So high school sports has started, with football teams going through the grind of a scrimmage and those in other sports getting into full-blown action.
The first serious wave was generated Thursday, when Fayetteville-Manlius nearly saw its girls tennis win streak of 14 years ended by Baldwinsville, needing comebacks in two doubles matches to squeak out a 4-3 decision over the Bees.
Then, on to the weekend, where B'ville dominated its own girls soccer Kickoff Classic and the boys, defending the AA title, knocked off Red Creek 1-0, and even the boys golf Bees went unbeaten through the weekend...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: opening weekend, college football, U.S. Open, Singh, Gustav, Palin

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Beginning next week - Sept. 10, to be exact - Eagle Newspapers will present the high school football season in a whole new way.
"Gridiron Round-Up" will be a 12-page section that will summarize each week of high school football at 15 different locales that cover our area...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Gridiron Round-Up, photos, help

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Here’s the dirty secret about the National Football League – whatever you might think at the start of September, the full truth doesn’t emerge for four months – at least.
Really, could anyone have foreseen the Giants’ run a season ago? In going to Tampa Bay, Dallas and Green Bay to snag the NFC championship, then venturing to the Arizona desert to deny the New England Patriots perfection in Super Bowl XLII, Big Blue matched Pittsburgh’s late ascendance to the crown two years earlier.
And it’s impossible to tell, right now, which team will weave that kind of magic in 2008-09...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: NFL, season, preview

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Whatever else took place on the first night of the CNY high school football season, it would be difficult to replicate the hard feelings stirred up at Pelcher-Arcaro Stadium when Baldwinsville hosted Liverpool.
WIth a lot of new players that went undefeated together in both the freshman and JV ranks, the Warriors took command almost immediately, running right through the Bees with a four-pronged attack that featured Tyler Kamide, Greg Bell, Mike Donitzen and James Wentworth.
And the defense? Yikes...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: Baldwinsville, Liverpool, football, fight

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With a single bold move – some would say brilliant, others reckless – John McCain assured that the 2008 election will insure some kind of historical breakthrough.
Nearly a quarter-century after Geraldine Ferraro, McCain tapped Sarah Palin as his running mate. It sure got people buzzing, which was the point after the breathtaking spectacle of 84,000 in Denver roaring for Barack Obama.
So come Nov. 4 (or some point after, remember 2000?), we’ll either have the first woman vice president, or the first African-American to reside in the Oval Office...

CATEGORY: Government

TAGS: election, Hillary, Obama, McCain, Palin

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Syracuse football lost. To Akron. There - the less said, the better.
Actually, there's more to say. How sad that, with the world premiere of "The Express" at the Landmark and Penn State coming to town, the Orange program is in such a sad state.
Never mind a stark contrast to the glory days of Jim Brown, Ernie Davis, Floyd Little, Don McPherson, Coach Mac, Donovan McNabb and friends. Just .500 would be a miracle, and that might take years, even with the greatest coaching hire.
Does ANYONE think anymore that firing Paul Pasqualoni made things better? Be careful what you wish for..
Serena Williams and Roger Federer, U.S. Open champs...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: SU, tennis, football, baseball, NFL, Brady

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As I write this, it will have been exactly seven years since a cowardly group of terrorists hijacked four planes, crashed two of them into the World Trade Center's twin towers, crashed another into the Pentagon, and were aiming the other for the nation's capital before brave people took over the plane and, giving their lives for us, crashed it into a Pennsylvania field.
The images of that day, and the feelings of horror, grief and sadness we all shared, linger even now...

CATEGORY: News & Media

TAGS: 9/11, anniversary, America, world,

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In his mind, Andy Heagle already had made the field goal. Then he went out and did it for real. Twice.
The first time, it didn't count - yellow flag on the turf. Second time, it did go through the upright - good. Game over.
East Syracuse-Minoa 10, Fulton 7. With that result on Friday night, the Spartans assumed the pole position in the race for the Class A American division regular-season title.
Of course, ESM did this in 2007, too. That game with Fulton was a wild 34-33 affair played on a warm and steamy September night at Spartan Stadium.
A year later, no steam or heat in the rematch in Fulton...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: ESM, football, Fulton, Heagle, win

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To say we are in some tough times might be slightly understating the point.
In the last three days alone, (1) Hurricane Ike hit Texas, hard. Galveston remains, in the mayor's own words, uninhabitable, (2) Merrill Lynch got sold and Lehman Brothers went kaput, just as the Dow dropped a cool 500 points, and (3) well, that Syracuse football team continues to do its best impersonation of the 1976 Tampa Bay Buccanneers. Who went 0-14.
And note I didn't even talk about that election, in 50 days time, which is a tad bit important...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: Sports, escape, college, baseball, NFL

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CATEGORY: Basketball

TAGS: Jamesville-DeWitt, Triche, SU, decision

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For their pinstripe-clad fans, the dream was that Yankee Stadium’s 85-year tenure would conclude as so many other seasons had – in October, aglow in the national spotlight, 57,000 generating a noise that could shake buildings from the Bronx to Battery Park.
Alas, this will not be the case. When the last man is retired or the last run scores in Sunday night’s game against the Baltimore Orioles, the doors will close on the original version of baseball’s grand cathedral.
And it means a lot for one simple, indisputable reason...

CATEGORY: Baseball

TAGS: Yankee Stadium, last days

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True, high-school football is not the same as the pro or college ranks in terms of skill level or attention lavished upon it...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: West Genesee, pressure, Jim Marks, points

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In case any of you are wondering, there will be plenty written about the Ryder Cup in a later entry. Safe to say, though, that the Americans were sensational and that Paul Azinger was the perfect captain for the USA. PGA of America, you MUST bring him back in 2010!
The full weekend of high-school football saw CBA, CNS and Rome Free Academy join West Genesee at 3-0 in the AA ranks, East Syracuse-Minoa and Cortland do the same in Class A, and Whitesboro beat New Hartford 22-21 by going for two in overtime.
Meanwhile, Marcellus and Westhill are bound for a big B West showdown next week after Mike DeCarr came back and helped the Warriors dump 51 on Homer. Oneida is rolling in B East, while Chittenango did itself proud in falling to mighty Chenango Forks 7-3...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: high school, foootball, college, NFL, baseball, Rays, Yankees

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At the dinner hour last Sunday at Valhalla Golf Club in a beautiful part of the world known as Kentucky, Paul Azinger was in no mood for a big meal.
That made sense, though. Thanks to Azinger’s near-perfect captaincy of Team USA in the 37th edition of the Ryder Cup matches, the Yanks had already feasted on Europe, ending the continent’s domination of an event that stretched back to the famous Sunday comeback of 1999 at Brookline.
Two years of hard work and total preparation by Captain Zinger had produced a true team that reveled in each other’s successes and piled up 16 ½ points to Europe’s 11 ½. The score didn’t reflect how close it was, but there was no doubt which side was better at Valhalla.
It was those guys in the Sunday red – a perfect color choice, by the way...

CATEGORY: Golf

TAGS: Ryder Cup, Azinger

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How odd to have a full Friday night of football games while a momentous debate consumed the nation's interest at Ole Miss.
A quick summary - McCain attacked often, ever the aggressor, trying to force Obama into mistakes or similar behavior. But Obama didn't flinch, staying his usual cool, calm self while delivering some good lines whenever the time called for it. Next is the VP debate - insert your own punchline.
Now, to the football stuff. Look how good Westhill is with Mike DeCarr under center, 90 points in two weeks and a huge win over Marcellus to take charge in Class B West. It all comes down to when DeCarr has surgery on that left shoulder...

CATEGORY: Football (American)

TAGS: debate, Friday, football

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A lot is going on the world, a lot more is going on in the sports world and there's plenty of time to get to all that stuff.
But like everyone else that cares about the movies and about humanity, I felt a deep sadness about Paul Newman's passing at age 83. He had been sick for a while, so it didn't come as a complete surprise. But his loss is still profound.
If he had been simply a talented, handsome actor with magnetic blue eyes whose resume included everything from "The Hustler" to "Nobody's Fool", that would be great, but not worth the kind of love that poured out upon the news of his death.
No, it was much more...

CATEGORY: Movies

TAGS: Paul Newman, remembered

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What a lovely day - $1 trillion lost, stocks down nearly 800 points, no bailout package thanks to the House antics, both parties looking bad for various reasons..how are you doing?
Yet again, the sports world offers serious refuge. Just the last five days has brought enough drama to last an entire year.
It started with USC, no. 1 and rolling, getting rolled in Corvallis by Oregon State. That began a college-football weekend where Alabama put a beatdown on Georgia and Ole Miss won in Florida's swamp. Now Oklahoma's in the no. 1 hot seat.
With the NFL, the only unbeaten teams in the AFC play in Buffalo and Tennesee, not New England, Indianapolis or San Diego...

CATEGORY: General Society

TAGS: college football, NFL, baseball

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Quite a feat the Chicago White Sox pulled off to win the AL Central title.
First, the South Siders had to beat Cleveland on Sunday. Then it had to beat Detroit on Monday. Finally, it had to beat Minnesota Tuesday night - just after the Twins had swept them a week before. Not an easy feat.
Well, Chicago managed. And the last part of the trifecta involved John Danks, on three days' rest, pitching the eight innings of his life. Then the old guys stepped up.
In the fifth inning, Ken Griffey Jr. threw out Michael Cuddyer at home, A.J. Pierzynski hanging on at collision time. Two innings later, Jim Thome hit a drive off the otherwise splendid Nick Blackburn, and as I write this, it still hasn't landed...

CATEGORY: Baseball

TAGS: Playoffs, White Sox, Rays, Angels, Red Sox, Brewers, Phillies, Dodgers, Cubs

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