You have to be disappointed with the football on Thanksgiving. The Jets got blown out by the Cowboys, the Lions were dominated by the Packers, and if you were able to stay up for the last game, the Falcons were crushed by the Colts� Ellenville Varsity Girl's Basketball coach Tom Nolan had an open practice last week, inviting the parents to see what was going on with the team as they prepare for the season. We watched the girls run a lot, were told that yoga had been introduced into the program, and were served vegetables and dip after practice. Nolan and I obviously don't agree on diets but it should be fun to watch the team this year as they look to employ a full-court press defense and fast break offense�

I received an email from Tom Grable, E.H.S. Class of 1975. Grable is a former Blue Devils football player who played for and later came back to coach with Jack Sovak. After graduating Ellenville, Grable was a place kicker for SUNY-Brockport. Current varsity assistant coach Merrill Conner played for Grable, who is currently an Athletic Trainer at Randolph High School in New Jersey�

Whenever you think times are tough, just ask yourself, �How in the world is Alex Rodriquez ever going to make it over the next ten years on a measly $275 million dollars?...

From the �you can change a politician's mind department.� Glad to see that Governor Elliot Spitzer finally acquiesced on his plan to grant drivers' licenses to illegal immigrants. The citizenry vehemently opposed the plan and Spitzer finally gave in�

Major League Baseball may have reached a new low as they look to auction off the can of bug spray that was used on Joba Chamberlain during the ALDS game between the Yankees and the Indians. Chamberlain threw two wild pitches in Game 2 as the midges swarmed the field. The Yankees lost that game 2-1 in 11 innings. So if you're looking for that perfect Christmas gift for your father, why next spend several thousand dollars on an �official� major league can of bug spray?...

I had the pleasure of once again being the auctioneer for the annual Ellenville Cooperative Nursery School auction that was held at the White Wolf Restaurant last week. The Nursery School has been around for approximately 50 years and has been under the leadership of �Miss Sally� for the past couple of decades. In the �heydays� of the school, parents would camp out a day or two in advance of registration to make certain their kid got a spot in the school. While those days are gone, if you have a three or four-year old child, you could do a lot worse than registering your child in the nursery school.

The �cooperative� moniker means that in addition to paying tuition, you'll be expected to volunteer your time for a variety of events, occasionally work as parent of the day, do fundraising, and spend a lot of time with your child. The rewards for these efforts are immeasurable, but this year's Ellenville High School Class of 2008 boasts 15 former Ellenville Cooperative Nursery School graduates, including Ethan Beck, Jarrid Blades, Michael Brown, Brian Burns, Rebecca Cohen, Brandon Conner, Devon Craft, Alex Dumond, Jori Figueroa, Jack Gillette, Andrew Hyatt, Bailey Smith, Brittany Tremblay, Michael Walsh, and Benn Yerkes. You can count in that group honor roll students, National Honor Society members, multi-sport athletes, student government leaders, class officers, all-state band members, mentors, and volunteers. As a parent, making sacrifices for your kids is part of the deal. Kids who go through the Ellenville Cooperative Nursery School often get the best of that deal�

Does anybody care about the New York Knicks and their sorry state of affairs? The Knicks are currently 2-9 and getting worse�

With Ellenville High School moving to Class C next year, it might be time to take a hard look at making a move with our girl's sports teams. During the fall sports season there are five sports for girls including soccer, field hockey, tennis, cross country and volleyball. Cheerleading is also offered. Several factors need to be considered here. First, the lady Blue Devils have difficulty filling the rosters of the current sports. Secondly, with the enrollment dropping, it will be more difficult to be competitive with other schools. The logical move seems to drop field hockey. Before everyone who has ever played, coached or rooted for the sport at Ellenville starts writing letters, let's take a look at the situation. The field hockey team has not been competitive in many years. The number of girls coming out for the sport has not been optimal. Currently, there are two Section IX schools dropping field hockey (the two teams we beat this year) and two more schools considering dropping field hockey. That would leave us facing mostly larger schools which have hundreds of more girls to choose from than we do. In their ten losses this year, Ellenville was outscored 49-5. Last season was worse.

Finally, during the days when Ellenville was competitive and won an M.H.A.L. title or two, there was no girl's soccer program as there is now. Further complicating the situation is that the field hockey program does not have a feeder system like the soccer program, which has young ladies exposed to the sport through the Ed Jacobs Youth Soccer League. This is not a knock on the efforts of those who have been involved in the sport of field hockey at Ellenville over the years, it is a hard look at what might make us more competitive in the sports we do compete in�

Last week I wrote that the Ellenville Superintendent of Schools has never been a teacher or a coach and often does not understand the �see a problem - fix a problem� theory. In fact, the superintendent has been employed as a teacher and includes teaching experience among her credentials. I apologize for the error.

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