The Colts must win it all and they must win it all now.

First appeared on December 23rd, 2009
in The Lebanon Reporter

All this talk about 16 and 0 has more heads spinning than the County Fair Tilt-a-Whirl. Go for it or don’t. It means everything or it means nothing. What will they do? Is Jim Caldwell really willing to sacrifice a 14-0 start?
With all this undefeated noise clogging our airways it would once again seem we are unable to see the forest for the trees. Forget staying undefeated in the regular season, it is the looming playoff run that will ultimately define the year as well as likely determine the fate of the Colts franchise. What are they? Are they truly champions? Perhaps they are merely just a team built to dominate the regular season. Are they truly the best or are they simply the ones who wanted it more when the games meant less?
Sure they have won the AFC South (like every year since the NFL created it). But what does that really get you? We also know how the NFL regular season works. Some teams get everybody’s best shot. Defending champions (Pittsburgh), the media darlings (Dallas), public enemy #1 (New England) and then there are those who fly beneath the radar gobbling up wins like a champion Hungry-Hungry-Hippo player. A small market traveling medicine show piloted by arguably the greatest football mind ever to lace them up. Is this an accurate description of the Indianapolis Colts or are they truly the best?
A Super Bowl trophy is the only thing that can prove once and for all that the Colts are the class franchise of the NFL. Without it they are all merely deckhands on the S.S. Manning charting a path towards the land where the Buffalo Bills roam. As great as this season has been and as amazing as Manning has played, history won’t remember 16-0 without a championship (see the Patriots). History is far kinder to champions. That’s why Emmitt Smith is doing Just For Men Hair Gel commercials and Thurman Thomas is, well we don’t really know what Thurman Thomas is doing now do we?
The point is the Colts have come too far not to finish this thing. Would anyone really care about Christopher Columbus had he almost made the Caribbean only to turn back home because he forgot to DVR “Desperate Housewives”? Not securing a Lombardi Trophy this season would be like the Allies successfully invading Normandy only to go on and lose to the Axis powers. We’re talking about history now and history is bigger than any sprained toe or sore knee. History is forever.
The answer is simple. The Colts need to play their last 5 games like they are the last games they will ever play. They need to play like caged lions turned loose in a Turkey pen on Thanksgiving morning. They need to play like they are foot soldiers marching to the sea with General Sherman. They need to play like they are all stunt doubles acting in the last five minutes of any Bruce Willis movie ever made (except Blind Date of course). They need to play with the reckless abandon Olive Oyl would show in a steel cage death match with a female East German Olympic athlete sporting thighs the size of an elephant’s neck. Well, you get the idea.
The time is now. The accomplishments of this season to date mean little. The gaudy statistics are nice, but without the luster of a championship trophy records tend to tarnish with age. Everything that matters lies on the horizon; the question is whether the Colts will make it that far or not.

Tales from Jim O'Brien's Christmas Stocking

First appeared on December 16th, 2009
in The Lebanon Reporter

As Colts coach Jim Caldwell struggles with how best to play out his schedule, he has not been at a loss for advice. To the surprise of nobody, Peyton Manning and Dwight Freeney both say they want to play but will accept Caldwell’s decision. Most understand the pressures of mainstream society require that all card-carrying members of “The Former Coaches of America Club” weigh in on such unclear issues. Former Bears Coach Mike Ditka says play your starters till the end while Tony Dungy sticks by his decision to rest guys when there is nothing left to play for. While Caldwell wrestles with his decision, across town another professional coach is struggling with issues of his own. At the time of writing this the Pacers, despite winning two straight, were still 5 games under .500 and had just lost Danny Granger for a month.
While the Pacers struggles can’t be hung solely on one player, they likely will wind up hanging one man. It’s probably safe to say Pacer Coach Jim O’Brien’s season isn’t off to the start he’d hoped for. Though off season acquisitions Dahntay Jones and Tyler Hansbrough have brought excitement the Pacers still find themselves one game away from slipping into the Central Division basement; and taking up permanent residence here is likely not the best career move O’Brien could make right now.
According to the numbers the Pacers are better defensively. This comes as a relief after a long off-season that saw the front office wear the word defense out just as the mass media have drummed the Tiger Woods story to death. What then is the explanation?
One issue is Danny Granger. As good as he has been on the offensive end the Pacers need more from him defensively. Bird needs to rig the Pacer Secret Santa draw so he can gift Granger a DVD of Michael Jordan’s Greatest Hits. The idea is to understand how Mike dominated BOTH ends of the floor. To take his game to the next level, and win more games, Granger needs to welcome the match up with the opponent’s best offensive player (translation: stop making Jones guard LeBron). Granger’s athletic 6’8 frame should be enough to help him lock down the top scorers in the league.
The second hint Santa would stick in Jim O’Brien’s stocking if he were a Pacers fan is that its time to sit TJ Ford. In virtually every Pacer loss the team has suffered though dry spells where they’ve made scoring points look like a third grader trying to do Calculus. This falls on the point guard. It took Jarrett Jack about two months to put some doubt in O’Brien’s mind last year as to who should be starting. With Jack gone to Toronto, the same has now happened with Earl Watson.
The point is clear. When Watson is on the floor, the Pacers are stronger defensively and the ball moves better. Open shots are just one direct result of good ball movement and, with the shooters the Pacers have, finding more open shots should be enough to avoid those dreaded dry spells that have plagued them all season.
The point is not to give up on Ford. He can be a nice change of pace off the bench and provide your second five with some offense. If he doesn’t want this however, then the point is to give up on Ford.

Just another boring day in the life of the Indianapolis Colts

First appeared on December 11th, 2009
in The Lebanon Reporter

So the Colts won again. With a 27-17 victory over the Tennessee Titans Sunday, Indianapolis ran its record to 12-0 on the season. Yawn. They also tied an NFL record with their 21st consecutive regular season win. Yawn. They have now won 12 games in a season for an NFL record 7th time. Yawn. The win was their 113th of the decade tying them with the San Francisco 49ers of the 90’s as the most wins ever by a team in a 10 year span. Yawn.
This is the typical reaction of so many to the success of the Indianapolis Colts. No matter what they do, those in the national media remain apparently unimpressed. There was more discussion on the post game shows Sunday about Ochocinco’s Sombrero and the state of Tom Brady’s pinkie finger than there was about the perpetual success of the Indianapolis Colts.
Be it a “small market conspiracy” or the fact that the face of the Colts is about as controversial and outspoken as a Buddhist Monk who’s taken a vow of silence, Indianapolis remains the NFL’s Rodney Dangerfield. What the Colts are doing has never been done before. I’ll pause while you think about that. Those of us in Indiana are likely guilty of overlooking them too. We see 18 take the field Sunday after Sunday and simply expect the Men in Blue to win as a result.
But the success of the Colts runs far deeper than Manning’s “laser rocket arm”. You could pay $75 for a ticket, $9 for nachos, squeeze yourself into a seat between the guy with a Colt blue mohawk and some dude who says he rotates Peyton’s tires and not see the real reason behind the unprecedented run of the Colts.
The real reason behind the success of the Colts can likely be traced to three things: The hiring of Bill Polian, his hiring of Tony Dungy and the drafting of Manning. The Colts were 3-13 the season before Polian was hired. The next year he sealed the fate of the franchise by selecting Peyton Manning and NOT Ryan Leaf (who draft guru Mel Kiper claimed had an attitude that would benefit any NFL team).
While most GM’s are working the phones and scratching the backs of greedy agents trying to land monster off season signings, Polian is standing in the rain on a Thursday night watching Ball State play Central Michigan. The draft is where he has built the Colts. The Colt’s have reaped the benefits of Polian’s notorious eye for talent and uncanny knack for finding difference makers in the most unlikely of places (see Pierre Garcon).
Bringing Tony Dungy in was a brilliant move as well. It can be argued that Dungy’s work in building the perfect beast that is the Colts was done largely off the field. He did more than simply coach a team up, Tony Dungy created a culture. And, though he is now working for NBC, that culture endures. Polian’s job then has always been to find guys who not only have talent, but also fit Dungy’s system; the prerequisite of which is to accept the responsibility that comes with being a Colt.
Of course thirdly is Manning whose success has been well documented so we’ll spare you the time. It would seem for now however the Colts are destined to remain the NFL’s “elephant in the room”, but if you happen to be a member of the Detroit Lions front office and are looking to blueprint anything about this franchise; forget about #18- you’d be wise to start with the culture.

What does Football on Hardwood, Al Gore, old Chevy Impala's and the Cold War have in common?

First appeared on December 1st, 2009
in The Lebanon Reporter

Well it’s that time of the year again; the proverbial “Most wonderful time of the year”. For Big Ten fans however, the ACC/Big Ten challenge has not been a wonderful time for anything. For far too long, or since its inception whichever you please, the Challenge has ended with the Big Ten finding itself in a familiar spot; safely strapped to the ACC’s whipping post.
There is a saying in Slavic cultures about whipping posts which goes “Nothin’ seems to change, bad times stay the same”, or maybe that was the Allman Brothers, either way for 11 years the numbers don’t lie. The ACC has been dominant winning all 10 challenges with an overall advantage of 62-35.
In years past one got the feeling the Big Ten had about as much chance of winning the Challenge as that of an Aztec prisoner escaping a ritual sacrifice. And for those of you who didn’t major in World History, that chance would be zero. The only thing more amazing than the ACC’s dominance in the Challenge is the fact that ESPN continues to pay for the rights to broadcast it.
The Big Ten’s inability to win the Challenge has been a harbinger of their performance on the national stage as well. For the last 20 years, rare has been the number one seed or Final Four. In fact since 1989 the Big Ten has notched only 2 National Champions while the ACC has seen 7 teams cut the nets down.
But this year is different. This year there is something in the air. Al Gore would tell you it is too much hair spray or the exhaust of a ’78 Chevrolet Impala, but I believe it to be the winds of change. This year the Big Ten seems to once again resemble the power basketball conference it once was.
To be clear, this is the year the Big Ten will finally win the challenge for the first time. Write it down, fold it up and send it in, there is no way the Big Ten loses for an eleventh time (at least not this year).
Currently the Big Ten boasts 5 ranked teams with 2 in the Top 10. Conversely the ACC has 3 ranked with only 1 being a Top 10 squad. While a few of the match ups may appear to be one-sided (see Maryland vs. Indiana), Sparty (the only Big Ten team with a winning record in the Challenge) facing UNC on the road and Illinois going to Clemson’s Littlejohn Coliseum are just two games that should prove extremely interesting.
Purdue’s “football on the hardwood” should be enough to manhandle Wake Forest while both Penn State and Northwestern have opportunities to open some eyes with tough road wins.
In a week where we should be discussing which undefeated college football team will wind up where, the BCS has once again reminded us that hers is a system born of that rare combination of indecision and incompetence. With this in mind, the Big Ten/ACC challenge moves to the forefront of our attention. So roll the balls out and let’s go.
For three days Purdue fans root for IU and Buckeyes cheer for the Maize and Gold. For three days the Big Ten is the United States and the ACC is the Soviet Union during the height of the Cold War. It’s corn-fed beef and combines versus shellfish and sailboats, the black and blue bang’em up style of the Big Ten versus the wide open play of the ACC. On second thought, maybe this is the most wonderful time of the year.