Bobref

Usher is the halftime show. Whatever. What was the best Super Bowl entertainment of all time? There’s only one right answer.

Only one I can ever recall visiting is the one in Rensselaer. I think @Coach Nowlin will back me up when I say it’s not fine dining.

If they were reports of unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of staff members, they would come from the crew chief. The officials have no discretion here. If there’s an unsportsmanlike act that goes unreported, the officials have been told they will be disqualified from tournament participation.

Only if there is formal action taken, as reflected in the minutes of a meeting. Anytime there is unsportsmanlike behavior on the part of a member of the coaching staff, the game officials must report it to the IHSAA. This usually leads to a conversation between the coach, his AD, and Asst. Commissioner Faulkens. My understanding is that Mr. Faulkens does almost all of the talking in that conversation.

And here’s someone who thinks the hiring of Waldron and the new QB Coach shows that the Bears are keeping Fields. https://www.chicitysports.com/chicago-bears-2-hires-franchise-altering I hope they’re right. Chicago Bears: Two hires affirm franchise-altering decision The Chicago Bears have a big decision to make at quarterback. It seems that they made their decision and their hires on offense signal it. The Chicago Bears kicked off their offseason by trying to set up their coaching staff. Days after their season ended, they fired nearly the entire offensive coaching staff, led by offensive coordinator Luke Getsy. They then started a search for a new offensive coordinator. Last week, after nine interviews the Bears hired former Seattle Seahawks offensive coordinator Shane Waldron to do the same in Chicago. Days later, they hired Kerry Joseph to be the quarterbacks coach. While Chicago also hired a defensive coordinator over the weekend, the main concern is what happens at quarterback. Do the moves the Bears made last week signal their plans? Well, since general manager Ryan Poles and his team aren’t saying anything (yet), we only have speculation. Many people have analyzed every move he’s made. If he sneezes a certain way they speculate it has something to do with whether he’ll keep Justin Fields or use the #1 pick on Caleb Williams. Until he makes his final move and says something about it, we only have speculation. However, we can try to look at some of the facts already in front of us to at least make an educated guess. The moves Poles made could signal what decision the Chicago Bears made one way or another. Let’s take a look at what Poles’ moves could signal. Hiring Waldron What does the Waldron hiring signal? Well, Waldron came in having worked with Jared Goff, Russell Wilson, and Geno Smith. Goff had some of his best seasons when he was with the Los Angeles Rams. Waldron was the passing game coordinator and quarterbacks coach. In 2021, Waldron went to Seattle to become their offensive coordinator. He had Russell Wilson as his quarterback. It did not go as well as planned. A big reason for that was that Wilson dealt with injury. The Seahawks traded Wilson to the Denver Broncos and Smith took over. Under Waldron, Smith had a career resurgence. In 2022, he led the NFL in completion percentage, fourth in passing touchdowns, and eighth in passing yards. What Waldron does not have is experience in taking a rookie quarterback and molding him. The Chicago Bears did interview Kliff Kingsbury, who worked with Williams in 2023. Kingsbury is fond of using the air raid offense, a wide-open high-tempo system. Instead, the Bears went with the Sean McVay coaching tree. He uses the West Coast offense using a wide zone run. Hiring Joseph Joseph is a more interesting hire that could signal the Chicago Bears’ plans. As much as Waldron worked with Smith, it was Joseph who had the day-to-day interaction with Smith. He took over as quarterbacks coach for the Seahawks at the same time Smith took over as starting quarterback. Just like Waldron, Joseph does not have experience developing a rookie quarterback. He worked well with Smith, a veteran. Joseph played in the NFL from 1998-2001. He was a quarterback at McNeese State but had to switch to defensive back. After he left the league, he went to the Canadian Football League and had some success as a quarterback. Joseph was a running quarterback, similar to Fields. He was the third quarterback in the CFL to rush for over 1,000 yards (Fields was the third quarterback to rush for over 1,000 yards in a season). In his CFL career, he passed for 28,097 yards and rushed for 4,584 yards. Waldron and Joseph have experience in helping veteran quarterbacks improve. Neither one has experience taking a rookie and developing him. This could be a case of the Chicago Bears holding onto Fields and building around him.

Just won’t seem the same. Some great memories of big November games at the Inferno … with the field like concrete, my feet killing me the next morning.

I believe that Olsen has a provision in his contract that allows him to leave Fox for another network, but only if it is to take a No. 1 position. I also understand the difference in compensation between the No. 1 team and the No. 2 is pretty substantial.

Which, of course, I never said or implied, but you seem to have inferred.

Now you’re just resorting to putting words in my mouth. I’m confident many coaches have a good understanding of many of the rules of football. It’s not their job to have the nuanced understanding of the rules and their practical application that officials do. So,they don’t. Nothing surprising about it.

He’s still got plenty to worry about. But I’m also puzzled that no one has snapped Vrabel up. He’s relatively young, and isn’t going to demand total control, unlike Belichik.

I’ve officiated a thousand football games, and watched several times that many. Therefore, I am fully conversant in how to coach a football team, even though I’ve never actually done it. Sounds stupid … maybe even a little bit arrogant … don’t you think?

Unlikely.

Opinions vary.

Exactly. I’m just curious whether that increased pool results in an increase in games vs. non-Indiana opponents.

We don’t have the final contestants determined quite yet. But we have sufficiently narrowed the field to start a discussion. First order of business: Congratulations to Bill Vinovich, selected by the League to wear the white hat. Dependable, unflappable, veteran crew chief. Great choice.

Well, just for starters, we wouldn’t have had a chance to see IMG under the old rule.

It’s not dumb. My opinion.

What do you mean by “this?”

Different schools probably do it for different reasons. For the elite schools playing on ESPN or FoxSports, it’s about money and exposure (which also translates to money), I would guess. I believe many schools do it to provide the students with a great experience as a part of their education. A field trip, if you will.

Obviously, the best nickname/mascot for St. Joseph would be “The Carpenters.” Perhaps some people thought fans would get board of it, since it’s rather plane. But I think it hits the nail on the head.

If they intend to keep Fields, I imagine he’d be involved in some way in hiring a new OC.

I have a feeling that, with the IHSAA’s relaxation of the travel limitations in recent years, we’ll be seeing more matchups that were not possible under the old rule. So, I thought it might be fun to see exactly how many schools take advantage of the new rule. Saw this on the Facebook page for Crown Point football:

I have just one question: Have the Bears involved Fields in any way in the process of finding a new OC? The answer will reveal a lot.

OK, it’s not football. But the event was big enough to warrant mention here. 50 years ago today, the invincible UCLA Bruins basketball team came into South Bend, riding an NCAA record 88 game winning streak. Just 20 days after the Irish football team upset mighty Alabama in the Sugar Bowl to win the national championship, the basketball team took down the 7-time defending champs 71-70, scoring the last 11 pts. of the game. I was there in person at both games. I can still see The Iceman, Dwight Clay, rising on the right baseline for the game winner. When we got up the next morning (OK, it might have been afternoon), the Irish were national champs in football and ranked #1 in basketball. Those were the days … https://www.wndu.com/video/2024/01/19/remembering-notre-dames-historic-upset-over-ucla-50-years-later/ Little known fact: before that game in 1974, the Bruins had not lost a game since the 1970-71 season … when Austin Carr and the Irish took down Sidney Wicks, Curtis Rowe, Henry Bibby, etc. I was at that one, too.

An irresistible compulsion to do something you know is wrong is one of the earliest of the classic insanity defenses.