July 23, 2020
TODAY’S COLUMNS:
Scott and Jon discuss Baseball 2020
Dennis discusses a botched call in hs football…
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.
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HULLABALOO HOORAY
A message from the Great Jim Springs:
Dear Friends... We are writing to request your kind assistance. Kathy and I moved back home twelve years ago to be with our aging mothers in the latter years of their lives, Kathy's in Arkansas, mine here in Denham Springs. They have both passed away now, taking with them the anchors that kept us tethered to our Southern roots. As much as we love being home, we love Kathy's children and grandchildren more...and they live in Washington state where Kathy and I first met. Our beautiful home, built with Jack Hartman-integrity, is for sale as of today! We wish to sell it ourselves, and that's where you might assist us by helping spread the word. The biggest challenge of For Sale by Owner is marketing and visibility--getting the news out. The Address is 650 Pine Street, DSLA, and my cell is (225) 588-0366. Or you can email me at JimSpring53@hotmail.com. You can also see the house at fsbobr.com (ID# 569639) or at Zillow.com. Thank you.
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Opening Day is here! Perhaps that sentence sets off a vision of fireworks in your head and sends your heart racing with excitement. For now, I don’t want to be a downer, but I am not feeling it.
That doesn’t mean I am not looking forward to baseball. It simply means that the thrill of Opening Day is not there for me. In reality, that thrill has been gone for a while. Maybe I lost that loving feeling for Opening Day around the time the first games were actually played the week before the season started in another country.
If you are a regular reader, you may be thinking that I lost the excitement for Opening Day in the years after the strike and the steroid blow up (pun intended).
In reality, I am not sure. Perhaps, the problem is I am just getting old. I have some great memories of Opening Day. The one that stands out the most is Tuffy Rhodes, his real first name is Karl, hitting three home runs for the Cubs on Opening Day in 1994. But, it is not as if things like that happen every year.
The tradition of the President throwing out the first pitch is pretty cool. With every intent of avoiding any sort of political statement, I appreciate that Dr. Fauci will throw out the first pitch for the Nationals. But, it is not the same. Maybe I would be more excited, if Fauci was throwing out the first pitch a week after a vaccine was being distributed, and we all were returning to life before March 13.
What I miss the most is the wall to wall baseball that was a rarity back in the day (I am getting old). In some respects, it was a similar feel to the first days of March Madness. The first game started during the school/work day and the last game was still happening on the west coast as I went to bed.
The other factor I can’t ignore is that hope “springs” eternal. Opening Day is supposed to be in the spring. We are supposed to be transitioning from the indoor sport of basketball to the outdoor sport of baseball. The images of being outside with green grass and American flags everywhere, and of course, people in the stands.
For me, this beginning to the baseball season will not reach the status of an Opening Day. I need to let go of that image and ideal for this year. In order to enjoy these versions of sports, I will need to open myself to a new creation. Hopefully, this creation is a one time novelty that years from now we all will look back on with affection.
For those that are as fired up for this Opening Day and the beginning of baseball as the joy they have been looking forward to for 3 months, congratulations, because your day has arrived.
If you are anything like me, then I hope you can join me in letting go of an image and experience that we simply won’t have this year. Instead, we get to enjoy something new, unique, and entertaining in its own way because it is something we haven’t seen before, and hopefully won’t see again.
HEY REF
First things first! I am stunned! No wait, I’m shocked! I kinda knew things weren’t all that good between local high school football coaches and the officials collecting a paycheck to call their games. But after more than six months for things to settle down and tempers to return to somewhere close to normal I’m finding there are still many things amiss. Any other year this far removed from the most recent season war stories from either side can usually be recalled with a hint of humor. But for some coaches and officials last football season wasn’t anywhere remotely close to being NORMAL.
I’m very much aware of stories being slanted toward the favor of those doing the telling so let’s not think this writer hasn’t been around the block a few hundred times. Redd Foxx said it best during an episode of Sanford and Son when someone called him an old fool. I remember his response as if it happened yesterday. He quickly came back and said “there’s no such thing as an old fool because you don’t get old being a fool. There’s plenty of dead young wise men but no old fools”!
So, I’m listening closely but won’t believe everything since the truth is usually somewhere in the middle. I am very THANKFUL to all those that shared some very interesting happenings with me. But I am not finished collecting stories. Let me share a happening with everyone…
Team “A” is behind by four points very late in the fourth quarter, just under a minute to go with a first and goal at the five yard line without any timeouts left.
After breaking the huddle the offense has three players in the backfield and eight on the line giving the offense eleven (11) on the field. On first down they don’t gain anything and quickly line back up in the same formation but this time the quarterback gets to the two (2) yard line. Time is almost up but there’s enough time to run one last play. Again, the same formation but this time they pitch the ball out where it’s caught and advanced into the endzone. The offense begins to celebrate while everyone on the sideline erupts but nobody noticed a flag thrown by the UMPIRE.
The officials get together and discuss the reason for the flag. Everybody gets quiet waiting to find out what’s been called. One coach expects a holding call which would mean they’d have to run a final play with no time on the clock. The other sideline thinks the call has to be a facemask since the runner cut back to the inside before landing in the endzone. After a short meeting the white hat finally signals that the offense didn’t have the required seven men on the line of scrimmage.
The ruling takes the six points off the board and the offense will be allowed to run one final play with no time left on the clock. I’m told the offended coach didn’t understand what had been called and while he’s trying to understand what’s been called on his team he’s asking to talk with the ref. The ref did go to the sideline to talk with the coach. He explained the UMPIRE did in fact make the call. He asked the ref if he counted how many players were in the huddle before that last play and did he count how many players broke the huddle. The coach told me the ref just turned away from him without getting an answer. He continued the ref went back on the field and blew his whistle.
Jokingly I asked this coach to explain to me why he took a player out of the game on that third down. And that’s when he explained to me that on all of the final four plays no player came out or in. The eleven that huddled on that first down were the same eleven still in the game on the play which resulted in the touchdown that was called back. And the same eleven were on the field for the final play where he was taken down around the four or five yardline.
I’ve got no reason to believe this coach would lie about the way in which the game ended. But what really stinks in all this was the way in which this crew worked the final minute of the game. First off if this umpire and the rest of the crew did in fact count all the players then there’s no way this should’ve happened. Second I’ve got to lean toward the way in which the coach explained those final few seconds.
When I heard the coach say nobody came in or out in the final few plays that makes perfect sense since it would’ve taken time to send in a player and/or a sub. It also makes me sick to think the guy wearing the white hat didn’t have the guts to wave off the flag because if he did in fact count the offense just once then he’d be certain they always did have eleven since no substitutions were made.
So, when I hear an official say it was a simple mistake, I burn and I burn very hot! There is no room for things like this to happen. But with what I’ve been hearing the past few years things like this are very common on Friday nights in Baton Rouge. And are coaches in the Baton Rouge area expecting these same mistakes to continue? Many have told me they don’t expect things to get any better since the LHSAA has retained the current Assignment Secretary and have signed him to another three year contract.
Till next week
FINE IDEAS
Spoiled millionaires and multi-millionaires—Baseball players and owners—putting its fans through the emotional wringer. It was disheartening to see how tone-deaf Baseball players and owners were in negotiating their season resumption. There was a complete abdication of responsibility to their fans and to the game itself.
That, and the fact that I’m very skeptical that Baseball will be able to complete its season, has me less excited than I would ordinarily be with the start of the season. Whereas the NBA has its Bubble—maximizing its chances of success, Baseball’s artificial Bubble will be hard to execute/enforce. There are too many moving parts in too short a time period to account for every scenario/nuance. And, will Baseball personnel be able to be disciplined enough off of the field to make this work?
I’m hoping Baseball doesn’t come down to coronavirus attrition. That, the teams that win are not directly correlated to the teams having the most Negative testing players. Certainly how a team reacts to this New Normal (and the level of conditioning its player have had over the last 4 months) will be a strong determinator of a team’s success. But, we can only hope that the number of players who test positive and don’t complete the season is a negligible amount and will not be the prime factor in whether or not a team advances to post-season.
Plus, I’m not sure how a whole clubhouse does not get infected if one person is asymptomatically infected. I hope I’m wrong, but I almost wonder if it is not a matter of if Baseball comes to a screeching halt, but when. Count me amongst the unguardedly unoptimistic.
So, to get me fired up so I can continue writing this column, it’s time to take drastic action… to pull out all stops… and roll out my favorite song… which I hope was played at Wednesday Mass throughout the country. Everyone sing along.
The Whiz Kids had won it,
Bobby Thomson had done it,
And Yogi read the comics all the while.
Rock 'n roll was being born,
Marijuana, we would scorn,
So down on the corner,
The national past-time went on trial.
We're talkin' baseball!
Kluszewski, Campanella.
Talkin' baseball!
The Man and Bobby Feller.
The Scooter, the Barber, and the Newc,
They knew 'em all from Boston to Dubuque.
Especially Willie, Mickey, and the Duke.
Well, Casey was winning,
Hank Aaron was beginning,
One Robbie going out, one coming in.
Kiner and Midget Gaedel,
The Thumper and Mel Parnell,
And Ike was the only one winning down in Washington.
We're talkin' baseball!
Kluszewski, Campanella.
Talkin' baseball!
The Man and Bobby Feller.
The Scooter, the Barber, and the Newc,
They knew 'em all from Boston to Dubuque.
Especially Willie, Mickey, and the Duke.
Now my old friend, The Bachelor,
Well, he swore he was the Oklahoma Kid.
And Cookie played hooky,
To go and see the Duke.
And me, I always loved Willie Mays,
Those were the days!
Well, now it's the 80's,
And Brett is the greatest,
And Bobby Bonds can play for everyone.
Rose is at the Vet,
And Rusty again is a Met,
And the great Alexander is pitchin' again in Washington.
I'm talkin' baseball!
Like Reggie, Quisenberry.
Talkin' baseball!
Carew and Gaylord Perry,
Seaver, Garvey, Schmidt and Vida Blue,
If Cooperstown is calling, it's no fluke.
They'll be with Willie, Mickey, and the Duke.
Willie, Mickey, and the Duke. (Say hey, say hey, say hey)
It was Willie, Mickey and the Duke (Say hey, say hey, say hey)
I'm talkin' Willie, Mickey and the Duke (Say hey, say hey, say hey)
Willie, Mickey, and the Duke. (Say hey, say hey, say hey)
Say Willie, Mickey, and the Duke. (Say hey, say hey, say hey)
Talking Baseball, by Terry Cashman, 1982. Printed without permission.
Mission Accomplished. I have a renewed vigor. So, let’s talk Baseball!
Should there be an asterisk next to this season? No. It’s not 162 games. But 60 games is a substantial enough amount of games to legitimately crown Division champions and Wild Card teams.
Now, certain individual records should merit an asterisk. If Jacob deGrom should post an ERA of 1.07, it will deserve a notation that it was accomplished in a 60 game schedule. Bob Gibson’s 1.12 ERA, complied over 32 starts in 1968, would certainly still be considered the recognized record. After all, deGrom might have only 12 or 13 starts in 2020. The same standard would be applied if someone was to hit.400 or even top Ted Williams’ modern day record of.406 batting average in 1941.
There are some silver linings to this shortened season. Perhaps Baseball will see the wisdom in many of its short-term—60 game revisions and incorporate them into its 162 game schedule in 2021—knock on wood.
The Designated Hitter will be implemented across the board. Traditionalist naysayers aside, who wants to see a Pitcher come to the plate when we know he will be overmatched and have a minuscule chance of reaching base? Sort of like many non-conference games in college football. What’s the point when you know the outcome ahead of time? The late game decisions that a Baseball manager has to make regarding whether a pitcher should hit or be pinch hit for being negated is a small price to pay for having the DH. Most fans want to see action. Not an overmatched pitcher at the plate looking foolish in a futile effort to make contact. Now if all pitchers could hit like the aforementioned Bob Gibson, that would be a different story.
Starting runners on second base in the 10h inning of a tied game is a good concept, but implemented too early. I say give teams 3 more innings to determine the game’s outcome by standard Baseball rules. Wait until the 13th inning before making the change and I’m all for it. Sort of like college football amending its overtime rule, where in the last few seasons, you have to go for 2 on your 4th possession. This probably would not work if they made you do it on your first possession. But, on the 4th possession, it is time to have the outcome more quickly decided. Same with Baseball. (Note: all of these college football allusions when discussing Baseball? Am I starting to assimilate to my Deep South environment?)
Will Baseball players be able to refrain from expectorating or readjusting their private parts? I wonder if Vegas has an over/under on how many times or at what point of a game a player should do one of these now banned traditional rites of Baseball. But, if the rule should help minimize these actions I’m all for it. Even more importantly, chewing tobacco will be banned. This is really a good measure to counter this deadly habit. Yet, I have a hard time believing that players will not go to the clubhouse or some other secluded area to get their chew on… spit on… family jewel protection adjustment on.
I like the fact that that teams will play other teams in their geographical region. I wish this would not be done exclusively, but understand that the pandemic mandates such a schedule alteration. What would be most ideal, for the future, would be for Baseball to make divisions comprised of teams that are closest to one another. Geographical proximity, all other things being equal, produces the best rivalries in sports. By putting teams in the same division with their closest neighbors, you ensure that they play against them the most times possible. Yankees and Mets
Cubs and White Sox…
Dodgers and Angels… I know this is blasphemous for traditionalists. And, short-term there would be an adjustment period. But, in the long run, it would create better rivalries and more fan interest. Let’s see if we see some of this enhanced excitement in rivalries in 2020 as teams are confined to play in their geographic region.
Artificial noise and fan cut-outs in the stands? I’m not sure how this enhances the Baseball experience for either the players/coaches or the fans watching at home. To me, this is a waste of time and resources.
Having Baseball succeed is critical… for the sport, itself, which has seen declining popularity on an annual basis… for the American sports fan, thirsting for live competition in a “major sport”—football, basketball, baseball or hockey… … for the psyche of our country—bringing back some semblance of normalcy… for the possibility that we can have football in the fall. Yes, football brings up its own set of unique challenges indigenous to that sport. But, seeing Baseball and the NBA doing their thing, successfully, at least shows that Big-Time sports can take place in the Caronavirus Era and gives us at least a little bit of hope that football can thrive too.
Fans can be an active participant in helping Baseball, the NBA, Hockey and possibly Football having complete seasons. How these sports and their participants can play (and stay coronavirus free) is a function of society’s infection rate. The less infected we are, the less of a chance that our sports’ players and coaches get infected. So if you want Baseball and all sports to work, it’s simple. MASK UP. CONSISTENTLY. VIGILANTLY.
So, the game plan is to MASK UP, enjoy our sports in 2020 from our living rooms. And, then, in 2021, we can attend Baseball games, where, hopefully, over the PA we can hear: “Willie, Mickey and the Duke. Sey Hey. Sey Hey. Sey Hey.”
Glad to see Charles Barkley speak out against anti-Semitism by the likes of DeSean Jackson, Stephen Jackson and Ice Cube. I can only hope that Sir Charles doesn’t end up claiming that he was misquoted, like he once did in his autobiography. Is Barkley becoming something he once said athletes should not be… … a role model?
Great video about Shaq joining a group of police to go play basketball with kids on a street, I think in Orlando. Shaq--The Big Kid is shown horsing around with the children. And, he even offers every kid $100 if they can make a free throw. Good thing for the kids it was they having to make a free throw and not Shaq himself.
ASK JON received a couple of responses from readers pertaining to last week’s column on athlete’s using their platform to address racism:
“Good thoughts Jon!
Agree wholeheartedly.”
Ira
Los Angeles
Jon: You are obviously a fool, and I do not suffer fools… … … … ”
Tad
Castroville, Texas
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