The World Series champion Houston Astros have shuffled minor league managers. Morgan Ensberg, the former Astro who guided the Tri-City Valleycats to a 3rd place finish in the Stedler division last year, won't be back for a 2nd year. Instead, Ensberg will manage the Astros' Advanced Class A team in Buies Creek NC. Jason Bell becomes the 3rd different Valleycats manager in as many years, following Ensberg and Lamarr Rogers. The V-Cats have failed to make the playoffs the last two seasons after 4 straight division titles, three under Ed Romero, and a NY-Penn League crown in 2013.
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The NFL has taken some heat for not approving a 1 page ad in the official program for Super Bowl 52 from the American Veterans group, which is taking a stand against players kneeling or doing anything else but standing for the National Anthem before games. American Veterans, one would guess, would have the seal of approval of a certain man-child in Washington who's turned the players' silent protests over the last two seasons into a political powder keg, changing the theme from racial inequality and social injustice to disrespect of the veterans and the military in general. A 3rd party publisher produces the programs, but the league has final approval over content.
In other words, they're looking to control the message, and don't want the Super Bowl tainted by politics. News flash. The big game already is, if you believe anyone that thinks the league and its television partners (NBC, which will have the game, CBS, Fox, & ESPN) conspired to fix the playoffs.
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Here's one for the books.
After being a studio analyst for Fox the last couple of post-seasons, Alex Rodriguez will be a color analyst for ESPN's Sunday Night Baseball this season, in addition to his Fox duties. He's not the only one collecting multiple paychecks, though. Matt Vasgersian, who's called games for Fox & MLB Network, and has been affiliated with Fox for several years, dating back to FX's short-lived Toughman competitions, replaces Dan Schulman, who will spend most of his time likely in Toronto this season. Jessica Mendoza and Buster Olney will return to round out the 4 person team.
Something tells me this may be the start of something even bigger, like ESPN partnering with MLB to the point where Vasgersian could be calling games for three different networks this season. It's not unprecedented, given the partnership between the NFL Network and NBC/CBS. Can you imagine, however, Harold Reynolds, who left ESPN for MLB in relative disgrace a few years back, returning to ESPN under this kind of agreement?
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It's Regents mid-term week in high schools throughout New York, and most schools have put their sports on hold until the end of the week.
However, there were two games of note on Tuesday in boys' basketball. Suburban Council blue division leader Saratoga ran their winning streak to 11 in a row in beating LaSalle (Colonial Council). The Cadets have dropped 3 of their last 5 to fall behind Schalmont. Meanwhile, Albany Academy, which plays more of an independent schedule in basketball, beat Guilderland, 70-43. The Dutchmen are in rebuilding mode this season, which would explain the lopsided result.
Things should be back to normal come Friday.
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The coaching carousel has begun spinning in the NFL, with three first-time head coaches having been hired in the last couple of days.
Steve Wilks will be the new head man in Arizona, replacing the retired Bruce Arians. Arians, in turn, has reportedly expressed interest in taking Jon Gruden's old chair on Monday Night Football, now that Gruden has returned to Oakland. The Giants hired Minnesota offensive coordinator Pat Shurmur, the nephew of former defensive coordinator Fritz Shurmur, on Monday. Where that leaves Steve Spagnuolo remains to be seen. Finally, Mike Vrabel, after serving as defensive coordinator in Houston this past season, moves to AFC South rival Tennessee to replace Mike Mularkey. Vrabel, at least, has a couple of Super Bowl rings from his time in New England to motivate the Titans, who were bum-rushed out of the playoffs by the Patriots a week and a half ago.
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This should surprise absolutely no one, but La Loudmouth, LaVar Ball, has signed on as an assistant coach for his sons in Lithuania. I don't think it's just to help with the language barrier, mind you, but rather to gain control of things to satisfy his own ego and extend his 15 minutes of infamy. Don't be alarmed if there's word of some international incident in Lithuania in the next few months, because the chief suspect would be too obvious.........
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Arena football returns to upstate NY in April with a shrunken Arena Football League, which now has just 4 teams, including the newly minted Albany Empire, which shares the ownership group with the Philadelphia Soul. Said group includes former NFL QB and ESPN personality Ron Jaworski, but at last check, singer Jon Bon Jovi gave up his share of the Soul. I for one cannot fathom why they couldn't resurrect the Firebirds, the team name the Albany market had back in the 90's, ultimately winning the Arena Bowl in 1999. After all, the Albany Patroons have been revived twice now, and are doing well in a nascent league. One of the team names that was up for vote was the Phoenix, which would've been the closes thing to reviving the Firebirds. Still, though, Empire's a good fit, given the team is based in the capital of New York.
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On the other side of the spectrum, some self-declared social justice warriors decided to do a late night commando raid on the National Museum of Racing in Saratoga, draping confederate flags on a set of lawn gnomes shaped like jockeys. Problem is, these dorks have been caught on tape. They claim the jockey-gnomes represent racism & slavery.
Here's a thought, morons. Instead of acting like thieves in the night, why not meet with the museum board to express your opinions in a public purview? Going about it anonymously does nothing for either side. Just sayin'.
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