October 9, 2020
GOD BLESS
Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone who might encounter Hurricane Delta… and My heart goes out to my friends in the Lake Area who endured major destruction at the hands of Hurricane Laura. My thoughts and prayers are with you. We strongly urge readers of this newsletter to donate to a worthwhile Hurricane oriented charity in the Lake Area.
DENHAM SPRINGS FOOTBALL
The Jackets will next be in action for their home opener vs Westgate on Friday, October 16. Josh Ward and Andy Duckworth are on the call. I’ll contribute to pre-game, half-time and post-game shows. The broadcast starts at 6pm with Sport-N-Center Jackets Warmup on Family Radio, 91.9 FM, Baton Rouge and on the net at JonFineProductions.com
A special thank you to the Denham Springs business community, who, en masse, stepped up big time, in troubled times, to sponsor our broadcasts. YOU’RE THE BEST!!!
TODAY’S COLUMNS:
Scott gives his thoughts on LSU FB and the New Orleans Saints
Dennis evaluates an officials organization…
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
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
It is certainly more enjoyable to be writing after the results from this week than last week. In any sports season, fans want teams to be perfect from game one, but coaches and players know the key is to grow and improve. The Tigers and Saints grew, but still have many areas to improve.
The greatest quality of the LSU coaching staff under Coach O is to honestly assess a problem, work to correct, and then get positive results.
The easiest and most predictable area of growth this week that would have happened even without coaching was in the secondary. Bring back the best defensive player in college football, Stingley, and there is going to be instant improvement.
Less predictable but just as stark was the improved play from Myles Brennan. His decisiveness, movement in the pocket, and chemistry with receivers improved at a faster rate than expected. If he had not been a little high on a few passes and the receivers caught every pass, he would have had a great night. As it stands, he had a night that LSU fans would have paid handsomely for before 2019.
On the unpredictable side, Cam Wire, Jontre Kirklin, and Jaquelin Roy give me a boost of confidence about the direction of this season. Coach O has spoken highly of Rosenthal who struggled against Mississippi State. The depth at offensive tackle has been a major concern. Consequently, it was great to see Wire come in and play well against Vanderbilt whose strength on defense was their defensive line.
LSU is loaded with talent at wide receiver, but very little experience. That is why having a senior like Jontre Kirklin make plays is encouraging. Also, he brings a different element with the shiftiness to make yards after the catch that some of the other large receivers do not provide.
Meanwhile, Pelini took a lot of heat after the Mississippi State game. His defense is predicated on defensive tackles causing havoc. In my humble opinion, the returning defensive tackles like Farrell, Evans, and Ika lack the explosiveness Pelini would desire from that position. I saw the Bennie Logan/ Glenn Dorsey type explosiveness from Roy on Saturday.
There are still many areas to improve for LSU. I would be ecstatic this week if I saw the linebackers trust their reads and attack their run fits. Vanderbilt´s running backs had way too many holes.
On offense, LSU needs to improve in short yardage. Defenses are selling out to stop interior runs when LSU is in third or fourth and short. LSU is still the only team in the world to have never have embraced a ¨Wildcat¨ package at some point. Burrow ran so well that LSU got the benefits of those types of plays without getting away from the quarterback position. The Tigers tried Kirklin a couple of years ago, but he was not strong enough then. He is a senior now and I would love to see what he could do to help in short yardage.
The Saints improved in many areas as well. The Lions were kind enough to run some man coverage, and that allowed the Saints to get Kamara downfield. Smith and Sanders finally started making plays. The offense had some flow to where it did not look like Payton was forcing play calls just to get people touches. That often happens when you dominate time of possession and run a bunch of plays.
Of course dominating time of possession is only possible if the defense gets some stops, which the Saints defense is still struggling to make happen thanks to awful third down defense. To their credit, the defense covered the tight end and won without their starting corners. Still, third and longer than seven is supposed to be hard to convert, but not against the Saints so far this year.
The top aspect the Saints have to improve is the health of the team. 6 starters were out of the Lions game and more went down on Sunday. The depth of this team is being severely challenged. As I said last week, hopefully, this is the part of the season with the most adversity and maybe the Saints will end the year with good luck on the health front for once.
HEY REF
I had plans on meeting with some coaches and officials earlier this summer since it looked as though the football season would be cancelled due to the CORONA virus. I did meet with a few coaches and officials but since the season has begun it’s very hard to get some time with them. But one constant subject the officials kept bringing up and asking questions was this thing called the Louisiana High School Officials Association or LHSOA.
I promised the officials that I met with that I’d look into this thing because many of them are saying they’ve gotten a raw deal. Well, it (LHSOA) was sold to the refs as a positive for them but since its start many of the officials are questioning “what’s gone wrong”? The following column I wrote back in the summer of 2015 and let’s just refresh what was and what wasn’t said and/or promised. I am still looking into this thing and I’ve found a lot that stinks. One thing that I found odd is they claim to be in business to educate officials and to make them better. But that’s a hard thing to do when you promise officials state wide if they attend an Official’s Camp in New Orleans they’ll be excused from taking the rules test that all officials are supposed to take every year. But in this case if you “ponied” up a fee you were excused from taking the mandatory rules test. So, I ask “How is that educating officials when they don’t have to take the rules test?
So, I hope you’ll enjoy another issue of BEST OF HEY REF.
Would you like to become an Independent Contractor? I hear this phrase being used more and more each and every day. As many of you are well aware of “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 as INDEPENDENT CONTRACTORS is so far from the truth and misleading.
I think this week I’ll devote my entire space and attempt to explain how this very deceptive label is being used by the LHSAA. 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 each and every one there’s nothing and/or way that would support working high schools games under the LHSAA banner and being INDEPENDENT what so ever. This term was introduced over twenty years ago to deprive workers any healthcare benefits and just about every other benefit that was 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.
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 any debate or input from the nine football official’s association state wide the change in shirts is mandated for the ’15 season. 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. Two years ago it was a change to only one style of shoe from only one company.
I thought as an independent contractor I could wear a shoe that fit me comfortably but I was wrong to question the LHSAA. The ONLY shoe allowed came in only ONE width, narrow. By the ten minute mark in the very first quarter of every game the entire crew was feeling the pain and we raised this issue with the LHSAA and were told, “We won’t discuss this issue, you either adapt or you don’t work”. Does that sound like you’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 fees 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 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. Joining an association where you have dedicated meetings, a constitution, elected officers 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…
DENHAM SPRINGS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL IS BACK ON THE AIR!
Our silver anniversary! The 2020 school year marks the 25th season that Jon Fine (Sports) Productions will have the privilege of producing and calling play-by-play for Denham Springs HS Football radio broadcasts. In 2020, the broadcast slate will include all 8 regular season Denham games, and every playoff game. Broadcasts will air on Family Radio-91.9 FM-Baton Rouge, starting at 6:00 pm Friday nights. All broadcasts can also be heard on the Internet at JonFineProductions.com (click Listen Live on the Denham Springs Football PBP page). The first broadcast is Friday, October 2, when the Jackets travel to St Amant HS.
Denham Springs HS grad Josh Ward will be the play-by-play announcer of the Jackets. He will be joined by Andy Duckworth as the color commentator. Jon Fine will contribute to the pre-game warmup, half-time report and post-game show.
This year’s broadcasts will be dedicated to the memory of Jackets Football player Remy Hidalgo. Ward, Duckworth and Fine will each be wearing broadcasts shirts which feature a #77. Throughout the broadcasts, there will be mentions of ways that Jackets fans can contribute to a charity in memory of Remy.
“Sport N Center Jackets Warm-Up” will feature an interview with Jackets Football Coach Brett Beard conducted by Josh Ward. Jon Fine will speak with a prominent Denham Springs community and/or sports figure. Josh Ward and Andy Duckworth will also offer a preview of that night’s game and other pertinent information.
The “North Oaks Health System Half-Time Report” will include Fine interviewing another Denham Springs personality. In addition, Ward and Duckworth will provide a recap of the first half and a look ahead at the second half of action.
During the “Ralph Sellers Chevrolet Post-Game Show”, there will be an extensive game recap, final stats and a look ahead.
When Denham Springs picks up a first down, they’ll achieve an “Ollie’s Car Wash First Down”. When the Jackets score, you’ll get the particulars on the “Big Mike’s Sports Bar & Grill Jackets Scoring Drive”.
Sport-N-Center owner Stacy Phipps (Baseball) and Big Mike O’Neal (Football) were athletes at Denham Springs HS. Ward was an assistant basketball coach with the Jackets.
Ralph Sellers Chevrolet Parts Manager Jim McChristian says he was an athlete at Denham Springs HS, but we have had a difficult time verifying this claim! LOL
Fine expressed that he is especially appreciative of the loyal commercial and name mention sponsors the broadcasts have had on Jon Fine Sports Productions’ Denham Springs HS play-by-play broadcasts throughout the years. Many have been with the broadcasts on a year-in, year-out basis. Fine expressed hope that listeners will have the opportunity to patronize these businesses and let them know they heard about them on DSHS Football radio broadcasts.
Josh Ward not only graduated from Denham Springs HS, but served as an assistant basketball coach under Coach Paul Smith. He has called Redemptorist HS and Central HS Football games for Jon Fine Productions in years’ past. He is presently the Traffic Manager at Guaranty Broadcasting. Ward is a native of Denham Springs and is single.
Andy Duckworth grew up in Mississippi, played high school football, basketball and baseball and was a 4 year baseball letterman at Belhaven. He is a former radio station manager and sports-talk host in Mississippi. In this capacity, he hosted a sports talk show and did play-by-play for Mississippi College Athletics and Madison Central HS. He presently works as a financial advisor. Duckworth is married and has 2 children.
Jon Fine co-hosted and produced daily 2 hour drive-time radio sports-talk programs in the Greater Baton Rouge area for close to 20 years. His programs (first SportsTalk, which changed its name to SportsGumbo), aired, at times, in New Orleans, Lake Charles, Monroe and Alexandria, in addition to the Baton Rouge market. His company, Jon Fine Productions, has produced numerous Denham Springs HS and area HS sports programming on television, radio and internet. In addition to his Denham Springs broadcasting chores, Fine has an EBay internet store--ArrestedDevelopmentMedia Guides, and is a marketing representative for SportsRadio-1310AM-KEZM-Lake Charles/Sulphur. Fine is a native of Valley Stream, New York and a graduate of Penn. He is single.
For more information on Denham Springs HS Sports programming and Jon Fine Productions, please visit JonFineProductions.com.
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 OWNER 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.