Leading off today: I've been going back and forth for a few weeks about whether to write this because I know its going to piss some people off, and a few of them might be friends who've been in the business awhile.
But I guess I might as well say it instead of just thinking it: Running long lists of "players to watch" as a season preview serves no purpose.
I've pretty much felt that way since my competitor while I was on the high school sports beat in the 1980s listed a boy who had died over the summer among the "players to watch" for the upcoming season.
Such lists do not constitute reporting, they do not genuinely serve to inform, and they call into question whether the reporter substitutes quantity over quality to compensate for a lack of grasp of the local landscape for the sport.
That's one of the reasons I like the LoHud.com approach of presenting the Elite 11, constituting a preseason all-area team in each sport. Yes, their player capsules are followed by "others to watch," but those lists don't drag on longer than Porky Pig singing "Whipping Post" at Fillmore East.
Winnowing the list to the projected best of the best demonstrates expertise and serves a greater purpose than regurgitating returnees from last season's all-league teams.
It's true that not all newspaper staffs are created equal. Newsday and LoHud put more resources into high schools sports coverage than most, and it shows. But even smaller staffs can do better. The Times Union jump-started the fall season last week with 128 Section 2 teams and athletes to watch from across the spectrum of sports. Each capsule, many illustrated with photos, was short but listed the credentials justifying their inclusion.
It looked and felt like actual reporting rather than transcription.
• OK, I'm done pontificating -- some would say bloviating -- for now. I'll return at a later date to tell you how stupid weekly or preseason reader voting for top players is. First, I'm attending a girls soccer game tonight to confirm my suspicion.
Coaching appointment triggers family's angry reaction
Anthony Gambino has been appointed head football coach at Sachem East following Ray Pickersgill's decision to step down shortly before the start of the season, district Superintendent Patti Trombetta announced.
The decision brought an angry response from the parents of a 16-year-old football player killed during a summer training camp exercise in 2017 while Gambino was an assistant coach.
"It is emotionally devastating for our family," Sayyida Lynn Mileto told Newsday on Wednesday, adding she still has nightmares about her son's death. "My 20-year-old said it triggered all those awful feelings of eight years ago. There is unresolved trauma. And this decision brings new trauma."
The background:
In August 2017, Joshua Mileto died when a 400-pound log being carried by players during a camp before the start of preseason practice slipped and hit him in the head. District administrators immediately reassigned two coaches pending their investigation and installed Gambino as the interim head coach.
Gambino was offered the head coaching position again in 2018 but declined. Newsday reported Gambino hasn't coached since then.
Mileto's father, Angelo Mileto, feels the school should have reached out to explain the decision to hire Gambino.
"It's a slap in the face to our family," Angelo Mileto said.
However, Ryan Coope, a captain on the 2017 team, said Gambino was instrumental in helping players deal with Mileto's death.
"We would have never been able to get through the season without the leadership of Coach Gambino," Coope said. "He guided us through the darkest of times with a lot of compassion."
West Genny coach working despite a cancer diagnosis
West Genesee boys soccer coach Scott Fiello has remained on the job despite a diagnosis of stage four cancer.
"Being outside, being with the kids, the kids giving me energy," Fiello told Syracuse.com. "And it gets me out of the house."
His Wildcats are off to a 1-0-2 start following Tuesday's 1-0 victory over Jamesville-DeWitt.
Fiello, who started coaching at West Genesee in 2018 after 15 years at Henninger, goes through chemotherapy treatments every three weeks. They're followed by 6-10 difficult days during which assistant Drew Francisco takes a larger role.
"He does all the talking," Fiello said. "And I just sit my ass on the sideline."
The players see it differently.
"He's always kept the same energy, he's always tried to be there for us," Faris Malovic said. "Even during lift, if he can't make it because he's getting treatment, he'll send someone else so we can keep practicing.
"That just shows his dedication. So we should put the same amount, if not more dedication, in for him. He's putting his health in jeopardy just for us."
Following up
Yesterday's blog mentioned that Clarence recently lost a girls golf match for the first time since launching its program in 2010. A reader of the blog -- yes, we have readers! -- did a bit of digging and determined that the winning streak covered 153 matches.
Federal appeals court sides with banned Vermont school
A federal appeals court ordered Vermont's governing body for high school sports to allow Mid Vermont Christian School to compete, more than two years after the school forfeited a basketball game rather than play a team with a transgender athlete.
The New York-based US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit ruled on Tuesday that the Vermont Principals' Association likely violated First Amendment rights by expelling the school in 2023. The court wrote that the VPA "displayed hostility toward the school's religious beliefs," impinging on its free exercise of religion.
The VPA's 2023 ruling called it "a myth that transgender students endanger others when they participate in high school sports or create unfair competition."
The school sued but failed to persuade a federal district judge to issue a preliminary injunction.
