December 26, 2013
SEASON’S GREETINGS
We hope everyone is having a Happy Holiday Season and will have a safe a prosperous New Year
And, as we did at the end of our high school football broadcasts, to those who aided and assisted us in our 2013 programming, especially our wonderful sponsors, You’re The Best! Thank you
To those that served as a deterrent, we look forward to you bums coming around and seeing the light in 2014!!
2013 FINALE
The Central Sports & Business Report on The Central Story airs tonight, 5:30pm—6:30pm, broadcasting live from Me Pa’s Diner in Central, on WPFC, 1550AM, Baton Rouge and on the Internet at JonFineProductions.com. Host Steve Johnson will be joined by former CHS football players Brett Courville, Thomas Eddlemon and Joey Jarreau
Monday night, it is Destined to Win on The Central Story with Pastor Rocky Bezet of The Rock Church (same Bat time, same Bat channel, same Bat internet).
BROADCASTING SCHEDULE:
Thursday, December 26: 5:30pm—6:30pm: The Central Sports & Business Report (on The Central Story)… with Steve Johnson … broadcasting live from Me’ Pa’s Diner in Central
WPFC, 1550AM, BR
Internet: JonFineProductions.com
Monday, December 30: 5:30pm—6:30pm: Destined To Win (on The Central Story)
Pastor Rocky Bezet, Pastor, The Rock Church
WPFC, 1550AM, BR
Internet: JonFineProductions.com
SportsRadio 1310 Radio, Lake Charles Programming of Interest (also heard on KEZMOnLine.com:
Saturday, December 28: 9AM—10AM: All Things Football with Scott Holtzman
Monday, December 30: 8AM—10AM: The Locker Room with John Goodman and Jim Gazzolo
WE THANK YOU FOR DOING YOUR UTMOST TO PATRONIZE SPONSORS OF OUR PROGRAMMING. THIS HELPS US TREMENDOUSLY IN SUSTAINING OUR WEEKLY LINE-UP AND WILL ASSIST US IN ADDING MORE PROGRAMS IN THE FUTURE. KINDLY MAKE AN EFFORT TO LET SPONSORS KNOW YOU HEARD THEIR BUSINESS MENTIONED ON OUR BROADCAST(S).
THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
Just call the Saints the Bizarro Auburn Tigers. For those non Superman fans, the Bizarro world of Superman was a world where everything was the opposite of reality.
The miserable aspect of the Saints losses this year are their disgusting symmetry. Last week I wrote about the Seahawks, Rams, and Jets losses having similar themes. The turnovers, self imposed mistakes, and bad starts that had the Saints playing their opponents style of game.
Now the Saints have a game to match the Patriots loss. Twice the Saints have shut down their opponent in the fourth quarter defensively. The offense had two chances in each game to end the game and could barely gain a yard. In both games the other teams made big mistakes. Brady with his interception and Carolina by not taking advantage of the two minute warning. Neither mattered.
Without a timeout and needing a TD to win, the Pats and Panthers suddenly found a way to protect their quarterback which they had been unable to do I. The fourth quarter. Suddenly, both quarterbacks found open receivers all over the field and deep. Amazingly, the more one dimensional the Panthers and Pats became, the more unstoppable they were to the Saints defense.
Last week I wrote how important the beginning of the game was to the Saints psyche. They had to get off to a fast start. Just like the game in the dome, Carolina left the door open. In the New Orleans the Panthers settled for field goals. This last week they turned it over on their initial drive. That turnover allowed the Saints to strike first. I think that the game could have looked like the Jets game had Carolina scored a TD on that drive.
Instead the game showed how close yet far away the Saints are from being a legitimate Super Bowl contender. The end of the first half was the defibrillator shock you cannot give a team on the road. It took the Saints a quarter to recover from that. The fourth quarter showed what the Saints could be, until the last minute and a half. The demons from New England returned. The defensive line had no push. The secondary played in quicksand.
So now Saints will be counted out. If they do make the playoffs, everyone will expect a quick exit on the road. Those people may be right. But as I have written for the last month, a road playoff loss won't be due to poor weather conditions or cold weather. Losing the turnover ratio and fourth quarter collapses are not outdoor weather issues.
It is hard to imagine the Saints with Sean Payton and Drew Brees cannot find a way to start games with TD drives. It is hard to imagine the defense can go from forcing turnovers at the beginning of the year to only two in 5 weeks. Yet it has happened and the Saints are on the verge of missing out of the playoffs or making a quick exit in the playoffs. If that does happen at this point, it would be extremely predictable. Everyone expects that to happen now.
Maybe 2014 will be the time for Auburn and the Saints to switch realisties. That is IF the Saints are able to find a way to be playing in December.
HEY REF
Here’s hoping everyone had a very Merry Christmas and that the New Year brings nothing but good news. Now that we’ve opened all the presents and downed too much turkey and dressing a good night’s sleep should be on everyone’s wish list.
Don’t want to sound like the Grinch but I hope 2014 is the year when the wrongs that the NCAA continues to delight in won’t be able to maintain its “Amateur” status. More and more coaches are finally “seeing the light” and want to back a movement to pay their players a salary. But those enjoying life in the ivory towers are mounting not only a public relations campaign to keep from paying players but also a dark one behind the scenes and under the table.
Here’s just a small slice of what the fight will be about; The Big Ten, the richest conference in America according to Forbes magazine, takes in over $310 million in annual revenue. And not a dime is paid to the men and women that generate these massive sums of money. Players cannot be compensated for signing autographs, showing up at sports conventions or for their likeness that schools sell anywhere from $12 to $200 each. I don’t think I need to point out that the players get ZERO out of each and every transaction.
Some rebuke paying the players since they get a “free” education for their time on the field. You might ask what happens to those that are injured and can no longer compete and the simplest answer to that question is they’re kicked out of school unless they start paying their own tuition. Nothing is guaranteed for any athlete unless you’re a Heisman candidate. Schools will do whatever they can to keep those high caliber players in school so they can continue to use their likenesses for making a profit.
Players can’t even sell a picture of themselves as the NCAA forces each player to sign a contract giving up all their rights. And what will happen to them if they refuse to sign? Simply solution, they’re kicked out of school and are ineligible to play under the NCAA banner.
Well, you might ask “What if they’re injured”? Again, schools exercise the option in those signed contracts and send players packing for home. And if these kids are going to be considered as amateurs then why are they forced to sign such restrictive contracts? Again, so the schools have an “out” and can keep from compensating their players.
Siting the newest numbers, according to their own report Ohio State outsourced their sports promotional rights to IMG for a cool $11 million. Every school does this now because marketing to the alum and fans is a several BILLION dollar industry and they need to get every cent possible. With head coaches at the bigger schools pulling in anywhere from $3 to $5 million a year
you just can’t afford to leave a nickel on the table. And costs will continue to rise as schools have to pack their stadiums just to pay coaching staffs.
I just get upset when I see coaches demanding multi-millions of dollars to do their jobs yet the ones busing their butts and making all the money receive squat for their hard work and sacrifices. As long as people jam into the stadiums and continue to pay higher and higher ticket prices things won’t change.
It’s past time to correct this wrong, help kids and prepare them for the mega bucks the professional leagues will heap upon them. Too many times these kids get taken advantage of after they’re playing for the pros and go broke before their playing days are over. Schools, you need to educate these kids about the real world and stop taking advantage of them, they’ll get enough of that in life.
Till next week…
JON IS PROUD TO WORK AS A MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE FOR SPORTSRADIO-1310-KEZM-LAKE CHARLES, IN ESTABLSHING THE “DOLLAR A HOLLER” MARKETING PROGRAM AND HELPING SELL SULPHUR HS FOOTBALL BROADCASTS AND BARBE HS BASEBALL PLAYOFF BROADCASTS.