College Sports

Being a coach's son or daughter, it has its advantages and disadvantages. When you are a coaching legend's child expectations can often be, well, legendary. Syracuse hoops fans had some of those projections satisfied on Tuesday, when their head coach, Jim Boeheim's sons took the court in the NBA Summer League for the Detroit Pistons.

Whenever you see a 29 year-old make his Major League debut, it is special. Baseball fans, coaches and players know that you have to endure a lot to crack the big leagues at that later stage. It's even more special when that player grew up in the Capital Region and played his college baseball at Siena.

On Friday, Gatorade honored their 37th annual class of the nation’s best student-athletes. The award recognizes those with outstanding athletic excellence, high standards of academic achievement, as well as exemplary character demonstrated on and off the field. The Gatorade Player of the Year program annually recognizes one winner in the each of the 50 states plus the District of Columbia. This year's New York State Baseball Player of the Year is from Troy High School.

Nineteen is an age where you are supposed to have your entire life of hopes and dreams ahead of you. When you are a star lacrosse player for a university in the extremely competitive Division I Colonial Athletic Association, you have a lot to look forward to. On Monday, tragedy struck the UMass lacrosse program, involving one of their bright young players.

It's difficult to take a tragic situation and turn it into a positive. On Sunday, the baseball community in Bethlehem, New York tried to do just that. In honor of Lazar LaPenna, the 10-year-old boy that lost his life while playing Little League at the end of April due to seizure, Tri Village Little League hosted a #BatsOutForLazar baseball clinic open to all Capital Region boys and girls 5-12 years-old for only $5.

Student-athlete administrative decisions can often be tricky. What seems to be an obvious answer, often comes with other complications. Gender equity is one of those issues. However, that is the job and you have to be as judicious according the rules and policies laid out by your school and the conference you participate in. The Albany School District Athletic Director is in one of those positions and from comments that were allegedly made, the coaches may be upset, as well as the student-athletes.

Baseball is a funny game and a Major League clubhouse can be an interesting place. Respect from veteran players doesn't come easy. Younger players and journeyman are merely taking another guy's job. So, when a 12 year-veteran All Star buys the entire team replica tee-shirt jerseys of your name and number, that's a pretty big honor.

Mayfest at SUNY Albany, SUNYA, Albany State or whatever else they had students call the school in those days, was one of the best college events on the campus. In the days, before uptight administrators and faculty took "learning how to have fun responsibly" out of the college curriculum, events like Mayfest and Fountain Day put that college campus, sandwiched between Washington and Western Avenues, on the map.

For a pitcher, throwing a no-hitter is very difficult. So many factors have to go your way. These pitching gems are rare in Major League baseball, a little more frequent in the college ranks and even more in high school. That said, no-hitters don't happen often and are very tough to accomplish. When you throw 3 no-hitters in a row, at any level, well, no that's something to talk about.

Being a student-athlete is not easy at any level. Competing in a sport with the best of your peers can be extremely challenging, physically and mentally. High school student-athletes are going through intense bodily chemical changes as they grow and compete at the same time. Collegiate student-athletes are usually on the back end of the growth spurt but most are living on their own for the first time and are faced with brand new expectations, challenges and temptations.

He stands six foot, six inches tall. On top of a regulation collegiate baseball pitchers mound, make that seven and a half feet and he is listed at 245 pounds. Siena's #47 throws from the left side and with his imposing size, can be a challenge for any hitter. Niagara University certainly found that out last Saturday.

On Tuesday, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) announced that current President Mark Emmert would step down by June 30, 2023. Running an organization that governs the athletic operations of hundreds of a colleges across the country, with different financial models, is an impossible task for the most part. However, having worked at one of those institutions' athletic department for a few decades, Emmert doesn't get a pass for his performance or lack there of.