Sports this 'n' that

Another year, another AFC East title for the New England Patriots, another round of vitriol from opponents and fans alike over questionable officiating favoring the defending Super Bowl champions.

If it wasn't for the latest controversy coming out of Sunday's win over Buffalo, this wouldn't be an issue. For the 2nd straight week, the infamous "Calvin Johnson rule" came into play. This time, Buffalo' Kelvin Benjamin was denied a TD. Now, I didn't see the game, but accounts state that it didn't look like anything was wrong, but NFL Director of Officiating Alberto Riveron saw it differently, and convinced the on-field officials that Benjamin didn't have firm control of the ball. Buffalo settled for a field goal, but didn't score again as the Patriots pulled away in the 2nd half.

Buffalo's Jerry Hughes was quoted by a couple of media sources as saying that he felt the refs were on the Patriots' payroll. The Patriots' growing legion of detractors might agree. Riveron's predecessors, Dean Blandino & Mike Peiriera, both now with Fox, ripped Riveron because, in their view, according to published reports, there was nothing wrong with the catch, which suggests that if anyone was on the take, in Hughes' view, it might just be Riveron, in his first year as Director of Officiating. As online commentators posting to Yahoo! and other sites point out, there've been a string of calls of this type favoring the Patriots at every instance. The first such victim, the Jets, visit Gillette Stadium on Sunday, and, like the Bills, out for revenge.

Meanwhile, while the officials might've decided to let the teams play and only called a grand total of six accepted penalties between Buffalo & New England on Sunday, with the Pats' less than sterling reputation, they have to be watched very, very closely. Never mind holding the flags. You cannot protect star players like Rob Gronkowski at this point. The NFL wonders why viewers are turning away. It ain't because of the now-diminishing protests, but, rather, fan apathy over the perception that the league has a stake of some kind in keeping the Evil Empire near the top. I say, forget about the "star system", stop protecting guys like Gronkowski who happen to have endorsement deals (i.e. Gronkowski w/Nike), and start calling the games the way they're supposed to be.
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It's holiday tournament week in Section II for hockey & basketball. LaSalle defends its championship in the annual Mohawks tournament at Union College tonight, as they'll play Essex Junction in the nightcap at 8 pm. For whatever reason, and they do this every year, the teams (LaSalle, Essex Junction, West Seneca, and host Niskayuna-Schenectady) play the 2nd day's games the next morning, with the first game set for about 8:30 am. Who does that? That means the games are all played within a 24 hour period. While it works for teams on a year-to-year basis, it makes little logistical sense, another example of Section II making a bad business decision, because while you'll have parents attending tonight's games, some of those same parents have jobs to go to in the morning, and unless they already reserved some vacation time for tomorrow, they might not be able to return to Messa Rink at Union for those morning games. My best guess is that this is on Union, which might be reserving the rink for their hockey teams (men's & women's) for practices on Wednesday afternoon (next year, it'll be Wednesday-Thursday, and we'll have the same rigamarole), and is imposing the morning start times on Section II and the governing bodies for West Seneca (Syracuse area) and Essex Junction (Vermont). That, friends, may need to change, and soon, for the better of the teams and the game.
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Troy High, meanwhile, isn't hosting a tournament this year, nor are their basketball teams playing this week. The women's team, winners of 2 of their last 3, got an unexpected head start to the holiday break Friday when their game vs. Shaker at Siena College was postponed, the 2nd time in 3 weeks that the Lady Horses and Lady Bison were shuffled off to the side, but this time due to weather. It leaves the athletic directors at both schools with egg on their faces because they would've been better served playing the game as it was originally scheduled on December 8. Now, they have to scramble to reschedule the game again. Meanwhile, the Shaker boys will welcome Albany Academy on January 3, as that game was quickly rescheduled. Troy, on the other hand, was already committed on that night with a home game vs. Albany, the first of four games in a week (January 3-9). The Albany game is the 2nd of a 4 game homestand, which wraps with games vs. Bethlehem (January 5) & Lansingburgh (Jan. 8) before visiting Guilderland on January 9. By the time Paul Bearup's club faces Saratoga at home on January 12, they will be very fatigued. Trust me on that. Meanwhile, the boys will have been idle for 2 weeks before they travel to Bethlehem on the 5th.
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Word from a reliable source is that after the success of an outdoor show at Joe Bruno Stadium in July, Northeast Wrestling will return there in July 2018. More details when they become available.
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Saw a headline online that said that UCLA QB Josh Rosen would rather stay in school than be drafted by the winless Cleveland Browns. That says that Rosen would be better served finishing his college career the right way, but the Browns as an organization need some serious help erasing the perception of collective ineptitude. Would that more players would commit to spending the full 4 years in college before turning pro, but the lure of the big bucks, instant media gratification, et al, is too much to ignore, and whose fault is that? Some players, in both basketball & football, are surrounded by leeches and groupies putting the ideas in the players' heads that they're ready when in truth, more often than not, they're not. Just sayin'.