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.
