Bobref

No, it isn’t. It dictates how districts can’t be drawn. It doesn’t tell anything about how to do it. Just says one way they can’t.

The statute hardly “dictates” how states draw Congressional districts. States are now — and should be — free to draw districts in any fashion they want, provided they do not unconstitutionally infringe the principle of “one man, one vote,” i.e., all votes count equally.

I just wonder how many guys there are out there like Les Miles, just waiting for the other shoe to drop. Lots of people with this particular skeleton in the closet, I bet. In all walks of life.

Have you looked into hiring non-licensed people, like high school kids, to actually do the officiating, operating under the supervision of a couple of licensed officials? I bet your local officials’ association would be interested in partnering with you on that. It’s a great way to recruit new officials.

Related to former Mishawaka HFC Al Smith?

I wonder when they will come for more traditional literature that contains historically accurate racial situations ... which more enlightened generations have discarded. I’m thinking specifically of one of the greatest pieces of literature in the English language: Huckelberry Finn.

Saturday college football is probably not a significant contributor to the officiating shortage. There are 20 college FB programs in Indiana. 10 of them are FBS or FCS and, typically, the officials who work those contests do not work high school football. That leaves 10 programs at the D2, D3 and NAIA levels, meaning that there are 5 such games in Indiana every Saturday, on average. Of those 35-40 officials, there are at least some who do not also work high school football. So, on the average Saturday, there are approximately 30 licensed high school officials removed from the pool of nearly 1,000 licensed officials available to work. There are plenty of reasons there is an officials shortage on Saturdays, but college FB officiating is not a significant contributor to that problem.

Yet, other studies have found no statistically significant difference in overall injury rates, while some specific injuries recorded higher rates on one surface vs. the other. See, e.g., https://www.scienceforsport.com/natural-grass-vs-artificial-turf-which-surface-poses-an-increased-injury-risk/: ⇒ A total of 2174 in-game injuries were recorded during the study period, with 1.54 injuries per game occurring on AT and 1.49 occurring on NG. ⇒ Yearly injury incidence increased each year on both playing surfaces – 12.5% on NG and 26.3% on AT. ⇒ From 2013-2016, data analysis showed comparable injury incidence and overall injury rate between AT and NG surfaces, however, regarding specific injuries, a higher rate of Achilles injury and ankle fracture was found on AT. Interestingly enough, the injuries which clearly occurred more often on AT were not knee injuries.

Well, Kansas’ “investigation” didn’t take long. It was “mutual.” Yeah, right. https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/31030339/les-miles-kansas-jayhawks-head-football-coach Les Miles out as Kansas Jayhawks' head football coach Les Miles is out as Kansas' head football coach three days after he was placed on administrative leave amid accusations of inappropriate behavior toward female students during his head-coaching tenure at LSU. Kansas athletic director Jeff Long on Friday said the university would be conducting a full review to determine the appropriate steps on Miles' future, and late Monday evening announced that they had "mutually agreed to part ways." "I am extremely disappointed for our university, fans and everyone involved with our football program," Long said in a statement. "There is a lot of young talent on this football team, and I have no doubt we will identify the right individual to lead this program." Long said the school will use a search firm to assist in finding Miles' successor. Long did not use a search firm when he hired Miles, a friend from their time together at Michigan in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Mike DeBord, who was hired last month as Kansas' offensive coordinator, will serve as the program's acting head coach until an interim head coach is determined. On Thursday, a report released on behalf of LSU showed that a 2013 internal investigation at the school accused Miles of inappropriate behavior toward female students, including allegations he contacted some via Facebook and text, met them off campus alone and kissed at least one of them. The report did not find he had sexual relationships with any of the women, and Miles strongly denied kissing the student, saying he didn't do anything wrong and that he was mentoring young women at the university. According to a copy of Miles' employment contract with Kansas, the university would have "just cause" to end its agreement with Miles if the coach had "discreditable conduct that is inconsistent with the professional standards expected of a head coach of a collegiate sports team." Another clause in the contract that defines "just cause" is "participation in by head coach of any act, situation, or occurrence, or any conduct, which in Athletics of KU's judgment brings Head Coach and/or KU into public disrepute, embarrassment, contempt, or ridicule ... " It's unclear whether these clauses were triggered; terms of the separation agreement are expected to be released in coming days, according to the university's statement. Miles had three years left on a five-year contract he signed with Kansas in November 2018. "This is certainly a difficult day for me and for my family," Miles said in a statement on Monday. "I love this university and the young men in our football program. I have truly enjoyed being the head coach at KU and know that it is in a better place now than when I arrived. "To our student-athletes, I want you to remember that you came to play for KU and earn a degree here. So, I implore you to stay and build on what we started and do all of the things we talked about doing together. There is a bright future for all of you and for KU Football." Miles' attorney, Peter Ginsberg, on Saturday described Kansas' decision to put Miles on leave as being based on "media blowback" and categorized it as being "disturbing and unfair." The law firm Taylor Porter conducted the investigation on behalf of LSU. Ginsberg told ESPN in a statement Thursday that the results of the investigation "should put an end to the baseless, inaccurate media reports that Coach Les Miles engaged in an inappropriate touching of an Athletic Department student volunteer eight years ago." On Friday, a second report, this one conducted by the law firm Husch Blackwell, detailed systemic failures by LSU to appropriately report incidents of athletic-related sexual misconduct and abuse. Part of that report showed that former LSU athletic director Joe Alleva recommended in 2013 that Miles be fired as coach because of the accusations of inappropriate behavior with female students. The 67-year-old Miles was 3-18 in two seasons at Kansas, including an 0-9 record in 2020. The Jayhawks' only Big 12 win during Miles' two seasons in Lawrence came over Texas Tech in 2019. Kansas hasn't won more than three games in a season since 2009. Miles guided LSU to a national title in 2007, and the Tigers played for a national championship on his watch in 2011. Before Long hired him at KU, Miles had been out of coaching for parts of three seasons after being fired by LSU in 2016. Tulane's Willie Fritz, Buffalo's Lance Leipold, Nevada's Jay Norvell and Louisiana Tech's Skip Holtz could be potential candidates for Kansas, which likely will focus its search on FBS head coaches.

You listed some KU coaching failures, but omitted Weiss. I filled in the blank. That’s all. If you noticed the emojis, you would have realized it was a joke.

It has nothing to do with ND. That was all you.

A giant among midgets.

Sell jerseys, advertising, etc. ... until he gets hurt.

You’re viewing the Mangino tenure through rock chalk-colored glasses. He was a below average Power 5 coach. That he may stand out among Kansas coaches hardly means that parting ways with him was “the dumbest personnel move in the history of college athletics.”

What it means is their basketball coaching situation sucks.

So, do you think KU would have hired him if they knew this would be his record in 8 seasons? Or did they aspire to more than that when they hired him?

Popcorn always gets top billing. I’m sure the folks in Starke County feel Indiana’s rich tradition as a producer of mint is being undeservedly ignored. https://www.heraldpalladium.com/localnews/northwest-indiana-home-to-mint-fields/article_785344c5-d558-5e41-9cf2-d4f60c4b0741.html Think about that the next time you have a mojito.

In hindsight, certainly. But that doesn’t mean it was unjustified at the time.

I’m all for the use of hyperbole to make a point, but .... Mangino was no Knute Rockne. In 8 seasons at Kansas, he was 50 - 48 ... but only 23 - 41 in the Conference, tied for 1 Conference Championship, had 3 winning seasons. Oh, by the way, you left out Charlie Weiss. 🤣😂😆

I think we can agree that, with the release of the LSU internal investigation, Les Miles is a Dead Man Walking as far as his tenure as Kansas’ HFC. Over/under on days before he and KU go their separate ways is 7-1/2. Whaddya got?

The Ravens have proposed a change in the NFL overtime rules. The formulation is called “Spot & Choose.” OT would start with a coin toss. The winner can choose either the “spot” where the ball would be placed to start OT, or which team starts on offense. Very intriguing scenarios. What do you think? https://www.baltimoreravens.com/news/pundits-love-ravens-reported-spot-and-choose-overtime-rule-change-proposal Pundits Love Ravens' Reported 'Spot and Choose' Overtime Rule Change Proposal Mar 05, 2021 at 11:00 AM Ryan Mink BaltimoreRavens.com Staff Writer The Ravens are looking to shake up overtime in the NFL with a rule change proposal at the virtual owners' meetings later this month, according to Pro Football Talk and others. The rule proposal, which is being referred to as "spot and choose," would have one team select where to spot the ball at the start of the first overtime possession and the other team pick whether to play offense or defense. For example, the Ravens could spot the ball at the 10-yard line. Then their opponent would have to pick whether it wants to start on offense from its own 10-yard line or play defense. There's still a coin toss, but it only determines which teams gets to pick between spotting the ball (and direction of play) or choosing the side. Reportedly, one Ravens proposal says the winner is the team who scores in a 10-minute period (tie if nobody scores). There's a second proposal which would remove the sudden-death element and the winner would be the team with the most points after 7 ½ minutes of overtime (half of a quarter). Former Ravens Running Backs Coach Matt Weiss, who left this offseason to become Michigan's quarterbacks coach, tweeted his support for the idea. A lot more strategy comes into play in this scenario – which would require coaches to size up not only how good they feel about their offense/defense, but also how well the other's team's units are playing at that time. Weather conditions also could play a larger role. The reported proposals are getting rave reviews from media outlets ahead of the virtual owners' meetings where they would be voted on, currently scheduled for March 30-31. "The 'spot and choose' approach replaces chance with strategy," Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio wrote. "It's a fascinating wrinkle that would truly revolutionize overtime and — more importantly — make it fair to both teams. … Count us as being in favor of the approach." "Other than the fact that it's different, there is no good reason for the NFL to not adopt this rule," Sports Illustrated's Steve Ruiz wrote. "It makes a random coin flip less important, it injects more strategy into the game and it creates more drama. It's everything you want in a rule change." "The Ravens' proposal has a chance to change football forever," wrote Deadspin's Jesse Spector. "Not only would the proposal add an extra element of excitement to overtime, but it would also negate the advantage that any team would get from winning the OT coin toss," wrote CBS Sports' John Breech. "Less than 4% of games went into overtime last season (10 out of 256) so if the league is going to make a dramatic change, overtime seems like the spot to do it." "This sounds complicated at first, but it's actually a really fun idea," tweeted ESPN's Mina Kimes. "Say you're playing KC: Where would you spot the ball so that they're 'forced' to play defense? The 5? Then if they choose to play offense anyways and score and win, we'd blame randomness less than we would with the current setup, right?" The league has been tweaking the overtime rules over the past decade. It used to be a pure sudden-death period in which the first team to score won. In 2010, the league experimented with a playoff change to ensure both teams got at least one possession unless the first team to get the ball scored a touchdown. That rule was expanded to the regular season in 2012. In 2017, the league shortened overtime from 15 minutes to 10 minutes for preseason and regular-season games. For the proposal to go into effect, 24 of the 32 league owners would have to approve. Under Head Coach John Harbaugh, the Ravens have been among the league's leaders in innovation. Last year, the Ravens and Los Angeles Chargers proposed to add a booth umpire, or "sky judge" as an eighth official. In 2016, the Ravens made a proposal regarding the identification of eligible receivers. The year before, a Ravens proposal about where eligible receivers must line up was passed.

Like all contracts — anytime the parties agree to a change. In essence, they make a new contract.

@DT, sometimes you remind me of myself: often wrong, but never in doubt.

Is this even within the universe of the possible? https://247sports.com/Article/Deshaun-Watson-Chicago-Bears-trade-all-in-Houston-Texans-161961178/ Report: Chicago Bears all-in on trading for Deshaun Watson ByBRAD CRAWFORD 3 hours ago Much to the chagrin of quarterback Deshaun Watson, the Houston Texans have no interest in trading their franchise player despite a recent meeting between new coach David Culley and the signal caller during which no progress was made. That being said, several teams are interested in his services and Watson is reportedly "very serious" about sitting out games during the 2021 season if he's not traded. And there's one team in particular is willing to give up assets in quantity to land him, according to ESPN NFL insider Jeff Darlington. "There's no more vulnerable team in the NFL that's looking for a quarterback than the Chicago Bears," Darlington said this week on NFL Live. "Houston better be careful here. They've got their guy. They've got their victim when it comes to salvaging this Deshaun Watson situation. It's going to be tough to find a team that's willing to give up as much as the Bears will right now." Darlington's co-hort, ESPN's Louis Riddick, said "timing is everything" before nodding his head in agreement. Last month, former Texans quarterback Derek Carr explained why the Bears would be an ideal trade partner for Houston. The Bears already have a solid foundation, especially on the defensive side of the ball, and adding Watson could help them retain one of their top offensive weapons. On the other side, Chicago has the ability to offer Houston a large package in return — lining up with Darlington's point. “There’s something that really needs to be fixed, and it’s Deshaun Watson to the Bears,” Carr said via NFL.com. “If Deshaun really wants out, which I think is going to be crazy for them to do that, but if he’s actually going to make a move, Chicago is kind of in a similar place as Indianapolis. A team that has a great defense and has some pieces in place. "You might even be able to keep Allen Robinson if you can trade for Watson. For me, this makes a ton of sense, even for both sides really. They could be creative here and make something happen. I think the Chicago Bears could offer them something that they might not be able to say no to. We’ll see what happens, but that would be cool.” Earlier this spring, Watson sent a message to the Texans by wiping his social media of all references to the franchise. Watson simply wrote "athlete" in his social media profiles and attacked links to his marketing agency and "football inquiries" to his Twitter and Instagram followings of nearly 3 million

That has nothing to do with the point I was addressing.