Bobref

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.

The Mercy Rule remains in effect at all levels except the Finals.

No team in the history of the NFL has ever “tanked” with a winning record. Change my mind.

No doubt about it. I’m just playing the odds. That's why I said “unlikely” and not “impossible.”

The #1 way for a GM to get fired is to swing & miss on a franchise QB drafted early in the first round. Trubisky is Exhibit A. I know @DT believes Trubisky can succeed in the NFL, and maybe he will. But it clearly won’t be with Chicago. And it probably won’t be to the level of a top-5 draft pick.

Financial considerations are definitely a factor, especially since there was no revenue from the boy’s basketball tournament. But to say that’s the only reason they went forward with the season is a gross overstatement, and does a disservice to the people at the IHSAA, who are working hard to give the kids some aspect of normalcy in these goofy times.

Pretty unlikely. The crew on this game was a multiple state championship crew, last appearing in LOS in 2018. Such officials ordinarily do not feel like they have to “call something.”

And his father, an NFL official and long-time supervisor of B1G officiating, was the AD at Rogers for many years.

Notre Dame response to students storming the field after the Clemson win.https://www.tigernet.com/update/ND-students-sent-letter-after-rushing-field-after-win-over-Clemson-36754

Sssshhhhhhh! It’s been a welcome respite.

They have announced he will not play in the tournament.

No argument with any of that ... except it doesn’t qualify as long term ... yet.

Your initial premise is, if not flawed, at least premature. Pretty hard to design a fix to address “long term impact” when we are not even through the season. Describe the “long term impact” ... and the crystal ball you used to foresee it.