You have excellent school spirit and you have every right to be excited for your team. The players are intelligent and a pleasure to interview. It's about time coach Vinnie Ammirato had the chance to see his team take down Babylon. My pointed issue with a small contingent of your fan base was to criticize those who disrespect high school athletes -- I have a real problem with it. If Babylon curses your boys and throws objects, that's disgusting. I've never seen it. But the miscreants should be penalized. Sometimes it's better to be the bigger person.

Instead of insulting Babylon, celebrate Mt. Sinai. For the first time in 14 years, your football team is going back to the Long Island championship stage. Wouldn't it have been more fun to wave good bye to Babylon and applaud their exit? Good luck Saturday against Roosevelt.

Posted by Greg Sarra at 12:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (3) | TrackBacks (0)

Let's clear this thing up before it gets out of hand. The Babylon football team does not humiliate opposing teams during the playoff run by standing a shoulder pad rack on the field. The rack symbolizes the potential end of the season and was a brilliant motivator that began with head coach Hans Weiderkehr. The idea was to illustrate to the team that this could be the end of the season if they don't bring their A game.

In most cases, it signaled the end of the season for the opposing team.
Hans used to tell his troops, if you lose, you will hang your pads on the rack at the end of the game. If you want to play another day then go out and win. How many times did we see Babylon hang up its pads in Suffolk?

They used to carry that heavy piece of metal on the bus ride to away games. There is no disrespect there -- just ingenuity.

Posted by Greg Sarra at 12:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (12) | TrackBacks (0)

With each passing season we say goodbye to the seniors and reload with the underclassmen in the hope that they can carry on a winning tradition. Seven programs jump right out at me as consistently the best. It starts with St. Anthony's, Bellport and Floyd. And you can add Freeport, Garden City, Babylon and Bethpage to that elite group of schools. I really thought this would be the year that St. Anthony's would finally falter.

The rest of the CHSFL has improved markedly and the Friars are young in 2006. If ever there were an opportunity for someone to take down the black and gold this might be the season. So I picked Holy Trinity to bear the burden of stopping St. Anthony's impressive league regular season winning streak. It was the first time that I've picked against St. Anthony's in our four years of picking games. [I learned a few things about the black and the gold last night]. The Titans played the Friars close for a half. With the score tied at 7, St. Anthony's coach Rich Reichert went into the locker room and spoke about focus and tradition and exhorted his players to knock off the nonsense that comes with 105 yards in penalties in the first half. Great teams meet a stiff challenge with resilience and resolve.

St. Anthony's scored 28 unanswered points turning a competitive game into a blowout. In the second half of games the St. Anthony's factor kicks in. What team can keep up with a team that starts 22 different players? By the fourth quarter, Holy Trinity, which plays many players both ways, was understandably tired. I tip my hat to Holy Trinity, an excellent football team, not quite as deep as St. Anthony's.

And I graciously stand down as St. Anthony's met the challenge and proved me wrong. The picks are a fun outlet for fans and players. They are only opinion and thought provoking. I had to laugh last night when the huge St. Anthony's throng was chanting "you can't kick" after the Trinity kicker flubbed a kickoff. They should have been saying "you can't pick" as I hid under the cover of the hood of my jacket. See you next week!

Posted by Greg Sarra at 05:26 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)