Wednesday, August 23, 2017

Sports this 'n' that

Fresh off sweeping the Brooklyn Cyclones out of town, the Tri-City Valleycats made their final trip to Connecticut on Tuesday, and were reminded that the Tigers have been their personal kryptonite this season. Connecticut finished a suspended game from last month, and, in the regularly scheduled game, trimmed to 7 innings per NY Penn League double-header rules, the Tigers completed the sweep, sending the 'Cats 2 1/2 games in arrears of front-running Vermont with 2 1/2 weeks to go in the season.

For what it's worth, Brooklyn has had the worst record in the NYPL this season, occupying the basement in the league's McNamara Division.
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Robert Lee isn't the voice of high school football for Spectrum Sports anymore. In addition to his commitments to Spectrum and Siena College last year, Lee began working for ESPN, mostly calling digital broadcasts of college football & basketball games.

Lee was to have been assigned Virginia's home opener on September 2, but that was switched in the aftermath of the violence in Charlottesville, where the campus is located, 11 days ago. The problem? Some people might think Lee, an Asian-American, might be distantly related to Confederate general Robert E. Lee (he's not). Lee will instead call the Youngstown State-Pittsburgh game on ESPN3.

Like, give me a break. I suppose the same thing will happen if Lee were assigned a Virginia home basketball game this winter.

These are the times we live in.
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The Northeastern Football Alliance may be having some problems with some of their teams.

The Troy Fighting Irish were to play Five Rivers last Saturday, but the game was never played, as Five Rivers forfeited. No reason given, but Troy is now 9-0 and will close the regular season at Watertown on Saturday, having already beaten the Red & Black, a holdover from the old Empire Football League, earlier this season. Five Rivers isn't the only team in the league that has forfeited games this season (A forfeit results in a default 2-0 final score), but you wonder if this isn't a by-product of general media indifference in the league.
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As much as Brooklyn has struggled this season, the parent Mets are clearly in rebuilding mode, preparing for next season.

2 years removed from their last division title, the Mets have continued to ship out veteran players, some of whom have also been clubhouse leaders. Lost amidst the trade of Curtis Granderson to the Dodgers was the fact that the defending World Champion Cubs claimed catcher Rene Rivera on waivers, which led to Kevin Plawecki being recalled from Las Vegas, as noted the other day. You know what that means if you're a Mets fan like me. The Mets need to find a veteran to help Plawecki and starting catcher Travis d'Arnaud next season. The Mets have lost the first two games of their series with Arizona at Citi Field, and have yet to beat the D-Backs this season (0-5 headed into tonight's game). Thankfully, I don't think they'll end up in the cellar.
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Troy High fans already have the home opener marked on their calendars for next week,  but it wouldn't surprise anyone if John Germinerio, who graduated in June, drops in for a visit during the season. Germinerio's staying close to home, as he'll be at Union College to play football. He may not be the starter, but at least he'll get more hometown fans in the seats at Frank Bailey Field.

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