Sports this 'n' that

We have reached the halfway point of the NFL season, and it seems the lone dominant force in either conference isn't the defending Super Bowl champion Patriots, but instead the resurgent Philadelphia Eagles, who are at 8-1 and atop the NFC East. There are so many teams at 6-2, including the Patriots, the Los Angeles Rams, and some of the usual suspects (Dallas, Pittsburgh).

Meanwhile, the calls for the Giants to sack head coach Ben McAdoo are getting louder after the Rams laid waste to the Giants, 51-17, on Sunday. There are those who think that Big Blue quit on their coach, chief among them NBC's Rodney Harrison and, closer to home, WNYT sports anchor Rodger Wyland, who contributes a short piece in the sports section of the Albany Times-Union, in addition to his morning radio show on WTMM-FM. Like, the once mighty Denver Broncos, in year 2 AP (After Peyton), also laid an egg on Sunday, giving up 53 to Philadelphia. It's not helping that the Broncos go home to play the Patriots next.

And what happened to Kansas City? The AFC West leaders have dropped 3 of their last 4, including a 28-14 loss Sunday to Dallas. The Chiefs have a bye next week, but play their next two games at the Meadowlands (Giants & Jets, in that order). Oakland is 2 back after beating Miami, and could still make the playoffs.
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Two Section II schools will host state football playoffs this weekend, which is a first for the home district, insofar as I know.

Troy will play Section 1 AA champ New Rochelle in a rematch of last year's quarters, but this time the Flying Horses could very well be the home team, as the game will be at Columbia High in East Greenbush on Friday night. Less than 24 hours later, Schuylerville will host a Class C quarterfinal between Holy Trinity and Ogdensburg Free Academy. OFA, in turn, hosts a B quarterfinal (Glens Falls vs. Gouvenour) on Friday. Class D champ Cambridge will play Moriah at Au Sable Valley High, also on Friday. All three defending champs from last year (Troy, Glens Falls, Cambridge) are looking to repeat the trek to Syracuse, where the state finals will be contested Thanksgiving weekend.

Meanwhile, Albany Academy, in their first season in the New England Prep School Athletic Council (NEPSAC), sits at 4-3 with one game to play, on the road. However, press coverage of the Cadets, due mostly to playing in NEPSAC, has been sparse, as local outlets seemingly can't be bothered to regularly cover the team's home games, the mentality being, apparently, that if they're not in Section II, why bother? The only other sport where the Cadets are on the outside is hockey, and they once were a Section II power there. Otherwise, Albany Academy is still a member of the Colonial Council in all other sports (Albany Academy for Girls is also in the Colonial Council).

My message to the local radio/TV outlets and newspapers is this. Lose the bias, and show these kids some respect!!
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The fans in Houston have been starving for a pro championship for practically forever, so when the Astros had their victory parade on Friday, there were a few jabronies that were bothered by the fact that pitcher Justin Verlander, a trade deadline acquisition from Detroit, was a no show. Well, he did have a very good reason. Verlander had picked last weekend in advance for his wedding to supermodel and video game sales doll Kate Upton. To the city as a whole, the World Series title is a catharsis in the wake of Hurricane Harvey, so why throw cold water on the party? Some folks just don't get it.
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For years, the marathons in Boston & New York have been almost exclusively won by athletes from Kenya or other African nations. On Sunday, Shalane Flanagan ended a long American drought in the race by winning the women's division. The Boston native was the first American female in 40 years (Miki Gorman won back-to-back NYC marathons in 1976-7) to win the event, and outkicked 3-time defending champion Mary Keitany (Kenya, naturally) to make history.

On the men's side, Geoffrey Kamworor of Kenya crossed the finish line first. We won't hear about races like this again until they run in Boston in mid-April.