Blogs > Extra Points

Thoughts, news and notes from the sports staff of The Saratogian newspaper, located in historic Saratoga Springs, New York. The gang in the corner office on Lake Avenue give you the post-game wrap-ups, news and notes from the games we cover and opinions about the sports we read about every day.

Tuesday, January 18, 2011

Greene nominated for national honor

Shenendehowa running back Bronson Greene has been nominated for the Old Spice Player of the Year Award, a national honor that will be presented to 50 players across the country.

As a senior, Greene rushed for 1,264 yards and 17 touchdowns this past fall, giving him a school-record 3,518 yards rushing for his three-year varsity career. He shared Empire Division Player of the Year honorswith Ballston Spa lineman Chris Ohnsman, and was named Shenendehowa's Player of the Year.

Snowed out again

Once again, the weather has wreaked havoc on Section II athletics.

The vast majority of high school sporting events scheduled for Tuesday evening - including a full slate of basketball games - have been postponed thanks to the "wintry mix" of snow and sleet that has been falling in the area all day.

The Saratoga basketball teams, which were slated to face Averill Park tonight, will have to hope the third time is a charm. The Blue Streaks were scheduled to play the Warriors on Jan. 7 when a snow day forced postponement to today; now it's been rescheduled again.

In fact, the majority of tonight's basketball games were reschedulings from the Jan. 7 storm.

Stay tuned to The Saratogian and saratogian.com for a complete high school schedule as more details become available.

Thursday, January 13, 2011

Saratoga hockey fifth in state

The Saratoga hockey team is ranked fifth in the latest New York State Division I hockey poll.

The Blue Streaks, last year's state runner-up, are 10-2.

Shenendehowa, which the Blue Streaks defeated in late December, is ranked seventh in the poll.

Shen girls, Greenwich boys ranked

The Shenendehowa girls basketball team and the Greenwich boys basketball team have again earned rankings in this week's respective state polls.

Shenendehowa is ranked fourth in New York State Class AA. The Plainsmen, last year's state runner-up, are undefeated heading into this weekend's matchup with Saratoga.

Greenwich is ranked 13th in Class C.

Shen wrestling still atop state

The Shenendehowa wrestling team, with a perfect 15-0 record, is ranked first in New York State among large-school wrestling teams.

The Plainsmen have been atop the poll each week since it was released.

Corinth is ranked 23rd in the state among small schools. Burnt Hills-Ballston Lake received an honorable mention nod in the combined category.

For the complete state wrestling poll, click here.

Sunday, January 9, 2011

The Satire Evening Post: An Interview With A Jets Fan

In honor of the Jets’ Wild Card victory of the Indianapolis Colts, I am posting, verbatim, the victorious rant of celebrated Jets fan and friend of The Saratogian, Nicholas “Nicky Boy” Bochelli, roughly an hour after the game ended. In order to keep within the high standards of The Saratogian and keeping in accordance with the AP Stylebook, all curse words have been replaced with names of various vegetables. Imagine he is yelling this whole thing, so that I don’t have to burn through my exclamation point allowance for the year. Also, imagine his speech is a little slurred.

Hey, hey! J-E-T-S Jets-Jets-Jets amirite?! Did you see that pumpkin beauty of a game? Nicky Folk hero. You know it’s the shared first name, right? I just know Old Rex was kissing that foot two minutes after the cameras left.

I’d have made the same kick too, only I’d have invited the whole Colts team out to try and block it. Then, I’d have slammed it at Dwight Freeny so that it bounced off his would-be -concussed head and straight through the uprights.

Man, those onion Colts and that brussels sprout Manning didn’t stand a chance. He’s a chump. You know why he’s number 18? Because that’s what I figured his completion percentage would be for the game. He’s slow. He plays like he’s underwater in a suit of armor. Forget that guy. Indianapolis Colts: never a threat.

(From what I saw he had a good outing. He led that drive that put the Colts up with under a minute to play.)

No man. That was the Jets giving them a glimmer of hope. False sense of security. KnowwhatI’msayin? That was the plan the whole time. I was there on the sideline, using Alosi’s field pass since I knew he wouldn’t need it. Old Rex was like, ‘Give it to them so that they know what it tastes like, then snatch it back and beat ‘em over the head with it like the celery they are.’

(Yeah, but that kick for the win was pretty close to the right upright for a chip shot. Plus, it was a little wobbly.)

Never in doubt, my man. There are some people who might try to tell you that I leaked a bit just after the snap, and then tried to cover it up by rubbing hot dog condiments on my pants, but that’s not true. I tried to finish my dog quick before the inevitable celebration, and I spilled a ton of mustard. Heat of the moment, man. Fog of war. Things get sloppy.

(Why would anybody try to give me the first account of that story?)

I dunno. Don’t worry about it. That kick was true all the way through, though.

(So will you be this confident next week going into Gillette?)

Of course, man. We have a hit list for this playoffs. We put a fresh beating on the Colts because it was personal with Old Rex. Next, we abscond that throwaway loss against the Pats. You remember that false hope we laid on Manning I was talking about before. Yeah, that’s what that Week 13 loss was. Let them feel good about themselves … get overconfident, then BAM! After that, we’ll get vengeance on Baltimore for Week 1, and finally, meet either the Bears -- those carrots -- or the Packers to kick their asparagus in the Super Bowl. The one that doesn’t make it would not be worthy of our beating. That covers all the teams that wronged us. We’ll be like a crazy mix of the Punisher and the Highlander.

For the playoffs, we are going to be like the final scene of The Godfather, going to the mattresses of those enemies we have not yet vanquished. You wait. That’s the playoffs in a nutshell. Mark “Corleone” Sanchez going nuts. The city of Dallas will probably be destroyed in the process with his power.

(Will you be at the next game too?)

Beans yes! I’ll be sitting so close that I’ll be able to hear the Pats cheerleaders talking themselves into the courage to talk to me. They’ll be all ‘Oh, Nicky. I have seen the error of my ways. I want you to take me home so I can shed this blue and silver and’ … (graphic imagery removed for the sake of the reader).

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Wednesday, January 5, 2011

A Farewell to Randy Edsall

Losing Randy Edsall was a shocking blow to many UConn football fans, who had heard repeatedly that their beloved coach wanted to stand on no home sidelines but the one on Rentschler Field.

Many non-fans felt he should stay and see the program he built from a Division I-AA (as it was called then) nobody to a top BCS program. Some of those opposed to Edsall’s decision, myself included, were eased to find that the reason UConn’s supposed football savior left was for his “dream job” at the University of Maryland.

The excuse that a coach has left this program and the students that he sold it to for his “dream job” has been used before. (Brian Kelly being a recent example, when he left Cincinnati for Notre Dame.) In the case of Kelly, he left for Notre Dame, one of the highest profile coaching gigs on the planet. While it may have been his “dream job,” it is hard to say that the position itself had nothing to do with it.

In the case of Edsall, he left to coach what some would say is a lower-profile gig than the one he left in Storrs. Maryland won the Military Bowl on Dec. 29, a far less significant bowl than the Fiesta Bowl Uconn played in three days later. Also, the position he took had also been occupied for the last 10 seasons by Ralph Friedge.

Edsall was coaching at UConn for the last 12 seasons, and this is the first time that both the position was open and he was the most qualified person to fill it. Edsall also claims that the first college football game he went to see as a boy was at Maryland’s Byrd Stadium.

The signs all point to Maryland being the unlikely dream job of one of the most sought-after football coaches in the NCAA. The UConn fans I have spoken to have felt a mixture of hurt because Edsall will no longer be calling the plays on Saturdays, and joy in that someone who did so much for Connecticut football could go and feel as if he were signaling his quarterback from cloud 9.

He has done so much for UConn football, that it is a small task to be happy for him as he leaves.

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Saturday, January 1, 2011

Stathead Matt's Week 17 Quick Picks

Last Week: 10-of-16
Overall: 124-of-225
(2-13) Carolina Panthers at
(12-3) Atlanta Falcons -14.5

(11-4) Pittsburgh Steelers at
(5-10) Cleveland Browns +6.5

(6-9) Minnesota Vikings at
(5-10) Detroit Lions -3.5

(7-8) Oakland Raiders at
(10-5) Kansas City Chiefs -3.5

(7-8) Miami Dolphins at
(13-2) New England Patriots -3.5

(4-11) Cincinnati Bengals at
(11-4) Baltimore Ravens -9.5

(9-6) Tampa Bay Buccaneers at
(11-4) New Orleans Saints -7.5

(4-11) Buffalo Bills at
(10-5) New York Jets -2.5

(11-4) Chicago Bears at
(9-6) Green Bay Packers -10.5

(6-9) Tennessee Titans at
(9-6) Indianapolis Colts -9.5

(9-6) New York Giants at
(6-9) Washington Redskins +3.5

(8-7) Jacksonville Jaguars at
(5-10) Houston Texans -0.5

(5-10) Dallas Cowboys at
(10-5) Philadelphia Eagles -7.5

(5-10) Arizona Cardinals at
(5-10) San Francisco 49ers -6.5

(8-7) San Diego Chargers at
(4-11) Denver Broncos +3.5

(7-8) St. Louis Rams at
(6-9) Seattle Seahawks +2.5