Charlie Voelker

The New York Yankees are once again faced with a Spring Training full of questions. The hot-topic: did general manager Brian Cashman do enough to fortify the Bronx Bombers to get by the World Champion Houston Astros.

New York Mets fans are thrilled with their owner Steve Cohen. The lifetime fan of the Amazin's paid a record $2.4 billion for the team in 2020. Cohen hasn't stopped investing in his investment. That's what smart money people do. Some Major League Baseball owners are trying to make rules that would prevent owners like Steve Cohen from making such investments. In fan interest, MLB should politely tell those owners: sell their teams!

When a college shutters its doors, the impact is felt well beyond the students, faculty, staff and alumni. Small surrounding towns and villages are often devastated, as the life blood of their local economy shuts its doors. Throughout the United States small liberal arts colleges are struggling to stay alive. One upstate New York village is trying to get ahead of a potential problem from their college closing.

On a night where he needed 36 points to pass NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, as the league's All-Time leading scorer, LeBron James netted 38 points and added 7 rebounds, 3 assists and 3 steals. Tuesday night, on a signature fadeaway jumper with 10.9 seconds left in the 3rd quarter of the Los Angelas Lakers 133-130 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder, LeBron became the NBA scoring king.

James Dolan always seems to have a beef with someone. Now the owner of Madison Square Garden, the New York Rangers and the New York Knicks is in the midst of a fight with the New York State Liquor Authority and Blue Shirt fans may get their beers knocked out of their hands in the melee.

Why are the New York Knicks in a two-year funk at one of the most historic basketball venues in the world, Madison Square Garden, their home court? OK, before you say, 'because the team stinks' hang on a minute. The Knicks are really good on the road.

New York Mets manager Buck Showalter, despite not winning a World Series, has had a pretty good year. First, after being spurned by a canceled spring training appearance, Showalter gets to meet pop-star Shakira. (Who would have thought that would be a big deal for the the Mets skipper but it was.) Then, Buck's team rattles off 101 regular season wins, leading to Showalter being named National League Manager of the Year for the fourth time in his career. But the biggest and maybe most surprising honor of all came out this week. Buck appears to be the best looking manager in Major League Baseball. No, I'm not kidding.

The New York Jets maintain the longest absence from post season in the NFL. However, at the start of the season, no one realistically thought that the Gang Green would go from a 4-win team in 2021 to a playoff franchise in '22. Expectations were: anything under 7-wins this year would be a failure for general manager, Joe Douglas and head coach, Robert Saleh. Wins weren't the area of failure this year. The quarterback position in its entirety takes that award. Someone in the Jets organization is to blame.

Finding "holiday week" activities that the entire family will enjoy can be a drag sometimes. Outdoor fun is often curtailed by tough-to-plan-for weather conditions, while other options are either too far away or too expensive. Capital Region baseball fans have a gem in their own backyard and the week between Christmas and New Year's is the perfect time to take advantage.

Rob McClanaghan always seemed like a go-getter. He was a walk-on for Jim Boeheim at Syracuse and later took his learned skills to becoming a trainer for some of the NBA’s biggest stars. Now McClanaghan is being accused of a horrific crime that allegedly occurred at a Boston hotel last week.