March 14, 2019
MCNEESE BASEBALL AND SOFTBALL ARE ON THE AIR!
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This week’s broadcasting schedule includes:
Mar 15 Lamar 5:45 pm Baseball
Mar 16 Lamar 2:45 pm Baseball
Mar 17 Lamar 12:45 pm Baseball
Mar 19 Houston 6:00 pm Baseball
Mar 20 @USL 5:45 pm Softball
LSU, SAINTS AND MUCH MORE
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
There is just too much heavy news this week. As one co-worker said, “We just can’t have any nice things in Louisiana.” So, I need to go in the other direction and keep it light. Let’s play the “glad” game (if you have watched the movie Pollyanna you know the game). It’s pretty simple. Just take something terrible and find something in the situation to be glad about.
I am glad the Saints got hosed, lost to the Rams, and it looks like the rules committee isn’t going to take any steps to fix a situation that would be fixed in a half second if the Saints had been the team to benefit from the abomination. Remember, the overtime rules that had existed forever were changed in the blink of an eye after the Saints beat the Vikings to reach their only Super Bowl.
It saved us from having to endure the vengeance f Roger Goodell that occurs when the Saints win a Super Bowl. Bountygate II perhaps? Or maybe Goodell would have gotten creative and made up a new reason to single out the Saints. Joygate, where Goodell suspends Sean Payton for year for bringing Joy to Saints fans watching the Saints use every offensive weapon to maximum capacity.
I am also glad that the rules regarding targeting and improving officiating by adding another official either on the field or the booth probably won’t happen. Maybe in the future the Saints will be on the end that benefits from the next worst missed call ever. Ah, who am I kidding? That good fortune will go to the Patriots.
I am glad Anthony Davis wants out of New Orleans. I was really tired of everyone claiming that the Pelicans should be better. Now every win is a minor miracle and every loss is a step closer to a better draft pick.
I am glad LSU baseball is in a slump. Every baseball team has a slump and this team might as well get it out of the way early in the year. Who wants to be like Oregon State in 2017 who was 56-4 before LSU beat them twice in Omaha and Texas A&M in 1989 who was 58-5 before LSU beat them twice to advance to Omaha? Not me.
Let’s struggle early in the season like LSU gymnastics. LSU gymnastics started the year with injuries and performed well below the expectations. They worked hard, started to get healthy and put up their two highest scores in back to back meets right before the postseason begins. I’ll take that from this LSU baseball team.
Not to go too much into depth in a week where I am trying to be silly, but the one of the great things about struggling is you can learn more about your team during those times. For instance, it is clear to me that Todd Peterson is a one inning closer. The coaches have tried to stretch him beyond one inning and those outings have been where he has been hit the hardest. Enough of that serious stuff, back to the glad game.
I am glad LSU basketball is tangled in controversy in a year where they won a rare outright SEC title. It is like getting a holding penalty on a touchdown play or a pass interference on a play where you get an interception. If you are going to get a negative consequence, you should at least have a positive result to balance out the situation. Nothing is worse than getting a sack and fumble AND a penalty for holding on the play. If you are going to hold, don’t let the quarterback get hit.
I don’t have a glad game play for LSU football right now because things are going too well. But don’t worry, I am sure someone something bad will happen to them soon and we can keep playing the game. We have had a lot of practice.
THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Assistant Basketball Coach and Head Swimming Coach at Central High
There is just too much heavy news this week. As one co-worker said, “We just can’t have any nice things in Louisiana.” So, I need to go in the other direction and keep it light. Let’s play the “glad” game (if you have watched the movie Pollyanna you know the game). It’s pretty simple. Just take something terrible and find something in the situation to be glad about.
I am glad the Saints got hosed, lost to the Rams, and it looks like the rules committee isn’t going to take any steps to fix a situation that would be fixed in a half second if the Saints had been the team to benefit from the abomination. Remember, the overtime rules that had existed forever were changed in the blink of an eye after the Saints beat the Vikings to reach their only Super Bowl.
It saved us from having to endure the vengeance f Roger Goodell that occurs when the Saints win a Super Bowl. Bountygate II perhaps? Or maybe Goodell would have gotten creative and made up a new reason to single out the Saints. Joygate, where Goodell suspends Sean Payton for year for bringing Joy to Saints fans watching the Saints use every offensive weapon to maximum capacity.
I am also glad that the rules regarding targeting and improving officiating by adding another official either on the field or the booth probably won’t happen. Maybe in the future the Saints will be on the end that benefits from the next worst missed call ever. Ah, who am I kidding? That good fortune will go to the Patriots.
I am glad Anthony Davis wants out of New Orleans. I was really tired of everyone claiming that the Pelicans should be better. Now every win is a minor miracle and every loss is a step closer to a better draft pick.
I am glad LSU baseball is in a slump. Every baseball team has a slump and this team might as well get it out of the way early in the year. Who wants to be like Oregon State in 2017 who was 56-4 before LSU beat them twice in Omaha and Texas A&M in 1989 who was 58-5 before LSU beat them twice to advance to Omaha? Not me.
Let’s struggle early in the season like LSU gymnastics. LSU gymnastics started the year with injuries and performed well below the expectations. They worked hard, started to get healthy and put up their two highest scores in back to back meets right before the postseason begins. I’ll take that from this LSU baseball team.
Not to go too much into depth in a week where I am trying to be silly, but the one of the great things about struggling is you can learn more about your team during those times. For instance, it is clear to me that Todd Peterson is a one inning closer. The coaches have tried to stretch him beyond one inning and those outings have been where he has been hit the hardest. Enough of that serious stuff, back to the glad game.
I am glad LSU basketball is tangled in controversy in a year where they won a rare outright SEC title. It is like getting a holding penalty on a touchdown play or a pass interference on a play where you get an interception. If you are going to get a negative consequence, you should at least have a positive result to balance out the situation. Nothing is worse than getting a sack and fumble AND a penalty for holding on the play. If you are going to hold, don’t let the quarterback get hit.
I don’t have a glad game play for LSU football right now because things are going too well. But don’t worry, I am sure someone something bad will happen to them soon and we can keep playing the game. We have had a lot of practice.
HEY REF
Somehow I feel vindicated since I’ve consistently called for the NCAA to find a way to make all their athletes employees. In just the last 10 days I’ve been proven correct in my reasons for putting athletes on a salary since it is they who make everything possible. Without the players and their talents most of the NCAA’s games would fall by the waste side since not a single “fan” would sit in a stadium to watch games played by amateurs.
HOLD ON! Yes I did just print the words “amateurs” and “players” in the same sentence and if you’ll allow me to explain…
The term AMATEUR basically describes a person or persons toiling away at any given chore WITHOUT being paid a supplement for the time spent on said field, course or floor. In today’s world realistically speaking I doubt there is a sane person that believes college athletes don’t receive some type of compensation for playing sports at their chosen university.
What does happen to 99% of coaches, schools and athletes is exactly what we’re seeing at LSU with Coach Wade. He surely isn’t the only one getting money to potential recruits. I remember not too long ago a certain quarterback being accused of getting money to sign. The investigation discovered the $180,000.00 check was made payable to that athlete’s father. At the time he was playing on an undefeated team that just so happened to be ranked #1. So the NCAA delayed its investigation until said athlete wasn’t playing college ball.
Then the NCAA announced their investigation closed as that athlete was now not playing collegiate football and was in fact playing in the NFL where he still remains on the roster of one of its franchises. They concluded that since the check was in fact made to his father they were powerless to do anything. So, no one should be surprised at LSU or Coach Wade because it happens every single day because we’re talking about a MULTI-BILLION DOLLAR industry which is called the NCAA.
In keeping the money out front and in the open almost makes everyone honest since so many kids can’t afford books, a car, spending money and so on. I’m not going to give a second thought to those that claim an athlete gets a “FREE” education. Many times I’ve written that the majority of these athletes playing one of the top two sports that generate most of the dollars, football and basketball, come from poor households. I’ve read many times it is these player’s families that can’t afford to buy a single textbook and for the most part textbooks are the responsibility of the athlete.
If I had my way the first thing I’d declare is all incoming freshmen would be “red-shirted”. This move would give kids; for the most part it’s the first time they’ve ever been away from home, a full year to adjust to life at the collegiate level. There’s nothing in the first year at a new school that can’t be experienced in month 13. A full year in classes and away from all the pressure of games can only do one thing; it’ll put STUDENT back in STUDENT-ATHLETE. Think of it as if you were building a hi-rise office building in that the thing that you’ve got to have if that structure is to stay standing in a firm foundation.
Without that whatever you’re building is sure to fall. Today’s student-athletes are under such pressure to excel that they look for ways to take that pressure off of them. Many resort to having someone else take tests for them; do their assigned homework, etc. So give those young athletes a year to settle down and get used to the everyday life at a university. In that first year it would be mandatory for each athlete to take financial courses to help them cope with living on a budget. They’d also be taught how to handle large salaries if/when they were drafted by a professional team.
Lou Holtz of Notre Dame once told the story of a player he spent years recruiting. He explained the kid could run, throw, catch, block and do everything imaginable with a football. He was one for the ages and there was only one thing he couldn’t do with a football; SIGN IT! The kid was a four year player but he couldn’t read or write. That happens too many times in major college athletics and all universities should be charged with educating their prospects so they can cope with the real world of multiple-million dollar contracts.
Keeping everything above board would also allow the IRS, the NCAA and its member institutions to audit all bank accounts held by the players. Some say that would cause even more pressure on the players and schools but I believe after some “hiccups” the system would right itself and players would be able to fend off all those sharks just waiting for an athlete to turn pro so they can give them investment advice.
Of course most of that advice would drain a player’s bank accounts if they hadn’t been educated in the ways of finance. And if the schools did do their part in getting its young student-athletes ready for the real world you’d see many of these kids able to keep much of those millions of dollars long after their playing days are gone. Since the NCAA wants to keep all the BILLIONS of DOLLARS going into their pockets they continue to refuse to share the wealth that these kids are generating. And I’ll close by saying that yes, I do believe the NCAA is running the most diabolical slave industry in modern civilization!
Till next week…
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