Ulerick earns Region IV coaching honor
Caston football coach Chris Ulerick was named Region IV Colts Coach of the Week for Week 10.
Coach Ulerick and the Comets upset undefeated North White 34-28 last Friday in the sectional opener.
This season marks the 24th year the Colts are recognizing outstanding high school football coaches throughout Indiana. Each week following a high school football weekend, one coach will be announced as the honoree for the state award. All high school head coaches in the state are eligible regardless of their school size, league or division. Coaches are evaluated on various factors including the coach’s impact on the team, school and community, as well as the team’s performance. The honorees are selected by a panel of football media, former athletic directors and other football representatives from across the state.
NBA All-Star game to be East vs. West
INDIANAPOLIS (AP) — The NBA All-Star Game is going back to its roots, with the best of the East playing the best of the West.
Commissioner Adam Silver made the announcement Wednesday, revealing this season’s All-Star Game on Feb. 18 in Indianapolis will pit the top vote-getters from the two conferences against one another. The decision means captains will no longer draft teams, though the players with the most votes in each conference will serve as captains.
The reason: Silver wants the All-Star Game to look more like traditional basketball.
“It felt like it was time,” Silver said. “I said earlier, keeping with this overall theme, it’s back to basketball this season. We heard it from our fans, I think the players recognize it, too, that last year’s All-Star Game was something no one was proud of, and I don’t think it was anyone’s fault in particular. I think, though, that we need to refocus on what this league is really about and that’s about the best basketball in the world.”
Another change — the game will be 48 minutes. Since 2020, the league added 24 points to the leading team’s score after three quarters and played the fourth quarter with only a shot clock but no game clock. The first team to hit the target score won.
And it’s no coincidence the changes are taking place in Indiana, where basketball is treated like royalty. The Pacers are hosting their first All-Star Game since 1985 — three years later than initially scheduled because the 2021 game was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
NFL getting hybrid field for Germany
The NFL is getting a hybrid field for its two games in Frankfurt next month, a year after players complained about slipping on the natural grass in Munich.
The hybrid surface was installed last weekend at Deutsche Bank Park ahead of the Nov. 5 game between the Kansas City Chiefs and Miami Dolphins. The New England Patriots will then play the Indianapolis Colts at the same stadium a week later.
After the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game in Germany, players and coaches from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks complained about the surface at Allianz Arena, the home of Bundesliga soccer champions Bayern Munich. The game caused enough damage that the grass had to be replaced afterward.
Hybrid surfaces are widely used across Europe in soccer stadiums. Systems vary but the fields are generally 90% or more of natural grass with synthetic fibers woven into them as reinforcement.