June 29, 2017
HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY AND HOLIDAY WEEKEND!!!
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
That sucked. I can’t lie, I am probably forever scarred by 1.9.12. LSU facing a SEC school for the National Championship at a neutral site that amounts to a home crowd makes me breakout in cold sweats.
Of course I don’t expect LSU to win every championship game. Coastal Carolina outplayed LSU last year. I hate losing to Bama in football every year, but Bama has been better than LSU in football since 2012. Florida beat LSU in 4 out of 5 games this year so the Gators are clearly better (and I type that while twitching in agony).
Still, it is tough to lose the way LSU did. Monday night 3 of 4 runs from Florida got on base by walks. Tuesday, 3 errors put Florida in the driver’s seat.
I really felt like LSU had two big flaws all year. First, LSU’s pitchers did not throw enough strikes. During the hot streak, those problems were worked out, but in the end, this problem cost the Tigers.
Second, LSU was not good with runners on third with less than two outs. Boy did that hurt this week. Florida really stuck a knife and twisted it by adding their last run with a sac fly when LSU could not get one in the 7th or 8th.
Those are the parts that really suck. It also really sucks that I am writing these words moments after LSU fell just short of winning it all.
Speaking of winning or playing for championships, we must give these Tigers great credit for all they accomplished this year. LSU won the West, tied for the SEC overall, won the SEC Tournament, a Regional, and a Super Regional. They staved off elimination to make the championship round in Omaha. For all that to happen, you have to be…
… talented. The big 4 stayed. LSU signed a very good freshman class that has made extraordinary contributions to the team success.
… lucky. Oregon State lost their ace pitcher before the CWS. TCU lost their best hitter in Luken Baker. Florida lost last Friday forcing the Gators to pitch Faedo on Saturday. There were definitely some calls that went LSU’s way in Omaha.
Of course, neither LSU or Florida had to face each other’s best pitcher. In my mind, that is a bit of a bummer. It would be great if they could work the schedule so we can see the best against the best in the finals.
… tough. LSU has overcome many huge obstacles. Bryce Jordan was supposed to hit cleanup and LSU lost him before the season started. Doug Norman could have been the setup guy or an extra starter and he was lost for the season before March. LSU finally had enough starting pitchers to handle anything, until Eric Walker was injured. This team was in the bottom half of the SEC halfway through the year, yet they stayed together.
… right more often than not in coaching decisions. Baseball is a game of failure for players and coaches. Coaches guess wrong on pitch outs, stay with pitchers too long, take other out too soon, etc. Like almost every season since he has been the head coach at LSU, Mainieri got it right and LSU played its best by the end of the year.
Moving Hess to the bullpen, trusting Eric Walker, moving guys around in the lineup before settling on a lineup, and other decisions worked.
I have spent the last ten minutes trying to find a positive message to close. But let’s be real, right now, it just sucks. Geaux Tigers!
HEY REF
There’s no use for this writer to jump on the bandwagon and list reasons as to why LSU has to settle for the number two spot after “choking” in the final two games of the NCAA Baseball World Series that just completed play in Omaha, NE. One word suffices and it’s all that needs to be said they “CHOKED”!
You can try and come up for reasons as to the “WHY” but nothing says it better than they CHOKED! From top to bottom and everywhere in between and you can count the same reason when we talk coaches and coaching. From the head coach to the very last water boy, it was a combined massive “choke” job. I’ve heard all the so called “REASONS” and excuses but baseball is a team sport and as a team the Tigers just “CHOKED”. So, I’m not about to try and pin the sorry effort LSU had on display against Florida as an excuse because it is the REASON you won’t see a seventh championship this year.
LSU did improve a thousand fold near the end of the regular season and were playing like we’re so very used to seeing at The Box so there is a lot of good news for what they did accomplish this year. But after they took two games from Oregon State they seemed to have used up all the gas that was left in their tanks. They couldn’t ignite and keep any real rallies going on neither Monday nor Tuesday. I will say Florida did all they had to do and our hat’s off to their team, coaches and fans on bringing home their first national championship.
And to answer the question on “THE CALL” that cost LSU the tying run it was a correct and proper call. There is no debate about it since replay after replay showed contact and interference on the throw to first base. I hated to see it called but that ump did his job and no matter your personal feelings IT WAS AND IS THE RIGHT CALL! Too many times we complain because we feel the refs and umps aren’t doing their job. For once we see a prime example of an umpire having the balls to make the right call.
Tiger fans just do one thing; flip the coin and ask yourselves this one question: “If it had been one of Florida’s players that jammed his spikes into the leg of our second baseman and had caused the interference then wouldn’t you want and expect the ump to make the call”? If you answered “no” then you are part of the problem. I didn’t like the call simply because I wanted to see LSU come home with another title.
So, with that out of the way I do want to shine a little light on yet another claim of racism coming from some sports writers who just so happen to be African-American. Some are trying to have their cake and you know, well some claim that when the NFL changed their opposition to expanded celebrations after touchdowns it was simply an attempt by Commissioner Roger Goddell reaching out to black players and appear as though he was a fun guy.
Goddell has been labeled a racist by some players for his iron-fisted approach in the hopes of keeping said players from expressing themselves after they score. Not again, please tell me this is FAKE NEWS! In this writer’s opinion I feel the NFL is trying to regain those thousands of fans that have stopped coming to games since 2016 was the first time in a very long time that attendance is down at NFL games. There’s nothing shocking about the numbers sliding lower.
The drop in attendance has nothing to do with keeping brothers from jumping up and down as if they’d been on a 48 hour drug induced “hi”. No sir, we’re talking about the sad shape of our economy and the continued slide in take home pay. When you cut your budget to the bone and you still can’t get ends to meet there are things you’ve got to let go. It just baffles the sh*t out of me in their thinking that if they allow longer and better dancing then fans will come back.
What we have here in NFL cities, and the rest of the country, are fan bases that can’t keep up the skyrocketing costs with sitting in a stadium to watch a game live. The circus is about to fold up its tent and leave more cities simply because the number of cities that can afford to pay a BILLION DOLLAR RANSOM is dropping in massive numbers. To Mr. Goddell and the rest of the owners about all I can say is you need to get over yourselves and be ready to move more of your teams because the crisis in America is getting worse.
Seems I read almost every day of a state that can’t pay its bills. Louisiana I believe is still subsidizing the New Orleans Saints to the tune of $400 million a year. That I believe is an old number as I tried to find out what the taxpayer’s tab is for the upcoming season but couldn’t get a true cost verified. I won’t stop in my attempt to find the cost to taxpayers and when I do I will report the facts I find.
So to all those season ticket holders out there get ready to shake ‘n bake in the Superdome this year as good ‘ole Rog is letting the players strut their stuff. Watch out though, the NFL could raise ticket costs since you’ll be getting a full horse and pony show on Sundays.
Till next week…
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