Playoff Fever
Congratulations to the Indiana Fever and Coach Stephanie White for advancing to the WNBA playoffs once again. The Fever has 13 playoff appearances in their 17 year history — a remarkable achievement. Only the Atlanta Braves have more appearances with 14. This is the Fever’s 11th straight playoff. Coach White became the first “rookie” head coach to guide a team to the WNBA playoffs last season so she is 2 for 2. The Fever has 35 playoff victories, the most of any team. Tamika Catchings has been a part of every Fever playoff win and this will be the Olympic Gold Medalists final playoff appearance as a player. There is a new playoff format in which the first four seeds drawl a first round “bye.” The first three seeds are held by Minnesota, Los Angeles, and New York. The Fever hopes to grab that fourth seed which will give them a bye and home court advantage throughout the playoffs. Good luck to them. The Fever is the city’s most successful professional sports team franchise and Tamika Catchings ranks with Peyton Manning and Reggie Miller as the greatest professional athletes in Indianapolis sports history. Lets show the Fever all the love and support we can!
James Hinchcliffe is a Dancin’ Fool
What is it about IndyCar drivers that makes them so light on their feet when it comes to tripping the Light Fantastic? Helio Castroneves shocked the world by winning the season five edition of Dancing With the Stars and if you watched Monday night’s DWTS, you saw James Hinchcliffe and his partner Sharna Burgess foxtrot their way into the judge’s hearts. They wound up tied for the first round with a total of 31 points from the judges to tie him with gymnast Laurie Hernandez. Hinchcliffe makes his living from a seated position, so that’ s amazing! The 29-year-old Canadian driver was all smiles as the judges critiqued his performance. All four were impressed. Hinchcliffe drives a Dallara Honda for Schmidt-Peterson racing and won the pole for the 2016 Indianapolis 500 Mile Race. It has been his comeback from a horrific crash during practice from the 2015 Indy 500 that nearly cost him his life that has everyone talking. There is a minor scandal with “Hinch” because his Web site showed Canadian viewers how they could vote for Hinch. Of course only U.S. viewers are permitted to vote for contestants. The site was taken down by uh…you known…. the cats out of the bag. But anyway, good luck to Hinch and keep on dancing!
Number 12 is Back!
Despite a loss to the Lions, there is some good news for the Colts. Andrew Luck is back. Luck threw for 385 yards and 4 touchdowns with no interceptions. The receiving core is rock solid with WR Donte Montcrief looking for a breakout season and tight end Jack Doyle looking strong in the rotation and a worthy replacement for Coby Fleener, and second year player Phillip Dorsett is emerging as a quality NFL receiver. The offensive line is improving and special times are top grade. Defensively the Horseshoe is a disaster. If your offense scores 35 points and you still lose then you push the panic button. Same issues from last season — no pass, poor tackling, and defensive backs getting beat by receivers. It’s the poor tackling that is most upsetting. Detroit was running all over the place. They are not that good. Most importantly, Chuck Pagano was simply out coached by Jim Caldwell. Once again we see that while Coach Pagano is certainly to be admired as a human being he is not a great head coach when it comes to game management. Several poor decisions including a questionable time out call after the Colts last touchdown helped the Lions win. Any success that the Colts have this year will have to come off the arm of Mr. Luck.
snicewanger@yahoo.com