Wow!
If you would have said Terrell Owens would be a member of the Buffalo Bills even a week ago, I might have told you that you were nuts.
But after the controversial star was released by the Dallas Cowboys, the Bills have signed him to a one year deal.
He's thought of as a cancer and the biggest pain in the butt in the NFL, but he is now a Bill. This is amazing and will put our local NFL team on the map.
We are in for a fun season,
The Buffalo Bills are making it very clear as to what is going to be priority come draft day, announcing Thursday that the team will be releasing left guard Derrick Dockery and tight end Robert Royal.
Dockery signed a seven year, $49 million contract two years ago and has never lived up to the potential the team saw in him. Royal had some decent games last season but is not considered a true starting tight end by the Bills. He has two years left on his contract.
“These business decisions are never easy,” Bills COO Russ Brandon told buffalobills.com. “Especially when you are talking about two great individuals in both Derrick and Robert. We thank them for their hard work and dedication in their time as Buffalo Bills and wish them the best of luck in the future.”
The moves are expected to free up $8 million in cap space, but the team is likely to fill these positions in the draft rather than shell out big bucks for a weak free agent class at the positions.
Pittsburgh's Chris Kemoeatu and Brandon Moore are the top free agent guards on the market and neither is a player that a line can be built around. With fellow lineman Melvin Fowler, Duke Preston and Jason Whittle all expected to test free agency for the Bills, one or two lineman could be taken on the first day of the draft.
Buffalo has no viable option at tight end right now and should also address this early in the draft, with the position boasting one of the strongest draft classes in years.
With Buffalo Bills running back Marshawn Lynch in more legal troubles and facing a suspension by the National Football League, the team is looking for another option to help out Fred Jackson while Lynch is on break.
The Bills are visiting with Fred Taylor today, and it seems like a great option that will not involve a long-term commitment.
Taylor is an 11-year veteran and 33 years old, so Buffalo will probably be looking to give him a one or two year deal. This would be a great move because it gives the team a chance to see if Lynch is going to clean up his act or if they have to move on.
Taylor can be a stop-gap.
He rushed for 11,271 yards with the Jacksonville Jaguars before the Jags released the NFL's 16th all-time leading rusher. And he's healthy and fresh after getting under 150 carries last season because Maurice Jones-Drew became more of a feature back.
Taylor is a strong and fast runner, even at his advanced age, and is also being targeted by the New England Patriots in free agency.
Signing Taylor would give the Bills three capable backs - when Lynch returns from suspension - and would allow a unique rotation that could maximize Jackson's speed and pass catching ability.
It would also allow Buffalo to focus on addressing more pressing needs in the draft, like guard, outside linebacker and tight end. Having to use an early draft pick to get an insurance policy for Lynch would take away from fixing weaker spots on the roster.
UPDATE: Taylor's visit today went very well, according to buffalobills.com lead journalist Chris Brown.
“My job is to come in and be a helper, not to stir up any problems or things like that,” said Taylor while making his free agent visit to One Bills Drive Tuesday.
This is good news for Buffalo fans who have to worry about Lynch and his future with the team.
The Buffalo Bills have always claimed to only keep players on the roster that are good people off the field as well as on. Owner Ralph Wilson does not like his players making news for non-football issues.
But one of the faces of the franchise has become a problem.
Running back Marshawn Lynch was arrested over the weekend for possession of a concealed firearm in California last week, making two straight offseasons where he has been in trouble with the law.
Lynch and two other men were in a 2006 Mercedes Benz when they were pulled over and officers found a loaded gun, which belonged to the back that just a week ago was playing in the Pro Bowl.
Lynch was arrested last June when he was involved in a hit-and-run accident on Chippewa Street in Buffalo. He did not turn himself in right away and it took four days before his lawyer contacted the police.
He also made the news as a college student at California when he was the target of a drive-by shooting, which the police eventually said was a case of mistaken identity. There were "character issues" when the Bills drafted him in the first round of the 2007 draft.
After Willis McGahee was run out of town for negative remarks about the City of Buffalo, Lynch was drafted and has been a decent player on the field in his first two seasons. He rushed for 1,115 yards and seven touchdowns as a rookie and followed that up this past season with 1,036 yards and eight scores. He was an alternate and was added to the Pro Bowl this year.
His numbers are good, but he has not jumped into an "elite" status in the NFL by any stretch of the imagination.
The Buffalo Bills will be asking themselves this offseason if it is worth keeping a player around that makes as much news off the field as on. Lynch will definitely be suspended for some of this upcoming season for violating the league's code of conduct policy, and with his track record there is no assurance that he will not get into trouble with the law again.
The team isn't saying much at this point.
"We can confirm that Marshawn was arrested in California and has retained an attorney," Bills vice president of communications Scott Berchtold said in a statement. "We are in the process of trying to gather the facts and will not offer a comment while that process is ongoing."
Buffalo came into last season with questions about depth in the backfield, but Fred Jackson did a great job last season and some might argue was a more exciting player on the field than Lynch.
Lynch will not be released or traded before the season starts and will probably get another chance with the Bills, but his future is without question in doubt after this latest mishap. The team will probably be focusing on drafting an offensive guard and an outside linebacker early in the upcoming draft, but it might be worth using a pick in rounds 3-5 on a running back. There are always highly ranked players that slip (like Mike Hart to the Indianapolis Colts in the sixth round last season).
Lynch is young and has talent, but is he the future of the Buffalo Bills? If the past and philosophy of the team is any indication, he will be on a short leash until he proves himself.
This passage from the New York State Public High School Athletic Association bylaws has opened up a chance for each Section to determine if they continue playing a full schedule and avoid the recent cuts made.
"The maximum number of contests which may be established for interscholastic sports during a regular schedule shall be determined in the sections ... The maximum number of contests established for each sport during the regular schedule is subject to review by the state athletic associations and may be altered where it is found that disparities in the number of games contribute to unequal competition between teams in different sections."
Section 2 might fight the decision made by the NYSPHSAA because of this passage.
Jackie Friedman of Poststar.com writes that in the most recent meeting by the Section 2 athletic council, a mothing was passed to give member schools a chance to vote to overturn the state's ruling.
If the majority of schools vote to overturn the state's decision, Section 2 will try to get an endorsement from the NYSPHSAA to stop the rule in that area. The votes will be collected by March 16 and a decision will be announced on April 1 at the athletic council meeting.
Section 2 executive director Doug Kenyon is quotes as saying that athletic directors and schools "should have control over their destiny."
Kenyon believe that even if the vote passes, the state may still not approve the decision because it would give Section 2 an advantage over the other Sections in state competition because the teams will have played more games.
There has been harsh criticism of the state's ruling to cut the number of games from people in every Section, so this could be a way to reverse the cuts. It would be interesting if other Sections - including Section 5 - were to try this as well.
Maybe a full schedule could return, with Section 2 leading the way.
The Buffalo News today reported a story in which reporter Maki Becker gives us some more detail on the New York State Public High School Athletic Association cuts as he interviewed executive director Nina Van Erk.
There wasn't a whole lot of information than what we have previously reported, but there are a couple of interesting items in the piece.
Van Erk says that it is expected that the cuts will save schools in the state up to $10 million, with nearly $6 million of that going to officiating fees.
The other thing that comes from this story is that the cuts are expected to be for two years.
The changes, which were approved by a slim majority late last month, would begin in the next school year and would remain in effect for two years, Van Erk told the paper.
This opens up some more questions.
Did Van Erk and the rest of the NYSPHSAA directors make these cuts for two years because it is a quick fix to help schools and families get through these difficult economic times?
Was it announced that the cuts are for two years because that is the original plan or because of all the backlash the NYSPHSAA has received from coaches and athletic directors?
And what happens after two years? Will these policies just continue or will they be reviewed again at that time, with the number of games being returned to the schedule?
Buffalo Public Schools athletic director David Thomas summed up what a lot of people are thinking when they hear this with his quote late in the story.
“I don’t think we should be worried about funding school budgets on the backs of the kids playing sports,” said Thomas told the paper.
Cutting the number of games might help school districts in the more remote areas of Western New York that require longer traveling distances, Thomas said, “but it doesn’t save it up here [in Buffalo], where we are trying to keep the kids off the streets and busy with school and athletics.”
The current schedule allows Buffalo athletes the opportunity to play in suburban areas and “to travel to some nice tournaments,” Thomas said. “Now we have to pull back on that.”
Thomas also questioned whether the cuts were really temporary. “When they take things away,” he said, “they don’t often come back.”
National signing day was two days ago and all day on ESPN there were constant updates as to which star high school player was going to which big-time Division I school.
There are always talks about which local players have a shot to get a D-1 scholarship and when this talk is going on, nobody realizes how rare it is for a player from this area to get the big ticket.
There have been some football players from Section 5 that have received Division I scholarships, usually to the University at Buffalo. The biggest names locally that played this past season were Pembroke's Chris Lauzze (Buffalo), Pittsford Sutherland's C.J. Lee (Michigan), Hornell's, David Zapata (Navy), Churchville-Chili's Averin Collier (Syracuse) and Albion's Derek Kinder (Pittsburgh).
That is actually a pretty high number of local players that are in D-1 because most of the big-time high school recruits come out of states like Texas, Florida and California, where they can play year-round.
So you may ask yourself how many Section 5 football players signed Division I scholarships on national signing day. The answer would be zero.
This is the complete list of players from New York signing scholarships to play big-time college football next season, according to NYSSWA president John Moriello:
Oday Aboushi, OL, Xaverian (Virginia)
Jamie Boyle, K, Monroe-Woodbury (Central Florida)
Andrew Civil, DE, Sheepshead Bay (Rutgers)
Fernando Diaz, OG, Cardinal Hayes (Pitt)
Curtis Dukes, RB, Indian River (Penn State)
Delano Fabor, CB, St. Francis (Buffalo)
Nick Ferrara, K, St. Anthony's (Maryland)
Jimmy Gordon, TE, Patchogue-Medford (Buffalo)
Ben Jebb, DL, Cornwall (Army)
Robert Joseph, FB, Poly Prep (Rutgers)
Bunduka Kargbo, S, Bishop Maginn (Buffalo)
Rob Lombardo, FB, Somers (Navy)
Alex Neutz, WR, Grand Island (Buffalo)
Stephen Obeng-Agyapong, S, Bronx JFK (Penn State)
Andy Phillips, OL, Syracuse CBA (Syracuse)
Torian Phillips, CB, Port Richmond (Syracuse)
Dillon Quinn, DT, Trinity Pawling (Boston College)
Shayne Skov, LB, Trinity Pawling (Stanford)
Shamar Stephen, OG, Long Island Lutheran (Connecticut)
Najee Tyler, QB, Xaverian (Purdue)
John Urschel, DL, Canisius (Penn State)
Jamal Wilson, OT, South Shore (Rutgers)
Pat Wilson, OT, Canisius (Buffalo)
Most of these players are coming from big high schools from around the state - with none from Section 5 - and five of the 23 have signed at the University at Buffalo.
Cheerleading coaches have been saying for years that their sport is a contact sport and it has been proven to be one of the more dangerous sports in the past.
But the Wisconsin Supreme Court made a ruling this week on a case where a cheerleader was dropped while attempting a stunt in 2004.
She filed a lawsuit against the cheerleader that dropped her, causing a serious head injury. The District Court ruled cheerleading was not a contact sport and ruled in favor of the cheerleader that was dropped.
The reasoning was that the competing teams do not have contact with each other.
So then it went to the Supreme Court and was overturned, making it a contact sport. That means that cheerleading is the same in Wisconsin as sports like football and basketball, where an athlete cannot sue another a member of your own team that causes a mistake that leads to an injury.
Many people disregard cheerleading as a sport, but with this decision many states could look to do the same, including New York. The Section 5 championships are on Feb. 22.
High school cheerleading is a contact sport and therefore its participants cannot be sued for accidentally causing injuries, the Wisconsin Supreme Court ruled Tuesday in a case being closely watched in the cheerleading world.
The court ruled that a former high school cheerleader cannot sue a teammate who failed to stop her fall while she was practicing a stunt. The court also said the injured cheerleader cannot sue her school district.
The National Cheer Safety Foundation said the decision is the first of its kind in the nation.
You can read the full Associated Press story here.
This Sunday the Arizona Cardinals and two-time league MVP and one time Super Bowl champion Kurt Warner will attempt to tear apart one of the best defenses in the NFL in the Pittsburgh Steelers.
Pittsburgh quarterback Ben Roethlisberger also has a Super Bowl ring and is looking for his second.
Here is a forum for readers of The Batavian to talk about the big game and vote for who is going to win. The Steelers are a 6 1/2 - 7 point favorite, depending on which Web site you go to.
Who will win the Super BowlEverybody has their own particular thing they like to do for the Super Bowl. Some have traditions and some do something different every year.
I have watched the game almost ever year with my best friend and his father. I always figured a lot of people watched the game at a sports bar, but that isn't the case.
"Actually, it isn't," said Rick Mancuso, owner of TF Brown's in Batavia. "It has turned into a day where people stay home and have house parties. They typically don't go out that day, so it isn't that big."
Mancuso says that TF Brown's was always slow on Super Bowl Sunday, until he started throwing a private party to get people in there. He invites about 175-200 people each year to fill up the restaurant/sports bar. The party starts at around 4 p.m. and most people leave right after the game.
"Couples and a lot of people from all over area come," Mancuso said. "They come for some great food and to watch the game."
Tully's is a chain restaurant/sports bar that has one located in Batavia. They offer all kinds of specials on Super Bowl Sunday and gets a very small crowd because of house parties.
We run specials and try to do what we can to bring people in, but we don't get a good return on everything," said manager Dennis Harper.
What are your plans for Superbowl Sunday?I've talked with many coaches through the years about how they must keep players hydrated during the preseason practices when the weather is still very hot and the kids are in pads.
Luckily, we have had no serious incidents that I have heard of around here. That is a real credit to the coaches that make sure to give the kids enough breaks for water and Gatorade, and they don't work them too hard on days that are extremely hot.
Strangely enough I was watching a rerun of "Six Feet Under", a great series that was on HBO. It was the second episode from the second season, and it was about a player that died at a hot football practice.
Then today I find a brief on the Buffalo News about a coach in Kentucky that is being charged with reckless homicide after the death of a player.
There are players that end up in the hospital all over the country and we are lucky that we have such responsible coaches in the area.
A Kentucky high school football coach was charged with reckless homicide in the death of a player who collapsed during a sweltering practice in a rare criminal case against a coach in a heat death.
A grand jury indicted David Jason Stinson in the death of Pleasure Ridge Park offensive lineman Max Gilpin. Stinson, in his first year as head coach at the Louisville school, was directing practice Aug. 20 when the heat index reached 94 degrees and the 15-year-old sophomore collapsed and had trouble breathing.
The reckless homicide charge means grand jurors didn’t find that Stinson’s actions were intentional or malicious, said Jefferson County Commonwealth’s Attorney Dave Stengel,but that “a reasonable man should have realized something like this could have occurred.”
John Moriello has official sources that says the upcoming football season will be shortened, as part of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association's upcoming cuts.
In previous years there was seven regular season games, three sectional games, and three state games. That would give a state champion 13 games in a season. Moriello writes that a state champion would only get 12. But I don't get what the new format is going to be. Hopefully that will come out in the next few days.
Here's what Moriello wrote in his blog yesterday.
Two upstate sources involved in the scheduling process have told me that it's considered a certainty that the maximum length of the varsity football season will be scaled back to 12 games (nine within the section and three in the state tournament) as part of the NYSPHSAA's cost-cutting initiative in light of the state's budget problems.
Speculation is all over the board on the effect on JV and modified/freshmen schedules, but it appears that reports that teams at those levels will be told to trim two games may not be accurate. They'll almost certanly be told to drop one game, but the proposed two-game reductions apparently were intended for sports with 18- to 24-game seasons like soccer, basketball and lacrosse.
By the way, the NYSPHSAA football tournament is locked into Thanksgiving weekend dates at the Carrier Dome, so a reduction in the varsity schedule would translate into a Sept. 11-12 start to the season. It was just two years ago that some squads opened on Aug. 31.
The NYSPHSAA will be meeting tomorrow and I am hoping to find out more details on cuts in other sports.
There aren't any locals, but Section 5 has announced 12 new members for the class of 2009.
Three of those players went on to play in the National Football League.
East High's Roland Williams was a tight end on the 1999 Super Bowl winning St. Louis Rams and spent eight seasons in the NFL. The Syracuse grad caught 114 passes for 1004 yards and 13 touchdowns in his career.
Webster grad Brian Kozlowski and Victor grad Seth Payne also played in the NFL.
McQuaid's Chuck Schott, Wellsville's Glenn Law and Greece Olympia's Adam Rodger are the other players inducted into the HOF.
Anthony Bianchi won two state titles at Webster and Bolivar's Bob Dunsmore are being inducted as coaches..
Tom Dowd, Mike Stackus and Charlie Remilen are football officials being elected. Also Ontario Honda president Daniel Richards is being inducted as a contributor.
The Hall of Fame dinner and election ceremony is at the RIT Inn & Conference Center on April 2 and ticekts are $35 per person or $300 for a table.
For the past few years, I've heard how the officiating keeps getting worse; and it doesn't matter which sport it is.
According to the National Association of Sports Officials, the amount of high school officials is dropping at a rapid pace. This means there are many inexperienced officials doing games. Consider half of the varsity basketball team quitting and half the jayvee team being called up to replace them.
The reason more than 3/4 of the NASO lists for the decline in officials is "poor sportsmanship by spectators".
John Moriello of the NYSSWA writes about an incident at a game between Schuylerville and Mohonasen in late December.
At a basketball game between Schuylerville and Mohonasen on Dec. 26, spectators became so unruly that the gym had to be cleared. It was a girls game . . . a JV girls game.
"Parents have invested their whole freaking past, present and future in little Johnny going to Syracuse on a scholarship and, oh gosh, the ref made a bad call," Will Keim, co-author of "Fan Etiquette: How did the burning desire to win become the desire to burn?" said. "This ref is keeping their kid out of the NBA."
The basic lesson here is that if you are not liking what you see on the field or court, leave the officials alone and let them do their job. The more that quit, the less experienced officials we are going to get.
Batavia High School has been one of the smallest schools in the Monroe County League for a long time.
It has hindered the chances some programs have had to win.
But those things are about to change as realignment has given Batavia a chance to remain part of a league, yet be competitive in sports it normally struggled to compete in.
"With our school and our size, Monroe County recognized that our school and Greece Odyssey were a little different," Batavia athletic director Mike Bromley said. "You have to give them credit for that because they give us a league affiliation and will allow us to be competitive."
The Blue Devils will be playing in Monroe County League Division III, but will be essentially playing a half-league schedule.
Geography is a big consideration for Monroe County as teams were realigned. Division I and II teams are matched up as much by travel distance as school size. Division III is mostly about size.
Batavia will play each team in Division III once in both boys and girls basketball, boys and girls soccer, baseball, softball and volleyball. That means the Blue Devils will get to play seven league games, which is also happening with Odyssey.
While Batavia will no longer be eligible for league championships, it will give teams chances to schedule non-league games with teams that they can compete with.
A prime example is the boys soccer team, which experimented with the schedule least year. Batavia went 7-10, going 7-1 outside of Monroe County and 0-8 in the league.
"We gave up the opportunity to win a league championship because we don't play everybody twice," Bromley said. "But to be able to go out and get schools that are closer to our size and be more competitive makes more sense than trying to win league titles."
Kids will still have a chance to be recognized as all-county and there will be no changes for track & field or cross country.
This sets up some potential great local rivalries, especially as Batavia drops down to Class B. Imagine home and home series' with Attica or Albion. Those could be great local rivalries for Batavia.
Once you get past not being able to compete for a league championship, there are still goals for Batavia teams.
There will also be changes in the modified programs at Batavia, as the drop in numbers will no longer support a seventh and eighth grade team. The two grades will be combined for modified and will play a schedule based on geography.
Here is the new alignment for the Monroe County League:
Division I: Canandaigua, Irondequoit, Fairport, Penfield, Rush-Henrietta, Webster Schroeder, Webster Thomas.
Division II: Brockport, Churchville-Chili, Gates Chili, Greece Arcadia, Greece Athena, Greece Olympia, Hilton, Spencerport.
Division III: Batavia, Brighton, Greece Odyssey, East Irondequoit Eastridge, Honeoye Falls-Lima, Pittsford Mendon, Pittsford Sutherland, Victor.
Almost two years ago, Section 5 Basketball officially closed a small message board on its Web site.
So a small group of die-hard local sports fans - including myself - created a forum site, so that local sports fans can talk about their sport of choice. That site was named Section 5 Talksback.
The hits grew and grew and the registered members kept coming. The site hit a milestone this morning as member No. 2,000 registered.
That member is local, using the screen name leroyfootball00.
Local sports fans know that The Batavian and Talksback are the only two real sources to get the in-depth information you won't get by traditional media, like television stations and the newspaper.
Talksback is also having a big contest where local fans can win a free pizza party. So local fans should get their video camera out and show how good local basketball cheering sections are.
Mike Humphrey and Travis Fenstermaker from Le Roy, Chris Williams and Tim Smith from Oakfield-Alabama and Shawn Dupuis from Attica all made all-state from our area, but there is a lot of debate going on on Section 5 Talksback. Just in case you are interested in jumping in on the conversation on players you think should have made it.
Here is the thread for Class B.
Here is the thread for Class C.
Here is the thread for Class D.
The New York State Sportswriters Association announced its all-state football team today and we have several players making the team.
All-Greater Rochester first-team selection Mike Humphrey is a first-team wide receiver in Class C. Humphrey caught 63 passes for 892 yards and 15 touchdowns to help lead Le Roy to the Class C title.
Chris Williams had 60 tackles and three sacks and made the first-team on defense for Class C.
Travis Fenstermaker - the Class C Offensive Player of the Year - was named the second-team quarterback for Class C.
Tim Smith was a third-team running back for Class C. The Oakfield-Alabama senior rushed for 771 yards and 11 touchdowns this season. The only loss by the Hornets came against Le Roy in the sectional finals.
Attica wide receiver Shawn Dupuis made third-team all-state in Class B after catching 26 passes for 530 yards and six touchdowns.
There was a conference call this morning between the leaders of the New York State Public High School Athletic Association, and there could be some very bad changes coming in the near future for New York State athletics.
NYSPHSAA President began the meeting by asking members of different sections for suggestions as the state is having financial problems, like the Empire State Games, which we wrote about yesterday.
Jen Simmons of Section 1 simply noted that the section has changed the number of contests that will be held in Westchester County and will be using higher seeds to cut down the number of teams that play in the sectional tournaments.
Fred Gula of Section 2 and Dawn Field of Section 3 both had a lot of suggestions.
According to the minutes of the meeting:
Fred Gula - Expressed the need to look at quality and not quantity in the NYSPHSAA Championship events.
He had may suggestions, that many will find disturbing.
His first suggestion was that instead of the four-team format for state tournaments, only two teams should be playing for the championship.
Only the elite should be going to the Championships. Possibly restructure brackets so in team sports only two teams in each class go to the Championships.
This basically puts an emphasis on sectional tournaments and instead of teams from all over New York State going to PAETEC Park for the football semifinals, games would be more regionalized. Currently the final four teams play in Rochester and the finals are played at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse.
He also suggested using conference calls for NYSPHSAA meetings and eliminating allowing the Executive and Assistant Directors to travel to state events, to save on travel costs.
Individual sports would take the biggest hits.
Gula suggested getting rid of competitor t-shirts for track and cross country athletes and using numbers to go along with their school outfits.
Wrestling teams have worn singlets for each section for years, and Gula has proposed that in order to save money for the sections, wrestlers should wear their own school uniforms. He also says "individual sports" like skiing, swimming, wrestling and track should no longer be competing against schools their own size.
He sees no difference in a small school vs. a large school. For example, a track athlete from a Class D school like Notre Dame should be competing against an athlete from a Class A school like Rush-Henrietta.
He is also against increasing officials but does suggest that there should be investigations by each section.
Field suggested approving cheerleading as a sport, a move which I fully support. In fact, I'm pretty sure we already consider cheerleading a sport in Section 5.
My problem with Field's suggestion is eliminating the open sectional policy. Instead of all-inclusive tournaments for basketball, baseball and softball, she believes the top 40-percent should only be allowed to compete in the sectional tournaments.
Field is also for cutting down on split class tournaments (Class C1 vs. C2), putting a travel cap for teams playing during sectional competition and sharing bus opportunities for longer trips.
Julie Maney of Section 4's main concern was travel costs for officials while Section 5's Rick Admunson suggested the NYSPHSAA take a leadership role and work with school districts to reduce costs. Mark Ward of Section 6 had similar suggestions as Admunson.
Karen Lopez of Section 7 thinks there should be less NYSPHSAA meetings to reduce costs.
Section 8's Mike Mahoney speaks about a tax cap and a cut in preseason scrimmages. He also says that the state should look into reducing the amount of games each team is allowed to play during a season.
Ed Cinelli of Section 11 would like to see the number of classes in the state tournaments reduced to one. That would mean schools like Elba or Oakfield-Alabama would have no shot to beat teams like Aquinas for state titles. He also wants to reduce the number of athletes participating in individual sports and centralizing sites for state championships.
The financial problems are bad enough that Bob Munn, who is in charge of budget and finance, suggests asking congress for a bail out. He would like to see no changes in the state tournaments over the next two years and believes NYSPHSAA meetings should be done via telephone conference calls or web cam meetings.
Others have similar suggestions to ones already mentioned, but Executive Director Nina Van Erk would like to see a reduction in the number of contestants.
Sports with 24 would be reduced to 20; 20 would go down to 18; 18 would go down to 16.
Wrestling and football tournaments would also see reductions in participation.
The committee very much supports a significant reduction in the NYSPHSAA budget.
Committee members will be seeking imput from local sections and looking for more ways to reduce spending.
The next meeting is scheduled for January 20 at 9 a.m., and will be done via conference call.
Pembroke grad Chris Lauzze and the University at Buffalo football team had a dream season, winning the MAC title.
The Bulls played in a Bowl Game for the first time in school history, but lost to Connecticut 38-21 in the International Bowl this afternoon.
Connecticut's Donald Brown was an animal, rushing for a career-high 261 yards and said after the game that he was entering the National Football League draft.
That performance put the junior over 2,000 yards for the year.
Buffalo won the Mid-American championship and had an 8-6 record under coach Turner Gill, who had been rumored to get a job at a larger school but signed an extension with UB.
It is the first winning season for UB since 1996 and the Bulls were 10-69 in seven seasons before Gill showed up.
I also found an interesting link on Lauzze, where he is the 72nd ranked center in Division I football. I have a brilliant idea for the Buffalo Bills, pick him with your last round pick and have a local boy at least on the practice squad.
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