‘Babylon Bee’…Ping-Pong Balls File Labor Complaint Against IHSAA

(5-5-25) (tongue in cheek) This morning the Ping-Pong balls used yesterday by the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) to place teams in brackets in three different sports…boys volleyball, softball and baseball… have filed a labor complaint.

How Indiana places teams in playoff brackets –The IHSAA’s ‘Sacred Cow’ The Blind Draw
‘Babylon Bee’…OHSAA Board Of Directors Vote Unanimously To Pass Every Issue Unanimously

‘Ping’ Crosby…who is the head of the Ping-Pong Union said –

‘This is slave labor to be called on to bracket THREE separate sports in one day. The process is tiring…in and out of the air mix machine with a motorized fan blowing us around all day and then forces us up one by one. After three tournament draws it can almost deflate all of us. It’s not RIGHT!

Balls 1, 2, 3 and 4 have complained about being in every bracket draw…while the higher numbers can relax most of the time.”

How the IHSAA drawing works…
To conduct the random drawing for the state tournament, the IHSAA places ping-pong balls representing each school in a given sectional into a lottery-style air mix machine. A motorized fan in the bottom of the machine blows the balls around the inside of the transparent container and air then forces each ball up through a tube in random order.

For example, the first ball retrieved from the machine will be the visiting team in game one with the second ball representing the home team in game one. The third ball to come out is the visitor in game two and the fourth ball the home team in game two. That same method is followed through all sectionals and semi-states.

Crosby went on to say…

“Doesn’t the IHSAA know there is the right way to place teams in a bracket using modern technology, after all it is 2025. Even little league tournaments seed teams in a tournament, this is to avoid a match-up between the top teams in early games and reward teams who played well during the regular season.

They even got rid of the peach baskets, the jump ball, transfer rules…even added classes…letting us retire is a no brainer.

Balls 1, 2, 3 and 4 have complained about being in every bracket draw…while the higher numbers can relax most of the time.”

No comment from the IHSAA on the labor complaint that was filed and they have never commented on why they keep the ping-pong balls bouncing.

‘We’ve always done it that way in the past’

Ping also said that he hopes in the future they will inspect each of the balls used to keep their integrity in the drawing.