The Record Blogs: Schools of Thought: February 2013

2013 Section II Football Schedules Released - Small School Edition

As promised, here are the projected 2013 schedules for the "small schools" in Section II. That is to say, here are the matchups in Class C and D.

Now, if you're looking for big schools, don't worry, just go ahead and click here.

Also, keep in mind that these are just matchups. Days and times are still yet to be published.

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2013 Section II Football Schedules Released - Large School Edition

Basketball sectionals on the brain? Whatever. Section II already has eyes on the gridiron and earlier today released the official schedule for the 2013 season.

Now, each team will have the usual eight-team playoffs beginning in week 8, or October 25th and 26th. But, because of an odd number of teams in Class AA, A and B those teams will have to play out-of-section for one game each week. Cue Section II - or the teams out of the Syracuse-area, who are notoriously competitive. This is potential exciting, guys.

Under the cut, check out the schedules for the "large schools" in all the weeks. You can see the "small schools" or Class C and D right here. Are you ready for some football?

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VOTING CLOSED: The ELITE Eight: The Record's Ultimate Warm-Up Mix

Now is the time to seriously get voting.

We're down to the final eight in our Ultimate Warm-Up Mix, so this is when things get very, very, very important. Under the cut, you've got the polls and music videos just like normal, so go forth and vote! Plus, in case you wanted to double check on how we got here, there's a very pretty graphic for your viewing pleasure right underneath here.

Enjoy the voting!

NYS Girl's Basketball Rankings - 02/25/13

As we start to prep for the first round of semi-final games tonight, go ahead and check out the latest New York State Sportswriters Association's girls basketball rankings.

Holy Names is still sticking around at No. 1 in Class A, which makes tonight's matchup against Averill Park alllll the more interesting.

As per usual, the top five of each class are listed as are all of our local teams' rankings. If you want to check out the entire list, go ahead and click here. Enjoy!

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NYS Boy's Basketball Rankings - 02/25/13

It's Monday afternoon, so you know what that means.

The New York State Sportswriters Association has released their latest rankings of boys basketball teams across the state. Take a look under the cut for the top five teams in each class, as well as the rankings for our Section II squads. Enjoy!

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VOTING CLOSED: SWEET 16 and ready to VOTE: The Record's Ultimate Warm-Up Mix

Alright. We're getting down to the nitty gritty.

We've got 16 songs left in The Record's Ultimate Warm-Up Mix Contest and you, my voting public, have the next two days to cut that to eight. If you want to refresh your memory on the brackets, go ahead and check out the very pretty graphic underneath all this. Then, under the cut, you can start the voting all over again; this time with music videos!

Remember, you've only got through Tuesday to vote, so get going, folks.

VOTING CLOSED: The Second Round: The Record's Ultimate Warm-Up Mix

And then there were 32.

After three days of warm-up songs and voting and watching music videos, we've narrowed the field down to 32 songs of pump-up'edness. That's not even a word, but it's worthy of this event.

Now, underneath the cut find all of the remaining songs in a convenient poll voting form. If you want to check out what the entire bracket looks at now, go ahead and click on the picture right underneath all of these words.

Unlike last time, I've linked you to the music videos. Trying to embed 32 videos would essentially push this page into a snails pace, so if you do what to refresh your memory about a certain song, there's a link for that.

Voting for this round will go through SUNDAY so make sure you vote if you're really pulling for one song in particular. #RockTheVote

VOTING CLOSED: Fight! Fight! Fight! - The First Round of the Ultimate Warm-Up Mix

Let's keep this going, shall we? After going through the first side of The Record's Ultimate Warm-Up Mix bracket, we're jumping across the median for the next day and a half.

Underneath all of this, check out the song matchups from the "Fight! Fight! Fight!" bracket and get to voting. You can also click head back to the main blog for the "Strut Out of the Locker Room" bracket and vote for those songs as well. Now, remember these songs will only be open for voting until FRIDAY at 8 p.m. After that, we're down to 32 total songs and we'll vote on all four sides of the bracket during the weekend.
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VOTING CLOSED: Strut Out of the Locker Room - The First Round of the Ultimate Warm-Up Mix

Let's keep this going, shall we? After going through the first side of The Record's Ultimate Warm-Up Mix bracket, we're jumping across the median for the next day and a half.

Underneath all of this, check out the song matchups from the "Strut Out of the Locker Room" bracket and get to voting. You can also click head back to the main blog for the "Fight! Fight! Fight!" bracket and vote for those songs as well. Now, remember these songs will only be open for voting until FRIDAY at 8 p.m. After that, we're down to 32 total songs and we'll vote on all four sides of the bracket during the weekend.

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The Most Up-to-Date Boys Basketball Brackets

This is basically the same deal as the girl's basketball bracket. I've made a graphic and I'd like to show off my (very impressive) photoshop skills, so you if you guys want to see who's playing who when, go ahead and check out the brackets under the cut.

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The Most Up-to-Date Girls Basketball Brackets

I've made a very pretty graphic for y'all to look at. So, if you're interested at all in the Section II girls basketball tournament, you should probably check 'em out.

I'm going to continue to update throughout the tournament, so check it all out underneath the cut.

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NYS Girl's Basketball Rankings - 02/18/13

After Tuesday night's first-round of sectional basketball, things are starting to get really interesting in Section II.

Under the cut, check out the New York Sportswriters Association's latest NYS girls basketball rankings to see how we all stand across the state. For the full list of rankings go ahead and click here. Or just check out the top five and the standings of our Capital District teams. Enjoy!

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VOTING CLOSED: My Emotions! Or Inspirational - The First Round of the Ultimate Warm-Up Mix

This is the moment. The first round of voting for The Record's Ultimate Warm-Up Mix begins today. It's very exciting.

Underneath all of this, check out the song matchups from the "My Emotions! - or Inspriational" bracket and get to voting. You can also click head back to the main blog for the "Songs From Before You Were Born" bracket and vote for those songs as well. Now, remember these songs will only be open for voting until THURSDAY at 5 p.m. Then we'll move to the other side of the bracket for the next day and a half before cutting down the entire field to 32 songs.

Also, as a side note, I know the Kanye and Jay-Z song is not called "Watch the Throne." You can tell what song I'm talking about when you see the video, but for vaguely politically correct reasons we couldn't really write out the whole song. So, that's my disclaimer.

Now, I know, there have been some murmurs about song choices and seedings, so if you've got an emotional attachment to a song make sure you vote for it. There are links to the videos of all of the songs as well, so if you haven't heard of something check it out and make a thoroughly informed decision.

Enjoy the voting!

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VOTING CLOSED: Songs From Before You Were Born - The First Round of the Ultimate Warm-Up Mix

This is the moment. The first round of voting for The Record's Ultimate Warm-Up Mix begins today. It's very exciting.

Underneath all of this, check out the song matchups from the "Songs Before You Were Born" bracket and get to voting. You can also head back to the main blog for the "My Emotions! - Or Inspirational" bracket and vote for those songs as well. Now, remember these songs will only be open for voting until THURSDAY at 5 p.m. Then we'll move to the other side of the bracket for the next day and a half before cutting down the entire field to 32 songs.

Now, I know, there have been some murmurs about song choices and seedings, so if you've got an emotional attachment to a song make sure you vote for it. There are links to the videos of all of the songs as well, so if you haven't heard of something check it out and make a thoroughly informed decision.

Enjoy the voting!

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The First-Ever Troy Record Ultimate Warm-Up Mix Contest

Get ready for a brand-new kind of bracket.

IT'S HERE. The Troy Record's First-Ever Ultimate Warm-Up Mix Contest. I took the songs that you guys nominated over the weekend, as well as some songs that I felt deserved to be on the list (hello, Watch the Throne). We've got 64 songs of pump up, in your face, get you ready to dominate the game songs.

Now, it's up to you guys to pick the ULTIMATE WARM-UP SONG for the ULTIMATE WARM-UP CD.

Voting for the first round begins on Wednesday, when we'll put the "Songs From Before You Were Born" and "My Emotions! - or Inspirational" out to the masses. The "Fight! Fight! Fight" and "Strut out of the Locker Room" will get their own votes starting mid-day on Thursday.

As of right now, the schedule for voting looks like this:
First Round - Wednesday 02/20 through Friday 02/22
Second Round - Saturday 02/23 through Sunday 02/24
Sweet 16 - Monday 02/25 through Tuesday 02/26
Elite 8 - Wednesday 02/27 through Thursday 02/28
Final Four - Friday 03/01 through Saturday 03/02
Semi-Finals - Sunday 03/03
Champion Announced - Monday 03/04

Don't worry if you can't remember all of that, I'll tweet incessantly about it from @LauraAmato. Also, remember we'll be giving away 10 copies of the ULTIMATE WARM-UP CD after the voting is all over. Now, keep in mind you've got to vote if this is all going to work. So, keep that in mind. Until then, check out the original bracket underneath here and then start voting on Wednesday.

NYS Boy's Basketball Rankings - 02/18/13

It's that excellent time of the week. You know what it is; the New York State Sportswriter Association has released their weekly boys basketball rankings and here they all are in one convenient spot.

Under the cut, check out the top five teams in all the classes as well as the spots for our Section II teams. If you want to see the entire list, go right ahead and click here.

Happy first-round of sectionals day everyone!

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NYS Wrestling Tournament At-Large Bids

We've got more exciting wrestling news to share. Fresh off the heels of the Section II wrestling media day, New York State released the at-large bids for next weekend's championship tournament.

The local grapplers have presented a pretty good showing in both Division I and II, so check out the kids getting a brand-new chance at their season under the cut. Also listed are the alternates from Section II. Those kids will be part of the tournament should the original at-large candidates be unable to participate next weekend.

Enjoy the new wrestling info!
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It's Time To Get Creative: The Record's Ultimate Warm-Up Mix Contest

You guys have to warm-up before games, don't you? Of course you do. And you need music to warm-up, don't you? Of course you do, part two.

With basketball sectionals right around the corner - or Friday, rather - it's time for warm-up music to finally get it's due. That's where you guys come in.

I want to know what you think belongs on the ULTIMATE WARM-UP MIX CD. Starting tonight (Thursday) through Sunday, I'll be taking song nominations - so tweet me (@LauraAmato) e-mail me (lamato@troyrecord.com) or comment underneath this post. I want to know what song gets you psyched, ready to box out or nail that game-winning three in the final seconds of a game. Basically, what song should be playing during your slow-mo highlight reel.

Once we finish getting song nominations I'll take the top songs and put them into a bracket, March Madness style. I'm really hoping to have 64 songs, so nominate more than one please. Starting next Monday, we'll pit the songs against each other in a head-to-head voting competition and the winning songs will make it on to the next round; just like sectional basketball.

Finally, the week before the Section II championship games, we'll wrap the whole thing up and crown one song the ultimate warm-up jam. I can't believe I wrote that either.

I'll take the top 13 or so songs, whatever fits on the CD, and make ten copies. Then, at random, I'll pick ten of you who nominated songs and you can win the ULTIMATE WARM-UP MIX CD. Pluuuus, for your added enticement, one lucky guy or gal will win an iTunes gift card of a yet to be determined domination. It's all very exciting.

So, get nominating. I want to know all about your favorite songs. But if you guys don't nominate Watch the Throne, you're all wrong. Also, as a slight disclaimer, let's keep it within songs that your school would allow you to have on your warm-up mix. Go forth and nominate.

The TRUE Colonial Council Boy's Standings

I got an e-mail from Cohoes coach Jeffery Huneau, last night with the final and accurate Colonial Council boys standings.

There's been some confusion all season with the 'Vliet forfeits and playing some non-league games against league opponents, so to avoid any more obnoxiousness, here are the complete and final standings for your reading pleasure.

Now, if you're keeping track, Watervliet and Cohoes both won their league, which makes things a little interesting heading into sectionals. Check out the rest of the standings, below.

Division I
Watervliet, 10-3, 10-8
Voorheesville, 7-6, 8-9
Schalmont, 6-7, 8-10
Fonda, 5-8, 7-11
Cobleskill, 2-11, 2-16
Division II
Cohoes, 10-3, 11-7
Ravena, 9-4, 13-5
Lansingburgh, 9-4, 11-7
Mechanicville, 5-8, 9-9
Ichabod Crane, 3-10, 8-10

NYS Girl's Basketball Rankings - 02/12/13

The New York State Sportswriters Association released the latest girl's basketball rankings early this afternoon and Section II continues to make its overall presence known across the state.

Top five teams in each class are listed below as well as the rankings for all of our area teams. With seeding meetings literally a day away, it's pretty interesting to check out where our local squads stand in regards to the rest of the state.

For the entire listing of teams, go ahead and click here. Enjoy the standings!

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Section II Basketball Seeding Meeting

It's tomorrow! After what has seemed, to me at least, like the fastest basketball season in the history of mankind, the Section II basketball seeding meeting for sectionals is tomorrow afternoon.

In other words, sectionals start on Friday, folks. FRIDAY.

So, let's go over the plan for Wednesday. Seeds are expected to be released sometime around 1 p.m. and I'll be live-tweeting what I get as I get them from @LauraAmato. If you aren't following already, get on that.

The Record will also be posting the brackets for boys and girls on the website as soon as I finish typing them up. We'll be updating the brackets throughout the tournament with scores, teams and all kinds of info, so anything you need to know about, you can find there.

Finally, I'll be holding a live-chat through UStream on Wednesday night at 7:30 to talk all things sectionals and seeds and the games I'm especially psyched about. So you should probably stop by so I'm not talking to myself. Again, I'll tweet out the link to the stream when I start, and I promise it'll work this time, so following on Twitter is the best idea.

It's sectionals time everyone. This is when things start to get really fun.

NYS Boy's Basketball Rankings - 02/11/13

The NYSSWA released their most updated boy's basketball rankings this afternoon and with only a few days before the Section II tournament seeding meeting, things are getting very exciting, very quickly.

You guys know, the deal here: top five in each class are listed under the cut and the rankings for all the local teams are listed as well. If you want to check out the entire rankings list, go ahead and click here.

Enjoy the rankings!

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Section II Wrestling State-Qualfier Changes

The nor'easter of doom strikes again and this one is big. The Section II wrestling state-qualifier, which was scheduled for Friday and Saturday at the Glens Falls Civic Center, has now been moved to a ONE-DAY event at Queensbury High School on Sunday.

Yikes.

As of right now, the tournament is going to start at 9 a.m. The preliminary losers will be out of the tournament after the first round. According to reports, the tournament will be in two gyms and finals are, currently, scheduled for around 8 p.m. We can only hope.

If there are any more changes, you can check back here or follow along on Twitter @LauraAmato.

NYS Girl's Basketball Rankings - 02/07/13

I come bearing brand-new girl's basketball state rankings. The New York State Sportswriters Association has released the latest updates and Section II once again is making a good showing of it all. With just a few days until the sectional seeding meeting and the first round of games, it's interesting to see where our local squads rack up in comparison to the rest of the state.

Under the cut, check out the top five teams in each of the classes, as well as the rankings of all our Section II teams. Enjoy
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Wrestling Seeds For State-Qualifiers on Saturday

If you couldn't get enough Section II wrestling action last weekend, I have very good news for you. We aren't done yet!

Under the cut, check out the seeds for this weekend's state qualifiers, which will take place on Friday and Saturday at the Glens Falls Civic Center. As with last week's competition, this weekend will be split into Division I and II.

Keep in mind folks, there is supposed to be snow this weekend. Lots of snow. A dramatic amount of snow. I will try and update any kind of changes I get as soon as I get them. Until then, let's all just assume we're on as scheduled.

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UPDATED, 02/08, 4:40 p.m..: Snow and Game Changes for Friday Night.

There is a nor'easter coming!!! Snow! Ice! Wind! Plummeting temperatures! It's the whole shebang folks.

And with snow on the horizon - or rather predicted for Friday nights - some schools are taking preemptive measures to make sure that the games scheduled for that night get played. In other words, a lot of games are moving to Thursday. If games have been moved to a different day, it's been noted.

Under the cut you can check out the schedule for brand-new games on Thursday night. I'm going to be updating frequently or whenever I get a new e-mail, so make sure you guys check back here often.

As far as the state wrestling-qualifiers in Glens Falls on Friday & Saturday, aka the projected worst part of the storm, I don't have an answer; YET. When I know, I will let you guys know. So stay tuned. And stay warm.

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Live-Streaming Tonight's Troy at CBA Game

Alright, we had the test run and all went pretty well so now it's time for the big game.

I will be live-streaming tonight's sold-out Big 10 matchup between Troy and CBA. If you don't already have tickets in hand or in your pocket, this is one of the best ways to check out what may be one of the year's top game. The Big 10 championship is on the line and what better way to decide a title than between two teams who really don't like each other all that much?

There isn't. So, if you want to see the game without being at the game, tune into the live-stream tonight. Tipoff should be around 7:30 and I'll be tweeting out the stream link around then, so make sure you follow me @LauraAmato.

It's going to be awesome and high-technology.

NYS Boy's Basketball Rankings - 02/04/13

You guys know the deal.

The New York State Sportswriters Association has released their most recent boy's basketball rankings and, as usual, I've happily typed them up for your viewing and/or reading pleasure.

The top five teams in each class are listed below, as are all of our local squads and their respective rankings. We've got just over a week left in the regular season, so we're starting to close in on the nitty-gritty. Things are getting exciting here!

If you guys want to check out the entire listing, go right ahead and click here.

I'll be at the Troy at CBA game on Tuesday night with....drum roll....a live stream of the game broadcasting on The Record's website. I'll be tweeting out the link to the stream, where we can all watch the game, have a conversation, examine and analyze all once. So make sure you follow me, @LauraAmato, to get the link then.

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