January 8, 2015
SPORTSCENTRAL
After a 2 week hiatus for the holidays, Coach Sid and Steve Johnson return to the airwaves tonight, with SportsCentral… see show details next
Scheduled guests include CHS Tennis Coach Carmen Evans, Lacrosse Coach Jeff Jones and Lacrosse players Cody Caze, Brandon Disedare and Ben Hucaby.
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, January10: 9AM—10AM: All Things Football with Scott Holtzman
Monday, January 12: 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
The lesson of this bowl season is that offenses are too good for teams to win on defense alone. In order to be an elite college football team you need quality depth on defensive front to handle spread teams and a quality quarterback to score points. Just look at the top 4 teams and the teams that won bowl games.
Those two positions happen to be the biggest areas of weakness of LSU's roster in my opinion.
At this point, LSU football reminds me of LSU baseball when the rules were changed. Skip Bertman was ahead of the curve with "Guerrilla Ball." Then the new era came around with new bats and a new stadium in Omaha. Coach Mainieri was a little behind the curve until he got Alan Dunn and adjusted the types of position players he recruited.
The undefeated regular season lead Coach Miles to into believe an amazing defense could combine with a one dimensional offense to make great team. After five losses this year, Tiger fans have to hope the message has been received by Coach Miles.
Many Tiger fans that I have listened and spoken to are under the impression that the problem can be fixed in a year by improved quarterback play. While that may help Tiger fans endure the long off season, I see a number of major hurdles beyond quarterback (which is a huge hurdle) preventing LSU from making a big jump in the win column next year.
Everyone is aware of the offensive issues, but I think that side of the ball is distracting fans from the bigger issue. Even if LSU improves on offense they will not be Oregon. The best hope for a turn around from 8-5 to 11-2 is still for LSU to be very strong on defense and at this point I see the defense taking a large step back from this year.
No matter what, LSU will be learning under a new defensive coordinator which takes time. LSU does not appear to have a dominant defensive tackle on the roster. Many Tiger fans are putting a great amount of hope for added depth in players that have yet to step foot on the field and contribute in meaningful action. That doesn't concern me if the position is running back and the players that are in the field are extremely productive. But when a position is struggling and the players on the bench can't get a few plays to give the starters a break, then I get concerned. It is also a bad sign that a player with two torn biceps is a better option then healthy players.
If Danielle Hunter declares for the draft (which is the indication when I am writing), LSU will be looking for two new defensive ends at a position that has not shown much depth recently. The key to slowing down offenses these days is up front because defensive lineman must do more than take up blocks and cover gaps. They have to be able to beat blocks, and make plays in space.
I am aware that young players step up every year and contribute. But I think history teaches us that one or two young players step in and play well quickly, but expecting 4 or 5 to play dominant football without playing much college football is wishful thinking. History also teaches us that Kentucky basketball is the only program that can consistently overcome underclassmen leaving early.
Changing to the NBA, I am like many Pelican fans who are frustrated with Eric Gordon's salary and lack of production on the court. While I am a Monty Williams fan, I continue to be exasperated by some personnel decisions. The Pelicans finished 2014 playing well and appeared to be turning a corner. Austin Rivers (who I still prefer seeing play off the point), Jimmer Fredette, and some others seemed to be finding their roles.
Eric Gordon came back to practice on Sunday and played over 30 minutes on Monday. I don't understand it. He has been out over a month and after one day of practice is playing over 30 minutes? Not surprisingly, he didn't play well at all. He wasn't playing well when he got hurt. The Pelicans played poorly, didn't get Davis enough shots, and lost at home. The loss does not fall on the shoulders of Gordon, but I don't understand why the Pelicans continue to give Gordon such a large role.
HEY REF
By Dennis Dearie
Veteran Louisiana High School Referee
Anybody want to take a guess at the top story this week here at “Hey Ref”? Don’t worry I won’t beat around the bush nor try and make excuses for the professional officials that blew a call and possibly the game in Sunday’s NFC wildcard contest deep in the heart of Texas. I’ve never been more upset with a crew of officials as I am with the so-called “all-stars” that worked Sunday’s opening round game between Dallas and Detroit.
First let me take aim at how the crews were put together for last week’s games. I keep hearing the term “ALL STAR” crews on TV and in the media as a way to describe the makeup of these crews. As an official I resent being described as an “All Star” simply because I’m not on the field to garner an award and/or being thrust into the spotlight to feed my ego.
Most officials will agree with me that we’re more concerned with the game and accept that our primary duty is to make sure one team doesn’t go outside the intent of the rules to gain an advantage. If any official(s) thinks their job is anything else but that simply statement then please do everyone a favor and get out of the profession. But the question most people are asking is how the league picks crews for the playoffs.
The NFL in its infinite wisdom thinks that awarding an individual official a playoff game is an award for their work during the regular season. While there might be some merit to that train of thinking it’s totally and completely WRONG! I can better explain using my own personal experience. The third week of this past season I was working a game with a crew as a fill-in.
I made a call on a receiver that had gone out of bounds and came back to try and catch a pass. I informed the Referee of why I threw my flag. After we’d walked off the penalty another member of the crew told me that the call on this particular player was all his. Since I was working with a totally new crew I said before the game during our pre-game conference don’t let me make a mistake and if I did then I’d want them to correct me BEFORE we penalized either team. “Eating the flag” is the proper term in ref lingo.
Well, the other official didn’t get involved in anything until we went in for halftime. As we discussed the play, enforcement, etc. he said the player was blocked out of bounds and therefore there wasn’t a penalty. But I saw the player step around the defender, go out of bounds, run 5 yards further downfield then return in his attempt to catch the ball. These are the times when crews know to talk to each other to get the call right. This young third year official was “delighted” since he boasted “Well, at least I didn’t blow it”. This is where the newer officials get it wrong; I told him and everyone in the crew that night that I was trained with this thought “as a crew we get it right and as a crew we get it wrong”.
On Friday nights we walk out onto the field and there are only 7 of us in stripes. We have no numbers on our backs and our names aren’t printed in the program as we should think of our crew as a single entity. That’s the main thing I find missing in Louisiana high school football; new officials having the ability to think of their crew as one even though there are 5, 6 or seven members.
As a crew we are graded on each and every play run by both teams. To single out one official in a crew as THE ONE that did a good job is totally wrong. In a crew concept each member should reach out and help get every member on the same page, to do their best but I find the younger guys consider themselves as a sole official and don’t have a clue what it means to work as one.
I’m all for rewarding officials for doing a good job but when you work as a crew then the entire crew should be rewarded and not just one here and one there. So now the question in the Cowboy-Lions’ game is why was the flag picked up on a clear pass interference by Dallas linebacker Anthony Hitchens. I can only come up with this simple answer; it had to be a younger official that felt intimidated by one or more members of that particular crew.
The conversation probably went something like this “did you see the entire play”? “Are you sure you want to call that”? “If I was the one calling it, I’d say that he was playing the ball”. “Big call, I didn’t see it like that”. “Man, if you want to work another game this year, you’d be better off just eating the flag”.
To me, there’s no doubt the official that threw the flag was so intimidated that he had no choice (in his mind) than to pick it up. I watched the game live and knew without hesitation that in deed this is a simple call of pass interference. Simply stated the rule goes something like this “neither opponent may impede another player from making a play (catch or deflect) on a FORWARD pass”.
This was a simple call to make in a big game. Officials “make their bones” by calling the tough ones. The NFL should scrap the way they assign playoff games and award entire crews since they’re working all year together. During the playoffs is no time to “daisy chain” a crew together. If anyone has watched the Pro Bowl or any other All Star game you’ll know that putting a bunch of players together for one game is no comparison to a team that’s played and worked together all year.
All Star games are for the enjoyment of the fans. Playoff games are too important to just throw a few guys together simply because they did a good job in week 5 or 6 or 10. Let’s hope a lesson has been learned by all.
Till next week…
ROTARY OF LIVINGSTON
This week’s featured speaker at Rotary of Livingston is Jim Winner. Jim has counseled and coached over 35,000 people on how to increase their personal and business effectiveness via the Dale Carnegie systems. He is the Chairman of The Board of The Winner Institute, a Baton Rouge company. Jim’s topic of discussion at Rotary of Livingston will be Split Second Choice—the power of attitude.
Born on a farm in Lansing, Michigan, Jim was raised and educated in Albuquerque, New Mexico. He served as a US Marine in Explosive Ordinance Disposal for 2 years. Following that, he worked for the Atomic Energy Commission at the Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory in New Mexico. After being part of the private business sector for 5 years, he was introduced to the Dale Carnegie Systems in 1968. In 1977, he moved to Baton Rouge and has been the Dale Carnegie Systems impresario since.
Jim is certified to teach 50 different Dale Carnegie programs. He has consulted with thousands of companies on how to impact their bottom line by improving team performance. He is currently active with a global training initiative for Dow Chemical.
He has received numerous awards/commendations from Dale Carnegie and the greater Baton Rouge area. However, perhaps his greatest joy are his 5 grandchildren, 4 great grandchildren and his twin daughters—each 20 years old—all of whom keep him and his wife, Margaret, very busy.
The Rotary of Livingston meets Fridays, Noon—1pm, at Big Mike’s Sports Bar & Grille, Aspen Square, Denham Springs. The public is invited.
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.