sports Archives - News Now Warsaw https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/tag/sports/ Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:55:20 +0000 en-US hourly 1 The code violation season https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/the-code-violation-season/ Wed, 04 Mar 2026 16:55:20 +0000 https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/?p=127805 Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

Even though it’s rainy this week, the warmer temps and the end of basketball season for most schools have us all thinking about spring and the spring sports season.

We soon will have the unique “thud” of baseballs and softballs into gloves, the sound of the starter’s pistol splitting the crisp air and the “wack” of the golf ball being smacked down the fairway off the first tee fill our ears.

Spring is the season of optimism. But it’s not all good.

I have no stats to back it up, but I think more kids commit acts that violate their school’s athletic code in the spring and summer than at any other time of the year. That makes them miss parts of or all of the spring season and beyond.

Consider this an open letter to parents, grandparents, guardians and anyone else who is responsible for kids from fifth grade through high school at 6A schools and 1A schools alike.

I am asking you for a favor. No, I am actually begging you to do something for me, and for you, and for those kids.

I want you to pull them aside — somewhere quiet, without anyone else around—and ask them these questions: “Do you vape?” …  “Do you drink?” …  “Are you doing anything that could get you in trouble?”

Here’s a hint: if they drop their eyes to the floor, take that as a “yes.” Another hint: if they say “no” but their eyes look down and to the left, take that as a “yes” also.

Either way, follow up with “If you took a drug test or a Blood Alcohol Content test right now, would you pass it?”

You’re looking for the same responses.

When I was in school in the 1980’s, I knew that there were kids who smoked occasionally, drank alcoholic beverages behind the barn, and/or did drugs — mostly during the spring and summer. I remember having to stop the team bus on the way home from a soccer game because one of my older teammates was having trouble breathing. I thought it was caused by the physical strain of a hard match. I was naïve and didn’t understand what was really happening until much later.

Once I knew, I didn’t have the confidence and courage to speak up. I was 15 years old.

I am not 15 anymore.

According to the most recent stats from the Indiana Youth Tobacco Survey done by the Indiana Department of Health, 9-percent of Indiana high school students use e-cigarettes regularly. And those who admitted using preferred the flavored kinds.

Please, don’t be blind to the truth. Athletes are doing it too! Not just trying it, doing it…regularly.

Maybe they are using the flavored kind. Maybe they are mixing in a little “pot” with it.

You may say “none of your business” or “worry about your own kids.” You don’t understand—your kids are my kids. They are my business. And we’re not just talking about Warsaw athletes here. I care about Wawasee kids, Triton kids, Tippecanoe Valley kids, Manchester and NorthWood and Whitko and Lakeland Christian kids too. Non-athletes and athletes alike. However, in my job as a radio announcer and sportscaster, I focus more on athletes. So does this column, generally.

My grief comes from the fact that I am watching kids work all year long, put in hundreds of hours in the weight room and conditioning, going to camps and traveling all over the Midwest and then needlessly put all of that at risk because they are violating their school’s athletic code. Why? How did they start? Who helped them start? I can’t answer any of those questions.

What I can do is beg you, again, to pull the teen in your life—girls as well as boys—into a room and have one of the most important conversations you’ll ever have with them.

And it starts with those simple, powerful questions: “Do you vape?”… “Do you drink?”…and “Are you doing anything to get into trouble?”

The biggest problem on the team your kid plays on may not be playing time, or whether they pass the ball enough or if the person playing shortstop should be playing short or second base. Simply by the numbers, one starter on every basketball team, 2 starters on every baseball and softball team, one golfer, one tennis player and multiple football players — are violating their school’s rules on substance abuse.

Ask the question.

No matter if they see their classmates doing it, they are still doing it. Teammates get caught and suspended for it, but they’ll still do it.

Ask the question.

“Can’t happen here”. “Not in my family. We’re tight.” “We live in a certain neighborhood.” “I know my kids.”

Do you? Do you really?

Ask the question … and brace yourself for the answer.

The post The code violation season appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

Even though it’s rainy this week, the warmer temps and the end of basketball season for most schools have us all thinking about spring and the spring sports season.

We soon will have the unique “thud” of baseballs and softballs into gloves, the sound of the starter’s pistol splitting the crisp air and the “wack” of the golf ball being smacked down the fairway off the first tee fill our ears.

Spring is the season of optimism. But it’s not all good.

I have no stats to back it up, but I think more kids commit acts that violate their school’s athletic code in the spring and summer than at any other time of the year. That makes them miss parts of or all of the spring season and beyond.

Consider this an open letter to parents, grandparents, guardians and anyone else who is responsible for kids from fifth grade through high school at 6A schools and 1A schools alike.

I am asking you for a favor. No, I am actually begging you to do something for me, and for you, and for those kids.

I want you to pull them aside — somewhere quiet, without anyone else around—and ask them these questions: “Do you vape?” …  “Do you drink?” …  “Are you doing anything that could get you in trouble?”

Here’s a hint: if they drop their eyes to the floor, take that as a “yes.” Another hint: if they say “no” but their eyes look down and to the left, take that as a “yes” also.

Either way, follow up with “If you took a drug test or a Blood Alcohol Content test right now, would you pass it?”

You’re looking for the same responses.

When I was in school in the 1980’s, I knew that there were kids who smoked occasionally, drank alcoholic beverages behind the barn, and/or did drugs — mostly during the spring and summer. I remember having to stop the team bus on the way home from a soccer game because one of my older teammates was having trouble breathing. I thought it was caused by the physical strain of a hard match. I was naïve and didn’t understand what was really happening until much later.

Once I knew, I didn’t have the confidence and courage to speak up. I was 15 years old.

I am not 15 anymore.

According to the most recent stats from the Indiana Youth Tobacco Survey done by the Indiana Department of Health, 9-percent of Indiana high school students use e-cigarettes regularly. And those who admitted using preferred the flavored kinds.

Please, don’t be blind to the truth. Athletes are doing it too! Not just trying it, doing it…regularly.

Maybe they are using the flavored kind. Maybe they are mixing in a little “pot” with it.

You may say “none of your business” or “worry about your own kids.” You don’t understand—your kids are my kids. They are my business. And we’re not just talking about Warsaw athletes here. I care about Wawasee kids, Triton kids, Tippecanoe Valley kids, Manchester and NorthWood and Whitko and Lakeland Christian kids too. Non-athletes and athletes alike. However, in my job as a radio announcer and sportscaster, I focus more on athletes. So does this column, generally.

My grief comes from the fact that I am watching kids work all year long, put in hundreds of hours in the weight room and conditioning, going to camps and traveling all over the Midwest and then needlessly put all of that at risk because they are violating their school’s athletic code. Why? How did they start? Who helped them start? I can’t answer any of those questions.

What I can do is beg you, again, to pull the teen in your life—girls as well as boys—into a room and have one of the most important conversations you’ll ever have with them.

And it starts with those simple, powerful questions: “Do you vape?”… “Do you drink?”…and “Are you doing anything to get into trouble?”

The biggest problem on the team your kid plays on may not be playing time, or whether they pass the ball enough or if the person playing shortstop should be playing short or second base. Simply by the numbers, one starter on every basketball team, 2 starters on every baseball and softball team, one golfer, one tennis player and multiple football players — are violating their school’s rules on substance abuse.

Ask the question.

No matter if they see their classmates doing it, they are still doing it. Teammates get caught and suspended for it, but they’ll still do it.

Ask the question.

“Can’t happen here”. “Not in my family. We’re tight.” “We live in a certain neighborhood.” “I know my kids.”

Do you? Do you really?

Ask the question … and brace yourself for the answer.

The post The code violation season appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/roger.png Roger Grossman Commentary: Bears fumble stadium deal again https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/roger-grossman-commentary-bears-fumble-stadium-deal-again/ Wed, 25 Feb 2026 20:37:13 +0000 https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/?p=127522
Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

Teams have slogans they rally around, and the older you get, the less slogans influence you.

But one of the best slogans I have ever heard is “respect all, fear none.”

I think it’s one of the best because it applies so well to sports and to every other aspect of life.

We overlook some things in our lives that we shouldn’t, and we do that because we just don’t think of them as being a realistic threat to us.

Here is an example: A guy’s foot starts to bother him. It’s not a big deal and he’s able to get around fine, but he notices it.

Two weeks later, it’s getting worse. It hurts whenever he’s awake, but he doesn’t want to go to the doctor for it. Two weeks after that he’s really feeling it, but the pain is coming from the bottom of his foot so he can’t see it.

He gets a mirror and positions it so he can see the other side of his foot and realizes that he’s got an infection and it looks nasty.

He goes to the doctor, and the infection is spreading. It’s too late to fix with medication, and the recommendation is amputation.

The man didn’t take the pain seriously, and it cost him dearly.

The proverbial pain on the bottom of the State of Illinois’s and the City of Chicago’s ‘foot’ is an infection, and they have ignored it to the point that they could lose the Bears.

The State of Illinois and the City of Chicago have long been under the impression that “the Bears would never move out of the city, let alone the state.”

And maybe they still won’t, but the events of the past week say otherwise.

A few weeks back, the city of Hammond announced that it was finalizing a proposal to clear up a plot of land on the shores of Wolf Lake that could be used to build a domed stadium for the Bears. The state line runs right down the middle of that body of water.

Chicago collectively giggled at that news, but it turns out the Bears front office wasn’t laughing along.

Then things got “real” last week when the Indiana Senate passed SB 27, which would create an organization whose objective would be to raise money for, build and lease a stadium that would house the Bears and could host lots of other events — sporting and otherwise.

That news had a lot of politicians in Chicago and Springfield spitting their coffee across the room.

Then those same politicians started to gag on their own spit when the Bears issued a statement describing the bill as “the most significant move” in their process of replacing Soldier Field as home of the Bears.

It’s important to note here that no agreement was announced. There is no handshake agreement in place.

But the Bears have turned their attention to Hammond.

The responses have ranged from “they can’t do that” to “What would Papa Bear Halas say?”

Well, they can do that and they just might. And Coach Halas would have put his foot down long before this and said, “Get a deal done in Chicago or find someone who will work with us.”

It’s here in the conversation that I must remind you that the Bears already bought the piece of land formerly known as the Arlington Park racetrack property—326 acres at a price tag of $197 million.

That was three years ago, and the Bears not only haven’t turned a single shovel of dirt in Arlington Heights, but they are still accepting offers.

The Bears are like the prettiest girl in school, who has 8 invitations to the prom but is waiting to see how many others come in before she decides who to go with.

The city of Chicago and the State of Illinois have disrespected their neighbors to the east for too long, and now they can’t do that anymore.

While it’s still hard to imagine the Bears not being in Chicago, the prospects of them not being downtown any longer have been there for a long time, but no one has moved to ensure that they would stay.

The State of Indiana has risen up and punched Illinois and Chicago right in the face, and they deserved it.

And now, the game is on! Indiana’s proposal to bring the Bears across the state line is legit and everyone knows it.

Now, do the Bears really want to move out of the city and the state? Not being in that meeting room at Halas Hall when these discussions are taking place makes it hard to know for sure.

Is Indiana being used in this by the Bears to twist the arms of the Illinois legislature even harder? Quite possibly. But even if it plays out that way and the Bears don’t move to Hammond, the Hoosier State and The Region come out looking like champs.

Other businesses in other industry sectors will most certainly look at our state differently after this. They will investigate us and the business climate here, and they will like what they see. They will ask themselves, “if they were willing to do that for the Bears, what might they do for us to move there?”

Businesses and residents are leaving Illinois and Chicago because of the increasing tax burden and social policy approach they have exhibited.

Maybe it will take losing the Bears for them to start looking at the bottom of their feet.

The post Roger Grossman Commentary: Bears fumble stadium deal again appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]>
Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

Teams have slogans they rally around, and the older you get, the less slogans influence you.

But one of the best slogans I have ever heard is “respect all, fear none.”

I think it’s one of the best because it applies so well to sports and to every other aspect of life.

We overlook some things in our lives that we shouldn’t, and we do that because we just don’t think of them as being a realistic threat to us.

Here is an example: A guy’s foot starts to bother him. It’s not a big deal and he’s able to get around fine, but he notices it.

Two weeks later, it’s getting worse. It hurts whenever he’s awake, but he doesn’t want to go to the doctor for it. Two weeks after that he’s really feeling it, but the pain is coming from the bottom of his foot so he can’t see it.

He gets a mirror and positions it so he can see the other side of his foot and realizes that he’s got an infection and it looks nasty.

He goes to the doctor, and the infection is spreading. It’s too late to fix with medication, and the recommendation is amputation.

The man didn’t take the pain seriously, and it cost him dearly.

The proverbial pain on the bottom of the State of Illinois’s and the City of Chicago’s ‘foot’ is an infection, and they have ignored it to the point that they could lose the Bears.

The State of Illinois and the City of Chicago have long been under the impression that “the Bears would never move out of the city, let alone the state.”

And maybe they still won’t, but the events of the past week say otherwise.

A few weeks back, the city of Hammond announced that it was finalizing a proposal to clear up a plot of land on the shores of Wolf Lake that could be used to build a domed stadium for the Bears. The state line runs right down the middle of that body of water.

Chicago collectively giggled at that news, but it turns out the Bears front office wasn’t laughing along.

Then things got “real” last week when the Indiana Senate passed SB 27, which would create an organization whose objective would be to raise money for, build and lease a stadium that would house the Bears and could host lots of other events — sporting and otherwise.

That news had a lot of politicians in Chicago and Springfield spitting their coffee across the room.

Then those same politicians started to gag on their own spit when the Bears issued a statement describing the bill as “the most significant move” in their process of replacing Soldier Field as home of the Bears.

It’s important to note here that no agreement was announced. There is no handshake agreement in place.

But the Bears have turned their attention to Hammond.

The responses have ranged from “they can’t do that” to “What would Papa Bear Halas say?”

Well, they can do that and they just might. And Coach Halas would have put his foot down long before this and said, “Get a deal done in Chicago or find someone who will work with us.”

It’s here in the conversation that I must remind you that the Bears already bought the piece of land formerly known as the Arlington Park racetrack property—326 acres at a price tag of $197 million.

That was three years ago, and the Bears not only haven’t turned a single shovel of dirt in Arlington Heights, but they are still accepting offers.

The Bears are like the prettiest girl in school, who has 8 invitations to the prom but is waiting to see how many others come in before she decides who to go with.

The city of Chicago and the State of Illinois have disrespected their neighbors to the east for too long, and now they can’t do that anymore.

While it’s still hard to imagine the Bears not being in Chicago, the prospects of them not being downtown any longer have been there for a long time, but no one has moved to ensure that they would stay.

The State of Indiana has risen up and punched Illinois and Chicago right in the face, and they deserved it.

And now, the game is on! Indiana’s proposal to bring the Bears across the state line is legit and everyone knows it.

Now, do the Bears really want to move out of the city and the state? Not being in that meeting room at Halas Hall when these discussions are taking place makes it hard to know for sure.

Is Indiana being used in this by the Bears to twist the arms of the Illinois legislature even harder? Quite possibly. But even if it plays out that way and the Bears don’t move to Hammond, the Hoosier State and The Region come out looking like champs.

Other businesses in other industry sectors will most certainly look at our state differently after this. They will investigate us and the business climate here, and they will like what they see. They will ask themselves, “if they were willing to do that for the Bears, what might they do for us to move there?”

Businesses and residents are leaving Illinois and Chicago because of the increasing tax burden and social policy approach they have exhibited.

Maybe it will take losing the Bears for them to start looking at the bottom of their feet.

The post Roger Grossman Commentary: Bears fumble stadium deal again appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/roger.png A tip of the fishing hat https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/a-tip-of-the-fishing-hat/ Wed, 18 Feb 2026 20:17:12 +0000 https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/?p=127226
Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

I want to spend some time in this space this week remembering someone whom I called ‘friend,’ and many of you did also.

Dr. John Davis passed away last week at the age of 89.

You can add his name to the list of people who lived a full life and whose legacy is spectacular.

Dr. Davis was a leader.

He was the President of Grace College and Seminary for seven years, was Executive Vice President for six years and worked for the seminary in the admissions department for four more years.

He led by teaching and preaching.

He pastored churches in South Whitley and Tampa and taught the Bible in 45 different countries in his lifetime.

He led by digging for truth and evidence.

He was involved in over a dozen archeological expeditions in Middle East countries like Israel and Jordan, and also here in the United States and Central America.

He is also well known for his work in translating manuscripts into what we call the New International Version of the Bible — one of the most widely used versions in the world. And he’s been a part of writing study editions of the New American Standard version and the New King James Version.

The man knew his Bible.

But the two things I would like to focus on more today are his work in radio and in this newspaper.

You may not know that Dr. Davis was big into hockey, and he worked as a color commentator for Fort Wayne Komet hockey for 10 years.

And you also may not know that he lent his sturdy voice to high school and college sports broadcasts during his younger life.

And the other thing I want to make sure we spend some time on is his column in the Times Union.

“The Outdoor Scene” was a fixture in this publication for 31 years.

He wrote each time with a combination of education and humor that lifelong journalists rarely master.

He wanted us to understand that it was fun outside, and he set out every week to prove it.

I find it quite ironic that his life ended so quietly, tucked away at Grace Village, praising his Lord for each day he had been given, considering how often and in how many ways he lived his life in front of us in all the capacities that he did.

My prayers go up for his lovely bride, Carolyn, and his family.

He was a wonderful man, and my heart is broken that I live in a world where Dr. John Davis is no longer present.

And yet, he is still here, and he will always be here with us in his own way.

I will never pick up my NIV Bible and not think of him.

I will never write another column and not think about him.

His influences are everywhere.

His voice is now silent, but the foundation of where that voice came from can never be drowned out.

Farewell, Dr. John Davis, and thank you…for everything.

Maybe, someday, you and I can share a fishing boat on a quiet lake with my dad and my son—bobbers drifting along in four different directions on a perfect day.

In the remaining space I have left …

Congratulations to the Whitko Lady Wildcats on their regional championship Saturday in the Tiger Den. I know Frankfort feels really far away on a map, and it is. But ask Warsaw fans about last year—that ride home after winning two semi-state games there and punching their ticket to the state championship game felt more like 20 minutes than 2 hours.

Winning makes a lot of things better.

That we haven’t heard a lot about the WNBA labor dispute is not a big surprise. The season starts in May, so there is no urgency on either side to even chat, let alone get serious.

Don’t expect to hear much of anything until mid-March.

March Madness is about a month away. Have you watched any college basketball this winter? There are a lot of good teams and several really good teams. But there isn’t one that you can say “that team is a lock for the Final Four” except for one: Michigan.

They are solid and consistent, and it feels like they have the pieces to win four tournament games.

Oh, and another irony: isn’t it interesting that the warmest week of our year so far is the week that Major League Spring Training begins in Florida and Arizona?

It won’t be long now!

The post A tip of the fishing hat appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]>
Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

I want to spend some time in this space this week remembering someone whom I called ‘friend,’ and many of you did also.

Dr. John Davis passed away last week at the age of 89.

You can add his name to the list of people who lived a full life and whose legacy is spectacular.

Dr. Davis was a leader.

He was the President of Grace College and Seminary for seven years, was Executive Vice President for six years and worked for the seminary in the admissions department for four more years.

He led by teaching and preaching.

He pastored churches in South Whitley and Tampa and taught the Bible in 45 different countries in his lifetime.

He led by digging for truth and evidence.

He was involved in over a dozen archeological expeditions in Middle East countries like Israel and Jordan, and also here in the United States and Central America.

He is also well known for his work in translating manuscripts into what we call the New International Version of the Bible — one of the most widely used versions in the world. And he’s been a part of writing study editions of the New American Standard version and the New King James Version.

The man knew his Bible.

But the two things I would like to focus on more today are his work in radio and in this newspaper.

You may not know that Dr. Davis was big into hockey, and he worked as a color commentator for Fort Wayne Komet hockey for 10 years.

And you also may not know that he lent his sturdy voice to high school and college sports broadcasts during his younger life.

And the other thing I want to make sure we spend some time on is his column in the Times Union.

“The Outdoor Scene” was a fixture in this publication for 31 years.

He wrote each time with a combination of education and humor that lifelong journalists rarely master.

He wanted us to understand that it was fun outside, and he set out every week to prove it.

I find it quite ironic that his life ended so quietly, tucked away at Grace Village, praising his Lord for each day he had been given, considering how often and in how many ways he lived his life in front of us in all the capacities that he did.

My prayers go up for his lovely bride, Carolyn, and his family.

He was a wonderful man, and my heart is broken that I live in a world where Dr. John Davis is no longer present.

And yet, he is still here, and he will always be here with us in his own way.

I will never pick up my NIV Bible and not think of him.

I will never write another column and not think about him.

His influences are everywhere.

His voice is now silent, but the foundation of where that voice came from can never be drowned out.

Farewell, Dr. John Davis, and thank you…for everything.

Maybe, someday, you and I can share a fishing boat on a quiet lake with my dad and my son—bobbers drifting along in four different directions on a perfect day.

In the remaining space I have left …

Congratulations to the Whitko Lady Wildcats on their regional championship Saturday in the Tiger Den. I know Frankfort feels really far away on a map, and it is. But ask Warsaw fans about last year—that ride home after winning two semi-state games there and punching their ticket to the state championship game felt more like 20 minutes than 2 hours.

Winning makes a lot of things better.

That we haven’t heard a lot about the WNBA labor dispute is not a big surprise. The season starts in May, so there is no urgency on either side to even chat, let alone get serious.

Don’t expect to hear much of anything until mid-March.

March Madness is about a month away. Have you watched any college basketball this winter? There are a lot of good teams and several really good teams. But there isn’t one that you can say “that team is a lock for the Final Four” except for one: Michigan.

They are solid and consistent, and it feels like they have the pieces to win four tournament games.

Oh, and another irony: isn’t it interesting that the warmest week of our year so far is the week that Major League Spring Training begins in Florida and Arizona?

It won’t be long now!

The post A tip of the fishing hat appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/roger.png Super Bowl buffet line https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/super-bowl-buffet-line/ Wed, 11 Feb 2026 17:05:47 +0000 https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/?p=126884 Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

I have several things running around in my head today, so I am going to fit them all into my space.

The thing that makes the high school postseason great is what makes it so difficult—when it’s over, it’s over.

The one-and-done approach works, and it works because the intensity and the pressure that is added by the thought that “this is the last game of our season if we don’t win” makes the moment you’re in more meaningful.

We should all understand that professional sports function better when they play in series. It makes sense on a lot of levels, mainly because they play so many games in the course of their season that only needing one to decide who advances would be unsatisfying.

Oh, and there’s so much more money in a series that goes seven games than a one-game event, right?

But high school’s postseasons are wonderful because no one knows when they will end for any one team or player. That’s true in all the IHSAA sports.

Now, in some sports, you don’t have to win your sectional to compete at the regional level. Team sports like cross country, for example, take the top so many teams to move on to the next round. Cross Country also has a component in its results that allows an excellent competitor on a bad team to advance alone if they achieve a certain standard.

But no matter, every time those kids put their feet in the starting blocks, every time they run out of the locker room to warm up, every time they climb onto the box at the edge of the pool—they all understand that it could be the last time.

It means the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows…in the same place and the exact same time.

America is so weird right now, and unfortunately, that weirdness got on a plane and flew to Italy for the Olympics.

Before most of the competitions really got going, American athletes took part in press conferences where a lot of them took turns taking shots at the country they represent.

That’s really unfortunate.

But the uncomfortable part of it is that the people who are complaining about how America looks to them are at the Olympics because they were trained in and financially supported by the United States of America.

They don’t get that, I know they don’t.

But the kicker to it is that “biting the hand that feeds you” is as American as apple pie.

It’s a bad look for those young people and a bad look for America, but it’s how it’s going.

That said, I will stop whatever I am doing over the next two weeks during Olympic coverage to watch medal ceremonies.

I enjoy watching people receive their medals and the pure and raw emotion that they share with all of us in the moment when all their hard work pays off.

Oh, and I have really enjoyed watching the winners’ faces while their national anthem is played. And that applies to the anthems of all nations.

Many of you were hoping I would write about Wawasee this week, and I am—but I’m not going where many of you were hoping I would go.

I would like to say something about the boys basketball coaching change that I am so happy that Wawasee has a man like Nate O’Connell to take over the program under the current circumstances.

Nate is a former Tiger basketball player who has been with Wawasee basketball since 2008.

He’s a man who knows the game of basketball.

He has dedicated his coaching life to the Warriors.

He’s a man who is loyal to Wawasee.
He’s a man who knows the kids on the team and knows the kids in the pipeline.

Most importantly, he’s a man of the highest character and integrity. He’s a man that people there can trust. He’s a man who knows what the most important things are, and he will focus on those things, on and off the court.

He’s a quiet, humble man who has never sought the spotlight, and he’s exactly what Wawasee needs right now.

And finally, can we get someone for the Super Bowl Halftime Show that is a little more centric to society?

Isn’t there an act or a group out there that would be more widely accepted than Bad Bunny?

I mean, a Spanish-language rapper is a pretty narrow target audience for an event that draws almost 130-million viewers, isn’t it?

This is a marketing choice by the NFL. What are they trying to tell us? I’m not sure myself, so I won’t speculate.

Let’s also understand that whoever performs next year will not make all 130-million people watching happy. Just like I know that what I write about won’t be interesting to every Times Union reader every week.

But let’s hope they find someone who makes more sense.

Ah…the lost art of common sense.

The post Super Bowl buffet line appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

I have several things running around in my head today, so I am going to fit them all into my space.

The thing that makes the high school postseason great is what makes it so difficult—when it’s over, it’s over.

The one-and-done approach works, and it works because the intensity and the pressure that is added by the thought that “this is the last game of our season if we don’t win” makes the moment you’re in more meaningful.

We should all understand that professional sports function better when they play in series. It makes sense on a lot of levels, mainly because they play so many games in the course of their season that only needing one to decide who advances would be unsatisfying.

Oh, and there’s so much more money in a series that goes seven games than a one-game event, right?

But high school’s postseasons are wonderful because no one knows when they will end for any one team or player. That’s true in all the IHSAA sports.

Now, in some sports, you don’t have to win your sectional to compete at the regional level. Team sports like cross country, for example, take the top so many teams to move on to the next round. Cross Country also has a component in its results that allows an excellent competitor on a bad team to advance alone if they achieve a certain standard.

But no matter, every time those kids put their feet in the starting blocks, every time they run out of the locker room to warm up, every time they climb onto the box at the edge of the pool—they all understand that it could be the last time.

It means the highest of highs, and the lowest of lows…in the same place and the exact same time.

America is so weird right now, and unfortunately, that weirdness got on a plane and flew to Italy for the Olympics.

Before most of the competitions really got going, American athletes took part in press conferences where a lot of them took turns taking shots at the country they represent.

That’s really unfortunate.

But the uncomfortable part of it is that the people who are complaining about how America looks to them are at the Olympics because they were trained in and financially supported by the United States of America.

They don’t get that, I know they don’t.

But the kicker to it is that “biting the hand that feeds you” is as American as apple pie.

It’s a bad look for those young people and a bad look for America, but it’s how it’s going.

That said, I will stop whatever I am doing over the next two weeks during Olympic coverage to watch medal ceremonies.

I enjoy watching people receive their medals and the pure and raw emotion that they share with all of us in the moment when all their hard work pays off.

Oh, and I have really enjoyed watching the winners’ faces while their national anthem is played. And that applies to the anthems of all nations.

Many of you were hoping I would write about Wawasee this week, and I am—but I’m not going where many of you were hoping I would go.

I would like to say something about the boys basketball coaching change that I am so happy that Wawasee has a man like Nate O’Connell to take over the program under the current circumstances.

Nate is a former Tiger basketball player who has been with Wawasee basketball since 2008.

He’s a man who knows the game of basketball.

He has dedicated his coaching life to the Warriors.

He’s a man who is loyal to Wawasee.
He’s a man who knows the kids on the team and knows the kids in the pipeline.

Most importantly, he’s a man of the highest character and integrity. He’s a man that people there can trust. He’s a man who knows what the most important things are, and he will focus on those things, on and off the court.

He’s a quiet, humble man who has never sought the spotlight, and he’s exactly what Wawasee needs right now.

And finally, can we get someone for the Super Bowl Halftime Show that is a little more centric to society?

Isn’t there an act or a group out there that would be more widely accepted than Bad Bunny?

I mean, a Spanish-language rapper is a pretty narrow target audience for an event that draws almost 130-million viewers, isn’t it?

This is a marketing choice by the NFL. What are they trying to tell us? I’m not sure myself, so I won’t speculate.

Let’s also understand that whoever performs next year will not make all 130-million people watching happy. Just like I know that what I write about won’t be interesting to every Times Union reader every week.

But let’s hope they find someone who makes more sense.

Ah…the lost art of common sense.

The post Super Bowl buffet line appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/roger.png Let’s change some rules https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/lets-change-some-rules/ Wed, 04 Feb 2026 17:02:49 +0000 https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/?p=126403 By Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

With word filtering out of Indianapolis that the IHSAA has received an official proposal that would introduce a shot clock to the rules of Indiana high school basketball, it felt right to talk about rules changes in general.

My feelings about the concept of a shot clock for high school basketball is well documented, and I frankly don’t have the energy to fight that battle today.

While I stand strongly against it, I am certainly not against changing rules to make a sport better.

So, in this space this week, I want to examine some rules of some sports that could be tweaked or changed.

Since we are in basketball season, let’s start there.

You may remember a couple of weeks ago I suggested a rule that would require players of either gender to arrange their hair in such a way that the number on the back of their jersey be visible. For our discussion today, it’s about basketball, but it would certainly apply to all sports that use jersey numbers—football, soccer, and volleyball, for example.

I am bringing that up again because I’ve had another instance since then where I could not tell who that player was at the beginning of the game because I couldn’t see the number on the back of her shirt.

When I wrote about that before, some people got the distinct impression that I was “targeting” girls with this proposed rule change. I cannot be clearer on this—all players of all sports and all genders would be subject to this rule.

Also, when Team A shoots the basketball and it’s so far off the mark that it wedges between the backboard and the side of the rim, I propose a rule change to what happens next.

Currently, the alternating possession arrow is used to determine who gets the ball in that scenario.

It’s my strong opinion that the offensive team should not have a 50-50 chance of getting the ball back when they shoot the ball that poorly.

Under my proposal, the ball would automatically go to the defensive team.

I like most of the rules that baseball has changed recently, so I think I’d like another year of that sport the way it is.

I say that, but I still don’t quite understand making the bases bigger. I know why they say they did it, but it was an odd way to try to increase stolen bases and offensive aggressiveness.

If I was going to change anything about baseball, it would be to shorten the season from 162 games to 120 or 130. Start the season in mid-April and start the playoffs in September.

Ending the World Series in October makes sense, doesn’t it?

I would like to change something about all sports with video challenges.

I was watching an NBA game last weekend and I don’t like their challenge system at all. Actually, I think I would like to change one aspect of the challenge systems for all sports.

There is a limit to the number of times a team can challenge, even if they’re right and the officials are wrong.

Let me explain.

On a certain night, the officials for that game are not having a good night. It happens, right?

As it stands right now, you only get so many challenges per game, even when your challenges are all successful.

That means officials could miss 5, 10, 15 calls against one team that could be overturned by video review, but only two could be reviewed because of the limits on challenges.

That’s not right.

I propose that each team be allowed a certain number of challenges. Let’s say two, for the sake of our discussion. A play happens, and the team challenges the ruling. They are correct and the ruling is overturned. They keep their challenge.

In other words, in this scenario, if you challenge and are wrong, you lose that challenge. You challenge twice (unsuccessfully), you are out of challenges. You challenge calls 10 times and are right, you still have two left.

It’s not the team’s fault when the officials are doing a bad job.

Call it the Angel Hernandez rule.

A couple of other things for you to think about.

What if we had power plays in the NBA?

A player commits a lower-level flagrant foul—called a Flagrant 1. That player would sit out the next minute of the game, and his team would play for four players. When that minute is over, that player can rejoin the play immediately.

Also, in football, a defensive holding penalty should be 10 yards (not five) and it should not be an automatic first down.

And while we are at it, let’s make only personal foul penalties automatic first downs. Illegal contact called on a defensive back on 3rd and 18 that gives the offense a first down is not right.

That’s enough change for now.

The post Let’s change some rules appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> By Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

With word filtering out of Indianapolis that the IHSAA has received an official proposal that would introduce a shot clock to the rules of Indiana high school basketball, it felt right to talk about rules changes in general.

My feelings about the concept of a shot clock for high school basketball is well documented, and I frankly don’t have the energy to fight that battle today.

While I stand strongly against it, I am certainly not against changing rules to make a sport better.

So, in this space this week, I want to examine some rules of some sports that could be tweaked or changed.

Since we are in basketball season, let’s start there.

You may remember a couple of weeks ago I suggested a rule that would require players of either gender to arrange their hair in such a way that the number on the back of their jersey be visible. For our discussion today, it’s about basketball, but it would certainly apply to all sports that use jersey numbers—football, soccer, and volleyball, for example.

I am bringing that up again because I’ve had another instance since then where I could not tell who that player was at the beginning of the game because I couldn’t see the number on the back of her shirt.

When I wrote about that before, some people got the distinct impression that I was “targeting” girls with this proposed rule change. I cannot be clearer on this—all players of all sports and all genders would be subject to this rule.

Also, when Team A shoots the basketball and it’s so far off the mark that it wedges between the backboard and the side of the rim, I propose a rule change to what happens next.

Currently, the alternating possession arrow is used to determine who gets the ball in that scenario.

It’s my strong opinion that the offensive team should not have a 50-50 chance of getting the ball back when they shoot the ball that poorly.

Under my proposal, the ball would automatically go to the defensive team.

I like most of the rules that baseball has changed recently, so I think I’d like another year of that sport the way it is.

I say that, but I still don’t quite understand making the bases bigger. I know why they say they did it, but it was an odd way to try to increase stolen bases and offensive aggressiveness.

If I was going to change anything about baseball, it would be to shorten the season from 162 games to 120 or 130. Start the season in mid-April and start the playoffs in September.

Ending the World Series in October makes sense, doesn’t it?

I would like to change something about all sports with video challenges.

I was watching an NBA game last weekend and I don’t like their challenge system at all. Actually, I think I would like to change one aspect of the challenge systems for all sports.

There is a limit to the number of times a team can challenge, even if they’re right and the officials are wrong.

Let me explain.

On a certain night, the officials for that game are not having a good night. It happens, right?

As it stands right now, you only get so many challenges per game, even when your challenges are all successful.

That means officials could miss 5, 10, 15 calls against one team that could be overturned by video review, but only two could be reviewed because of the limits on challenges.

That’s not right.

I propose that each team be allowed a certain number of challenges. Let’s say two, for the sake of our discussion. A play happens, and the team challenges the ruling. They are correct and the ruling is overturned. They keep their challenge.

In other words, in this scenario, if you challenge and are wrong, you lose that challenge. You challenge twice (unsuccessfully), you are out of challenges. You challenge calls 10 times and are right, you still have two left.

It’s not the team’s fault when the officials are doing a bad job.

Call it the Angel Hernandez rule.

A couple of other things for you to think about.

What if we had power plays in the NBA?

A player commits a lower-level flagrant foul—called a Flagrant 1. That player would sit out the next minute of the game, and his team would play for four players. When that minute is over, that player can rejoin the play immediately.

Also, in football, a defensive holding penalty should be 10 yards (not five) and it should not be an automatic first down.

And while we are at it, let’s make only personal foul penalties automatic first downs. Illegal contact called on a defensive back on 3rd and 18 that gives the offense a first down is not right.

That’s enough change for now.

The post Let’s change some rules appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/roger.png A secret and a goodbye https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/a-secret-and-a-goodbye/ Wed, 28 Jan 2026 20:25:17 +0000 https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/?p=126060 Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

I have been keeping a secret from you all.

That goes against my nature. I am in the information distribution business. I gather information, organize it in a format that works for you all, and then get it to you.

And in the process, others like me in the same line of work try to achieve that as quickly as possible.

Just imagine what it’s been like for me keeping a secret for the last six months.

It’s been incredibly difficult.

Six months ago was July, and on a sunny, breezy Northern Indiana afternoon, I was sitting in a lawn chair in my driveway watching cars drive back and forth across my street. It was a little too windy to go fishing that day, so I was just chilling out at home. My son was working on his basketball moves, my wife was working on her flowers, my daughter was in the house reading, and my black lab was on the other end of the leash I was holding.

My phone rang.

I saw that the caller ID said it was Chuck Freeby from Sports Michiana. I get calls from Chuck from time to time, but never in July. For what felt like five minutes (but was really only five seconds), I speculated in my head what he might be calling me about.

I snapped out of that and answered the phone.

What he told me would change my life forever.

He was calling me to tell me that I was going to be inducted into the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame.

I heard all the words, but I most certainly didn’t comprehend what he was saying.

When it finally sank in, he was talking about me. Me!

I am not a member of this organization because I felt like the people whom I knew were already in it were a way bigger deal than me. They were famous people—some of them were people I aspired to be like in a younger life.

Chuck was telling me on the phone that summer afternoon that I was about to become a peer of theirs.

After giving me the information about when and where the ceremony would take place, he gave me the haunting instructions that no one but my wife could know until the announcement was made in January.

The most exciting news of my professional life and I couldn’t tell anyone?

Nope … no one.

Last Thursday, when the press release was sent out from the ISSA, I was still in so much disbelief and surprise that I opened it right away, looking for my name to see if it was really on there, or if it was all just a dream.

I scrolled down, and there it was…this was really happening.

There isn’t enough space in a thousand newspapers to express my feelings. Joy. Gratitude. Reflection.

Thank you to all of you who have reached out in the days since the announcement. It’s a statewide award, and so people from all over Indiana have sent me congratulatory messages.

We’ll talk more about this in early April.

With the space I have left, I want to circle back to my first year here at WRSW and share my thoughts on the passing of Ted Huber last week.

Huber was the varsity football coach at Warsaw for seven seasons—from 1988 to 1994.

That means he was the football coach here when I started back in 1991.

We didn’t hit it off right away. He was focused on trying to win football games and I was a 23-year-old kid trying to figure out how being a high school football commentator worked in the real world. There are things college radio can’t train you for, and those were the things I was trying to navigate.

It wasn’t that Coach Huber was hard to work with, it was that I was inexperienced.

I moved on to broadcasting Tippecanoe Valley games in 1994, and Coach Huber moved on as well.

A few years later, our paths crossed again. He saw me first and walked quickly over to say ‘hello’. He smiled when he asked how I was doing and if the people at Valley were taking good care of me (which they were, of course).

From then on, every time we were in the same room, we sought each other out.

His career in coaching is legendary: He is in the Bremen High School Hall of Fame, the Ball State Athletics Hall of Fame, the Indiana Football Hall of Fame and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

He is beloved by and will be missed by many — and I am included in that group.

Sunday, his family will say their final “goodbyes.” Today, I say mine.

Goodbye, Coach Huber, and thank you.

The post A secret and a goodbye appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

I have been keeping a secret from you all.

That goes against my nature. I am in the information distribution business. I gather information, organize it in a format that works for you all, and then get it to you.

And in the process, others like me in the same line of work try to achieve that as quickly as possible.

Just imagine what it’s been like for me keeping a secret for the last six months.

It’s been incredibly difficult.

Six months ago was July, and on a sunny, breezy Northern Indiana afternoon, I was sitting in a lawn chair in my driveway watching cars drive back and forth across my street. It was a little too windy to go fishing that day, so I was just chilling out at home. My son was working on his basketball moves, my wife was working on her flowers, my daughter was in the house reading, and my black lab was on the other end of the leash I was holding.

My phone rang.

I saw that the caller ID said it was Chuck Freeby from Sports Michiana. I get calls from Chuck from time to time, but never in July. For what felt like five minutes (but was really only five seconds), I speculated in my head what he might be calling me about.

I snapped out of that and answered the phone.

What he told me would change my life forever.

He was calling me to tell me that I was going to be inducted into the Indiana Sportswriters and Sportscasters Hall of Fame.

I heard all the words, but I most certainly didn’t comprehend what he was saying.

When it finally sank in, he was talking about me. Me!

I am not a member of this organization because I felt like the people whom I knew were already in it were a way bigger deal than me. They were famous people—some of them were people I aspired to be like in a younger life.

Chuck was telling me on the phone that summer afternoon that I was about to become a peer of theirs.

After giving me the information about when and where the ceremony would take place, he gave me the haunting instructions that no one but my wife could know until the announcement was made in January.

The most exciting news of my professional life and I couldn’t tell anyone?

Nope … no one.

Last Thursday, when the press release was sent out from the ISSA, I was still in so much disbelief and surprise that I opened it right away, looking for my name to see if it was really on there, or if it was all just a dream.

I scrolled down, and there it was…this was really happening.

There isn’t enough space in a thousand newspapers to express my feelings. Joy. Gratitude. Reflection.

Thank you to all of you who have reached out in the days since the announcement. It’s a statewide award, and so people from all over Indiana have sent me congratulatory messages.

We’ll talk more about this in early April.

With the space I have left, I want to circle back to my first year here at WRSW and share my thoughts on the passing of Ted Huber last week.

Huber was the varsity football coach at Warsaw for seven seasons—from 1988 to 1994.

That means he was the football coach here when I started back in 1991.

We didn’t hit it off right away. He was focused on trying to win football games and I was a 23-year-old kid trying to figure out how being a high school football commentator worked in the real world. There are things college radio can’t train you for, and those were the things I was trying to navigate.

It wasn’t that Coach Huber was hard to work with, it was that I was inexperienced.

I moved on to broadcasting Tippecanoe Valley games in 1994, and Coach Huber moved on as well.

A few years later, our paths crossed again. He saw me first and walked quickly over to say ‘hello’. He smiled when he asked how I was doing and if the people at Valley were taking good care of me (which they were, of course).

From then on, every time we were in the same room, we sought each other out.

His career in coaching is legendary: He is in the Bremen High School Hall of Fame, the Ball State Athletics Hall of Fame, the Indiana Football Hall of Fame and the National High School Athletic Coaches Association Hall of Fame.

He is beloved by and will be missed by many — and I am included in that group.

Sunday, his family will say their final “goodbyes.” Today, I say mine.

Goodbye, Coach Huber, and thank you.

The post A secret and a goodbye appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/roger.png My Hoosier Gym experience was unreal https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/my-hoosier-gym-experience-was-unreal/ Wed, 07 Jan 2026 19:48:17 +0000 https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/?p=125113  

Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

In my nearly 35 years of broadcasting games in Warsaw, I have had a lot of opportunities to do a lot of fun and cool things.

But last Tuesday, I had the honor of broadcasting from the Knightstown Senior Center.

That probably doesn’t mean much to you on the surface, but when I say I got to broadcast from the Hoosier Gym, that changes things, doesn’t it?

The gym that was built over 100 years ago at what was then Knightstown High School was just another old, cool gym … until 1985.

That year, movie director David Anspaugh began scouting out old high school gyms in Indiana for a movie about Indiana high school basketball for a script loosely based on one of its most iconic teams.

It was a relatively low-budget movie, with most of the main characters played by unknown college-aged kids posing as high school basketball players.

But it did have three major Hollywood names: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper.

What they produced was the perfect depiction of Hoosier Hysteria in the form of the movie “Hoosiers”.

The gym in Knightstown became the home court for the fictional Hickory Huskers, a team from a little town trying to win the Indiana state basketball championship by beating schools much bigger than theirs.

And that gym is the place I walked into on Tuesday afternoon.

With my satchels hung over my shoulder and my equipment case rolling behind me, I walked through the west doors of the building nestled in a quiet neighborhood northwest of the heart of town.

The volunteers welcomed me with smiles and warm greetings, and they offered to show me to the table where I would be broadcasting from.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I walked through the doors and there it was—the gym from the movie that I had watched a hundred times over the last 40 years with that famous music echoing between the empty seats.

And I began to cry.

Not just a teary-eyed kind of emotional moment — a full-fledged, tears rolling down each cheek to my chin, weeping.

I was not prepared for that. I did not anticipate being there having that effect on me.

I chose not to try to hold it back.

It was remarkably unchanged from the filming. The old game clock with the rolling hands instead of a digital timer is still there. The yellow banner with the red letters is draped on the wall above the south basket. The team picture of the “1952 Indiana State Champs” is in the exact spot where the last scene of the movie put it. The scorers' table still sits above the wall in the front row, and the microphone for the public address announcer is of the 1950s vintage. The 1952 State Champions banner hangs in the corner.

The movie shows very little space between the sidelines and the wall that separates the fans from the court. I felt the need to take a tape measure with me (if you saw the movie, you understand), and it’s 18 inches between them.

Yes, there are now modern scoreboards to accommodate the 100 high school games that are played there each winter. But the team names on those boards are labeled “Hickory” and “Terhune”.

The gym is operated by volunteers who have dedicated their lives to preserving this building and making others feel like I did.

They know the history of it, they know how we remember it, and they live to make it special for all of us.

What they are doing is working, because over 60,000 people walk through those doors to spend time in that place each year.

I broadcast the Warsaw boys game, in which they rallied from down 10 points early to win over Providence, and then the girls game where the Lady Tigers fell behind early before beating a very solid Fairfield team.

And when the games were over and fans and families were getting their pictures taken all around the building, I just sat there. It was almost 10 p.m. and there was a two-and-a-half-hour drive home ahead with a 4 a.m. wake-up call looming, yet I could not make myself start the process of tearing down my equipment.

I wanted to soak it all in. And I did.

One by one, the caretakers began to turn off rows of lights. They were letting everyone know that our time there that night was running out.

As I was pulling away from my parking place in front of someone’s house in the neighborhood, the last volunteer was driving the old Hickory team bus from the movie from in front of the gym to its shelter nearby.

I will go back there, and I will take my family with me. They do not charge admission, but they do accept donations and it’s worth every penny.

The movie became “our” movie. It was a movie about basketball, but more than that, it was about Indiana basketball, and how we love it and how we watch it and how much it matters to us.

And it’s a story about second chances.

And that old gym, built in 1921 at a cost of $19,000, is now one of our state’s greatest treasures.

The post My Hoosier Gym experience was unreal appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]>  

Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

In my nearly 35 years of broadcasting games in Warsaw, I have had a lot of opportunities to do a lot of fun and cool things.

But last Tuesday, I had the honor of broadcasting from the Knightstown Senior Center.

That probably doesn’t mean much to you on the surface, but when I say I got to broadcast from the Hoosier Gym, that changes things, doesn’t it?

The gym that was built over 100 years ago at what was then Knightstown High School was just another old, cool gym … until 1985.

That year, movie director David Anspaugh began scouting out old high school gyms in Indiana for a movie about Indiana high school basketball for a script loosely based on one of its most iconic teams.

It was a relatively low-budget movie, with most of the main characters played by unknown college-aged kids posing as high school basketball players.

But it did have three major Hollywood names: Gene Hackman, Barbara Hershey and Dennis Hopper.

What they produced was the perfect depiction of Hoosier Hysteria in the form of the movie “Hoosiers”.

The gym in Knightstown became the home court for the fictional Hickory Huskers, a team from a little town trying to win the Indiana state basketball championship by beating schools much bigger than theirs.

And that gym is the place I walked into on Tuesday afternoon.

With my satchels hung over my shoulder and my equipment case rolling behind me, I walked through the west doors of the building nestled in a quiet neighborhood northwest of the heart of town.

The volunteers welcomed me with smiles and warm greetings, and they offered to show me to the table where I would be broadcasting from.

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks.

I walked through the doors and there it was—the gym from the movie that I had watched a hundred times over the last 40 years with that famous music echoing between the empty seats.

And I began to cry.

Not just a teary-eyed kind of emotional moment — a full-fledged, tears rolling down each cheek to my chin, weeping.

I was not prepared for that. I did not anticipate being there having that effect on me.

I chose not to try to hold it back.

It was remarkably unchanged from the filming. The old game clock with the rolling hands instead of a digital timer is still there. The yellow banner with the red letters is draped on the wall above the south basket. The team picture of the “1952 Indiana State Champs” is in the exact spot where the last scene of the movie put it. The scorers’ table still sits above the wall in the front row, and the microphone for the public address announcer is of the 1950s vintage. The 1952 State Champions banner hangs in the corner.

The movie shows very little space between the sidelines and the wall that separates the fans from the court. I felt the need to take a tape measure with me (if you saw the movie, you understand), and it’s 18 inches between them.

Yes, there are now modern scoreboards to accommodate the 100 high school games that are played there each winter. But the team names on those boards are labeled “Hickory” and “Terhune”.

The gym is operated by volunteers who have dedicated their lives to preserving this building and making others feel like I did.

They know the history of it, they know how we remember it, and they live to make it special for all of us.

What they are doing is working, because over 60,000 people walk through those doors to spend time in that place each year.

I broadcast the Warsaw boys game, in which they rallied from down 10 points early to win over Providence, and then the girls game where the Lady Tigers fell behind early before beating a very solid Fairfield team.

And when the games were over and fans and families were getting their pictures taken all around the building, I just sat there. It was almost 10 p.m. and there was a two-and-a-half-hour drive home ahead with a 4 a.m. wake-up call looming, yet I could not make myself start the process of tearing down my equipment.

I wanted to soak it all in. And I did.

One by one, the caretakers began to turn off rows of lights. They were letting everyone know that our time there that night was running out.

As I was pulling away from my parking place in front of someone’s house in the neighborhood, the last volunteer was driving the old Hickory team bus from the movie from in front of the gym to its shelter nearby.

I will go back there, and I will take my family with me. They do not charge admission, but they do accept donations and it’s worth every penny.

The movie became “our” movie. It was a movie about basketball, but more than that, it was about Indiana basketball, and how we love it and how we watch it and how much it matters to us.

And it’s a story about second chances.

And that old gym, built in 1921 at a cost of $19,000, is now one of our state’s greatest treasures.

The post My Hoosier Gym experience was unreal appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/roger.png What will 2026 hold for sports? https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/what-will-2026-hold-for-sports/ Thu, 01 Jan 2026 11:01:04 +0000 https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/?p=124884  

Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

As we put 2025 to bed and say “hello” to a new year, it’s time to consider what 2026 could bring for the universe of sports.

Today, this space is about predictions. It is not about New Year’s resolutions. I am not a fan of those at all. They are not practical and very few people follow through on them.

This is about what I think will or might happen in the coming year.

The challenge for you in this is that some of these predictions are meant to be silly and funny and I don’t really think they will happen at all. You get to figure out which ones are which.

Let’s roll.

I believe that the Hoosiers football team is going to win its first game in the College Football Playoff in a very convincing win over Alabama, but I do not think they will win the CFP championship.

If they make it into the championship game and they run into Ohio State again, Ryan Day will be at his most obnoxious in the days leading up to it. He’ll be telling us how the outcome will be different this time and how much tougher his team is this time around.

And somehow in it all, he will tell us how he’s out to prove Lou Holtz wrong.

And we will all roll our eyes.

I really hope I am wrong on that one.

In the same way, I don’t think the Bears are going to the Super Bowl.

I will say that I think the Bears’ wins in all those close games in the middle of this season will be a huge plus when it comes to winning playoff games. Experience doing something is very valuable, and the thought that they could be down 10 in the fourth quarter and no one on either sideline or in the stands believes the game is over is worth a lot.

I believe that the Olympics in Italy will be fraught with venue troubles and controversies that have nothing to do with the competitions and competitors.

We already know that the hockey rink is smaller than it’s supposed to be.

When that was revealed earlier this fall, and the project manager’s response was “we have no idea how that happened,” it did not inspire confidence.

Here’s hoping the games go off without a hitch, and here’s hoping NBC devotes an entire channel to curling.

I believe that the World Cup coming to North America this summer will mostly go well.

I also predict that the games and venues will be safe places for people to watch the matches from. While there is a part of me that understands that it only takes one person or one group and a well-coordinated attack to ruin the whole thing, I think it’s a lot harder to target one nation or fan group at events of this size.

I am very excited to have the world come over for a big party this July.

I predict that the Cubs will not make the playoffs in 2026.

Their dumpster-diving approach to finding players is shocking and embarrassing, and unbecoming of a team in the third-largest sports market in the country.

I mean, the way the Cubs go about filling out their roster would be like you going to a series of garage sales in May to find your family’s heirloom furniture or dishes. You wouldn’t do it.

Their front office has admitted that they are looking to bring in players who’ll have the best year of their career, and if enough of them do that, it will be a good year.

That’s a losing way of living.

I predict a major gambling scandal will rock college sports, but not until later in the year.

With the legal process playing out in the case of Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former player Damon Jones for their alleged involvement in illegal gambling, rigged poker games, and providing inside info for prop bets, it’s only a matter of time before this hits the college campuses. The money is too big.

It probably already has, but we don’t know it yet.

The question is: “With the NCAA no longer in any sense of control of college sports and the conferences ruling the landscape, might a university administrator or conference commissioner learn of such a situation happening and hide it to protect the cash flow?”

Here are a couple of others.

I think Travis Kelce will retire from the NFL to spend the rest of his life with Taylor Swift. I also believe that by the time training camp starts, he will be ready to play football again.

I predict that I will catch more blue gills in Indiana in the spring and summer of 2026 than I have in a long time.

I predict that Notre Dame will be invited to join a conference and will decline.

I believe that significant conference movement will start back up again in local high school sports.

I believe that I will set a goal of writing 52 weeks of the year for you again in 2026.

Happy New Year!

The post What will 2026 hold for sports? appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]>  

Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

As we put 2025 to bed and say “hello” to a new year, it’s time to consider what 2026 could bring for the universe of sports.

Today, this space is about predictions. It is not about New Year’s resolutions. I am not a fan of those at all. They are not practical and very few people follow through on them.

This is about what I think will or might happen in the coming year.

The challenge for you in this is that some of these predictions are meant to be silly and funny and I don’t really think they will happen at all. You get to figure out which ones are which.

Let’s roll.

I believe that the Hoosiers football team is going to win its first game in the College Football Playoff in a very convincing win over Alabama, but I do not think they will win the CFP championship.

If they make it into the championship game and they run into Ohio State again, Ryan Day will be at his most obnoxious in the days leading up to it. He’ll be telling us how the outcome will be different this time and how much tougher his team is this time around.

And somehow in it all, he will tell us how he’s out to prove Lou Holtz wrong.

And we will all roll our eyes.

I really hope I am wrong on that one.

In the same way, I don’t think the Bears are going to the Super Bowl.

I will say that I think the Bears’ wins in all those close games in the middle of this season will be a huge plus when it comes to winning playoff games. Experience doing something is very valuable, and the thought that they could be down 10 in the fourth quarter and no one on either sideline or in the stands believes the game is over is worth a lot.

I believe that the Olympics in Italy will be fraught with venue troubles and controversies that have nothing to do with the competitions and competitors.

We already know that the hockey rink is smaller than it’s supposed to be.

When that was revealed earlier this fall, and the project manager’s response was “we have no idea how that happened,” it did not inspire confidence.

Here’s hoping the games go off without a hitch, and here’s hoping NBC devotes an entire channel to curling.

I believe that the World Cup coming to North America this summer will mostly go well.

I also predict that the games and venues will be safe places for people to watch the matches from. While there is a part of me that understands that it only takes one person or one group and a well-coordinated attack to ruin the whole thing, I think it’s a lot harder to target one nation or fan group at events of this size.

I am very excited to have the world come over for a big party this July.

I predict that the Cubs will not make the playoffs in 2026.

Their dumpster-diving approach to finding players is shocking and embarrassing, and unbecoming of a team in the third-largest sports market in the country.

I mean, the way the Cubs go about filling out their roster would be like you going to a series of garage sales in May to find your family’s heirloom furniture or dishes. You wouldn’t do it.

Their front office has admitted that they are looking to bring in players who’ll have the best year of their career, and if enough of them do that, it will be a good year.

That’s a losing way of living.

I predict a major gambling scandal will rock college sports, but not until later in the year.

With the legal process playing out in the case of Portland Trail Blazers coach Chauncey Billups, Miami Heat guard Terry Rozier, and former player Damon Jones for their alleged involvement in illegal gambling, rigged poker games, and providing inside info for prop bets, it’s only a matter of time before this hits the college campuses. The money is too big.

It probably already has, but we don’t know it yet.

The question is: “With the NCAA no longer in any sense of control of college sports and the conferences ruling the landscape, might a university administrator or conference commissioner learn of such a situation happening and hide it to protect the cash flow?”

Here are a couple of others.

I think Travis Kelce will retire from the NFL to spend the rest of his life with Taylor Swift. I also believe that by the time training camp starts, he will be ready to play football again.

I predict that I will catch more blue gills in Indiana in the spring and summer of 2026 than I have in a long time.

I predict that Notre Dame will be invited to join a conference and will decline.

I believe that significant conference movement will start back up again in local high school sports.

I believe that I will set a goal of writing 52 weeks of the year for you again in 2026.

Happy New Year!

The post What will 2026 hold for sports? appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/roger.png Feel bad for the Colts https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/124339-2/ Wed, 17 Dec 2025 15:06:37 +0000 https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/?p=124339 Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

Man, this Colts season sure took a turn for the worse, didn’t it?

The men with the horseshoes on their helmets were 7-1, and that one loss was in LA to the Rams, which now looks like a pretty good loss for Indy.

Then they suffered an injury at the one position that almost no football team can survive—the quarterback.

The Colts were an offensive machine for more than half the season. They threw it, they ran it, and they were the top-scoring offense in the entire league.

Then, in a way that is hard to describe, they didn’t look the same. Daniel Jones was not completing passes with the same accuracy and efficiency that he had been. They were running, but not for as many yards.

Was it because other teams had figured out some things? Maybe.

Was it because their defensive shortcomings were starting to catch up with them? Possibly, but they made a massive investment in that side of the ball with an in-season trade for Sauce Gardner.

Jones admitted that his leg had been hurting, and further review showed that it was a fracture in one of the bones in his leg. It wasn’t broken to the point that he didn’t feel like he could play, so he kept playing.

Then the Colts traveled to Jacksonville.

This trip hasn’t been good for Indianapolis for over a decade. The Colts have taken some teams that should have beaten the Jags by three scores to Florida, but every time they flew back home, they wondered what in the world happened.

This time, though, it was much worse.

Oh sure, they lost again, but they also lost Jones. He injured his Achilles (on the other leg) and his season ended.

The Colts put former Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard in the game, and he played fine … but then he hurt his knee.

The Colts emergency quarterback is not a quarterback at all. The backup plan if both the quarterbacks got hurt was rookie tight end Tyler Warren.

Yes, the Colts should have had more than two quarterbacks on the active roster, but with Anthony Richardson still recovering from getting hit in the eye with a rubber exercise band before a game, their quarterback room was empty.

With no quarterbacks available, General Manager Chris Ballard picked up the phone, dug through his contact list to the “R’s,” and called Phillip Rivers.

44-year-old father-of-10 and grandfather-of-one Phillip Rivers, that is.

Rivers has been hanging out at home since retiring from the Colts in 2020. He’s been doing what 44-year-old guys do — he was watching football and trying to spoil his grandkid while waiting for his kids to provide him more.

But when the phone rang on his birthday, Monday, it was like Commissioner Gordon calling Batman to tell him that the Riddler and the Joker had escaped from jail again.

His face went somber, he shook his head in agreement, and he said he was on his way.

He hugged his wife and hopped on a plane to Indianapolis to see if he could save the day for the Colts.

Rivers insisted the Colts put him on the practice squad to start with. That’s a very noble gesture on his part.

Without saying it, he was saying, “I really don’t know if I can pull this off, but I am sure willing to try.”

By being on the practice squad, it meant the Colts didn’t have to cut anyone right away to make room for Rivers.

And the best part of the story is that we are talking about Phillip Rivers here. Very few have expressed more self-confidence in life and in football than this guy.

He is a master of trash-talking and his mouth never stops moving. Rarely is it ever malicious. It’s normally delivered in good fun, but it also comes with a point behind it.

And for a long time in the NFL, he backed it up.

So when Ballard needed a lifeline, there really was only one person to call—Rivers.

Who else would have the courage and self-belief to pull it off?

Who else would be able to walk into the offensive team room at Colts camp and have complete command of the room?

No one.

Let’s be clear: Rivers is a short-term solution, and with the Colts sending some serious draft picks away for Gardner, the long-term answer is not easy.

Potentially, they could hope that Jones is ready to roll by training camp and use a lower-round draft pick on a QB-of-the-future that would be the backup now.

Or there is another fascinating idea that I take full credit for coming up with: I wonder what the Bengals might want in exchange for Joe Burrow?

He basically said he feels like he’s wasting away in Cincinnati, and the Colts would move into the top 3 of the AFC if they could bring Burrow up the interstate.

They may … hold it … what’s that noise outside? It’s him! Gotta go give some advice to a friend.

See you next week. Merry Christmas!

The post Feel bad for the Colts appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

Man, this Colts season sure took a turn for the worse, didn’t it?

The men with the horseshoes on their helmets were 7-1, and that one loss was in LA to the Rams, which now looks like a pretty good loss for Indy.

Then they suffered an injury at the one position that almost no football team can survive—the quarterback.

The Colts were an offensive machine for more than half the season. They threw it, they ran it, and they were the top-scoring offense in the entire league.

Then, in a way that is hard to describe, they didn’t look the same. Daniel Jones was not completing passes with the same accuracy and efficiency that he had been. They were running, but not for as many yards.

Was it because other teams had figured out some things? Maybe.

Was it because their defensive shortcomings were starting to catch up with them? Possibly, but they made a massive investment in that side of the ball with an in-season trade for Sauce Gardner.

Jones admitted that his leg had been hurting, and further review showed that it was a fracture in one of the bones in his leg. It wasn’t broken to the point that he didn’t feel like he could play, so he kept playing.

Then the Colts traveled to Jacksonville.

This trip hasn’t been good for Indianapolis for over a decade. The Colts have taken some teams that should have beaten the Jags by three scores to Florida, but every time they flew back home, they wondered what in the world happened.

This time, though, it was much worse.

Oh sure, they lost again, but they also lost Jones. He injured his Achilles (on the other leg) and his season ended.

The Colts put former Notre Dame quarterback Riley Leonard in the game, and he played fine … but then he hurt his knee.

The Colts emergency quarterback is not a quarterback at all. The backup plan if both the quarterbacks got hurt was rookie tight end Tyler Warren.

Yes, the Colts should have had more than two quarterbacks on the active roster, but with Anthony Richardson still recovering from getting hit in the eye with a rubber exercise band before a game, their quarterback room was empty.

With no quarterbacks available, General Manager Chris Ballard picked up the phone, dug through his contact list to the “R’s,” and called Phillip Rivers.

44-year-old father-of-10 and grandfather-of-one Phillip Rivers, that is.

Rivers has been hanging out at home since retiring from the Colts in 2020. He’s been doing what 44-year-old guys do — he was watching football and trying to spoil his grandkid while waiting for his kids to provide him more.

But when the phone rang on his birthday, Monday, it was like Commissioner Gordon calling Batman to tell him that the Riddler and the Joker had escaped from jail again.

His face went somber, he shook his head in agreement, and he said he was on his way.

He hugged his wife and hopped on a plane to Indianapolis to see if he could save the day for the Colts.

Rivers insisted the Colts put him on the practice squad to start with. That’s a very noble gesture on his part.

Without saying it, he was saying, “I really don’t know if I can pull this off, but I am sure willing to try.”

By being on the practice squad, it meant the Colts didn’t have to cut anyone right away to make room for Rivers.

And the best part of the story is that we are talking about Phillip Rivers here. Very few have expressed more self-confidence in life and in football than this guy.

He is a master of trash-talking and his mouth never stops moving. Rarely is it ever malicious. It’s normally delivered in good fun, but it also comes with a point behind it.

And for a long time in the NFL, he backed it up.

So when Ballard needed a lifeline, there really was only one person to call—Rivers.

Who else would have the courage and self-belief to pull it off?

Who else would be able to walk into the offensive team room at Colts camp and have complete command of the room?

No one.

Let’s be clear: Rivers is a short-term solution, and with the Colts sending some serious draft picks away for Gardner, the long-term answer is not easy.

Potentially, they could hope that Jones is ready to roll by training camp and use a lower-round draft pick on a QB-of-the-future that would be the backup now.

Or there is another fascinating idea that I take full credit for coming up with: I wonder what the Bengals might want in exchange for Joe Burrow?

He basically said he feels like he’s wasting away in Cincinnati, and the Colts would move into the top 3 of the AFC if they could bring Burrow up the interstate.

They may … hold it … what’s that noise outside? It’s him! Gotta go give some advice to a friend.

See you next week. Merry Christmas!

The post Feel bad for the Colts appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/roger.png College football may be dead https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/college-football-may-be-dead/ Wed, 10 Dec 2025 17:36:03 +0000 https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/?p=124060 By Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

You guessed it, I am angry.

When ESPN revealed the 12 teams that had been selected for the College Football Playoff, and the Notre Dame logo was nowhere to be found, I was spittin’ nickels.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I just sat there. I am on new blood pressure medicine, and I am pretty sure it wasn’t having much effect in the hours that followed the reveal.

I was angry.

But let me go no further without heaping all due praise on the Indiana Hoosiers for unseating the king of college football, the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Two seasons ago, Indiana was 3-9 overall, 1-8 in the Big Ten, and about to fire Tom Allen.

Today, they are the best team in all the land. There is no debate in that. No one says today “I know IU won and all, but…”

No “buts”.

Good for them, and good for you, Hoosier fans.

You’ve endured many long autumns waiting for basketball season, never dreaming of this being possible.

Here’s hoping your boys have three more wins left in them.

Now, back to where we started.

The debate in the days leading up to Sunday was the “Miami vs. Notre Dame” discussion. The implication was that they couldn’t both get into the field of 12 teams.

The follow-up question was, “Notre Dame is in the top 10 in the College Football Playoff rankings, how can they not be in the 12-team playoff?”

Well, the rules of the playoffs this year allow James Madison and Tulane to be part of the tournament.

Both schools had very good football seasons. Their combined record is 23-1! But no one who comments on college football at any level in any capacity thinks that JMU or Tulane has a snowball’s chance in July of beating any of the teams in the field that will vie for the national football championship.

They don’t deserve this.

Yes, Notre Dame started 0-2, but they lost in the final half-minute of both of those games, and the two teams they lost to are in this tournament.

Alabama, for example, was selected to the field despite losing to a Florida State team that finished 5-7 by two touchdowns, to Oklahoma, and then being blown out by Georgia in the conference championship game. ‘Bama has 3 losses. How can you be the best team in the country when you have lost three times in 13 games?

Hint: you can’t.

But that’s where the rubber meets the road on all of this.

Who is in charge of college football? The conferences, that’s who.

There is no commissioner. There is no impartial, unattached arbiter who settles disputes and maintains a fair and level playing field.

The rules change every year. The number of teams allowed to compete for the championship changes. Where those teams come from changes. How those teams are assigned seeding changes.

Adjustments are the only constant, and those changes are made for the purpose of making more money and allowing more teams from certain conferences in.

These forces bend and shape the very essence of the sport of college football to suit their own wants and desires. Their greed and lust for money and power conquered their sense of competition.

Someone will have to answer for this mess. Someone is going to have to explain how the 20th and 24th best teams in the country get a seat at the table while the 10th-ranked team can’t be in a 12-team tournament.

Someone is going to have to account for if ESPN’s influence may have played a role in an SEC team getting in and a non-SEC team being left out. ESPN and ABC gets the college football playoff broadcasts, and they own the SEC Network. Conflict of interest? Heck yah, it is.

Someone is going to have to investigate if and how much the decision to leave the Irish, BYU and Texas out of the competition was made with the influence of gambling involvement.

You know me—you know I wouldn’t bring these things up if the very leadership of college football hadn’t opened the door to the possibility of it.

It is the epitome of the concept that “it’s not the impropriety, it’s the appearance of impropriety.”

If we can’t trust what we see with our own eyes, then we don’t have a competitive sport, we have entertainment. We have pro wrestling, where the outcome is not the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, but the end of this week’s storyline with a teaser for the next episode.

And with it, the death of college football as we have come to love it.

That may not be what happened … but how will we ever be able to tell the difference?

The post College football may be dead appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> By Roger Grossman
News Now Warsaw

You guessed it, I am angry.

When ESPN revealed the 12 teams that had been selected for the College Football Playoff, and the Notre Dame logo was nowhere to be found, I was spittin’ nickels.

I opened my mouth, but no words came out. I just sat there. I am on new blood pressure medicine, and I am pretty sure it wasn’t having much effect in the hours that followed the reveal.

I was angry.

But let me go no further without heaping all due praise on the Indiana Hoosiers for unseating the king of college football, the Ohio State Buckeyes.

Two seasons ago, Indiana was 3-9 overall, 1-8 in the Big Ten, and about to fire Tom Allen.

Today, they are the best team in all the land. There is no debate in that. No one says today “I know IU won and all, but…”

No “buts”.

Good for them, and good for you, Hoosier fans.

You’ve endured many long autumns waiting for basketball season, never dreaming of this being possible.

Here’s hoping your boys have three more wins left in them.

Now, back to where we started.

The debate in the days leading up to Sunday was the “Miami vs. Notre Dame” discussion. The implication was that they couldn’t both get into the field of 12 teams.

The follow-up question was, “Notre Dame is in the top 10 in the College Football Playoff rankings, how can they not be in the 12-team playoff?”

Well, the rules of the playoffs this year allow James Madison and Tulane to be part of the tournament.

Both schools had very good football seasons. Their combined record is 23-1! But no one who comments on college football at any level in any capacity thinks that JMU or Tulane has a snowball’s chance in July of beating any of the teams in the field that will vie for the national football championship.

They don’t deserve this.

Yes, Notre Dame started 0-2, but they lost in the final half-minute of both of those games, and the two teams they lost to are in this tournament.

Alabama, for example, was selected to the field despite losing to a Florida State team that finished 5-7 by two touchdowns, to Oklahoma, and then being blown out by Georgia in the conference championship game. ‘Bama has 3 losses. How can you be the best team in the country when you have lost three times in 13 games?

Hint: you can’t.

But that’s where the rubber meets the road on all of this.

Who is in charge of college football? The conferences, that’s who.

There is no commissioner. There is no impartial, unattached arbiter who settles disputes and maintains a fair and level playing field.

The rules change every year. The number of teams allowed to compete for the championship changes. Where those teams come from changes. How those teams are assigned seeding changes.

Adjustments are the only constant, and those changes are made for the purpose of making more money and allowing more teams from certain conferences in.

These forces bend and shape the very essence of the sport of college football to suit their own wants and desires. Their greed and lust for money and power conquered their sense of competition.

Someone will have to answer for this mess. Someone is going to have to explain how the 20th and 24th best teams in the country get a seat at the table while the 10th-ranked team can’t be in a 12-team tournament.

Someone is going to have to account for if ESPN’s influence may have played a role in an SEC team getting in and a non-SEC team being left out. ESPN and ABC gets the college football playoff broadcasts, and they own the SEC Network. Conflict of interest? Heck yah, it is.

Someone is going to have to investigate if and how much the decision to leave the Irish, BYU and Texas out of the competition was made with the influence of gambling involvement.

You know me—you know I wouldn’t bring these things up if the very leadership of college football hadn’t opened the door to the possibility of it.

It is the epitome of the concept that “it’s not the impropriety, it’s the appearance of impropriety.”

If we can’t trust what we see with our own eyes, then we don’t have a competitive sport, we have entertainment. We have pro wrestling, where the outcome is not the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat, but the end of this week’s storyline with a teaser for the next episode.

And with it, the death of college football as we have come to love it.

That may not be what happened … but how will we ever be able to tell the difference?

The post College football may be dead appeared first on News Now Warsaw.

]]> https://www.newsnowwarsaw.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/roger.png