Sports this 'n' that

We'll say this for the Mets and the Boston Red Sox. They're willing to take a chance on a first-time manager for 2018, rather than hit the recycling bin.

Boston tapped Houston bench coach Alex Cora as their new skipper, while the Mets poached Mickey Calloway away from Cleveland, where he'd been Terry Francona's pitching coach the last few years. Now all the Mets need is a new pitching coach, although some might think that bullpen coach Ricky Bones is the front-runner for that gig. Cleveland reportedly reached out to Carl Willis, who was in Boston as John Farrell's pitching coach, to succeed Calloway, but what are the chances of Farrell, who pitched for the Indians back in the day, reuniting with Francona?

Meanwhile, Washington is looking for a new manager after Dusty Baker's 2-year run ended with another NLDS exit. Philadelphia is looking to replace Pete Mackanin, who's already being mentioned as a possible successor to Joe Girardi with the Yankees. Girardi led the overachieving Yanks to the ALCS, capping a 10 year run that saw only 1 World Series title over that span (2009).

I think the trend now in MLB is to find younger, fresher voices in the clubhouse to run the team, which is why Dave Roberts, in his 2nd year in Los Angeles, has the Dodgers in the World Series.
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We're down to 4 teams in the Section II Class AA football playoffs, and now we know where the game will be played next week.

Section II officials announced yesterday that the title game will be played at the University at Albany's Thomas & Mary Casey Stadium (Bob Ford Field) next Friday night. We'll know by the end of business tonight who will represent Class AA in the Super Bowl among Shaker, Saratoga, Shenendehowa, and defending champion Troy. UAlbany last hosted the AA Super Bowl three years ago, and, as we noted previously, RPI chose not to host the game this year, citing a scheduling conflict, but an RPI employee who's a regular at Troy games thinks there's something else that RPI's not disclosing. Business as usual in that section of the hometown. RPI's senior day is November 4, so maybe they wanted to reserve the field for that?
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So far, the NBA season is playing out just as most of us feared. Every Lakers game is being over-analyzed because of rookie Lonzo Ball and his overbearing parasite of a father, LaVar. Can you imagine the worst stage parent on the planet in New York when the Lakers play Brooklyn and the Knicks? The tabloids would have a field week.

I haven't seen Lonzo play yet, don't care to. In this writer's opinion, he should still be in school, just like a lot of other "one & done" so-called phenoms who listen to the leeches surrounding them and are convinced they're ready for the big time when in some cases, they're not. For every LeBron James, for example, there are about a dozen or so who fall too far below the radar and are out of the league in less than five years. LaVar Ball claims he could beat Michael Jordan? Utter fallacy coming from a delusional old man living vicariously through his sons.

News flash: The Lakers will be lucky if they make the playoffs. Just sayin'.