Bobref

Well, he clearly pushed the QB. As an official, the question you have to ask yourself is “did it matter?” If the QB was already sure to get in as you watch the play, then no advantage gained, and you don’t call anything. If the push really helped, then you have to look at other factors.

I believe the confluence of the pandemic and the most bitterly polarizing election cycle in memory has changed America in many ways, some of which we won’t discover for a while. Pretty much none of them good.

I assume you mean possession for personal use only.

When pigs fly.

Somebody’s going to need to find a better example to illustrate the point. Cocaine is a Schedule 2 substance under the federal Controlled Substances Act. State legalization would not alter the fact that it’s illegal under federal laws. And while weed is also still illegal under federal law, unlike weed, the federal authorities are not going to turn a blind eye to distribution of cocaine, regardless of what some state legislature says.

I don’t know if this is the case at all, but I do know in the past there have been instances where a crew should have worked — according to their rating — a sectional final. But because of a clerical error when tabulating the vote, they were not assigned. The IHSAA then decided, in fairness, to treat them going forward as if they had actually worked that sectional final.

I will be in the house at Valpo Friday night. Any GIDers who will be in attendance, let me know.

All good questions. That’s why I think you really have to see a play to call intentional grounding.

Close, but not quite. There is a foul for illegal touching by the ineligible. The penalty, if accepted, is enforced from the spot of the illegal touching. But there’s no replay of the down. The penalty includes loss of down. Now, as to whether this was intentional grounding or not, there’s an awful lot of judgment that goes into that call. So, all I can say about that without actually seeing the play is that if it was intentional grounding, it would be a safety.

If you look at the numbers, on the whole, coaches making the jump from college directly to NFL head coach have been spectacularly unsuccessful. There are exceptions to every rule. But they have to be exceptional. 😃

Harbaugh?

The “next boy wonder” from college is the last thing the Bears need. How about somebody with something of a track record in the pros?

I have a lot of that same feeling. But based on Book’s performance last week, I’m willing to accept the possibility that he has finally overcome whatever barrier there was to him getting to that next level. It looked like he and some of those promising receivers were finally getting on the same page. He’s got 4 very winnable games left to really fine tune the passing game. This is no time to let up on the gas. They need to take these next 4 opponents to the woodshed to create momentum going into the ACC championship game.

I don’t know who told you, and that was last year when the Mercy Rule was new. New year, new deal. The Mercy Rule is in effect at all levels except the State Finals. I got this yesterday morning straight from the highest authority.

I understand your frustration. We could spend a fair amount of time discussing the flaws — and, in fact, the counter-incentives — of the coaches’ vote system. But to what purpose? The inescapable fact is that playoff officiating assignments is a zero sum game. There are a finite number of assignments, and some crews are going to be disappointed. I’ve had many conversations with @JustRules and other officials on this subject, and it always ends up the same way: you can’t control how coaches vote. You can control how much effort to improve you put into your officiating. Control what you can control, and let the other stuff sort itself out.

So, you’re not interested in getting better? Just show up on Friday nights and expect to do a good job? Officiating is like anything else: you get out of it in proportion to the effort you put in.

Any system in which the participants are evaluated, and asked to “buy in” to the evaluation, must not only be fair, but must also be perceived as fair by those participants.

Officials are not the only ones who read the Officiating Forum. There are a lot of people on here, some of them coaches, who learn things here they wouldn’t otherwise know.

I need to tread lightly here, since I love my job as an observer, and the IHSAA is my boss. So, be clear about this. This is my personal opinion. I have no influence with the IHSAA on this issue, and am speaking purely as someone who existed within the system for many, many years ... and enjoyed great success under that system. My crew was together for 25 years, and we never worked lower than a Regional in any year we were eligible. The single greatest change that would result in instant improvement in the caliber of officiating in Indiana, and in the perception of the fairness and accuracy of the system, would be the abolition of the coaches’ vote as the primary determinant in tournament officiating advancement. Don’t get me wrong, coaches are important stakeholders in the process. Give them the opportunity to “scratch” X number of crews so they won’t feel disenfranchised. But leave the evaluation of officiating proficiency to the people who have had the training and experience to know what they should be looking for, and what’s really important. And who are unbiased, i.e., unaffected by the outcome of the game. If coaches sincerely wanted to make a contribution to increase the quality of the officials they see, they’d sponsor a resolution at the next IFCA meeting to tell the IHSAA to find another way to select tournament officials.

I am on board with liberal use of the power of the pardon to protect people from reprisals when there’s a shift in the political winds. And you had better believe there are going to be a bunch of new US Attorneys chomping at the bit. The rest of it is bordering on silly. Amounts to a kid smashing the checker when he realizes he isn’t going to win the game.

I guess we’ll never know. I just hope we get the chance to do it again on a big stage. We’ll either silence the doubters then, or we won’t. I’m good with that.

I’m wondering exactly how many of these types of decisions have to be made in a typical tournament season. Surely less than a dozen. Why doesn’t the IHSAA just set the day and time, after receiving all available input from the schools involved?

There has been some erroneous information circulating about the application of the Mercy Rule going forward in the playoffs. As of 1 hr. ago, per Asst. Commissioner Faulkens, the rule remains in effect through the semistate.

Higher.

My information comes from the very highest level.