June 2, 2016
LSU BASEBALL GAMES AT BIG MIKE’S
Big Mike’s Sports Bar & Grill will be showing all LSU Baseball games from the Baton Rouge regional on its Big Screen TV’s. First telecast will be tomorrow, Friday, June 3, at 2pm, as LSU faces Utah Valley.
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High School
Paul Mainieri and Alan Dunn will probably have made their decision on the pitching rotation by the time they get this newsletter, but just in case they are waiting for my advice…
Jared Poche is my choice to start game one on Friday. My strongest argument for Poche is that LSU has struggled in midweek games this year. For whatever reason, the bats have been more potent on the weekends. Furthermore, though the 8 new starters have grown up considerably, this weekend will still be their first experience in the NCAA Tournament. Also, Utah Valley State is a stronger 4 seed than LSU has seen in recent years. Consequently, I think LSU should put the veteran on the mound in game one to give confidence and leadership.
Naturally, I have made a wonderfully convincing argument and everyone is on board. Right? Now for the flaw in the plan… rain, rain, and more rain. LSU does not want to get caught in a situation, like they did against Florida, where Lange or Poche only pitch three innings all weekend. Unfortunately, there might not be much LSU can do about guaranteeing the opportunity for innings from their starters considering the forecast. The good news is the pitching staff has come around and this staff has the depth to endure a long weekend broken up with rain dealys. Latz, Gilbert, Smith, or Valek would all be better options to start games in the regional than LSU has had in those spots the last two years.
Considering all these factors, I would consider waiting until the last possible second to choose a starting pitcher. If the weather looks like it will lead to multiple delays that would require LSU to use the bullpen anyway, then the Tigers might as well start Jake Latz Friday. Otherwise, Poche is my guy.
Speaking of rain, the Splash Brothers for Golden State were raining threes in games 6 and 7 against the Thunder (that was cheesy, I know). I don’t think the Thunder lost the series as much as the Warriors won the series. If I had to identify one difference between the two teams it would be their response to tough times and late game situations. The Thunder pull in different directions, while the Warriors pull in one.
Looking toward the Finals, this year’s match-up is obviously completely different than last year’s even though the same teams are involved.
For the Cavs to win, I think they have to fight fire with fire. That means they need to shoot very well from three point range. As we saw against the Raptors, the Cavs are capable of having great shooting nights. Kyrie, Love, Frye, and J. R. Smith can light it up.
Unlike the Thunder, the Cavs will not bother the Warriors around the rim defensively or offensively. As a result, the Warriors won’t be quite as reliant on the outside shot or as subject to giving up points in the paint. The Warriors should be able to score better in transition because they won’t have to commit as much energy to defensive rebounding.
The other major factor the Cavs will have to overcome is fourth quarter fatigue effecting their shots. Chasing the Splash Brothers around half court takes a lot of energy that can effect 4th quarter shooting. I suspect that had a lot to do with the Thunder’s poor shooting late in games. That point leads to another area Curry and Thompson don’t get enough credit which is their conditioning.
The final major obstacle for the Cavs to overcome will be the depth of the Warriors. At times, the Thunder’s bench outplayed the Warriors bench which is uncharacteristic. In game seven, the Warriors bench was great.
The Cavs will have to shoot very well from three, get great bench production, and make shots late in games to match the Warriors. I look forward to watching a great series.
BY DENNIS DEARIE
VETERAN LOUISIANA HS REFEREE
As my deadline gets closer and closer I’m divided at which story should demand my attention. Please don’t think I’m “copping out” by trying to shed light on two matters very close to my heart. First things first, this time of year usually would cause me to breakout my football rule book and start going over rule changes since coaches expect and DEMAND we be at playoff form from the first snap all the way to the final whistle in December’s state title games.
Most coaches won’t allow their officials a time of year where they’re allowed to make a mistake. Scrimmages, spring games and even inter-squad games somehow now feel like its bowl season. This season though I’m finding it harder than ever to get serious and look forward to a new high school football season. Everything has changed since I started working games in ’79.
I was told; rather I was warned things aren’t the same as it was some 35 years ago. I called on a friend from those early days and he said “you’re gonna be shocked at how things are now. There’s no “we” anymore because most of the officials working games are in it to make a buck or two”. This was being told me by an official with over 40 years’ experience in Baton Rouge. He just wanted to be sure I knew that I wouldn’t recognize how things are done now.
He told me if I was to return that I’d have to just go to the weekly meetings, not say a word and just accept how everything we ever learned has been tossed out the window. The easiest thing for me to do is give two play situations that happened to me and maybe you’d understand where I’m coming from. Play one, the offense runs a quick opener and gains 5 yards.
As I’m marking the spot a flag is thrown and almost hits me. My deep wing partner had thrown an unsportsmanlike penalty against the team to our side of the field, the home team. We mark off 15 yards and on the very next play he again hits my coach with another 15 yarder. As expected the coach goes ballistic and my crewmate runs over to the referee and tells him what happened. I try to calm the coach down and told him I’d find out why he just ate 30 yards in penalties.
A coach’s conference is asked for and the ref goes to talk with my coach. As they compared views I asked “What happened? Did he say something that he shouldn’t have because I didn’t hear anything”? My supposed crewmate looks at me with this weird stare and says “Do I have to train you”? Excuse me, I’ve got nearly 25 years in this profession but that doesn’t mean I know it all and by the way, you’re just starting your fifth year so if you can learn me something then please do.
The second play situation was a third down and 20 yards to go. The home team commits offensive holding and a late hit. So, I mark the end of the run and wait for my white hat to get over to me so I can tell him which penalties were called. I explained to him that they are short by more than 10 yards for a first down. I was working the chain-gang this night and told him, it’s fourth down, etc. Well he thinks for a second and tells me I’m wrong because he’s marking off the holding call and 15 for a late hit so it’ll be third down again.
He gets aggravated and tells me to move the chains which I didn’t do because I was trying to explain that the holding call can be declined and we’ll mark off the late hit and it’ll be FOURTH DOWN. I’ve never had a white hat tell me not to correct him and just do as I’m told. This is completely wrong as all officials take a rules test each and every year. I make mistakes and have never told another official just to do what I tell them because we all make mistakes.
He walks back to the middle of the field and tells me again to make it 3rd down. Well, I did what I was told and as we’re getting the chains reset one of the defensive coaches’ yells for a conference. He wants to decline the hold, take the late hit and sends his punt return team out. As you can expect the white hat calls a time out to talk things over with the coach. After what seemed like forever he comes over to me and asks where the end of the run was.
Well, by this time and with all the confusion I couldn’t give him an exact yard line but said if we walk back 25 yards (10 yards for the holding penalty that was just declined and then 15 for the dead ball foul we penalized) we’ll be at the end of the run. Now he should signal a decline of the holding BUT we’re penalizing 15 for the dead ball and it’s now FOURTH DOWN and he’s standing where the ball will next be snapped. It was the easiest and the best way those in the stands would know why we did what we did. I’ll then make it fourth down, set the chains up correctly, snap the ball and go on our merry way.
In both these instances that happened in two different games just a couple years back we had crews that tried to work the games as though they were the only officials on the field. When I was coming up the officials were taught that there are three teams on the field and the only way to get through the tough calls was to work together. It makes me sick to see how far we’ve sunk as officials when we think the people in the stadium that night paid money to watch us throw yellow flags.
I know of a lot of good officials still working high school games but the vast majority of guys now a days are there for just one thing; CASH! They feel to hell with learning the rules, working together and seeing all the other guys in the crew that night as equals. They’ve lost pride in doing a good job, hustling and getting it right. They want and expect coaches to accept blindly anything they do on a Friday night.
I know there were plenty of people that were so happy the LHSAA and its officials avoided a strike last year but I feel a strike was the best thing that could’ve happened. Sometime I feel the best thing that should’ve been done is to have a very close look at whose wearing stripes on Friday nights. How many times must we be taught that throwing good money away on a bad product doesn’t do anyone a bit of good?
Till next week…
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