February 4, 2016
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THE SHOW MUST NOT GO ON
Due to technical issues at the station, SportsCentral will not air this week. SportsCentral says they hope to be back on the air, next week, at their regularly scheduled, 5pm-6pm Thursday night time-slot on Radio Amour, 91.9, Central.
BATON ROUGE AREA BROADCASTING SCHEDULE:
Thursday, February 4: 5pm—6pm: SportsCentral
Radio Amour 91.9 FM, Central WILL NOT AIR THIS WEEK DUE TO TECHNICAL ISSUES AT THE STATION.
SportsRadio 1310 Radio, Lake Charles Programming of Interest (also heard on KEZMOnLine.com):
Saturday, February 6: 9AM—10AM: All Things Football with Scott Holtzman
Monday, February 8: 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 School
Time for a reality check. Dick Vitale and all those others jumping on Ben Simmons for not taking over, being too passive, and not having an outside shot need to check themselves.
I know Dick wasn’t paying attention when LSU beat Kentucky or Vanderbilt to start January, but here is a news flash. Ben Simmons took over those games when the rest of the team was searching for their roles. Those were must wins to get LSU back in the conversation for the Big Dance.
As for the Oklahoma game, while Buddy Hield hit plenty of big shots in the last ten minutes, it is not like he created his own shots down the stretch. Two of his threes in the lat ten minutes were in transition when LSU did a very poor job of getting back and finding him. The other was after a teammate got one of the way too many offensive rebounds and then kicked it out to Hield. Again, to be clear, Hield was awesome and hit great shots, but I would not classify his actions as “taking over” the game since he was not creating his own shot down the stretch. As a matter of fact, Hield did not attempt a shot in the last 4 minutes of the game.
Back to Simmons, he was certainly not aggressive on offense in the last ten minutes. I still don’t understand why he does not attempt more 15 footers when he continues to make them when he chooses to shot those shots in rhythm. Nevertheless, Quarterman and Blakeney combined to make 8-10 threes, so it is hard to fault Simmons or the coaches for getting those two shots. In many of the possession in the last ten minutes, LSU should feel terrible for turning the ball over before Simmons had a chance to touch the ball. Hornsby and Quarterman being the guiltiest parties.
Another point in the reality check is that Vitale kept referring to Shaq’s breakout game against Arizona. That was Shaq’s junior year. Simmons is a true freshman, which makes a huge difference. Many of the great NBA players of this era never even experienced a freshmen year of college basketball. The ones that did, Steph Curry, Russell Westbrook, and many others did not “take over” as true freshmen. Besides, Simmons still has a month left in the regular season to develop and put his stamp on late game situations.
The criticism I am hearing about Simmons reminds me so much of what they said about Shaq when he was at LSU. The naysayers said Shaq didn’t have post moves, he could only dunk, and on. Now, there are articles and people saying that Simmons cannot shoot, he doesn’t have the mentality necessary to be great, etc.
All of that is silly. Simmons has a better combination of skills and athleticism than any other 6’10” player who has played the game. He is a unique talent that needs to and will continue to get better. My hope is that he and LSU will continue to get better each game rather than wait for “big games” to “turn it on.”
HEY REF
And now there’s only one game to go. I’m very seldom wrong and I am feeling the pressure put on me to deliver for all my fans out there but in this most important possible last game for Peyton Manning I’m praying I’m as wrong as a man can be. But at the end of the day I don’t see any way Denver can keep the game close yet win it. I’d give anything to have “The Sherriff” put out to pasture a winner.
Let’s look at just a couple things that spell doom for the Broncos; the “BIG ONE” of course has to be Cam Newton. No other quarterback in 2015 has played any better and he’s playing even better at this time of the season. I detest him completely and everything he stands for. No doubt he and the hundreds of players like him are my number one reason why I do not watch or am a fan of the NFL any longer. “WHY” you may ask, simply stated; because the professional game is now all about the player and not about the team.
The one big thing and it’s a big one, well it’s actually two things that stand out for Carolina is their lines, both of them. They come hard, often and loaded every play. I don’t see in my wildest dreams Peyton being able to throw for much against them. Manning is a sitting “duck” whereas Cam is a “roadrunner” and hardly sits still for even the slightest bit of time. Carolina and Newton forces you to chase the quarterback and won’t allow a defense to just come on full force and meet at a selected area.
I keep listening to those supposed “experts” that will claim they have all the answer to who will come away from the Super Bowl with a Vince Lombardi Trophy but at the end of the it all matters to who scores the more points. And again Carolina scores early, late and often something Denver can’t do. So in a game that’s all about scoring my money has to be on the team that scores the most points and hands down that’s the Panthers. In a runaway Carolina wins it big* 48 to 6.
Hats off to the LHSAA and its member principals for staying with the playoff split. It made good sense when it was proposed and continues to this day to be the right thing to do for all concerned. If ever there was a true win/win this has to be it. More schools and students get to play for a state title on a level playing field. Prior to the split the private schools had the better programs without a doubt.
I’ve been asked by more than one person if I feel the pay raise for football officials was the right thing to do. And when I answer I get the ‘ole deer with the eyes in the headlight reaction. Seems no one is ready when I emphatically answer “NO”! I get this feeling of total confusion by those inquisitive minds since I’m an official AND a retired union member.
I won’t go into the details since I’ve answered this question on more than one occasion in this space so I’d just simply end the discussion with this “Those officials that think they’ve accomplished something are in for a huge surprise”. In fact at the end of the day they done nothing more than prostituted themselves to an entity that has no more their interest in mind than a politician promising to help them with their taxes!!!
I’ll go further in saying that I feel for the principals because they’ve got the most to lose in this situation. The state official’s association claims they’re doing all they can to help prepare officials for the season and so on but it’s the biggest farce I’ve been privileged and a witness to.
Let me try to explain, on a job early in my electrical career I remember not having the proper materials to repair an extension cord. So an old veteran showed me a trick of the trade on how to double and triple up ordinary electrical tape and made everything safe and working. But it was one of those “band aid” repairs that won’t last long but would get us through to the end of the job.
The repair did make it to the end of the job and as we left that last day before going onto a new job he laughed “not too many things you can’t fix with electrical tape and a prayer”. I’ve also heard the same thing about duct tape. I can guarantee every coach, principal, player and fan “The problem in getting and retaining good football officials will not be fixed with this band aid/duct tape repair”!!!
Till next week… …
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