Thursday, December 27, 2012

State Boy's Basketball Rankings - 12/23/12

Hey guys,
I'm technically on my own form of Christmas-break, hence my lack of tweets and total communication, but just for fun, here's our most recent NYS boys basketball rankings if you're interested.

I'll be back at The Record next Wednesday, but until then I hope you guys have a wonderful holiday time with your friends and family andddd I hope everybody dominates in their respective and inevitable basketball tournaments in the next few days.

- Laura

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Thursday, December 20, 2012

A Holiday Present on Saturday - In Basketball Form

If you’re all done with your holiday shopping on Saturday afternoon – and let’s all keep our fingers crossed that I’m one of those people – you might want to spend a little time in the gym at St. Rose.

There’s going to be some pretty major basketball happening all afternoon with some of our area’s best boy’s programs going up against some of the top teams in the state. I’m planning on camping out there all day, so feel free to come join me; if you’re shopping is all done, that is.

Tickets are $5 for the whole day – that’s four basketball games – and are being sold at all of the participating schools, so stop by if you can. Plus, as added incentive all the proceeds from the event, which is being organized by Troy High, go to the Lupus Foundation of America.

Check out the schedule for the afternoon, underneath all of this. I’m personally pretty psyched to see a rematch of last season’s NYS Class B Championship between Bishop Ludden and Watervliet. And, as usual, if you can’t make it, you can always follow along on Twitter, @LauraAmato.

I hope to see you guys there!

Basketball Showcase at St. Rose – Saturday, 12/22/12
Lansingburgh vs. New Hartford, 1 p.m.
Watervliet vs. Bishop Ludden, 3 p.m.
Troy vs. Long Island Lutheran, 5 p.m.
Albany Academy vs. Henniger, 7 p.m.

Wednesday, December 19, 2012

State Boy's Basketball Rankings - 12/18/12

I’m a little slow on the uptake this week, so my apologies there, but here’s our latest edition of the NYS basketball rankings.

Again, the top five teams in each class are listed as well as any of the Section II teams who are represented in the most recent rankings. As per usual, if you want to see the complete list, head right over here - http://www.newyorksportswriters.org/rankings/2012-13-bkb-02.shtml#.UNI-9nfT2Ho

See you guys at games on Friday night.
-    Laura
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Saturday, December 15, 2012

Rapid Reaction: Friday's Basketball, 12/14/12

I’m going to make a somewhat valiant effort to update my reactions to the main basketball days this season – trying to pick some solid players and games and matchups and the implications that those all have on the future of the season.
We’ll see how that goes farther down the line this season, but for now, I present to you my rapid (24-hours after games ended) reaction to Friday night’s matchup.
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Tuesday, December 11, 2012

State Boy's Basketball Rankings - 12/11/12

We are now officially in full-basketball mode.
The New York State Sports Writers Association released their first boys basketball rankings of the season earlier this afternoon and, with just a few games under our collective belts, Section II is making a pretty good showing of it.
Check out the top five in each Class under the cut and see which local teams made the list.
As per usual, make sure to head on over to the New York Sportswriters Association for the complete rankings.
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Tuesday, December 4, 2012

The Power of People



            I thought a lot about whether or not I should even begin to write something like this.
            I’ve never met Deanna Rivers or Chris Stewart or Matt Hardy or Bailey Wind. Shenendehowa is a little out of my coverage zone and I know as much about high school diving as I know about astrophysics. That’s not very much.
            I didn’t know anything about these kids and I felt as if I were intruding on some sort of something if I tried to write a reaction about the all too tragic events of this weekend.
            But I had been on a bus earlier on Monday night, coming back from visiting my sister in NYC, when I saw that Tim Tebow had called Matt in the hospital. Despite the fact that I was surrounded by strangers and sitting on a silent, dark bus, I started to cry. Because I had witnessed a miracle.
            I’m not talking a turning water into wine kind of thing, I’m talking about a human miracle, the simple power of people united together, trying to help each other.
So as I sat in my apartment, watching my Twitter feed blow up with message after message supporting Matt and Bailey, I couldn’t help the emotion that I felt and for me, the only way to deal with that kind of emotion is to write it out..
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