Friday, Sept. 12, 2014: $1.535 million bid for Glens Falls Civic Center

   Leading off today: Two potential buyers submitted bids on the Glens Falls Civic Center, with a hockey-focused group apparently in the best position to acquire the arena.

   The GFCC is the home of the NYSPHSAA boys basketball tournament, the organizations volleyball final fours and several Section 2 events.

   Kevin McCloskey, a principal with Adirondack Sports & Entertainment submitted a bid of $1.535 million for the 5,000-seat arena, The Post-Star reported. A second bid, from a group of area businesses, submitted a bid of $600,000. The bids were opened by the city on Friday, following a public auction in August that attracted no bidders. Glens Falls officials are expected to hear proposals this month and make a decision about selling the arena this fall.

   McCloskey, a former minor-league hockey player, plans to develop a hockey academy at the arena where 15- to 19-year-old athletes would train from September through April. The arena would likely continue to accommodate other events.

   "With our model, we use the building all day, every day," McCloskey said. "That's why the model works."

   Utica legend remembered: Tributes poured in Thursday following the report that the veteran Utica newspaper man Les Diven had died at the age of 85.

   "If Les was at your game, it was a big game; and if Les wrote about you, you were star, if only maybe for a day," former Observer-Dispatch reporter Scott Pitoniak, now an author and Rochester talk show host, told the paper.

   Said former Rome Free Academy basketball coach Buddy Evans: "He was great for high school sports in this area, that's for darn sure. He knew the players and coaches. And he always had a jab for you. He knew just what would get you going. We lost a great guy, a great sportsman."

   Diven began at the paper as a part-timer in 1948 while still in high school. He joined the Utica Daily Press full time in 1965 and retired in 1993. He was a frequent source of information for the New York State Sportswriters Association's weekly rankings and statistical information.

   "On paper, he poured the foundation that we stand on today," said Ron Moshier, Divens' successor as the observer-Dispatch's primary high school reporter. "Back when there was more time and space to work with, he made the most of both and helped make local sports the talk of many towns."

   Hazing allegation KO's game: Groton Central School District officials have called off tonight's football game vs. Spencer-Van Etten and are working with the to investigate allegations of hazing involving the team, the Press & Sun-Bulletin reported.

   Groton Central School District Superintendent James Abrams said the investigation by the Groton Police Department involves a single incident on school property Wednesday after classes ended. Abrams said the district is still trying to determine the number of students involved.

   "Due to the ongoing nature of the investigation, we are not able to release any additional information at this time," Abrams said in a statement Friday.

   More Week 2 football notes: LaSalle coach Al Rapp will not be on the sideline for Friday's football game against Albany CBA, The Times Union reported. According to the paper, Rapp has been suspended one game for using an ineligible player in the 49-28 loss to Saratoga in Week 1.

   Assistants Gary Lauver and Gerald Washington will coach this week's game.

    • For the second year in a row, Aquinas vs. Canisius in Week 2 will go a log way toward deciding the No. 1 ranking in Class AA when the first set of NYSSWA ratings are published Wednesday. Aquinas and Canisius meet

RoadToSyracuse.com football site

Saturday at 1 p.m. in Buffalo.

    • The full Week 2 schedule can be viewed here.

    • This week's installment of Section 6 High School Football Weekly is online.

   Coming up: The Basketball Coaches Association of New York will conduct its 33rd annual fall coaching clinic Oct. 3-4 at Cortland State. The lineup of college coaches doing presentations includes Syracuse men's assistant Mike Hopkins and Army women's coach Dave Magarity.

   Among the eight high school coaches who'll be speaking is Fairport's Scott Fitch, whose Saturday seminar is titled "Social Media is Not Your Friend." Fitch, a scrappy "coach's kid" who went on to a stellar career at Geneseo State, offered a preview of sorts to his topic in a Democrat and Chronicle story on social media Friday.

   Fitch told the paper that a college coach had been recruiting two of his players three years ago but suddenly dropped one of the prospects from his list. Fitch was stunned since the coach had previously said both players could contribute significantly as freshmen.

   "We found his Twitter account, looked through it and some of what we saw isn't representative of what our university is about," the recruiter told Fitch.

   The episode motivated Fitch to explore various social media sites to learn more about the power and pitfalls of those tools. Since then, he has done more than 40 presentations at Rochester-area schools with players, coaches and parents.

   Said Rush-Henrietta football coach Joe Montesano: "It's here to stay and we either get up with the times and figure out how to get through it or we'll be sorry. I think it's part of the education process as a teacher and coach. We try to model for them, try to teach them how to do it the right way."

   Turf war: The Democrat and Chronicle reported that hard feelings have broken out between two Section 5 teams in that most gentle of sports, tennis.

   A double-booking of the courts at Cobbs Hill Park by the city of Rochester has forced the girls teams from School of the Arts and Our Lady of Mercy

Many reporters use Twitter to deliver remote updates. We track those tweets from a variety of venues 24/7. Visit the page to see what's going on.

to co-exist while seeking other arrangements for practice and matches. With about 10 players at SOTA and about 20 at Mercy, six courts aren't enough.

   The paper reported tension arose between the two teams this week, leading to threats to call police.