JustRules

What you don't realize is those teams they are beating are very good. It's just that the MIC is really good. And they prove it every year in the tournament. There is a reason LN, LC, Pike, NC on down years still rank high in Sagarin. BD and WC may struggle in the MIC this year, but I expect they are still really good teams. Brownsburg, Avon, Fishers, and HSE are getting better and can beat a MIC team on any given Friday.

Most will probably play a similar number of games. If someone only plays 2 games and finishes 2-0 you probably wouldn't crown them over a team that was 7-1, but I don't expect to see too many of those situations. As eschnur66 says play it out. If one team finishes 4-1 and another finishes 4-2 and the latter team won head to head they still didn't win the conference based on record.

The lack of college football helps a little with officials but not significant. There are approximately 800 licensed high school officials needed on a regular Friday night. Most of the D3 officials in Indiana also work high school games Friday night so there is minimal impact there. The HCAC has 42 officials and 25-30 of them also work Indiana HS football. There are probably about 10-12 D2 college and 12-15 D1 college officials and some of them are working HS this year which helps. The number of cancellations though is the biggest help with the shortage. A few crews and individual officials chose not to work, but there are still several crews sitting out each week.

It depends on the timing of the quarantine for the players impacted. Depending on how many they lose and when they may have a very limited roster with enough practices for week 1, but they are fine for week 2. "Key" players is one thing (i.e. starting QB), but missing an entire varsity position group is another. I have no idea the circumstance at NP, but I know that situation exists at other places.

We have been doing some car shopping this summer and every dealership we've been in has been busy.

Could Warren Central and Center Grove reschedule for week 2?

I believe the school can't host an event on their campus, but I believe the schools are allowed to rent/lease the facility to host their own events. It's some kind of distinction like that.

Because it's like a condom. It helps to greatly reduce the likelihood of contraction, but it will never completely prevent it. That's why I've said you have to go into this (students in school and athletes participating) knowing there will be some spread. If you are going to shut down if there is any spread then don't bother starting because that's not realistic even with everyone doing what they can. Masks and distancing and avoiding large groups for long periods of time seem to be the most common and consistent things to do to greatly reduce your risk. But they don't 100% prevent it.

This is where I've heard some inconsistency. The contact tracing side is being applied liberally in some cases and very conservatively in others. I know one school who sat down 10 players for 2 weeks because one in the group had symptoms but he tested negative. Other schools are isolating the player(s) who tested positive, but if no other players are showing symptoms or test negative they don't quarantine anyone else. Those programs have been doing it since July 6 with no outbreaks so it seems to be working so far.

I'm not aware of any limitations to cross state lines to play. I haven't been keeping track but a lot of states have canceled or postponed football so maybe Ohio and Kentucky are two of them. Or maybe those schools chose to not play any out of state teams. But there is nothing forcing them to cancel.

Just because someone has been tested doesn't mean they are symptomatic. I know a lot of people young and old who are getting tested for a variety of reasons. I agree if someone was highly exposed or symptomatic and that's why they are taking a test they should probably quarantine until they get a result.

I was told only 40 of the 80 players on their roster were at their intersquad scrimmage last Saturday. That's a lot more than a dozen.

Yes. There was an all-conference offensive lineman from Franklin College who officiated the past 2 years. He would work a HS game on Friday night and play his college game the next day. I talked with a friend who worked a scrimmage last night with a guy who will be a senior player at Marian. The travel for D1/D2 would normally make it hard for them to work Friday nights, and I don't know what limitations they would have to earn money like this while under scholarship. I"m thinking it could be OK. But D3/NAIA doesn't appear to be a problem.

My guess is they would keep classifications and sectionals with byes as necessary to account for teams missing. Obviously some sectionals would have more than others. Very possible there are no games in week 1 of a sectional.

I would guess if you are in a high risk group you probably don't want to on the chain crew. You don't really talk to anyone but each other, but you would be near the coaches and players on the sideline much of the game. One alternative they could consider is using extra pylons to mark the line to gain so everyone can see it. Two people on the chain crew could place the pylons and then get away from the team box. This would reduce the amount of time they are in close proximity to others and also reduce the number of people required to do the job. Most crews use a mechanic where every new series starts on the back of a line. That way we can use the lines on the field rather than an arbitrary placement of a stake on the sideline. The stakes mostly serve as reminders of where the line to gain is located. This doesn't help on fields where they don't mark every yard line or if a series has to start between the yard lines.

Just volume. It wasn't nearly as loud. For some reason the sound doesn't carry as much.

From what I've heard there is a huge demand for electric whistles so getting one may be difficult. From what I've heard they sound similar, but they aren't as loud from a distance.

A D1 friend of mine in North Carolina did a sound test with the one he got. When it was close to the camera the standard whistle and electronic whistle were fairly similar. As he moved away from the camera (up to 20 or 30 yards), there was a noticeable difference. It will be interesting to see how they work in reality.

We don't do that very often. I have heard of crews who take that approach, but I don't feel it's very effective. You don't get to know ADs and coaches and get multiple votes because you have worked a lot of different schools over the years. The staff of the school where you worked one time 5 years prior may not even be there any longer. And they are much less likely to remember if you if you only worked there once. The crews who often advance are those who work other sports or coach other sports or played college sports in Indiana with a lot of people who are not athletics directors or coaches and it usually takes a combination of all those things. The crews who commonly advance far because of a broader vote number are getting 80-100 votes or more while most crews only get 20-30. You don't get 80-100 votes because you mix up your schedule every year. As for working with a new AD/school, I personally wouldn't worry about it any more this year than any other year. If it was a new school to us I would be more thorough in my discussion about our locker room situation, assistance to and from the field, assistance with our individual water situations, their plans for ball boy management. I expect most will be fine and if they aren't I would address it with them before we ever set foot on the school grounds. Most do a pretty good job, and I expect they will continue to do a good job.

Robert attended our local association meeting last night and as of Wednesday evening around 8:00pm all scrimmages and games are on scheduled. That could definitely change though. It's very possible we could be mixing and matching crews this year and traveling all over the place. A part of that does sound fun to me for one season.

If there is football I expect schedules will be modified week by week. Week 2 a school will cancel their season due to health concerns. Week 4 and 5 4 teams will have to forfeit because they have too many key players out. On Sunday teams who don't have an opponent the following week will pair up to play. They'll play either Thursday, Friday, or Saturday depending on when they can get officials. There could be a similar issue with officials cancelling before the season or losing games throughout the season.

Yes for the most part it would be considered an outdoor public space. Aspects that would not apply: team and officials locker rooms and press box.

I'm not sure if this is what they are thinking, but a possible explanation is they have the ability to suspend operations without disrupting things significantly. It would be much more disruptive to take a week off during the season. I don't believe every team that has positive tests are suspending operations. They are just the ones we hear the most about. We could come out of this with examples of different approaches and those learnings could be applied to the regular season. All of this is pure speculation on my part so don't take it as fact or inside knowledge that I have.

Most of the games I've worked over 20 years can spread out fans in the stands or around the field with little issue. There are exceptions, but most would be fine. Some schools may want to set up new bleachers around the field for additional seating but if you let people spread out around the fence standing/sitting with groups of people they know, most probably wouldn't have to reject any fans. I think you'll see some people self opt-out attending so normal crowds should be smaller to start. I can also understand though if schools don't want the headache of trying to enforce distancing for people who don't want to cooperate.

My preference is school is back in person as much as possible, but I advocate 100% that people who are immune-compromised and especially those who choose to help with the eLearning aspect should not have their employment affected at all.