Leading off today: It's not quite as good as a musician making it onto the cover of Rolling Stone, but it's close.

   The Fayyetteville-Manlius girls cross country team, which ascended to the top of the heap nationally last season for the second consecutive year and is loaded again this fall, graces the cover of the October issue of Running Times, The Post-Standard reported.

   Coach Bill Aris said the magazine contacted him in June about doing a piece on the program. "I was shocked they wanted to devote that kind of time and coverage to high school cross country," Aris told the paper.

   The magazine sent a reporter and photographer to Manlius in June for a 90-minute interview and photo shoot at Green Lakes State Park. The result is a four-page spread focused on F-M’s training approach.

   Thumbs up: Congratulations to the Middletown Times Herald-Record on its launch of Varsity845U.com, the college companion of its outstanding high school sports site.

   College sites can be a dicey proposition because the audience is much more fractured than the hyper-local crowd that follows high school sports. But there's certainly a market for it, and Varsity845U has a healthy selection of local schools spanning from junior colleges to Division I programs.

   The site will consolidate some information that was already being posted to its sports site in the past and includes story archives and message boards.

   Thumbs down: A resounding jeer goes out to HighSchoolSports.net for giving prominent play to the Massey Ratings, a computerized football rankings system, so early in the year. The site is featuring the rankings on its home page even though many states haven't even opened the season.

   What's my objection? USA Today spoke to Ken Massey, whose better-known work includes college football ratings that are part of the Bowl Championship Series formula. Massey admitted that, with minimal 2008 data available so far, he's relying on data from the 2006 and 2007 seasons as part of his formula.

   Do the math on that one. Many (if not all) of the players who made those 2006 and '07 teams worthy of a national ranking are now true or redshirt college freshmen. Why

Also available online Section-by-section weekly football schedule (PDF) Enrollments and classes for NYSPHSAA football (PDF) Partial list of football scrimmages

their achievements one or two years ago should have any bearing whatsoever in the curring rankings is beyond me.

   I guess it's a case of, "Welcome to new media era." Sites desperate to catch up with more reputable media (print or digital) continue to do things that chip away at their credibility.

   Thumbs up: The Buffalo school board continues to move cautiously on Wednesday, voting unanimously to leave McKinley basketball and track head coach James Daye on paid administrative leave, The Buffalo News reported.

   Considering that the state is investigating allegations that Daye may have had an inappropriate relationship with a student while he was a teacher in South Carolina, it makes sense for the board to be careful.

   The paper said Daye told the board that he is the victim of "false allegations and threats," but Superintendent James A. Williams said he will make no further recommendations to the board until the state Education Department probe is finished.

   "If you care about children, you would want to know the truth," Williams said. "That’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to do what’s right at McKinley.”

   Several speakers at the meeting voiced their support of Daye.

   Ambitious plans in Lockport: Details of a proposal for a new multi-million dollar sports complex behind Lockport High School are still being firmed up by the school district, but an artificial turf stadium with lights ranks high on the wish list.

   A preliminary sketch of the project, which includes renovations to the high school, was shown at Monday's fall coaches meeting, The Niagara Gazette reported. Preliminary cost estimates for the plan, which will possibly require voter approval of a bond issue, are in the $25 million range but the state could pick up nearly 90 percent of the tab.

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