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Every MIC team except Pike was in the top 16 per Sagarin (just one possible measure for qualification) and CG was #4 in 6A despite their record. By almost any measure they make the tournament even with a qualifier. I don't know if sand-bagging is the most accurate term, but I can definitely tell you there isn't much excitement around games at the end of the season like there could be if playoff spots or seeds are on the line for at least one of the teams. When the team has more on the line they will put more out there to achieve what they are trying to achieve. In CG's last 2 games last year they were playing teams very likely in even with a 50% qualifier. But seeding could have been at stake. LN ended up #13 in 6A so they could have been playing for a spot, but they would definitely want to improve their seeding to get away from the MIC powers in the first round. Cathedral finished #2 in 5A which in a seeded tournament where highest seed gets home field, that would have been huge! I wasn't at either game, but I watched the Cathedral game on TV. It was a fun and exciting back and forth game, but the excitement around it would have been much more if Center Grove was attempting to improve their seed and Cathedral was trying to keep their #2 seed. It would be similar excitement around a playoff game because the winners and losers impact what happens going forward. Losing the LN game or winning the Cathedral game wouldn't have changed anything regarding playoff matchups.

The Vincennes community and Lincoln football family recently lost a monumental figure this past week. Doug Roberts passed suddenly on Friday, February 7th at the age of 55. For me to put into words what Doug meant to his family, his friends, co-workers, and the football community would be impossible. The man was just a larger than life human being that could fill a room with his positivity and kindness. You could've met Doug just once and feel as though you'd been friends for years. Doug was active for 20 + years coaching and promoting football at all grade levels, but mostly with the youth. He was a positive influence for countless young players throughout his time (myself included), and he didn't have to be on a practice field to make an impact. Everyone knew Doug was a football guy and you could bring up the game in any conversation. He had such a way to motivate and give confidence, not just when it came to football, but with any of life’s challenges. The man genuinely cared about whatever your situation was and wanted to know how he could help. You would never know it, but Doug never actually played a down of football for Vincennes. He grew up in Pennsylvania outside of Pittsburgh, where he played in high school and collegiately. Football, though, was a way for him to transition to new surroundings in Indiana. By getting involved with the YMCA and youth programs in the early days, he forged friendships that have lasted to this day. Given time, his infectious personality made him a well known face throughout the community. If you didn’t know the man personally, you’d have thought he was born and raised here. He planted such deep roots in such a short amount of time. Today, Doug’s life will be celebrated at historic Adams' Coliseum, where so many influential people and notable teams have walked the floors for 100 years. Seems fitting that this mountain of a man be honored in such a place. RIP my friend

Should that be “HOF Mongo” now?

Touché. I’m just fighting fire with fire, but I shouldn’t have stooped that low as it’s not in my character.

We’re all just pawns in the game of life.

Too funny not to share......

I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express.

MLB threw this out there to deflect attention from their poor handling of the Astros cheating scandal and the response has largely been very negative.

America is good, taste it.

This isnt a discussion on turf vs grass.

Spent last night at the Wyndham in Westfield, apparently there’s a big soccer show case at Grand Park. You’ll be happy to know I saw many folks of Asian descent at the hotel, apparently paying for Grand Park supersedes the dangers of Corona Virus. I went ahead and drank copious amounts of Knob Creek rye, just to be on the safe side.

Happy to see this hire. I've always appreciated this program and how they do things. Hopefully more of the same to come.

Congrats! You saved $250k by not playing at Wabash and getting an Education Degree that you will use to get a job as a Gym Teacher for $35k in Podunk, Indiana.

So an impartial jury is present when law enforcement and prosecutors are interviewing/pressing/grilling/third-degreeing a suspect for a plea bargain or confession?

How Much More Should Trump Be Spending on You?: https://reason.com/2020/02/16/how-much-more-should-trump-be-spending-on-you/ As Parlapiano and Bui mention in their Times article, virtually all of the new spending since 2016 is being financed through borrowed money. We're spending $1,441 more per person while federal revenues have increased by just $125 per person. That explains why, despite booking the highest per person revenues in over 50 years, the national debt continues to grow. One thing both right-wing and left-wing economists agree on is that persistent, high levels of debt correlate strongly with reduced economic growth, which helps explain sluggish growth for all of the 21st century in the United States. As it happens, President Trump recently released his budget proposal for fiscal year 2021. The president's proposal isn't binding in any way. It's really just a suggestion to Congress and an announcement of his priorities. If he got his druthers, he would spend $4.83 trillion, up from an estimated $4.79 trillion this year and an actual $4.45 trillion in 2019 (see table S-1 in his proposal). As important, all of his Democratic challengers are promising even-bigger increases in spending over the coming years and it's likely that whoever ends up winning this fall, the federal budget for 2021 will be bigger than whatever exact amount we end up spending this year. Especially in an election year, we really should be talking about increases in federal spending and national debt and their relationship to economic growth. At the very least, we should be acknowledging what the Times has discovered, hiding right there in plain sight: We are spending far more per person than we were in 2016. And we should be asking everybody who wants to be president: What do we have to show for that extra $1,441? Personally I have nothing to show for that extra $.

https://www.cato.org/events/coercive-plea-bargaining

So you disagree with this statement:

Hmm, the common definition I see for the word "voluntary" is "done, given, or acting of one's own free will." I wonder how much "free will" an accused believes he or she actually has while being interviewed/pressed/grilled/given the third-degree by law enforcement and prosecutors.

This is kind of amusing: https://preview.redd.it/ijulc4abjhh41.gif?format=mp4&s=3d1aa70abf29fa63f4d7c243735e6d342655e115

https://mises.org/wire/coerced-confessions-how-plea-bargain-replaced-physical-torture Interesting how the accused is not trusted by police and prosecutors when claiming innocence but is suddenly the paragon of truthfulness when a confession, oftentimes under duress, is obtained. What kind of proof is that in regards to "innocent until proven guilty?"

Preferred walk on roster for Indiana University is bulging at the seams with Indiana kids. Depleting the available instate athletes for smaller state colleges and universities. including ,but not Limited to.other In state D1schools. Most of these kids will never see the light of day in their career at IU. whether Allen thinks he’s being generous or what. This is not a good thing.

https://mises.org/wire/social-security-terrible-investment Still, Social Security officials defended the program as comprehensive. They said it is more than just retirement income. “Rates of return on Social Security are complicated because these benefits include disability and survivors protection as well as CPI-indexed life annuities for retirees, something not offered in the commercial market,” according to Stephen Goss, Social Security chief actuary. “The value of such insurance protection,” he adds, “goes beyond just the average benefit payments, as indicated by the premiums charged for commercial insurance.” Goss argues that accumulation in private accounts “can vary widely based on timing and investment choices. As a result, serious proposals for providing some portion of Social Security protection in the form of individual accounts have generally provided some form of guaranteed return to eliminate the prospect that some individuals will have poor experience.” Social Security itself, of course, should never be confused with a real trust fund, or a real saving or investment program, as can be seen in the program's dicey trust fund accounting identified by economist Murray Rothbard about a half century ago: A Program in Trouble But beyond the debate over private accounts, almost everyone agrees on this: the current Social Security system is in the red—today more is paid out than is paid in, a deficit that is expected to get worse as people live longer and birthrates decline—and Congress must act over the next fifteen years. Benefits must either be reduced or taxes raised again, or the system’s two trust funds will reduce payments by about a quarter. The Social Security Trustees project that the retirement and disability funds, “will be depleted in 2035.” Goss, in a sentiment shared by Social Security critics, says, “Congress must act.” Social Security’s returns, taxes, and benefits have been much debated, especially over the last fifty years as the program has gone through numerous crises. Taxes have been raised and benefits cut several times. The problem of how to fund Social Security has persisted over decades. Both Presidents Carter and Reagan, in the 1970s and 1980s, respectively, signed Social Security reform packages that called for higher taxes and benefit cuts. Carter said his package would make the system “sound.” Reagan said his changes would “protect the financial integrity of Social Security.” Neither happened. William “Tip” O’Neill, a former speaker of the House of Representatives and a key player in the Social Security debates of the 1970s and 1980s, hardly touches on them in his book “Man of the House,” except to say how he and his allies prevented benefit cuts. They didn’t. And more are likely on the horizon. These failed Social Security solutions resulted in the shaky finances of the current system. However, sometimes in its history Social Security has been billions of dollars in the black. But that money was never used to shore up the program. Instead, Greszler says, the extra revenue "allowed governments to spend a lot more on other things.” Stealing from Peter to pay Paul, it's the way of the government. Social Security needs to end, and end now.