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Bobref

Booster 2023-24
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Everything posted by Bobref

  1. Really glad for Mongo, though bittersweet. Also glad for Hester, who clearly deserved it if any special teamer was ever going to get in.
  2. My post in the Travel Rule thread: I love it when one of our schools decides it wants to wear big boy pants all the time. St. Frances is going to be interesting. They were “only” 5-6 last season. But their schedule included heavyweights like Buford (GA), Chaminade (FL), Mater Dei (CA), East St. Louis, (IL), St. John Bosco (CA), IMG (FL). A little road trip to Indianapolis is nothing for those guys.
  3. I love it when one of our schools decides it wants to wear big boy pants all the time. St. Frances is going to be interesting. They were “only” 5-6 last season. But their schedule included heavyweights like Buford (GA), Chaminade (FL), Mater Dei (CA), East St. Louis, (IL), St. John Bosco (CA), IMG (FL). A little road trip to Indianapolis is nothing for those guys.
  4. In 40 seasons of officiating high school football in the northern part of the state, I had the pleasure of officiating Penn games many times. Coach Yeoman had many notable achievements on the field. But what stood out in my mind, what separated him from many other very successful coaches, was his class and sportsmanship. It didn’t matter what the scoreboard said, he was the same. Penn is so fortunate to have had him in a position to positively influence so many. A great coach … and a better man.
  5. If the Bears are even considering keeping Fields and trading down, keep in mind that the first 3 picks are likely to be QBs. If they’ve decided they’re sticking with Fields, they trade the #1 for Washington’s #2 plus. Then, they still don’t need a QB, so they can flip the #2 for the #3 with the Patriots, plus, and they can do the same with the #3 with anyone else. Or, they can keep the #3 and take Harrison, Jr. So, it’s not just a question of Caleb Williams vs. Fields, and the whole rookie contract thing. It’s Williams and his rookie contract, vs. Fields (who has 2 seasons left on his rookie deal) plus whatever they can get by flipping the picks, which would presumably include several projected starters who would also be on their rookie deals.
  6. My post on the Super Bowl 3 years ago today. 🤣😂 Oh God of the Gridiron, today is Your Day. First, we give thanks for last weekend’s great victory, as your mighty right arm TB12 carried your justice into the den of iniquity that is Lame-Bow, and struck down the dog-ass Pack and their evil sorcerer, A-rog. We ask that, in your infinite mercy, you get some tickets for A-rog... so that he can get back to the Super Bowl once more in his career. But now, Lord, we come to you with an even greater ask. The upstart Mahomey, and his henchmen, led by the infamous Andy “Not so thin as a” Reed, invade your sacred ground in Tampa. Oh Lord, let your ambassador in this world, TB12, once again call down the lightning on the young pretender, so as to instruct him in your most important Commandment: THOU SHALT HUMBLE THYSELF BEFORE BRADY!!! You created the football world in only 7 glorious days. Now we implore you to bless your faithful champion, TB12, with his 7th ring, symbolizing the triumph of football good over football “I’m in a hurry to be the greatest of all time.” Amen.
  7. One of the things I like about the Super Bowl is the proliferation of creative “prop bets,” many of which are only distantly related to football. Then, I thought the people on the GID are just as creative as whoever it is that comes up with those goofy prop bets. So, let’s hear some imaginative prop bets for Sunday. I’ll start. Over/under on the number of times Taylor Swift is shown embracing Travis’ mother: 3.5 Over/under on the number of times Mahomes is compared to Tom Brady: 2.5 Over/under on the number of times Andy Reid and hamburgers/cheeseburgers are mentioned in the same sentence: 0.5
  8. Heard some interesting takes on the Bears-Fields situation: Washington has the #2 pick, and they are definitely going to take a QB. Caleb Williams, in addition to being the consensus #1 draft choice, grew up in Washington, D.C., and was coached last season by Kliff Kingsbury at USC. He’s now the Washington OC. Would they trade up to get #1, and if so, how much would they give up? Caleb Williams is in a unique position. He is the first “generational QB talent” of the NIL era. He can go back to USC for another season and still make millions in NIL. He’s doing national TV commercials. In fact, under the rookie pay scale, he would likely make more money by staying than he would make in the first year of his NFL career. He is estimated to make $3.2 million in NIL alone. So, he has more leverage than any undrafted college player has ever had. If he doesn’t want to go to the Bears, he has a legitimate alternative. The Bears should be mindful of Winston Churchill’s admonition the “Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.” They drafted Trubisky when the head coach, Jon Fox, was a dead man walking. Predictably, he was fired after the season and Trubisky had to push the reset button and learn a new system his second year, too. He never recovered. Then, they did the same with Fields, when Matt Nagy was “pre-fired,” and Fields had to learn a new system in his second year, with predictable results. Finally, the same scenario is rearing its ugly head now, as Eberflus is definitely gone if he doesn’t produce this season. It’s deja vu all over again. So, what makes the most sense for the Bears?
  9. Can’t say I’ve ever heard about max size for a high school by law. There is a statute that specifies maximum staff-to-student ratios, but that is for elementary schools.
  10. Usher is the halftime show. Whatever. What was the best Super Bowl entertainment of all time? There’s only one right answer.
  11. Only one I can ever recall visiting is the one in Rensselaer. I think @Coach Nowlin will back me up when I say it’s not fine dining.
  12. If they were reports of unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of staff members, they would come from the crew chief. The officials have no discretion here. If there’s an unsportsmanlike act that goes unreported, the officials have been told they will be disqualified from tournament participation.
  13. Only if there is formal action taken, as reflected in the minutes of a meeting. Anytime there is unsportsmanlike behavior on the part of a member of the coaching staff, the game officials must report it to the IHSAA. This usually leads to a conversation between the coach, his AD, and Asst. Commissioner Faulkens. My understanding is that Mr. Faulkens does almost all of the talking in that conversation.
  14. And here’s someone who thinks the hiring of Waldron and the new QB Coach shows that the Bears are keeping Fields. https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-bears-2-hires-franchise-altering I hope they’re right. Chicago Bears: Two hires affirm franchise-altering decision The Chicago Bears have a big decision to make at quarterback. It seems that they made their decision and their hires on offense signal it. The Chicago Bears kicked off their offseason by trying to set up their coaching staff. Days after their season ended, they fired nearly the entire offensive coaching staff, led by offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. They then started a search for a new offensive coordinator. Last week, after nine interviews the Bears hired former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron to do the same in Chicago. Days later, they hired Kerry Joseph to be the quarterbacks coach. While Chicago also hired a defensive coordinator over the weekend, the main concern is what happens at quarterback. Do the moves the Bears made last week signal their plans? Well, since general manager Ryan Poles and his team aren’t saying anything (yet), we only have speculation. Many people have analyzed every move he’s made. If he sneezes a certain way they speculate it has something to do with whether he’ll keep Justin Fields or use the #1 pick on Caleb Williams. Until he makes his final move and says something about it, we only have speculation. However, we can try to look at some of the facts already in front of us to at least make an educated guess. The moves Poles made could signal what decision the Chicago Bears made one way or another. Let’s take a look at what Poles’ moves could signal. Hiring Waldron What does the Waldron hiring signal? Well, Waldron came in having worked with Jared Goff, Russell Wilson, and Geno Smith. Goff had some of his best seasons when he was with the Los Angeles Rams. Waldron was the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. In 2021, Waldron went to Seattle to become their offensive coordinator. He had Russell Wilson as his quarterback. It did not go as well as planned. A big reason for that was that Wilson dealt with injury. The Seahawks traded Wilson to the Denver Broncos and Smith took over. Under Waldron, Smith had a career resurgence. In 2022, he led the NFL in completion percentage, fourth in passing touchdowns, and eighth in passing yards. What Waldron does not have is experience in taking a rookie quarterback and molding him. The Chicago Bears did interview Kliff Kingsbury, who worked with Williams in 2023. Kingsbury is fond of using the air raid offense, a wide-open high-tempo system. Instead, the Bears went with the Sean McVay coaching tree. He uses the West Coast offense using a wide zone run. Hiring Joseph Joseph is a more interesting hire that could signal the Chicago Bears’ plans. As much as Waldron worked with Smith, it was Joseph who had the day-to-day interaction with Smith. He took over as quarterbacks coach for the Seahawks at the same time Smith took over as starting quarterback. Just like Waldron, Joseph does not have experience developing a rookie quarterback. He worked well with Smith, a veteran. Joseph played in the NFL from 1998-2001. He was a quarterback at McNeese State but had to switch to defensive back. After he left the league, he went to the Canadian Football League and had some success as a quarterback. Joseph was a running quarterback, similar to Fields. He was the third quarterback in the CFL to rush for over 1,000 yards (Fields was the third quarterback to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season). In his CFL career, he passed for 28,097 yards and rushed for 4,584 yards. Waldron and Joseph have experience in helping veteran quarterbacks improve. Neither one has experience taking a rookie and developing him. This could be a case of the Chicago Bears holding onto Fields and building around him.
  15. Just won’t seem the same. Some great memories of big November games at the Inferno … with the field like concrete, my feet killing me the next morning.
  16. I believe that Olsen has a provision in his contract that allows him to leave Fox for another network, but only if it is to take a No. 1 position. I also understand the difference in compensation between the No. 1 team and the No. 2 is pretty substantial.
  17. Which, of course, I never said or implied, but you seem to have inferred.
  18. Now you’re just resorting to putting words in my mouth. I’m confident many coaches have a good understanding of many of the rules of football. It’s not their job to have the nuanced understanding of the rules and their practical application that officials do. So,they don’t. Nothing surprising about it.
  19. He’s still got plenty to worry about. But I’m also puzzled that no one has snapped Vrabel up. He’s relatively young, and isn’t going to demand total control, unlike Belichik.
  20. I’ve officiated a thousand football games, and watched several times that many. Therefore, I am fully conversant in how to coach a football team, even though I’ve never actually done it. Sounds stupid … maybe even a little bit arrogant … don’t you think?
  21. Exactly. I’m just curious whether that increased pool results in an increase in games vs. non-Indiana opponents.
  22. We don’t have the final contestants determined quite yet. But we have sufficiently narrowed the field to start a discussion. First order of business: Congratulations to Bill Vinovich, selected by the League to wear the white hat. Dependable, unflappable, veteran crew chief. Great choice.
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