Sports this 'n' that

As expected, both of Troy High's soccer teams will be on the road to start sectional play this week. The girls, after an unsightly 2-14 regular season ledger, will be at Columbia on Wednesday afternoon. The next night, the boys (6-9-1 overall) visit Bethlehem, with the 5th seeded Eagles looking to avenge an earlier loss to the improved Flying Horses. Conflicting accounts have this game ticketed for either 3 or 7 pm. Check with the schools to find out for sure before going.

Meanwhile, LaSalle, the lone Colonial Council school in Class AA, will host Ballston Spa on Thursday night, with the winner facing top-ranked Saratoga on Saturday afternoon.
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Last week, the Giants saw 4 wide receivers fall to injuries in the same game. This week, it was unofficially hunting season on quarterbacks.

Green Bay QB Aaron Rodgers broke his collarbone, and the worst case scenario is that Rodgers could be lost for the season. Denver's Trevor Siemien was KO'd from the Broncos' loss to the Giants, replaced by the returning Brock Osweiler, and Tampa Bay's Jameis Winston was knocked out as well. Siemien & Winston, though, should be ready to go for their teams' next games.
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Folks are still buzzing over the Jets having a TD catch by Austin Saferian-Jenkins taken away in Sunday's loss to New England at the Meadowlands. No one's willing to say it, but the worst case scenario here is that someone in the replay booth was in the tank for New England, adding another chapter to the contentious history between the two teams. I didn't see the game, but watched the replay of the "non-catch" being shown several times on Monday's Mike & Mike simulcast on ESPN2.

Yes, the defending champs are in 1st in the AFC East all by themselves for now, but Buffalo will be coming off a bye week, and looking to keep pace. The Jets will play Miami next, as the Dolphins are now tied with Buffalo, half a game in back of the Pats.
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Hard to believe, but the NBA begins play tonight, two weeks earlier than usual. the idea perhaps that the league's media partners (ESPN/TNT) are hoping to siphon off some of the baseball playoff ratings. If that's the case, then TNT would be robbing Peter (sister network TBS) to pay themselves (as Paul), as the NLCS is on TBS. If you didn't know why Ernie Johnson isn't calling the NLCS, now you do.

Personally, I don't give a rat's butt about the NBA anymore, as high school hoops are more my jam, as the kids say. The pro & college games are too rife with corruption and politics, regardless of order, for me to invest in it anymore. This much I do know. When the Lakers appear on either TNT or ESPN, you could make a drinking game out of how many times the camera focuses on America's Worst Stage Dad, Lavar Ball. Just sayin'.
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Speaking of the NLCS, the Cubs all of a sudden find themselves behind the 8-ball after Joe Maddon basically blew the game on Saturday night, leaving closer Wade Davis in the pen and having erstwhile starter John Lackey on the mound in the 9th inning, giving up the game winning HR to ex-Met Justin Turner, who now looks like a refugee from a Smith Brothers convention with that beard. However, as the scene shifts to Wrigley Field tonight, expect the Cubs to get right back in it, much like the Yankees did last night in game 3 of the ALCS.
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After getting unfairly snubbed in the College Football Playoff last year, Penn State is making a very strong case to lock down a spot in the tournament this year. Now ranked #2 in the country, the Nittany Lions have experienced a resurgence under coach James Franklin, but there are still going to be those get-a-lifes who don't think the team belongs in post-season play at all because of the lingering stench of the Jerry Sandusky scandal while the late Joe Paterno was coach. I say, put the past behind you. Sandusky is serving his sentence, the case is closed. Let that be the end of the story.