October 6, 2016
HEY REF RETURNS!
Please see Dennis Dearie’s column in today’s newsletter
SPREADING THE GOSPEL
Please help us spread the good word of SPORTSGUMBO-Denham Springs by liking us on Facebook at SportsGumboDenhamSprings.
THE SCHEDULE
SPORTSGUMBO—DENHAM SPRINGS (MONDAY—FRIDAY, 7AM—8AM, ON FAMILY RADIO, 91.9FM, BATON ROUGE AND ON THE NET AT SPORTSGUMBO. NET. THE PROGRAM IS HOSTED AND PRODUCED BY JON FINE.:
UPCOMING LINE-UP:
FRIDAY: Florida Sports Talk Host Mark McLeod (LSU vs Florida on Saturday)
MONDAY: to be determined
TUESDAY: Zachary HS Football coach David Brewerton (DSHS vs Zachary on 10/14)
DSHS Cross Country athlete (to be determined)
SPONSOR OF THE WEEK: Brad Denson, Innovative Audio
WEDNESDAY: DSHS Athletic Hall of Famer Dr. Michael Sceroler
Free Lance Writer/Broadcaster Michael Bradley
THURSDAY: Former LSU Football player Chris Carrier (presently a Zachary HS asst)
North Oaks Health Minute
FRIDAY: Denham Springs Building Inspector Rick Foster
For more information on SPORTSGUMBO—Denham Springs, please visit www. JonFineProductions.com
GET ARRESTED
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SPORTSCENTRAL
Central’s weekly show airs tonight. Please see information just below.
BATON ROUGE AREA BROADCASTING SCHEDULE:
MONDAY—FRIDAY: 7am—8am: SPORTSGUMBO—Denham Springs, Family Radio, 91.9 FM, Baton Rouge… … … or on the net at JonFineProductions.com
Jon Fine
THURSDAY: 5pm—6pm: SportsCentral
Family Radio, 91.9 FM, Baton Rouge… Les Bueche, Sid Edwards, Frank Fresina
SPORTSRADIO, 1310 AM PROGRAMMING OF INTEREST:
Sulphur HS Football Radio Broadcasts (also heard on KEZMOnLine.com)
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
Do you feel like me? Do you feel like the football gods looked down upon Louisiana and said, “One weekend, guys. We will give you this one weekend. Everything you could want and more.”
Let’s be sure to appreciate the weather first of all. Not exactly fall weather, but considerably nicer than anything we have had yet on a weekend.
Were you as fortunate as I was to see most of the games Saturday afternoon? Florida State and North Carolina played a tremendously entertaining game. At the same time, Michigan and Wisconsin didn’t play the most entertaining game. Still, it was a quality game between two top ten teams.
Then Tennessee and Georgia put as much action in the last three minutes as possible. I wouldn’t give much credit to the quality of what transpired at the end of the game. But, the awe and entertainment value was off the chart.
Of course, LSU did something they have not done for me in a long time. From beginning to end, I was able to sit, smile, and enjoy watching LSU play. In every facet of the game, I was able to just smile at what I was watching for 60 minutes.
I especially enjoyed the fact that I didn’t feel bad that I was watching the LSU game while missing out on Clemson and Louisville. In recent years, I have had the added frustration that while I watched LSU struggle I was missing on out on the game of the day.
Saturday night, I didn’t have any regrets in watching LSU play, and I was still able to see plenty of the Clemson game. Of all the games, this one was clearly between two quality teams. While all the games were full of entertainment, this game had quality football that was entertaining as well. Those are two very good teams. At the end, I couldn’t help but feel that the Louisville was still the better team.
I have to admit, I was nervous heading into Sunday. I figured the way the Saints season has gone that I was spoiled on Saturday so I was in for trouble on Sunday. At halftime, I was sure the Saints were going to be 0 for August, September, and the first half of October.
I felt a bit better when Sean Payton told Jen Hale that he was taking the gloves off the defense and let them play a bit. But then the offense vanished. I still have no idea why the saints could not get Snead involved or move the ball for most of the second half. When the Saints punted around the 6 minute mark, I was close to turning the game off. Thankfully, I gave it one last drive.
When it was all said and done, I was pretty sure the NFL called the Chargers and ordered them to give the Saints the game. Melvin Gordon just kept fumbling until the Saints finally decided to fall on the ball first. The next fumble was even worse. It was a giveaway, not a takeaway.
Once again, I have a confession. When the Saints scored quickly to take the lead and there were still two minutes left, I barely celebrated. How on earth could this defense stop Rivers from getting in field goal range? The answer? The Chargers once again stopped themselves. I give the Saints 30% credit, but the rest of that final drive was a final mass implosion by San Diego. But, I want the record to show that I fully celebrated when the Saints recorded their first interception of the year to seal the deal.
Think about that. On the same weekend that LSU played their best game in who knows how long and the Saints got their first win of the year, two amazing streaks of ineptitude were broken. LSU scored their first points of the season in the fourth quarter in their 5th game of the year! And the Saints recorded their first interception of the year in their fourth game with a pretty cheap interception coming on fourth down prayer.
I am not looking a gift horse in the mouth though. I’ll take it, and I am still smiling.
HEY REF
I’m BACK! To say I’ve lived through the toughest two months of my life is probably the largest understatement I could ever make. A lot has happened to me, my family and many others in and around the Baton Rouge area since I was last able to peck away on my keyboard and share my insights on the sporting world. Many loyal readers have been asking and wondering what on earth was keeping me from sharing my so called “Words of Wisdom” and I hope that you will allow me this one week to explain what really matters.
The date is Saturday August 13th and the time is 8:30am. Nothing seemed out of place to me as I made my way outside in a heavy downpour to get my morning paper. Just as I started to open my back door my neighbor was knocking on my front door in a small panic and informed me that there was water in my driveway. Not anything most people would think was out of the ordinary but in my little world it was a major event simply because in the past fourty years there has never been water on my property.
We’d gone to bed the night before not thinking this storm would be any different than the massive storms in ’83 and ’93. Large portions of E. B. R. and the Central area, where we reside, did have some major flooding problems but we had been very lucky and were high ‘n dry. This time though the water had already entered a couple houses down the street from us and was getting higher but again we felt the water wouldn’t get much higher. I’ve been wrong before and it only took 30 minutes to realize this wasn’t your ordinary “rain event”. (I hate using that description)
In just 30 minutes the water was covering my entire driveway and we had to get moving, quickly! We didn’t have much time to think about what our next move should be. I looked over at my next door neighbor’s house and her car was already under water so I jump in my wife’s car and moved it to what I thought was safer ground. (Yes, I made sure my wife’s car was moved first). I was able to move the other two cars and while walking back to my house I got my first clue things were going to be very different this time around; the water was now at my front door.
As my wife rounded up some important papers out of the file cabinet and our prescriptions all I could thing was getting everybody out of the house in case the water didn’t stop rising. Now the clock reads 10am and this water isn’t slowing down in fact it’s moving faster which means so do we. I then shut down the power and started rounding up our pets just in case the water continues rising. SPOILER ALERT; IT CONTINUED TO RISE!!!
At 10:30am the water is coming into the house and I get my wife and daughter next door to wait for the water to stop rising. As the water got deeper we’d move to the next neighbor’s house thinking the water’s never gonna get any deeper. We moved to the last house on the block along with everybody else on my street. We just stood there and I saw the water continue to get deeper and didn’t give up hope until my mailbox was nowhere to be seen.
Things continued to get worse as the water that was coming into our subdivision on Frenchtown Road was now surrounding everybody’s property and continued to get deeper and deeper. At a little past noon the word came to us that the call had been made to evacuate. Just one major problem; we were stranded and couldn’t get out. The water was deep and hadn’t even started to slow down its rapid rise. It was then that rescue boats started making their way to us.
We knew then things were getting worse. We were told to start lining up and wait for the boats to pick us up. When they started arriving it didn’t seem real and it wasn’t until then that we understood just how bad things had gotten. The RESCUE BOATS weren’t manned by professionals but from volunteers and fellow neighbors since action was needed now and couldn’t wait for politicians to make all the wrong calls.
I’m sorry for going on too long but I had to get to this part so everyone would understand why I’ve gone on for so long. I’ve played sports most of my life. I’ve followed college and pro teams most of my life. When I was younger my world revolved around my team winning the Super Bowl and\or the World Series. I’ve played and coached a men’s softball team. I’ve umpired high school and a few semi-pro baseball games.
I’ve attended football camps in California, Kansas and Mississippi. I was able to work the UCLA intra-squad game at two camps. I also worked an LSU scrimmage and on and on. Being a certified “SPORT’S NUT” you’d figure those were the memories that I’ll never forget. But you’d be wrong. As I waited with my wife and daughter to be evacuated in the recent flood then having to stay behind while they were taken to safer ground all I could think of was “Will they make it? Will the boat operator be experienced enough to navigate these horrific currents and get them to safety? Will a boat be coming back to pick me up and our six pets”?
These questions kept running through my head as I waited nearly an hour after my family was taken out before a boat large enough for the rest of my family pulled up and said “you ready”? Until you are in that situation you might think a missed field goal was a major issue in your life. Or your home team losing four in a row. Or not making the playoffs. But you’d be wrong as long as the day is long because it’s your family and loved ones that make your life worth living. So, think about that for the next few days. I think about standing in the rain and watching everything I have taken away from me by a massive flood. But then I remember all those material things can be replaced but my family can’t.
And I’ll sign off by saying those are my real “WORDS OF WISDOM”!!
Till next week…
Jon Fine Wreaking Havoc at:
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