August 20, 2015
LSU, SAINTS AND MORE
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SPORTSCENTRAL
SportsCentral airs tonight! See program information just below. Steve Johnson and Sid Edwards are scheduled to be joined by CHS Head Volleyball coach Michele Leboeuf and 2 of her players.
BATON ROUGE AREA BROADCASTING SCHEDULE:
Thursday, August 20: 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 22: 9AM—10AM: All Things Football with Scott Holtzman
Monday, August 24: 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
I am not ready to make a prediction on the LSU football season just yet, but the picture is coming clearer to me. In my mind the schedule breaks into four categories.
First, the absolute lock games that LSU will win are Eastern Michigan, McNeese, Western Kentucky, and Syracuse. Yes, Syracuse. This is the only decent non conference game and the team will be excited for the game. I don't like how it falls after the Auburn game, but LSU's talent is vastly superior to the Orangemen.
The following games are the ones that LSU should win; Mississippi State, South Carolina, Arkansas, and Florida. These are the games that when LSU is really good they blow the doors off these teams. If the Tigers are just okay, like last year, then they struggle with these teams.
I can already hear some people yelling at their iPad. I know Arkansas beat LSU last year. That just gives LSU motivation at home. The Hogs are improving, but not that much yet. You can throw Mississippi State into the same category of teams that beat LSU last year, but will not this year. The Bulldogs had their best team in 30 years last year. That doesn't mean they should be able to beat LSU this year. Florida and South Carolina are distinctly below where they have been in talent. Case closed.
Ole Miss and Texas A&M will determine if LSU is going to have a repeat of last year. The Rebels will be the Miss. State of last year if they get good quarterback play. The game is late in the year, in the middle of a tough stretch, and on the road. I know most experts don't think a lot of the Aggies, but I do. I think Sumlin is a very good coach and Chavis will help. Texas A&M has recruited very well, and the game is the end of a very difficult four week stretch after Thanksgiving.
Finally, the two games where LSU is clearly the underdog entering the year are Bama and Auburn. LSU cannot beat either of those teams with mediocre quarterback play, and no passing game. Bama is too good on defense and Auburn is too good on offense. LSU will have to diversify on offense to beat the Tjde, and score some to keep up with War Eagle.
I can see everything breaking LSU's way for one of LSU's classic unexpected breakout years. At the same time, I can see a repeat of last year's frustration. I think we will be able to determine a lot on September 12 when LSU takes on Mississippi State.
HEY REF
I had someone tell me last week that they always look forward to see what’s in the “Hey Ref’s” column. He explained that there’s so many places where you can read about LSU football, the Saints, LeBron, etc., etc. I really appreciated him telling me that since I do try to keep from writing stories that the so-called professionals put out each week and earn their living. They really can’t compete with “Hey Ref” and I’ll be the last person to put a fellow writer out of a job.
With that said and after seeing what was making headlines in the sport’s world this week one story came out as the subject that I feel needs addressing. The first is a so called victory for the NCAA as the National Labor Board turned down a request by Northwestern football players to form the very first college players union. And I feel it is the correct decision.
Before you start to wonder how a retired union member can say, please give me a few minutes and I’ll explain everything. First off a union, any union is there for one or two reasons and sometime both of them apply. First of course is to protect the members from any and all harm. Again, the basic reason a union is needed is to provide a safe workplace and keeping the possibility of injury from its members. That wasn’t even brought up in court since the only reason these athletes filed motions to incorporate was to provide cash compensation to its members.
I know you’re well aware that “Hey Ref” is in favor of the NCAA having to pay all its employees and I’ve written for years that players are in fact employees of the NCAA mega machine. I’m very much in favor of employers having to pay its employees a livable salary. Players need and should be given salaries for all the hard work they do on and off the field. And my reasons are well recorded and this is not the week to debate that issue.
The concept of forming a union sounds good to the players but it just won’t work. Any good union gets that way and stays that way because of its members and their continued work in keeping it working for the members. We’ve seen that many players are not in school to get an education rather they look upon their playing days and university life as nothing more than an extreme job application for the NFL. So the union couldn’t stand strong since the average lifespan of the membership was just three to four years.
But the “Biggy” reason that will doom any college player union is it’ll be ripe for abuse since membership would change yearly there would be a constant turnover of elected officers and that’s not a good thing for the long haul. Consistency is a key for all unions as employers need that to have a hand on labor costs. They deserve to know what those costs are so they can plan for the future and the longevity of their respective businesses.
If they are successful in getting the union started (case is under appeal) it will put a huge wedge between player and coach. In today’s sue happy society coaches will constantly have to worry about being brought to court because he yelled louder at one player more than another. We’ve got too many cases going to court that don’t need to be there. The best thing for the players and the world of collegiate sports is to have a structure and system in place to pay all of the athletes for doing the most important job there is in the sporting world---PLAYING THEIR RESPECTIVE SPORT!!
Players are the employees that make everything possible for everyone working under the NCAA brand. More needs to be done for the betterment of the players. But a union is the worst thing that could happen in and for college athletes.
Till next week…
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