During my 68 years on this earth, I have been a baseball fan as far back as my memory will take me.  Summers were times to organize neighborhood kids to play a sandlot game or get a Wiffle ball tournament going.  Baseball was the center of outdoor activity anytime weather allowed.

I grew up a Cincinnati Reds fan, and remain one today.  Yes, the Reds have fallen on hard times in recent years, much like many other small market clubs.  But I am not a fair-weather fan.  There is always hope the next season will be better.

Back in my formative years, the 1950s & 60s, it was hard to find many baseball games on television.  There were only three or four commercial stations we could receive on our old rabbit-ear indoor antennas.  We were lucky to see one TV game on Saturday.

After all those years of fandom, I am worried about the future of the game that is as All-American as anything I know.  There are many reasons leading me to that fear.

Everyone has been reading about the Houston Astros fiasco.  The team was investigated by Major League Baseball over cheating allegations.  Allow me to note that the probe was ordered only after the online sports media outlet, The Athletic, wrote about those allegations.  (The Athletic is a subscription news outlet that costs about $5 a month, less if there is a special deal available.  Subscribe to good media outlets)

The results of the investigation were stunning.  The Houston Astros had cheated by stealing signs using technology, a blatant violation of the rules.  The Houston 2017 World Series championship has been forever tainted, as have other team accomplishments in recent years.

The fact that a team has cheated should not surprise anyone.  The fact that that team had been doing it for a while without being caught is a surprise.

The largest controversy came in two aspects of the scandal – the Astros response and the response by Commissioner Rob Manfred.

When Houston reported to spring training this month, everyone knew what had to be done – players and team officials had to address the cheating scandal.  What happened was the worst, least sincere apologies I have ever seen.  Nobody believes them.  And the Astros do not appear to even care.

Astros’ manager, AJ Hinch, and general manager, Jeff Luhnow, have been suspended for a year while the club have been fined $5m and deprived of their first- and second-round draft picks in 2020 and 2021.  Commissioner Manfred had the team and its management officials pay a heavy price, but no players have been handed any discipline.

We are told that the players cooperated with the investigation.  That’s the reason no players paid a price, although they were clearly involved, based on the probe.

It should be noted that Hinch and Luhnow have not only been suspended, but have been fired by the Astros.

But the players not paying any price has led to players on other MLB teams issuing angry responses.  It is so bad some teams have hinted Astros hitters may be bean ball targets.  Manfred has correctly pointed out he will not tolerate that, and I agree throwing at hitters is a very dangerous practice in any case.

Then there is the refusal by Manfred to strip the Astros of their 2017 World Series title.  And, of course, with all this, Pete Rose once again is saying he should be reinstated and be a candidate for the Hall of Fame.

Keep in mind, baseball’s fan base skews much older than other major sports.  The Chicago Cubs have switched their games to a sports service not available yet to a large swath of its fan base.  Baseball appears to be finding ways to make itself less visible and more irrelevant in years to come.

Then, there is the effort by MLB to eliminate 42 minor league baseball teams in many local communities around America.  Baseball is not cash poor, it can afford to continue helping these teams financially.

In 2007, attendance at MLB games totaled more than 79 million.  That number has been in decline ever since.  In 2019, the total attendance number was just over 68 million.

Fewer people are attending the games, and the people at the games trend older, not younger.  This is not good.

I have loved baseball all my life and continue to love this game.  It is my view the owners have been short-sighted and have not always made decisions in the long-term best interests of the game.

What happened to the Astros, and to a lesser extent the Boston Red Sox (they had their own technology-driven cheating scandal), is a symptom that Major League Baseball is on a downward trend, not trusted by its own fans to police the game enough to believe they are honest contests.  The owners, and the man they hire to handle the dirty tasks, the commissioner, need to go out and find out what fans want.

Are the games too long?  If so, how do we shorten them?  Is the shift (radical placement of fielders using advanced analytics) good or bad for the game?

It’s time baseball did two important things – protect the history and traditions of the game while, at the same time, implementing changes to make the games a better fan experience.

I don’t pretend to have all the answers.  I am just asking the owners of baseball to start looking for those answers.

The Delaware Township meeting room was packed Thursday night for an update session on State Road 37 construction.

Hatem Mekky, Assistant Director of Engineering for the City of Fishers, began the session with a rundown on all the drainage work that has been completed and is scheduled to be done.

Construction on the roundabout interchange at 126th Street and State Road 37 is to begin March 1st.  The roundabout on Reynolds Drive, just east of SR 37 on 126th, has been completed.  Another roundabout project just west of SR 37 is planned on Ford Road and 126th, and is expected to start work in June this year.

As of Sunday, March 1st, 126th Street will be closed west of SR 37.  The east side of 126th and SR 37 will be open.  There will be no access to cross SR 37 on 126th Street.

In July this year, 126th Street will be re-opened west of SR 37, with the east side of 126th then closed.  Again, there will be no access to cross SR 37 at 126th Street.

During the construction at 126th & SR 37, the recommended detour is to utilize 131st Street, Cumberland Road and Allisonville Road.

The artist rendering for the 141st Street plans still show a roundabout, although city and county officials say that could change later if there is a budget shortfall.  141st street is scheduled to be the last part of the project to be completed.

Construction on the 146th Street interchange with SR 37 is scheduled to begin this spring.

Both SR 37 and 146th Street are to remain open during the construction period.

The project designs for 131st Street and 135th Street are 90% complete, and the 141st Street interchange design is 80% done.

The tunneling project along 146th Street set a new North American record by completing a 2,300 linear foot drive of tunneling with a Microtunnel Boring Machine (MTBM).  The previous record was also on this line in September 2019, a total of 1,970 linear foot drive.

Hamilton County Reporter

Hamilton Southeastern clinched a share of the Hoosier Crossroads Conference championship on Friday night, as the Class 4A No. 10 Royals won a tough game over 4A No. 9 Brownsburg 37-35 at the Southeastern gym.

The Royals got off to a great start, leading 15-5 after the first quarter. Mabor
Majak was dominant, scoring nine points in that period. The Bulldogs came back,
though, and had the game tied at 22-22 by halftime.

Brownsburg then edged ahead 31-30 after three periods, but DeAndre Rhodes made a basket early in the fourth to put the Royals up 32-31 and give them the lead for good. Neither team scored again until the clock got under two minutes,
when Rhodes made a jumper. Dalton Robinson made two free throws, and
Southeastern held on from there.

Majak finished the game with 14 points; he and Kole Hornbuckle both collected six rebounds. Rhodes had five rebounds and three blocked shots, with Hornbuckle also making three blocks.

Vinny Buccilla handed out four assists.

The Royals will share the HCC title with the Bulldogs, as both teams finished
the conference season with 5-2 records. Southeastern is now 16-5 and on a 12-
game win streak; it will finish the regular season Thursday at Lawrence North.

Hamilton County Reporter

Fishers finished up its Hoosier Crossroads Conference season on a high note,
cruising past Zionsville 58-39 in a Friday away game.

The Tigers played a solid defensive first half, leading 15-4 after the first quarter and 31-13 at halftime. Charlie Smith had nine points in that half, with Alex Szilagyi making a pair of 3-pointers. Jeffrey Simmons added seven points, including a 5-of-6 effort from the free-throw line.

The Eagles cut into Fishers’ lead slightly in the third quarter, getting within 43-30 by the end of the period. But the Tigers turned up its defense again, limiting Zionsville to nine points in the fourth.

Szilagyi finished the game with 17 points, including three 3-pointers. Smith added 13 points and Simmons scored 11, going 9-of-10 from the line.

Fishers completed its HCC season with a 4-3 record and is 17-6 overall.

After seven straight games and over a month on the road, the Tigers finally return home to the Tiger Den on Tuesday to play their regular-season finale against North Central.

Why would a graduate of a prestigious university such as Northwestern, with a 3.8 grade point average, take on the job of an assistant?  Because she is working for one of the biggest movie moguls in New York City, and she wants to be a film producer someday.  But that path to the top in the entertainment business can have its dangers.  This film is about those dangers and what happens when a good person tries to do the right thing.  Here is my review of a film brought on by the #MeToo movement – The Assistant

The State Road 37 lane restrictions on 126th Street have been moved back and are scheduled to start March 1st.  Also, be aware of lane restrictions along 116th Street for about 45 days.

All the details are contained in the weekly road construction report from the City of Fishers, shown below:

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Budget concerns for the State Road 37 project in Fishers could result in the scuttling of plans to provide an east-west roundabout on 141st Street and State Road 37, but nothing has been decided officially.  The rising cost of construction is cited as the reason for possibly rethinking the project.

Minutes from a January 31st Hamilton County Commissioners meeting question whether the roundabout at 141st Street and State Road 37 in Fishers will be constructed as originally planned, possibly in favor of a right-in/right-out design.  According to those minutes, Commissioner Christine Altman said Fishers Mayor Scott Fadness recently asked her whether county officials are “committed on 141st Street or not.”

“Altman’s impression was we were going to jettison 141st Street in terms of major improvements to avoid costs if we had to,” according to the minutes published on the Hamilton County Web site.

“The City of Fishers had a conversation with the Commissioner due to the projected cost increases to discuss contingencies related to the project if we are faced with overruns,” the city said when asked for comment.

What would 141st Street and State Road 37 look like if the roundabout is scuttled?  Once again, according to the meeting minutes, Hamilton County Highway Director Bradley Davis told commissioners “there is the option to go to right-in, right-out at that location. That has not been 100% decided if that is a good thing to do from a logistic/traffic standpoint.”

Davis added that the 146th and 131st Street interchanges were designed with the assumption that there would be a single-lane roundabout overpass at State Road 37 at 141st Street, and added traffic to the other two adjacent routes would be impacted if the 141st Street connection to State Road 37 ended-up as a right-in/right-out intersection.

“We are currently analyzing for traffic impacts and cost savings,” the city said on the possibility of switching 141^st at State Road 37 to a right-in/right-out. “Work continues to move forward to acquire right-of-way and finalize designs for the planned interchange. If construction costs (labor, right-of-way land values, utility, etc.) continue to rise at the rate we’ve seen since 2015 when this was originally estimated, there is a possibility that we construct a RIRO (right-in/right-out).”

As plans stand now, 131st street will be an overpass roundabout at State Road 37 and 135^th Street will have right-in/right-out access to the highway.

The minutes also refer to some preliminary budget projections.

“The unofficial estimate on 135th is around $31 million,” according to the meeting minutes. “In 2020 to get 131st and 135th to letting is about $9.5 million; (Davis) listed $4.6 million as overrun as the county’s share. In 2021, 141st to construct a right-in, right-out is about $7.5 million. To construct a full interchange is about $25 million.”

Responding to the issue of funding, here is the City of Fishers’ statement:

“The project budget for SR37 was estimated in 2015. With 141st Street’s estimated timing of 2022 for implementation, we’re taking precautions to make sure the drastically rising costs of construction, utility relocations, right-of-way land value, etc. don’t impact the overall project. Less than half of the project has been bid with real cost valuation. After October 2020’s planned bidding of the other two intersections of 131st and 135th, we will have a much clearer idea of where we stand with the budget for overall SR37. At this point approximately 75% of the project will be bid with real cost valuations.”

In response to a question from Commissioner Altman, Davis said no additional cash is being requested for the State Road 37 project at this time, based on the meeting minutes.

The total Fishers State Road 37 budget was originally set at $124 million, with the City of Fishers and Hamilton County chipping-in $12 million each and the State of Indiana providing $100 million.

It doesn’t feel much like spring so far this year in Fishers, but construction will begin soon on the 126th Street interchange with State Road 37, resulting in major east-west challenges during the 2020 construction season.  Residents are invited to a public meeting to see an update on construction plans.

The meeting is set for Thursday, February 20th, 6pm, at the Delaware Township Community Center west of State Road 37 along 131st Street.

If you have questions about the State Road 37 reconstruction project, several people involved in the project will be on hand to answer those questions.

by

Fred Swift

Hamilton County Reporter

The Hamilton County Election Board will convene today (Wednesday) to hear ballot challenges from both Republican and Democratic chairmen.

Democratic county chairman Joe Weingarten claims eight ineligible individuals filed for state convention delegate in the May 5 Democratic primary election. The eight have either no record of party affiliation or have voted Republican in past primary elections.

Republican Chairwoman Laura Campbell has filed seven challenges against persons who filed for precinct committeeman or convention delegate (or both) who cannot be identified as members of the GOP.

Election Board members Ray Adler, Greg Purvis and Kathy Williams may remove a candidate’s name from the ballot upon evidence that the person has no record of proper party affiliation.

There is no indication that members of one party are trying to infiltrate the other party’s organization, but convention delegates and committeemen are party positions and not actual public offices. And, political parties have the right to make certain candidates belong to their party.

Names of those being challenged were not released prior to a board determination. Party affiliation in Indiana is usually determined by a person’s ballot request in past primary elections.

Convention delegates elected May 5 will choose nominees for Attorney General and Lieutenant Governor of the state, adopt a party platform and elect Indiana delegates to each party’s national convention.

Why do Fishers Junior High School students join We The People?  It’s a class and a competition with other schools. it’s all about civic knowledge.

The current and past members of the Junior High team told the Fishers City Council Monday night that working with others on a team, when you may have people with varying political views on that team, is a valuable learning experience.  The program also requires students to dig into law and constitutional history.

We The People Coach Mike Fassold asked his current team members and some alumni of his program to speak before the council members Monday and explain what they gained through the experience.

Mr. Fassold’s 2019-2020 team has notched another state championship and is headed to the national finals in May.  There is just one problem – the team needs to raise money in order to travel for the national competition.  To travel the entire team, it takes about $52,000.  The amount raised so far is close to $10,000.

The team has established a Go Fund Me page to accept donations at this link.

Councilman Todd Zimmerman suggested the city set aside funds to help the We The People team with travel costs to the national finals.  Mayor Scott Fadness was noncommittal, saying, “Let’s sit down and try to figure that out.”