June 18, 2020
TODAY’S COLUMNS: Jon and Scott discuss Baseball
Dennis has some suggestions to improve the world of officiating
Please scroll down below.
OUR THOUGHTS AND PRAYERS GO OUT TO ONE AND ALL AS WE TRY TO MAKE OUR WAY SAFELY THROUGH THE PANDEMIC. WE STAND WITH THOSE THAT ARE PEACEFULLY PROTESTING AGAINST POLICE BRUTALITY AND RACISM.
LSU, SAINTS AND MUCH MORE
ArrestedDevelopmentMediaGuides offers media guides. programs and baseball cards. Please visit JonFineProductions.com and click on icon to get to the store. Check out a full array of New Orleans Saints media guides and LSU media guides and programs and publications from much of the entire sports world. Over 6,700 publications listed.
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
THE WIZARDRY OF OS
By Scott Osborne
Assistant Basketball Coach at Central High School
The current situation in Major League Baseball is why I left the sport years ago, and you don’t see me writing about it. Though it wasn’t always this way.
Like so many others who watched baseball in the 80s, I watched the Cubs on WGN and the Braves on TBS. The superstations. I didn’t have a problem with the Cubs. Ryne Sandberg was great to watch and Ron Cey had the best nickname, the penguin. But there wasn’t much else for me to like except the tradition and that the games were on TV when I came home from school and finished my homework.
The Braves had a great cast of characters. Dale Murphy was the biggest name. Bruce Benedict, Bob Horner, and Chris Chambliss were baseball players that looked like they could manage singles and home runs. There was not going to be anything in between. Rafael Ramirez was smooth as shortstop. The bullpen had two side arm pitchers, Gene Garber and Steve Bedrosian.
I was mad when the Cubs and Braves went to play the Dodgers and Giants. It meant the games would start at 9:35 and I would be lucky to watch an inning. If they were on the west coast at the same time, I was really mad.
The other teams in the National League were fun to watch too. The Cardinals had crazy speed with Willie McGee, Vince Coleman, and Ozzie Smith (the Wizard). The Expos had Andre Dawson, Tim Raines, Tim Wallach, and Gary Carter.
As the 80s continued, the Braves declined. My uncle had lived in Pittsburgh and was always pushing the Pirates to me. He knew I was a die hard Saints fan, so I was not going to be interested in the Steelers. But, the Pirates had a shot. I always liked their pillbox hats, and in the late 80s I liked their roster.
Barry Bonds, Andy Van Slyke, and Bobby Bonilla were fun to watch. By this time, ESPN had picked up some baseball so there were more teams to watch. The Braves became a dynasty, but I stuck with the Pirates.
In 1994, I graduated high school and I was at peak MLB fandom. I was loving college baseball and professional baseball. LSU was beginning a dynasty. In MLB, I had moved beyond having one team, and enjoyed the whole sport. Sunday Night Baseball was great, even though I hated it when Joe Morgan would call the CWS and bash college baseball. Thank goodness ESPN got it right and now has college baseball enthusiasts working the CWS.
I enjoyed Seattle’s run with Ken Griffey Jr. and Randy Johnson taking on the Yankees. LSU baseball players started making major league rosters. Chad Ogea, Paul Byrd, and Albert Belle with the Indians. So I paid close attention to Cleveland.
Cleveland and Baltimore were the first to build the new, but classic ballparks. Then the fun stopped in August 1994. The season ended and there was no World Series. And everything changed for me.
I still enjoyed and remember what I was doing when Cal Ripkin, Jr. broke Lou Gehrig’s record the next season. I enjoyed the home run chase between Sosa and McGwire. But, I knew baseball couldn’t be trusted and that was confirmed when the reality of steroids was exposed. While things changed in 1994, the fork was stuck in 2002. I am pretty sure I haven’t watched a full MLB game since.
I gave that background, just so I could make this point. While I am not going to watch South Korean baseball during these phases of the pandemic, I absolutely would have watched MLB. This was their chance with me, and I am sure many others like me. I have more time than ever and am starved of live sports, and these fools can’t figure out a way to play one of the inherently safest sports for this pandemic. How absurd?! But, how fitting as well.
HEY REF
To become the best in your chosen profession you must dedicate yourself to one thing and that one thing is; a lifetime of Constant Continued Improvement (CCI). For anyone with an “itch” to become an official they should take those three little words with them every place they go. The only way to becoming a better official is to never miss a chance to learn something new. One of the very first things that was drilled into my head as I started WORKING high school games in the Baton Rouge area back in ’79 was that if I didn’t learn at least one new thing each and every time I walked off a field then I should quit and call it a career. Or simply put; once you cease learning you cease to improve.
The main reason for me to open up my column this week with that little statement is very simple; I’m hoping this will lead to every official rededicating himself to the job he’s expected to do. And that new outlook to officiating MUST be that we are doing a job on Friday nights. This isn’t a hobby or something g you get into because you’re bored at home. NO, officiating games is W*O*R*K! When I started on this long road I began doing two very important and simple things, 1) Asking for a copy of that night’s game or 2) I’d give my contact info before the game asking the coach to give me a call and I’d come pick up a copy. Why would I want a copy of that night’s game, you may ask? That’s simple; because in my opinion there isn’t a better teaching tool for officials, no matter the level or sport, than actual live game action.
The job of officiating has become very stressful since coaches are expected to produce a winning program each and every year. In the Baton Rouge Association there’s a need for its members to renew their commitment to each of the coaches, teams, players and schools. I’m saying this because many of the members I’ve talked to recently feel they’ve been done wrong by the LHSAA. This was the year most felt the LHSAA would fire their Assignment Secretary and replace him with someone that would work with the schools and coaches, not against them. It seemed everything was in place for the LHSAA to support not only what many members wanted but also what many of the coaches also wanted and that was a new beginning with someone that would work with the coaches and schools.
When coaches and officials work together, officials get better. When officials get better the games get better and they become safer. When the games become safer then it’s the players, fans and parents that benefit from a better and safer product on the field.
But right now the hopes and wished of so many have been dashed/put aside and as sorry as I am to say this it’ll be business as usual for schools that use football officials from the Baton Rouge Association. It hurts when I talk to some coaches in the area and they tell me they’re shocked at the action or should I say LACK OF ACTION demonstrated by the recent LHSAA decision to retain an Assignment Secretary that seems to always work opposite of the way coaches that use Baton Rouge Association for its football officials.
I know the question most of you will ask me and that question of course is “what can a coach/school do”? There aren’t but a couple answers to that question. Many will say “just use officials from another area”. Well, that’s not as easy as you may think. The state is divided into regions which of course go by location, location and location. So, just picking up shop and going to a different association is hard to do. Right now the association I belong to is growing as we’re accepting some teams from other areas.
Getting schools to move should be the last resort as far as I’m concerned since I still believe in officials working together to get better. And I go by that old saying that goes something like “stupidity is defined as continuing to do something wrong yet expecting a different outcome” or something like that. It simply means you just can’t keep doing something wrong and expect things to get better.
But the keeping of someone that isn’t cutting the mustard? Huh? What? Not listening to the coaches who want a change? This situation stinks and I don’t see things getting any better since the members also want a change. But without that change I don’t see the majority picking up the slack and making their association better. And at the end of the day the ONLY thing that should be on every official's wish list is GETTING BETTER.
Till next week… …
FINE IDEAS
Greatest song ever? You’re thinking something by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Barry White, Sinatra? I’ll take Terry Cashman and his 1981 hit--Talking Baseball. Listening to this classic got me juiced this morning.
But nothing like the inspiration I received in the summer of 1981 by singing a 1904 song by Jack Norworth and Albert Von Tilzer— Take Me Out to the Ball Game. In early August 1981, Baseball had just announced they were coming back from a 50 Day strike. To pay tribute to the return of the national pastime, the counselors and campers at Camp Taconic started singing this song in unison.
One summer camper was Chris Cutler. I was a summer counselor. We both were big Philadelphia Phillies fans at the time. Chris grew up in a swanky suburb of Philadelphia. I was in the midst of my illustrious (cough, cough) academic career, as a student at Penn.
One of the classic lines of the song was/is”
Root, Root Root for the Home Team
If they don’t win it’s a shame… ” These lyrics were sung by every person in the large Camp meeting room… except Chris Cutler and Jon Fine. Sitting next to each other, we both, extemporaneously, simultaneously made an in-song revision and our rendition included “Root, Root, Root for the Phillies, if they don’t win it’s a shame”
And, it’s a damn shame that there is a good chance we won’t have Major League Baseball in 2020.
One would think it’s a WIN-WIN-WIN-WIN for us to have Baseball this year.
Sports Fans are longing for some live, meaningful games to watch.
The players should be chomping at the bit to get on the diamond--and, receive their 6 or 7 or even 8 figure salaries. Plus, there’s service time to be achieved for Arbitration or Free Agency status.
Owners need to stop the bleeding. Or maybe it is hemorrhaging. Baseball is still known by some as our National Pastime. Yet, the last time that was true was Pre-Terry Cashman’s Talking Baseball. We’re Talking Baseball in the early 1970s. Football, Basketball… perhaps even ELeague sports (LOL…
I think) have left Baseball in its popularity with American Sports Fans. Now is the chance for Baseball to be front and center for the sports-starved American Public. Not to be too melodramatic, but if Baseball doesn’t return in 2020 do they ever make it back?
Epidemiologists would make Baseball a live test case-study on the Pandemic. Heck, the NFL would be front and center in observing how the resurrection of a national sport in the New Normal, with applicable lessons lerared to apply to the resumption of its sports.
While Baseball has a potential captive audience that would follow its sport with unprecedented fervor—the statute of limitation for Baseball’s national pastime prominence has long expired—the Millionaire players and Billionaire owners can’t even conduct a rancor-free dialogue, let alone come to an agreement.
Traditionally, when Baseball has had Work stoppages, I’d side with the Millionaires. In the past, players were fighting for legitimate rights such as reasonable minimum salaries, Arbitration and Free Agency. Owners would be trying to maintain the status quo, keeping the players under their tight fiscal fist.
This time, it is a matter of dividing up an ever-shrinking pie. The owners are legitimately asking the players to modify their pro-rata share, given that it appears as if Baseball would be played without fans in the stands. (Sort of like the Miami Marlins in prior seasons?). Depending upon whom you want to believe, the right to renegotiate the Mid-March tentative agreement which included this pro rata share concept—based on the absence of derrieres in the seats-- is either directly stated or implied. Either way, with Baseball garnering a majority of its revenue from its Gate, if there is no Gate, then the players should agree to a modification of their Pro-Rata share. Many players don’t grasp this basic concept, based on their selfish, ignorant and tone-deaf statements.
Should owners share in some of the impasse blame? Absolutely. Do owners need to open up their books? Certainly. When you ask employees for concessions, it is imperative to be fully transparent. Did Baseball get a public relations Black Eye, when some of its franchises were nickel and diming its minor league players? Yes, but that is not a germane factor. Have owners benefited by having their palaces publicly built or largely tax-payer subsidized? Yes, and that should enter into the equation in that it enhances the value of their franchises.
Baseball needs to submit to Binding Arbitration. Yesterday. Because they need to return. Pronto. Let the owners and the players submit their best proposals to a mutually agreed-upon Arbitrator. Then give the Arbitrator the power to work out an agreement. While the Arbitrator is constructing a new deal, the owners and the players could come up with a settlement on their own. If not, the Arbitrator has the final say. And, it is Binding.
Certain clauses would need to be non-negotiable, based on the needs of the parties in these challenging times. A couple that come to mind would be Player Safety and Pandemic reoccurrence.
Within reason, the players’ health needs/concerns must be as protected and as guaranteed as possible. Conversely, if there should be a flare-up during the course of play, owners should be made as whole as possible, if there is large-scale cancellation of games—particularly the post-season.
One way or the other, when unreasonable minds can not agree, a reasonable, educated, objective mind needs to enter into the picture to save Baseball from itself.
Hopefully, sometime this summer, the next Chris Cutler and Jon Fine will be able to sing Take Me Back to The BallGame and it will be in context. Real soon.
If not, we can always take Terry Cashman’s song, with its most recognizable verse of “Talking Willie, Mickey and The Duke
Sey Hey, Sey Hey, Sey Hey” and revise it. “(The owners and players are) Squawking Silly, Tricky and Makes Us Want to Puke. No Way. No Way. No Way… ”
Am I the only one who noted the irony? The only prominent African-American NASCAR driver is named Bubba—a term used by some to describe a person with unenlightened racial views. The most prominent Wallace I can think of is former George “Segregation Now, Segregation Tomorrow, Segregation Together” Wallace
NASCAR’S Bubba Wallace, who is Black, is an agent of racial change. Wallace protested and prompted NASCAR to repudiate the Confederate Flag.
(Baton Rouge LA) Lee High School (formerly named Robert E Lee High School) will likely change its name again. A Wisenheimer (Ralph Kramden terminology) out there has suggested that the Robert E Lee Rebels sports teams change their names to Ulysees S. Grant Yankees.
Listing the 1973-74 New York Nets Media Guide on EBay made me cry. Truthfully. Dr. J is on the cover—a beautiful person and an incandescent Basketball player. I was a huge fan of Julius Erving back in the day—first with the NY Nets, then with the Philadelphia 76ers. The crying? Maybe nostalgic childhood memories of better times prompted the release of pent-up anger/sadness/frustration over police brutality/racism/rioting and the Pandemic
Or maybe, it was just seeing a picture in the media guide of Nets owner Roy Boe
The last cry? From prospective customers when they see the hefty price tag of the publication?
ASK JON: PLEASE SUBMIT YOUR COMMENTS, THOUGHTS, IDEAS, QUESTIONS AND/OR FEEDBACK TO Jon@JonFineProductions.com. Please include your first name and city of residence. All death threats will be turned over to Joe Mannix.
DENHAM SPRINGS HS FOOTBALL RADIO BROADCASTS ARE A JON FINE PRODUCTION ON FAMILY RADIO, 91.9 FM, BATON ROUGE and JonFineProductions.com.
JON IS THE GOVERNOR OF AN EBAY STORE. ArrestedDevelopmentMediaGuides, SELLS SPORTS PUBLICATIONS. YOU CAN LINK TO IT BY VISITING JonFineProductions.com.
JON IS PROUD TO WORK AS A MARKETING REPRESENTATIVE FOR SPORTSRADIO-1310-KEZM-SULPHUR/LAKE CHARLES.