MY GUESS IS THAT MARKETING THE BILLS IS NOT McDERMOTT’S PRIORITY
The news Thursday that the Buffalo Bills will spend less time than usual at St. John Fisher during training camp this season must have disappointed some passionate fans in Greater Rochester.
Only 13 practices will be at St. John Fisher – including only one “night” practice (the very first practice, Thursday, July 27,starting at 6:30 p.m.).
The “featured” open-to-the-public training camp practice will be at New Era Field in Orchard Par Friday, August 4.
Final practice at St. John Fisher will be Tuesday, Aug. 15, 8:45 pm.
This training camp schedule – with two fewer practice, only one “night” practice and earlier starts in the mornings -- obviously was not designed to accommodate fans in Greater Rochester.
This is yet another strong clue that coach Sean McDermott is running the show and that marketing the team is not his highest priority.
This will be the team’s 18th training camp at St. John Fisher. The Bills are 0-for-17 so far in making the playoffs. Fisher hasn’t been a jinx but it hasn’t been a good-luck charm either.
If McDermott believes spending a little more prep time at Orchard Park and a little loess prep time at St. John Fisher will be a plus – and he hasn’t come out and said that yet and probably never would – I’m all for it. How about you?
ZACK GRANITE ROCK SOLID AS LEADOFF HITTER FOR RED WINGS
The 2017 Rochester Red Wings have been a mild disappointment so far this International League season but Zack Granite has been an exception.
The 24-yeard-old left-handed hitting and throwing center fielder is the hottest hitter in the 14-team IL.
Since June 2, Granite is leading the league in batting average, hits, extra-base hits and total bases.
He began this season on the disabled list so he doesn’t have quite enough plate appearances to qualify among the official leaders in batting average, but he’ll be appearing on that list soon.
Through 36 games with Rochester, Granite is batting .338 (51-for-151). The “official” IL batting leaders entering Thursday were Chris Bostick (Indianapolis) and Tyler Wade (Scranton/Wilkes-Barre) at .309. Only nine players in the IL were hitting .300 or better.
Granite, Minnesota’s 2016 Minor League Player of the Year, is a plus center fielder and has 10 stolen bases in 13 attempts. Last year at Double-A Chattanooga, he hit .295 and led the Southern League in his, runs, triples, total bases and stolen bases (56 in 70 attempts). In 127 games, he had almost as many walks (42) as strikeouts (43).
He’ll enter Friday night on a 14-game hitting streak, with multiple hits in 11 of his last 13 games.
Granite is the best leadoff hitter for the Red Wings in a long time and it is not a stretch to think he might someday soon have that role with the Minnesota Twins.
NATIONAL LACROSSE LEAGUE EYES EXPANSION
National Lacrosse League commissioner Nick Sakiewicz is working diligently to expand his nine-team pro indoor lacrosse league (including the Rochester Knighthawks). He expects no expansion for the 2018 season but expects to add as many as four new teams for 2019. His ultimate goal is 30 teams.
The NLL has had nine teams since 2007.
Stocking the expanded league is not a concern. He says there are hundreds of quality players (“a “glut of talent”) eager to take advantage of increased opportunities.
Sakiewicz is focusing on expansion into cities with NHL and/or NBA markets. NHL and NBA teams in those cities are viewed as among the prospective owners. His theory – a good one – is that NLL teams could fill open dates in otherwise vacant arenas.
He says an NLL expansion team does not necessarily need to be in an NHL/NBA market. He cites Saskatchewan as a success and believes Halifax also would thrive in the NLL.
I commend Sakiewicz for his ambition and game plan. The NLL is an exciting product with major-league talent and has the potential for significant expansion in the not so distant future.
My only concern is that Rochester might be at a competitive disadvantage against teams in much larger markets and with significantly richer potential financial resources.
WHY LUKE HEIMLICH STRUCK OUT IN THE BASEBALL DRAFT
A little more than one week ago, Oregon State left-handed pitcher Luke Heimlich appeared to be a cinch first-round pick in this week’s Major League Baseball entry draft and featured participant in the College Baseball World Series starting this weekend in Omaha, Nebraska.
The 21-year-old Heimlich had an 11-1 record with a 0.76 earned-run average for the No. 1-seeded Beavers this season.
There were 1,215 selections in the draft and Heimlich was not one of them.
On Thursday, he released a statement to say he would not travel with his team to the College World Series.
What happened? A newspaper last week revealed that Heimlich was convicted in 2012 of molesting a 6-year-old family member.
I’m not feeling sorry for Heimlich. I feel sorry for the girl.
But one has to wonder – would every NFL team pass on Heimlich in every round if he were a football player instead of a baseball player?
U.S. OPEN CUP ROUND OF 16: 13 MLS TEAMS PLUS 3 CINDERELLA TEAMS
The Round of 16 for the 2017 Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup is set up June 28 and the survivors consist of 13 Major League Soccer teams and plus three teams from lower levels: FC Cincinnati (USL), Sacramento Republic (USL) and Miami FC (NASL).
Cincinnati, averaging 19,415 for seven home games, will lost the Chicago Fire (MLS). Miami will host Atlanta United FC. Sacramento will play at the Los Angeles Galaxy.
The New England Revolution (MLS), coming off a 3-0 victory over the Rochester Rhinos Wednesday night, will play D.C. United (MLS) at Harvard University.
SHORT SHOTS
Phil Housley is the 18th coach of the Buffalo Sabres. Will he become the third Jack Adams award winner (NHL Coach of the Year) with the Sabres? He’d join Ted Nolan(1997) and Lindy Ruff (2006).
The National Lacrosse League is contemplating expanding the regular-season 18-game season to 20- or 22 games. The season would start in November or December instead of in January. The expanded length of the season would reduce the number of back-to-back games.
Of the four major team sports in North American, the baseball draft is by far the most difficult to evaluate right away. But I’d rather have my team ranked No. 1 than No. 30. MLB.com columnist Jim Callis wrote that the Minnesota Twins made “the best first impression” in this week’s baseball draft.
LeBron James says he is all in favor of 3-on-3 basketball becoming a medal sport at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo but he has no plans to participate. That’s unfortunate. I’d enjoy watching any foreign trio try to beat King James, Kevin Durant and Steph Curry or Kyrie Irving.
I’m no expert on the WNBA, but the Minnesota Lynx are off to a 9-0 start and must be pretty good. They’re outscoring opponents by 13.9 points per game (86.7 to 72.8) and have a 47.3 team field-goaql percentage (opponents 41.2). The starting five: Sylvia Fowles, Maya Moore, Seimone Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson and Lindsay Whalen.
The Rhinos rank 21st in the 30-team United Soccer League in average homer attendance: 2,140. The league average is 4,728.
The Rochester Red Wings rank 9th in the 14-team International League in average home attendance: 5,360.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO...
Friday, June 16 – Rick Nash (33)...Jermaine Gresham (29)...Jerricho Cotchery (35)...Kerry Wood (40)...Phil Mickelson (47)...Cobi Jones (47)...Wally Joyner (55)...Steve Larmer (56)...Tree Rollins (62)...Roberto Duran (66)...Ron LeFlore (69)...Derek Sanderson (71).
Saturday, June 17 – Amari C ooper (23)...Venus Williams (37)...Popeye Jones (47)..Dermontti Dawson (52)...Mike Milbury (65)....Dave Concepcion (69)...Eddie Merckx (72)...Tony Roche (72)...Bobby Bell (77)...Bob Barlow (82). Barry Manilow (74) and Newt Gingrich (74) are invited to the birthday party.
Sunday, June 18 –Luke Adam (27)... Antonio Gates (37)...Jeff Saturday (42)...Martin St. Louis (42)...Fernando Valenzuela (47)...Jay Leeuwenburg (48)...Doug Bodger (51)... Sandy Alomar (51)...Kurt Browning (51)...Bruce Smith (54)...Lou Brock (78). Blake Shelton (41) and Paul McCartney (75) are invited to the birthday party.