Evaluating LSU's First Football Season Under Head Coach Brian Kelly.

 Objectivity is the honest way understanding a team's progress or regression and it is not just a one year thing.  Some LSU sports writers reported their thoughts on evaluating the team during the year but that more or less was to file a story for the newspapers.  Now that the regular season is over, we know the facts to make an objective evaluation.

We do know that this year's team made progress from the last two years when LSU played 500 ball.  This year's team had an overall winning record of 9-3 and a 6-2 record in SEC play and won the West division.  Last year's team finished with a 3-5 record and was last tied with Auburn in the West.  LSU will now play Georgia on Saturday for the SEC championship.  Those are accomplishments and improvements that can be checked with facts and can be seen on the field.  

How do you balance that improvement against the following?  LSU beat three teams with an overall winning record, Alabama, Ole Miss and Miss. State, (4 if you count Southern).  They beat only one team in the SEC with a winning record, Alabama;  They beat 5 teams in the SEC with a break even or losing record, Miss. State 4-4, Ole Miss. 4-4, Auburn 2-6, Florida 3-5, and Ark. 3-5.  They lost to Tennessee 6-2 and Texas A&M 2-6.  Out of the 7 teams in the SEC West, LSU and Alabama were the only two teams with a winning record within the SEC.  Beside Southern, LSU also played two other teams not up to par with the SEC, New Mexico and UAB. 

How should LSU's schedule be rated?  There has always been talk about certain teams playing a weak schedule.  Would LSU's schedule be rated strong, average or on the weak side?  They beat only one team that had an overall winning record and a winning record in the SEC, Alabama by one point.  Having the many teams in the SEC West with break even and losing records, can that division be called a strong division this past football season?  

Out of the 14 teams in the SEC's two divisions, only 4 teams had a winning record in SEC play.  Georgia and Tennessee in the East and LSU and Alabama in the West.  Tennessee played three of those teams and defeated two, Alabama and LSU.  Georgia played one, Tennessee and defeated them.  LSU played Tennessee and Alabama beating Alabama and losing to Tennessee.  Alabama played two of those teams, LSU and Tennessee and lost both games.  Obviously, Tennessee was dealt the strongest hand but still defeated two of the three they played.  Ten of the 14 teams had a break even or losing record in SEC play.  Do the numbers represent a strong SEC conference in 2022?  The numbers indicate a good debate could take place on the subject.

This writer is of the opinion that LSU's schedule would be rated no higher than average and that the objective evaluation indicates that the team has made much progress from the past two years and still has a way to go before they become a consistent winning team.  This years progress represents only one year and those talking about a College Football Playoff position got ahead of themselves.  One season is not a track record, it is an indication of what might come to be.

The unknown part of evaluating LSU's progress is, what role if any did the weak SEC teams play in LSU's success.  Everyone has their own answer, but it is an area that is unclear.  What we do know is that LSU is an improved team over the past two seasons and that fans now see some hope of good things to come.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio 

P.S. Stay tuned to the coming commentary concerning the CFP ranking of the top teams which this writer thinks needs to be changed.  

Texas A&M Defeats LSU 38-23, Ends LSU's College Football Playoff Hopes.

 College Station was not kind to the LSU Tigers Saturday night as the Aggies offense dominated LSU's defense all night beginning with their first possession which ended with a touchdown after a time consuming drive.  The Aggies ended the regular season with an overall record of 5-7 and a SEC record of 2-6.  The Tigers ended their regular season with a 9-3 record and a SEC record of 6-2 and won the SEC west.

The loss ended any chance of LSU making the playoffs once again even though some thought they could do so with two losses.  So the Tigers are now off to the SEC championship game with undefeated Georgia next week to decide the winner of this years SEC title.  LSU ended the regular season Saturday night like they ended the first game of the season, with a loss.  The only difference was Saturday's loss was fatal for the Tigers playoff hopes, the first loss was not.

This writer believes that when the LSU coaching staff review the film of the game to evaluate what took place, they will conclude that the Aggies were a better prepared team than the Tigers and misjudged the offensive capabilities of the Aggies.  The Aggies offensive game plans took LSU's Perkins out of the game most of the night.

The next Politidose commentary will provide information to help evaluate LSU's first season under coach Brian Kelly and what the future might hold for the Tigers football fortunes down the road.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Note:  This writer believes LSU has some veery good running backs and should use them more and Quarterback Dainels less to run the ball. 

Dana Milbank's Commentary On The Media Represents Journalism At Its Best.

 In a Times Picayune New Orleans Advocate article dated 11/25 titled, "Biggest loser of the midterm elections is the media" Journalist Milbank clearly lays out the misinformation the news media gleefully laid on the public during the midterm elections and how wrong their reporting was from the beginning to the end.  The negative media noise machine during the midterm are the same negative voices of the anti- Biden- democratic party who would like to see them fail.

Those same negative voices for the past 8 months have pushed for, and predicted an economic recession that would take place in the 3rd quarter, but never did.  So now the negative voices are predicting the recession will hit sometime in 2023.  Those negative voices are bent on misinformation because they oppose the President's agenda which is working and moving the country forward.

Politidose commentary was there in previous commentary to report on the lies and misinformation of the negative media voices.  Dana Milbank lived up to his responsibility as a journalist to inform the people with his timely commentary that called the media out and correctly opined that they the media were indeed the biggest losers of the midterm elections.  

And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe  Lorio 

The GOP's Midterm Red Wave Tsunami That Never Was.

The same negative voices that flooded the internet the last 8 months predicting an economic recession before the end of the third quarter, which failed, were the same propaganda negative voices predicting a GOP red wave Tsunami where the GOP would gain upwards of 30 plus seats in the U.S. House.  The propaganda never stopped so the voters put an end to the nonsense.

In January the new congress will begin with the U. S. House under GOP control and the U.S. Senate under democratic control.  Leadership of the GOP house has already promised to go negative, but like the first two years of the Biden administration, the President and the democrats in congress will be the only sane voices in Washington representing the country and its people.  Many of Trump's ditto heads in the House will dominate the GOP's extreme agenda.

We will see in the new year a good part of the Biden agenda passed this year will start to kick in and assist the economy to continue to move forward in a positive way.  The GOP will not like that and the Feds need to stop raising interest rates and avoid an economic recession.  On the legislative side, the democratic controlled Senate and President Biden's veto power can put an end to any extreme legislation that the GOP tries to pass.

This writer is confident that the sane people in Washington will prevail in 2023 as they did in 2022.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

 

Saint's Sports Writers Are Wrong Again.

 Months before the Saint's season ever began, New Orleans Sports Writers were predicting rosy assumptions about the Saints season under first year head coach Dennis Allen.  Some saw the Saints winning the division and making the playoffs and that all would be well under the new coach.  The Saint's opening game win against Atlanta indicated all was well.

That all changed as the season started to play out and the losses started to mount.  Now the reporting from those same writers have turned negative and they have all the answers after the fact but they still don't get it.  That's because they lack objectivity in evaluating the Saints.  They were blind to the two huge problems the Saints were facing going into the season.  

The two huge problems concern the two most important people with the team, the head coach and the quarterback.  The Saints entered the season with a head coach void of a winning record as a head coach so it was impossible to predict how well he and the team would do.  It was and still is a situation of "time will tell."  The Saints have no quarterback on their roster that has completed one full season as a Saints starting quarterback, so there is no record to indicate Winston could do the job.  Plus, everyone knows he is injury prone, missed a good part of last season and has played only 3 games so far this year because of being injured.

In other words, the two most important people with the team has no real winning record to be judged which means the Saints season was bound to be a "wait and see" season.  What has taken place at quarterback should have never taken place.  Blame management for not signing a young promising quarterback 3 or 4 years before Brees retired so they would have a better quality at that position.  And make no mistake, management knew the Brees era was coming to an end.

For those who believe Allen's experience as a defensive coordinator qualifies him to be a successful head coach is sadly mistaken.  Picking the Saints to win their division and or making the playoffs was a nice dream far from realty and not very objective. 

Politidose commentary was there and told the real story months before the season even started.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

Conservative Columnist George Will Should Hang Up His Shingle.

 In a Times Picayune New Orleans Advocate opinion column of 11/4 titled, "For good of country, Biden and Harris should bow out of the 2024 election" which follows the negative conservative voices who have clamored for the same thing the past 12 months.  Never mind that the President was elected to serve 4 years and as of this date has served less than two years but want the President to make the decision public now.

Their purpose of wanting the President to declare now is to divide the country even more.  If the President would do so now, they would be the first to claim he is a "lame duck President" which is a political ploy to divide the country and do nothing.  There is no reason why the President should announce his decision at this point and should wait until the beginning of 2024.

The problem with Will and the negative conservatives is once again it is a democratic administration that has turned around the economic disaster of the previous GOP administration.  A reduction in federal spending, the deficit, record job creation, consumers who are still spending despite inflation and low unemployment and a America that is once again leading democracy.

It was George Will who tolerated Trump's lies, misinformation, his corruption and was silent when Trump ran for re-election.  Will's article was published 4 days before the congressional elections and the last sentence of the last paragraph suggest Will swallowed the negative conservative voices who predicted a Red Wave for the GOP on election day.  Will also failed to explain why he did not suggest Trump bow out of the 2020 Presidential election knowing how corrupt he was.

This writer in a previous Politidose commentary months ago expressed the opinion that the President would not seek re-election in 2024 and the reasons why.  This writer is of the opinion that it is Mr. Will who should hang up his shingle and do so timely.  The future of journalism is at stake.

This commentary written by joe Lorio 

Froma Harrop's Editorial Commentary Is Right On Target: And It Is Another Huge First For "Politidose."

Harrop's commentary published in the Times Picayune New Orleans Advocate of 11/7 titled, "Contrary to rumors, Democrats are better at the economy" was right on target and confirms what "Politidose" commentary has been saying for the past 9 plus years.  The only difference is "Politidose" commentary tells the story that Democratic administrations are best at governing all the issues and not just the economy and explains why and the details.  A good example is "Politidose" commentary dated March 19, 2021 titled, Presidential Leadership:  The Economy and Fiscal Matters The Past 40 years.

When it comes to governing the economy and the government's fiscal house, GOP administrations are so bad they cannot campaign on the issues, the numbers or the facts so they depend on lies and misinformation such as, Democrats are job killers, record spenders and the party of debt when the actual numbers support it is their own party they are describing.  Democratic administrations are best at governing the economy because they govern with plans and policies that address the issues.

Harrop knows the facts and so does "Politidose."  There are many issues that affect the economy.  Look at just a few major ones.  (a)  Every GOP administration in the last 100 years has given the country an economic recession.  That includes Reagan, Bush 43 and Trump who passed trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations that failed the economy.  (b)  Reagan was the only GOP President in the last 74 years to leave office with a lower unemployment rate than when he took office.  Every Democratic President during that same time period left office with a lower unemployment rate than when he took office with the exception of President Carter when the unemployment rate stayed the same.  (c)  The worst banking failures took place on the GOP watch of Herbert Hoover during the great depression, the collapse of the Savings and Loan took place on Reagan's watch in the 1980'0 and the Wall Street banks collapsed on the watch of President George W. Bush in 2008.  (d) No GOP President has balanced the federal budget since President Eisenhower in 1960, but two Democratic Presidents balanced 5 federal budgets during that same time period.  President Clinton balanced 4 and President Johnson balanced one.  (e)  No democratic administration lost jobs on his watch in the past 93 years.  But two GOP administrations did.  Hoover lost 6.4 million jobs on his watch and Trump lost 2.7 million jobs on his watch.  And for those 93 years, job creation under Democratic administrations can be described as robust while under GOP administrations, job creation can be described as very weak.

No matter what the category, Democratic administrations preform much better at governing for the people and the country.  What is lacking in the media is their failure to inform the people of the facts that are available at their fingertips.  Instead, they run with the GOP talking points of lies and misinformation.

The media desperately needs more journalists like Froma Harrop who obviously follows the facts to report and inform the people like her commentary of 11/7 did.  True information is wisdom, and that coupled  with political understanding, will always be the foundation for a better America.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio

 

Louisiana's GOP Congressional Representation in Congress: Such A Phony On The Issue.

FEMA is once again a topic, especially in Louisiana concerning flooding and FEMA flood maps.  It is really nothing new and has been ongoing for many years along with higher premiums for flood insurance.  Now comes the latest in a Times Picayune article of 11/4 titled, "La. Delegation Demands Answers On Flood Insurance Changes" by staff writer Mark Ballard.

La's delegation thinks FEMA has not been transparent concerning their latest flood RISK RATING 2.0.  FEMA says they have been transparent since April 2021and spells out how in the article.  But the bottom line to all of this is nothing new.  FEMA's maps, flood zones, rising premiums and etc, have been an issue before congress for many years and the GOP has never done anything about it and it came up the last time on Trump's watch when the GOP controlled congress and they still did nothing to answer the problem.

Flood insurance will be settled in a fair and equitable manner only when the Insurance Companies control over the situation is taken away from them.  And that should and could have been done in Louisiana years ago by government regulations that require residential homes be built off the ground at a certain level.  If that was done after hurricane Betsy, flood rates would be much less than they are today and taken the control from the Industry would set a standard.

The public lacks leaders, both business and political with foresight and a progressive attitude toward the future.  Innovation is far removed from their thinking about future events.  So the same properties keep flooding over and over which gives Insurance Companies more control and we still build slab homes on the ground that will continue to flood.  

La's GOP's delegation in congress is one of excuses with the FEMA thing.  Former Louisiana's U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu accomplished more for Louisiana than the whole lot of the GOP delegation. 

This commentary was written by Joe Lorio 

The U.S. Economy, Job Creation and The Unemployment Rate for October 2022.

The U.S. Labor Department reported the U.S. economy added 261,000 jobs in October and the unemployment rate came in at 3.7%, two tenths of one percent higher than September when it was 3.5%.  It was the 21st straight month of positive job growth for the economy and October's job numbers exceeded the negative voices of doom and gloom who were predicting much slower growth.  The department also reported the September job numbers exceeded those earlier reported.

The good job numbers came a day after the Fed raised interest rates again to try and bring down inflation.  But the economy is not listening and is still going strong.  In fact, wages were up 0.4% in October over September's gains.  If the Feds continue their unnecessary actions, they will crash the economy, kill jobs and increase unemployment to unacceptable levels.  The negative voices do not care because they are the extreme who represent the big corporations whose profits are skyrocketing because they are inflating their prices to consumers.  The oil and gas industry is a good example and so are the food industry.  

President Biden and his administration are the only sane voices for the economy with the democratic controlled congress.  Their progressive positive policies have been able to survive the negative noise machine, their lies, misinformation and America is working and spending despite inflation.  It is the bright side the doom and gloom people are unable to accept. 

History and precedent tells us the democratic party has a record of governing the best.  The negative voices actually know that, they just have nothing left that is positive in their ideology to articulate.  And that really says it all.

This commentary written by Joe Lorio