December 25, 2014
HO HO HO
It goes without saying that all readers of JonFineProductions.com Newsletter have been good little boys and girls this year and, as a result, will reap the benefits from that short, fat guy, dressed in red, with a big beard, when you wake up on Thursday morning
Now, as far as the writer of this masterpiece?… another short fat guy by the way
No comment!… A special thank you to all who have had a great part in whatever small success we have achieved in 2014. A very special shout-out to our great sponsors
From our Denham Springs HS Football broadcasts to The Dru Nettles Show to advertisers on SportsRadio-1310-KEZM-Lake Charles to SportsCentral, YOU ARE THE VERY BEST. THANK YOU!!… To one and all, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas/Happy Holiday Season and a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year.
SPORTSCENTRAL
Steve and Sid take off for the holidays. The program will resume on Thursday, January 8.
BATON ROUGE AREA BROADCASTING SCHEDULE:
Thursday, January 8: 5pm—6pm: SportsCentral… with Sid Edwards and Steve Johnson
WUBR, 910AM (CBS Sports Radio) Baton Rouge
PelicanSportsTV.com
App: search WUBR… from Coach’s
SportsRadio 1310 Radio, Lake Charles Programming of Interest (also heard on KEZMOnLine.com):
Saturday, December 27: 9AM—10AM: All Things Football with Scott Holtzman
Monday, December 29: 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
When you read this you will think I have lost my mind, but we may look back in a year and be thankful the officials blew the Jimmy Graham touchdown. This way nothing can be sugar coated. The Saints were extremely close to being a good team this year. In the NFL, though the line between good and bad is thin while the line between good and great is a mile thick.
Since the Saints were nowhere near great, I am hopefully the Saints can take advantage of a high draft position to make the move back to being great.
There is plenty of blame to go around for this huge disappointment of this season. The key will be to separate the real issues from the imagined ones you will hear over the next several months.
The Saints missed Darren Sproles. Real. That doesn't mean the Saints should have overpaid for him. It simply means the Saints need a running back like Sproles or Bush in the offense. The Saints hoped Cadet could be that guy. They were wrong. Furthermore, Brandin Cooks cannot replace that role from the position of receiver.
Drew Brees is too old or has lost arm strength. Fake. That is all poo. He threw too many interceptions for sure, but have you ever noticed he does that when the defense stinks? Just look back at the many times he avoided an unblocked rusher and then threw a bullet to a tightly covered receiver. He is the least of my worries and I guarantee the least of the Saints worries. Furthermore, spending a draft pick on a quarterback would be insane with all the holes on this roster.
The offensive line needs help. Very real. I am amazed Lelito never beat out Goodwin. The Saints have to get the center spot fixed first. Then they will need a new guard to replace Grubbs. In another year, they will need to replace Strief and Evans.
The league caught up to Payton's offense. FAKE. This was not the Saints best offense, but they were good enough to win 10 games if they had a decent defense. Joe Morgan really helped the offense when he played. I guess he was a bad personality in the locker room, but a receiver with his size and speed is needed.
The Saints are still effected by Bountygate. Real, specifically the lack of second round picks which has led to some positions getting old fast. What is worse, after seeing what happened this year with Stanley Jean-Baptiste there is some validity to saying the Saints wouldn't be any better even if they had those two picks. As a matter of fact, a little research suggests there might be a Tracy Porter curse for letting the Super Bowl hero get away (I am kidding of course).
2014: Baptiste
2012-2103: Dictator Goodell pilfered.
2011: Traded to get Ingram
2010: Charles Brown (bust)
2009: Traded for Jeremy Shockey
The Saints missed Malcolm Jenkins and Roman Harper. Fake. Those two may have been missed in the locker room for their leadership, but not on the field. For my money, Pierre Warren was as effective as any safety that played for the Saints all year. The bigger mistake was letting Warren go to begin with and they were lucky to get him back.
I had hoped to simply make the topic for this week to be jolly and all about Christmas wish lists. Unfortunately, the Saints wrecked that with yet another poor home performance that makes no sense other than the fact that in the NFL when the numbers overwhelmingly trend one way then you can count on the opposite happening.
Instead, I will close with my Christmas wish list and I will start with the Saints who I hope will be smart enough to sit Drew Brees on the bench against Tampa Bay.
Saints: A change in defensive philosophy to get faster on defense so maybe we can make some big plays on that side of the ball.
LSU football: A year where they don't lead the nation in underclassmen turning pro.
LSU basketball: Mickey and Martin stay in school to team with Ben Simmons next year.
LSU baseball: Freshmen pitchers to pitch like the freshmen pitchers did at Cal-State Fullerton two years ago.
Pelicans: Continued good health and a miracle to get away from Eric Gordon's contract.
Merry Christmas!
HEY REF
By Dennis Dearie
Veteran Louisiana High School Referee
Hope everyone is having a Very Merry Christmas. Seems just about everybody and all of Santa’s helpers have been extra busy trying to figure out who’ll win the NFC South. I know many people find it disgraceful that a team with a losing record will make it to the “Big Dance” that is the NFL Playoffs.
It was just a couple years ago that Seattle won its division with just such a record. And it was those men in black from the “Big Easy” that thought they’d have an easy time when they traveled to the northwest to take on a supposed sub-par team. But the Saints returned home with their tails tucked between their legs and the only thing more disgraceful than Seattle’s record was the way Drew Brees and company played that day.
Such is life in modern day professional football. No more will you have dynasties like the ones we saw when Vince Lombardi coach at Green Bay. Wining a Super Bowl doesn’t ring as loud today as it did in those early years. There are many reasons why teams seem to come on strong one year, win it all then fizzle out for the next decade or so.
I’ll be glad to give my take on why this has become the norm in the NFL and if you don’t like what I write then you should do yourself a favor and bury your head in the sand because nothing but the raw truth is to follow. Simply put today’s players are basically in the profession to earn the mega dollars doled out by the NFL. Like the many professions that money has ruined so too has it decimated professional sports.
Our country is run or should I say “ruined” by the almighty dollar and we’ve got a billion dollar industry in America called “professional” sports. Players wised up once they realized just how greedy the owners are that have the final say as to just how those billions are spent. And like so many other industries in America it is the ones working and getting their hands dirty that are not reaping the rewards of a hard day’s work.
I’ll leave much of that debate for another day and time. For now I’d like to ask you this one question “is the current system fair in the NFL on how teams qualify for the league’s playoffs”? Yes? No? Maybe so? The correct answer is “IT DOESN’T MATTER”!!!! What, how can you write that? The ONLY and I do mean ONLY thing that Matters is as long as the bottom line is fat then it surely is the best system to use. This system, no matter how flawed we think it may be, is one that generates billions of dollars and that’s all that matters.
The present system simply stated is one I can’t find fault with if all that concerned me was how fat my wallet will be at the end of the day. By keeping as many teams “alive” as possible and in the hunt inflates many bank accounts. This is a good thing as there are many cities out there that have gambled their futures with the success of professional sports teams.
The list of cities and states that are willing to gamble away the future is growing longer and longer. Some states are being held hostage by these few greedy individuals as they’ve “invested” billions on new stadiums, infrastructure and tax incentives. Louisiana is but one state that’s “put all of our eggs into one basket” and pray we don’t roll a snake eyes. But what are we to do as other states are willing to get in line to offer more and more to these professional leagues? I wonder just how much more of our children’s future we are willing to allow our politicians to gamble with?
Oh, well, I’ll try to forget all those problems as this is the time of year to be thankful for all we have. And I’ve got plenty to be thankful for. We still live in the greatest country in the world. Even with all of its problems there’s no other place I’d rather be then here in America. So with that said, I want to wish everyone out there Merry Christmas, let’s all work on making things better for our children…
Till next week… …
JON IS PROUD TO WORK AS A MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE FOR SPORTSRADIO-1310-KEZM-LAKE CHARLES, IN ESTABLISHING THE “DOLLAR A HOLLER” MARKETING PROGRAM AND HELPING SELL BARBE HS BASEBALL AND SOUTH LAKE CHARLES PLAYOFF BROADCASTS
AND AS A MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE/ CONSULTANT FOR SPORTSCENTRAL ON WUBR,910AM (CBS SPORTS RADIO), BATON ROUGE.