Matthew Hook

@KyleNeddenriep best player I've ever coached

New Palestine DL Sam Hirschy offered by Missouri and Vanderbilt today

Around this time 6 years ago, people were leaving their homes to shame you for leaving your homes.

Best $19.50 ever spent. 'Red Hot Chili Peppers' tickets with special guests 'Nirvana' and 'Pearl Jam' circa 1992. The coolest photos ever taken: bit.ly/4cFoZT1

I think we’ve lost the plot on youth basketball. It’s probably happening in other sports too, but basketball is the world I know. Growing up, basketball was the neighborhood game. All you needed was a ball and a hoop. It was simple, accessible, and we’d play for hours without thinking twice about it. I’d call myself a pretty good high school player. I started on a solid team and loved competing. AAU wasn’t really part of the equation back then. I played in a few tournaments with friends, but everyone understood what it was. If you were elite, you played for Indiana Elite or Spiece. If you weren’t, you just kept hooping where you were. There wasn’t this pressure that you had to be in it. Now it feels like the entire model has flipped. Kids from kindergarten through high school are paying thousands just to be on a team. And if you want to play, there’s always a team ready for you because there’s money to be made. But it doesn’t stop there. Parents are paying $60/head every weekend just to watch. Some places are charging for parking. Tournaments are partnering with hotels and requiring teams to stay there just to participate. Then you show up and games are running an hour behind, officials are barely engaged, and someone’s parent is losing their mind over playing time. Somewhere along the way, the focus shifted. This isn’t about saying AAU is all bad. There are real positives. Kids get exposed to different competition, build friendships, and experience things they wouldn’t otherwise. But it’s hard to ignore what it’s becoming. For a lot of kids, this isn’t building a love for the game. It’s turning it into a transaction. A schedule. A bill. And that’s the part that feels off. It would just be nice if the kids were back at the center of it all.

Pearl Jam performing "Black" Live in Hyde Park, 2010. That guitar solo… One of the best 90s songs ever composed.

I’m going to Pakistan to put together a team with special abilities for @IndyDPW. Is this H-1B worthy? ✈️

On day 1 of my high school history class, our professor got up and said You are 15 or 16 years old. 200 years ago people your age were married, planted crops, had children, and built a cabin by winter. You can do your homework. The bar set for you historically is embarrassingly low. You are not dealing with regional famine or plague. You do not have to save your family from marauders or go into battle to destroy your enemies. You have to sit down and learn from someone who cares about you in a safe, air-conditioned room. You have no excuses.

Today in Rock History April 11, 1992 Pearl Jam made their debut appearance as the musical guest on “Saturday Night Live,” hosted by Sharon Stone. They performed two songs from their debut album, Ten: Alive and Porch.

@KyleNeddenriep yeah, I was more shocked to see a 33 team 6A class. I don't think that has ever happened. I also thought when they re-did the rules a few years ago, they also capped 5A at 32 teams. Clearly not.

@Captain_Hook76 5A never has been. Often 33 or 34 teams. 6A has been but once you change the success factor to making annual changes, I guess they had to change it to avoid potentially having a three-team sectional.

6A football sectional realignment 3: Carmel, Fishers, HSE, Westfield 4: Carroll, Northrop, Homestead, Noblesville 5: Avon, Ben Davis, Brownsburg, Zionsville 6: LC, LN, North Central, Pike 7: Decatur, Franklin C., Perry, Southport, Warren C. 8: CG, CN, Jeffersonville, Whitleand

@KyleNeddenriep yeah, but when team bump due to SF, the #32 team bumps down to the lower class. I thought 6A and 5A were locked at 32 teams?

@Captain_Hook76 Because of success factor. Decatur could move back to 5A after this season

When a system used by less than 2% of commuters commands funding comparable to a quarter of what we spend on the entire city, taxpayers are right to ask whether we’re getting our money’s worth.

OH MY GOODNESS 😱 UCONN LEADSSSS UNBELIEVABLE #MarchMadness

@Johncollins911 ahh

@Captain_Hook76 Well, they had a lead when they were stalling and then they stopped stalling and they lost the game

I bet Crown Point wishes they would have held the ball longer now

@coach_myers Purdue’s front court was too unathletic. That was the problem.

Purdue’s guards are too small. Had a blast watching them, but some athleticism on the wing is an absolute must nowadays.

In what movie did you like the bad guy more than the good guy?