March 10, 2016
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SPORTSCENTRAL
SportsCentral airs tonight, 5pm-6pm, on Radio Amour 91.9 FM, Central. Scheduled to join hosts Steve Johnson and Sid Edwards are former CHS football player
Devon Gales and his family as well as David Bowen (a Central grad who works at UGA athletics department).
BATON ROUGE AREA BROADCASTING SCHEDULE:
Thursday, March 10: 5pm—6pm: SportsCentral
Radio Amour 91.9 FM, Central
SportsRadio 1310 Radio, Lake Charles Programming of Interest (also heard on KEZMOnLine.com):
Saturday, March 12: 9AM—10AM: All Things Football with Scott Holtzman
Monday, March 14: 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
They say you can’t measure heart, toughness, and fortitude in an individual. Maybe they are right. But, I believe those qualities can be measured in a team. How? Many different ways.
First and foremost, you measure those qualities through wins and losses. In almost every game, a team faces adversity. Of course, wins and losses don’t tell the whole story. There are plenty of teams that have those qualities, but don’t have the talent so the final record can be misleading.
Consequently, we must look closer at the wins and losses. Look at how a team performs away from home in contrast to home games. If there is a large disparity, that is not a good sign for the toughness of that team.
Pay close attention to how a team performs as the year progresses. Sports seasons are long with many obstacles. Injuries, pain, fatigue, and disappointment are all issues that may cause a team to perform below its ability late in the season.
Another good indicator is how a team fares the second or third time its faces an opponent. The better an opponent knows you and your tendencies, the greater the challenge.
Finally, teams that are tough perform well in late game situations. They rally when after the opponent makes a run. They pull away at the end if close games to put the game out of reach.
Tough teams are not perfect. They lose close games, allow comebacks, and lose games they shouldn’t once in a while. But, look at how these teams respond after these inevitable hiccups, and that will tell you the character of that team.
What is the formula to have a team with these qualities? Obviously, there must be leadership, accountability, and the all important team chemistry.
An example of leadership would be Beau Jordan, challenging the LSU baseball team to pick up the slack for Alex Lange. That leadership only works though when Beau Jordan and Alex Lange are accountable to their teammates by their effort every day at practice and in games.
The leftover intangible is team chemistry. This attribute is tricky. The easiest way to see evidence of chemistry is to look at roles and who is willing to play certain roles. On a football team, are the defensive lineman willing to sacrifice their chance for a sack so a blitzing linebacker can get a free run at the quarterback? On a basketball team, do the players pass the ball on time to the open teammate or do they hesitate? On a baseball team, are hitters committed to taking a walk, getting down a sacrifice bunt, or executing the hit and run when called upon?
There are many other examples in team sports, but I digress to get to the point. In the age of 5 star recruits, one and done, recruiting middle school athletes, and social media, we have lost sight of what makes teams great. I hear many debating issues that do not have substance.
This athletic year at LSU should fix our perspective. Winning is more than having the best player or best players. Baseball, basketball, and football are team games. Somebody blocked for John Elway and Emmitt Smith. Somebody rebounded the ball when Michael Jordan’s defense forced a miss shot. Somebody scored fielded the ball cleanly so Greg Maddux could get outs. Nobody carries a team to victory. Nobody.
LSU fans have spent too much time worrying about Heisman campaigns, Wooden Awards, and the like. The next time LSU has a great team let us be sure to celebrate the qualities that really make those teams great. If you are having a tough time finding that team, check out LSU gymnastics. A team that wins at #2 Florida for the first time in over twenty years and comes back the next week to dominate #3 Alabama has the heart, toughness, and fortitude that it takes to be great.
HEY REF
I’m so glad to see Peyton Manning doing the right thing and retiring now rather than play one more year. There are only two things that could come out of an extra year and neither would be good. Without any debate, in my opinion Manning is one of the top three players to line up behind center and nothing good would come out of him prolonging his playing days. At the end of the day, though, it was the only choice to make because it was the classy way to end his career.
I hope the commissioner will do his part and do whatever it’ll take to shorten the wait or even actually remove the usual five years before a player can be put on the ballot. I can’t see any owner, player, writer or fan needing five years before they’d consider Manning for induction into the Hall so let’s get rid of the waiting period in Manning’s case. Not only should the owners agree to remove the required 5 years before Manning is eligible for induction but the Player’s Association should take the lead in getting through all the “RED” tape and allow Manning to be inducted into the Hall of Fame this year. It would be a classy way to top off a classy player.
One would think that with Peyton’s definite retirement his backup, Brock Osweiler, would stick around and take over a Super Bowl contending team. But if we are to believe the news coming out of Houston then we are oh so wrong, grasshopper. The Texans are reporting that their offer of a four year, $72 million dollar contract has been accepted. Insiders have confirmed the contract comes with a $37 million guarantee.
Those same insiders have said that Denver was trying to work out a trade with the 49ers that would send veteran QB Colin Kaepernick to the Broncos for two draft picks. Denver hesitated when San Francisco couldn’t or wouldn’t commit to the picks coming in the first, second or third rounds. That hesitation some say was due to a third player that came available only recently. Rumors say Denver was looking at the possibility of a three player competition for the starting job. It looks like Denver was trying to get Robert Griffin (RG III) to agree to a “try-out”. But members of RG III’s inner circle wanted a roster spot to be held open before he’d come out west from Washington.
All of that speculation wasn’t confirmed by either Griffin’s camp or by Kaepernick’s handlers. At the end of the day it was said that Osweiler didn’t want to wait for the Broncos or the 49ers to decide his future and when the Texans “GUARANTEED” a number “he could live with” then he had to make the move “for his family”! I don’t blame Osweiler for jumping at the opportunity to make more money because when all is said and done everything, every decision comes down to the almighty dollar.
But I think one of the main reasons “WHY” Osweiler made a quick exit from Colorado is the massive amount of pressure that is sure to be inherited by whoever takes the snaps in the Mile-High city. Manning has left some huge shoes that need filling. Whoever takes over will feel the pressure whether it’s real or perceived. Some can’t and/or won’t be able to handle that pressure that’s sure to come with the job of being the one that follows Manning.
Whatever happens in Denver you can rest assured Peyton is going to be very hard to replace and I’ve only touched on the playing aspect of the job. Replacing the class act that Manning was for so many years will probably never happen especially since the type of players coming out of the NCAA is scrapping the bottom of the barrel.
Till next week… …
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