Surviving Irene and time to kick off High School Football!

Hi there.  Well its been one busy week.  Between checking out high school football practices and scrimmages, the visit to the Washington County Fair and some tropical storm action on Sunday, my plate was full.
I hope everyone is O.K. after Sunday's storm and the damage was minimal.  I lucked out.  My folks home in SC is O.K. Just some pine straw all over the place and they weren't even in the area.  They were in Colorado at a wedding so everyone was spared and my home here didn't even see any branches come down with the high winds and heavy rain we got.
First is the high school football visits.  The thing I was impressed with the most in visiting practices were the numbers.  Especially in the smaller schools.  They are holding steady or actually going up.  Warrensburg had over 30 kids playing.  Mike Leonbruno said they haven't had over 30 come out for the team in a couple of years. Lake George should be O.K and both Salem and Spa Catholic will be fine with there numbers too.   Spa Catholics' size impressed me.  Fort Edward's problem isn't so much the kids aren't going out for football, it's the lack of boys actually entering the school.  With the big schools its always about who's going to step up from JV to the Varsity from graduation.
Impressions of what I saw.
Glens Falls, Hudson Falls and Lake George for them to be successful, the line play has to come together.  Also Hudson Falls has find its next feature running back to run the power I formation it uses. 
Fort Edward has that same problem in finding a running back to replace Justin White who rushed for over 1,000 yards last year.
South Glens Falls has a sophomore starting at QB and he replaces Jordan Greene who was a huge part of the offense for the Bulldogs the past two seasons.  It will be interesting to see how the other receivers and backs respond to having an underclassman under center.  It's normal at the small school level for a freshman or sophomore to start and play for 3 or 4 years.  At the big schools, the kid is either an injury replacement or really talented.
The key to Queensbury is their line.  If they are big and physical and can dominate a game, they can be tough to beat especially if they're ahead.  When that tight double wing is clicking anyone can run the ball behind that line.
Warrensburg is now running Queensbury's offense and if they can pick up the nuances of the double wing quickly, they could surprise some people.  One more thing about the Burgers.  If the West Virginia and Wisconsin football programs had a baby, the helmet would look just like Warrensburg's new look.  Having a hard time getting used to it.  It's navy blue with a yellow gold W.  I loved the Las Vegas gold with the navy blue W.  I thought Warrensburg's navy blue jerseys with the gold pants were the sharpest looking home attire in the area.
One thing from my visit to the Washington County fair.  Be careful what you wish for.  I've told the story on more than one occasion how a couple of years ago I was at the fair, took the risk and ate an order of 6 fried Oreo's that were covered in powdered sugar and came with chocolate sauce to dip them in.  Well I was wondering if anyone had ever tried dipping a Pop Tart in batter and frying it.  I go past the guy who I bought the Oreo's from and guess what was staring at me right in the eye?  Deep fried Pop Tarts!  No I didn't try them.  My priority was the maple house for a cup of coffee and some maple cotton candy.  Maple sugar and caffeine in my system is a scary and potentially lethal combination ,but I have to admit it was soooo good.
Allright Yankee fans, we can officially throw A.J Burnett into the closet that includes Kei Igawa, Kevin Brown, Carl Pavano and Javier Vasquez.
Eli Manning in an interview with Michael Kay thinks he's an elite quarterback in the NFL.  Look Forrest Gump, elite quarterbacks don't throw 25 picks like you did last year and can actually get the plays off before the play clock runs out like you seem not to be able to do on more than one occasion.
I think Derek Jeter will be just fine after breaking up with Minka Kelly, don't you?   Someone is out there for him.  As long as her last name isn't Kardashian I'll be fine.
Why couldn't Hurricane Irene's winds or heavy rains at least cause some damage to CitiField? I would have been very happy if that had happened.
Finally, on to the garden.  It's been a good year so far.  Tomatoes are being harvested and peppers and the potatoes are next on the list.  Saturday I'm on the phone with my sister when I see two chipmunks chasing after each other around my patio.  How cute!  Now we have a "Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom" moment.  One of the cute, furry little rodents heads for my tomato plants, climbs one of cages and picks one in his mouth.  Brings it over to the patio and starts eating it while I'm watching through my patio doors.  It eats half of it and then goes back for another!  I knew I had deals with the hummingbirds and squirrels, but now I have to make peace with the chipmunks!
Four days til first football game on WWSC and five til I'm on a plane headed to South Carolina...Leccese out