Friday, October 19, 2018

Sports this 'n' that

Soccer season officially ended at Troy High on Wednesday afternoon, as the boys' team was shown the door in the first round by Ballston Spa, 4-2. At least, this time, the Flying Horses scored. The Scotties shut out Troy, 7-0, in the season opener for both clubs on August 28. The game ended less than 24 hours after the Troy women absorbed their third shutout loss in four days, falling to Lansingburgh, 3-0, and exiting the women's sectionals in the first round as well.

The boys finish an unsightly 0-15-2. The women close at 3-14. Gee, y'don't suppose the girls could've beaten the boys in a co-ed scrimmage, do you?
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Speaking of Lansingburgh, the football Knights extended their losing streak, blown away by Mohonasen, 42-12, Thursday night.

Now, all they need on the north side is to amend the school district budget so Lansingburgh can have cheerleaders, a band, and a JV program for football for 2019. Otherwise, the lean times will continue.
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There will not be a repeat winner in the World Series this year.

Boston made sure of that by eliminating Houston, 4-1, on Thursday. However, people were still talking about what happened in Wednesday's game.

If you missed it, Houston's Jose Altuve was called out for fan interference on what would've been a game-tying 2 run homer in the first off Boston's Rick Porcello. Umpire Joe West made the initial out call, but wasn't 100% sure, so he decided to let replay resolve the issue. The call was confirmed.

What Major League Baseball didn't want to have happen was a repeat of the Jeffrey Maier incident in the 1996 ALDS between Baltimore and the Yankees. Maier, 12 at the time, caught a home run ball that could easily have been called fan interference. The Orioles' Tony Tarasco argued the call in vain.

Look, I get that fans are always reaching for souveneirs either to keep or later sell on eBay. This time of year, though, is when the games mean way more than they do in the regular season, and every play is magnified. Here's a tip to Joe & Jane Fan for the rest of the month. Let the ball come to you. Don't make a play for the ball if a fielder is doing that. Your next game could be in the comfort of your living room if you do.

Meanwhile, supermodel Kate Upton, whose husband, Houston ace Justin Verlander, took the loss last night, claimed on social media that MLB was rigging the series to ensure that Boston would advance, the idea being that the Red Sox bring more ratings. Didn't hear anything of the sort last year when Houston ousted the East Coast's other marquee draw, the Yankees.

If Los Angeles eliminates Milwaukee tonight, they'll start drawing comparisons to the NBA Finals rivalry of the Celtics & Lakers from back in the day.

As for Kate, I'd say it's time to go back to selling video games.
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A wire service report touted how there've been a few more closer games in the NFL this season. Of course, it appeared in El Cheapo Media today, well after Denver blew away Arizona, 45-10, last night. Arizona rookie Josh Rosen was victimized for a pair of Pick-6's (interceptions returned for TD's) in the first quarter, and the Cardinals, once one of the contenders in the NFC, fell to 1-6.

The Albany Times-Union's panel of media handicappers weren't thinking clearly, except for high school reporter James Allen, who was the only panelist to pick the Broncos. Everyone else went with Arizona.
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It amuses me that, in order to create tension for a women's title match at WWE's Evolution show on October 28, they had the Bella Twins (Total Bellas, Total Divas) turn against current Raw women's champion Ronda Rousey, then claim that she stole their spotlight.

Sorry, but the drama queen act of the Arizona natives wore thin a long, long time ago, well before they decided to return and, as Rousey herself asserted on Monday, leech off her. The Bellas (Nicole Garcia & Brianna Garcia-Danielson) are the WWE's answer to the Kardashian sisters, who also occupy space on E!'s programming roster. While another ex-champion, Alexa Bliss, may or may not be 100% ready, hence being placed in a tag team match on the card with on-again-off-again bestie (and another ex-champ herself) Mickie James vs. Hall of Famers Lita (Amy Dumas) & Trish Stratus, WWE could've given the title match rub to someone more deserving, but, to paraphrase an old cliche, familiarity breeds ticket sales. The trend in show business today is people are seemingly more interested in pre-sold product, hence all these revivals & reboots in movies & television popping up like an epidemic of pimples.

It may be just me, but it might be in WWE's best interest to have Rousey squash both twins like the bugs they are. Not leeches, mind you, but, well, roaches........
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I have to get this in.

In Florida, they have field marshals for some soccer games, something that I don't see at Troy High, just school security. Anyway, one overzealous, and that's putting it kindly, "field marshal" mistakenly determined that a parent of a soccer player "posed a threat", when all the parent was doing was admonishing his son for questioning a referee's call. The parent is an African-American. The "field marshal" is a white female dubbed "Golfcart Gail" (real name not disclosed). The local athletic commission in the area sided with this nothing happening busybody, and she's getting slammed online, and rightfully so, for misreading the situation, seemingly on purpose. Police were called, but the parent left the pitch on his own accord, grateful for being cleared of a false accusation created by a woman with a hidden agenda. Shame on the athletic commission that allowed her to get away with filing a false report.

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