Impartial_Observer

I may go against the grain here, but I really have never cared for Girl Scout cookies. 

Paoli has had success over the years, seems to be a stepping stone job, Stirn, Bless, Balsmeyer (left to follow kids in college) and now Lowery. Seem like a good opportunity for a young coach.

3 hours ago, DT said:

There is no attempt here to storm the gates, conduct a military coup, or otherwise overthrow the braintrust of The GID.

I simply see this point in time as a pivot point for The Digest.

Given the shutdown, significant loss of membership, and new cost burdens associated with the hardware and software makeovers, all options should be considered.

Should the site go the pay route, I would consider being an investor, as long as there is potential ROI to be realized at some point.

But that takes strategic business and marketing oriented thinking, which I have in abundant supply.

Just my 2 cents worth.  I figure after 15 years and tens of thousands of posts, I've earned the right.  😀

 

 

Dude, it’s an interenet forum, we’re not launching a new retail store in Circle Center. 

No!

Goid god man, I thought you passed the baton????

5 hours ago, Muda69 said:

Which scene would you have chosen, if you could only one choose one?

 

Impossible, it can’t be done. 

I gotta start getting out more. 

And out of the cinematic masterpiece that is The Big Lebowski, that's the scene they came up with?

@Coach_K I think there are a myriad of reasons why we are seeing shortages of officials in all sports across the country. I think behavior issues mostly occur at the youth level. Youth is the worst case scenario, the most unskilled players, the youngest most inexperienced coaches and parents, and in many cases this is where young officials also cut their teeth. In the last few years I've cut my youth stuff WAY back, and I'm not going to lie, parents are part of that decision. I will do a few games in  a pinch, but only at locations where the games happen in a stadium and the parents are in the stands. The two leagues I work also have policies in place where they don't allow idiots. 

Call me an old coger, but there is a softness in people today. When you put that striped shirt on, you're going to have to deal with some animosity, coaches are going to question your decisions, fans are going to boo, jeer, whatever. It goes along with the territory. If you can't deal with a certain amount of that, you have no business in this avocation. Last stats I saw from the IHSAA the average age of a new official was like 42 and they would keep their license three years. 

Pay, and I hesitate to mention this, but it is a factor. Not unusual for me to leave my house on a Friday night at 3:30 and not be home until after midnight. Drive 1 1/2 hours for a 65-70 buck paycheck. I'm good with that, I knew what it was when I signed up, but when we're trying to attract new blood, a young family man, trying to make ends meet, he can't afford to go into the hole doing this. 

At the high school level, I just don't see the behavior issues that are painted in these articles. I try to be professional and courteous in administering the game. For the most part, I think coaches act the same. This legislation in my opinion is a waste of time and money. It doesn't address any of the problems we have in attracting and maintaining officials. 

I'm pretty sure you actually called this didn't you Muda? Pointing out it was their MO.

2 hours ago, Muda69 said:

Record Low Temperatures Threaten Year-Round Shorts-Guy Population: https://thehardtimes.net/culture/record-low-temperatures-threaten-year-round-shorts-guy-population/

I'm still here! Though I will admit to wearing the Carhartts this morning, I'm not stupid. Got those things off as soon as I got to work. 

1 hour ago, MacAttack53 said:

We are a litigious society these days. The schools and corporations have to cover their backs. Until you've spent a few days as a school administrator in the present educational and social climate, you can't possibly sympathize. 

Good friend of mine, recently began his tenure as interim superintendent. I called him on Thursday after he officially began on Monday. He said he received notice of three lawsuits on Monday. I realize all this gets turned over to the lawyers, but geez, somebody has to pay the bill.

21 minutes ago, foxbat said:

They have all of these orange barrels and shifting lanes, but but I think it's just like soma for the masses up this way to make them "believe" that work is being done and something might get better.

The six lane expansion a few years back between Franklin and Greenwood I thought went pretty smooth. And man is it nice when it's completed. Currently we're experiencing a six lane expansion between Seymour and Walesboro. This is suppose to be a new direction in road construction, taking more of a design/build approach. The project as I understand it, which started about this time last year with preliminary survey and non-traffic hindering work, is about three months behind schedule, but in all honesty, I think they've gotten a lot of work done. I think it's moving pretty fast, I've actually been kind of impressed with it. The biggest obstacle in these lane expansions is always widening bridges. There are not a lot of bridges between Walesboro and Jonesville, but there are a butt load between Jonesville and Seymour. Time will tell, but to this stage, I've been pretty pleased with the progress. 

3 hours ago, foxbat said:

There's a lot that didn't get done for two years.  Driving on I-65 this morning I couldn't figure what was more treacherous, the ice or the regular condition of the roads.  An infrastructure bill, which could have gotten bi-partisan support, would have been a nice starting point two years ago.

You're on the wrong end of I-65! Having been up in that neck of the woods a few times a year or so ago, you ain't lyin, and I'm sure it hasn't gotten better.

For two years, a bill for national reciprocity was buried in committee in Washington. SMH, you had TWO YEARS R's!

I will throw this out there, and this is something that has changed over the course of my nearly 40 year officiating career. In the beginning of my career, there were those "Bob Knight" types. Constantly yelling and screaming. I've had coaches tell me flat out they were just working the officials trying to get a call later in the game. Seems counter intuitive to me but whatever. Those coaches are few and far between today, at least from my experience. 

I believe the masses of coaches in the state of Indiana are among some of the most professional people I deal with. Coaches and officials are always going to have conflict, it's the nature of the beast. But for the most part, coaches ask questions, we answer the questions, we either agree or disagree and go on about our business. I just don't see this as being an issue, at least in the games we do. Perhaps we are the anomaly,  I don't know, but I still think this is some of the dumbest legislation being proposed. But as is typical with government, they don't understand the problem, much less the answer to the problem.

As if coaches and AD's don't already have enough on their plate, this may be the dumbest idea yet with regards to attracting and retaining officials. 

https://coachad.com/news/new-jersey-legislator-sensitivity-training-coaches-athletic-directors/

30 minutes ago, Muda69 said:

Meh, like you have anything to worry about down there in balmy Seymour: https://www.wunderground.com/forecast/us/in/seymour?cm_ven=localwx_10day

 

 

It's always sunny in beautiful southern Indiana!

We are exactly halfway between Indy and Louisville, we get both TV and radio stations. I usually prefer to go with the Louisville weather forecasts. 

So in other words, use some common sense.......sage advice Muda. 

I spent the weekend not much of anything, I did manage a really good nap yesterday afternoon. Came in at 81% sleep efficiency. 

Seymour has had random testing for several years, any extracurricular or anyone who drives. Funny thing, to be random, my daughter was selected randomly a LOT. I think it had more to do with athletes the “computer” knew would be negative.

I’m not much of a BB fan, but occasionally I’m forced to watch, because my wife is. I watched the first half last night. My comment to my wife was I don’t think it would be too difficult for me to find 12 high school girls around here who mentally and physically tougher than what I saw in the first half from IU. They’re lazy, they don’t play hard, they act like they’re scared to death. 

 Have no idea what the problem is, but I would guess Archie better figure it out soon, my guess is his seat’s getting a little warm.

Good read and spot on commentary in my opinion.

If only someone....anyone had opted to be an adult in this situation. 

Media is going to find the angle that fits their narrative. There's plenty of blame to go around, I'm not sure anyone has the moral high ground in this situation.

26 minutes ago, foxbat said:

Probably the smart one. 🙂

My theory on multiple boys in the a family ... three or more.

• The first one is usually naturally fast or big.
• The second one is usually the opposite ... if the oldest is the biggest, the second oldest is usually fast to get away from him.
• The third one is the smartest one ... usually to get away from the oldest one who's bigger and the second oldest who's faster gotta use a little brainpower.  May also be the comedian to figure out distractions to avoid brotherly beatings.
• The fourth one is usually just a pure survivor and a freak of nature to survive the older three growing up.

Oldest was the smallest. But intimidated the middle brother. 

Middle brother is the biggest, but also the biggest pu....He ended up being the smart one and going to college. 

After a while they figured out, they may be able to beat me, but at some point I would catch them off guard and they would pay dearly. Middle brother needs to thank his lucky stars I wasn't physically strong enough to throw that pitch fork at him, because my intent was literally to kill him. I ended up being the one with the long memory and the bad temper. 

Both of my brothers were considerably older than me, one is eight years older, middle brother is six years older. 

1 hour ago, foxbat said:

You learn about it in homeschooling too ... my youngest is "in class" with his older brother ... and you know how older brothers are. 😀

I was the youngest of three, I do.

12 minutes ago, foxbat said:

That's part of it and we leaned to deal with it.