Here’s some Saturday afternoon reading.

“Carp”:http://carp.lohudblogs.com has not been a fan of the Federation tourney for a while, “but after Lakeland lost yesterday he gave a bunch of reasons why.”:http://lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/COLUMNIST01/703240370/1003/SPORTS I have to say, I totally agree with him. Too cold, too many empty seats, too many unworthy participants.

During one of the Class B semifinals yesterday afternoon, “Kevin”:http://kickoff.lohudblogs.com and I found two of the many empty seats and I told him my idea for how to fix this tournament. I would take the following teams: CHSAA Class AA and A; publics Class AA and A; PSAL Class AA and A; and independent school champion. One team would get a bye each year.

The teams would then be seeded 1 thru 7 and play three rounds, with the winner then being able to claim, boys or girls, that it is the best in the state. No questions asked.

Now, we’ve obviously spent time debating whether or not this is the right venue for such a tournament. I think it’s perfect for the boys tournament, where more teams come from Albany, Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo, but it’s not ideal for the Federation, or whatever my new tournament will be named. As we pointed out yesterday, Lakeland HS is the closest school of those participating in the boys and girls brackets. Thought that isn’t always the case, the majority of teams are generally from the City and its suburbs. So sorry upstate hoops fans; I think it’s time to move this thing to the City.

A possible venue, thanks to a discussion I just had with someone who would know, is St. John’s. 6,000 seats, plenty of parking and access to public transportation, albeit not the best transportation. The Garden probably wouldn’t be interested because it requires a three-day commitment. Outside of St. John’s, Hofstra, Fordham and Iona are the next best bets, although St. John’s is definitely the best suited of the group.

Any suggestions as to how to make this better?

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“Here’s a story from the Post Star on Kennedy, the only team in Glens Falls that is a champion of nothing.”:http://www.poststar.com/articles/2007/03/24/sports/hs/533faa9d1ed1e71f852572a8001ba920.txt

And if you haven’t read the Lakeland side of things, “here’s a game story from my favorite writer.”:http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/SPORTS02/703240351/1049
Also, colleague Harold Gutmann recounts what was “a historic day for Sarah Benischek.”:http://www.thejournalnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070324/SPORTS02/703240366/1049