I understand the reasons behind it, but I don't think I'm a big fan of separating the Section 9 baseball and softball tournaments.

Having one each week makes the whole postseason seem kind of disjointed. Mind you, when we had so many local teams playing for championships and we're trying to cover every one of those games, the idea of splitting the two probably would have been welcomed with open arms.

But it just seems as though there's a bit of an emptiness this year. While softball begins this week, local sectional baseball champs Marlboro and Pine Plains are looking for teams to scrimmage just so they can stay sharp for regionals next week.

I know these teams, especially in baseball, want to make sure their No. 1 starter is available for regionals, but it doesn't mean I have to necessarily like it.

It seemed more like the postseason when everything was going on at the same time.

A big congratulations goes out to our local scholastic winners: Marlboro in MHAL baseball and softball, Roosevelt (as well as Jonah Berkowitz and the doubles team of Geoff and Ackerman) in MHAL tennis, Ellenville in MHAL boys track and field and Rondout in girls track and field, just to name a few.

It seems like this has been a weird spring season, so it's great the playoffs are underway.

Let's hope the local teams are equally successful in sectionals and states.

I know there is normally a lot of buzz when the Yankees play the Mets in their annual 'Subway Series.' But the first installment in this matchup that begins tonight has the potential of being a real snooze-fest.

The Mets are playing bad baseball. The Yankees, also playing bad baseball, are a shell of themselves as injuries continue to mount.

What had some promise the beginning of the season has really lost some pizazz. Don't get me wrong, when these teams gets together there's usually at least some entertainment value.

But it's not what it should be.

Maybe it's all the seeming starts and stops we've been having on the local sports scene or the unseasonably cold weather, but it just doesn't seem as though we're getting ready for the MHAL and Section 9 playoffs.

This has been a real funky spring thus far and I'd bet those of you playing any of these spring sports feel the same way. There just hasn't been any kind of rhythm to this season, with games being seemingly moved on a daily basis.

Let's hope this next month goes better than the first couple for all those concerned. It will make for more fun for everyone.

Does it really surprise anyone that another professional athlete has been charged with a crime?

Former Giant great Lawrence Taylor is the latest name added to the long list, from Kobe Bryant to Plaxico Burress to Ben Roethlisberger to just about any starter who's played for the Oakland Raiders, Dallas Cowboys or Cincinnati Bengals in recent years, who found themselves in trouble with the law.

Now I know -- and believe -- that all accused are innocent until proven guilty in a court of law and maybe LT did not rape that 16-year-old girl. But the mere implication of his name PROBABLY means there is something to those charges.

But athletes seemingly have this sort of above-the-law mentality. As a sports fan all my life who hopes to someday be able to take my family to a game, I would hate to be put in the position parents have been put in today of having to explain these athletes and what they're accused of to my kids.

It has to come to an end -- and SOON!