Leading off today: Kudos to the state's two leading newspaper-operated high school sports sites for continuing to produce interesting reading over the summer.
The Journal News and Newsday have set the bar very high for online-news competitors in the last year, upgrading their sites with technology and content. On Wednesday, each came through with good basketball-related reading.
The Journal News reported on the Mount Vernon boys' preparation for an 11-day tour of China. They'll spend time in Beijing and Shanghai, play three exhibitions and visit the Great Wall, Tiananmen Square and the Forbidden City.
Bob Cimmino, who has coached Mount Vernon to four state titles, started thinking about the trip a decade ago. The trip will cost $59,600, with the cash raised through fundraisers and private donations.
Meanwhile, Newsday profiled Our Savior New American High School in Centereach, one of the most successful independent athletic programs in New York.
OSNA is a private parochial school largely limited to the prep school circuit in basketball, having lost its Friends and Neighbors status with Section XI. That essentially shuts out OSNA from playing any New York public schools, but
