Bobref

One thing you can be absolutely sure of: Dwenger fans will travel. Had them years ago in a semistate at Lowell when John Goodman was playing, and they packed the Inferno.

Very surprised by the Hobart score. I saw NP early in the season and thought that was the biggest 4A team I’d ever seen. And I’ve never seen a Russ Radtke team come out flat in a big game. What happened?

My first trip to Lawrenceburg tonight. At the risk of causing this thread to veer in a whole different direction ... how did it come to be called Stinktown?

Pretty sure that was Rudyard’s red-headed stepchild.

Just saw Merrillville last night. They have the size and speed to compete with Carmel. But they commit too many penalties. You can’t give away 100 yds via penalties against the Greyhounds. Giving this serious consideration. Plus, they love me at Valpo. 😉

Hard to beat Center Grove as a place to see a ball game. But I’ve been there before. I’d like to hear what New Pal has to offer in terms of concessions and maybe even some GID tailgaters. 🍔🌭🌮 I probably won’t make a final decision until I see which officiating crews get assigned. I’d like to see a crew that I know I won’t see at LOS, since I’m going to be at both days of the Finals.

I was at the Merrillville - Warsaw game. The Tigers came out and went up 14-0 in the first quarter. But Merrillville had too much size and, especially, speed. They are very fast. But, if they don’t clean up the penalty situation, they won’t be able to compete against Carmel. The Pirates have had over 40 accepted penalties against them in their last 3 games.

I’m going to be in Bloomington for a meeting next Friday, and would like to catch a semistate game on the way home to the Region. Which one should I attend, and why?

Never have I seen someone who so persistently doesn’t get it. Except when it’s screwed up by people who think like you, the market is self-regulating. If someone’s pay is low, it’s because that’s the value the market places on what they do, according to the immutable laws of economics. It’s like what Bill Parcells said about the NFL: “You are what your record says you are.”

Being realistic is not disrespect. Facts are facts.

Good riddance to bad rubbish.

And that’s the key.

Not amusing. I don’t know who officiated the Cathedral - Center Grove game, but the crew assigned to this game is a 2-time state championship crew, having worked the finals as recently as 2017. They have been one of the highest ranked crews in the state for at least the last 6-7 seasons. Whoever loses is going to have to find a different excuse than the officiating.

I observe the officiating crew before and during the game, and meet with them after the game to debrief. I prepare 2 reports for the IHSAA, copies of which are also provided to the crew. One is an Evaluation, in which I evaluate the crew’s performance on certain aspects set out by the IHSAA, and rate their proficiency on a scale of 1-5. The second is an Observation, in which I make detailed notes on various aspects of the crew’s performance, including observations on individual plays during the game, both things that were done well, and places where there can be improvement. These reports are used by the IHSAA as a factor that goes into determining the level to which a crew can advance in the playoffs. As far as in-game involvement, there is zero. I spend a good part of the game on the sidelines, since I believe you cannot really judge a crew’s performance just from the press box view. You need to be on their level to see what they see, how they react, and how they interact and communicate with players, coaches, and one another. But I have no interaction with the crew whatsoever during the game.

Fortunately, there is a very good officiating crew assigned to this game, so I doubt I’ll have much to do except sit back, watch a great game, and enjoy my first trip to Lawrenceburg.

Not to worry. I’ll be in the press box at the start of the game and will take care of it. 🤪😉

Great! I will probably start the game in there.

What a great memory ... and you’re absolutely correct about Coach Smith.

Straight out of the rule book. "A pop-up kick occurs when the kicker drives the ball immediately into the ground, the ball strikes the ground once, and goes into the air in the manner of a ball kicked directly off the tee." The quote you're looking for is from Justice Potter Stewart in the landmark obscenity case of Jacobellis v. Ohio in 1964: "I shall not today attempt further to define the kinds of material I understand to be embraced within that shorthand description ["hard-core pornography"], and perhaps I could never succeed in intelligibly doing so. But I know it when I see it, and the motion picture involved in this case is not that."

Brian Parker at Hanover Central has done a great job with that program. It's a very young program, without much in the way of tradition. I was observing at one of their games this year and you can tell when you're on the sideline that a coach either does or doesn't have organization, good assistants, and buy-in from the kids. He's got all of that. Of course, in the interests of full disclosure, I should add that he's my nephew.

At $0.25/mi., I don't think so. I'll eat more than that at the concession stand. Where did you come by that picture of @Impartial_Observer?

Due to a reshuffling of observer assignments, turns out I will be in the house at Lawrenceburg Saturday evening. I’d love to meet some GIDers and put some faces with these screen names.

All good points, that merely illustrate that executive compensation, like all other compensation decisions, should be left up to the marketplace to decide.

That may be the funniest thing I’ve ever read on the GID. I’m a big believer in self confidence. But even Dante can’t possibly think that. ... Can he?

I can’t really comment authoritatively on bankruptcy law, since I know just enough about it to be dangerous. But I suspect it is because large bankruptcy reorganizations are designed to allow these entities to continue to do business while they restructure debt, revamp operations, etc., in an effort to maintain solvency. In other words, try to continue to do business. Therefore, executives of companies undergoing bankruptcy reorganization are compensated on the same scale as comparable executives in other businesses, i.e., very highly. I think the real question is how can the high salaries and other perks these executives pull down be justified generally? The answer is as simple as it is hard to swallow (for some), and it boils down to basic principles of economics — just like most questions like this do. In a capitalist society, the highest compensation goes to those that have skills that are (1) in demand, and (2) are scarce. I have this discussion frequently with people who ask why a job that is so important (teacher, cop, soldier) is compensated at such a low level, when other jobs that we can get along without (entertainer, professional athlete) are compensated so highly. The answer lies in the old law of supply and demand. The number of people who can supply the skills of teacher, cop and soldier is very high. But the number of people who can play professional football, or entertain millions on the silver screen, is relatively low. So it is with executive compensation. The number of people with the skills to run a multi billion dollar, multinational enterprise like Disney or American Airlines is very, very small. So, their compensation is very, very great. But there are millions and millions of people who could become teachers, soldiers, or cops. It’s just basic economics.