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Best I've seen in the past two decades, in no particular order: Chris Mills, LCC, UIndy Eric Watt (no relation), South Newton, Trine Nick Zachery, Sheridan, IU Jack Kiser, Pioneer, Notre Dame

Terrible news. Thinking of the New Haven and Snider programs as they deal with this.

I don't have a problem with anything Coach W said. I just thought it was amusing.

What bias? Stephan A. Smith is a fantastic sports commentator, always giving even praise or criticism to both sides while being careful to not favor one team or the other. What the ....... ? Sorry, I was having some kind of crazy dream. ESPN is the local network for the Knicks. They did everything except admit their bias.

Dabney Coleman, ‘9 to 5’ Star Who Made a Career Out of Playing Jerks, Dies at 92: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/dabney-coleman-dead-9-to-5-mary-hartman-tootsie-1235902521/ Truly an American Icon. He will be missed. My favorite role of his was in the excellent film Wargames.

I think his point was referencing both what you and I posted. The regular season part (your post)...the not wanting post-season Memorial (my post).

I think this is what he was referencing: And after SIAC teams needing to schedule Quincy (IL), Detroit, Owensboro, OCatholic, and St. Louis schools in week 2, I would agree that it's a pain.

What is your personal opinion of Mr. Butker's speech?

I know several young individuals, under the age of 33, who have earned a teaching degree. All except for one have quit the teaching profession after 5-6 years max. Primary reasons was not pay but a) stupid legislation like HEA 1558 and b) a mostly apathetic/unruly student body.

There has been a slight adjustment to this list that has not become official on Harrell yet. But LC will NOT be playing Providence Catholic. Per Providence Catholic's official website the Celtics will be playing Wheaton North for their week 1 and LC's week 2 on 8/30. Not sure how this happened. I have heard rumblings in the Region that LC will now play Grand Rapids Central Catholic, winners of 6 State Championships since 2016 and 12 total in their existence. Last game vs a Region opponent was against the 2021 Andrean State Championship team (34-14 W for the Cougars). The Blue Indians could be in for a tough one against the Central Catholic Cougars. Lake Central at Grand Rapids Central Catholic (MI) Week 2 (1st meeting, 13-1 with a State Championship last season. Only loss coming in week 1 to Loyola Academy, Chicago, IL)

I'm not sure that is exactly what he said, "I'm probably going to catch some heat for this, but that's ok. It's my perspective as a 3A public school coach. I think changing the number of points to "stay up" a class from 2 points to 3 points was a mistake. I do not like that this rule was changed without any discussion among high school football coaches. Many of us were not aware that the change was made until several months after it was changed. An example from our region. Evansville Memorial won 3A State Championships in 2017 and 2018. They were moved up to 4A in 2019 due to the success factor. They won a State Championship in 2019 (in 4A), they won a Regional in 2021 (in 4A), they won the 4A sectional in 2022 and 2023. In summary, they were in 4A for 5 years. They won 4 sectionals, (including the last 3 Sectionals), a Regional and a State title......and all of that "success" was not "successful" enough to stay in 4A? I would like to see a 2X multiplier (on enrollment) for all private/parochial schools and reduce the number of success factor points to stay up a class from 3 to 2 again. I think these two changes would provide a more competitive balance." I think his statement is a sound logic-based position.

And just like that…there will be officially “unofficial” football practices next week after Tuesday!

That’s because you like what he says. It doesn’t matter who is saying it.

I would much rather like to hear this pariah "kicker" before the esteemed likes of Biden and Fauci any day....(IMHO) https://nypost.com/2024/05/19/opinion/biden-fauci-and-butker-each-deliver-starkly-different-speeches-and-the-best-message-gets-vilified/ The graduating class of 2024 has been treated to three very different commencement speeches in recent days. Only one was not self-serving, dishonest and destructive. You can guess which one made the left flip out. As part of his Nationwide Pandering Tour to win back dwindling black support, Joe Biden went to the prestigious, black, all-male Morehouse College in Atlanta on Sunday and told the students that they are victims of racism and white supremacy. He told these aspiring leaders that American democracy has failed them. “What is democracy if black men are being killed in the street . . . when a trail of broken promises still leaves black communities behind . . . if you have to be 10 times better than anyone else to get a fair shot?” he asked. He imagined a black man who “loves his country even if it doesn’t love him back in equal measure.” He referred to efforts by parent to remove explicit pornography from school libraries as a book “ban” to “erase history” and implied it was racist. “They don’t see you in the future of America.” It was a rancid, depressing speech that gave nobody in the audience wisdom or nourishment to help make their way in the world. On Wednesday, the vainglorious health bureaucrat Dr. Anthony Fauci showed up at Columbia University to whine to students about the tiny subset of the media that calls him out for his lies and complicity in the pandemic disaster. “During the past four years we have witnessed an alarming increase in the mischaracterization, distortion and even vilification of solid evidence-based scientific findings and of scientists themselves,” he told Columbia’s Vagelos College of Physicians and Surgeons Class of 2024. This is the guy who lied to the world when he said masks will stop you getting COVID-19, and two masks are better than one. He told us the COVID shot would stop us getting the virus or passing it on. He swore that the virus didn’t come out of the Wuhan lab. He lied under oath to Congress and said the NIH did not fund Frankenstein gain-of-function research. He and his underlings at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases covered up their funding of EcoHealth Alliance, which subcontracted the dangerous research to sloppy scientists at the Wuhan Institute of Virology where it most likely escaped and killed millions of people. The very day that Fauci was at Columbia last week, EcoHealth finally saw its federal funding suspended for failing to adequately oversee the Chinese research. No kidding. The day after Fauci’s speech, his ex-colleague, former NIH Acting Director Lawrence Tabak, contradicted him when he testified before the House Oversight Committee. Tabak said that Fauci’s outfit, NIAID, did indeed fund gain-of-function research in Wuhan through EcoHealth Alliance. Committee chairman James Comer also revealed emails from Fauci’s former long-term senior adviser David Morens to his good friend Peter Dazsak, the head of EcoHealth, boasting about evading Freedom of Information Act requests. “I learned from our FOIA lady here how to make emails disappear after I am FOIA’d but before the search starts. So I think we are all safe,” he said. “Sadly,” said Fauci, “elements of our society are driven by a cacophony of falsehoods, lies and conspiracy theories that get repeated often enough, that after awhile, they stand largely unchallenged ominously leading to an insidious acceptance of what I call the ‘Normalization of Untruths.’ ” That is what is defined clinically as “projection” practiced by sufferers of narcissistic personality disorder. But if you feel now like you need a shower, don’t despair. Behold Harrison Butker, 28, the placekicker for the Kansas City Chiefs, who delivered a commencement address at the conservative Catholic Benedictine College in Atchison, Kan., the previous weekend, which will restore your faith in human nature. His message to a new generation was a faithful Catholic’s ode to truth, beauty and motherhood, for which, of course, he was attacked as a sexist. “I can tell you that my beautiful wife Isabelle would be the first to say that her life truly started when she began living her vocation as a wife and a mother. I am on this stage and able to be the man I am because I have a wife who leans into her vocation . . . and embrace[d] one of the most-important titles of all: homemaker.” At this point he choked up. It was a love letter to his wife, Isabelle, the mother of their two children. Any woman not touched by his words must be so damaged or delusional that she is incapable of being loved. He was pilloried by the usual suspects — and the not so usual. The sisters of Mount St. Scholastica condemned him because “his comments seem to have fostered division” as if it’s his fault that the left twisted his words and went nuts. You can only hope the nuns were hoodwinked into responding to a false version of Butker’s speech and will set the record straight once they realize their error. Butker referenced his lesser fellow commencement speakers, Biden and Fauci, as Catholics of a different stripe, who have created dysfunction and disorder in the world through their pride and fear and a lust for power. “Our own nation is led by a man who publicly and proudly proclaims his Catholic faith, but at the same time is delusional enough to make the sign of the cross during a pro-abortion rally,” said Butker of Biden. Together with Fauci, “the man behind the COVID lockdowns,” they are a “reminder that being Catholic alone doesn’t cut it.” Butker’s message to young men was less remarked upon, but it was profound. “Part of what plagues our society is this lie that has been told to you that men are not necessary in the home or in our communities,” he said. “As men, we set the tone of the culture, and when that is absent, disorder, dysfunction and chaos set in. This absence of men in the home is what plays a large role in the violence we see all around the nation.” He added, “Be unapologetic in your masculinity, fighting against the cultural emasculation of men. Do hard things. Never settle for what is easy.“ There is a reason that Butker’s jersey shot to number one last week. Gen Z is awake to the truth. The fact that, of the three commencement speeches, it was Butker’s uplifting moral clarity that was singled out for attack is a reminder of the powerful forces that want us to remain in chaos and darkness. The world needs more Butkers.

https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/columnists/gregg-doyel/2024/05/20/proposed-house-vs-ncaa-power-5-settlement-unfairly-hurts-small-schools-nil-billion-dollars/73760608007/ Nice column by Mr. Doyel. I can see this lopsided settlement being the beginning of the end of the NCAA as we know it.

Sad to hear this, prayers for the families.

Lance Cline, the Offensive Coordinator for the Bulldogs the last 3 seasons and long time assistant at Snider passed away this morning. Not many details at this point. But it’s been a tough couple years for the program. Justin Brown, an o line coach for them could not coach last season due to having leukemia. He passed away late last year. Please keep the coaches, players and program in your prayers.

Didn't know the Pacers were even in the playoffs. Congrats to them.

Have not said much because it's the NBA and the bias against small markets like the Pacers has been frustrating for decades now. But I will always be a Pacers fan; have been since their ABA days at the State Fairgrounds Coliseum. This team has the highest scoring offense in the league this year. They really are fun to watch. They really do not have a super star like the other teams still in the playoffs, so they have to play as a team. I know the Celtics are much better than the Pacers, but the Pacers are ahead of schedule for being competitive on this level.

Since Mudas opened another can of worms what schools had a juice reputation back in the days?

Dan was a badass basketball player too. I watched him throw down a bunch of dunks on Lafayette Jeffs in a regional game. They couldn’t stop him and after a while just kinda stood and watched. He was like a vanilla Charles Barkley, I swear to God he was!

Snider’s success is built around one key thing: coaching. In the last 40+ years, they have had 3 head coaches, Mike Hawley, Russ Isaacs, and Kurt Tippmann. All have lent stability to the program. When looking at Wayne, Northrop, South Side, and North Side, that coaching tree is a broken stick in comparison. No stability, bad coaching for the most part, and undisciplined play. There has been talent at those schools, but not leadership at those schools. Some of the private schools, Dwenger and Luers, have had great coaching as well, hence their success

Northrop's track success goes back decades. Probably not much to do with open enrollment, but more about those leading the program. I think all city schools are blessed with speed, it just doesn't translate to the football or track fields without the right person leading the way. I honestly can't tell you when open enrollment started in Fort Wayne. If I were to guess, I would say it's been around for a couple of decades. I believe each school is allotted x amount of transfers, but it has to be academically motivated. Each school has an academic program that is specific to that school, therefore giving students the opportunity to transfer to that school for academic purposes. Does it get abused? Probably. But probably not to the extent that people think it does. Snider enjoys success because their coaches know how to develop players for the next level. They just do things differently than thier FWCS counterparts. Bishop Luers not only have good men leading the way, but they're also the recipient of many athletes on the voucher system. The Knights aren't 100% good ol' catholic kids like they were in the 80's and early 90's. Dwenger has always been good about developing through their pipeline (Dabo mentality). North Side is loaded with talent, but is at the mercy of who's leading the way at the time. Same with Wayne, Northrop, and South Side. Consistency is key, and Snider's had it for five decades now. They've built a community that spans over 50 years. That's the difference. If you look at major D1 football talent from Fort Wayne, you'll see that they come from just about every school district. I think Snider's just better at developing the DII and DIII kids.

Correct me if I’m wrong here, but hasn’t Fort Wayne always had open enrollment? Just always assumed that the best talent was filtered to certain traditional powers.

Was never at Northrop either.