Friday, November 16, 2018

A little bit of this and a little of that

The first pre-winter snowstorm brings with it concerns about NY state football playoffs scheduled for tonight and tomorrow in Middletown, outside of Poughkeepsie.

Section II Class A champion Burnt Hills, coming off a bye week, is set to play tonight vs. Cornwall. Figuring classes will have been cancelled for today due to the weather, coach Matt Shell should have his team on the road after the storm ends around 1 pm (ET) this afternoon for an 8:05 kickoff. You have to figure, too, that Middletown also got hit, and crews there will be working to get the field ready, as best as able, for tonight's game.

Burnt Hills hasn't gotten past the state semi-finals the last two years, and the adverse conditions may not help. Just sayin'. Saturday's card sees Class B champ Glens Falls vs. Marlboro, and AA champ Shaker facing New Rochelle. The Long Island representative should be thankful they're playing someone other than Troy this year.
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The Pittsburgh Steelers sit atop the AFC North, and they'll continue to play without star running back Le'Veon Bell, who's held out all season looking for----what else?----more money. I tell you, pro players are never satisfied. It's an ego thing, more than a greed thing. Once you become a big star, you're always going to want to be paid more than the rest of the players at your position. The agents might be greedy, but the players, enabled by the leeches and hangers-on that surround them, get their egos puffed up, and blown out of proportion. It happens.

The problem is, Bell didn't like the idea of the franchise tag being placed on him. Who does, anyway? I look for Bell to be back in the league next year, wearing someone else's colors.
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The rest of Major League Baseball's post-season awards have been handed out. Some are surprises, others aren't. Consider:

Manager of the Year:

AL: Bob Melvin (Oakland) won his 3rd trophy, second with the A's. People in Boston are complaining that Alex Cora, who led Boston to 108 wins in the regular season, en route to the Red Sox's 4th World Series title in 15 years, should've wrapped it up before the playoffs began, especially considering he's a first year manager. Who can figure sportswriters, anyway?

NL: Atlanta's Brian Snitker was rewarded for the Braves' return to the top of the NL East, outpointing Milwaukee's Craig Counsell.

Cy Young Award:

AL: Tampa Bay left-hander Blake Snell pulled the upset, as most folks figured Cleveland's Corey Kluber and Boston's Rick Porcello could've been getting more hardware.

NL: Jacob deGrom (Mets), despite 10 wins, posted a 1.70 ERA. He cuts the hair, then goes out and carries the Mets to, well, respectability after a mid-season collapse.

Most Valuable Player:

This might as well have been make-good day for Boston & Milwaukee. Why? Scope it out.

NL: Christian Yelich was in Giancarlo Stanton's shadow in Miami. Then, the Marlins' new management team splits them up, along with Marcell Ozuna (St. Louis). Yelich went to Milwaukee, and flipped the switch in the second half. Stanton was nowhere near close to winning in the AL with the Yankees, because......

AL: Mookie Betts (Boston) was a runaway winner. Don't know where Stanton finished, but there's always next year.

Oh, by the way, deGrom finished 5th in the NL voting, taking the only first place vote that didn't go to Yelich.
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Spectrum Cable's mobile service launched a new ad campaign a couple of months back. Emmy award winning actress-talk show host Ellen DeGeneres is the narrator for these spots, including this one.....


Sounds like Ellen was rehearsing reviving her stand-up act, don't ya think?

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