Mike Conners reached the milestone earlier this month.
Following up: When I blogged the other day about a possible change in the qualifying process for the state wrestling tournament, I neglected to mention one other concern that an alert downstate reader brought to my attention via e-mail.
Adding another layer of meets in the form of regional qualifiers would increase the number of times that top-notch competitors could wrestle each other in one season. On the surface, that would seem to be a positive with respect to creating media and fan interest in a sport that can certainly use some love, but the potential for repetition bordering on the tedious turns it into a negative.
Consider this: Two top-notch guys from the same league could meet in a regular-season dual, two (or more) in-season tournaments, the league championships, sectionals, Supersectionals, the regional qualifier and the state meet.
That's eight possible head-to-heads, which is severe overkill for a state with something like 535 varsity wrestling teams.
What's in a name? The Buffalo News says there's sentiment in the suburbs for renaming Kenmore West’s Crosby Field in honor of
Jules Yakapovich and/or Richard Offenheimer, prominent figures in the history of the school’s football program.
That could turn into a devisive decision in a hurry, because the name of the facility currently honors the memory on Lt. Harry E. Crosby, who was killed in World War I as his platoon in the National Guard’s 108th Infantry Regiment charged a fortified German position near Le Catelet, France.
VFW Post 2472 took up Crosby's name in 1932, and the field was renamed in his honor in 1940. Part of the case for changing the name of the field is that relatively little is known about the fallen soldier other than he lived in Kenmore.
To its credit, the board is not rushing into making a change. School Board President Melissa Brinson said she contacted the local historian to learn more about Crosby, and a report is expected soon.
I love football as much as the next guy, but it seems awfully callous and disrespectful to take a fallen soldier's name off the field in favor of some football guys. I mean, it's not as though you're the school board in the California community that had to rename Steve Garvey Junior High a few years back when Mr. Dodger's reputation started taking some hits.
