News & notes

Colonie High announced the other day that their football field will be rededicated and named for former coach Mark Ambrosio, who passed away last year at 64. What is a surprise is that it took this long to make that decision. You would think they would've done that before last season. Hmmmm.
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Former WRGB sports anchor and Schenectady native Joe Tessitore is out as play-by-play announcer on Monday Night Football. Tessitore remains part of the ABC/ESPN family, as he'll likely slide back into doing college football/basketball in the coming season.

Meanwhile, he'll be on your screens starting Thursday for season 2 of Holey Moley on ABC, alongside Fox's Rob Riggle (Fox NFL Sunday). They'll have those old school yellow blazers, just for fun.

Now, how long d'ya think it'll be before Riggle is asked to fill in for Michael Strahan on Good Morning America? That should be a better gig for Tessitore, actually.....
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Just days after twin sister Lilly committed to UAlbany, Sophie Phillips has chosen to play her college basketball at Rhode Island come 2021, where she'll join Saratoga star Catherine "Dolly" Cairns, per the Daily Gazette. The twins' senior season at Cambridge should be interesting this winter.
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On Friday, Governor Andrew Cuomo gave the green light for racing to resume on June 1. As had been anticipated, there will be no fans at Belmont Park when the track reopens, and likely the same will hold true for the Saratoga meet, which is set to start July 16.

Auto racing will return as well at the usual suspects (Lebanon Valley, Fonda, etc.), also without fans or large crowds.

Now, here's an idea no one has considered.

With television starved for original sports programming due to the pandemic, it would be in the best interests of local stations to take a look at sending their cameras to Fonda, Lebanon Valley, etc., and mount a weekly schedule of live race broadcasts this summer.

Assuming the Tri-City Valleycats are able to play without live crowds when their season starts next month, they at least have the advantage of having their games broadcast on internet radio.

But what about semi-pro football, which doesn't get the attention or respect it enjoyed in the early days of the Metro Mallers in the 70's?

To the casual fan, football should be football, whether it's semi-pro, college, pro, or high school. The Northeastern Football Alliance doesn't get a lot of media or fan support, though the two actually go together, because without the newspapers, how do fans not on social media know if there's a game?

CW affiliate WCWN will reserve time to pick up WPIX's feeds of Mets & Yankees game when Major League Baseball starts play in July (we think). But there are going to be those Saturday & Sunday afternoons where's there's no baseball that can be filled with tape delayed stock car racing or semi-pro football, if the station and its corporate parent, Sinclair Broadcasting, consider it. Which I doubt.

If there was ever a time when local racing can take advantage of a window of opportunity for air time, this is it.