Friday, April 13, 2018

Sports this 'n' that

El Cheapo Press (The Record/Saratogian) hadn't exactly been beating the drums promoting either the revived Albany Patroons or the East Coast Hockey League's Adirondack Thunder this season. Both have been largely ignored, though you could make a case for some Thunder results appearing in the Saratogian, but not The Record.

However, after the Thunder landed a berth in the ECHL playoffs, El Cheapo Press is acting like they've been supporting the team all along, and will likely do so again when it's officially announced that the Patroons, currently in 2nd place in their league, will also see post-season action. Like, seriously? We get that El Cheapo Press can't afford to have extra reporters available to cover both teams on a steady basis, and we're not digging their approach to high school sports with the "roundups" every 3-4 days. Whatever happened to timely reporting, guys?? Oh, yeah. Your corporate parent is too cheap to do right by this market.

For being late-to-the-party bandwagon jumpers, and trying to deceive the readers, El Cheapo Press gets a box of Dunce Caps this week.
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Once upon a time, you could count on Troy High being players during softball season. Not so far this season.

Headed into a road game today at Albany High, Troy sits at 0-3 after dropping a 4-2 decision to Saratoga on Wednesday. Something tells me talent depth, or lack of same, is the problem. By the way, the record doesn't include a road game at Niskayuna last Saturday that either was postponed or not reported.

Meanwhile, Troy's baseball team avoided getting blown out by the Blue Streaks Wednesday, making a late rally, but falling short in a 12-9 loss to drop to 1-2. Next stop is also in Albany today, weather permitting. The lacrosse team is 1-3 after beaing Albany, 13-4, on Thursday. Derrick Cipriani, better known for his accomplishments with the 2-time Class AA state football champions, has registered a hat trick in each of his last two games. Much like LaSalle's Sebastian Geiger & Erik Zimmerman, Cipriani is quickly becoming known as a multi-sport star.
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The Troy school board will soon put the 2018-19 budget to a vote, but said budget doesn't include any extra financial outlays for adding items like a new scoreboard and/or lights for the baseball/softball fields.

It seems appropriate, then, that Troy lags behind the other high schools in the city, save maybe for Catholic Central, which plays their home baseball games at Knickerbocker Field, when it comes to spring sports amenities. Kind of like El Cheapo Press having the #3 paper in the market......
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Back to the Patroons for a moment. The Albany Times-Union doesn't always have a beat writer covering their games, as one recent home game was reduced to being on the bottom of a page because of a lack of available reporters. They have to scrape and scramble for road results. Well, at least they're trying.
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We know there's been bad blood over the years between the Yankees & Boston. The brawl on Wednesday night at Fenway, while the latest chapter in the ancient rivalry, also slowed the game down to a snail's pace, worse than usual. When the final out was recorded, shortly after 11 pm (ET), the official time of the game was just shy of four hours, with the Yankees hanging on to win, 10-7. A furious 9th inning rally last night came up short, as Boston took the series with a 6-3 win. That game swelled over three hours as well. Nothing new, but in contrast, the Mets & Marlins were a model of efficiency, as their game, a 4-1 Met win, ended just shy of two and a half hours. Of course, the prospect of a no-hitter, even though it was foiled in the 7th inning, had a lot to do with it.
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Albany Academy continues to roll merrily along in baseball.

On Wednesday, Academy blew away Watervliet, 17-0, in another lop-sided game that could've been stopped by the mercy rule if the Colonial Council had bothered to enforce it in the regular season. Watch. Next year, they'll change their minds. Today, the Cadets welcome Cobleskill-Richmondville. Expect more of the same.
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This last item slipped through the cracks until just now.

Next season, the Suburban Council will have one less team. Mohonasen made an announcement during basketball season that the Mighty Warriors will shift affiliations to the Colonial Council, where they would have a territorial rivalry with Schalmont, beginning this fall. This won't, I think, change the alignments of the divisions in the Suburban at all, unless there are corresponding moves yet to be made. Stay tuned.

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