March 31, 2016
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SPORTSCENTRAL
Hosts Steve Johnson and Sid Edwards are slated to be joined tonight by Girls Track Coach Johnnie Porter and some CHS track athletes, plus former CHS athlete Jarred Hayes is set to make an appearance on the program. For program details, please read just below.
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Saturday, April 2: 9AM—10AM: All Things Football with Scott Holtzman
Monday, April 4: 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
Spring is great. Not only is the weather beautiful, but I have an abundance of topics to choose from. Rather than choose one topic, I am going to “topic hop” (maybe that will be a phrase that will catch on).
I may be the calmest LSU baseball fan around, but I am still confident in this team. They have weaknesses for sure, but this team is in a classic baseball slump. I believe there is a clear difference between being bad and playing poorly.
Defensively, LSU gives up too many bases for free by walk, wild pitch, or error. The pitching staff seems to be plagued by one pitcher a night being at their worst. Offensively, they should be able to manufacture runs, but they cannot right now for a couple of reasons. First, they are playing every game from behind which hurts their ability to move runners. Second, and most obvious, they are pressing when runners are in scoring position. Keep in mind, that UCLA won a national championship with an offense very similar to the one LSU has right now. I think LSU will turn things around at some point (not win a national championship though). Though I fully admit, that may happen too late.
Hopping over to the Saints, it is hard to be excited about their free agent moves because the Saints have been so hit and (mostly) miss the past few years. The good news is they have not too much money on their acquisitions. In other words, they haven’t spent Junior Galltte or Jarius Byrd money on anyone. Consequently, if Laurinaitis, Fleener, Fairley, or anyone else is completely ineffective at least their salary cap flexibility hasn’t been destroyed.
As a result, right when you thought you knew what the Saints would do in the draft, they have positioned themselves to do what they do best. The bad news is what they do the best sometimes does not make sense. The Saints prefer to pick “the best player available” regardless of what they already have on the roster at a position. That philosophy led them to pick Andrus Peat, who is a tackle that wasn’t ready to play right away when they really needed a guard. That philosophy also led to trading up to get Mark Ingram when running back is not a need, and especially not in the first round. There will be plenty of time to talk about the draft over the next month, but for now, we can be sure that all of the mock drafts are most likely going to prove to be wrong.
Hopping to another sore subject, the Pelicans. I don’t know how it is possible, but Dell Demps has assembled the most injury prone lineup in NBA history. I am not sure that a healthy lineup would have resulted in a huge amount of success the last three years. Nevertheless, I am sure that the injuries this year are not a new issue. The Pelicans need to change over most of the roster this off season.
Let’s finish with an atypical hop to women’s college basketball. Connecticut is going to win it all again, and the hot topic is whether their success is good or bad for women’s college basketball. While it is probably bad in the short run for ratings, it will be good in the long run as everyone else must step up their game to compete. But that is not the topic I want to discuss.
I am sure most fans that tune in to the Final Four will be surprised to see women’s college basketball has made some rule changes this year. I fully endorse those changes and I think the men’s game should adopt them as soon as possible.
First, the women’s game is now four-ten minute quarters. End of quarter situations are exciting and fun to watch. This change also helps the flow of the game with TV timeouts.
Second, the women have eliminated the 1 and 1 bonus free throw situation on the 7th foul. I wish high school basketball would adopt this change ASAP as well. It is absolutely brutal to watch a basketball game when a team gets early fouls called on them in a half. Heaven help us if both teams get in the bonus early (this happened in many difficult to watch LSU games in the SEC). I love that there is a reset at each quarter.
In addition to resetting the team fouls, the women are shooting two free throws on every foul. The result is a pretty good deterrent to “giving away” fouls. Basketball is a game that is most enjoyable when there is flow. Free throws, frequent late game trips to the replay monitor, and TV timeouts within two minutes of each other destroy flow. The women have discovered an effective approach to counter these issues.
HEY REF
Well the first “shot” has been fired and has hit the LHSAA broadside. Many, many people are asking boat loads of questions about what this “new” Athletic Cooperative means as far as high school athletics is concerned but there have been so very few answers. I’m not about to take sides just yet simply because for the most part we haven’t been allowed to ask those tough questions that have to be answered before we’re assured this new cooperative is for real.
I’ve put together a couple of question that I’d like answered before I even begin to decide which way is the best way to proceed. Number one has to be if the powers pushing this new association just a bunch of angry principals wanting to teach the LHSAA a lesson. Then I’d ask if those inside this push to install a new association are putting the kids FIRST? Because at the end of the day that needs to be one of the top two reasons for pushing member schools to join another association.
I do understand why many principals in the private/select divisions are upset and think for some odd reason their schools have been wrongfully put in a separate format for the football playoffs. I’ve written in the past and nothing has changed my opinion that the split playoffs in football are needed to level the playing field. Too many times in Louisiana when a public school has to face a private school the difference in the teams is night and day.
For the most part private schools have much better facilities and resources. They are able to recruit players when needing to fill a weakness in the roster. We all know that public schools must field teams from attendance zones as related to the location of their respective campuses. That little advantage is sometimes the difference in an offensive line averaging 250 lbs. or more yet the public school teams they’re playing are lucky to have a single player tipping the scales at 180 lbs.
I’ve always had a feeling that money was/is the driving factor behind the LHSAA. They started off small but have now become an 800 pound gorilla in the ‘ole china cabinet. And there are some very hefty salaries being paid out on Old Hammond Highway. Those salaries have to be funded some way and maybe, just maybe that could be the driving factor in this whole business of splitting the schools and playoffs? It makes sense that this could be the LHSAA’s way of getting more cash to flow which of course allows them to pay their “Big Dogs”!
I could be wrong but isn’t the LHSAA a private organization? Sorta like the NCAA in a way? Louisiana is a “Right to Work” state in that you can’t be forced to join a union to get a job. Just try to get a job as a football official without joining two unions. Before you’re allowed to walk out on a football field any particular Friday night you are forced to join a local official’s association, UNION, and then you are forced to pay dues to that UNION. But that’s not the end of it because you also are forced to join the LHSAA and pay them dues for the right to get a job to call a football game.
Many of my former fellow officials will argue that a local official’s association is not a union but when you look at the structure it IS IN EVERY aspect a UNION! Here’s why; we have scheduled meetings, you must attend a certain number of them to be able to work a varsity game. We also have a constitution; we elect officers, collect dues and use the meeting location as a union hiring hall.
If you do not abide by their (LHSAA) rules you will not be assigned a game until you bend over and do as the LHSAA demands. It doesn’t matter how qualified you are without becoming g a union member you’re not allowed to work/call any varsity games. They classify you as an “INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR” so they don’t have to supply any benefits.
So maybe many principals are fed up with the double and triple standards which you must adhere to in order for their students to participate in any sport under the LHSAA banner. And I’ll leave it at that. There’s a huge monster on the loose and who knows maybe some schools are tired of being made to dance like circus monkeys? It’s gonna be interesting to see if in fact the private schools are tired of the LHSAA’s demands and do form another association to deal with athletics in Louisiana.
Just sit back, relax and let the circus play out as best that it can…
Till next week..
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