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I’d say it’s the parents and those looking to profit from the parents that are driving the biggest problems in youth sports today. Another thought: I’d be willing to bet that parent/coach behavior re officiating has only gotten worse as professional and college sports rely more on technology to resolve the grave “injustices” of human error.

2 obvious clues it’s not D Tees from Donnie No mention of recruiting and exposure services. No mention of the site being for sale 😎

Last I knew Brian Lewis was an assistant commissioner of the IHSAA, so I think it is an imposter Brian Lewis.

Public schools are required to serve every student, follow public transparency laws, and answer directly to taxpayers. Schools accepting vouchers? Not always. If public money is funding education, shouldn’t the same standards apply to everyone? 📚

I will preface all I’m about to say by stating I have been involved in yute sports from every angle, player, coach, official, and administrator, I always felt like I had a pretty good handle on what we, at least I was trying to accomplish with yute sports. And call me a romantic, but I truly believe athletics are an extension of the classroom. With all that being said everyone is aware of the current state of officiating at all levels. Shortages, bad officials, inexperienced officials working to high of levels, rinse, repeat. Over the weekend while supervising a club softball tournament I read numerous posts on FB complaining about umps… from C level to a HS Varsity HC complaining umpires cost his team a sectional championship in a 7-6 that featured his opponent hitting a grand slam. Most of the posts, complete with pics and vids did show a generous strike zone. But the recurring theme I heard was yes it was like that the every game of the sectional. Everything I saw as an uninterested third party looked consistent to me. WTF else can you ask for? I will assure you when I’m on fire behind the dish I’ll still miss a couple. Which leads me to the point of this paperback. I’m 61 years old and I realize I’m from another time, but in my thinking, we need to adjust to Blue’s zone. That would seem a LOT more logical than bitching about balls and strikes on FB wouldn’t it? Today I got involved in this gem on FB. 11 YO gets punched out on a pitch in the other batters box, it’s a bad call, but it IS the call. My point is my thought process in ALL of this I’m trying to teach my kids A) shit just went wrong, how are you going to react and B) to control what they can control. And don’t waste energy on stuff you can’t. Instead of whining on FB and looking like a TOTAL BEOTCH, what if we taught our kids to make adjustments. If Blue’s got a wide zone, let’s throw our hands at it, foul it off and maybe the next pitch will be something we can do something with. On the other side of it, when you’re sitting over there on that bucket, don’t you keep calling farther and farther out until you figure out Blue’s limit is? What are we trying to accomplish with youth sports today? As an official and administrator, what are we doing? Are we here for the NIL money, college scholarships, have fun, child development, social status ( yes I’m looking at you in particular Westfield), I’m down with whatever just let me know what we’re trying to accomplish

Sometimes.

Cignetti and crew landing some big recruits over the past couple of days. Not used to seeing them land 4 stars. One, right out of Ohio away from the Buckeyes...... https://www.si.com/college/indiana/football/hoosiers-win-recruiting-battle-for-dajon-talley-rhodes https://www.si.com/college/indiana/football/reinaldo-perez-ohio-state-recruiting-win https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/iu-football-recruiting-hoosiers-get-commitment-from-2027-4-star-edge-myles-smith/ not 4 stars but great commits https://www.indystar.com/story/sports/high-school/2026/05/18/indiana-football-recruiting-brownsburg-wr-branden-sharpe-commits-to-iu/90147369007/ https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/iu-football-gets-commitment-from-class-of-2027-cornerback-rico-jackson/ https://www.on3.com/teams/indiana-hoosiers/news/2027-standout-safety-brady-scott-commits-to-indiana/

So I have to follow the rules of the game but the umpire doesn't have to...

hidi hidi hidi ho.......orange whip??

This will be an interesting topic as it moves forward. I too hate what the travel sport teams are doing too the kids. It's never their fault, the ump (official) screwed us, me our team...... Like IO says, adapt to how the game is being called.

The heck did college baseball do to you?

Word! But just for illustration here. It’s my zone, you need to adapt.

The 2017 Dodgers are the only team other than the 2026 Cubs to have posted two 10-game winning streaks and a 10-game losing streak in the same season. "The 2026 Chicago Cubs apparently became just the second team ever to combine two 10-game winning streaks with a 10-game losing streak in the same season. What makes the Cubs even more unusual is that they accomplished all of it before June, whereas the Dodgers' streaks were spread across a much larger portion of the season."

my Stance still the same: 65-35, Arlington...... Let's call this what it is: Mayor Brandon Johnson is up for reelection NEXT year..... guess where many if not all the votes to kill the Bears bill to Arlington came from....... Connect those dots, Chicago Reps in Springfield are killing every Bears Bill, so they can get re-elected and Johnson gets the boot..... Let's just say Bears cannot find a way to build the stadium at Arlington..... what and who purchases that land that was once a pretty nice race track?? Bears have to start to think about recoup their close to 200 million dollar purchase.....