December 25, 2020
GOD BLESS AMERICA.
MERRY CHRISTMAS
TO ONE AND ALL
OR TO MOST OF YOU RASCALS ANYHOW!!
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 discusses LSU and the Saints
It’s Rabbi Dennis in Hey Ref!…
Please scroll down below.
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THE WIZARDRY OF OS
The Chiefs beat the Saints in a game between two teams that are supposed to challenge for the Super Bowl. Kansas City dominated time of possession. The Saints dropped passes, had 5 penalties that lead to first downs, a turnover negated by a penalty, and an overall did not play well. Yet, the Saints scored 29 points and only lost by 3.
In summary, the Saints played poorly against the best team in the NFL and still had a chance to win without many of their best weapons on offense. That is, once again, a sign of how good this team could be, but a reminder they are not playing up to their capability.
The Saints gave the whole world a glimpse at Tampa Bay 6 weeks ago of their potential. For whatever reason, though, recently they look like the team from the last few years. The ability is there, but the execution late in the year is lacking.
The discipline on defense the last two weeks has fallen back to where it was at the beginning of the year, non-existent. While the offense is without an identity when teams take away the screens and swing passes out of the backfield to Kamara.
December has not been a good month to the Saints under Sean Payton. It was not during the Super Bowl run and has not in recent years. Can this team get healthy and play its best football in January?
I keep asking this question because I keep holding out hope that the trend I am seeing is not going to be the reality that leads to another first round playoff exit with a team that is capable of making the Super Bowl.
The end of the season may come too soon for the Saints, but I think the end came at just the right time for LSU. It is hard to look back at LSU´s season and make sense of it.
On one hand, LSU was a couple of plays in the Missouri game and a couple healthy players in the Mississippi State game away from 7-3. On the other hand, LSU was a shoe and a couple of plays in the Ole Miss game away from 3-7.
I cannot look at the season without the player attrition coming to the top of my mind. In July, if I were to list the best players for LSU in order I would have listed Chase, Stingley, Marshall, Shelvin, Stevens, Brennan, Vincent, and down the line from there.
Chase, Vincent, and Shelvin did not play a down for a team that lost a record number of players to the draft. In two of the biggest wins of the year, Stingley, Brennan, and Marshall did not play. In some respects, it is amazing this team went 5-5.
As a result, it bothers me that Steve Ensminger has not gotten the credit he deserves. He got crushed for LSU not scoring at the end of the Missouri game even though LSU scored over 40 points on the road with an offense that returned two starters and was playing its second game.
He coached more games with a true freshman at quarterback than not, and produced an offense that was better than over 75% of the LSU offenses I have seen in my lifetime. When listing the best offensive coordinators in LSU history based on the production on the field, I do not know how Steve Ensimger is not in the top 4.
Certainly, this LSU football team had issues, but even on the defensive side the personnel issues were obvious. I am not sure why Coach O decided to declare the defense was exactly what he wanted heading into the season. Maybe he was trying a jedi mind trick of sorts.
This year was a year where LSU had to rely on too many newcomers and the returners did not progress as hoped. Fortunately, the NCAA has declared this offseason will be the wild west. It will be fun to see how rosters are transformed.
HEY REF
Is it me? For some strange reason I feel 2020 refuses to end. Because this is a special time of year I’d like to wish everyone a very “MERRY CHRISTMAS”! Notice I said “MERRY CHRISTMAS” and not Happy Holidays. It shows how divided a country and civilization we’ve turned into when citizens continue fighting at this most sacred time of the year just because some say “MERRY CHRISTMAS”. It turns my stomach when people argue and fight with each other if one wants to wish you a “MERRY CHRISTMAS”!
“Blessed are the peace makers”. I was asked what I thought was the reason for so much hate in our lives and my “go-to” answer is a simple one; “We’ve lost the ability to show and share a common respect for others and their beliefs. On our Christmas tree my wife decorates it with a huge “Christmas” star at the top along with angels and other Christian themed decorations. She also has displays of a manger complete with farm animals and a nativity.
For me we celebrated Hanukkah by lighting one candle each night from Dec. 10th to the eighteenth as tradition dictates. We don’t argue about who’s right and/or who’s wrong because we respect each other’s religion and way of life. For too long the human race has slaughtered each other in the name of God. You’ll never hear an argument about religion or beliefs in my house, we’ll never scream at each other and claim “you’re wrong, you must believe the way I believe”!
That’s about as much of a sermon you’ll hear from “Hey Ref”. And “Hey Ref” hopes that one day, the sooner the better, we all find a way to respect each other’s right to worship as we feel is the right way. So, here’s to everyone, may God reign in your house and may you know true peace. MERRY CHRISTMAS!
“Hey Ref” will be on a much needed vacation for the next three weeks and I hope to continue spreading PEACE because we all need more of it in our lives!
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