March 6, 2014
THE CENTRAL SHOW
The Central Sports & Business Report 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 CHS Basketball players Donnie Lewis, Malik Odom and Jordin Williams, along with CHS Track athletes Leo Brownfield, Dillion Brumfield and Craig Jones.
BROADCASTING SCHEDULE:
Thursday, March 6: 5:30pm—6:30pm… with Steve Johnson … broadcasting live from Me’ Pa’s Diner in Central
WPFC, 1550AM, BR
Internet: JonFineProductions.com
SportsRadio 1310 Radio, Lake Charles Programming of Interest (also heard on KEZMOnLine.com:
Saturday, March 8: 9AM—10AM: All Things Football with Scott Holtzman
Monday, March 10: 8AM—10AM: The Locker Room with John Goodman and Jim Gazzolo
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
Paul Mainieri and Alan Dunn do not need any advice from me or anyone else. So instead of giving them advice, I am going to encourage them to continue their course.
They had a brilliant plan to start the year. Aaron Nola is the Friday starter and they have three lefties that needed to tryout for the other two weekend starter spots. The plan was to get each three a start on the road before the Tigers open SEC play at Vanderbilt as a predictor to see who would fare the best. My guess is Dunn and Mainieri before the season thought Poche and Glenn would win the final two spots.
As I write this article, the results are almost in and the clear winners should be Poche and Bouman. To Mainieri's credit, he has always shown the willingness to make the tough decision and reward those who produce when it is best for the team. Starting Austin Nola as a true freshman will always be the best example of this clear decision making. At the same time, if production is similar, Mainieri will always choose talent for its potential. That is why Mainieri is chooses Broussard as his closer over McCune at this time.
In my mind, the decision to go with Poche was only a matter of time if you read the comments made by the coaches about him before the season. His combination of talent and mental makeup made the decision to make him a weekend starter simply a matter of time. Poche's biggest challenge will be to handle the number of innings he will throw this year. As a result, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets an SEC weekend off at some point. Without a doubt, he is the next anchor of the pitching staff in a long line of great pitchers at LSU.
Bouman and Glenn are very similar pitchers. Neither is going to strikeout many batters. They both rely on location, ground balls, and great defense behind them. As a result, they both have to be mentally tough. They will have to pitch well with runners on base and stay out of the big inning. Given the last two sentences, Bouman appears to be the obvious choice.
Glenn struggled on the road last year, made a poor decision that led to a suspension at the end of the year, and has continued to show an inclination to fall apart in a single inning this year. Bouman appears to be a player that is ready to make the most out of a second chance. He made choices that led to being dismissed at Wichita State. But, he has been given a second chance and is using that experience to make him a better pitcher.
Both Glenn and Bouman will have weekends where they are hit. In those starts, they will need to survive to the fifth to give the Tiger bullpen a chance. On most weekends, the pen should be well rested after Nola and Poche start. The bats will most likely have to produce 4-5 runs in their starts. That scenario should be manageable, and leave LSU with a very good starter for the midweek games.
LSU hasn't faced strong competition as of yet, and I have more confidence in the starters than I do the bullpen. As with last year, I still see LSU's offense struggling to manufacture runs against top pitching. Situational hitting, stealing bases, and drawing walks will be imperative because outside of Bregman LSU's lineup does not have another all-conference bat. I think the best LSU can hope for at this point is a lineup that does not have an easy out from top to bottom.
I get the feeling Mainieri feels the same way about his lineup considering his desire to stick with Domangue. Mainieri understands keeps his eye on the end of the season and understands the need for pitchers that can get strikeouts. Nola, Poche, Broussard, and Bugg have that ability. Mainieri feels the rest of the staff can get outs in the right situation, but don't have the stuff the get through lineups multiple times in the post season. Without having seeing it with my own eyes, it is clear that Dunn and Mainieri see that potential in Domangue and will give him very opportunity.
Mainieri has a great mental picture of what success looks like before it actually happens, which is a great quality for a baseball coach. Basketball and football coaches can move their chess pieces with greater freedom and ease. Baseball coaches have to get it right the first time.
HEY REF
The National Federation of State High Schools which governs how we play and the rules in which we abide by in Louisiana has issued their annual rules changes for the upcoming 2014 football season. And again, as is customary, they’ve also included with those rule changes a few definition clarifications. This year is no different in the fact that many rules were just tweaked a little bit by simple editorial additions and/or subtractions.
The Federation once again has put most of their emphasis in making the high school game safer. The not so biggest change has been the way “targeting” will be defined and penalties enforced when it is called. Many times a rule specifically spells out what the offense or defense can and can’t do. The “targeting” rule will be the same for both sides of the ball.
Targeting as defined by the Federation reads “Targeting is an act of taking aim and initiating contact to an opponent above the shoulders WITH the helmet, forearm, hand, fist, elbow OR shoulders”. Sounds simple, doesn’t it and to the point? Is anyone confused? The two key words for officials are “taking aim”. Once again the writers of the rule have good intentions but the burden on the refs will be tremendous as we’ll charged with establishing the opposing player’s intent or “taking aim” at the head.
Rules for “catching a pass in/out of bounds if not hit by an opponent and coming down in-bounds, etc.” were thrown out because coaches felt the officials couldn’t be certain if a receiver would’ve been able to come down if not for the contact. Now, I know it’ll come up in just about every game; a coach will either agree or not with you simply based on who gets saddled with the mark-off. And if you do rule “intent” he’ll scream that we’ve screwed his team.
Proving intent has always been and will continue to be a very hot topic. I know this official won’t have a problem with the “intent” part of the rule simply because if the contact is made with such force to injure then I’ll be on the side that protects any player absorbing these kinds of hits. Early in spring games we must be diligent to insure that all schools and teams understand that there is no grey area when safety of the players is at stake.
Also the definition of a “defenseless player” will now be “any player who, because of his physical position and focus of concentration, is especially vulnerable to injury”. Again, player safety is number one here. This goes for those dreaded “crack-back blocks” and hits in the back on returns (kickoff, punt, interception and fumble).
Another change; When kicking off, the kickers must have at least four players on either side of the ball and that only the kicker may be further than five yards behind the kicking team’s free-kick line. This eliminates members of the kicking team from getting a full running start by being 15 yards behind the ball before it’s kicked. This, they hope will slow down the charge of the kicking team, in theory if nothing else.
Before I close for this week I want to touch on two situations in last week’s episode of “Friday Night Tykes”. A big “thumbs up” to the father that kept his son out of a game because he wasn’t doing his homework at school. The boy was a starter and had told his dad he in fact was turning in his required homework. Well on a visit to school the teacher told the father that his son had not been turning in the assigned work. The father stayed true to his word and his boy didn’t play the next game.
I thought what a great example for the other kids but then again not many of the kids have both parents in today’s real world. This is what’s destroying our modern society; too many kids growing up without fathers.
But what really has me seeing “RED” is one coach instructing a player that to begin the next game he was to jump offside before the other team could snap the ball and deliver a hard hit on the center. Teaching kids to go outside the intent of a rule isn’t anywhere near what should be taught much less expected to be carried out once the teams are on the field.
I thought for sure when game time arrived this wouldn’t happen. But as they lined up for the first snap the defensive player laid into the center earning him a flag and a five yarder. With this on tape I hope the league suspends this coach for a minimum of a year. The game of football is violent enough without grown men teaching 8 year old players to intentionally break the rules which could in fact injure another player if not themselves. What is this coach thinking? Should this type of behavior be accepted?
If we allow coaches, men who are supposed to be mentors to our kids, to behave in this matter on a pee-wee football field without some type of consequences just what are they going to learn by the time they put on a high school uniform?
Till next week… …
The Rotary Club of Livingston Parish
Rotary Bull
By Ivy Graham
“Service Above Self”
Please visit our website at www.rotaryclublp.org.
This week’s meeting:
• This week’s meeting will be held at Big Mike’s. Fellowship begins at 11:30. The meeting is from 12:00-1:00. This week’s “Who Am I” speaker is Donna Bliss. If you don’t know Donna, here is an excellent opportunity to correct your misfortune. Donna lives the Rotary motto every single day. Her passion is community services and connecting those in need to said services. Besides her good deeds, maybe she will also show us the secret to driving a kayak. (yes, I used all of those words correctly.) Better get to Rotary on Friday to find out all the thrilling things Donna has in store for us!!!
Last week’s meeting:
• Our guest speaker, Sean Prados, informed us of some healthcare legislative issues coming up this year. The Louisiana Hospital Association has proposed a constitutional amendment which would establish a fund to help hospitals off set the continuous financial losses resulting from Medicaid reimbursements. The fund will be supported by hospitals in Louisiana and federal government dollars. This same model used in almost all of the other states in our nation. The Louisiana Hospital Association asks we all vote “yes” to the constitutional amendment in November, 2014.
• Our club has a brag jar. Better bring your dollars folks!
• Supply list for animal shelter was distributed.
• Supply lists for the veteran’s house were distributed. It was asked that members follow up with their contacts to see who is willing to donate what items.
Upcoming Events/Projects:
• Mar 28-29 – District Conference
Note from the President:
• February is Literacy month. Literacy is the cornerstone to world peace. Rotary has a multitude of literacy projects. Can you name one other than our club’s literacy project?
Guest Speakers and General Membership Meeting Dates:
• Mar 14 – Guest Speaker, Dr. Hunter Bond
• Mar 21 – Who am I, Glenn Webster
• Apr 11 – Guest Speaker, Dr. Dennis
• Apr 25 – Guest Speaker, Casie McMurray
• May 9 – Guest Speaker, Randy Rogers
• May 23 – Guest Speaker, Layton Ricks
• June 13 – Guest Speaker, Bobby Fletcher
Brags:
• Our club welcomed the volunteers from the Fuller Center and thanked them for all of their help with the George Smith Project as well as other folks and organizations they provided assistance to while here. We could not have done it without you. Deepest and Sincerest Thanks!
• Keith Stark is selling tickets for his son’s boy scout troop. Get your sausage po-boy tickets now!
• Mr. Joshi is making a movie in connection with International Woman’s Day. We all support his efforts to bring attention to women’s issues.
• Jon Fine will be broadcasting Walker baseball games. You do not want to miss these live broadcasts, they are sure to be informative and entertaining.
• Heather Pitarro is humbled to be a part of the movement this club as started. The ability to make such large changes in people’s lives from such a small and passionate club is the Rotary spirit at work.
Members:
• Your quarterly dues will be emailed. Keep a lookout! AND Please kindly and timely submit your payment to Lisa Casas.
• Shirts for sale only $7.00 for members. These things are selling like hotcakes!
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.