Okay, so it's safe to assume that Utica Memorial Auditorium will be a fairly busy place in the next five weeks.
During that time, Utica Aud will host, in order, (1) the Section III wrestling championships, (2) the sectional hockey finals, (3) all of the sectional boys and girls basketball title games and (4) the state hockey "Frozen Four". Rarely, if ever, has the same venue been used so many times for big high-school events in Central New York.
First come the wrestlers, who will get all their work done in a single day, Division I (large schools) and Division II (small schools) alike, using eight mats...

CATEGORY: Wrestling

TAGS: Wrestling, Section III, class championships

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Admit it - you were happy on this night, unless you are from Indiana. Even the Manning family had to smile for the way it turned out. And you can't even measure the joy on Bourbon Street, where Mardi Gras began approximately nine days early.
For most of its history, the mere thought of the New Orleans Saints as champions of the National Football League was laughable, inconceivable, ridiculous - and it was Saints fans doing all the laughing and ridicule, going so far as the paper-bags-on-their-heads route when the team went a glorious 1-15 in 1980.
But it has happened...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: Super Bowl XLIV, Saints, Colts, New Orleans

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The month of February means, in Central New York, that we start out high school championships in earnest.
Sure, wrestling got a head start back in January with the sectional dual meet and South Jefferson's triumph, but everyone joins in now, starting with girls indoor track and the sectional gathering at Manley Field House.
First, it's good to still have Manley as a facility...

CATEGORY: Running

TAGS: Section III, girls indoor track championships

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We are now in the midst of the most agonizing two weeks in the sports calendar. Not physically traumatic, mind you, but just long, drawn-out, and maddening for all those waiting for the last game of the National Football League season - the one so important they gave it Roman numerals.
Edition XLIV of the thing they called the Super Bowl, played in a stadium in Miami that has changed names every six months or so, may carry as much excitement, emotion and spectacle as any of the first XLIII editions. And little of it has to do with the Indianapolis Colts.
When Garrett Hartley nailed that 40-yard kick through the uprights at the end of a heart-pounding NFC Champioship on Jan...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: Super Bowl XLIV, Saints, Colts, preview

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As everyone else waits to start the February post-season bum rush in Section III high school sports (girls track this Wednesday at Manley), others are ready to go - or already into it.
That starts with girls ice hockey. Oswego will be in the playoffs, and so will Skaneteles. Both are in state quarterfinals this Saturday, and all the winners are coming to the Lakers' home ice at the Community Center for the "Frozen Four" Feb. 12 and 13...

CATEGORY: General Sports

TAGS: Section III, tournaments, girls hockey, wrestling

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Every year, high school sports coaches enter or leave the stage without one shred of publicity, or anybody really finding out until long after the fact. Though it might sound shady, it does make for some peace of mind for those, coaches and administrators alike, making the changes.
But that's not the case with the new varsity football coach at Skaneateles - one Tim Green.
At initial glance (especially to outsiders), the skepticism is boundless. Is this real? Or is it just another way for Green - athlete, author, TV personality - to earn some ink for himself?
Judging by the reaction to the Skaneateles School Board hiring Green over Laker coaching legend Ron Doctor, you'd have thought some hideous crime had taken place...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: Tim Green, Skaneateles football coach, challenge

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Boy, it wasn’t fun to hear those jokes in the old days. All those people lining up to take potshots at you, pointing and laughing and duly noting the fact that your favorite basketball team got beat by a Division II opponent. At home. By the team from just down the road. Yeah, those old days were tough.
Wait a minute - it wasn’t so long ago. It wasn’t even three months ago.
The night of Nov. 4, and the aftermath of Syracuse’s stunning exhibition defeat to LeMoyne College, were indeed unpleasant times for Orange partisans after the Dolphins made national headlines and earned bragging rights for a lifetime.
There was nothing else to do for SU but to recalibrate expectations...

CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: SU, men's basketball, hot start, expectations

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