News & notes

 The Arena Football League has made some adjustments to its postseason schedule.

Six teams will advance to the playoffs, with the top two teams getting 1st round byes. The Albany Firebirds need to win Saturday at Orlando in the rubber match vs. the Predators to retake 1st place, take the regular season title, and a bye. A loss, and they'll host 1 playoff game before going on the road, likely as a #3 seed.

Something tells me this might be the AFL's last gasp, kind of like the crazy quilt way the Continental Basketball Association died a few years back.

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Former Albany Empire owner Antonio Brown has filed for bankruptcy. Too many bad decisions and creditors have gotten Brown so deep in trouble that he might not escape.

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The Tri-City Valleycats opened a 6 game road trip with a 6-1 win over Trois Rivieres on Tuesday. The teams continue their series tonight at 7 pm, but getting people to pick up the livestream might be a wee bit difficult because between the NBA draft and Yankees-Mets on the cable, folks will have other options.

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A month ago, Hudson Valley Community College president Roger Ramsammy finished his 7th season at the school with commencement exercises.

This morning, he's out of a job.

The HVCC board of trustees, after a month long investigation into allegations of sexual misconduct, have dismissed Ramsammy after 7 seasons. Louis Coplin, who had retired as VP-Student Affairs, was brought back as officer-in-charge, and will remain so until a new president is found.

Ramsammy's departure opens the door for the possible reopening of Robert Conway Arena for public skating and LaSalle hockey, although in the latter case, coach Tim Flanigan is open to moving the team across town to the Knickerbacker Ice Arena once it reopens this fall. The Cadets are committed to Frear Park for this season at the least.

Ramsammy took some bad advice, closing the Conway Arena 2 years ago, which made him a villain in local sports circles.

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Niskayuna High, citing the fact that Suburban Council rival Shenendehowa kept their long running team nickname, the Plainsmen, has backtracked on an earlier decision to drop Silver Warriors as their team name, in defiance of a state edict issued a year ago.

Superintendent Carl Mummenthey, citing the fact that Nisky dumped its Native American imagery in favor of a red capital N logo in 1997, recommended to the Nisky board of education to pause efforts to change the team name. The only option remaining, then, is litigation against the state. Not a good idea. However, removing the Native American imagery isn't enough to satisfy the state board.

Back to the drawing board for Mummenthey and Niskayuna.