June 25, 2015
JON FINE NOT ON TIME
What do you call a short, fat, middle aged Newsletter publisher who has had no electricity the last 24 hours or so, and whose computer’s battery and I-Phone’s battery died to boot? That would be Jon Fine!!… Sorry, that we’re a bit tardy with this journalistic masterpiece.
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SPORTSCENTRAL
SportsCentral airs tonight in less than one hour! Schedule information is just below
Join co-hosts Steve Johnson and Sid Edwards and their guests. Scheduled to appear are CHS Defensive Coordinator Ken Hilton with Senior players Josh Brown and Chris Dowden, along with former CHS Football player Joey Jarreau.
BATON ROUGE AREA BROADCASTING SCHEDULE:
Thursday, June 25: 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, June 27: 9AM—10AM: All Things Football with Scott Holtzman
Monday, June 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
People have spent the last week trying to figure out if the LSU baseball team had a successful year. Let me help.
Some think the success of a baseball team is based off the accuracy of preseason polls. That is silly.
Many others believe the only way the baseball Tigers can have success is with a National Championship. Ridiculous. Skip Bertman had only six successful seasons?
The LSU baseball team fell short of their ultimate goal. They were good enough to win it all if everything went their way. But the bats were not hot at the right time of the year and the pitching staff lost two potential starters from when the team was formed. Those aren't excuses, those are facts.
If you need help understanding my previous paragraph, maybe a counter example with help. Vanderbilt struggled through the first half of SEC play. Had the NCAA Tournament been in April they probably would not have made it to Omaha. But, they got going where the offense and defense came together at the same time in May and June. Same story with Virginia who struggled for the first half of the year, but got their top pitcher back at the right time and started playing their best at the end of the year.
Furthermore, Vanderbilt was in deep trouble in their first game. They faced a pitcher that had their number. Then the baseball gods sent rain, and Vanderbilt received a reprieve that they took advantage of to advance.
When only one team can win it all, it takes a lot going the right way for that to happen and that brings us back to the question of whether this LSU baseball team was successful. The best measure to determine that is to focus on the things the LSU players and team could control and that is themselves.
LSU had a talented baseball team. They played hard and competed together with passion. They love their school and represented us with the same passion many of us possess for LSU. They did not lose two games in a row all year. Many players had career years that have set themselves in a position to continue playing baseball past this year. The players were successful.
The coaches have established a program with high standards that represent us well. LSU made it to Omaha. Recruiting has put LSU in a position to maintain that success. LSU won the SEC. The coaches were successful.
Yes, LSU baseball had a successful season. LSU lost to a better team in TCU. That happens in sports and we should be able to live with that. We have a lot to look forward to next year. Geaux Tigers.
HEY REF
By Dennis Dearie
Veteran Louisiana High School Referee
I must correct an item from last week’s column as I missed-typed that I started working football games for the LHSAA in 1997 when it was actually 1979. I hope this didn’t confuse anyone and you can be assured that if I ever miss-type again in the future I’ll do whatever it takes to correct it as soon as I’m able.
With that done let’s try to understand what all the fuss is with the contract/no-contract issue that the LHSOA (Official’s Association) is trying to have schools sign. I’ve tried to get answers from those that should have them but they refuse to give them to a member of THEIR ASSOCIATION.
When I belonged to the electrician’s union (995) we were able to ask questions of our officers and get answers. But when I tried to ask questions and maybe be educated as to “WHY” we need the LHSOA everybody gets tight-lipped. So would someone, anyone please explain to me why does the LHSOA exist? Back when I started ’79 we didn’t have a use for the LHSOA. The LHSAA dictated what we were going to be paid for calling games under the LHSAA banner.
It, the LHSAA, was run and is still run as a dictatorship. Some have told me the Official’s Association was needed so that whenever an issue came up with officials they (LHSAA) had a way to deal directly with its officials. That answer in no way holds water simply because we’re classified as INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS therefore no group, aka UNION, can answer for us.
And Mr. Bonine needs an education as to what, by definition a UNION is because he’s so far off base with that issue. His own “ASSOCIATION” IS A UNION so he should know what technically makes an institution or organization a UNION. But don’t for a second think there will be a walkout by the officials union.
To simplify the argument maybe I can better explain how the official’s feel and I’ll be as short as possible. If you hire a plumber to install 200 feet of water pipe do you tell the plumber how much he’ll charge you? Of course not, the plumber will set a cost then you have a choice to hire him or not. Many officials feel this way but Mr. Bonine feels the customer can set the wage of someone they hire.
It just isn’t done that way anywhere in our economy. Individual craftsmen set their wages while a contractor sets forth a price for a project in writing also known as a contract. Getting it in writing should be the only way for officials to go simply because the principals feel the best way to deal with game officials is to cut their pay.
And in order to attract new officials and to keep them coming back each year it (pay scale) has to be put in writing with a binding contract since the principals have shown in the past if given an inch they’ll take a buck here and a buck there. So to the principals all I have to say is it was your group that’s caused all this. We see and hear the only way to attract the best candidates for a job is to pay ‘em more and more.
As I explained in last week’s column the principals have made a demand that each and every official MUST ATTEND A CAMP EVERY OTHER YEAR. Sounds like no big deal but after I put out $400 - $500 dollars and buy a couple new shirts I’m losing money to work. How many of those principals would show up for their jobs if they were in all actuality paying the school board instead of the other way around.
We continue to lose money each year along with the respect of the coaches of fans. You read and hear about more and more officials being attacked at games. So when you add the loss of a few hundred dollars and the possibility of severe bodily harm can you really blame officials to want things put in writing because who knows, a principal might come out after the game and tell us they’ve stopped payments on our checks because he didn’t like a call we made.
We love the job we do but we can’t continue to lose money and in this economy we need contracts to guarantee that we’ll be compensated for our time, training and expertise!!
Till next week…
DENHAM SPRINGS HS FOOTBALL RADIO BROADCASTS AND THE DRU NETTLES SHOW ARE A JON FINE PRODUCTION. STILL IN ITS FORMATIVE STAGES, ARRESTED DEVELOPMENT MEDIA GUIDES, IS OUR FLEDGLING EBAY STORE.
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