Lysander

That, Sir, is genius. There needs to be a Calvinist team.

Serious question, just why in the world would Conference Indiana which is composed of two 6A and four 5A teams care whether the three 3A and one 4A teams in the Circle City Conference move up a class? Would it somehow make them feel less humiliated to be 7-17 (5 of those 7 Conference Indiana wins being against the Marsh Roncalli teams) v. smaller CCC teams if they could observe the fiction that those generally perfunctory beatings were NOW coming from three 4A teams and one 5A team? I’m calling BS on your allegation that the CI is threatening to not play the CCC teams because they want “Catholics” to move up a class.

I shudder to think that Conference Indiana might not want to come out and play the CCC 3A and 4A teams. How terrible….

No. Actually fairly young. They will be solid, though.

The 2 McCullough brothers (the above referenced 4 Stars) quite likely change the dynamic of this game. The oldest being the #2 Indiana Senior college prospect in the State and the youngest the #2 Indiana Junior college prospect in the State.

Read it in 8th grade (before the wheel was invented), it was absolutely formative. It’s always stuck with me. The irony is that I must have taken away something different than Vonnegut intended because I would guess that he and I would differ on…..well…….most everything. Go figure.

I alway enjoy “Harrison Bergeron” references…..even when indirect.

I admit that my liking the matchups as a reason for preferring the SF is a selfish one (and certainly not much of a reason for it initially)….I just like watching the Best v. the Best whenever possible and I have certainly seen that in many cases due to the SF. More realistically, I simply think the SF (for all its flaws) is clearly the fairest approach. Bumping EVERY private/parochial in EVERY class in EVERY sport because of the success of a handful of schools in any specific sport VS bumping a SINGLE school in a SINGLE class for its success in a SINGLE sport is the only reasonable solution. Moving up every school is tantamount to using a shotgun when a scalpel will suffice.

Although I’ve been staying well “in bounds” for quite some time, I could feel “the Muda” flow through me with every keystroke.

My better half has told me that since high school.

So, when the current group of “5A” schools had their own special carve out to win a State Championship in the new 5A there was “new life” breathed into them? The reality was that other than Snider (who had played in the original 5A Championship a couple of years prior and was already a legit power) the NEW 5A patient was DOA. Bumped up 4A schools who already knew how to play football have owned 5A. Redrawing the lines doesn’t improve play. It has to self-develop within the schools and communities.

So the gist of your thoughts are that private/parochial schools managed COVID better than the government controlled schools (that’s a shock) and the cure is to “bump up” all private/parochial schools in athletics? “Gotcha”…….to steal a phrase from Muda. How about this alternative? Let’s allow parents and students locked into certain abysmally managed and criminally overpaid government schools to take their misspent tax dollars (and their children) to much more effectively and efficiently ran private/parochial schools. If nothing else, COVID has helped to expose the rot. But no, rather than fix the problems at the heart of Publics let’s slap some paint on it by screwing with the parochial/privates as regards kid’s sports. For the record (and not that it matters) I said, “just bump up all the P/P’s” back when the SF first started because I knew it would inevitably circle back around to this. With that, I have changed my mind because I generally like the matchups that the SF has created (New Pal v Snider, etc.).

St. Leon, Indiana - a metropolis of 680. https://www.google.com/maps/d/viewer?msa=0&ll=39.29252285852623%2C-84.95534173489618&spn=0.0018%2C0.003484&mid=1PDP71tPA2QUnGYHzYK17CVjpz20&z=16

Agreed. Add that I’d generally hate seeing Chatard in a “closed” schedule because of conference obligations. I really think closed conferences are a bane on HS athletics.

I definitely remember Gribbins. The dude eviscerated Chatard two years running.

It seems like every time Chatard gets bumped up it runs into teams on the upswing or at pinnacle...with Chatard teams that are solid but probably not what they were the couple of years prior (ie. Chatard v. New Pal in 2013). Chatard was a top 8 (probably top 5 team in 2019) team in all classes these last 2 years (check Sags and other analytics) and defeated Roncalli both of those years. Chatard defeated Roncalli 53-7 in 2019 and 28-7 in 2020 for a combined score of 81-14. Timing being everything, the IHSAA has had the foresight to pair Chatard and Roncalli in Sectional....AGAIN - as they would ALWAYS pair them along with Cathedral (Chatard being the smallest of these schools). For the record, no one more than me wants Chatard to "stick" in 4A (the IHSAA disagrees, apparently, by always seeming to pair up Cathedral, Chatard and Roncalli when and if possible). All that said, Coach Doyle seems to be able to build "teams". In my opinion, the 2018 Chatard team was individually more talented than the 2019 group but the 2019 was light years better....as a TEAM. Maybe he can do it again this year.

A one man band at best….in my case.

If you want to talk to me about the sale, leasing and disposition of office buildings then I guess you somehow (apparently) have an “interview request”. With that, I have no interest in discussing it. I made that money years..even decades ago. I barely want to talk with my better half, why in God’s name do you think I would want an interview with you? Really not following your point.

Chatard is arguably one of the most unique “animals” in the state….seriously. The President (I think that his title) is Bill Sahm who graduated from Cathedral and played football for Notre Dame. I did business with for Bill for 15-20 years before he stepped into his role at Chatard. Bill’s word was his total bond as I learned over some years.when dealing with him in the private sector. Not that it matters, but Sahm Park in Indy is named after his dad (who passed quite young). I expect he took a massive pay cut (rather he was on a “mission”) to rebuild and revive Chatard. My belief is that he is a man on a selfless mission. With that, Chatard has had the blessing of some special coaches. My kids played for Coach Lorenzano (“L”) and love him dearly….as do our family….arguably one of the most successful coaches in Indiana HS Football history. Coach “L” is the MAN in our house. That said, we have another businessman (actually, an attorney) at the helm of Chatard’s football program. Rob Doyle is a partner in a law firm bearing his moniker and, I believe, he is in the Hall of Fame at both Andrean HS and Depauw U at Quarterback. Coach Doyle has transformed the Chatard offense into something unrecognizable to some of us and has ended up winning 2 State Championships over 4 years in the process. I actually think Bill Sahm and Rob Doyle’s might surprise you with a call to thrm

So, outside of Snider, does School #25 and down have a passing acquaintance with football? None of the teams in the original 5A seemed to.

5A was a punching bag for the best 4A teams…. The IHSAA “built” a class for those (generally wealthy school district) teams that said they could never compete with the likes of Carmel, Warren Central or Ben Davis. Needless to say, those 4A schools with ACTUAL football traditions ATE them up. BTW, I called this the week it happened….5A was a football wasteland comparatively.

Quite honestly, I don’t believe that….yet Roncalli will likely abort Chatard’s post season this year. 4A has been massively diluted overall under the Success Factor.

4A was clearly the best class (again “pound for pound”) prior to the Success Factor as Cathedral, Columbus East and New Palestine have made ABUNDANTLY clear in dominating a terribly (and expectedly) sad 5A Class. I’m happy our kids are in 4A but outside of Roncalli (who will likely end our season as a Top 10-15 team overall), I’m frankly pretty “meh” With that (outside of Chatard), I’ve most always been kind of a Gibson Southern guy but worry that they have sold their soul a bit these days.

The actual reality is that 3A has been the power class (“pound for pound” as they say) and where the competition could be found for the last several years since almost all the noteworthy 4A teams moved up in the prior best class (“pound for pound”). Chatard’s last 2 teams could well possibly have “clawed and scraped UNBOWED ” (important words, btw) into the State Championship in most ANY class. But, they are what they are…a bunch of disparate, EXTREMELY disciplined North Side CYO kids who didn’t succumb to the Cathedral All-Star BS and decided to stand on their own two feet and be their own person. They outplayed a loaded (5-12 D1 players depending on any given “”expert” pounding their chest about their greatness) Merrillville team quite handily and even seemed to even appear more athletic (they weren’t…by most any measure). To be clear, this is a school with 300-325 boys in total. They are not ALL football players by a long stretch yet they ranked 6th All Classes last year in 2020 (and, frankly, we’re a lot better in 2019). Carmel literally has 3,000 boys. I’m damn proud of these kids and although this might be a bit of a rebuilding year they might well shock the world just like last year. Who’s to say.? They owe no apologies

3A in the North last year (2020) at the very top was doubtlessly better than 4A or 5A (and would have competed with Westfield in the 6A North Championship based on the clear Chatard victory v. Merrillville)......VERY arguably 3A was better than 4A overall. Still, depends whether you look at class overall or just the top couple of teams in each class. Chatard is likely going to take its lumps this year as a 3A school playing a Top 10 schedule (please check their schedule for any doubters). If they win against Roncalli EITHER game it will be a minor miracle. Roncalli is a Top 5 Team all Classes this year. Elsewhere I read of 5-6 D1 players for Roncalli (it appears they are quite DISTANTLY approaching the annual Cathedral numbers of D1 players...yet still somehow still falling short of the 8-9, seemingly annual, D1 players for the Cathedral squad who somehow always seem to always struggle to "DO MORE WITH LESS"...say a prayer for the Cathedral folk). I'm not sure Chatard has EVER has ever peaked at more than 2 D1 players at any given time....perhaps twice in 30 years. Just poor Catholic CYO kids trying to get by....seemingly headed on an express train back to 3A. Thanks IHSAA for the expected pairings.