Thursday, Nov. 24, 2005

   Hey, I love computers as much as anyone. In fact, I make my living working with computers and technology. But computers are flawed for the simple reason that they are programmed by humans. And humans make mistakes.

   Case in point: The New York football rankings done by CalPreps.com. Does anyone seriously believe that Class D Randolph (Section 6), which will be playing for a state championship this weekend in Syracuse, is the third-best team in the state?

   I think Randolph loses to nearby No. 5 Buffalo St. Joe's by four touchdowns and to any other Class A or AA squad in the top 75 at CalPreps.com by at least 10 points. That's not a knock on Randolph, which is 12-0 for a reason -- the Cardinals are good. But Randolph is a Class D school, and that doesn't bode well in a matchup with the huge schools no matter how many times I pop Hoosiers into the VCR.

   Need further proof that the computer is spitting out bad bits and bytes? Scroll to the very end of the list. Friends Academy (Section 8) is ranked 632nd with an 0-8 record. Jericho is 633rd (and dead last) with a 1-7 record. Take a wild guess at who Jericho beat for its only win this fall.

   Yep, the win came against Friends Academy by a 27-14 score.

   Happy Thanksgiving.

Tuesday, Nov. 22, 2005

   White Plains had to play (and lost) minus its top scorer against McQuaid (Section 5) in the Class AA boys soccer semifinals on Saturday. The folks in Section 1 enforce a rule that has players sit out a game after accumulating three yellow cards in the postseason. It would be nice to see that made into a statewide rule to discourage some of the chippy play that tends to take place in intersectional action.

   A big thank you goes out to cross country polls editors Dan Doherty of Pearl River (girls) and Tom Cuffe of Monsignor Farrell (boys) for another great season of work. Looking back to their first set of weekly rankings in mid-September, they each had four of the five eventual NYSPHSAA meet champs starting off in the top 3 of their respective class ratings.

   I won't be stunned if Gary Moeller, the former Michigan coach, winds up getting the football job at UB. If that happens, does Andy Moeller (the coach's kid) become offensive coordinator? He was offensive line coach at Michigan this fall.

   Not sure I've got the hang of how sophisticated these Google AdSense ads on the right edge of this page really are. I know that the ads are supposed to be highly targeted based upon content on the page, but I wrote about swimmer Julie Smit on Sunday, and ads for flood insurance, hurricane relief and Screwsucker portable diesel pumps started showing up. Can't wait to see what happens if I actually use the word "water" in a blog entry.

   Follow-up: The Democrat and Chronicle wrote an editorial Friday that touched on the Coach P buyout (see my Nov. 16 entry). Though the editorial was about college sports salaries in general, it did rely on misinterpreted info in the Post-Standard story that was picked up by The Associated Press. In the internet era, those errors will now live for all eternity.

Monday, Nov. 21, 2005

   Does Chenango Forks (Section 4) store some of its football equipment at the Carrier Dome on a permanent basis? After all, the Blue Devils practically live there in late November, having secured their fifth straight trip to the finals. No predictions on the outcome, but this probably won't be Chenango Forks' third straight shutout of Rye (Section 1) in the final -- not with fullback Robert Nieves, coming off five TDs and 192 yards vs. Lansingburgh, in the Garnets' backfield.

   Hilton girls cross country Coach Mike Szczepanik took mild flak last week for skipping the Federation meet, but his reasoning was correct. His girls needed a break during a seven-week stretch in which there were big races -- "all-out" meets, in his words -- scheduled every Saturday.

   Nothing good could have come from going head-to-head with Saratoga for the second straight week. The Cadets already will be seeing the Section 2 powerhouse again at Foot Locker regionals and Nike Team Nationals.

   Szczepanik said the team's goal is to make it to Nike Team Nationals and be in a position to win there. Giving ace Amanda Griggs a chance to get healthy was the best route to achieve that. The gamble associated with skipping Feds paid off Sunday when Hilton was extended a Nike invitation.

   By the way, I long ago turned a deaf ear on those who like to think of the Federation meet as the "real" state championship. Though that may be the case in basketball, where New York City teams so often take NYSPHSAA members to school on the Glens Falls court, it's been forever since the PSAL and CHSAA were factors in the cross country meet.

   Throw out the six boys championships by St. Anthony's from 1976 to 1992, and PSAL/CHSAA schools have contributed something like 16 top-three team finishes (boys or girls) in 30 years. That's a mere caraway seed on the bun of life.

Sunday, Nov. 20, 2005

   Congratulations to Stanford-bound Julia Smit of Mount Sinai (Section 11), who popped a 1:58.29 in the 200-yard individual medley on Friday night at the NYSPHSAA girls swimming prelims at Erie CC. That will likely be certified as a U.S. scholastic record by the National Federation of High Schools.

   She eclipsed the 1999 mark of 1:58:45 by Natalie Coughlin, who went on to a superstar career at Cal and earned two golds and three other medals at the 2004 Athens Olympics. Smit cruised to the championship in 1:58.99 on Saturday and also won the 100 backstroke in a state-record :55.15 for good measure.

   New York's girls soccer championships were snared Saturday by Massapequa (Section 8, Class AA), Rockville Centre South Side (8, A), Mattituck (11, B), Hoosick Falls (2, C) and Downsville (4, D). It marks the first time since 1997 that soccer-rich Long Island has swept the three largest classes. It was also the 12th championship for South Side since 1987.

   Thanks go out to girls soccer poll editor Perry Novak. He had the eventual champs rated second, first, fourth, second and fourth, respectively, in our first set of ratings two months ago.

   Did you check out Alan Zemaitis of Penn State, with three interceptions Saturday in the victory over Michigan State? The 2001 Spencerport (Section 5) graduate is heading to a career in that Sunday play-for-pay league. He's also a great human interest story.

   Zemaitis missed his entire H.S. junior season following knee surgery, yet Penn State promised him a scholarship virtually sight unseen before the following season. He also survived a near-fatal car crash midway through his Happy Valley career and went on to be named a captain For Joe Paterno.

   Section 5 doesn't have much of a football profile in terms of college recruiting, but it's not the Z-man's fault. He's certainly done his job.

Thursday, Nov. 17, 2005

   Lindsey Ferguson's third-place finish in girls Class AA, which helped Saratoga Springs to a state cross country championship last weekend, was more compelling than most of us knew at the time. Not quite two weeks earlier, she was nearly the victim of what could have been a horrific crime.

   A 49-year-old Connecticut man, free on bail in connection with two other serious offenses, is now charged with trying to abduct the 17-year-old senior in a late-afternoon incident at the high school on Oct. 31.

   Authorities said John F. Regan tried to abduct Ferguson as she walked to her car after practice. Police said he grabbed her around the torso, covered her mouth and tried to pull her into his van. Ferguson fought off Regan and escaped.

   Teacher Ray Rogers-Harrington confronted Regan, who then fled, and cross country coach Art Kranick tailed the man and used his cell phone to help police in their pursuit.

   Regan pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted kidnapping and first-degree attempted unlawful imprisonment in City Court and is being held without bail. A Connecticut official said Regan's two felony cases there stemmed from incidents in 1993 and 2004. If convicted of the latest charges in Saratoga Springs, he faces up to 15 years in prison.

   The Associated Press reported that Regan is being investigated in at least three states for unsolved sex and murder cases. Investigators are looking at crimes dating to 1988 to see if there's a connection to the married father of three.

   Kranick and Rogers-Harrington have been honored by the board of education for their roles.