November 19, 2015
YEAR 21 IN THE BOOKS
A very special thank you to several people/entities who contributed to our Denham Springs HS Football radio broadcasts, which concluded last Friday night. IHeart Radio gave us an opportunity, again, to broadcast on Fox Sports Radio, 1210AM
The one principle/pal Denham Springs abides by—Kelly Jones and DSHS Athletic Director/Head Football coach Dru Nettles allowed us to call Jackets Football games
My broadcasting partner Andy Duckworth… and, saving the best for last—our great sponsors.—You’re the best
Thanks to one and all for another season of Denham Springs HS Football radio broadcasts.
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SPORTSCENTRAL
Hosts Steve Johnson and Sid Edwards are scheduled to be joined by guests representing the Central HS Boys Basketball team. See further programming information just below..
BATON ROUGE AREA BROADCASTING SCHEDULE:
Thursday, November 19: 5pm—6pm: SportsCentral… with Sid Edwards and Steve Johnson
Radio Amour 91.9 FM, Central
SportsRadio 1310 Radio, Lake Charles Programming of Interest (also heard on KEZMOnLine.com):
Saturday, November 21: 9AM—10AM: All Things Football with Scott Holtzman
Monday, November 23: 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 School
Since last weekend was possibly even more wretched than the previous weekend (yes that includes another fantasy loss for me), I am choosing to take a break from football for at least a week.
Thankfully, LSU basketball and Ben Simmons have come through so far. The Tigers are as deep and talented as I can remember in a long time. The last Final Four team was probably more well-rounded and definitely more experienced. Still, that was a while ago.
Let’s start with the strengths. This group is super athletic, long, deep at guard and can score in bunches. Last but not least, they have the best player in the country.
There has been plenty said about Ben Simmons and all is deserved. The only aspect I would like to add to what has already been said is that we have yet to see his entire game. He has done almost all his scoring within 5 feet of the basket, which is great. But he can definitely fill it up from the outside. He hasn’t needed to do that yet, and may not much this year. Still, the ability is there.
Quarterman, Hornsby, Patterson, Blakeney, Gray and Sampson make a deep and formidable backcourt. They are long, can shoot, handle, and when locked in should be able to defend well. Add the fact that they are allowed to sprint the lanes and finish in transition because Simmons takes the ball down the court half the time and they are fun to watch.
The bigs are a question mark for sure, but Epps has definitely improved. Robinson and Malone can provide a few minutes based on the right matchup, and Craig Victor will surely contribute. The fact is the backcourt is so deep and Ben Simmmons is going to play the four almost the whole game. The Tigers only need Malone, Epps, Robinson, and Victor to provide minutes at one position between all of them.
They may not even need to play the five position the whole game, since I am sure LSU will go small from time to time with Simmons playing the five. I fully expect to see a lineup from of any three guards, Quarterman at the four, and Simmons at the five from time to time. Don’t worry about defending inside, this group would double team and force tempo before a team could just pound the ball inside.
Of course, few college basketball teams are without weaknesses and this team has two significant weaknesses. The Tigers are a poor rebounding team, and their best players are the youngest. So how can they overcome these deficiencies?
Gray, Hornsby, and Quarterman must be leaders. They must be mature enough to handle when the young guys are playing well and their minutes are a bit on the low side. Yet, they must be ready to step in and play their best basketball when the young guys hit the wall or simply don’t handle some of the challenges of college basketball. Those challenges may be tough road crowds, officiating, shots not falling, fatigue, or a physical opponent.
As for rebounding, I am stubborn and I see that coming down to desire and team focus and not simply height and size. LSU’s guards will have plenty of time to get out and run without leaking out. No matter the size, the post players must put a body on a body and the guards must stick around and commit to rebounding. Most of LSU’s opponents will be very concerned about giving up points in transition, so they will likely send two guards back on the shot to help stop layups. That means LSU will have five defenders to rebound against 3 offensive players if all five just commit to defensive rebounding. Offensively, I think LSU will rebound well with their athleticism and the ability to spread the floor.
LSU fans are definitely in the mood for some excitement considering what has transpired in the fall. Hopefully, the basketball team can continue to improve and put together a memorable season.
HEY REF
The high school playoffs get into high gear this week as most teams in the “SELECT” divisions get down to business. As many know this writer has been a supporter of the split (Select and non-select) into two divisions, so to speak, simply because it levels the playing field between traditional public schools and private schools.
For too many years the private schools held a gigantic advantage over their public counterparts simply because as a “SELECT” school you are able to recruit players whereas the public schools must field teams from a small certain section of the parish commonly referred to as “attendance zones”. That leaves most schools in East Baton Rouge Parish and the surrounding area unable to consistently field good teams that can compete year in and year out with those private school teams.
As officials when given our assignments for the week we’d hold our breath hoping that we’d not have to work games between a private school and a public one. I’d have to say 90 percent of the time the private schools had their way with the opposition and could just about choose the number of points they were going to score that night. It wasn’t very often where the “SELECT” school would be tested that night and I’d have to say the so called split was needed and didn’t come too soon for this retired official.
High school sports are played to build character or at least that’s what I’ve always thought. In today’s “win at all costs” building character is probably the last thing anyone thinks about. I’ve been involved in many runaway games and it’s not a fun thing to witness. I can only hope that when the LHSAA gets down to planning the future of its playoff system they continue pitting public schools against public schools and the same in the so-called “SELECT” school brackets. In a perfect world someone would start a new organization to deal with the problems of PRIVATE schools in Louisiana. If nothing else the LHSAA should change the word “SELECT” when talking and/or describing PRIVATE schools.
Now onto a promise I made just a few weeks ago. In a three part series in which I discussed some of the problems I found with the caliber of those calling football games in Louisiana. Many have told me they agree things are not the way they should be and have seen the calls getting worse and worse on Friday nights. I’ll try to answer those questions you’ve felt needed answering and concerns you’ve had regarding the officiating problems in high school football here in south Louisiana. But how do I rank those questions? To someone each question has to be the most important one to the person doing the asking. I’ve no answer to that problem so I’ll start off with a couple easy questions. So let’s get started;
(1) You made a comparison of football officials to cannibals, what did you mean?
(A) I found massive amounts of tension among the members in the three associations. I’d hear too many talking about fellow officials and what was wrong with this individual or that individual. There was this unspoken dislike of others transferring from one association to another. I’d just made the switch to a new association, it was week #2 and a couple members of the crew pulled me to one side after our pre-game conference and told me “Nothing personal with you, we don’t really know you but we don’t want any more people from Baton Rouge transferring into our association”! I was in shock as I’ve never had that happen to me. Turned out there was bad blood between the two associations and nothing I had any connection to but they felt they needed to kinda put me in my place. As the season played out not once did this feeling change.
(2) What did the coaches say to you to make you want to try and call games after all those surgeries?
(A) That’s a hard one, I moved from West Monroe after graduation to Baton Rouge. I knew no one and wanted to get involved in officiating. I’d worked hard with many good officials that felt the kids and the game came first. There was respect between the coaches and officials. There was a “clik” so to speak but I worked hard on learning the rules and mechanics. After years of hard work and staying the course I advanced and was noticed by some college officials. They asked two separate years if I was interested in moving up. I turned them down because my job kept me away from my family much of the year and spending more time away just wasn’t anything I wanted a part of. I was doing what I wanted and enjoyed what I was doing so I stayed here and was a part of the best group of officials; hands down. We knew we were the best by the number of coaches that called wanting to book us to call their playoff games. But health problems put me on the sidelines and hearing from some of the coaches (Old and new) how far the association had slipped made me try to get back on the field. I mean there were lots of blood, sweat and tears I left on many Baton Rouge sidelines and I respected all the coaches. In the end I just wanted to see what had changed.
(3) What do you think was the biggest change when you went back to “reffing” football?
(A) That’s an easy one, attitude by all the parties. By that I mean coaches, principals, officials, the people in power at the LHSAA and even the assigning secretaries. There is this feeling of a constant pressure on all those I just mentioned. I understand jobs are on the line and all that but the sidelines have become brutal, very brutal for both the official on that side and all the staffs. Officials are talked down to; respect is something many coaches leave in the locker room. I’ve sat in on many conferences with officials and have never been exposed to the constant feeling these crews have and are dreading and some even hating what they’re about to go out to do for the next couple of hours. I’ve asked these officials why they are here and many say it’s purely economics. They need an infusion of cash because either they’ve lost a job or their bills aren’t getting paid and they think this will get them some easy money.
I want to close this week by saying if you want to make some easy cash, calling high school football games is NOT the answer!!! Till next week…
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