Author Archives: Kent Sterling

City of Chicago and Cubs Fans Should Tell Tom Ricketts to Go to Hell – or Schaumburg

by Kent Sterling

Smilin’ Tom Ricketts

I’ve finally had it with this smarmy intellectual creep. Cubs owner Tom Ricketts has finally gone too far – way too far – in campaigning for what is now the framework of an agreement for expanding the profitability of Wrigley Field and the area near it.

There is language for additional night events – up to 61, between the regularly scheduled Cubs games, concerts, possible rescheduled games due to cancellations, and games picked up by ESPN that won’t count against the schedule.

Ricketts wants to put signage everywhere the eye can see in and around Wrigley, and wants to violate the agreement with rooftop owners. He wants restrictions in place to prohibit advertising outside Wrigley and visible inside Wrigley. There is also a prohibition of peddling, likely to stop the vendors catching people on their way in. In short – nobody gets to make money from the foot traffic near Wrigley but the Cubs.

All of that is just business as usual for business. Maximizing the ability to profit is Ricketts right, even if they go over the “Mr. Potter” (from “It’s a Wonderful Life”) line in restricting the guys who sell discount peanuts across the street from the main entrance, and near the Addison el stop. Ricketts paid $850 million like a boob for the Cubs. Getting a chance to recoup it isn’t evil.

What is evil is what this grinning gnome said in discussing the framework of the agreement, “If this plan is approved, we will win the World Series for our fans and our city. We need this project in order to bring our fans a winner. The financial impact of this proposal will help us do that.

“It’s a significant amount of dollars that can be generated. … I’m not sure exactly which dollars come in which years, but it absolutely increases Theo’s [Epstein] ability to put dollars to work on the field — and substantially.”

What an idiotic promise. To advance the notion that there is a guaranteed quid pro quo for allowing the Cubs to turn Wrigley Field into a whorehouse of billboards, video screens, and increased square footage designed to do nothing more than allow Ricketts to stuff his pockets at the expense of the rubes who continue to hold out hope that one day the Cubs will win.

Ricketts, if he weren’t such a disingenuous twit, would have said, “Hey, what do you think, I bought this mess to blow my family’s fortune. I want cash, and the more I can wring out of it, the better. You know why? Because this is America, and that’s what we do here. If you could make a billion dollars on the backs of the morons who continue to march into Wrigley Field to watch the product I eviscerate as I shake their hands and thank them for coming, wouldn’t you!”

Yes, fans watch Ricketts and his gang of poor stewards trot out a terrible team season after season, and then thank him. Now because Ricketts wants to turn one of the most beautiful places on earth into a garden of images clamoring for the attention of the three million fans who show up each year to watch the Cubs suck, he guarantees a World Series championship.

It’s a P.T. Barnum-esque statement that should be a large enough insult to keep even the most ravenous fan from paying to watch misery in blue pinstripes. Of course, it won’t because people are idiots. Ricketts is a bad enough guy to leverage that idiocy into mogul level wealth.

The only acceptable response is for Cubs fans to deny themselves the torture of watching Edwin Jackson earn his $13 million a year for throwing enough wild pitches to make a scorecard illegible, and Alfonso Soriano avoid RBIs like his religion prohibits it. If Cubs fans were smart enough to grasp the level at which they are being fleeced, the only person watching this daily tragedy of sub-mediocrity would be head grifter Crane Kenney.

Profiting from the misery of others is a chart topper of immorality, and with every utterance of optimism, Ricketts secures his spot as one of our cultures most miserable cretins. By guaranteeing a World Series title – if the City of Chicago approves his heavy handed effort to turn Wrigley into Vegas East – he has crossed a line that belies a huge sack, and a tiny heart.

Cubs fans have suffered through three crazy ownerships over the last century. From the time the Wrigley Family became majority owners in 1921 and ran the team with quaint incompetance through the Tribune Company’s occasional reasonable stewardship to the money grubbing Ricketts, the loyalty of a great fan base has been as ill-served as any in the history of sports.

It’s time they rise up and end this mockery. Hurt this leech where it hurts – his wallet.

Collin Hartman Talks About Cathedral Finishing as Indiana 4A Runners-Up

by Kent Sterling

Roughly 100 4A high schools in Indiana started the state tourney with dreams of cutting down the nets in Bankers Life Fieldhouse as champions. Cathedral played in that game and lost. The hurt lingers despite being one of two teams to make it to the ultimate game.

Collin Hartman talks about his decision to attend Cathedral, rather than study and play at Hamilton Southeastern, as well as the pain of losing his final high school game.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z3Zd8dJAiqI

Collin Hartman Talks About Indiana University Basketball

by Kent Sterling

Collin Hartman played for the basketball championship of the state that treats the game like a religion. He is an Indiana all-star from Cathedral High School, and next year will join the refurbished historic program of Indiana University. And Hartman can’t wait to get started.

Like so many of those players recruited by Tom Crean, Hartman is a friendly and open kid, unafraid to talk about his goals. He’s smart and ambitious, but not at the expense of the way he believes basketball should be played.

Indiana high school players have a well-earned affinity and talent for shooting the basketball from distance, and nothing Hartman might do once he gets to Bloomington will dispel that.

Hartman has a well-rounded offensive game, and is able to score from the block or on the perimeter. His ability to guard wings on the perimeter needs to be evaluated by someone smarter than me. I’ve only seen Hartman guard fours and fives. He’s 6’7″, so he’s drawn the assignment to keep bigs off the block in games I’ve watched.

For a team that lost over 80% of its three-point field goals to graduation and the NBA, shooters are needed and Hartman has a solid resume’.

The knock on Hartman has been a lack of selfishness. He’s not a kid who is likely to use the phrase, “I’m getting ready to take this game over.” It’s absurd that basketball has devolved in some circles into a me-first game, and Collin hasn’t bought into that attitude.

From the way Collin’s eyes light up when he talks about the work he will be able to do in Bloomington at Cook Hall to prepare to contribute to the Hoosiers, he’s going to be a productive player.

Here are Hartman’s thoughts about going to Indiana to play for the Hoosiers (the video was private for a few minutes – back to public now):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pSFd9suPU9E

Chicago Cubs vs. St. Louis Cardinals – Cardinals Bullpen Struggles, Cubs Alfonso Soriano Brutal

by Kent Sterling

The St. Louis Cardinals are routinely very good. Making the postseason in nine of the last 13 seasons demonstrates consistency that most franchises covet, but the 2013 edition has an achilles heel that Jason Motte’s injury has allowed to become a problem.

The bullpen is weak. Despite the addition of Trevor Rosenthal and left Randy Choate, the Cards are having trouble holding leads. The starting rotation has four starters with ERAs of 2.05 or below in 69 1/3 innings. Edward Mujica and Choate have been very good, but four members of the pen are at the very bottom of the Cardinals staff in ERA.

The rotation has a record of 7-2, while the bullpen is 0-3.

Mitchell Boggs has been problem #1 with an 11.37 ERA, a loss, and two blown saves. Fernando Salas has been predictably terrible with two losses and an ERA of 8.31. Both Boggs and Salas have WHIPs of over 1.50. It’s hard to imagine why Salas remains on the roster.

After a solid 2011, when Salas ceded the closer role to Motte and was am effective setup man, Salas degraded last year to a 1-4 record, 4.50 ERA, three blown saves, and a 1.41 WHIP.

Boggs ERA had improved every year until 2013. Only two weeks into the season, has allowed eight earned in 6 1/3 after only allowing 18 in 73 1/3 through 2012 as the setup man for Boggs. Some people are built psychologically to close, and some aren’t. While the sample size is small, it appears Boggs would be better served by sliding back into his former role.

That would leave a gaping hole in the closer role until Motte returns, as Rosenthal hasn’t exactly been lights out, but one thing is for sure – the Cardinals bullpen is the reason they don’t have a five game lead in the NL Central.

The Cubs have a different problem. Alfonso Soriano, their 37-year-old, $18 million holdover from the Jim Hendry regime has parlayed 47 ABs in the middle of the Cubs lineup into exactly zero RBIs.

Soriano has always been a streak hitter whose production cannot be counted on from week to week, which might explain why the Cubs are the fourth team for a guy with that much talent, but zero RBIs from the guy counted on to carry a significant part of the offensive load for the Cubs, who are a weak 4-8.

The Cubs have problems beyond Soriano, but a guy paid $18-million needs to be on a pace to drive in more than no runs for the season after the first two weeks.

These two rivals continue to move in opposite directions. If the Cards figure out their bullpen issues and remain healthy, they should win 95 games. The Cubs continue to search for the bottom of this abyss that team president Theo Epstein seems determined to find.

The Cards are a team building machine that knows how to spend wisely and the Cubs seemed determined to liquidate every contract possible until they spent stupid on Edwin Jackson. He was worth $11-million for one year to the Nationals coming off a 7-2 run for the Cardinals in 2011, but after 10-11 for the division winning Nats, he cashed in on a four-year, $52 million deal with the Cubs.

Both teams saw their bullpens blow saves yesterday, but that’s where the similarities end. Hilariously, the Cubs surrendered a major league record five wild pitches in the sixth inning yesterday and balked home the winning run. The Cards wasted a great start by Jaime Garcia to lose to the Brewers in 10 as Boggs blew the save in the ninth and Salas lost it in the 10th.

Both fanbases went home disappointed, but for one group that will pass. For the other, it will continue for the 105th year.

Indiana Basketball – Oversigning Keeps Hoosiers at Full Strength

by Kent Sterling

Tom Crean gets an A in elementary math for the second straight year.

For two straight years, Indiana coach Tom Crean has rolled through the spring with too many players committed for the 13 scholarships the NCAA allots, and for the second year he has looked damn smart in doing it.

There are some who worry about the morality of overpromising scholarships without having a concrete notion that what is being promised can be delivered.

Rosters are fluid in college basketball. Players decide to leave for the NBA – as Victor Oladipo and Cody Zeller did last week – and others just want to move on to another school like Remy Abell. Some like Ron Patterson can’t handle the workload in the classroom, and these guys are student-athletes after all. A few like Matt Roth manage to hang on to an extra year of eligibility, but have no place on the team after earning a degree.

Indiana under Crean has been able to put together top five classes the last two years by oversigning, but haven’t had an instance where a scholarship has needed to be pulled, and until that happens, criticism of Crean’s methodology in unwarranted.

Fans can play the ‘what if’ game all they want, but Oladipo and Zeller did jump to the NBA for the big dollars that await. Had they decided to stay, I’m sure there was a back-up but have no idea what it was. As long as it was communicated honestly to the recruits, there is no problem.

Righteous indignation is the providence of the fan and media, and I enjoy practicing it myself, but 13 is the right number to land on and Crean has gotten to 13 the past two years without reneging, and that’s called doing his job effectively. Maybe he’s a master manipulator of the roster, and maybe he’s been fortunate, but the fact is he has gotten to 13-13=0 twice with outstanding classes.

That’s the name of the game. Scrambling to fill the last spot(s) of the roster is unacceptable. Preparing for the unforeseeable is part of the recruiting process, and Crean has succeeded in either making excellent education guesses or getting lucky. Either way, 13-13=0, and that’s the way great planning works.

There may have been some angst from kids and parents as they were certainly very aware of the oversigning issue. Players down the end of the bench might have been a little nervous too. But all’s well that ends well is the balancing act that is recruiting.

And there are reports that Indiana is continuing to recruit for next year, which would likely mean the end of the road as a player for the courageous Maurice Creek, whose battle to regain effectiveness after a series of debilitating injuries may come to an end without utilizing the fifth year of eligibility granted because of a red shirt season. That may not allow Creek to finish his career in the way he might have liked, but the school owes a player the opportunity to earn a degree, and Creek has had that.

Players do not have a one-way option to continue to utilize eligibility until it’s exhausted. Indiana has gotten a magical half of one season from Creek, who might have been the Big Ten Freshman of the Year in 2009-2010 if not for his first knee injury. They have also seen him try to work his way back to physical competence. He has been supported for four years in his quest to play the game he loves. If Crean and Creek need to have a serious conversation about his future at Indiana, the slate is clean.

Fans deserve the best chance of winning. The kids deserve a great education. To this point, Crean has built brick by brick a program that can deliver both.

Loyola-Chicago Leaving Horizon League for Missouri Valley

by Kent Sterling

Ryan Sterling played for the Ramblers for four seasons. Good basketball player, better son.

Conference realignment isn’t just for BCS schools. When Butler left the Horizon League prior to last season, there was no question other shoes would drop, and when Butler, Creighton, and VCU abandoned their respective ships, mayhem became imminent.

Loyola is likely the first of several shoes to drop, and those shoes might land on the Horizon Leagues head. UIC and Valpo are rumored to be under consideration for a similar trip to the Valley. That would eviscerate the Horizon League, and perhaps trickle down to the Summit League, as that conference would be a likely target if the Horizon League wants to remain viable.

The invitation from the Valley to Loyola was confirmed by a source with the Valley with direct knowledge of the negotiations confirmed that the Valley and Loyola have an agreement in principle, “and are working out details this week with a formal announcement coming on Friday, April 19.”

A member of the Loyola athletic department staff confirmed rumors that Loyola was chosen over UIC, but had no knowledge of any continuing discussions between the Valley and either UIC or Valpo.

The Valley has moved quickly to fill the tenth spot vacated by Creighton, while a year ago the Horizon League went forward with the 2012-2013 academic year with nine. Now, there are eight. In a month or two, there might be six. That’s a good number for a bridge tournament, not a collegiate athletic conference.

It’s hard to guess where the Horizon League might go to find two replacements – much less four. IUPUI fits as a non-football school based in a metropolitan area within the geographic footprint that allows for easy travel by bus. Beyond that, the pickings get thin. IPFW works geographically, as does Oakland, but there are other areas in which they don’t quite measure up.

As for Loyola, it might seem odd for the Valley to welcome a perennial bottom feeder from a lesser conference, but the landscape has changed over the last few years at the Rogers Park campus.

The Gentile Center has been redesigned, Porter Moser was hired, and the on-campus construction has transformed the university into a beautiful destination for students looking for an idyllic setting in an urban setting.

There is no reason that Loyola can’t recruit at the level of the Valley and beyond. The education is high quality, talent in and around Chicago is solid, and the university has its own private campus beach on Lake Michigan.

Masters Sunday – Verne Lundquist Is the Master of the 16th Hole

by Kent Sterling

For all of Jim Nantz’s “Hello friends” saccharine blather, and his rehearsed and pseudo-poetic commentary, the broadcaster who is most associated with the Masters is veteran Verne Lundquist.

His “Yes SIR!” after Jack Nicklaus’ birdie putt on 17 during his miracle 30 on the back nine of his final Masters win in 1986 is the most iconic call in the event’s history. Second would likely be Lundquist’s, “Here it comes…Oh, my goodness!…OH, WOW!! IN YOUR LIFE, have you seen anything like that?” after Tiger Woods’ chip on 16 in 2005.

Lundquist does two things as well as anyone in media. He allows the event to determine his commentary, and he seems to genuinely enjoy what he sees. It should be logical for anyone calling a sporting event to say what you see, and have fun doing your job. Oddly, those who pre-determine the plot of the event before it begins outnumber the men with enough confidence in both the event and themselves to let the narrative play out as it happens.

It’s not exactly digging ditches or brain surgery to describe a golf tournament, but Lunquist makes watching The Masters more enjoyable because he enjoys it.

I don’t know Lundquist personally, but he communicates clearly his belief that he is a very lucky guy to be in his position. The work to prepare for a broadcast – more so for the football and basketball games he works – can be a little more daunting than many would think. The only time viewers and listeners hear the importance of the prep work is when it hasn’t been done, and people make critical errors during a game.

That never happens with Lundquist. At the age of 72, he is every bit as solid as he was as the play-by-play voice of the Dallas Cowboys beginning in 1967.

He’s happy, congenial, prepared, professional, and best of all his words and emotions match the moment. In a profession where evaluation is almost always subjective, Lundquist has done what in my mind has been consistently wonderful work.

The Masters will move along without the current roster of broadcasters, just like it did after Chris Schenkel, Vin Scully, Pat Summerall, and Ken Venturi left the booth. The man who will be missed most is Lundquist – the empathetic and gregarious voice of the 16th hole. He doesn’t just see correctly what happens at Augusta National, he feels it. He’s there with us. He’s there for us.

It’s fitting that he works The Masters – because he is one himself.

Noblesville Basketball Coach Dave McCollough Defended Against Anonymous Flyer

by Kent Sterling

Dave McCollough is being supported by thousands who sign their names, and attacked by one who won’t. Who would you believe?

Parents are blinded by love for their children. They act like narcissistic idiots, only interested in viewing the world through the prism of what’s best for the child.

It’s a given that parents will misbehave. If you ask 100 youth or high school sports coaches what they believe is the worst part of their work, 100 will respond “Parents!” That’s life.

What they rarely need to deal with are cowardly idiots. Most make their frustrations known, and loudly.

A parent or parents of a Noblesville player circulated a flyer this week to call for Noblesville High School to fire basketball coach Dave McCollough because of a laundry list of grievances that includes serving as “slave labor” at camps and concession stands. The rest of the issues are equally silly.

The list of grievances aren’t worth discussing. They reflect the attitude of entitlement that parents have adopted over the past few years. Everyone’s child is now a miracle of God’s handiwork, and anyone who doesn’t understand that their child is the most special in the world should be disciplined, sued, or fired.

We are in a very litigious age. People have attorneys on speed dial for the most innocuous physical or mental insult. It’s been decided that the greatest weakness any of us can show is admitting an error or developing an understanding that life doesn’t always unfold the way we would prefer – for ourselves or for our children.

The tragedy of this flyer and the hubbub surrounding it is that there is a kid out there – people know who he is – with a parent setting an example so cowardly that he will undoubtedly be punished by teammates and friends for this flyer being written and distributed throughout a fairly close-knit community.

A stand taken anonymously is worthy of scorn. It is cowardly and foolish. If you are unwilling to say out loud what you believe, your belief isn’t worth saying. If you aren’t willing to sign your name to what you write, it should not be written at all.

There is a reason this website is named kentsterling.com. I want absolutely no confusion whatsoever who believes what is written here. What is in my head winds up unvarnished on kentsterling.com. I believe it. I write it. And if you disagree with it, you know exactly with whom you disagree.

Because my name is on it, I hold myself to a standard of fairness and decency. Granted, it’s my own standard, but that’s the point. Without a name, whatever pops into a fool’s brain can wind up spilling into millions of computers and smart phones without any accountability or potential consequence.

That can only bring misery for the readers and the author – as is the case with the silly and ill-conceived flyer.

The writer has been correctly given a dose of humility in the media – by 1070 The Fan’s Dan Dakich in particular. Listening to his show yesterday, Dan enjoyed levying a consequence against the author. That’s Dan’s wheelhouse, and the reason he’s such an effective host. He demands justice, and is unafraid to bring to bear the full muscle of 50,000 watts and statewide listenership.

There are means available for parents to assert their warped beliefs. Conversations can occur with the athletic director, principal, or God forbid the source of the discontent himself. Perhaps this parent did discuss his issue with the people who hold those positions or McCollough, and then went rogue when his complaint wasn’t handled to his satisfaction. We don’t know that, but what is clear is that frustration found its way into mailboxes without a signature, and without any notion of the level of discomfort it would bring to the author or his and/or her son.

Whether Dave McCollough is a good, bad, cruel, or kind coach is not an issue here. That the person trying to draw attention to his work as coach is petulant, myopic, cowardly, addlepated, and callous to his or her son is the only relevant point worth discussing.

As with all misbehavior, there is a lesson to be learned by all of us – but especially those who trust others to coach their sons and daughters – Life should be lived in a manner to which we would be proud to sign our name. The author of the flyer failed to do that – literally.

Transfers Bowing Out at Purdue and Indiana; Nothing Wrong with Any of Them

by Kent Sterling

Jacob Lawson will play somewhere other than West Lafayette for his last two years of college hoops.

College basketball players come, and then they go – sometimes before anyone would have hoped when they made their commitment and signed their letters of intent. Two from Purdue and one from Indiana decided earlier this week that their collegiate careers should continue elsewhere.

There is nothing wrong with that. Basketball players work from the time they are small for the opportunity to play in college. There are afternoons spent trying to find an open door at a school, and then more fun looking for the lights. Every once in a while, the baskets are raised to the ceiling. Ingenuity and diligence are required just to earn the opportunity to work hard.

All that work, and all that hope invested, and the result is a spot on the bench and the feeling that no amount of additional work and hope will result in the kind of success that the player feels is just. So he transfers.

Matt Painter and Tom Crean are paid an insane amount of money to lead their student-athletes to wins. There is an interest in academics, but coaches get fired for not enough wins, and criticized for not enough degrees. When a player is eating a scholarship that could be better used on a more productive player, or a player with more promise, a decision needs to be made.

Regardless of whether the transfer is prompted by the desire for a student-athlete to play more – or with a team that better suits his talents – or by a coach’s decision to help a player see that his basketball future would be better spent elsewhere, transferring to another school is good for the school and the player.

That is certainly the case with Purdue’s Jacob Lawson and Indiana’s Remy Abell. There is a large block of Purdue fans who would definitely like to have center Sandi Marcius stick around for his senior season as a backup for mercurial talent A.J. Hammons, but Marcius wants more out of his last season than to wait behind Hammons for a chance to have all that work payoff in the way he hopes.

There is nothing in any of this that reflects poorly on either Painter or Crean. Unless the players are forced out through the kind of emotional and physical abuse that Mike Rice wrought at Rutgers, players leaving is just a matter of a fresh start for both the kid and program.

Things don’t always work out. The player isn’t being disloyal in transferring, and neither is the school when these circumstances arise to make a separation wise. It’s more humane to allow a player to move on than to honor the scholarship, but not play him at all.

Teenagers are often not very good at knowing what is best for them, and coaches make mistakes in assessing the talents and behaviors of them. There is no reason that both should be penalized or evaluated negatively for calling a mistake a mistake, and moving forward.

Indiana Basketball – Remy Abell Leaving, Math Getting Clearer

by Kent Sterling

Indiana basketball lost its third undercassman this week as Remy Abell has announced his intention to transfer. That brings the current total of outgoing players to six – equalling the number of incoming players.

That makes the math as to how the Hoosiers would honor six new men much less fuzzy. Six minus six equals zero, and that’s the number coach Tom Crean is looking for.

The are reports that Crean is continuing to recruit a late signee which would cause IU to fall back into a negative situation where a current player on scholarship would be asked to leave, or one of the incoming freshman would be asked to spend a year in prep school.

I’m not a fan of over-recruiting. While piling up players with a higher ceiling makes sense from a competitive standpoint, it’s unfair to the student-athlete who was recruited with the intent to see him through to the end of his eligibility. There is nothing wrong with asking a player to leave if he fails to live up to academic or behavioral standards, but a player who is unable to compete at a high enough level to earn his way on to the floor represents an error in judgment by those who recruited him. The player should not be penalized for the error of the coaching staff.

If, which may be the case with Abell, Crean sat him down and told him that there will be fewer minutes for him in 2013-2014, and he chooses to opt out so he can play, that’s perfectly honorable.

The offseason between the sophomore and junior season is the time that players need to seriously evaluate their place in a program, and decide if life on that campus and in that program is going to be a suitable payoff for all the hard work they have done and will continue to do on the court.

If the answer is no, they need to move on, as Abell has decided to do. There is no shame or disloyalty in doing that, and there is nothing wrong with a coach honestly assessing a player’s future. The end of eligibility comes quickly, and for some, watching others play 35 minutes while they play six, is not worth the incredible investment of effort.

The recruiting of Abell appeared to be an odd decision at the time of his signing, as he locked up a scholarship that could have been used in the following class on a kid like Gary Harris, who became the Big Ten Freshman of the Year at Michigan State.

Abell wound up being a guy who could score a little bit, and defend well enough to give wings a blow.

The glut at wing just unclogged a bit, and not with a loss that will cause any degradation in competitiveness. Abell gets more minutes for a new school, and Indiana gets answers to a question that required an immediate answer. Good for the kid; good for the program.

It’s a win-win.