Leading off today: More than a few people have suggested over the years that the two most demanding jobs in sports might be manager of the New York Yankees and football coach at Notre Dame.

   Yes, each position comes with a wealth of resouces and built-in advantages. But there is also unmatched scrutiny from fans and media. Expectations are always off the scale.

   It certainly doesn't rank with those two situations, but I do know that I would not like to be in the shoes of Canandaigua athletic director Jim Simmons or girls lacrosse coach Sue Ellis right now.

   The Braves (20-3) had an enormous season, at one point reaching No. 1 in the nation in the LaxPower.com ratings and toppling Brighton for Section 5 Class B supremacy.

   But the 13-9 loss to Yorktown in the state semifinals -- for all practical purposes it really was a one-goal game as Canandaigua had to take huge gambles while a goal down with 1:25 to play -- came with major baggage attached. The Braves played without junior midfielder Abbey Friend, who has given an early commitment to enroll at the University of North Carolina in the fall of 2010.

   Simmons told the Democrat and Chronicle that Friend was missing because she was overseas practicing with the Canadian national team participating in the FIL World Cup in Prague, Czechoslovakia from June 17-27. Ellis told the paper Friend broke the news to her team shortly after the NYSPHSAA quarterfinals the previous weekend.

   The absence didn't destroy the Braves -- who are blessed with several top-shelf prospects such as as junior midfielder Taylor D'Amore -- but it's undeniable that Friend created a disruption and a distraction.

   And now Simmons and Ellis are going to figure what to do next season.

   Does everyone go about business as though nothing happened? Do they tell Friend she's not welcomed back unless she absolutely commits to finishing out the season? Are there penalties for her, such as having to sit out two or four games to start the season?

   I wouldn't want to be the one having to make the call because someone is going to be unhappy no matter what the decision is. And that's especially true because Canandaigua is going to be championship material again next spring based on the expected return of four other starting juniors and a sophomore and the loss of only nine graduating seniors.

   That being said, how can you ask any player to pass up the opportunity to take part in the most prestigious women's lacrosse event in the world? How many teens get the chance to spend two weeks in Europe, all the while raising the quality of their game?

   Still, how willing would her teammates be to embrace her return? It's not a sure thing Canandaigua would have beaten Yorktown and then gone on to top a fantastic Garden City team in the Class B final, but the nine seniors who graduate this month will never know for sure what might have been. Do this year's nine juniors want to go through the "what if" game if Friend ends up having another late-season commitment next spring?

   Supporters say the schools (usually colleges) routinely release athletes in a number of sports from their obligations so they can represent the national team, but in almost every instance that happens early in the season rather than during the playoff run. Honestly, they have almost no choice, because a college enforcing a no-tolerance policy would quickly find itself losing four- and five-star recruits to schools with a more liberal take on the issue.

   And then there is one additional ancillary issue that may or may not legitimately deserve a mention in the discussion: Friend is playing for Canada, rather than the United States.

   I'm not sure how it came to be that she was eligible to represent Canada, nor do I know whether Friend was under consideration for selection to the U.S. team. But it does seem at least mildly awkward that she is playing for a foreign country.

   Basketball star Becky Hammon got hammered by many

Spring tournament schedules NYSPHSAA boys lacrosse NYSPHSAA girls lacrosse NYSPHSAA baseball NYSPHSAA softball

last summer for her decision to play for Russia in the Olympics, but that had different dynamics. First, she was shunned by the U.S. national team very early in the selection process. Secondly, there was clearly a significant financial inducement. And, of course, there was the whole issue of playing for the "Evil Empire" rather than Canada, with which we share the world's longest unguarded border.

   My take: I'm sure Friend and her family put an awful lot of thought into this decision and they see benefits to it. But there are few short-term gains to be realized here -- Abbey already has made her college decision (and has a bunch of coaches keeping her phone number on speed dial in case she suddenly changes her mind) -- and they are outweighed by the short-term damage.

   I don't think leaving her teammates behind on the eve of the state semifinals was the right choice to make. And I don't envy the Canandaigua administration for the decisions they might have to make between now and next season.

   Second-worst choice of the week: A 16-year-old baseball prospect in Nevada dubbed the "Chosen One" by Sports Illustrated wants to skip his final two years of high school and enter the Major League Baseball draft next June, The Associated Press reports.

   Bryce Harper, a 6-foot-3 catcher purported to have hit a 570-foot home run as a freshman, has registered at College of Southern Nevada, his father Ron Harper said.

   "People question your parenting and what you're doing," Ron Harper said. "Honestly, we don't think it's that big a deal," Ron Harper said. "He's not leaving school to go work in a fast food restaurant."

   Harper is by all accounts a promising prospect, but subjecting a 16- or 17-year-old to the rigors of every-day work behind the plate either at the college of pro level starts to put a lot of extra wear and tear on his body.

   Top teen players out west squeeze in 40 or more games during the high school season and maybe another 30 or 40 over the summer in American Legion or other organized ball. That's a pretty busy schedule, but nothing like even short-season Class A ball, in which players are working out in the morning and then playing 70 night games in an 80-day window.

   Factor in long hours on the bus, the potential bad habits picked up from teammates five and six years older than him and the pressure of handling a staff of pitchers with big signing bonuses and bigger curveballs, and trying to jump into pro ball next season doesn't sound like a great idea.

   A blow to Schenectady: Carm DePoalo has resigned after a short but enormously successful two-year stint rejuvenating the football program at Schenectady High, The Daily Gazette reported late last week.

   DePoalo, who does not work in the school system, inherited a team that won a total of two games in three years and quickly won five games as a rookie coach in 2007 to set a school record. The Patriots exceeded that last year with eight victories, including two in the Section II Class AA playoffs. He was 13-6 in his two seasons.

   "I gave it 100 percent in my two years there, but I can't make that commitment," DePoalo, who was just re-elected business agent for an area union. "I've got my work, and I've got some personal things going on that I need to address. I mulled it over for a few weeks, and I'm satisfied with my decision."

   DePoalo ran into legal issues last spring after an altercation with another man in a restaurant, but players and other supporters rallied around him and pointed to the discipline he instilled in his players. Schenectady had won only one postseason game -- in 2001 -- before DePoalo's arrival.

   "I enjoyed it. Now, it's time for someone else," said DePoalo. "This is a good decision for me."