October 29, 2020
AT ZACHARY
Denham Springs travels on the road to face Zachary HS this Friday night and we have it for you on the radio and/or Internet. 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!!!
GOD BLESS
Our thoughts and prayers go out to everyone adversely effected by Hurricane Delta… and My heart goes out to my friends in the Lake Area who endured major destruction at the hands of Hurricane Laura and Hurricane Delta. 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.
TODAY’S COLUMNS:
Scott takes a look at the NFL and LSU Football
Dennis changes the name of his column this week to ASK THE REF…
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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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
Does anyone see what is going to happen? The NFC East is going to get a 5-6 win team in the playoffs HOSTING a playoff game.
The Eagles lead the division with a 2-4-1 record and have the best chance of getting ¨hot¨ because they are still on their first quarterback. The Cowboys are on their third quarterback at 2-5, while the Washington Football Team is rolling with Kyle Allen instead of Dwayne Haskins. The Giants cannot even keep up with these teams.
Philadelphia still has to play the Browns, Seahawks, Packers, Saints, and Cardinals. Even if they sweep the division games, they will be underdogs in all those games and should finish 6-9-1. 5-10-1 is much more realistic.
The Cowboys have a more manageable schedule. While the Steelers, Ravens and 49ers are games they will almost certainly lose, the Vikings and Bengals are conceivable wins. Though, I would bet on Burrow over any Dallas quarterback right now. At 2-5 now, how can anyone predict the Cowboys winning more than 5 games?
Washington has the Steelers, Seahawks, and 49ers left which should be losses. The Panthers are playing well, so that should be a loss too. Again, Washington has Cincinnati on the schedule which gives them a chance at a win, but who does not think Burrow and the Bengals are due for some breaks. The Bengals believe in their quarterback and that makes a huge difference in the NFL. Washington does have the Lions left who somehow play every game close, yet lose 80% of those games. Still, the Lions are a better team. Sure, 6-10 is possible, but 5-11 is much more likely.
The Giants are not going to win 5 of their last 9 games, so do you see now? It is almost guaranteed that the winner of this division will have 5 wins and my money would be on the Eagles at 5-10-1. And as a Saints fan, how can I not have the awful feeling that the Saints will be the second wild card team heading to Philadelphia for the first round of the playoffs?!
On a more positive note, please ignore the stupid quarterback discussion surrounding LSU. It is utter nonsense. Gather your perspective. Just a few years ago, LSU would take a quarterback who looked decent in his first couple of appearances and turn him into a total wreck that would have a great game once in a while throwing from 203 yards. Myles Brennan started the year on a record pace. TJ Finley had the best start I have seen a LSU true freshman quarterback ever have. All the reports say that Max Johnson was right on Finley´s heels. LSU's quarterback room looks like Florida State and the other great teams of the 90s used to have. Enjoy it Tiger fans.
Auburn has received gifts from the SEC officials in each of their wins. They have not been able to win one game on their own. Nevertheless, LSU's defense is still finding their footing. The good news is that the linebackers, for the first time this year, were filling gaps at the line of scrimmage. Not always the right gaps, but they were filling gaps. I am sure LSU will give up some big plays to Auburn, but the Auburn defense is not close to the group from last year. Auburn has not looked any better from week to week, while LSU showed some growth last week. I am confident that if LSU takes another step forward this week, they are better than Auburn this week.
For all the injuries and mess associated with the Saints to start this year, there are some very encouraging signs. Last year, the Saints were overly reliant on Thomas and Kamara. Right now, every receiver appears capable of making plays and that is a good feeling. This offense is best when Brees is spreading the ball around to everyone and that is what is happening right now.
If the secondary could find an ounce of leadership and play together, I believe this team could get very hot. Of course the way 2020 is going as soon as it looks like clear skies, another storm comes our way. What comes after Zeta?
ASK THE REF
No, it isn’t a mistake since this week I’m turning the tables on myself so to speak and will try to answer your questions, it’s only fair. So this week I relent to those very people that read my column. So now you know why for this week I’ve renamed this space “Ask the REF”! I know some will agree with my answers and some, maybe all, will disagree with me. But I don’t do this each week to make friends. And I’m not going to make friends with some because of my views so I’ll ask you to respect what I write as I respect your views, questions and opinions.
I promise to answer all of them, the easy ones and the tough ones with as much candor as I can. So with that out of the way let me pass along a quick reminder that all suspects are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. And with that the first answer comes from a question I was asked not long ago about the number of players being arrested, jailed and kicked out of school. The question asked had something to do with what should be the first thing any recruit is told when a school comes a calling for their services. I didn’t try to be funny as the continued number of players being arrested for all sorts of crimes seems to be taking off again. To be brutally honest more and more schools have to retain the services of attorneys to represent players that find themselves in deep trouble with the law and the money has to come from somewhere. I think it’s very sad to see so many schools having to put aside huge amounts of cash to defend their athletes.
Another question that I seem to get more often than others has to do with comparing players from my playing days to today’s athletes. And as words have meanings when I was in school, graduated West Monroe H. S. in 1974, we had PLAYERS while today teams are made up with ATHLETES. Let me explain, back in my day we PLAYED the game whereas today ATHLETES train year round getting bigger, stronger, faster and more compact. Their diets are basically scientific regimes intended to produce muscle while lifting weights maximizes those new muscles and strength. We would spend 6th period in the weight room before practice as the basics of lifting weights, etc. was just beginning to take shape kinda like being in its infancy. Today’s athletes continue working hard over 12 months and not just during that sport’s regular season. So, today you don’t have kids on a high school or college field you’ve got rock solid men.
But the down side to today’s athletes simply is they are under too much pressure to get bigger and faster. Which of course causes many of them have to resort to cheating and turn to science (drugs) to get them where they need or want to be simply because they won’t make the roster. It’s not rocket science to see that today’s athletes without a doubt are much bigger, stronger, faster and quicker but getting that way causes too many of them to contain more drugs in their bodies than your local CVS or Walgreens. I will not blame the sporting world entirely because drugs and drug use has always been a part of just about every sport on this planet. It’s a fact that far too many kids are getting hooked on some very serious drugs before they ever walk onto a playing field. But my number one “BITCH” is the fact that schools put their bottom lines above their players health simply because they need those money makers today and then just say “TO HELL WITH THEM AFTER 3 OR 4 YEARS”!
And on the flip side of this issue is the fact that many kids aren’t attending a university to gain a profession or an education but rather feel their only hope in life is to become a professional athlete which they then drop out of school to make their mark in the “real” world. We only hear about those that’ve made it to the NFL or the NBA while the vast number of those that don’t get drafted or make a roster are soon forgotten. Players have gotten a little smarter so to speak and have started forgoing a bowl game, one that’s branded as meaningless, to give them more options when the draft rolls around. I can’t blame them for doing it because one wrong turn and they’ve sustained an injury that causes them to lose out on a multi-million dollar career.
When I say a “meaningless game” I’m referring to an SEC Title game or National Championship game since I believe all other bowl games are a kinda reward for a successful season. At least that’s what they were before TV contacts and sponsors poured billions of dollars into the numerous conferences across the country hoping to land “THE” game. And of course that’ll do nothing for the players but will continue what I say is modern day slavery by not giving the players the biggest piece of the money pie.
In the wild world of billion dollar sports a player must be the one to make the final decision on how he’ll insure his health and ability to make a living. Many players have families, children and many more come from poor families. Being able to garner a professional contract worth millions is the culmination of a lifelong plan that’s years in the making to this new generation of million dollar athletes. I have to agree 1,000% with any player that decides to opt out of bowl games to protect a very valuable asset and that is a healthy, uninjured body.
Like so many things in this money hungry world the only thing that matters is “What can you do for me today”? So I say with all my support that I hope many more players will not suit up for one last game. To the player it’s as certain as death and taxes; a bowl game is not worth losing a career over or one’s health. I say more power to those guys that know what they want and have a plan on being able to be self-sufficient. I raise my glass to those players who’ll be able give back to the ones that sacrificed so much for them.
I’ll wrap up this up by THANKING all those that say they enjoy my column. Please send in more questions as I sometime get to writing too much and can’t fit in more of the questions you want me to answer.
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.