April 30, 2018
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HEARD FROM A STROKE VICTIM WHEN TOLD BY A TULANE SURGEON THAT BRAIN SURGERY WAS A POSSIBILITY… ”I hope you’re better with strokes than you are at football… ”
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(submitted on 4/24/18)
THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
Sweep! A great word win you are on the winning side like the Pels were this week. An awful word on the losing side as LSU baseball was the entire week. I will give the contrarian view to both.
The Pels are the talk of the NBA, but remember that playoff series are all about matchups. As good as the Pels looked against the Blazers, it was just one team in which the Pels were able to lock down the best player for Portland. Durant, and Curry if he comes back, cannot be defended in the same way. For that matter, the Warriors have many more ways to score than the Blazers.
I am not trying to rain on the parade, though. Enjoy the sweep Pelican fans. New Orleans is heading in the right direction and I am confident they will make their next series competitive. Though, a series win is still doubtful.
On the other side, this has been a very frustrating season for LSU baseball. Tiger fans thought the first weekend against Notre Dame was bad, until last week against Tulane and South Carolina. Turns out rally bees are like normal bees, they sting you.
We are at the point of the season where trends are more than trends. Trends are who you are as a team. This baseball team is not good away from home. Furthermore, they have an awful characteristic of being all or nothing. For two weeks the bullpen was lights out and didn’t give up a run. Then they will go in a 5 game stretch where nobody out the bullpen can throw strikes or get outs. Of course, losing Caleb Gilbert to shoulder soreness didn’t help either.
The offense has been the same way all year. On or off. As a result, they don’t put consistent pressure on opposing pitchers, and get into the bullpen. Are these problems a result of the injuries? Hopefully. That would mean they could be resolved. Either way, they will have to show more grit on the road to do anything in May and June.
Finally, the Mock Drafts are over and we have arrived at the real draft. I am not going to predict players the Saints will draft, but I will make a few predictions on many of the most common predictions.
First, I think the Saints will draft a quarterback, but not early. If they don’t, it tells us there is actually something to Sean Payton’s talk regarding Taysom Hill.
Second, I would bet a lot of money that the Saints have 3-4 players they really like and that might be available in the early 20s they would trade up to get. Loomis and especially Payton just are not able sit around in a draft room for that long when the Saints are drafting near the end of the first round and not do something.
In free agency the Saints kept Okafor, signed Ben Watson and Cameron Merideth at the announced positions of need (pass rusher, tight end, and receiver). In their minds, these moves allow them to draft the best player available regardless of position with their first pick.
Believe it or not, LSU’s Spring Game was the main topic I wanted to cover this week. Week’s like this make me wish I could find some way to push one or two of these topics off until July when nothing is happening locally.
I must begin with the disclaimer that we should always remind ourselves that a college Spring Game is a practice between 80% of the team that will play in the fall. I don’t think I have ever watched a Spring Game and come away impressed by a team. Clemson, Georgia, Alabama are all teams whose Spring Game I watched. If I didn’t know who I was watching, I would have no idea how good any of those teams were going to be next year.
Still, based off the Spring Game and Coach Orgeron’s comments this spring (he is more like Mainieri in that he calls it the way he sees it) I think we have a pretty good idea of the strengths and weaknesses of this roster.
Naturally, we will begin with quarterback. Unless one of these guys makes a big leap over the summer, LSU should spend the summer planning how to ride the hot hand or play more than one quarterback. The rest of college football has shown it is a lot easier to get production from a young quarterback that can run and throw. A pocket passer is harder to develop. Brennan could get there eventually, but his success will require a better offensive line, and better chemistry with his receivers than currently exists.
Many people are fretting over LSU’s running back situation. Do not count me in that number. Edwards-Helaire has impressed me every time I have seen him play. Making Devin White miss in the spring game is a great sign. Brossette showed some power on the goal line and in pass blocking. Provens showed talent as a third down back, Curry isn’t on campus yet, and a grad transfer could be in the works. LSU is not great, but fine at running back.
Tight end is a position were LSU is better in my mind after seeing the Spring Game. Jamal Pettigrew will clearly benefit from a new scheme. Thad Moss looks the part too. Foster Moreau is a team leader.
LSU’s receivers are not Bowe, Beckham, Landry, Clayton, or any of those guys yet. But, Giles is the real deal. The separation on short routes and his ability to catch a quick screen, accelerate, and gain 8 yards is going to be valuable. Everyone else still has a ways to go, but LSU has numbers and talent at receiver. Through formations, Ensminger is going to be able to create favorable matchups and that will make the passing game more effective than recent years. You know, the thing everyone else in college football does.
Of course, none of what I said matters if the offensive line isn’t good. People forget how bad LSU’s offensive line was for the first half of last year. LSU looks strong at center and guard. The tackles need some work, but that is where LSU had some injuries this spring. If LSU continues to struggle at tackle in the fall, that could have more influence on McMillan or Narcisse getting the starting job as anything else. Either quarterback could offset poor tackle play with their running ability on zone reads, option, and bootlegs.
On defense the front seven is going to be very good. I don’t know if it will be great. Fehoko looked stout against the run, but I was hoping for more of a pass rush. Regardless, LSU is deeper, more experienced, and return the two best players in Lawrence and White. Chaisson was one player that looked like he was playing at a different speed than he was last year.
Losing Delpit to injury was a shame, but he should be ready to go in the fall. LSU is deep and talented at safety.
Many have been worried about LSU’s corners, but I saw what I needed in the spring game to know LSU will be fine unless there is a rash of injuries. LSU does not have a ton of corners, but the players they have are ready. Vincent and Kirlin are ready. In addition, LSU has two players coming (Alexander from Stanford and Joseph from Scotlandville) that have a high probability of being ready to step in an play from the time they step foot on campus.
I have no clue how many games LSU will win next year. ESPN says the Tigers will win six games because the schedule projects to be as difficult as LSU has ever had. Surely the Spring Game didn’t do anything to change anyone’s mind. As for me, I am keeping an open mind.
(submitted on 4/26/18)
HEY REF
I’ve written in this space a couple of times that I’m struggling with the burden of dealing with trying to do everything for my mom as she battles lung cancer. It was five years ago that we received the horrible news from her doctor. In the last two weeks I’ve had to make the decision to end chemo and other such treatments and bring in hospice to help me care for her. So, please accept my apologies for not keeping my word and to once again print a “Best Of” this week.
In fact it’s this very column that sparked requests to publish “Best Of” columns so I hope you enjoy reading this one again. Many have come to appreciate it and have told me they’ve witnessed the behavior I’ve written about. So here again is… … …
How many parents are scratching their heads trying to figure out why their children’s behavior has hit rock bottom? Maybe all they should do is look in the mirror. I’m referring to some parent’s behavior at their children’s ballgames.
I remember a thing called SPORTMANSHIP, that thing fewer and fewer adults are bringing with them when they go to watch their kids play football, basketball and/or baseball. I remember the pure disgust that stirred inside my gut during a little league baseball game I was calling. The game was out of hand and the coaches were emptying the benches and giving everyone a chance to play.
This one player who happened to be the smallest on the team had struck out twice and was “on deck”. His mother came out of the stands and shakes the fence so hard it sounded like a wild animal trying to get out of its cage. At the top of her lungs she screams at him “If you strike out one more time I’m going to whip your (bottom)”! Just about every jaw dropped and as I called “Batter-up” he looked so terrified I thought he was going to run back into the dugout.
The first pitch was right down the middle of the plate and the biggest “STRIKE” I’d ever seen. I yell “BALL”. The next pitch was a clone of the first and again I called “BALL”. As you can guess the next two weren’t going to be anything but ball 3 and 4. Not a single voice of opposition was uttered. I saw his eyes get big as watermelons and after he got to first his bench erupted and the opposing coach asked for a time out.
After a minute went by I started the slowest walk to the mound in my 15 years of calling baseball. The only two things the coach said to me was “even if we didn’t have a 12 run lead I’d have to agree with you that every pitch was a ball and THANKS for doing what you did”. I didn’t know what to say and then we noticed the celebration at first as the opposing coach gave me a big “Thumbs up”.
I started calling games, both football and baseball back in ’79 and am asked all the time “what changes have I noticed most”? My pat answer most of the time is “well, the biggest change has got to be those sitting in the stands watching games”. It seems to me that many of those fans don’t have lives. Each game feels like I’m headed to an execution. In that I mean those on the losing side wouldn’t have anything to live for once the game was “in the books” so to speak. These amateur games are supposed to be where an athlete would begin to learn the game from the inside.
In football what seems to be happening are many parents believe this 9th grade game tonight is all that’s left in this world. Parents you’ve got to understand when officials try to help these young athletes line up and stay set before the snap it isn’t meant to help the other team beat your team. We strive to help youngsters when we can so that we don’t spend the majority of the game walking five yards this way then five yards the other.
And YES we can call holding on every play, hands down. But how many parents want the officials to do this? The only ones that do are the parents of the team with the ball. I wonder how many parents are living their lives through their child’s life. Well, all I can think it’s more than 90% just by their behavior during the games. Of course “little Johnny” never holds he always plays by the rules. It has to be the OTHER guys that are holding.
If you’ve never heard the term “PREVENTATIVE” officiating let me educate you. A simple example is when one player’s head is in the neutral zone we as officials will tell the player between plays to back up or get back depending on what side of the ball they’re on. One coach will thank you for not calling the foul on his team but as soon as the other team has the ball he goes ballistic if you tell the other team to back up a bit.
If I had my way each and every parent would spend an entire year working football games for nothing. This way they might actually learn the rules. There are so many experts sitting in the stands that I feel you are hurting the game by staying home or sitting in the stands trying to tell everyone the rules and how the officials on the field really don’t know what they are doing.
So, please do the game a great service, get off your butts and try to call a few games. Then everybody will see just how much you really don’t know! I’m not about to let the officials off the hook by no means. I spent nearly 20 years calling football in this area before a bad injury caused me to “retire”. Well, I’ve tried to return to the field but what I’ve found is scaring me to the core.
The quality of the officials calling games has drastically declined. So many of the best that have put on the striped shirt have left the game entirely. And I feel it’s due to the lack of respect given them by parents, coaches and the media. For whatever reason the games are suffering because so many good officials have hung up their whistles and aren’t returning year after year.
So, I’ll close by asking all the great officials instead of sitting in the stands please put on the uniform and help the sport you know so much about by getting involved and start at your earliest convenience and start calling real games and not those video games on your TV!!!
Till next week… …
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