Two young baseball players caught the eye of a volunteer playground coach named Firmin Simms. At the time, Raymond and younger brother Daniel Staub were playing on a Cub Scouts softball team. Simms was so excited about the two prospects that he sought out their father, Ray Sr., a coach at Nicholls High School in the Bywater area of New Orleans.

The Saints’ latest venture into veteran free agency has been relatively uneventful. And, that is a good thing. The Saints didn’t overpay for defensive tackle Ndamukong Suh and tight end Jimmy Graham. New Orleans brought back three former Saints, cornerback Patrick Robinson, offensive tackle Jermon Bushrod and tight end Ben Watson.

The Coconut Beach Sand Volleyball Complex will host the annual high school Slam-N-Jam volleyball tournament on April 7. The event is a collaboration of 26 student councils from local Catholic and public high schools to benefit Camp Friendship (children with spina bifida) and Camp Pelican (children with cystic fibrosis and other pulmonary diseases).

It was two of the most intriguing weeks in recent Saints history, and it had nothing to do with football. Saints owner Tom Benson was laid to rest last Friday, but not before a three-day celebration of his life. The Who’s Who of national sports figures came to pay their respects, but it was the people who knew Benson best who shined.

Leah Kennedy of De La Salle won the girls’ shot put at the Jim Bickford Invitational Track and Field meet at Chalmette High School on March  15. Kennedy’s winning throw of 38 feet, 5 inches edged second-place Bailey Braud of Cabrini.

Former players and friends of retired Archbishop Shaw baseball coach Pat O’Shea gather around him to celebrate the school’s naming its home team dugout in his name at a ceremony on March 16. O’Shea, an alumnus of Jesuit and longtime coach at Shaw, is battling colon cancer. A group of more than 100 joined O’Shea in the ceremony.

The Lenten season is a time for reflection. And there are many years of reflection in this boy’s life, both personally and professionally, that come to mind at this time. I often think about my grandmother taking me to 11:30 a.m. Mass at St. Rose de Lima Church after I received my first Communion.

During Super Bowl week in 2010, Saints owner Tom Benson and his wife Gayle invited media members to a breakfast. When the meal ended he asked two reporters to interview his wife. One, was Times-Picayune legend Pete Finney. I was the other. I considered it to be quite an honor.

The interest from Southeastern Louisiana came quickly. “I didn’t go out looking for anything,” said Nicholls State football coach Tim Rebowe. But, with one year remaining on his original contract, Rebowe signed a new, four-year deal. “Our administration understands the value of athletics,” said Rebowe.

PLAYER OF THE YEAR: Senior guard Kourtney Weber was the main cog in Ursuline Academy’s offense that won a district and select Division II championship. The Florida State signee was named the LHSAA Division II Most Valuable Player. Weber, who missed her entire junior campaign because of an ACL injury, was named MVP of the 2016 Class 4A championship game as a sophomore.

St. Paul’s senior center Chandler Owenby attempts to penetrate the Scotlandville defense during the select Division I finals at the Sugar Bowl/LHSAA boys’ championship tournament. The veteran Hornets, making their ninth consecutive title game appearance, defeated St. Paul’s, 63-40, on March 10 in Lake Charles to end the Wolves’ finest season in its 106-year history with a 27-6 record.

When Keith Haywood said having played for a girls’ basketball championship last week was the shot of adrenalin his St. Mary’s Academy program badly needed, he was also speaking for his counterpart at St. Katharine Drexel Prep, Terry Wilson. St. Mary’s last state championship came in 1998 during an era in which Haywood’s Cougars were queens of the local high school basketball court. That ended in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in 2005.

For those of you looking for a football fix, you get it starting this week. LSU and Tulane both kick off spring practice. And, both face challenging 2018 schedules. The website www.southern pigskin.com says LSU has the ninth-toughest schedule of the 66 schools in Power 5 conferences. Only Texas A&M, at No. 6, has a tougher schedule in the Southeastern Conference. By the way, Alabama’s schedule checks in at No. 57.

The 2017-18 high school basketball season may not be logged in the annals as a banner one for local Catholic schools’ boys’ teams, but for the talented seniors and underclassmen who earned spots on the Clarion Herald’s Elite Boys’ Team, the campaign wrote their personal success stories. In an era that separates public and non-public schools into class and division tournaments, just about every non-public school is given a playoff berth just for fielding a team.

For fans of big league baseball, this is a great time of the year. Spring training games have started, and first pitch of the regular season is less than one month away.

The individual Louisiana State Wrestling Tournament champions: Division I

Maybe it is my fault. Last fall, I told my wife to push our summer vacation back, after July 1. When LSU reached the championship round of the College World Series in 2017, we returned home on June 29.

Division I girls’ basketball teams have sat idly by waiting for their turn to compete in the LHSAA state basketball playoffs. Maybe it’s a good thing they did not have to play a game before quarterfinal round.

Spring is in the air for a pair of Academy of the Sacred Heart track and field standouts. And senior Claire Moreau and junior Mary Nusloch are already making their presence known in Baton Rouge.

It’s time for the newly approved State Wrestling Tournament committee to get to work to find a future site for that championship event. The tournament’s stay at Bossier City’s CenturyLink Center has run its course. The management there did a good job of running the massive two-day event, but now it’s time to take the state tournament to the spectators.