As John's older son (and best writer in the family) I will be filling in for him this week as he was busy doing whatever it is that he had to do this week. I usually have a lot of fun writing these articles but this week's edition has me thinking about one important question. If I mention the Blue Devil mascot, will I be labeled as the second generation of evil spirits by the people who think our mascot turns our young athletes into pitchfork wielding demons? Only time will tell…….As I am writing this, the Yankees are wrapping up another win and are cruising to home-field advantage in the playoffs, which has been a huge advantage in the past. Unfortunately, "The Boss" Steinbrenner decided to tear down the old, cramped, and hostile Yankee Stadium that opposing teams feared so much. Let's hope the new stadium is christened with the Yankees mobbing Mariano Rivera on the mound while celebrating their 27th World Series title……..It's the end of August which means Ellenville's fall sports teams have started their official practices as they get ready for the upcoming seasons. The Blue Devil Football team is looking to defend their Class C Section 9 Championship, the boys' soccer team will be looking to get back to the playoffs for the third straight year, and the girls' soccer team will be looking to return to the playoffs again for the second time in three years. The only two things we know for sure is that all of the teams will be playing on some nice green fields after this summer's Seattle-like weather, and that we can count on subpar coverage of our sports teams by the Times Herald Record..………Fall also means the start of football season, which is always enjoyable. Well, enjoyable for everyone else, since I am a fan of the Cleveland Browns and Syracuse Orange. Syracuse just named Greg Paulus their starting quarterback. This is the same Greg Paulus who was the starting PG for Duke Basketball the last four years. It is never a good sign when the starting quarterback has not played football in four years. I would be happy with a combined eight wins from my two teams, but I think that might be a little optimistic. If only I grew up in the late 1950s, both of my teams would be winners……..One of the best quarterbacks in the NFL is Donovan McNabb. I loved watching McNabb when he was racking up wins for the aforementioned Orange in the Carrier Dome, and I still like watching him as a Philadelphia Eagle. Unfortunately, Eagle fans have never truly appreciated McNabb as they booed him since he was drafted, despite him leading the Eagles to four divisional championships and five NFC championship games. These are the same fans who cheered wildly for convicted felon Michael Vick as he made his Eagle debut this week. So you have an upstanding citizen who has never been arrested, volunteers in the community, and wins on the field, and is being shoved out of the door for a guy who tortured and killed dogs for fun and is a mediocre quarterback? You stay classy Philly………..After firing head coach Juan Carlos Osorio, the New York Red Bulls have won two straight to avoid having the worst record in MLS history. New coach Richie Williams is now 2-0 after taking over a team that had not won in the previous 16 games. The only question is what took so long?......The Little League World Series just wrapped up with Chula Vista, California beating Taoyuan, Taiwan 6-3. Little League Baseball is one of the few pure athletic experiences left in today's world with pro, college, and even high school sports being infiltrated by overzealous coaches, parents, and companies looking to advertise their products. It is also pretty funny to see a kid who is 6'1 and 215 pounds playing on the same team a 4'10, 87-pounder…………I am not usually a fan of placing high school games on national television but it was enjoyable to watch the Aplington-Parkersburg Falcons play their first football game of the season on ESPN the other night. Aplington-Parkersburg was playing without their head coach Ed Thomas for the first time in 34 years. Thomas was shot and killed by one of his former players earlier in the summer. Thomas was a beloved coach who was known not only for winning and producing four NFL players, but more so for the lessons he taught the young men who played for him. All of his former players talked about how much they loved their coach and about the life lessons that Thomas taught them. Thomas helped the community rebuild after about 200 houses (including his own) and the high school were destroyed by a tornado last year. With the memory of their coach still fresh in their minds and hearts, Aplington-Parkersburg beat longtime rival Dike-New Hartford 30-14…………….It seems as though the Rondout Valley Ganders might not field a varsity football program this season. It is almost inconceivable that a program can go from state champions to not having a team in under a decade. There are quite a few people who remember when Ellenville struggled with their numbers and fielding a varsity football team. It was during one of these years when Rondout came to play an undermanned Ellenville team and proceeded to run up the score and "dunk" the football over the goalposts after each touchdown they scored. It seems that there may be something to that theory of karma after all……….