August 6, 2015
CLASSIC LSU AND SAINTS PUBLICATIONS
ArrestedDevelopmentMediaGuides, our EBay store, sells media guides and programs. Please visit JonFineProductions.com and click on icon to get to the store. Featured LSU publications include LSU Football programs (1965 vs Rice, 1965 vs South Carolina, 1978 vs Florida), LSU Basketball media guides (81 and 86 Final 4 Guides; 81, 86 and 06 regular season guides—all Final 4 years) and a classic, impossible to find (except at ArrestedDevelopmentMediaGuides) 1979 LSU Baseball media guide. And then there is the Pistol Pete de Resistance—a 1968-1969 LSU Basketball media guide with Pete Maravich on the cover, in just about perfect condition
Saints publications include a 1969 media guide and a pair of guides from the 1989 and 1990 seasons (the latter with Dalton Hilliard on the cover).
SAME BAT TIME, NEW BAT CHANNEL
SportsCentral airs tonight! Notice a new station: Radio Amour 91.9. Schedule information is just below. Co-hosts Steve Johnson and Sid Edwards are scheduled to be joined by CHS Swim Coach (and sports columnist extraordinaire) Scott Osborne and swimmers Lyndee Debataz and Matthew Usher.
BATON ROUGE AREA BROADCASTING SCHEDULE:
Thursday, August 6: 5pm—6pm: SportsCentral… with Sid Edwards and Steve Johnson
Radio Amour 91.9… from Coach’s
SportsRadio 1310 Radio, Lake Charles Programming of Interest (also heard on KEZMOnLine.com):
Saturday, August 8: 9AM—10AM: All Things Football with Scott Holtzman
Monday, August 10: 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
There are many concerns from Saints fans, media, and coaches heading into the 2015 season. Not all concerns are created equally, though. For instance, my level of concern that I may be hit by lightning, the concern I forgot to put my phone on silence at church, and the concern that I ate too many chocolate chip cookies are all at vastly different levels. The people that know me will immediately recognize those concerns are in order from least to greatest.
What stands out to me about the concerns with the Saints is that each concern has some complexity. In other words, within each concern there is an aspect that is like worrying about being struck by lightning and another aspect that is like me eating too many chocolate cookies (a real danger).
Concern A: Drew Brees is getting old. The lightning aspect is that Peyton Manning is three years older, Tom Brady is two years older, and Tony Romo is only one year younger than Brees. People need to seriously find another topic. The Saints have an elite quarterback that works extremely hard to stay in shape.
The phone silencing aspect is that Brees turned the ball over way too much last year. Brees is always accurate, and the offense always moves the ball with him at quarterback. But, when he turns the ball over, the Saints typically lose.
Concern B: Tim Lelito and Andrus Peat are not ready to be NFL starters and Jahri Evans is on a steep decline. I can just taste the soft cookies with the big chocolate chunks now. And I am very concerned about the offensive line. I am glad the Saints made the move to get Unger, and he should help the guards. But if Lelito does not play well and Evans continues to show his age, then the offensive line will not be able to create an effective middle running game. The fastest way for Brees to look old, and the skill positions to look like we miss Thomas, Stills, and Graham is for the offensive line to struggle.
Historically, the Saints first round draft picks do not contribute as quickly as expected. The Saints need Andrus Peat to catch on quickly like Jamaal Brown did, not Robert Meachem.
Concern C: The Saints lost too much production at the skill positions on offense. I don’t even hear thunder, so I am surely not worried about lightning. Spiller was a great pick up. I still think Khiry Robinson is a heck of a player, especially as the third running back. Meanwhile, the Saints are a system offense. Didn’t we learn that when Robert Meachem (second reference in one article… wow), Lance Moore, and other guys left? A skill player is going to look better in a Saints uniform under Sean Payton with Drew Brees at quarterback than in 25 other offenses in the NFL. The young receivers will do fine. The tight ends will be productive.
Explosive plays, taking care of the ball, and a solid running game is the difference between being a good offense and a great offense. All those aspects are made possible by the offensive line… see Concern B.
Concern D: The Saints prefer an experienced place kicker. Really? Moving on.
Concern E: Junior Galette may have been bad in the locker room, but that is a lot of production the Saints lose without much insurance. This may sound weird, but I only put this concern on the level of the silent cell phone because the Saints were ranked 31st in defense last year with Junior Galette having productive season. The Saints problems on defense were so massive that improvement is almost inevitable with or without Galette.
With New Orleans, the defense only needs to be decent with the most significant stat being whether they force turnovers. This statement is only true if the offense stays in the top tier, which once again brings me back to the chocolate cookies and Concern B.
Maybe just being better than 31st in defense doesn’t make you feel better. Okay, how about these thoughts? Akiem Hicks was overweight and underperformed last year, but is trimmed down for this year. The Saints selected two pass rushers and signed another in free agency. They drafted a linebacker in the first round who appears to be the real deal. Meanwhile, they acquired another veteran linebacker in the Stills trade. In the secondary, the Saints made their biggest free agent signing at corner, drafted two more corners, and may have signed the steal of the year from the CFL. My point is that the sheer volume of moves alone increases the odds of improved play.
To put it one more way, compare last August to this August for the Saints. Last August, we thought it was possibly the best roster in Saints history. Almost every starting job was secured before the first preseason game. Maybe that had a lot to do with the Saints lack of competitiveness last year. In contrast, this August the depth chart is nowhere near as set.
Maybe it is wishful thinking, but I think that sometimes teams are better when they have the right blend of sage veterans and young, hungry, athletic players. We have a month before we find out the makeup of this year’s team. In the meantime, I think I’ll find some soft chocolate chunk cookies.
HEY REF
Stop the presses! I’m stunned, shocked and confused, aka completely confused! I checked my wall calendar and it’s not April fool’s day. So what could cause me for almost two days now to be in a state of complete disbelief? I’ve been trying to make sense of the story reported in Tuesday’s Advocate concerning the so-called wishes of East Baton Rouge’s new school superintendent Warren Drake. Charles Lussier’s article states that Drake is urging the parish school board to drop its minimum GPA for students to participate in extracurricular activities.
Drake feels the students and the school system will benefit if the policy of a minimum 2.0 GPA is lowered to a 1.5 GPA. Uh, WHAT? This is coming from a man that’s only been in his new position for less than ninety days. He feels there is a need to drop the minimum requirements now to allow the new lowered GPA for football and other fall sports. This is a complete 180 in “Hey Ref’s” world since educating our children should be the main thrust of any policy changes.
Too many student-athletes have for decades been allowed to skip classes and then somehow get promoted simply by how well they perform on the athletic field. Teachers and professors have always been pressured to look the other way when test time came simply to maximize a student’s eligibility. Educators rallied state wide to have the standards raised for anyone wishing to play sports. There were numerous rallies for years to put the “student” first and above everything else whenever the subject of student-athletes was being debated.
If I may, I’ve got a couple of examples of “Why we must keep standards high for all athletes”. Many years ago on the Johnny Carson show he had Lou Holtz as a guest during his tenure as head coach at Notre Dame. He told the story of a high school football player every college was recruiting. He went on telling Carson the kid was unlike anything he’d ever seen. This kid could throw the ball 50 to 60 yards downfield on a rope with velocity of an NFL veteran. He could jump 20 feet in the air and catch anything thrown his way.
He went on telling how his coaches just couldn’t believe the speed this kid clocked in the 40, 50 and 100 yard dashes. He played both sides of the ball and was also being recruited as a solid linebacker and/or defensive end. There just wasn’t anything that this couldn’t do with a football. He had Carson on the edge of his seat as Lou continued telling everyone that would listen how much this kid was able to do on the field with a football. (Wait for it!!!!)… …
Then Lou looked at Carson and said how he didn’t want to leave the kid without getting him to commit to the Fighting Irish. It was then that he told Carson and the entire nation of just one thing this sure NFL prospect couldn’t do with a football; SIGN IT. The audience roared with laughter and Lou in his stone faced stare just sighed and confessed that the “sure thing” couldn’t read or write. The scouts checked his transcript and the kid was a solid “B” student. They all had the same question; “how was this kid allowed to advance all the way through high school with a 3.0 GPA yet couldn’t read or write”?
The answer of course is simple yet pathetic; it’s common practice to allow your top athletes to skim through school and never stepping inside a classroom as long as they contribute to a winning program. Now the story I tell is probably from 20 years ago and may even be 25, I’m not sure.
Another short story of what happened to me during one of the first high school varsity baseball games I called here in Baton Rouge. Roughly halfway through the game I noticed a member of the team that was batting standing behind second base. I waited until I called for the first batter in order to give the guy time to do whatever he was doing. When he crouched behind second I called time and asked the coach “What’s he doing out there”? The coach had no answer and told him to get in the dugout which he refused to do.
So, I walked out to the player and asked “Why are you here”? His reply has stayed in my head for more than a few years
He wasn’t trying to be a smart-(derriere) or anything like it when he answered “I’m coaching a base”. I have to admit I was a bit confused so I asked again and he replied once more “I’m coaching a base”. It was then I noticed this particular player was the same guy I’d seen the coach tying his shoes before the game. He was also the guy that had three hits along with two stolen bases. Great player, very polite but dumb as a rock. I’d always wondered how he made it through school and if I was a betting man I’d have to say “with a 1.5 GPA”!!!!
We should all be appalled that a person in the position Mr. Drake is in as a top educator and so-called leader of our school system wants to bring down standards and requirements that are in place to help the student one day be able to make a positive contribution to our collective society. I compare him to someone calling himself a preacher yet in all actuality he’s an atheists.
We need to expect more; more from athletes, more from band members, more from cheerleaders, more from parents, more from coaches, more from our elected representatives, more from our schoolboards and certainly more from all those that want to engage in extracurricular activity at school. More that’s what we should all expect because there’s a reason they’re called STUDENT-athletes.
If this is a sample of how Mr. Drake intends to run our school system here in E. B. R. Parish then we shouldn’t waste anymore of his time and ours and remove him from office as quickly as the law will allow. This country is full of uneducated former million dollar athletes that are now bankrupt and homeless.
If we care about our kids in this parish then there’s just one thing to do and without hesitation we must remove Mr. Drake. Standards no matter where or how are put in place to get a minimum level of expertise from those holding the office and/or job. In closing I’d like to ask the E. B. R. schoolboard a simple question; “Would you entertain a candidate for the office of superintendent that got a college degree with an overall 1.5 GPA”? Of course you wouldn’t!!!!
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.
JON IS PROUD TO WORK AS A MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE FOR SPORTSRADIO-1310-KEZM-LAKE CHARLES
AND AS A MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE/ CONSULTANT FOR SPORTSCENTRAL ON RADIO AMOUR, 91.9.