Jason Molinet's Blog (8)

I'm on the outside looking on at this one, no longer working at a daily. But I find the recent news surrounding the fate of this summer's Empire State Games troubling -- and disappionting. This is one of the great grass-roots sporting events in this country. So where do we go from here. What are the options? Instead of reporting the fallout, maybe we can brainstorm some solutions and then offer them up in columns. Care to start here? Continue

I was in Don Buckley's office on Wednesday afternoon as he happened to be crafting an email to Neil Kerr. For those who don't know, Buckley is the longtime athletic director at St. Anthony's and former president of the state Federation. In other words, someone whose word matters. And he's not one to complain unless there's something worth addressing. The point of his email, which he showed me before sending it off, was the NYSSWA boys soccer rankings. St. Anthony's is unbeaten and ranked in th… Continue

In case you missed it, Xavier hung 86 points on Cardinal Hayes in a CHSFL game over the weekend. The final was 86-42. Read the story here. I just don't know what to say about this one. But my mouth is open, jaw on the floor and something wants to come out of me... Continue

I ran into Marc Raimondi recently at the Xaverian-St. Anthony's football game. He and a photographer were there covering Xaverian, a Brooklyn CHSFL school off to a surprising start. Raimondi is one of the founders of www.fiveborosports.com, a web site devoted to City high school and co… Continue

I was just interviewed by a college student. It was fun writing out the responses, so I thought I'd share them here. 1) Please spell out your name. JASON MOLINET 2) What was your job at Newsday? Sports Reporter 3) When did you work there? 1996-2007 4) What degree do you have and from where? University of Miami (Fla.), BA history with minor in news editorial journalism 5) How does the process of becoming a professional sports writer work? There are many routes, but the one I advocate star… Continue

Failed school budgets forcing administrators to cut sports has gotten a lot of attention of late. There's even Hollywood glare on this New York issue right now. Anytime Denzel Washington steps into the fray, it must be something momentus, right? I tip my cap to Denzel for chipping in $100K toward Mount Vernon athletics. But I wish he didn't. I've covered this story countless times before. Most noteably, Plainedge won a Nassau football championship just months after the entire community rallied… Continue

When I was down in the Tampa Bay area in May for a week, the first paper I ever worked at, The St. Pete Times, was in the midst of what I thought was a grand idea. They profiled a different high school football program each day until they were through the entire county. Of course, there's spring football throughout Florida, capped by jamboree scrimmages -- just like their college counterparts. So making the rounds seems logical and easy enough. It got me -- as a reader -- pumped up. Yes, New Y… Continue

Just covered the state CHSAA Class A championship game Saturday at Hofstra. And I saw the most perplexing sight: Christ the King playing. How in the world is one of the most dominant girls basketball programs in national history allowed to compete at the Class A level? Sure, the Royals have a very pedestrian 15-12 record. But they played a AA schedule and even competed in the state CHSAA Class AA Intersectional championship game, one they lost to Molloy, 45-41. Season over, right? Thanks for c… Continue