That part where we were just recapping what took place in Section III football the previous week is over.

Now it's time to analyze where we are, everywhere, looking ahead to the final regular-season weekend and how the Section III playoffs will look.

We'll go division-by-division, starting with the lower classes and moving up to the large schools...

D East - Dolgeville erased the suspense about the top spot a while ago, and now is just a victory over Mohawk from regular-season perfection, something no other Class D team in the section can claim.

Needless to say, with four shutouts the defense carries the Blue Devils most of the way...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: Football, Section III, analysis

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Six months of baseball left us with eight teams battling for the big prize over the next month or so. And we're due for some first-round drama.

Not since 2005, when the Yankees and Angels went to five games (and the Angels won), has any Division Series gone the limit. Plenty of sweeps, and plenty of four-baggers, but not five.

That might change this week. Incredibly, there's just a seven-game gap between the worst team in the field and the best. Texas won 90, Cincinnati and St. Louis 91, San Francisco 92, Minnesota 94, the Yankees 95, Tampa Bay 96 and, best of all, Philadelphia got 97 wins.

Yet the only reason the Phillies are an overwhelming favorite, when compared to the others, is because of those three guys on the mound...

CATEGORY: Baseball

TAGS: MLB playoffs, Division Series, preview

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Again, the Major League Baseball post-season is here, a month full of too-late start times, unnecessary off days, bone-chilling temperatures and other annoyances that have cluttered an otherwise special occasion.

It’s an intriguing cast of characters, too. There’s Texas and Cincinnati, back after long absences from October. The Rangers have emerged from bankruptcy and actually know how to pitch, while the Reds have a wonderful young cast – but its fans are skeptical that they’ll stay in a modest market like Cincy.

Minnesota is here, again, the Twins having moved outdoors to Target Field and perhaps due to cash in after a decade of good behavior and better baseball...

CATEGORY: Baseball

TAGS: Philadelphia Phillies, baseball, dynasty

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A lot of moisture got spilled in the four-day novel that was the 38th Ryder Cup Matches.

Rain from the skies. Then more rain. Then water off those ineffective American rain slickers. Then some more rain. And finally, on a sun-kissed Monday in Wales, champagne and tears, depending on which side you pulled for.

Europe 14 1/2, United States 13 1/2 is how it will read in the record books, but the events at Celtic Manor require a fuller narrative. Here it is, with color thrown in where needed.

Thursday - Opening ceremonies, where players (of course), wives and other significant others (too prominent?) march in, leaders welcome them, anthems are played, flags are raised, captains speak....and Stewart Cink is forgotten. Then he got a hero's welcome...

CATEGORY: Golf

TAGS: Ryder Cup, recap

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October is a month of decision in high school football in Central New York. It dawns in regular-season uncertainty and, by the time kids in costumes walk the streets in search of goodies, we've got our 10 sectional finalists set.

A lot will happen in between. In fact, a lot has already happened, as the fifth weekend of the season produced some major shifts in the league races, mostly caused by road wins.

There was Cortland going to ESM, dropping 54 points on the vulnerable Spartan defense, and taking first place in the Class A American division for the first time in a long while...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: Football, Week 5, road wins

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If you’re up late, or if you have a tough time sleeping, or (most likely) if you’re a golf nut, chances are you will be watching when, at 2:30 in the morning our time, an unknown American player strikes the first tee shot of the 38th Ryder Cup matches at Celtic Manor in Wales.

And by that point, every one of the 24 players from the United States and Europe, not to mention captains Corey Pavin and Colin Montgomerie, will be quite happy just to get the darn thing started.

Between the months of jockeying for team spots, the endless speculation about captain’s picks and, most of all, the week full of ceremonial pomp that accompanies this incomparable event, it can drive any participant crazy.

Yet there’s no denying the electricity the matches produce...

CATEGORY: Golf

TAGS: Ryder Cup, 2010, Wales, United States, Europe, preview

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Safe to say, Cazenovia and VVS had nothing left.

Not after four quarters, two overtimes, 94 points, more than 1,000 total yards, fumbles, near-fumbles, interceptions, dropped interceptions, penalties, sacks, two-point conversions, a field goal through the uprights, a field goal that struck an upright, long punts, short punts....did I leave anything out?

Simply put, no game in the 2010 Section III football season could match what the Lakers and Red Devils gave us Saturday at Buckley-Volo Field...and no game might top it, either.

Once formidable, the Caz defense got reduced to rubble by Tyler Mautner's long bombs...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: High School football, fourth week, VVS, Cazenovia

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