Leading off today: The annual Gov. Hugh L. Carey Empire State Games open Wednesday night in Binghamton, more or less kicking off the 2008-09 high school sports season around the state.

   Some of it undoubtedly has to do with the need to feed the Internet beast, but newspapers across New York seem to have been doing more this year than in the past in the way of previewing the event. There's been a steady flow of stories showing up on the Web for the last month.

   The bad news is that it looks as though on-site staffing is going to take a hit once again. Based on conversations I've had with a handful of reporters and editors, it looks as though a lot of places that regularly sent two reporters to ESGs in the past will only send one this week, a trend that became apparent last year.

   In addition, it's likely that few photographers will be assigned, and some of the ones that do get sent will be there for only part of the long weekend. The staffing decisions reflect a lower head count in most newsrooms as well as the increased emphasis being placed on "hyper-local" content such as youth baseball and softball leagues.

   If you're not up to speed on rosters, schedules and whatever else, you can start by going to the official ESG site.

   Manhattan Invitational changes: Organizers of the 36th annual Manhattan Invitational cross country meet have announced changes for this year's meet on Oct. 11, most notably adding a boys Eastern States Championship race.

   In addition, two more races have been added in an effort to alleviate overcrowding in some of the events. That will bring the day's schedule to 40 races. The bad news is that meet managers still have not lines up anyone to provide computer scoring, which is unfortunate in light of problems with some of last year's results.

   Contacting Kerr: NYSSWA editor and treasurer Neil Kerr, long the brains of the organization, has upgraded some equipment at his Syracuse home and now does more NYSSWA-related work than ever from there. In light of that, members who normally seek him out at work may want to send him an e-mail through his personal account (nysswa@yahoo.com) instead.

   Bradshaw back at Lew-Port: Matt Bradshaw, the boys coach there until 2006, will take over the girls basketball program at Lewiston-Porter next season, the Niagara Gazette reported. Tina Williams decided to step down following the recent birth of her first child.

   Meanwhile, Brian Baker will move up from JV to varsity and replace the retired Larry Lash as girls basketball coach at Wilson.

   An all-star lineup: The football roster at Oaks Christian, the California school that produced Notre Dame QB Jimmy Clausen, is dotted with the names of celebrity sons now that junior QB Nicholas Montana (Joe's kid) has transferred from Concord De La Salle (Concord) to the equally potent Southern California program. Trevor Gretzky (Wayne's kid) and Trey Smith, son of actors Will Smith and Jada Pinkett, also play football there.

   The kicker to the story is that the younger Montana said the move was inspired in part by a desire to be closer to quarterback tutor Steve Clarkson.

   The kid's father won Super Bowls with the same sort of ease that Michael Jordan scored points, but Nicholas Montana considers some other guy to be his guru?

   Extra points: Two-time Niagara-Orleans League all-star forward Connor Vandegriff of Royalton-Hartland will attend The Nichols School as a junior. . . . USA Hockey named Andy Iles as one of two goalies for the U.S. Under-17 Select Team, which will compete next month in Prievidza, Slovakia. Iles led Ithaca to a state title in 2007 as a freshman before enrolling at the Salisbury School in Connecticut.

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