New York State Sportswriters Association   
    

Search
 
→ Rankings
NYSSWA rankings are updated weekly.
See the latest plus the earlier weeks'
updates on our rankings page.

 

 
John Moriello's NYSSWA blog
Tuesday, Sept. 2, 2008: Examining the unkindest cut of all
   Leading off today: Bill Pucko, senior sports anchor at R-News on Time Warner Cable in Rochester, has also been writing columns for the local Messenger Post newspapers recently. This week's piece was a good look at one of the toughest aspects of high school coacing: cutting players before the start of the season.

   Predictably, there are a lot of kids who handle being cut better than their parents do. Coaches and administrators often find themselves having to justify decisions, which means going so far as to create "report cards" that document players' shortcomings. That can't possible be the reason why they got into coacing in the first place.

   "The days of 'post a list and run' are gone,” Victor AD Ron Whitcomb told Pucko. "Nobody posts a list anymore. It’s just not in the best interests of the kid. When you make cuts, you call every kid."

   Above the call: The Post-Standard went above and beyond, rounding up reactions to Saturday's football scrimmages from more than two dozen varsity coaches — which I remember from the olden days isn't the easiest thing to do over a holiday weekend. Check it out.

   The need for speed (ratings): Over at TullyRunners.com, Bill Meylan set the table recently for the upcoming cross country season by discussing the future of his frequently accurate and constantly discussed speed ratings, which he began producing in 2000.

   Because of time constraints related to work and other commitments (hey, I know that feeling . . . ), Maylan likely will cut back on the amount of data he processes and the frequency of his online updates. What was really interesting, though, was his pointing out that there are actually coaches who would prefer that he stop his labor of love altogether.

   Count me among those who are baffled by the theory that shutting down TullyRunners.com would be good for the sport and its participants.

  
Also available online
  • Section-by-section weekly football schedule (PDF)
  • Enrollments and classes for NYSPHSAA football (PDF)
  • Partial list of football scrimmages
  •    According to Meylan, some of the feedback he's gotten from the naysayers includes:

  • Some coaches truly dislike any type of team or individual ranking of any kind and believe only abbreviated race results should be available anywhere.
  • Some believe speed ratings discourage many runners and teams by either rating them low or showing how good other runners and teams are by comparison.
  • Some coaches feel Meylan's work benefits coaches who are either too lazy or unable to evaluate the competition on their own.
  • A few regard cross country as a team sport, so individual rankings should be eliminated completely.
  • Some coaches come unhinged by having "outsiders" evaluate their team and runners.

       If you're not sure whether you're pro or con on the issue, then do this: Check TullyRunners.com every week to 10 days throughout the season. You'll learn more about the sport and its top teams and individuals than you can learn from any other site about any other sport in the state.

       Hitting the big time: Stack.com, which bills itself as the nation’s leading producer and distributor of sports performance, training and lifestyle content for high school athletes and high school sports community, scored a bit of a coup recently by landing in the list of top 10 Web sports sites in July's comScore Media Metrix ratings with 3.5 million unique visitors.

       That gets them onto the chart of heavyweight sports sites alongside the likes of Yahoo! and FoxSports.com. Chalk up a lot of the traffc to people looking for information on sports training, a staple of the site.


  • Read previous blog entries from John Moriello. | Send us an e-mail. | Subscribe to RSS feed.


    → Recent blogs and news     NYSSWA RSS feed
  • 3/14/25: NFHS Hall of Fame to induct St. Johnsville star
  • 3/7/25: Battaglia set for 3rd tour of duty at Aquinas
  • 3/7/25: Schedule of N.Y. boys basketball title games

  • 3/6/25: Court OK's Zariel Macchia to run Saturday
  • 3/5/25: Aquinas fires football coach after semifinal run
  • 3/1/25: Newburgh dismisses Bianco as football coach
  • 2/27/25: Court reinstates L.I. hoops star for sectionals
  • 2/22/25: Distance star Macchia out of state meet
  • 2/14/25: Remarkable efforts in WNY girls basketball
  • 2/8/25: NYSPHSAA working way through 2 big topics
  • 2/6/25: Three-Region Concept is on the fast track
  • 2/1/25: Minisink Valley, John Glenn wrestlers prevail
  • 1/31/25: 2024 girls basketball all-state team named

  • 1/25/25: NYC, L.I. restore football all-star game
  • 1/18/25: Colonie bowler's 890 series sets U.S. mark
  • 1/16/25: Somers football likely to remain in Class A
  • 1/15/25: All-state football: Classes AA and A
  • 1/14/25: Harper steps down at Clymer/Sherman/Panama
  • 1/10/25: Four L.I. districts still battling mascot rule
  • 1/8/25: All-state football: Classes B, C, D and 8-man
  • 12/20/24: Canastota's Laidlaw chalks up 900th win
  • 12/17/24: William Floyd assistant dies in car crash
  • 12/11/24: AD at Sec. 2 powerhouse will step down

  • 12/9/24: Girls soccer all-state selections announced
  • 12/8/24: Recapping the weekend NYSPHSAA football finals
  • 12/7/24: Which mascots replaced Indians, Warriors?
  • 12/6/24: Publics vs. privates issue resurfaces
  • 12/5/24: NYSPHSAA makes rare mid-year class change
  • 12/2/24: Short-handed Conn. team forfeits playoff game
  • 12/1/24: Massapequa hockey player dies during game
  • 11/27/24: Column: Crisis in Sec. 5 small-school football
  • 11/24/24: PSAL cracks down, imposes hoops forfeits
  • 11/22/24: Bayport-Blue Point football extends streaks

  • 11/19/24: Some thoughts following the playoffs weekend
  • 11/15/24: Plainedge football pulls off last-play win
  • 11/8/24: Court restores Syracuse ITC to grid playoffs
  • 11/6/24: West Islip girls soccer advances on PKs
  • 11/5/24: Newburgh forfeits sectional football opener
  • 11/2/24: Top-ranked 'D' football team's season over
  • 10/31/24: Herricks' Walia wins state tennis singles title
  • 10/28/24: S-WR senior making the grade in 2 sports
  • 10/27/24: Copiague football ends its record losing streak
  • 10/26/24: Herkimer gridders claw way back to .500

  • 10/25/24: Girls lacrosse schedule proposal nixed
  • 10/22/24: NYSPHSAA Exec Committee meeting preview
  • 10/19/24: Albany CBA wins Sec. 2 football showdown
  • 10/18/24: Baldwinsville cracks 'USAT' eSports rankings
  • 10/16/24: Wisc. hits schools hard for paperwork glitch
  • 10/14/24: Bethlehem girls, Macchia win Eastern States
  • 10/13/24: Iona Prep slips past Hayes in 'AA" showdown
  • 10/11/24: La. QB throws for 817 yards in overtime loss
  • 10/10/24: Report: N.Y. girls to join transgender protest
  • 10/7/24: More eight-man teams left stranded in Week 5

  • 10/5/24: 18 ranked N.Y. football teams fall in Friday action
  • 10/4/24: Longest U.S. football futility streak continues
  • 10/3/24: Syracuse.com's twist on fantasy football
  • 9/30/24: M-E edges Waverly in battle of No. 1 teams
  • 9/27/24: Report: Sec. 3 athletes flock to NIL Club
  • 9/25/24: Ex-Kellenberg QB sets off an NIL drama
  • 9/23/24: NYSPHSAA warns about potential NIL isssue
  • 9/21/24: South Park's Nunes shatters N.Y. rushing record
  • 9/20/24: Storytelling in H.S. sports is alive and well
  • 9/19/24: Longtime SWR coach Paul Koretzki, 84, dies

  • 9/17/24: Western N.Y. teams embracing Guardian Caps
  • 9/15/24: N.J. shows us N.Y. football has a ways to go
  • 9/14/24: Another UPrep game, another fan incident
  • 9/13/24: Ohio wrestles with aftermath of shootings
  • 9/11/24: Mass. school forfeits over male opponent
  • 9/10/24: Regents table vote on expanding mixed competition
  • 9/9/24: Shot clock experiment will change lacrosse
  • 9/7/24: Garden City sets L.I. football record
  • 9/6/24: Lawsuit takes aim at N.C.'s NIL ban
  • 9/5/24: New York's Week 0 football intrigue

  •   
    This Site
    HOME
    BLOG
    RANKINGS
    BRACKETS
    REFERENCE
    KERR CUP
    ABOUT US

    ©2024 Abbott Trento Online Media.
    All rights reserved.
    Contact us via e-mail.

       NYSSWA football site