News & notes

 The soap opera surrounding the Albany Empire is getting weirder & weirder.

Correcting what was reported yesterday, former coach and offensive coordinator Damon Ware won't be returning, but instead signed with the Orlando Predators, per returning head coach Tom Menas at a Wednesday press conference.

The Albany Times-Union is also reporting that former NFL star Antonio Brown isn't the real majority owner of the team after all.

Instead, Brown is fronting for a trust based outside the country, and continues to insist he & the trust have 100% ownership. They have 95%. Brown also has business interests in Dubai, which is where all this actually started, one would suspect.

This doesn't even pass the smell test. To this writer, Brown is scrambling to cover his tuchis. Let's not forget the legal issues he's dodging in Florida.

If you think it's a scam, I don't blame you.

Meanwhile, QB Sam Castronova has signed with Jacksonville, and the Empire have replaced him with former USFL player Roland Rivers, who will debut Saturday vs. West Texas.

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Earlier this week, Albany Academy grad Andre Jackson, representing the NCAA men's basketball champions from Connecticut, threw out the first ball before the Mets' doubleheader vs. Atlanta at Citi Field. Up next is the NBA draft next month.

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In the early years of the now-defunct Big 10 basketball league, the coaches were just as much stars as the players. Bill Telasky at CBA. Don Bassett at Catholic Central, and later, at Troy High. Gary DiNola at Mont Pleasant and later, Schenectady. Cal Wheeler coached Linton.

At the top of the deck, though, was Paul Lyons, the head man at Albany High.

In three decades at Albany, Lyons led the Falcons to 16 sectional finals, winning 9 titles, and 2 state titles. Current Albany women's coach Decky Lawson played for Lyons, and has kept the winning tradition going, although the men could use some help next season.

Lyons, 77, passed away a week ago. He returned home to Albany to take the Falcons' job in 1971, and never looked back, winning over 500 games in 3 decades of roaming the Albany sideline. A wake is being held today with the funeral on Friday.

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Speaking of Troy, which we weren't, a tennis meet and baseball & softball games vs. Columbia were rained out Wednesday. They'll try again today, but rain is again in the forecast.