August 11, 2016
22 DAYS FROM KICKOFF!
Denham Springs HS Football broadcasts return to the airwaves for our 22nd year producing the broadcasts on 1210AM. Baton Rouge. The games can also be heard on the net at JonFineProductions.com. The first broadcast is Friday, September 2, 6pm airtime, when the Jackets open up their season at East Ascension HS.
GREAT RUN
Congrats to the South Lake Charles Little League for a spirited run in the Southwest Regional of the Little League World Series. After dropping its first game, SLCLL won 3 consecutive games, before falling in an elimination game in which the winner advanced to the Championship Game
We hope Lake Area sports fans enjoyed listening to the broadcasts on SportsRadio-1310-KEZM-Lake Charles and Thank all of the great sponsors who made these broadcasts possible.
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SPORTSCENTRAL
Join Les Bueche, Sid Edwards and Frank Fresina tonight. See programming information just below
BATON ROUGE AREA BROADCASTING SCHEDULE:
Thursday, August 11: 5pm—6pm: SportsCentral
Radio Amour 91.9 FM, Central
SportsRadio 1310 Radio, Lake Charles Programming of Interest:
HOUSTON ASTROS BASEBALL BROADCASTS (all times PM, CST)
THURSDAY: at Minnesota 12:10
FRIDAY-SUNDAY: at Toronto 6:07, 12:07, 12:07
TUESDAY-WEDNESDAY: ST. LOUIS: 7:10, 1:10
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
I must confess, I do not make too many bold statements anymore. I can’t even keep track of the number of years I have been writing this column, but I know I made bolder statements in my younger days.
We can debate whether the following statements are bold or not, but here is my version of some “hot takes.”
I must give Rio credit, after not being very kind last week. These are the most picturesque games in my lifetime. The rowing, beach volleyball, and other scenes are quite stunning.
If you are holding out any hope of seeing something different out of LSU’s offense, stop. If you are the person thinking LSU closed practice early because they have to disguise new wrinkles, stop. Derrius Guice said it all in the paper last week. He talked about how much easier camp is this year because he has the offense down as opposed to his true freshman season. You don’t have the offense down after three practices if you are implementing a number of changes. LSU is going to rely on execution on offense, more experience, and what they hope will be a super amazing defense… just like every other year.
LSU’s defense will be able to overcome the loss of LaCoutre and Washington. But, they won’t be able to handle many more losses in the defensive line. Still, the defense will be top ten in the country (I will expand on my reasoning next week).
LSU had better figure out left tackle. LSU doesn’t have to be dominant there, but they must be solid. Tuehema was anything but solid in the Spring Game and he has not been healthy. My conspiracy theory is that LSU did not close practice early to disguise wrinkles on offense, but to hide what they are doing on the offensive line. I would bet they are playing musical chairs until they figure it out, and that includes trying Pocic at left tackle.
One of the Saints starting guards is not on the roster right now. Whether through a trade or signing a player after roster cut downs, the Saints are not going to stand pat with what they have.
Having said that, the offense is going to be very good. I know, some bold statement.
That’s all I have for this week for my “hot takes.” I am looking forward to the preseason game against the Patriots. Here are a few things I will be watching closely.
As I said a couple of weeks ago, the run defense will be very important and I will be watching in the first quarter. The Saints have been very weak at the point of attack. When Rankins, Fairley, Davison, and the starting linebackers are on the field, how stout can the Saints be in the middle on Thursday night?
Can the defensive ends cause any disturbances on their own? In other words, without blitzing do the outside pass rushers win any one on one battles? Finally, there are rumors that the Saints have done it again and found some late round and rookie free agent jewels. Are the rumors true? I can’t wait to see. Hopefully the field will be playable (I had to take a shot).
HEY REF
I just found out that long time ESPN sports reporter John Saunders has died at age 61. ESPN has not disclosed the cause of his death. He was an all-star hockey defenseman at Western Michigan University from 1974 to 1976. After college he began his rise to the top of his chosen profession when he was hired by ESPN in 1986 to anchor “Sports Center”. I will miss him simply because he was a man of integrity and stuck to the facts every time he covered a story. Something you don’t see very much anymore in this world of winning no matter the costs.
If I may kinda borrow a famous line then I must say to Tim Tebow “You’re no Michael Jordan”. When I first read of Tebow’s attempt at playing professional baseball I thought it was a bad joke. But to my amazement there is truth to this bad joke. It didn’t take long before the comparison to Jordan hit all the media outlets. But after we all get our feet back on the ground the truth of this matter is he has absolutely no chance at playing in the “BIGS”.
We all know Jordan was one of those once in a lifetime athletes. My memory not being the best it should be reminded me that the only “other” multi-professional-athlete was of course Bo Jackson. And on their worst days are still leaps ahead of Tebow. I just don’t understand any real interest any baseball team would have in Tebow. Maybe he could be tied into a ticket sale style of contract where he’d get X amount of dollars for ticket sales above a certain number.
Baseball is known for their colorful way of promoting events to get seats filled and paying customers inside of their stadiums. But this will not even be a curiosity type of event where you’ll pluck down some hard earned dollars for a chance to see Tebow embarrass not only him but the sport of baseball too. So, I’ll go out on a limb and predict the Tebow circus if ever started will run for less than 48 hours. Yes, I know I’m giving him about 47 hours more than he’ll actually get but hey I’ve been wrong more than once.
Now that I’ve worked a good laugh into this week’s column I am bound to mention that this weekend in Zachary the LHSAA and the LHSOA will be hosting their annual football official’s camp. I’ve been contacted by a few past members and some present officials wanting to express their disgust at what is nothing more than an attempt to deceive schools, teams, coaches and fans that something substantial will come out of this exercise in futility.
But I’ll go with an open mind and see just how far the powers that be have come since the beginning of these forced attendance camps. The idea is a sound one as something had to be done to improve the job that officials were doing on Friday nights. This weekend’s camp will be put on by the Baton Rouge Association and I’m hoping it will be the best camp and some much needed education will come out of the two day event.
As they say “Back in the day” Baton Rouge was always about learning the rules and how to administer them in games we worked. I did not find that to be the case when after a ten year layoff due to bad health I resumed my Friday night career. In fact I was booted out of my first meeting upon returning because I was shocked at the noise and utter confusion as the regular meeting was progressing.
I couldn’t hear what was being said and asked the president to repeat what business was being discussed on the floor and he told me that to correct this problem I should come sit in the front row. I saw RED immediately and shot back that the members needed to shut up so we all could hear. I did use a couple of words I shouldn’t have so I was asked to leave. When I did come back to the next meeting I apologized to the members for using foul language but the message I sent I would not take back because of the utter loss of control by the membership in general.
I’m very “old school” and our weekly meetings were meant for one thing and one thing only; to better ourselves and correct those mistakes we made the previous Friday night. I hope I’m surprised at the level of professionalism that those running the camp will bring to a statewide gathering of fellow officials. The only thing we should be concerned about is getting better and eliminating mistakes because the only thing we have to offer the schools is the product on the field.
I also want to ask all those officials and coaches that have questions or concerns and what they feel could be added to improve the next camp to send me those concerns and I will address them in the weeks to follow.
Till next week…
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