Thursday, Sept. 7, 2006
I'm OK with Lauren Reale scoring five first-half goals for Frewsburg in a girls soccer triumph against Cassadaga Valley last week.    But I started spitting up my Cheerios when I learned she scored two more in the second half of the 15-0, non-league rout at Frewsburg.    The previous school record was four goals in a game. Considering the victors' 8-0 halftime lead, she should have been long gone no later than her sixth goal of the afternoon.    Mike Balducci's rule when he was coach of the highly successful Greece Arcadia boys in the 1980s was simple: Score a hat trick and you're done for the day. The only exception I could recall was the game in which Mike Bianchi netted four -- only because Balducci couldn't get a substitute into the game quickly enough after Bianchi's third goal moments earlier. All indications are that New York is on its way toward passing legislation by the end of 2007 that would set up random testing for		steroids along the lines of what New Jersey instituted this spring.    If the cuurent proposal becomes law, the state Education Department would develop guidelines for individual school districts desiring to opt in. Hand in hand with the testing would be a law making the criminal sale of an anabolic steroid to a minor a felony.    What remains to be seen is how civil liberty advocates would react. The Ithaca Journal reported this summer that the New York Civil Liberties Union opposes the current bill in part because it does not have an education component.    The argument against singling out athletes for testing was already rejected in a 1995 Supreme Court ruling along the lines that sports are a privilege rather than a right.    New Jersey's first-in-the-nation statute calls for random testing for about 80 substances at state championships. Athletes who test positive face a loss of one year of eligibility.

Wednesday, Sept. 6, 2006
I've got to admit that The Post-Star's story surprised me today. I can't believe even one city would want to wrestle the Federation basketball tournaments away from Glens Falls, never mind three.    But it looks as though Binghamton, Albany and Long Island might all make presentations to the Federation committee in January to host playoff weekends beginning in March 2008.    Personally, I support moving the event. It's always struck me as odd to have some teams go to the Glens Falls area two weekends in a row, especially given the number of downstate teams that qualify for the second weekend of action?    It might mean flying a Buffalo-area		team or two down there, but why not give Long Island a shot at hosting once in awhile. At the very least, give Binghamton a chance to show what it can do. I would have hoped that this one was already a rule for high school baseball, but better late than never.    Beginning this spring, Rule 3-3-4 requires that whenever team members are loosening up in an area that is not protected by a fence, another member of the team with a glove must be positioned between them and the batter.    The idea is to better protect them from foul balls or wild throws. It's the prudent thing to do whether there's a rule for it or not.

Tuesday, Sept. 5, 2006
Does girls basketball need cheerleaders? The answer is "no." And the reason I know that is because boys basketball doesn't need cheerleaders either.    But there are lawyers involved now, so God help us all.    Here is what I'm talking about:    A Johnson City parent filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office of Civil Rights early this year, alleging the 20-school Southern Tier Athletic Conference discriminates against female athletes by failing to provide equal promotion and publicity -- including cheerleaders -- for girls' teams.    David Garbarino, the Binghamton City School District AD, said the complaint originated with the parent of a player on Johnson City's girls' basketball team. In response, JC began sending its dance team to girls' games, but the parent remained unsatisfied.    Title IX requires equal treatment for girls and boys teams, including support by cheerleaders, according to the Women's Sports Foundation.    But ask female basketball players whether they want cheerleaders for their games and I'd bet many would say no. Heck, even some male players would say the same thing.    The Press & Sun-Bulletin story		makes two significant points that should count for something and put an end to the litigation:    (1) Cheerleading has developed into a competitive sport of its own, including tournaments and national competitions, rather than window dressing on the sidelines basketball games circa 1965.    (2) There are not enough girls (or boys, for that matter) to go around. It's fairly common across the state for the varsity boys and girls to be scheduled at opposite sites on the same night. Cheerleaders couldn't possibly attend both games.    Here, though, is the kicker: The STAC athletic directors wanted coaches of the boys' and girls' basketball teams to survey their players on whether they wanted cheerleaders. The Office of Civil Rights said no, the newspaper reported.    Though not directly the culprit, Title IX contributed to wiping out any number of college wrestling programs across the country because schools needed to improve participation and funding ratios. But the equal-opportunity statute apparently is a one-way street; no one wants to put it to use when girl-dominated activities are potentially put on the chopping block based on merit.    Chalk up another win for the lawyers.

Monday, Sept. 4, 2006
Welcome back. Are you feeling tanned, rested and ready to go for another year of New York high school sports?    I for one am looking forward to a steady diet of great ballgames this fall, though I have to admit that it feels downright strange to start seeing results in the newspaper at the end of August and a full slate of upstate football games on the weekend before classes even start. With some regular seasons only six or seven weeks long to begin with, the pre-Labor Day openers feel like a lost opportunity to whip up some school spirit.    But enough about that. Let's recap a couple of noteworthy offseason headlines as I ramp up the blog:    (1) The Rob Gronkowski situation: Williamsville North's former all-state tight end certainly lives a charmed life, escaping a disciplinary suspension and then getting a decision overturned in Pennsylvania in order to gain eligibility at a Pittsburgh-area school.    You've just got to love the quote from Woodland Hills coach/AD George Novak, after a panel overturned an initual ruling that would have made Gronkowski ineligible to play football. "We got a new student, Rob Gronkowski -- a good kid who just happened to play football, and we're happy he's able to participate."    Had he uttered that sentence 15 years ago I'm sure it would have been credited with being the Genesis of the instant messaging shorthand phrase "ROTFLMAO."    (2) Jack Cochran's problems: I sure hope my inevitable fall from grace isn't as public and as humiliating as what New London		(Conn.) football coach Jack Cochran experienced last month.    Cochran, 40, pleaded not guilty in court to an accusation that he punched a rival coach. Cochran was charged with breach of peace after the Aug. 12 incident.    Cochran resigned his coaching position under pressure. His 2005 team went to the state's Class S title game after posting a 10-2 record. However, he had the nasty habit of winning numerous games by lopsided margins.    That led state association officials to institute a new code of conduct that could result in suspensions for coaches whose teams win games by 50 or more points. The rule was immediately dubbed the "Jack Cochran Rule," and now he won't even be around to suffer its rath.    (3) Orange on the upswing: It went relatively unnoticed -- much like his junior season -- but Doug Hogue gave the Syracuse University football staff a nice boost by making an oral commitment last month.    The Roosevelt High running back/linebacker had many Division I programs calling, but he made the early commitment to SU, which badly needs to land almost every blue chip New Yorker during the rebuilding process these next few years.    He ran for 1,463 yards, averaging 13.4 yards per carry, as a junior and was a fourth-team all-state selection. It's tough to imagine him making a big early impact at SU, but at least the Orange won't have to endure the pain of watching another potential star -- Mike Hart, Ray Rice, Brian Leonard, etc., etc., etc. -- slip away.

Sunday, July 16, 2006
It was nice to see the Brittonkill School District Board of Education do a 180 last week and approve Craig Gilbert for another season at Tamarac.    Why he had to be put through the ordeal of the last several weeks remains a mystery. Well, not so much a mystery as a disgrace.    The board renewed Gilbert's contract before a crowd of 400 supporters Thursday 17 days after declining to retain the man believed to be the winningest active girls soccer coach in New York.    It's too bad that one board member's personal axe-grinding exercise may have been responsible for turning a routine matter into an unneeded drama. The all-state baseball team has been posted to our web site. Unlike versions you've already seen in print, the online edition contains positions and grades for a number of Long Island honorees.    Player of the year recognition		for 2006 goes to:    Class AA: Dellin Betances, sr., pitcher for Grand Street-PSAL.    Class A: Ryan Powers, sr., pitcher and shortstop for Beacon-1.    Class B: Abe Rak, jr., pitcher and catcher for Fredonia-6.    Class C: Steve Magoveny, sr., pitcher for Watertown Immaculate Heart-3.    Class D: Shawn Eaton, sr., pitcher for Avoca-5.    Coach of the year honors go to:    Class AA: Tom Sheedy, Massapequa-8.    Class A: Steve Greller, Poughkeepsie Lourdes-1.    Class B: Vince Gullo, Fredonia-6.    Class C: (tie) Michael F. Delaney, Watertown Immaculate Heart-3, and Al Hammel, Millbrook-9.    Class D: Aaron Mullen, Avoca-5. We've begun work on a redesign of the NewYorkSportswriters.org site and hope to roll out the new look around Labor Day. If all goes well, we'll be adding a considerable number of new elements to the home page.