The Replay: Chuck Pagano, Metta World Peace, and ‘GameDay’

Every Friday, we post up The Replay, our weekly look at sports. It’s mostly fouls and airballs.

Are Those the Only Two Options?

Colts owner Jim Irsay has said that it’s not Super Bowl or bust for his coach and team. But what else is there for the now 0-2 Colts, seemingly everyone’s preseason favorite to make the big game? With Monday’s horrific 20-7 loss to the New York Jets in the books, let’s take a before-and-after look at the state of Colts fans.

The preseason:

Two games into the season:

Lame Chuck?

After Monday’s loss, Colts coach Chuck Pagano gave a frank (and fair) assessment of his team. Of turnover-prone quarterback Andrew Luck, who seems to have lost his receivers along with Mr. Jaffer, Pagano said: “Make great decisions. It’s not that hard. It’s not trigonometry.” The coach, who also bemoaned the play of his offensive line, later seemed to walk back from those criticisms, but that hasn’t stopped some from making wild predictions about his future. The best short-term prescription for these ills might be a good week of practice, which should look a little something like this:

 GameDay Decision

The campaign to bring ESPN’s College GameDay to Bloomington (a possible homecoming for former Hoosiers coach and current analyst Lee Corso) for next week’s matchup between the unbeaten (?!?) Indiana Hoosiers and the top-ranked and undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes has hit a snag: IU coach Kevin Wilson. During his weekly radio show, Wilson explained his position. “First, you’ve gotta fill your stadium, which we haven’t played well enough to do,” he said. “We actually blew all that up, because it’s a wasted conversation for our football team.” Fielding a solid defense—that’s a first for Wilson.

Give Peace (Another) Chance

Metta World Peace (the artist formerly known as Ron Artest) signed a one-year non-guaranteed contract to return to the Los Angeles Lakers. There, MWP will have the opportunity to be a firsthand witness to history when new Lakers center Roy Hibbert becomes the first player to completely liquify during a game from a Kobe Bryant stare-down. Fun fact: Artest has now been World Peace for as long as he was an Indiana Pacer.

Now Read This

Frequent IM contributor Adam Wren takes a look at how Crispus Attucks players feel about the Pacers’ commemorative “Hickory” jerseys.

Also worth your time: The story of a 100-year-old athlete who set five world records in the San Diego Senior Olympics.