Leading off today: The new rankings are out, and Baldwinsville check in at No. 15 in the nation.
In girls soccer, you ask? That was my initial inclination since the Bees are a Section 3 contender this fall. However, B'ville is only No. 11 in the most recent NYSSWA rankings, so No. 15 in the U.S. isn't realistic.
No, this ranking is for eSports and is compiled by USA Today based upon an examination of results from competition in "Madden NFL," "Rocket League," "NBA 2k," "Hearthstone," and "League of Legends." The website explains that
schools are ranked by match winning percentage of their top-performing team in each eSports title.
I mention all this mostly because it's a reminder that eSports was a bit of a topic within the New York State Public High School Athletic Association before the pandemic hit in 2020 as the state office reached out to sectional committees to explore whether it was an activity that the NYSPHSAA might want to add to its portfolio.
I more or less disappeared during the pandemic to focus on my new writing job while the high school sports world came to a complete halt, and it's only been recently that I've had time to re-immerse myself in the nuts and bolts of New York scholastic sports.
So, with a NYSPHSAA Executive Committee coming up next week, I'll hopefully have a chance to pop in and find out what ever happened on the eSports front and a few other topics that were previously on the radar.
Veteran Syracuse CBA baseball coach dies
Kudos to Lindsay Kramer at Syracuse.com for an
all-encompassing obituary full of wonderful stories following the death of long-time Christian Brothers Academy baseball coach Tom Dotterer, who died Tuesday at the age of 88.
Dotterer's son Henry said the coach sensed his time was running short following an illness in the spring and wrote what he called an "obituary" over the summer. In essence, it was a poem dedicated to Joanne, his wife of 61 years.
"You filled my life with goodness, from nowhere to all-where. In an instant, you resided within me. I orbited, always drawn yet spiraling, 'till dew to the sky you absorbed me. Two became one. Miracles appeared. Flowers blossomed. A garden grew."
Dotterer became CBA's head coach in 1990 and racked up 12 Section 3 titles, a state championship, and more than 700 victories. He was still active through last spring, though assistants Pat Wiese and Colin Conroy took larger roles beginning in 2023.
Speaking of good writing ...
Syracuse.com reporter and NYSSWA helper Kenny Lacy Jr. wrote
a touching piece this week about how the Cicero-North Syracuse community is wrapping its arms around recent graduate and basketball captain Zerrie Brown, whose mother Dawn died in a car crash on Sunday.
A group including coach Kyle Martin created a GoFundMe account to help Zerrie in his time of need. The initiative had raised more than $44,000 as of Friday morning.
Martin described him as "the world's best kid," and "the greatest teammate anyone could imagine." It's incredibly telling that a seldom-used role player was tabbed to serve as his team's captain last season.
Milestones
• Ward Melville field hockey coach Shannon Sioss collected her 300th career victory this week, according to the Section XI social media account.
• This snuck past a bunch of us, but Dave Whitcomb became Section 5's all-time leader in football coaching wins with No. 228 as Midlakes defeated Mynderse late last month. Whitcomb is in his second stint with the Screaming Eagles, having also coached at Avon, Aquinas, Greece Arcadia, Geneva, and Fairport along the way.
