to do that, but it bears mention.
Don’t mistake the media for friends. They have a job to do just like you do, and making you feel comfortable a friendly makes their job easier. Know who you are, and also who they are.
Never tweet, facebook, or talk to the media after any level of drinking or drug use – EVER.
Make sure to do anything your mother wouldn’t want to see you do only with those you trust not to take pictures with smart phones.
Never refer to yourself in the third person. Only jags do that.

Using common sense is the key to everything, but we all know there are lapses – especially for college students.

There is a guy named Joe Staysniak who was a big deal offensive lineman at Ohio State, was drafted late, and played seven years in the NFL, including four with the Indianapolis Colts. Since his retirement, he has made his living as a radio host in Indianapolis. That happened because Joe was a great guy to the media when he played in Indy. The decision to hire him was easy, not because of his talent, but because he was liked and everyone knew he understood how media works. The work of building his brand among the hiring managers at WIBC (where he was hired) began in the second of his four years with the Colts.

There are thousands of people in Indianapolis who listen to Joe on the radio, but have no recollection of his playing career – or even the fact that he ever played in the NFL.

The time to get busy building a career in the media is when the media wants to talk to you. Don’t wait until you are no longer playing to build the relationships that can help you in the door.

There is no better workshop to develop the skills needed to work in the media than being willing a participant in interviews. Say yes. Build a positive brand. Reap rewards.

Indiana Pacers – Fans Need to Relax; Playoffs Bring New Season

by Kent Sterling

The Pacers won the NBA Central Division for the fifth game since entering the NBA for the 1977 season.

The Indiana Pacers limped into the number three seed of the NBA’s Eastern Conference Playoffs, and it doesn’t matter a damn. It’s better to be the three seed having lost five of six, than to win six in a row as the four seed – especially if it means playing the Atlanta Hawks in the first round.

If the Pacers lose in the first round, there was something wrong. If they win, it was a little lapse in effort as the players rested a little bit mentally and physically.

Eighty-one games is a lot of bruising basketball to play in six months. It’s almost impossible to move through the entire schedule without peaks and valleys. The only teams that I saw bring it every single night were the 1986 Boston Celtics who lost only one game at home, and the 1996 Chicago Bulls who won 72 games.

The Pacers are a difficult to predict group who lack a star scorer who can be counted on in crunch time to get a big bucket. Their game is to try to control the pace, and play defense by limiting shots through excellent rebounding. It’s not sexy, but it is effective.

The salient point for those hoping for a deep run in the playoffs is that the Pacers continue to evolve toward the elite level of the NBA. The last four seasons, the Pacers have emerged from entrenched mediocrity by posting win totals of 32, 37, 42 (in only 68 games), and 47 games.

Statistics give reason for postseason hope. The last four times the Pacers had an SRS (a team rating system that takes into account point margin in games and schedule strength where zero is the perfect league average) of over three, they went to the conference finals or finals (1998, 1999, 2000, 2004). Their rating this year was 3.34.

The only other time in their history the Pacers allowed less than one point per possession was 2004, and they made it to the conference finals.

Their opponent in the first round is the Atlanta Hawks, and I do not like the Hawks because after the 2010 season without justification they fired Mike Woodson, whom I like both as a guy and a coach. The Hawks fired him after six seasons that each saw the Hawks increase their number of wins (13, 26, 30, 37, 47, and finally 53 in 2010). They have not won that many since showing him the door.

The Hawks are thoroughly mediocre, ranking between 10th and 18th in every meaningful team category (points per game, opponents points per game, offensive rating, defensive rating, and obviously win and losses).

One area both franchises are very close is in fan apathy. The Pacers ranked 25th in attendance at 626,069. The Hawks were 26th at 620,146. At the very least, it’s unlikely the downtown Indianapolis area and Bankers Life Fieldhouse won’t be besieged by Atlanta fans as would have been the case if the Bulls were the #6 seed.

To be honest, I don’t know much more about the Hawks than you do. Josh Smith, Al Horford, and Jeff Teague are their studs. Teague is a very clever point guard who excels at creating space through changing speeds. He played at Pike High School in Indy, so this will be a homecoming. In fact, regardless of whether the Hawks or Bulls earned the right to play the Pacers, one of Shawn Teague’s sons would have come home to play the Pacers as younger brother Marquis plays for the Bulls.

The Hawks will also bring with them another player close to the hearts of basketball fans in central Indiana. Butler product Shelvin Mack is a reserve for the Hawks, but has earned some meaningful minutes late in the season.

As for basketball fans who lapsed into an NBA coma after the Pacers were destroyed in the aftermath of the brawl, now would be a good time to awaken and re-engage. The Fieldhouse is still the gold standard among all hoop palaces, and the team has a lot of blue collar effort guys who people in this part of the country claim to adore.

The Pacers record zeroed late last night with the end of the regular season and the important basketball of the year will begin Sunday afternoon. If you missed the earlier 81-game set, now is the time to climb on the bandwagon – for which good seats are available.

Here is the first round schedule:

Game One – Sunday, April 21, 1p – Hawks @ Pacers
Game Two – Wednesday, April 24, 7:30p – Hawks @ Pacers
Game Three – Saturday, April 27, 7p – Pacers @ Hawks
Game Four – Monday, April 29, TBD – Pacers @ Hawks
Game Five, Wednesday, May 1, TBD – Hawks @ Pacers
Game Six – Friday, May 3, TBD – Pacers @ Hawks
Game Seven, Sunday, May 5, TBD – Hawks @ Pacers

2012 Indianapolis Colts Were a Damn Lucky 11-5 Team

by Kent Sterling

The toughest part of Colts coach Chuck Pagano’s job will be to manage the expectations of fans who incorrectly assess last year’s 11-5 record as just the beginning of things to come.

I’ve spent the last two weeks watching the Colts season on nfl.com’s Game Rewind feature (the best $25 I’ve ever spent), and the more I watched, the more amazed I was at the way the Colts won games. They have areas of strength, and other spots where they have problems. How much of the offensive firepower was due to the superior schemes of departed offensive coordinator/interim head coach Bruce Arians will be seen, but manpower also must be addressed, especially on the defensive side of the ball.

Offense

Andrew Luck is obviously the biggest standout offensively. He is strong, poised, and mostly accurate. His ability to evade the rush with his athleticism is the only thing that kept him alive through 16 games in 2012. As I travelled with the St. Louis Rams, it was hard to follow as completely as I would have liked, but we saw highlights of Luck that showed some of his attributes. This was one of the rare times that highlights did not do a player justice.

Many of Luck’s best plays didn’t make any highlight. There were so many third-and-10s that he converted with his feet in and out of the pocket to deliver strikes to the ageless Reggie Wayne and rookie tight end Dwayne Allen that it became routine. There was some success with Donnie Avery, but there were also the drops that led a 1-15 Rams team to drop him. T.Y. Hilton emerged as the threat that compelled the Colts to take him in the third round – in hindsight a steal. Vick Ballard turned out to be an excellent change of pace back. Unfortunately, the Colts didn’t have a workhorse whose pace Ballard could change.

The line was a bit of a mess, allowing 40 sacks and ranking 22nd in rushing (but pull Luck’s 255 yards, and the rank drops to 28th). As I wrote earlier, if not for Luck’s superior foot speed and pocket sense, he might have been sacked 65 times.

Interceptions were a bit of a problem, but could have been much worse. The number of dropped picks and batted balls that dropped harmlessly to the turf were alarming. Luck’s 18 intercepted passes could easily have been 30. Luck does not mind flinging the ball into traffic and trying to make a play. That’s great behavior for a rookie. That’s how rookies learn. I hope he retains the gunslinger mentality, but recognizes more quickly the situations where he’s better of dumping the ball. Luck went to Stanford, so we can assume that he’ll be intellectually capable of processing information a little more quickly as the game experience mounts.

The area that needed obvious improvement on the offensive side was clearly the line. GM Ryan Grigson went shopping last month, picking up RT Gosder Cherilus. He’s going to help, but with tackles it’s always important to know why the Lions allowed Cherilus to come south to Indy. Not sure he’s good enough to completely solidify the line. They also grabbed guard Donald Thomas, who was a part-time starter for the Patriots. He falls into the “Let’s throw some guys at a wall and see who sticks. The Colts need more help on the line. They also found an upgrade for Avery in the mercurial Darrius Heyward-Bey.

On the plus side, Heyward Bey can run, and he is entering his prime at age 26. His top end speed rivals Avery’s, but his production fell off last year – the last of his first round contract – from 64 catches for 975 yards to 41 for 606. That was for a screwy operation in Oakland, so there is some uncertainty in evaluating that decline. As long as two bricks aren’t strapped to his hands, he’ll be an upgrade from Avery, who ranked 38th of the 41 receivers targeted more than 100 times with a reception percentage of 47.5 (62-for-132). Heyward-Bey wasn’t much better at 51.3%, but better is better.

Defense

Defensively, there were two obvious problems – the run defense was porous as they were gashed for 2,200 yards. They were a little behind the eight ball as they switched from a 4-3 to a 3-4. Dwight Freeney was a little long in the tooth to make the switch to ROLB, and it showed. The secondary was more solid than I anticipated. Cassius Vaughn was the lone exception. Vaughn reminded me of Tim Jennings (the bad CB with the Colts, before he somehow became an All-Pro for the Bears).

Vaughn was picked on like a ripe scab, and the pass rush didn’t bring enough heat to cover for him. There are no areas of real strength on this defensive unit. There are guys who played with 50 shades of gray, but none were great. Upgrades are needed almost everywhere. Holes got plugged, but some of those hole may sprout leaks themselves.

If healthy LaRon Landry is a badass who will bring some Bob Sanders-style violence to the secondary. DT Ricky Jean Francois was not a game changer with the 49ers. He’s versatile, so he can be mediocre to good at several spots. He occupies blockers, and that’s a plus for a team that wants DEs and OLBs to raise some hell in the backfield. The other guys were inexpensive enough to allow the Colts to hope for upside, and settle for alright.

If the Colts can use the draft to grab talent like they did last year, the 11-5 record they sport in 2013 will be earned, not the result of great fortune. That 11-5 appeared to be a divinely inspired outlier. 2013 will tell the tale.

No one should apologize for the 11-5 mark in 2012, but it reminded me of the Chicago Bears 13-3 in 2001, where wacky became reality each week. Surrounding that magical year, the Bears were 5-11 and 4-12. This team is much better on paper than that Bears squad.

Indiana Basketball – Remy Abell’s Mom Too Late Coming to His Rescue

by Kent Sterling

Remy Abell’s support system is a little late in helping him out of his decision to transfer.

“I’ll take hasty decisions for $500, Alex!”

Michael Pointer of the Indianapolis Star has reported that outgoing sophomore guard Remy Abell’s mom met with Tom Crean to ask him to allow her son to return to the team for his junior season.

There are few means less effective to effect change than by having a parent intercede on your behalf, and even fewer things less enjoyable for a coach than to have a mom in the office for any reason.

Abell’s high school coach told the Star that the reason for his decision to walk away was prompted by both a desire to play more, and due to his friend Cody Zeller leaving IU for the NBA.

And Tom Crean could not care less because he is not the parent to his players – he is the man at the helm of a very important basketball program. Indiana is better served by having Abell’s scholarship available for one of the incoming freshman, than by Abell’s return.

The decision by Abell may have been made and communicated hastily, but at the point he told Crean of his intention, the ship pulled from the dock. What port it reaches next is anyone’s guess, but there is no u-turn available – with or without Abell’s Mom’s plea.

The rule in business is that when an employee quits, you shake hands and part friends, if that’s possible. Seller’s remorse is almost never an option, and for good reason. The problem that prompted the resignation will remain, and that will eventually undermine the business, and that resignation will eventually be repeated.

An education at Indiana University doesn’t occur only in classrooms. College is a nice incubator for tomorrow’s employees. Abell has learned through this episode that petulance is not a good business strategy – assuming that he agrees with his Mom that he should be welcomed back to the Hoosiers basketball team.

Actions have consequences, and if your strategy is to go to your boss with a threat or demand, you need to have a plan B, because if doesn’t share your assessment, your threat might actually be seen as good news.

Jeff Rabjohns of peegs.com reported a view minutes ago that Abell’s decision will stand. Of course it will.

Indiana Basketball – Collin Hartman Loves Basketball and His Mom

by Kent Sterling

Good kid, this Collin Hartman. The Cathedral student will head to Bloomington in June to prepare for his freshman season at Indiana. The road he’s taken to one of college basketball’s premiere programs has been an honest one, and a major influence on his development as a person and a player is his Mom.

One of the games I play to keep myself amused when I go to an AAU tournament is to try to pair the kids with their parents. There is something cruel about these events for parents. They die a little with each missed shot, and sit a little taller with every make. When a kid gets fouled but there is no whistle, the parents yell. I can usually tell what parent(s) belong to what kid within a half.

It took me no time a couple of years ago at North Central High School to know which of the women in the gym belonged to Collin. He was coasting a little bit (playing seven games in three days requires just a little coasting), and a lady called Collin a name that I don’t remember but conveyed her mild displeasure. He shot her a quick glare. It made me laugh. There was no anger – just a funny shared moment of two people very comfortable being honest with one another.

What Collin told me in the video below about his Mom wasn’t surprising:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WFqHgR1_lic

Today, I Start Trusting My Memories and Say So Long to Boxes of Evidence

by Kent Sterling

This is not my garage, and what I do today will make sure it won’t be.

There are gatherers, and there are hoarders. I live in the middle. Anything with even a shred of emotional value gets a place in a box, to be disturbed only when we move or when capacity is reached in the attic or garage.

We are at capacity after the move back from St. Louis, so the time has come to sift through memories. My Mom moved a few years ago, and she threw out whatever I didn’t take, so I took most everything. That was a mistake as now I have the same problem.

My Dad saved everything, including every letter he wrote me when I was in college. He kept lists of the names of my wife’s siblings and their birth years. He kept odd commentaries on old friends and acquaintances. He had sheet after sheet of the real names of celebrities who adopted a stage name. There are files everywhere with grade sheets and receipts detailing my collegiate experience. There are newspaper clippings from letters to the editor I wrote, and my high school stuff that he felt compelled to retain.

Going through them every decade or so brings equal parts glee and misery. Two things always stick in my mind – Dad was very funny, and raising a person as odd as I was must have been a challenge.

One letter from my freshman year is fairly typical:

Dear Kent,

You told your Mother that the gas tank in the Pontiac was one quarter full. When I checked it this evening, there wasn’t enough to get her to work and back tomorrow. I put $10.00 worth in the car so she could get to work. You know that this does not make me happy. There will be rules when you get home from school.

Good Luck. Love,

There was some other stuff in there about school finances. In another letter, Dad wrote some nice things about my latest report card saying that one of two things must have happened to cause a turnaround for the better. “Either Julie has been a great influence, or you were hit in the head by a brick. Call your Mother and tell her which it was.”

Reading through the letters made me laugh, but reminded me how difficult I found life in college. Sitting in a lecture hall learning whatever pap was being dispensed by the academic twits who gave about 20% effort in teaching us was not productive for me. Others seemed to revel in learning about sociology. I did not. My skepticism didn’t allow the interpretation of meaningless facts and perspective, so Mom and Dad kept writing checks, and I drifted.

Thinking about that is not fun for me, and so while the laughs at Dad’s ability to communicate bluntly were enjoyable, the memories of an unpleasant and mediocre academic life are painful. Keeping these mementos seems counterproductive, so I am going to purge. Boxes filled with reminders of my frustration and the frustration I caused others seem ripe for pitching, and so I will.

Why Dad made copies of all the letters he wrote is anyone’s guess. Why I would protect them is a more relevant question, and I’m choosing not to.

We all mature and grow through our adolescence, and the process of becoming an adult can have some ugly moments. Most of us create some distance between our past selves and who we are. Many have a romanticized version of that time. Some had no negative issues at all. I have boxes of files that remind me in very precise detail the awkward and uncomfortable kid I was.

Remembering Dad and celebrating his memory doesn’t need to involve the maintenance of hundreds of documents and trinkets. I’m going to do today what Dad should have done a long time ago, decide that some things aren’t worth remembering in exact detail. My romanticized view of college will do quite nicely, thanks.

As for the files on the legal action of Vic and Lucille Lauer against our family for sump pump spillage on to their property, those go too.

I’m putting my memory on a diet.

Voice of the NFL – Pat Summerall Dies at 82

by Kent Sterling

Not many can be both a broadcaster and cool guy, but Pat Summerall made both seem easy.

He sounded like an autumn Sunday. Pat Summerall made it sound so easy and fun that for a time, he defined excellence in broadcasting.

Summerall was so good that many fans had no idea that he had actually played in the NFL as a kicker for 10 years for the Lions, Cardinals, and Giants.

It was easy to forget that you were listening to a broadcaster and not a friend during games. Summerall was a good guy who didn’t give much thought to getting his calls on Sportscenter. He just told us what happened, and seemed to enjoy it as much as we did.

There was a time in broadcasting, before Gus Johnson came along, when the job of a play-by-play guy was not to define moments for us, but to experience them with us.

I wrote about Verne Lundquist’s excellence while listening to him describe action at last weekend’s Masters. Summerall did things in a similar way. He didn’t prethink the event, or script his pithy final thoughts.

Summerall never tried to be anything or anyone other than who he was. Confident, calm, and decent, Pat was a great guy to watch a game with.

Somehow or another, broadcasting has evolved into performance art that rewards the outrageous and verbose. Summerall was never either of those things.

He reportedly had his battles, but they never seemed present in his work.

The NFL and Masters were never as cool again without him.

There are broadcasters like Mike Tirico and Joe Buck who are defining greatness for the next generation, but Summerall brought a real guy into our homes.

We’re down to Lundquist, Al Michaels, Dick Enberg, and the gold standard of Vin Scully from the voice of our youth who do their profession proud every time out.

Summerall said once that he and his partner Tom Brookshier walked into the press box laughing, and they left laughing three hours later. That made me want to be a broadcaster, and happy that he was.

Hopefully, he’s laughing now.

Lance Berkman Hates Wrigley Field – for $185,185 this week!

by Kent Sterling

Since newer stadiums started pampering players as the rock stars they believe they are, opposing players have hated Wrigley Field. Former White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen raised hell about seeing rats. Now Lance Berkman becomes the latest to squawk about the lack of comfort in one of baseball’s great Cathedrals.

“It’s one of the worst places in baseball for, well, just about anything. I really don’t like it. I read where they got approval for some more upgrades. Count me in the group of people extremely happy to see that. I guess I’m just spoiled. There is a tremendous history associated with it and there is something special about playing on the same field that guys like Babe Ruth did. But really, what kind of history is there? It’s not like there has been one championship after another. It’s mainly been a place for people to go and drink beer,” Berkman told the Fort Worth Star-Telegram and the Dallas Morning News.

Spoiled is a good word for what Berkman is. The tab for him to hit and only hit this year for the Texas Rangers, who will visit Wrigley Field for a three-game series beginning tonight, is $10 million. Last year, the St. Louis Cardinals paid Berkman $123,711.34 for each of his 97 plate appearances.

Guys like Berkman ought to just shut the hell up and play ball.

Ballparks shouldn’t be and aren’t built for the luxuriation of the players. The field is for the players. The stands are for the fans. Fans get a chair or plank of wood, and they pay too handsomely for the privilege. Berkman will pocket $185,185.19 for being inconvenienced on these three nights.

It’s not that Berkman isn’t worth it compared to other professional hitters. He’s one of the best 150 hitters in baseball history, and the Cardinals don’t win the 2011 World Series without him.

Maybe Berkman is a bit grumpy because the Friendly Confines have not been so friendly to the Big Puma. His career average at Wrigley is .215.

Instead of talking about long walks from the clubhouse to the field and tight quarters, shut up and play ball – or shut up and count your cash.

Purdue Basketball – Week’s Third Transfer Says Goodbye to Boilers

by Kent Sterling

Matt Painter wants wins – or there’s the door.

A few years ago, my boss walked into a department head meeting and said, “I like all of you, but I love my family.” If Matt Painter didn’t say that in words this week as three Boilermakers have departed for parts unknown, the message is clear.

What happened last season will not be repeated.

Sandi Marcius, Jacob Lawson, and now Anthony Johnson are transferring. Dru Anthrop and D.J. Byrd are going to graduate next month, so what’s left is a very young and talented group to find a way to bounce back, and if they can’t the exit door will continue to get plenty of use.

Painter is not going to sit still for 16-18 because that is not the result he is paid to provide, and right now, minus the results of a very talented 2007 recruiting class, the Painter Era has been less than steller.

For the four years E’Twaun Moore, Robbie Hummel, and JaJuan Johnson played together, Purdue was an outstanding 107-33. In the four years without the Big Three, the Boilers have been 69-62. That represents a 9 1/2 win per season difference.

Two years ago, Painter had the opportunity to jump to Missouri, and he passed on the gig at the 11th hour. If Ronnie Johnson, Terone Johnson, A.J. Hammons, Raphael Davis, and New Albany’s Donnie Hale will welcome guard Bryson Scott, and wings Basil Smotherman and Kendall Stephens. Scott is ranked #75 by Rivals, and Stephens and Smotherman come in at #61 and #112.

The class ranks #27 nationally and fourth in the Big Ten, also according to Rivals. That’s a good class for Purdue, but can it be enough for the Boilers to break into the upper echelon of the conference?

Indiana has lost a ton of offense with the graduation of Jordan Hulls and Christian Watford, and Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller heading to the NBA, but they welcome the number three class in the country. Michigan loses Trey Burke and a bunch of inconsequential seniors (no offense!), but brings in Zak Irvin (#34), Derrick Walton (#47), and Mark Donnal (#107). Michigan State has everybody coming back but Derrick Nix, and adds Gavin Schilling (#125). Ohio State loses Deshaun Thomas to the pros and Evan Ravenel to graduation, but bring back everyone else including the great Aaron Craft. They also add to top 100 freshman in Marc Loving and Kameron Williams.

Closing the gap require not just your own improvement, but a more profound improvement than your competition.

There is no doubt Purdue will improve if there is a switch that flips for Hammons. He is capable of being a dominant big man, but must embrace a work ethic that will find him lead the charge back on defense, not trailing the play. When he wants to be great as he did against Indiana last season, he is special. He needs to wake up with that desire, and that starts now, not in November.

This will be a fascinating year for the Boilers program and for Painter’s career. He’s one of the best coaches in the country, but cannot have another 16-18 season.

The three kids who have abandoned ship, or been shoved off the plank, were not going to lead the Boilers to a Big Ten title, but through their absence might provide the motivation for those who remain. Painter is not playing games. It’s win or walk in West Lafayette.

Boston Marathon Tragedy – Respond by Living with Love, Compassion, and Joy

by Kent Sterling

Explosion at Boston Marathon leaves three dead, and 152 injured.

The video is terrible. Runners fell to the ground immediately after the explosion. Pictures of severed limbs and the three who died are all over the networks, websites, and newspapers. The question is being asked in every home, “Are we safe?” The answer is no.

There is good news in that the odds of being blown up pale in comparison to the chances of dying in other ways.

Here are statistics showing the average number of American deaths each day by random acts

Ten people die accidentally drowning.
30 people die in drunk driving crashes
45 people are murdered – two of which die by being beaten to death with fists and/or feet
Nearly the same number of people die each year from the flu and pneumonia as the number of Americans who perished in the Vietnam War.
More than 100 people each day take their own lives – annually that totals more than ten times the number who died on 9/11.

I know a person who refuses to do business in a bank because of the chance it might be robbed. In 2009, 21 people died in bank robberies in the United States. All 21 were robbers.

The point is not to minimize the tragedy in Boston, but to make sure our response is proportionate and reasonable. For the three who died, were injured, and their families and friends, it doesn’t matter if the odds are almost incalculable that they would be harmed during the running of yesterday’s Boston Marathon. It happened, and they deserve our compassion and love.

But let’s keep this horror show from altering the joy with which we live our lives. To gather for any event with a thought of the danger that lurks is irrational and unwarranted.

Say a prayer, relax, and enjoy yourself. Unless your primary fear is that you will die of heart disease, stroke, or cancer, it will likely go unanswered.

The media doesn’t go to any great lengths to show people dying of heart attacks and cancer because it happens all the time (more than one-million times each year in America). The media likes two things – the unusual and video of it happening. The job of media is to compel an emotional response, and there is nothing like video of explosions to shock us.

Showing us the very best and very worst of human nature is what the media focuses on every hour of every day, and planting bombs where innocents will certainly be injured or killed qualifies as the worst. Wanton acts of violence are the tools of those who devalue life and liberty, and the perpetrators should be forever removed from our midst.

To rob a family of a loving eight-year-old who waited at the finish line to hug his dad as he finish is as heinous and miserable an act as I can possibly imagine. I don’t believe we have ever executed a murderer in America by stoning him or her to death, but if a judge sees fit to authorize one here, I’ll pack some rocks and head to Boston.

But our reaction in our daily lives should be to give their act no power as we move on with our lives. Every time zealots act to change our way of life, we should tell them to go to hell by continuing to love, trust, and laugh.

Cowering in fear fulfills the terrorists’ psychotic need to turn us into them. Don’t indulge it. Make them powerless by ignoring the act and attacking life.