January 30, 2020
LSU, SAINTS AND MUCH MORE
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Do you want to waste your time? Try and figure out if Bo Pelini will be a good fit and worth the two million dollar contract he signed to be LSU’s defensive coordinator. Because the truth is that nobody knows. Orgeron and Pelini don’t know.
The indicators that people are trying to use to poke holes in to predict what will happen are worthless. Here are the things we do know. Pelini is extremely qualified, and LSU will be changing from a 3-4 to a 4-3, eventually. Trying to determine the ease of the transition and all that other stuff is simply a waste. We will know it when we see it.
LSU’s defense has some huge shoes to fill next year. Lawrence, Fehoko, Phillips, Divinity, Fulton, Queen, Delpit, and Chaisson are huge losses. I still shake my head that the defense struggled as much as it did at times last year with these guys that are going to be drafted. Anyway, the point is that whether Aranda or Pelini are the coordinator LSU has its work cut out next year on defense.
Last year people focused on losing Devin White, but the defense had a ton of returning players. This year everyone will focus on losing Burrow, but the offense returns a ton of talent. The defense is the side of the ball that concerns me the most. But we have plenty of time for all this later.
As promised, this week will be my midseason Pelicans preview (I don’t think that is an oxymoron, but I acknowledge it doesn’t really make sense).
The first half of the Pelican season was like every other year in recent memory. Lots of injuries leading to a lack of continuity and many losses. In the first 25 games, the Pelicans dug themselves into a hole with poor defense, many careless turnovers, no play making down the stretch of games, and a 13 game losing streak.
In December, the Pels started to show signs of life. Brandon Ingram became comfortable being the go to guy on offense. Favors, Holiday, and others started getting healthy, and the schedule eased up. With that, the Pels won 11 out of 15.
As everyone knows, at this point Zion was finally declared ready to play. As typically happens, though, the Pels lost the first two games as the team had to find its identity again. Guys had settled into roles, but now with Zion, those roles would change again. Unfortunately, in the NBA there is little time for teams to gel in season without playing games.
So here we are again. The Pels don’t have much room for error to make the playoffs. They must win the games they are supposed to win and will have to win a few they aren’t supposed to win. Fortunately, regular season upsets happen frequently in the NBA due to back to back games and injuries. The Pelicans first win with Zion was aided by playing the Celtics without two key players.
The Pelicans have excellent offensive firepower. Ball is excellent in this system when he breaks down defenses and doesn’t settle for outside shots. There are enough shooters in Reddick, Moore, Hart, Holiday, Jackson, Alexander, and Melli to spread the court for Zion and others to attack the goal. Ingram can create his own shot in late game situations when defenses really clamp down. Favors, Okafor, Hayes and Zion are great finishers.
The Pelicans have two huge problems on offense. First, they give away careless turnovers. Second, they continue to shoot quick threes when the flow of the game dictates to do something different.
Those two offensive weaknesses are magnified by poor defense which is usually a result of inexperience and a lack of playing together. People don’t think about chemistry being an important part of NBA defense, but the reality is you have to trust and communicate in basketball on defense to make very quick decisions and take away the strength of the opponent.
The Pelicans have the depth to handle minor injuries that will pop up. Do they have the experience to win close games and make up lost ground from Zion being out? Time will tell, but the Pelicans will definitely be fun to watch down the stretch and Pelican fans should feel good that this team plays hard and is headed in the right direction.
HEY REF
The sporting universe is in mourning upon hearing of the death of former L. A. Laker Kobe Bryant. Kobe played twenty years in the NBA, winning five championships, three with “Shaq” and was named an All-Star eighteen times! Kobe played his last NBA game against the Utah Jazz in 2016 scoring a mere 60 points. This writer is also shocked and has nothing but respect for Kobe. Not Kobe the super star basketball player but Kobe the man and father. Among those killed in the helicopter crash was one of his daughters, Gianna.
Kobe was different than a lot of professional athletes in that he was a family man spending a lot of time with his children and wife. Most of the time when a professional player makes the news it’s usually when they sign a mega-million dollar contract or they’re holding out and not reporting to camp. Then there are those that find themselves in trouble for beating a girlfriend or they were caught using drugs and others made the news after killing a friend and one even had his ex-girlfriend murdered. But Kobe was cut from a different cloth. He was a true professional and family man. The papers and TV Networks are blasting the airwaves with Kobe tributes so I won’t bore you with anything else.
O. K. the Super Bowl is this Sunday and no matter how much I read and hear about the teams, coaches and organizations I find it difficult to find who to root for. I’m glad Kansas City is in the game because they represent “new” blood since it’s been some 50 years since they played this late in a season. Chiefs’ coach Andy Reid came close a couple times while coaching the Eagles from ’99 – 2012. He came close once again this time in KC and has finally “kicked the door down” (ooooppppsss that was a different coach) this year. In all those close calls I never heard him blame anybody for the loss but himself and his coaching staff. I guess you can say I admire him because he doesn’t blame the refs for a loss.
On the other sideline is the 49’ers… San Francisco was once the home of the most hated player ever in the history of the world, Colin Kaepernick. I admit that I’m very happy he’s not in the NFL anymore. There’s a place and a time for everything and Sunday afternoons just wasn’t the time or the place for his antics. If you look in the dictionary for HYPOCRITE, Kaepernick’s picture is there. I won’t go any further because I’ve given him too much attention just by printing his name.
The guy under center for the 49ers is Jimmy Garoppolo, Tom Brady’s backup in New England. So, he’s learned from one of the best ever and I find myself rooting for him because not many times do backups get a chance to play much less become a starter and he has Frisco just one game from being crowned World Champs. So, I think that this Super Bowl I’ll just count myself as a fan of the game.
Now that I got that out of the way I’d like to start a discussion on why there’s a nationwide shortage of game officials. One of the biggest reasons I find is how we’re classified “INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS”. It’s a fancy way of saying state associations want their cake and not only eat it but expect the officials to clean the tables and wash the dishes. I’ll try my best to explain what’s going on behind closed doors and what we (officials) feel is a huge reason so many would rather walk away than invest anymore time and money.
So, would you like to become an Independent Contractor? I hear this phrase being used more and more each day. Many of you are well aware that “Hey Ref” does his best to cut through the BS and give you the stone cold facts. And you can be very sure of this fact because the branding of game officials in Louisiana and every other state as INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS is so far from the truth and it’s very misleading.
I think this week I’ll attempt to explain how this very deceptive label is being used by almost every state in our union. I hope that by explaining many fans will understand why many officials are dropping out and ending their careers. Many officials feel they are getting the “shaft” by being put in one group and then being classified as “INDEPENDENT”.
Let me reassure every one there’s no way that those working high schools games under the LHSAA banner are “INDEPENDENT”. This term was introduced over twenty years ago to deprive workers any healthcare benefits and just about every other benefit that would usually be paid workers in an industry. Simply put the LHSAA wants to have all game officials classified this way so no benefits have to be paid. Everything we “have” is taken out of our pay. Things have gotten so bad we now carry million dollar insurance policies in case parents, teams or players sue the game officials.
We must purchase a separate policy on our own to cover any medical problems associated with working any LHSAA games. The LHSAA acting like an employer dictates every aspect of how officials are paid; compensated and on top of that they even dictate the uniform we must wear to get on the field. Once again the LHSAA in its divine wisdom has mandated a change in the stripes on football official’s shirts.
Without much debate and very little input from the nine football official’s association state wide the LHSAA dictated a change in the style and width of the stripes on our shirts. No big deal you might think but that small change will cost each official at best $100.00 since we use both long and short sleeved shirts. A few years ago it was a change to only one style of shoe from only one company. I remember bringing up that subject in a meeting since the shoes came in only “D” width. Many of us found it very painful wearing these narrow shoes and asked if we could wear a different shoe. The answer came back swift and hard “IF YOU WANT TO CALL GAMES ON FRIDAY NIGHTS YOU’LL GET USED TO WEARING THESE SHOES OR YOU WON’T WORK”! So, being an INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR KEPT MANY OF US FROM WEARING SHOES OUR WIDE FEET WOULD FIT.
I thought as an independent contractor I could wear a shoe that fit me comfortably but I was wrong to question the LHSAA. By the ten minute mark in the very first quarter of every game the entire crew was feeling the pain. So, we asked again and the answer this time was “We won’t discuss this issue, you either adapt or you don’t work”. So, once again I’ve got to ask “Does that sound like we’re independent”?
If we’re truly independent contractors we should be allowed to have a say in the amount we will charge schools for our services. But again the LHSAA sets our game and travel fees. Being independent also means “FREE” to provide my services as agreed between myself and the school with which I provide my services. But again the LHSAA demands we join a union to work games on Friday nights.
Many of my fellow officials didn’t know they were being forced to join a union, the Louisiana High School Official’s Association, LHSOA, before you could independently work a football game for the LHSAA. As a so called “Right to Work” state this forced membership should be outlawed but the state looks the other way. By definition an association where you have dedicated meetings, a constitution, election of officers and are forced to pay that association membership dues then that constitutes a union.
The Association becomes a hiring hall just like any other union. When I asked a member of the legislature about this practice I was told the LHSAA gets away with it by calling themselves “An Association”. To challenge this law would require many hours of debate before the legislature and millions of dollars.
SO when you hear “INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR” being used by the LHSAA it’s nothing more than a play on words. They dictate your working conditions, rate of pay and it goes so far as demanding the official wear their prescribed uniform in order to get a job. There’s nothing independent about it, it’s just a way to control the workers (officials) without having to provide an ounce of security or benefits that ordinary workers receive in the market place!
Till next week…
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