2005 - 2006 Daily Rants Continued

The Great New York State Golden Snowball Contest 2005 - 2006

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2005 - 2006 Snowfall Season

Any Cheese to go With My Whine - Continued

A Few Snow Pictures from Syracuse's 2005- 2006 Season

4/29 - I'm still receiving emails about the contest which is great.  One I received from Mrs. Bertrand, a teacher from the Pittsford area inquiring about Rochester's snow stats.  It's great to see her science class students have an interest in the weather in good ole New York.  A shout out to all the students in her class from the Snow Dude

Another email from Tom and Kathie brought up a great point and also pointed out a flaw in some of the stats in the chart.  If you look above at the chart you will notice that the "Normal Totals to Date" are higher than the "Normal Seasons Average" stats.  Obviously that can't be right so I'll have to get in touch with NOAA to see where the discrepancy is and FIX IT.  I have a feeling I should of left the old Normal Seasons Averages alone but I changed them when I found a page on NOAA that had different averages than I had on the site.  I'll research it and get it straightened out.  Thanks Tom and Kathie for bringing that to our attention.  An awesome weekend is in the forecast so get out and enjoy it and have a super weekend all!

Easter Sunday -  All the stats are up to date and It's time to wrap it up for the season.  This is one of the earliest dates that the contest has been called.  With Syracuse leading by almost 4 feet of snow over second place Buffalo, I can't see dragging our great NY contest on any longer.  More to come on Monday.  We wish you and your family a Happy Easter.

4/10 - Once again I slacked off and big time at that.  Five days went by before I did an update on here which only means one thing, the season is a snowflake away from being called.  Most likely we will be calling it a lot earlier than normal because of the big lead Syracuse has this year.  Don't forget the rule though once we call the Great Golden Snowball Race over.  If we say it's all over and another city other than the one we decided won ends up getting some late snow to go in the lead, Both cities get the 100.00 cash prize.  I don't see that happening this year but ya just never know.  The official snowfall season (Year) actually runs from July 1st thru June 30th believe it or not.  The latest I personally can remember it snowing is on Mothers Day one year when we were having a family cookout years ago .  Look for something to be posted soon.  Have a super week all.

4/5 - Binghamton is the only city so far to pick up any snowfall this month and only 3/10 of an inch at that.  It looks like the next several days will be a hit or miss for a little bit of snow but nothing major in the forecasts that I have seen.  It's cold for this time of the year with temps normally being around 50 degrees for high and 31 for the lows.  Next week is looking to be the start of some warmer weather that hopefully will stick around for good.  Right now the temp is 34 with a wind chill of 25 degrees.

It's hard to believe but looking out my window my grass is already to be cut.  As a matter of fact if it gets any higher I'll have to rake up the grass.  The yard has been too soft and too wet to cut though but it's so cold out right now, maybe the ground has frozen over again.  Nah, lets wait a little longer besides I hate getting all the funny looks from people driving by on our busy road shaking their heads saying look at the idiot cutting his lawn when it's going to snow.  One thing I know is there isn't a smell that compares with the first grass cutting of the season and the chances are I'll be smelling it very soon.  Have a great day all.

4/3 - Sorry about the lack of updates the last couple of days but obviously there hasn't been anything to update.  There's a real possibility that another snow update might be coming as soon as Tuesday and Wednesday with a cold front expected to drop a little bit of sloppy snow and slush.  I think this is the time of year wear anxiety about the weather starts setting in.  We get tossed a few nice sunny warm teaser days to get our hopes up but then the bubble gets popped and we slide back to the normal crappy weather we are all use to .  Anyways the bubble is popped with rain, some thunderstorms and of course snow in the forecast for the next couple of days.

One nice thing though about the teaser days was that the weather was nice enough to get some baseball and softball games in.  Friday I caught my sons game at ESM and they looked good including my son Chris.  A lot of hard hitting and good defense to pull off the victory.  On Sunday I was able to catch my daughters first ever college softball games at Herkimer college.  She played good at third base and her swing looks better than it ever has.  The whole Herkimer team looked good against a pretty good team from Massachusetts and if they keep hitting like they did on Sunday they should have a great season.  One of the girls, Janine crushed 2 homeruns over the fence which is a great way to start her college softball career.  All 3 pitchers looked good also.  Go Herkimer - Go ESM!!!  Have a great week all.

3/31 - March came in like a Lion and is going out like a Lamb, make that a baby lamb.  Wow, it's 78 degrees as I type and I'm already whining how hot it is .  That's what I do best is whine about the weather.  Yesterday was my kind of day with the temp being in the mid 60's and sunny as could be.  Lets hope April brings us some normal temperatures and plenty of sunshine.  Hey, enjoy the weather while it lasts and have a great weekend.  I'm off to watch my sons first baseball game of the season

3/28 - Could this be the end of the snow season?  Hopefully but probably not.  50's in the forecast now for the rest of the week with the possibility of mid 60's on Friday.  Wait!  It gets even better!  Warm plus sunny for a few of the days.  That just seems, so, so, so un-normal for our area to have more than a day of sunshine at this time of the year but I'll take it.  I mentioned the other day about my son having their first game of the season on Friday and if the showers hold off it will be awesome to be out there watching the game.

More good signs of spring being here is that the Robins were fighting for territory rights in the neighborhood this morning.  Either that or some kind of mating ritual.  I believe Robins stay together for life but I could be wrong.  I normally am.  Speaking of the birds and the bee's, the one way that I can tell that warm weather is here to stay is when I start seeing a lot of bee's.  Not just a couple here and there but lots of them and every day.  So far I haven't seen any bee's yet but I'm hoping it will be soon that they start buzzing around.  Hey, enjoy the week all and get out and do something while it lasts.

3/26 - Finally!!!  There has been a change in the line up.  Binghamton, the southern most city in the contest has over taken Rochester for 3rd place picking up 8/10 of new snow.  Looking at the stats I can see why.  Rochester is more than 18 inches off it's normal average snowfall for the season while Binghamton is over it's average by a snowflake.  The big question now is can Bingo take away second place from Buffalo? 

Also looking at the stats I see that if the end of the snow season can go out as average we are all looking at around another 10 - 13 inches of snowfall.  Right now Syracuse's average for this date should be around 104 inches and the average yearly snowfall is around 117 inches which leaves another 13 or so more inches of snowfall total to go.  The same goes for most of the other city's.  Doesn't that just make your day to hear that.  Hey, Have a Great day all.

3/25 - Nothing snow wise other than Binghamton picked up another 2/10 of snow to move closer to Rochester and Buffalo.  Lets talk baseball.

There is a fundraiser today for a local kid, make that young man who has been invited to play on a baseball team representing the USA that will be traveling to Brasschaat, Belgium between May 23th - 30th. His name is Keith Para and he is a fantastic pitcher who currently plays for Mohawk Valley Community College.  For any of you parents out there I'm sure you are aware at how expensive a trip like this can be.  For that reason a fundraiser is being held today 3/25 between 2:00 - 6:00 PM at Bella Luna's in East Syracuse (the old Astro's Bowling alleys).  I'll be posting more here as to how you can donate to help offset the costs of travel if your interested.

3/24 - Looking at the snow stats Rochester better start doing a snow dance or something because they are pretty close to dropping down to 4th place, just a step above Albany.  Binghamton posted another 3/10 of an inch and just might slip by Roc City who is only 6/10 of an inch ahead of them.  Take away the 50 + inches Syracuse received in December and we would have a pretty close race all around. 

A stat worth mentioning is how easy Albany has had it this year.  So far this season first place Syracuse has had almost 8 feet more snow than Albany has.  How about one more good Nor' Eastern to make the lawmakers in our great states capital have to shovel for a change.  Hey, have a super weekend all!

3/23 - Talk about being on the mark.  Check out Binghamton's snow stats for this season and their average for the date.  Dead on which is pretty amazing this late in the season to hit the average on the nose.  More snow for Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester since the last update.  Not a whole lot but it's still falling pretty regularly in the Golden Snowball city's.

My son has his first Varsity game of the season a week from Friday.  Only 8 days away!  With a chance of snow in the forecast all the way up until next Wednesday, the 29th, for some reason I don't see it happening.  Hmmm, maybe that's just wishful thinking on my part because I know what it is like to watch the games this time of the year and it's not as fun as it could be.  My daughters college team starts next week also I believe.  One word even if it isn't a word comes to mind as I think about watching the games.  BRRRRRR!!!!

3/22 - There's a big question that's been bugging me for a couple of years now that's brought up again.  Should Utica be included in the New York state Golden Snowball contest.  This year I started a poll on it and as I type, 64 % say yes and 36% say no.  I just verified the votes so the percentages should be all up to date.  Utica has a good argument for their case to get in and without a doubt would be a worthy opponent reporting 106.8 inches of snowfall for this season so far.  They have a population of almost 60,000 which is more than the population of Binghamton which has 46,300. 

The biggest problem that I see is that the stats that we use to determine the winner come from NOAA.  Utica would have to find a way to make their snow stats official.  I'll be taking to NOAA to see what it would take to make that possible which could be a first step to joining the coveted contest.  So in other words I'll continue to lose some sleep trying to figure out the question that has been bugging me for a couple of years now.  Should Utica be included???

3/21 - A friend called last night to ask me who won the contest this year.  I had to remind her that although Spring has finally arrived the Golden Snowball contest lives on.  It's a no call until the risk of major snowfall is over with and as all of us New Yorkers know the chances are we will be watching a few of our kids baseball games with winter coats still on and blankets wrapped around us.  Yeah I know, shut up your telling me but unfortunately it's the way it is.  All of the cities except for Albany picked up a little more snow yesterday and second place is still up for grabs.  As for Albany, I'm starting to wonder if the city is even in NYS.  Maybe I'll book my vacation there next winter and get some golfing in.  In reality I think we know who the champ will be once again this year but the calendar still shows March and the GSB contest continues. 

3/20 - Happy Spring All .  Yup, today at 1:26 PM look out the window and say good bye to winter and hello to Spring.  It will be a white spring her in Syracuse.  We broke the daily record for yesterday picking up another 5.9 inches to put the total at 123.1 inches on the season.  Binghamton set a date record also for the 19th with 3.9 inches of new snow which put them just above average snowfall for this time of the year.  Albany has a real shot at receiving half their average snowfall for the year.  Hard to imagine what 30 inches in a season would feel like.  Buffalo and Rochester are trying to catch up to their averages but I think they might come up short.  At this late into the snow game it's looking pretty good for Syracuse seeing how they have almost 4 feet of snow more than second place Buffalo but then again it is New York where anything can change over night.  It's still way too early to call it but I have a feeling it might be called earlier than normal this year.  Hey, Have a Great Week All and think Spring!

3/19 - Congrats to Syracuse for once again hitting it's Annual snowfall average.  As of March 18th the snow stats stand at 117.2 surpassing their yearly average of 116.9 inches once again making a statement and showing why we are the snow capital of the United States when it comes to major city's with over 100,000 people.  It's still snowing in Da Cuse and hopefully some of the other GSB city's so look for some new snow totals come tomorrow!

3/18 - St Patty's Parade Day All in Syracuse.  If you get a chance head out to the city and have some fun.  Dress like you are going to the Antarctica because it will be cold, make that freezing with winds to make it around 15 degrees out.  If you happen to see me down there say hi and I'll buy a round.  I'll be the one with some green on.  Cheers and have a great weekend!  Below is how our day goes sometimes!

Tips and Tales of St Patty's Day Downtown

St Patrick's Day Weekend is here in Syracuse.  Unfortunately only one of the few times I get to get out and enjoy Downtown Syracuse.  A bunch of us every year, about 20 or more of us which is a mix of men and women normally hit a local soda pop bar early in the day.  OK day meaning morning what can I say?  Yes in the morning and don't be coming to any conclusions.  It's only once a year we do this.  Anyways family and friends come to town just for this day downtown.  From Virginia, Poughkeepsie, Boston and so on.   St Patty's Day downtown is so much fun that people come from all over the country for it.

Here is how the whole day plays out or should I say is suppose to play out.  It hardly ever goes as planned which makes it even more fun.  We normally start out at the Park Hill Tavern in East Syracuse where we get dropped off by our designated driver for the day.  Normally one of our kids who BTW get paid well for for driving us but it is well worth it.  Don't drink pop and drive.  We catch the bus from the Park Hill to the city.  So far in the 15 years give or take that we have been doing this I don't think we have ever caught the bus we intended to.  Either all of us aren't there yet or we weren't watching for the bus and we miss the one intended.  Once we even got on the wrong bus and ended up in NYC.  Well not NYC but definitely the wrong bus that had a lot of detours on the way.  It would of been faster walking there that year.

Finally we end up downtown for the Parade.  Once we were even fortunate enough to see the parade.  That was only because when we got off the bus the parade happened to be right there.  Don't get me wrong, we do see the parade it's just that we watch it from inside the fine city bars that are heated and by the way are always packed when we arrive there.  I just wanted to point out that we are not the only ones that start out early in the morning on St Patty's Day .  One thing we do before we start is we each pitch in 20 bucks a person and elect two people to be in charge of buying the drinks all day. The bars are crowded so it would be foolish for 20 + people to go in together and stand at the bar, or should I say attempt to stand at the bar.  Another note is that the first 20.00 we pitch in won't be the last and when I say drinks I'm talking soda pops of course .  Tip - One thing I have learned about being elected to the Most important job of the day which is by far buying the drinks is that the first round you buy make sure you order the opposite of what the people wanted.  You'll be the bad guy for a little while but it is well worth the shame, the boos and dirty looks of not being able to order a round of drinks correctly when they impeach you from that position and you get out of ordering the drinks for the rest of the day.  Trust me, someone else will take over   As for being the bad guy, sooner or later someone else will do something stupid to earn the title of bad guy so you'll be off the hook in no time. 

Most of the day pretty much consists of freezing our tails off but having a Super time in the process.  The way we do St Patty's day is pretty much just bar hop all day and test out all some of the different variety's of brews that are on tap at the bars.  I suppose you could say that we aren't there so much as to have fun but let's say we are doing research work on the brews.  Maybe this year we will even take notes on our research.  I do know that most of the men with us prefer the darker soda pops.  Another good tip is to elect a leader to lead your group to the different bars.  Someone who actually knows their way around the city of Syracuse.  Remember, most of the time it is pretty cold out and for some reason almost always without fail the wind is blowing pretty good.  The worse thing is to make a wrong turn and walk for a half a mile or so only to find out you have to go back the other way.  For that my Brother in-law normally gets elected and does a fine job most of the time but every now and then he makes a wrong turn.  That's normally a good thing for who ever is the bad guy at the time enabling him to pass the title over to my brother in-law for getting us lost.  Like I said the "bad guy or gal" gets passed along throughout the day and always has a ton of laughs to go along with it.  Jeez, now that I am typing and keep seeing the word elected.  I'm starting to see that St Patty's Day is actually a fine example of the democracy in progress with all the elections we have going on.  Most of the time the person being elected isn't and to be frank doesn't want to be elected

   All in all we hit maybe 5 - 7 bars.  We'll normally order appetizers, wings or something at one of the bars early and then end up at Clarks sooner or later for one of their great roast beef sandwiches.  If you go to Clarks don't let the lines fool you.  They rock at moving the customers along and you have your food in no time.  The roast beef is well worth standing in line for.  It's truly awesome.  I wish I could plug all the bars that we hit but to be honest with you I'm just a follower the whole day hoping I don't get lost or left behind and never really check out the names of the bars we hit.  I can only guess that any bar you end up in you'll have a great time.  One thing that bothered me a bit last year is that during the day a lot of the bars weren't playing Irish songs.  I don't know what was up with that.  To the bar owners Please at least play Irish music in the daytime.

The biggest tip I can give is to dress warm.  When your ready to leave the house and feel that your dressed up warm enough, go back and grab 3 extra coats.  Only then will you be prepared for a great St Patty's day downtown.  Then again I think it was a couple of years ago when the temps went up to 60 degrees and here was the Golden Snowball dude carrying a coat and 2 sweatshirts around looking like a fool.  I did try the "can you hold this for a second while I do whatever" trick but that only worked for so long.  I should of trusted the weatherman that time.

The day downtown or sometimes night downtown (depending on how much research some of us have done) will end with one of us calling our designated drivers to come pick us up.  We use to try and catch or call a couple of taxis to get home but that is another story or two in itself.  The last time we called for two taxis only one showed up.  Being the gentlemen that we are (yes only gentlemen in our group ) we told the ladies to go ahead and we would suffer and wait it out until the next taxi shows up.  Well what are the chances of not one of us having a watch on and you all know how time flies.  Before we knew it almost a couple of hours went by.  Anyways I'm sure you already figured out that the ladies weren't too happy with the men.  Something to this day I haven't figured out because we all thought the women would of been impressed with how patient we were waiting for the taxi to arrive.  Everyone knows men aren't known to be patient and so what if our patience was being displayed at a hopping bar.  That shouldn't even come in to the picture should it   That was the end to taxi's being used for the ride back to town.

Summary Finally - Sorry about the rant.  I really could of kept going on.  To sum it up I always thought St Patrick's day was a great big party downtown.  After typing this up I discovered it's actually a democracy process in the works with all the electing we do in our group along with research work.  Research on the different brews of beer downtown.  The research work by far is the hardest part of the day.  Now knowing that it's not the Big Party that I always thought it was I probably won't be able to enjoy it like I have in the past.  I'll give it my best shot though

3/16 - A little bit of snow for all the Golden Snowball cities since the last update.  There's a pretty good chance that within the next day or so Syracuse will once again hit it's average snowfall for the season.  Most of the other cities still have a lot of work left in order to hit the seasonal snowfall averages but I wouldn't count them out just yet.  COLD is in the forecast for at least a week, maybe even longer.  With the way the winds have been blowing the chances for more lake effect snow lingers on.  Doesn't that just make your day to hear me say that.  Look for Spring some time around July in the Tug Hill area.  Here in Syracuse I just saw my first Robin of the year.  Poor little bird must not of checked it's calendar before returning to town in Syracuse.

Let the Madness begin!!!  Being cooped up in the house this time of the year isn't too bad.  Just think, 12 hours of basketball today on the tube including our beloved Syracuse Orangemen.  It looks like all of the sports gurus are calling this game close and from the line that Vegas has on the game it could be just that.  A close game.  At last check the Syracuse game was an even pick according to the Vegas odd makers.  Looks like we could be in for another nail biter but I'm pretty confident in the guys to move along to Saturdays game.  Good Luck Syracuse!  Let's Go SU, Kick Some Butt!

3/14 - I hope you all enjoyed the Spring that just went by.  It's back to winter now and it looks like it might stick around for awhile.  Binghamton is already posting 3/10 of an inch for today but that's about it.  It's snowing in Syracuse right now and most of the city's should see some snowfall during the next couple of days.  By the end of the week chances are that Syracuse will finally hit the average.  Second place is still up for grabs between Buffalo, Rochester and Binghamton.  Windy, cold and snow off and on the next couple of days so enjoy it before Spring arrives.  It won't be long now.  Yeah right!

On the basketball front I'm getting a little tired of the lack of positive comments about our game against Texas A & M.  I keep hearing look what happened last year with Vermont.  Get over it already!!!  This is a new year and a new team.  It isn't gonna happen.  SU has indeed taken the turn after the De Paul loss.  Another thing that people keep bringing up.  Am I looking past A & M?  No but I ma confident in the Orangemen and if your read below and throughout the site you will see that not once did I give up on Syracuse.  I knew all year long what kind of potential this years team has had along.  It just took them awhile to find the potential themselves.  Well they are the real deal now.  Enough of the "I wonder what team will show up" remarks.  There isn't 2 teams!  There is one and that's the one that you seen come out strong in the final game of the season and the team you saw win the Big East tournament.  All that's left to say is Good Luck Syracuse.  Winning the Big East in the fashion that you won it was one of the most exciting basketball I have seen.  Anything from here on is just a bonus to us fans.  Have a Great Week All!

3/13 - A Happy Birthday goes out to Daddy's little girl Danielle today!  Alright 19 isn't little anymore but you know how it goes.  Happy Birthday DanniD and I hope you had a great day!

3/12 - WOW says it best about what just happened in the Big East tournament.  I could say disbelief is another word but for those of us who kept on believing in the Syracuse Orangemen that's not a word we know.  You can read all of our rants here at the Golden Snowball website and you will see that we never gave up on Da Cuse or the players.  All season I said they have a better team than what was showing up for some of the games and it looks like that team has finally peaked.  Maybe all they needed was for Boeheim to put a fire under their butts like he did in the first news conference talking about Gerry being over rated.  Well that myth was busted like a lot of bubbles were this weekend and Gerry stuffed a basketball in their mouths and shut up all the naysayer's.  I'm not gonna go on about McNamara because by now the whole country knows who he is and what he is about.  Leadership, hustle and a kid who just doesn't quit.  For that matter the whole SU team was that right down to the players who didn't even get a chance to play and kept the spirit going from the bench.

What a SU TEAM tournament and I do mean TEAM.  Watkins, Devendorf, Roberts, the overrated McNamara, Nichols, Josh Wright, Gorman, McCroskey, Onuaku all had some roll big or small in the Big East now know as the Gerry McNamara Tournament victory.  What's really cool about all of this is that SU probably picked up another 5 million fans across the country showing their determination and never quit attitude in all 4 games.  Enough said it's time to go watch Duke lose to make this the perfect weekend.

3/9 - Nothing new to report so let's talk hoops.  Sorry but get use to it!  It's March and it's madness in the Big East with everyone fighting for a bid to the NCAA tournament and only a few invitations to go around.  Yesterday's games showed the madness starting out with Gerry McNamara hitting what I call an impossible shot to give the Orangemen a win.  More madness or just plain old mad followed in the post conference with Coach Boeheim slamming the assistant coaches who voted for McNamara as the most overrated player in the Big East.  Good for you coach .  Perhaps your point could of been made a little differently than it was but still, Good for you.  At this point in Gerry's college career and with the awesome career he has had nobody should have to be defending him.  He's proven himself time after time and I can't remember too many players who have been able to make things happen on the court even when he is struggling offensively like he does.  I watched that game winning shot about 10 times and still can't believe what happened.  Never mind that he drove between two players dribbling the ball be hind his back to get a one footed 3 pointer off.  Watch the replay and you will notice that he also had to shoot the ball over a Cincinnati player who challenged the shot.  To keep this short he had to beat 3 players to make the game winning shot and he did it.  He did it because he is Gerry McNamara, one of the under rated players on the team.  More to come but the UConn, Su game just started.  Lets Go Kick Some Butt SU!

3/8 - No new snow once again but don't let that fool you.  Temps are expected to hit the 50's within the next day or so but don't let that fool you.  It's still only March so the chances are pretty good that more snow will be coming down the road.  For some reason I was thinking the St Patricks Day parade in Syracuse was this weekend.  I got all excited when I saw the temperature might hit 60 degrees and then realized the parade isn't until the 18th .  There is nothing in the world like being downtown St Patty's day when it's warm out and the big party gets to move outside.  Most likely it will be the normal 30 something degrees with gusty winds come the 18th, but hey, it's still a blast.

I wonder if the Syracuse Orangemen are as nervous as some of us fans are about the game today.  Less than an hour away from tip off and more important Syracuse's chances at a bid to the NCAA tournament.  If they can play a game like they played against Villanova they will win.  For once I would like to see us come out and start a huge run right off the get go.  The players know what's on the line now so they have their own destiny in their hands.  Let's Go SU, Kick Some Butt!

3/6 - No changes in the snowfall totals since last updated so lets talk about the Syracuse Orangemen and their chances at a NCAA bid.  No doubt the game on Thursday against DePaul hurt them pretty bad But,  They still have a shot in my opinion even after yesterdays loss to Villanova.  Most of the talk from the sports know it alls was that they needed to win Sunday in order to have a shot at getting a bid.  My opinion is that if they can make a good showing in the Big East tournament then they should be in.  A good showing meaning winning 2 games and not getting blown out in the third game which might be easier said than done.  If there is any such thing as a good loss, yesterday was pretty close to that.  They came out and played pretty good basketball against the #4 team in the country and after Dukes two great losses this week Villanova will be either a #3 or #2 ranked team.  Su played Villanova tough and had a shot at winning right up until the last 3 minutes of the game.

The bad news is they are in the toughest bracket in the Big East tournament .  Their first game is against Cincinnati which will be a tough game but winnable if the Orangemen play like they did yesterday.  If they do beat Cincinnati they will have the pleasure of playing Connecticut, the #1 team in the country.  If they beat them they are in, no question about it.  The big question is can they get in with just a win over Cincinnati?  I'll give them a 45% chance if they can beat Cincinnati convincingly!  So lets hope they play the best 2 games of the season and who knows maybe 4 wins for a repeat of the Big East Championship.  Yup, I never give up do I?  Have a great week all!  Below is the seeding for the Big East Tournament!  You can get the printable brackets at http://www.suathletics.com/Pdfs/basketball/mbasket/2006/3/5/06-mbb-bracket.pdf

3/5 - SU - Villanova starts in about 2 minutes.  GO SYRACUSE!  You can do it!  You can do it!

3/4 - Only a couple of tenths of snow here and there since the last update.  One thing I missed yesterday is that Binghamton got back on track and is a little over an inch above their normal for this time of the season.  Only two cities, Syracuse and Bingo are on track to hitting their annual average snowfall totals.  Syracuse is only 5.6 inches away from their annual totals so that should be a snowshoe in for them.  I still think all the city's with the exception of Albany have a shot at hitting their normal snowfall and a couple being a little over it.  Rochester finally hit the 70 inch mark but is still just under 10 inches off their normals for this time of the year.

Don't forget to vote for Gerry McNamara for the Cousy award.  You can vote at http://www.cousyaward.com/.  Never mind the game the other night against DePaul.  He's a hustler, a team leader, a great kid, talented and the list goes on and on.  All the quality's in which the award is about so go vote.  At last check he was in 4th place.  Enjoy the weekend all!

3/3 - Go Buffalo and Binghamton!  Both had a decent day snow wise while the rest of us got shut out.  Binghamton set a record for the the date picking up 7.2 inches of snow blowing away the old record of 4.5 inches set in 1994.  Buffalo so far is reporting 4.5 inches since last update which they needed because Rochester was closing in fast for second place.  Looking at the stats Syracuse still holding a commanding lead by almost as many inches over second place as the number of points the SU Orangemen got blown out by last night by DePaul.

Speaking of SU!  Pitiful is the only word that comes to mind for last nights game.  No defense at all.  For one of the lower teams in offense in the Big East to score almost a million points on us is ridiculous.  SU has dug themselves in a whole right now when it comes to getting a pass to the NCAA tournament.  A win last night most likely would of been key to getting a bid but the whipping that they took put them back on the bubble and they will need to either beat Villanova on Sunday or have a Great Big East tournament.  If neither happens then it's hello NIT's.  Let's all hope that isn't going to be the case.  Have a great weekend all and Good Luck Syracuse against Villanova!

3/1 - Good Bye February and Hello March!  Did February seem mellow to everyone.  Well believe it or not it was the 10th snowiest February on record for Syracuse according to one of my favorite sites at http://mep1.phy.syr.edu/~rsholmes/snow.html and the 3 rd snowiest in the last ten years.  Here in Syracuse March came in like a lion with some heavy snow still falling right around midnight  so it will be interesting to see if it goes out like a lamb. 

Our capital Albany was the big loser/winner for February picking up only 3.9 inches for the month.  Man the state lawmakers have it easy over there don't they?  Syracuse did another butt kicking in February picking up 34.8 inches of new snow to bring the total to 108.3 and less than 7 inches off their norm now.  Rochester came in second place with 28.8 inches and are now less than 2 inches away from over taking Buffalo who had 26.3 inches in Feb.  Binghamton slipped way behind a chance at second place with only 12.5 inches for the month of February but still have a long shot at catching Bingo and Buffalo.  Only one question come to mind right now looking at the stats.  Do the people in Albany have to wear sunscreen year round?  Have a great day all!

2/27 - Buffalo finally hit the 70 inch mark and is only 9 inches away from catching up to their average numbers.  A couple of inches for most of the cities since the last update.  I'm still losing sleep over January just from thinking what could of been if we had a decent January.  Yeah, I know I need to really get a life huh if I'm losing sleep over what most would consider a nice winter so far.  But just think if we had any sort of January snowfall most of the cities would be well over average.  Remember, Albany beat the rest of us for total snowfall in January .  I know it's time to move on and see what the rest of the season has in store for us all.  Right now Syracuse is only 14.2 inches away from their average annual totals but the rest have a lot of catching up to do to hit theirs.  Will it happen is the big question!

2/26 - Wooo Hooo!  Syracuse has finally made it over the 100 inch mark and is still on pace to have a higher than normal annual snowfall.  Syracuse as of late Saturday evening surpassed the 100 inch mark adding another 3.2 inches to their total.  Buffalo and Rochester also picked up a few inches and believe it or not Albany even added something to their score picking up over an inch of snowfall and the good news is there is still some in the forecast for today and tonight.  I know that 100 inches or more is expected but after the wimpy January snowfall total of 12.1 inches there were some doubters that we would reach our average.  Not this Snow Dude?  There was never a doubt although I'm sure a lot of you noticed I removed the count down to 200 inches over a month ago.  That was  wishful thinking after the December we had on my part.  We had a real shot at beating out Buffalo for the bragging rights of the most snow in a season between the 5 cities until that dreaded January showed it's lame face.

On the Cuse front Syracuse lost yesterday to Georgetown and are still a game away from 20 wins.  It's not too often you will here me complain about the officials but anyone within a block of my house most likely heard me complaining.  Two words come to mind, They Sucked!  That thing with the shot clock right before half was a joke and I won't even get into it.  Another joke was when Roberts had his arms straight up on defense and the GT player leans into him and Roberts gets called for the foul.  I won't even bring up the player being faked out of his shorts, jumping 10 feet in the air and landing on McNamara.  Nope I won't bring up all the other bad calls that happened in the game because I'm not one to complain about the officials.  Hey, have a super week all!

2/24 - More snow to add to the totals for everyone but Albany.  Albany hasn't reported more than a trace of snowfall in a long time and so far for the month of February they only have 1.6 inches.  That's coming off a the month of January in which Albany beat the rest of our cities for total snowfall for the month.  Buffalo continues to pick up some snow from the lake but unfortunately it's also reaching Syracuse so they are only gaining a little at a time on Da Cuse.  If all goes according to the forecasts Syracuse should pass the 100 inch mark sometime this weekend.

So far for the season Syracuse is still on pace to at least hit their average annual snowfall.  It's hard to believe in what seems to be a mild winter they are 10 inches over their normal average for this time of the year and they are only a few inches off last seasons total of 137.6 inches for this time in the season.  Buffalo is still about a foot off their average for this time of the year, Rochester is around 15 inches below normal but almost 30 inches below last years totals.  Binghamton is close and is less than 7 inches off their average and Albany is around 20 inches away from their normal snowfall totals.  My guess is Syracuse, Buffalo and Rochester will be over their normal annual snowfall this season with Binghamton being right on average and Albany will end up having a below normal snowfall.  Just a hunch from the Oracle who is normally wrong when it comes to predictions.  Have a Great Weekend All and plan on doing some shoveling.

2/22 - A few inches for Buffalo and a couple inches for Rochester since last update.  Just under an inch for Syracuse, something for Albany and nothing for Bingo.  Time is starting to play a factor in the NYS Golden Snowball Award contest.  A few inches here and there just isn't going to do it for the city's chasing Syracuse.  I think the next couple of weeks is going to be a make or break for any city thinking of stealing the long sought after trophy from the Mayor of Syracuse's office.  I think it's time to up the ante to see if we can get the other city's to at least start trying.

Here's the deal.  If Albany wins this year I'll double what goldensnowball.com donates normally to a good cause making it $200.00.  If Binghamton wins I'll add an extra $75.00 to the normal amt donated by us.  As for Buffalo and Rochester, if either of your city's win I'll add another $50.00 to sweeten the pot to the normal $100.00.  So in other words everyone, start cheering for Syracuse to lose .  The snow contest that is!  Don't ya dare cheer against the orangemen.

2/21 - Wooo Hooo Syracuse Orangemen!!!  What a game last night wasn't it?  A close game all the way through right down to a crucial missed free throw by Gmac, the number 2 ranked free throw shooter in the nation I believe.  Gerry had a bad game offensively but what happened at the end sums up his career at Syracuse.  HUSTLE!  That's what McNamara is all about and always has been about even when he isn't having a great game.  Enough about him though.

Roberts stepped up to the plate last night, make that he stepped up to the basket last night and showed us what we all knew he could do all along.  Aggressively take the ball to the hoop and rebound!  There were some good passes inside to him and he finished it up without hesitation.  WTG Terrence.

Devendorf for 3 games straight now has play good team basketball and continues to make wiser decisions on offense than he was making.  To me this really is the key of Syracuse's game, Eric knowing when to drive and when to pull the ball back out.  The last 3 games he seems to be proving that he can do just that.  Great job Eric and awesome job SU!  Keep the TEAM playing going and the win streak rolling.

Ummm, Ooops!  Oh Yeah, this is a weather site huh? No new snow to report since last update.

2/20 - Sorry about taking a couple days off but it was well needed and it felt pretty good to take a little break from the computer.  Syracuse picked up close to 5 more inches since the last update and just an inch or tow here and there for the other city's.  The lake effect never really got going for the 5 GSA cities that could of resulted in a good dumping over the weekend .  WeatherT in the forum is thinking that something could be in the works for this coming weekend so lets hope that pans out for us all.  WeatherT is been pretty accurate this season with his long term forecasts so look for something to develope.  At least until it doesn't happen .

On the Orange front, SU takes on West Virginia tonight.  Another needed win for us once again.  From here on out they are all needed.  The only unranked team that we will be playing the rest of the season counting the Big East Tournament will be DePaul so the Orangemen have a tough road ahead of them trying to get back on track for the NCAA tourney but something that is still achievable.  A goal this guy thinks will indeed be achieved.  Go Cuse!!!

2/17 - Hold on to your hats!  Make that hold on to your roofs, your hat don't stand a chance today.  The wind is going nuts on all of the GSB city's.  Yeah, I know, like I had to tell you that huh.  This is crazy and someone make it go away PaLease.  How long to I have to hide in the basement, I mean how long do I have to clean the basement for before it starts letting up?  So far NiMo (it will always be NiMo to me) is reporting something like 67,000 without power in the CNY area.  Widespread damage from the wind with some tree's and power lines down.  The temperature earlier this morning was at 60 degrees and right now here in Da Cuse it's at 32 degrees.  At one point the winds here were sustained at 44 mph and rihgt now they are at 35 mph and of course it's the gusts that have me cleaning the basement for so long .

Around my neighborhood gusts of 64 mph were reported which isn't nothing compared to Lowville which reported a gust of 81 mph and the Rochester area reached 77 mph. That's just nuts and dangerous to say the least.  Stay away from trees and power lines!  Better yet just stay home and clean the basement or something!  Check your local news for more weather updates.

2/15 - Looking at all the cities snow stats I noticed that since February the totals are starting to catch up pretty good and are getting close to the normal totals for this time of the year.  All except for Albany that is.  Syracuse has been over their normal most of the season, Binghamton has been right around their averages all season and Buffalo and Rochester are right around a foot below the normal but that could change this weekend if the expected lake effect snow pans out.  With that said, I still have confidence that this seasons snowfall for most of the Golden Snowball city's will be over their yearly averages.  No doubt though that January put a huge dent in all of our totals.

Another big game for SU tonight.  At this point in the season they are all big games.  I'm looking for another win tonight and another good performance from all of the players.  Watkins seems to be playing with more authority now under the basket, GMac looks to be back in form again, I really, really liked the way Eric Devendorf was moving the ball around more and the way he played the last game and I think that was a BIG part of the win over St. Johns.  McCroskey seems to have gotten his thoughts together and is ready to move on as we all are.  With no more distractions lets see the kids play now like we all know they can play.  As a team and a good team at that.  We need a good a good performance tonight from Roberts, Josh and Nichols to make it a decisive victory.  Nough said!  Go Syracuse!!!

2/14 - Buffalo is still rockin and rollin adding almost 4 more inches of snowfall to their totals as Rochester and Binghamton watch their chances for second place start to slip and slide away.  WTG Buffalo!  Like I've mentioned before, as long as the lakes Great Lakes aren't frozen over this season is far from being a shoe in for Syracuse and the trophy is still up for grabs along with the cash prize.  Buffalo is finally less than 30 inches away from first place and remember one good lake effect storm in the Buffalo area can drop over a foot of snow on them.  A ton of snow could be in the works fro this coming weekend for all of us but right now it's way to far off to tell whether it will come together or not so stay tuned.

Syracuse, like Albany also pulled off a close one last night.  It doesn't get any more exciting than the Orangemen's win last night over Rutgers.  With something like 0.4 on the shot clock Roberts hit a big one from pretty deep out.  To me it was like time stopped when he got the basketball in his hands.  Although he probably only held the ball for a second or so, it seemed like at least 10 5 went by.  After watching Roberts shoot free throws, one of which was an air ball and most of the others coming up wayyy short the only thing going through my mind was please reach the basket.  Shame on me for even thinking that huh.  Ya, OK!  They seemed to pass a little more than they have been passing but IMO their still not moving the ball around enough in order to get some good looks and shots.  Still a lot of forced shots last night and what is it with the driving up the middle every time.  Mostly Devendorf and McNamara who sat out most of the game with an injury, driving in the paint which is ok once in awhile but jeesh, not every time down the court only to have the other teams defense collapse and trap us.  It might of worked earlier in the season but don't cha think the other teams have that number by now?  I know enough of the couch coaching as usual.  Either way it was a good win and a well needed win.  I still think SU has an awesome team this year and will be going a long way. All just my opinion of course.

More Cheese to go with My Whine

2/13 - Not much to report other than Albany and Bingo picked up less than an inch since the last update.  Syracuse.com brings up a good point today on one of their blogs articles about the blizzard that New York City just had the pleasure of being part of.  You know the one that we Didn't get to be part of.  According to their stats, right now NYC is at 38.6 inches on the season after this weekends storm putting them over Albany's total of 26.2 so far this season.  My question to you, is it time for a little shakeup in the Golden Snowball contest?  Should the contest be based on all of New York State's cities with a population over 100,000 people?  For some reason upstate NY doesn't seem to like changes as you can see in our poll asking whether Utica should be included in the contest because their population is larger than Binghamton.  To my surprise over 40% oppose the change.  I truly didn't expect to see those results and I still have to go through all the votes to make sure they are legit but I was expecting something like 10% would oppose it.  Anyways, more to come on all that down the road.  As for the storm that the East Coast just got, I can't tell you how depressed I am about us not being part of it.

If you caught the Syracuse game yesterday against St Johns you caught a good performance by the Orangemen who by the way got to be part of the Blizzard.  You might be thinking that they played a team that was struggling just like us which is true, but ST Johns has a pretty decent defense and Da Cuse handled it.  What I liked most about the game besides G-Mac finally getting it together was that Eric Devendorf in my opinion played his best game of the year.  Why?  Because he passed the ball, he pushed the ball around like he should be doing.  According to the stats he had no assists but that is irrelevant because by moving the ball around he set up some good shots for the other players.  He wasn't out of control this game and it paid off for him racking up 18 points shooting going 9 for 11.  The rest of the team played solid with 4 in double digits and defense looked good right up till the end of the game.  They also had 17 assists compared to their average of just over 12 which should be a wake up call as to what will work for them.  Way to go guys and make this game the start of a run of victory's!  Have a Super Week All!

2/12 - Not much to report other than a few tenths of snow here and there.  Smadsen from the forum was at it again giving us some great new stats on winter storms for the Golden Snowball cities.  You can check them out at http://www.goldensnowball.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=148 .  When I have a chance I will add them to the main section of goldensnowball.com.  Whne you have some spare time feel free to drop by the forum, we have a great group there from all over the New York State!

Syracuse plays St. Johns today in the middle of the NYC blizzard.  Lets hope all that snow makes them feel like it's a home game for them.  Time is running out for the Orangemen and they need some wins badly.  After checking out the stats in the Post Standard something stood out like a 60 degree day in the middle of January.  Well actually a lot stood out but what stood out the most to me is what I have been whining about for most of the season.  Passing!!!  The only team that is below us in assists and turnovers is S Florida who hasn't had a win yet in the Big East.  According to the Post Standard Syracuse is averaging only 12.6 assists a game and 16.1 turnovers a game.  From the games I've seen, most of the turnovers have to be from inside the paint where we keep getting trapped when we drive up the middle.  As for the assists, obviously not enough passing and moving the ball around to find an open man.  So in four words, all I can say from the comfort of my couch is "Pass The Freaking Ball"  Nough said from the couch coach and GO SU!

2/11 - Buffalo is on a run now and starting to distant themselves from Rochester and Binghamton picking up another 3.1 inches of snow.  If they continue their pattern they should catch Syracuse sometime in July .  Really they still have half of a snowballs chance of catching Da Cuse if they can get some good lake effect.  Remember at last check the lakes haven't frozen over yet so their snow should continue as long as the cold winds continue to come in over the lakes.  One thing of note is that Buffalo has already beaten their January snow totals which wasn't too hard to do.  Go Buffalo!!!  Enjoy your weekend all!

2/9 - An inch here and there to add on to a few of the city's totals since the last update.  It looks like more snow is on the way with the possibility of some more lake effect later this afternoon and tonight forecasted for the Syracuse area and up north.  It shouldn't be anything like the last storm up north but any amt of snow works for me.  How about you?  Yea, I know, shut up your telling me.  Lets see if it can go far enough south to get Binghamton back into second or third place.  This is the time of year when the inches will start adding up and hopefully get the snow totals back to where they should be.

The Orangemen dropped another game last night and it wasn't pretty.  G Mac sat again for a good part of the game and the shots just were not falling.  I think last night was the first game I watched where I didn't scream at the TV.  Not even once.  That's not good when I'm to that point this time of the basketball season.  One thing I will say is UConn deserves the number one rank.  They do look good and they are playing great as a team.  SU will find it sooner or later, lets just hope that it's sooner.  Go SU! 

2/8 - Finally a little bit of a change in the lineup and it's about time.  Rochester slipped ahead of Binghamton by just 1/10 of an inch.  Binghamton now gets to become the new neighbor next to last place Albany .  I really thought the way Buffalo's winter has been going that they might of dropped down from second place but some late snowfall helped them to actually gain on Rochester and Binghamton.  Some of the totals from yesterday's lake effect are Syracuse with 6.3 inches, Buffalo had 4.3, Rochester reporting in with 2.3, Bingo had 1.3 and just a trace for Albany.  The big battle this year so far has been for second place.  Syracuse still holding onto a commanding lead of over 32 inches.

Speaking of Syracuse it's a big game for them tonight and I think they have a real chance to knock off UConn.  I'm serious!  I still think they have a much better team than what's been showing up this season and all they need to do is to play like a team.  Enough of the driving up the middle every time.  It's not working, lets face it.  Too many turnovers and that's part of the reason.  Move the ball around the outside and spread the players out more.  That's what's going to give us the open shots.  Go back to the basics of actually catching a pass underneath the basket and then making the shot.  No missed lay-ups or dunks.   Jeeeesshhhh!  Tonight Syracuse knocks off the number 1 team, WooooHooo Go SU!

2/7 - Finally some decent snow fell in some of the cities.  Right now the totals are only from around 12am this morning fro Syracuse, Albany and Binghamton and from around 5am for Rochester and Buffalo so the totals aren't finished.  Right now here in Da Cuse there's around 6 - 8 inches of new snow with more expected today.  Rochester so far has another 2.6 inches, Binghamton reports only .3 inches, a tenth for Albany and hard to believe but it's been the same ole story all season for Buffalo who is reporting just a trace of snow. 

I'm starting to feel sorry for Buffalo which is saying a lot because they always were one of our main competitors in the Golden Snowball contest.  Smadsen posted a picture (Click Here) of the radar last night which pretty much sums up their season.  Tons of snow falling all around them and they just can't seem to get in on the action.  Also Tina from the Tug Hill area reported measuring 37 inches of snow up her way which has me pretty jealous but of course I'm use to them kicking butt by now.  More snow is forecast for today but it looks like they just dropped the numbers down a bit.  If possible I'll do a night time update on the snow graph above when all the totals come in.  Enjoy the bright white day all!

2/6 - Surprisingly there isn't a lot to report yet but that will be changing.  Most of the stats reported so far are from early the early am.  If I get a chance I will try to do an update later this evening.  Smadsen from Buffalo made a post in the Golden Snowball forum stating that not a whole lot of snow yet there but all around him is getting pounded with snow.  The Tug Hill and North are getting pounded at last report with some receiving between one to two feet of snow so far and more expected.  The lake effect snow bands are suppose to drop to the south and should reach Syracuse if all goes well, or bad depending on your frame of mind.  Meteorologist WeatherT from the forum who has been pretty much dead on with this storm, forecasting this storm as far back as a week ago so make sure you check out to get the latest updates from WeatherT and another meteorologist Daver.  Plus updates from our members living in he cities of the Golden Snowball contest for current weather conditions.  Also TugHillTina who keeps us informed on the weather in the Tug Hill area.  Have a super week all and drive safe.

2/5 - Happy Super Bowl Day All!  Still nothing to report snow wise but come tomorrow morning there should be some new snow totals.  Lets all hope that Buffalo can catch up to Syracuse to make this years snowball race a close contest.  All the cities are now well below their average snowfall except for Syracuse who at one time I think was something like 40 inches over their average.  Well right now they are only a couple inches over their average for this time of the year.  With the new storm coming today and tonight it looks like Buffalo is still the front runner to benefit from it along with the north country.  Take it slow driving tonight if your heading out for the Super Bowl.

I have to admit I don't a favorite team in this years super bowl.  I suppose I'll be cheering for Pittsburg but that will all depend on what the score means if you get my drift.  Lets start a brain wave thing going today.  Everyone who visits here today think 7 and 3.  7 - 3, 7 - 3.  Not that there is any reason to think 7 and 3 but it could be fun to see if the score at the end of any quarters of the football game end with 7 -3.  This is kind of just an experiment and come the end of the game think 7 and 3 as hard as you can .  Hey if this experiment works we'll all try to think World Peace next time.  Have a great day all and keep an eye on the weather, especially those of you out in the Buffalo and Tug Hill area.

2/4 - It's a good thing that this website is just kind of like a hobby for me and not how I make a living because the way this winter has gone I'd be broke.  Well actually I am broke but I'd be worse off.  The weather looks like it could or should be changing for some of us starting later tonight and possibly throughout the whole week.  At least up until Tuesday if the forecasts are right.  It looks like Buffalo will make out the best with a storm that should start effecting them later tonight and tomorrow.  Rochester and Syracuse appear to be a hit or miss depending on the temperatures as to whether it's going to be a lot of rain or some snow.  Right now it's looking really good according to the forecast for up North so hopefully the snowmobile trails will get pounded with enough snow to get them sledding again.  Some more good news is that the lake effect machine should start up again and go on until at least Tuesday with the cold air coming in over the lakes.  Lets hope so at least.  Have a great Super Bowl Weekend All!

2/2 - Something pretty freaky happened in January if the stats are right that I checked.  Something other than the freaky low snow totals.  Albany, yes Albany the city who routinely takes last place in the Golden Snowball contest kicked all of our butts in January having the highest snow total for the month.  They pulled it off in style to, picking up just enough snow on the last day of the month to slide past Binghamton and Rochester.  Congrats Albany on making a lame month a little more memorable.  January 2006, the month that Albany kicked some butt!  Lets hope we have some better weather in February or should I say snowier weather!  Better weather has different meanings to different people .

1/31 - Well March is finally almost over.  Oh wait, that was January huh?  Good riddens to one of the lamest, most disappointing January I can remember .  Syracuse starts the season off with one of the snowiest Decembers on record and then we all get a January that left me crawling on the ground looking for words to type here .  Some facts on January 2006!

Albany had more snow than Syracuse and Buffalo and almost beat Rochester and Binghamton.  Buffalo had the worst January out of all of us with only 7.1 inches unless it snows before today is over.  The thing with Buffalo is their snow normally starts to wind down a bit as the lake freeze over BUT, the lake hasn't frozen over yet.  That's how bad January was at producing lake effect snow.  PITIFUL!!!  Will February be able to rescue this season?  We can only hope so.  Below are the stats up until today, the 31st.

1/30 - What Is Going On With The Orangemen?  Forget about the snow or lack of for awhile, right now it's time to figure out what is going on with the Syracuse basketball team.  I was so psyched and I suppose I still am about the team we have or should I say should have this year.  Granted the Big East by far the best conference in the nation but that's no excuse for the Orangemen to lose 4 games in a row is it?  NOOOO!!!!  They have way too many offensive weapons to lose 4 basketball games in a row.  A couple of games they definitely weren't playing team ball but yesterday in my opinion they did play team ball.

Can you miss lay-ups and win?  Perhaps some teams can but obviously we can't so stop missing the gimmies guys.  Can you miss slam dunks and win?  We can't and that needs to stop happening.  I'll go back to the old days when I use to coach and help coach little league baseball and softball.  Most of the season was teaching the kids the basics even though they were taught during all the practices.  It's a simple 1,2,3 thing.  Be ready for the ball, catch the ball and then throw the ball.  Most kids were looking to throw the ball before they caught the ball.  I know it sounds stupid but S.U. needs to go back to the basics right now.  How many passes has Watkins missed this season taking his eye off the ball because he is thinking about shooting it before he even has it?  Enough times and it's not just him it's a lot of the players making the basic mistakes that are hurting them throughout the game.  1 = Be Ready, 2 = Catch the Ball, 3 = Throw the ball.

The thing about number 3 in baseball and basketball is you throw the ball but you need to know where to throw the ball.  With basketball you need to know where and when to throw the ball.  In other words if you don't have a shot then don't force the shot.  Pass the dang thing off and then pass it again until you have a decent shot and if it's a lay-up or a slam dunk then make it PALEASEEEE.  IMO Watkins and Roberts need to make things happen more than they are right now and don't get me wrong they are working hard as is the whole team for that matter but the mistakes are killing them.  More passes on the outside, not one pass and shoot or drive up the middle only to have the defense collapse in leaving no shot and no place to pass the ball.  It worked earlier in the season but it's not working now.  The other teams have our number.  Move the ball around with good crisp passes until there is a shot.

I still think we have one of the best teams in the nation right now and it's time for the players to start showing the nation just how good they really are and what they can do.  It's time to start winning the games that we should be winning and better yet to start winning the games that people think we shouldn't be winning.  Let's go guys, it's time to start showing them that Da Cuse is in the house from the beginning of the game until the end.  I know, enough of the Couch Coaching.  Go Syracuse

1/28 - All of the stats should be up to date now.  Right now it's a good race for second place with Binghamton less than a couple of inches away from Buffalo and Roc City right there with the both of them.  Syracuse and Bingo are the only 2 citys above their average snowfall for this time in the season.  It should be interesting to see what becomes of the weather come Sunday and Monday.  I've seen a couple of different forecasts.  Some calling for an icy mix, others saying rain to snow.  Lets hope it's the rain to snow and not a lot of freezing rain or ice.  A gorgeous day here in Syracuse today with the sun shining.  Have a great weekend all!

1/26 - Well it's about time some halfway decent snow fell isn't it?  Still nothing like the numbers were looking for but at least it's bright white outside again.  Rochester picked up just under 5 inches, Binghamton grabbed 3.8 inches of new snowfall, Syracuse shows 3.4 for yesterday, Buffalo once again missed the heavy stuff which stayed just south of them and picked up just 1.6 inches which is better than nothing.  Albany received just 0.3 inches of snow.   From the sounds of it the Tug Hill area did ok and the sleds should be able to get back on the trails without beating up their machines on the trails.

The race for second place is pretty tight right now with Buffalo holding on to a tiny lead of just over 2 inches.  I don't think they can hold on to second place or even 3rd place for that matter.  I have a feeling that Rochester and Binghamton will take them in the next week or two.  Syracuse still has a commanding lead but this is New York weather we are talking about and anything is possible. Some lake effect that hits Buf and Roc City but misses Syr and it's a close race.  Better yet a nor" Eastern that hits Bingo and misses Da Cuse and again it's a close race.  In other words, don't think it's over yet because it's not even close to being a lock up yet for Syracuse.  Have a great bright white day all!

1/25 - Not a whole lot to report as of this morning but there will be some changes coming once all the snowfall reports come in.  So far here in Da Cuse probably less than an inch.  Hopefully the other cities are making out better and start playing the catch up game.  It looks like the Tug Hill area might be finally getting some long awaited snow.  The month of January has had to suck for those that own snowmobiles.  Hopefully they will be able to catch up on their riding miles from here on out.  Rumor has it that it might be a good February for snowfall so we'll have to wait and see how that plays out.  Below are some updated stats showing how lame January has been so far.  Looking out the window right now right around Noon at looks like a snow band might of finally reached us.  Lets see if it last.  Take it slow driving all and stay safe!

1/24 - Albany continues it's butt kicking for the month of January picking up 5.2 inches yesterday.  Binghamton grabbed 2.3 inches of new snow and is only 4 inches away from Buffalo but that might change come tonight and tomorrow if Buffalo can get into the Lake Effect snow that might start hitting us later on today.  Hopefully the snow will hold off until after the rush hour.  If the snow and wind hit at the right time tomorrow morning, who knows, the kids just may get a day of from school

One of our members in the forum, Steve, aka - Smadsen took the time and gathered a bunch of stats up from NOAA.  What's so cool about the stats is that we can now go way back to 1940 and see which city would of won the Golden Snowball award.  Plus now we know which cities won the snow contest when it was first started back in the late 70's by Meteorologists from Rochester.  When looking at the stats one of the seasons that stands out to me the most is the 1982 - 1983 season where Binghamton won the trophy and Albany came in second.  I pretty much figured Albany would of came in last every year but that isn't the case at all.  I'm guessing that season was probably like this January has been.  Very little lake effect snow and snow coming from the south which normally benefits the more southern and eastern cities which would be Binghamton and Albany.  Anyways check out the new section at http://www.goldensnowball.com/yearly-winners-golden-award.htm it's pretty cool and a Big Thanks to Steve for taking the time to put the stats together for all of us.

1/22 - Nothing new to report other than January so far has been one of the wimpiest on record so far most of the Golden Snowball cities.  As for the season, what a difference a month makes.  All of the cities with the exception of Syracuse are now under their average snowfall totals for the season which is so hard to comprehend after the start that most of us had.  Syracuse will also be falling below the season average pretty soon.  In less than a week if something doesn't change soon.  Below are some pitiful stats for January 2006 so far and they are not pretty.  This weather has to be hurting the people who snowmobile and the skiers.  Hopefully the snow dance tonight will fix that problem and get the snow flying again for all the GSB cities, the Tug Hill area and the rest of the fun places.  I wonder if green is showing in the Tug Hill area?  That doesn't normally happen until probably around July! 

1/20 - Nothing new to report snow wise so a Big Happy Birthday to my oldest son Shane who turned 21 today .  Maybe I should use the instead of the cake picture.  It's kind of scary now that he is of legal age but he has been responsible and I know it will continue.  He is also going to college to be in law enforcement so enough said about that.

Shane, have a Super 21st birthday and don't over do it and enjoy your day!  Everyone else have a great weekend!

1/19 - Talk about me slacking off.  I almost went 2 days without an update which isn't too unusual except for the fact it doesn't happen too often when there is snow to report.  Rochester picked up a well needed 3.1 inches of snow to move closer at the chance of sledding past Binghamton and Buffalo.  They both better be worried because the chances are one of them is going to end up right down there with Albany sometime soon.  Syracuse and Buffalo picked up around 2 inches since last updated and zip showing for Albany and Binghamton.  Stay Tuned!

1/17 - 2/10ths for Rochester and that's it.  It's time to take matters into my own hands now.  Something that only can be performed 2 times a season or else it won't work.  It's time for my snow dance ritual which has a 88% success rate of bringing measurable snow within 2 days after doing it.  This is something that has never been disclosed up until now.  It is done late at night to spare any of my neighbors the embarrassment of having to live next to me .  So come Sunday night if we are not back on a decent weather snowfall pattern I will resort to it and hope that I don't get arrested or worse yet sent off to an institution for a mental checkup.  This is for real by the way!  Oh come on like none of you skiers or sledders have ever done it before.  Yea right!  Anyways, the little guy below almost has the snow dance down pat!  Hey have a great day all!

1/16 - More snow for everyone.  Not a whole lot but an inch here and there will start adding up.  Syracuse has passed Albany's annual snowfall but Albany continues to have the most snow for the month of January which has had my jaw to the floor for the last few days in shock.  One thing I keep hearing from friends and family because of how lame the winter weather has been the last several weeks is that this is going to be a below average snowfall season.  I really don't think it is going to be.  We had a few weeks with not much accumulation of snow but it seems that happens a lot.  I know I said it before and I have to say it again.  Right now 4 of the 5 cities are over last years totals for this date.  Right about now last year is when some decent amts of snow started to fall and lasted throughout most of February.  Below are this years totals and last years up until January 16th.

I just noticed how close the race was last year at this time, WOW.  Anyways, as you can see that although it seems like we are having an off season, in reality we are pretty much on pace to at least hit last years numbers if not higher.  Hey, you think it's easy being the bearer of bad news , Have a Great Week All!

1/15 - Albany pulled out a victory when all was said and done yesterday picking up 3 inches of new snowfall.  It hit 60 degree's on Friday in Syracuse and right now it is 10 degrees F outside.  Pretty typical CNY weather isn't it.  I'll still take it over those 90 degree days we had last summer .  SMadsen from the forum who is from the Buffalo area mentioned that right now for January they only have a measly 3.2 inches of snowfall which if it stands would be the lowest recorded snowfall for them for the month of January.  Lets hope it doesn't stand and that the other cities catch up to make this a close race again.  Looking at all the city's for the month you would never guess who has the most snow so far.  Albany has more snow than the rest of us for January and Syracuse is wimping out big time with only 2.8 inches have way through the month.  Pitiful I tell ya!

Syracuse looked really good last night against cincy.  No doubt the Mac attack played a big part of the game but once again they played as a team finding the player that was open and feeding Gerry the ball when he was on fire.  Defense looked better also not waiting until the second half this game to turn it on.  They played good D in m opinion through out the entire game.  Unfortunately Eric Devendorf got into foul trouble pretty early and ended up sitting a lot but that's what makes this team so dangerous this year, they have weapon after weapon that they can bring on to the court.  Great games guys and keep it going against UConn and Pitt this week.

1/14 - Finally some nice weather moved into the Golden Snowball City's areas .  Yup, we're back to winter, for a little while that is.  What a difference a day makes. High 50's yesterday and today as I type its in the 20's all around.  Buffalo so far on the day is showing 1.6 inches of snow, Rochester is reporting 1.9 inches and Bingo and DaCuse just a tenth here and there.  It's about time the western city's started to make a move even if it is just and inch or so.  Keep in mind that some of us are still above or close to last years totals at this time of the year and all of us were above average at the end of the season.

SU against Cincinnati tonight, Go Orangemen!  Step up the defense, go to the bench more than usual to rest the starters a little more than normal and it should be a good one.

1/12 - What the is going on here.  I walk outside to get the paper and I have the urge to cut the grass.  Not even a trace of winter is to be seen anywhere other than the Christmas lights that are still hanging on the house.  It's 50 degrees as I type and I think if my back wasn't bothering me I would grab my son and look for the nearest open golf course.  There are some good conversations going on in the forum right now as to whether Lake Erie will freeze over this year, an over and under on whether Rochester has enough time to come from behind and pull ahead of Buffalo and Binghamton and some fun predictions.  I'm starting to think this nice weather is my fault and that I should apologize for it.  If you remember from a previous post I mentioned that my darling daughter is going to winter school at Herkimer college.  Well with her commuting back and forth I have to admit that I have been hoping that it doesn't snow because of her driving there.  So if it is indeed my fault then I have to say I am very sorry about the nice weather .

Go Syracuse Orangemen!!!  Another good win for the team last night against Notre Dame.  A little lack of defense in the first half but halfway through the second they clamped down pretty good to force some big turnovers.  Gerry had a good game and was on with the 3 pointers last night.  The rest of the team also looked pretty good on offense.  I don't know what the numbers were from the free throw line for Syracuse but they hit them towards the end of the game when they needed them.  Eric Devendorf continues to impress me and seems to play better and better each game if that's even possible.  Hard to believe that Eric is a freshman isn't it.  I still think by the end of his basketball career he will be one of the best players to come out of Syracuse.  That's a 4 year career Eric so don't even think anything different .  If SU keeps playing as a team and along with the deep bench they have this year I see a great season ahead.  That's all from the couch coach and have a great day all!

1/10 - All the stats should be up to date including something I've been putting off, the Average Season Snow Totals.  I know, it's about time.  While updating them something interesting popped up.  Buffalo and Rochester's annual average snowfall totals have actually went down since I started keeping stats on them or should I say started borrowing the stats from NOAA.  Syracuse, Binghamton and Albany's annuals all went up.  If I am correct and remember that doesn't happen too often below are the differences from when I started the website in 2002 until the end of 2004 which can be found at  http://www.ncdc.noaa.gov/oa/climate/online/ccd/avgsnf.txt .

Syracuse - Old Annual Average - 111.9 ---- New Yearly Average - 116.9
Buffalo - Old Annual Average - 97 ---- New Yearly Average - 93.6
Binghamton - Old Annual Average - 81 ---- New Yearly Average - 84.7
Rochester - Old Annual Average - 100.3 ---- New Yearly Average - 92.8
Albany - Old Annual Average - 62.7 ---- New Yearly Average - 64.1

So if these stats are right and I'll do some more research on them, then it's a pretty interesting trend that could be starting up.  Think about the high Hurricane activity that's been going on the past couple of years which tends to come up the northeast coast.  Makes me wonder if there are more snow events doing the same thing, coming up from the south and effecting the more southern and eastern city's in the winter season.  Where is this all going?  I don't have a clue, I'm just rambling on .  Maybe a weatherman can clue us all in.  Cheers All!

1/9 - Sorry about the lack of updates the last day or so.  It won't happen again!  Of course it will happen again, you all know me.  Anyways a little bit here and there as the totals continue to keep adding up.  People are starting to think that this will be an easy winter but I'm not falling for it.  Most of us are still above last years snowfall pace at this time of the year and look at the totals for last year.  Something's gotta give soon because this weather just isn't gonna last, mark my word. Have a great week all.

1/7 - New snow for all the citys except for Albany.  I must of jinxed them yesterday when I said they were getting the most snow for January.  I'm sure they won't mind.  An inch here and there with Rochester picking up the most snow with 2.2 inches.  Binghamton continues to sneak up on Buffalo now being less than 4 inches away from over taking them.  I'm hoping for a storm that hits all the city's except for Syracuse to get this seasons contest a little closer.  Syracuse is still holding a commanding lead in the Golden Snowball contest but it has narrowed a little bit over the last couple of weeks. 

One thing I noticed while doing stats today is that although some of us are below our average snowfall for this time of the year, most if not all of us are well over last years totals at this time which is pretty relevant.  If you look at last year final totals we were all over the season average's.  So in other words right now compared to this time last year Syracuse is 3 feet over what it was last season, Buffalo has 10 inches more than this time last year, Binghamton is over by over 15 inches and Rochester is over last years totals by over 8 inches.  In other words we are all on pace to have more snow this year than last year.  The big question is when will it start pounding us again.

A Big Happy Birthday to my son Christopher who turns 17 today and my sister Debby who turns the Big  5 0.  Happy Birthday Chris and enjoy your day both of you!  Have a great weekend all!

1/6 - Albany continues to add a little bit here and there and added another 1/2 an inch since the last update.  They've finally made it over the 1 foot mark since January started but they are also over 6 inches under their normal snowfall for this time in the season.  Syracuse started out the season at a record pace but since winter began has had about as much snow as the tropics might get.  Only 0.1 inches of snow so far for January.  So far Albany has had more snow in January than Syracuse has had.  As a matter of fact Albany and Binghamton have had more snow than Syracuse, Rochester and Buffalo combined.  Pretty pitiful if you ask me.  Yea, I know ya didn't ask .

Everyone has heard of summer school right?  Well how about winter school?  My darling daughter has just finished her 1st semester at college and guess what, she has to go to winter school .  Better yet I get to pay for the extra course that she needs to take not to mention the money it is costing me for gas for her to commute back and forth each day which is about 15.00 a day for 3 weeks which comes to another 215.00 on top of the class tuition.  All I can say is and and that she better get an A in WINTER SCHOOL. Enough said about that, for now anyways!

New Years Resolution Update if anyone is following it.  Progress is being made on my smoking habit.  The last 2 days I have cut down from just over a pack a day to 12 cigarettes a day.  I tried going cold turkey and just quitting completely which lasted about 4 hours or should I say when I was told how much WINTER SCHOOL would be costing me .  I know it was just an excuse to have a smoke but smoking only 12 a day is a pretty good start.  That's about 50% of what I use to smoke and the goal for next week will be to get down to 5 smokes a day.  No luck on the other 2 resolutions though.  I still eat like a pig and I think I actually am gaining weight .  Hey, have a super weekend all!

1/4 - Albany has been rocking lately and believe it or not has the most snowfall for January so far beating out the rest of the city's .  Rock City better get a move on because it will be pretty embarrassing to lose to Albany.  No offense meant towards you Albany fans of course.

If I'm not mistaken and normally I am Syracuse just had it's 3rd snowiest December on record and that was with a lame finish the last week or so of the month.  I'm still waiting for confirmation on the official stats but if correct the total for December will be 53 inches which is enough to knock 1969's total of 52.8 inches out of third place.  Way to go Syracuse!!! 

GO SU basketball.  Another game tonight and the big east is right around the corner.  Their looking good and getting better each game.

As for my New Years res, a little progress to report.  Yesterday I was able to cut down 25% of my nasty tobacco habit.  Not great but it's a start.  I still ate like a pig though and mostly late at night so the weight is probably the same .

1/3 - Binghamton is slowly inching it's way closer to Buffalo and is now less than 7 inches out of second place.  Albany grabbed another couple of tenths of an inch.  I think this is the first time this season that Buffalo has fallen under it's season average which as of today makes it 3 city's that have less than their normal snowfall for this time of year.  Colder nights ahead so that could change soon.

As for my resolutions, nough said .

1/2 - Happy New Year to all our visitors.  Since last update Albany kicked all our butts adding almost 4 inches of new snow.  The best part is that out of the 5 city's they have the most snow on the ground right now.  Something you won't see too often.  Rochester was the next winner picking up over 3 inches and the rest of us just an inch or less and so the contest goes on and I have a feeling it will be another close one this year.  According to Daver from the forum cold air should be returning in the days ahead which should mean some steady snowfall stats to report more regularly.

Day 2 new years resolution update - So far I'm the same old person I was way back in 2005.  But, I'm down to my last pack of cancer sticks and the plan is to stop when they are all gone which should be sometime today .  First I'll try it cold turkey and if that doesn't work I'll give the lozenges a shot.  Either way it isn't going to be easy Wish me good luck because I will need it.  As for getting in shape and exercising that hasn't begun yet either BUT, I do plan on maybe going the the YMCA with my sons one day this week.  Probably just to look around at first and see what they have to offer.  I wonder if they have good food there?  Maybe a good burger or something?  My goal is to get down to 175 - 180 pounds.  As of last night I was at 197 so I have a long ways to go.  As for meeting new people, that should happen perhaps when I go to the Y.  In other words so far to date I'm sucking Big time at all of my resolutions but that could change tomorrow.  Lets hope so anyways.  Hey, Have a Great week all!

December 2005 Rants

12/31 - Rochester finally broke the ice putting up 0.1 inches of snowfall.  Not a lot but it's a start.  A little bit of snow is in the forecast so if your out celebrating be on the lookout for changes in road conditions and get a DD to drive for you.  I'll most likely be celebrating the New Year with friends and relatives at a couple of different house parties.  Both of which will have no single women at them which brings me to some new years resolutions .  Below are my resolutions for the new year.

#1 - Quit Smoking!  I've cut down a lot but can't seem to beat the nasty habit.  This will be the year .

#2 - Get out of the house more and meet new people.  Preferably a lot of women.  Ok, one nice, cute woman will be a more realistic resolution.  I'm an out going guy, friendly and funny (funny to me that is) but when it comes to talking to women I'm the biggest wimp around.  I shut right up and anything that comes out of my mouth sounds like I'm doing an impression of Bobcat Goldthwaite .  Something I really need to work on!

#3 - Get in shape!  Most 80 year old men can kick my butt in a race, make that 80 year old women.  No wonder I'm single huh.  After the snow stops and as long as it's not too hot out I will start exercising more.  Ok, no excuses this year.  I will make it a point to do some kind of physical activity at least 3 times a week this year.  Preferably with the help of resolution #2 .

I think it could all fall into place.  If I can stick with resolution #1 then I will be able to follow through with #3 a lot easier.  Once I lick #1 and #3 I might have a shot at #2 especially if I can over come my Bobcat imitations and shyness around women.  Sounds like a good plan to me.  Hey,

Have a Happy, Healthy and Prosperous New Year All!

12/30 - Sorry about the lack of updates but there hasn't been anything to update.  Winter starts and the snow stops.  Go Figure!

On another note something made my day yesterday.  I opened a letter that I received in the mail which contained $5.00 in it for me to grab some chicken wings and a Bud .  It wasn't so much the money but the fact that someone took the time to write to me and say how much they enjoyed the article that Sean Kirst wrote in the winter section of the post standard a month or so ago.  I just wish I knew who the person named Pat was that sent the letter so that I could thank them.  I'm also going to add an extra $5.00 to the award thanks to Pats contribution.  Anyways, a Big Thanks goes out to Pat who ever you are and thanks for making my day .  BTW, Pat is from the Syracuse area and hoping that another city wins this year.  I can't say I blame him or her after the weather we have had in December so far.  Have a great week end all!

12/27 - Hopefully everyone had a super Christmas and got all more than they deserved.  Only a few 10ths of new snow fell here and there since the last update.  Just imagine the new totals if all that rain that fell was snow.  The nice thing was that people traveling for the holiday had it a little easier with the rain instead of having to deal with the snow.  The rain did melt away a good portion of the snow that was on the ground though so it's time for a fresh dumping to make things nice and pretty again.  Unfortunately it doesn't look like much is in the forecast for the Golden Snowball cities until later in the week.  As of today Syracuse is just an 0.9 inches away from having it's 4th snowiest December ever and les than 2 inches from it's 3rd highest December snowfall on record with a real chance at closing December out as the 2nd snowiest recorded if it picks up another 4.7 inches.  Have a great week all!

12/24 - No changes in snow totals.  Rain everywhere though.  I'm thinking to myself if we didn't get so much snow this early on, chances are we would all be having a green Christmas and to me that takes a little away from the joy of the day.  Then again with all the people traveling this weekend it is nice they won't have to have the white knuckle grip on the steering wheel while visiting friends and relatives.  Nothing more to say other than,

Have a Safe and Merry Christmas All

12/22 - Buffalo the last few days has been pretty steady with it's snowfall.  Not a ton of snow but enough to to have a respectable 3 feet plus of snow on the season.  Hopefully it will continue and they will close the gap on Syracuse.  Rochester still remains the disappointing city this year or is that the lucky city this year .  Binghamton is still holding their own but might want to think of making a move sooner than later.  Another Nor Eastern could bump them right into second place.  Today was a nice break from the cold days we have been having.  I'm not sure what the temp went to but it felt good and were looking at the low 40's the next couple of days which will be nice as long as it does not melt my White Christmas Snow.

12/21 - HAPPY WINTER ALL!  It's hard to believe that winter is just starting isn't it?  All of that snow that has fallen so far has all fallen in Autumn and today marks the beginning of what should be an interesting winter season ahead of all of us.  Syracuse pulled further away from the other cities since last update with a fresh 3.2 inches of snowfall.  Roc city got some well needed snow reporting 2.2 inches, Binghamton picked up 0.9 and Buffalo with .06.  One again the talk is about DaCuse.  Syracuse, with the new snow amounts has now had their 5th snowiest December on record with 48.9 inches and there is still 10 days to go.  That's 4 feet of snow in the last 20 days!  Up to today this is also their 3rd snowiest season on record ever.  But remember it only takes one good storm that misses Syracuse and it will be a close race again.

Today I have a ton of stuff to do and go figure I pick the shortest day of the year to get it done.  Yup, if I'm not mistaken Winter falls on the shortest day of the year which is called winter solstice.  Ok I cheated and looked it up on the encyclopedia website called Wikipedia which is a great site.  It has all the important history facts, famous people, dates and famous events such as the Boston tea party, the declaration of independence, George Washington, the New York Golden Snowball Award and so on.  Your thinking yea right like the golden snowball contest is in an encyclopedia huh.  Well it is true!  Right up there with all the famous events in history you will find our great NY contest which you can see for yourself here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Golden_Snowball.  I think it's pretty cool myself and can't wait until it comes out in the children's history books at school.  Hey, have a great day everyone even if it will be a short day and GO SU!

12/20 - Just a tenth of an inch of new snow here and there for a few of us.  Albany's annual snowfall finally changed adding a 1/10th of an inch .  I think our state lawmakers have it a bit too easy this season.

I'm on a new mission now.  Well it actually started about a couple of weeks ago.  It's a mission to get the weather channel to acknowledge our coveted Golden Snowball contest that we have here in New York State.  This isn't an easy task either because it's pretty hard to contact them.  I tried mentioning it through one of their contact options on their site around the 5th of December but still no mention of us.  Oh, they do mention our city's probably at least 50 times a day but no mention of our great rivalry.  Wouldn't it be nice to just hear them say something like "well, Buffalo gained on Syracuse overnight in the great race for the golden snowball award" every so often?  Wouldn't it make it a bit more exciting when they are talking about the North East weather for the day?  Their a weather channel, that's the kind of things want to hear when watching.   I know, I'm probably making to much out of this but it's something that's been bugging me this season. 

Maybe they think it is too small of a thing to take notice to.  But it's not.  Our contest is famous.  People from all over the world have visited our site with interest and many programs and news organizations have mentioned it.  Here are a few that have given us our moment of fame in which a couple of them I missed .

* Paul Harvey mentioned our contest on his radio show I was told by AP Press journalist, William Kates.

* USA Today has done several articles about us.

* The Associated Press, William Kates has done several articles on the golden snowball award.

* Pretty much all of New York State newspapers and papers across the country have had articles at one time or another including the Post Standard with multi award winning journalist Sean Kirst doing pieces our contest.  I've heard from people around Mass who have read an article about us.

* Saturday Night Live, Yes even SNL has mentioned us on their show in their humorous weekend update news segment.  Really!  Click here for our moment of fame on SNL about half way down the page.

The list goes on and on but I still haven't heard the Weather Channel mention our contest on air.  So the countdown begins here at goldensnowball.com until our coveted snow race gets a mention.  I thought about fasting until they mentioned us but if I did that I would be hungry so that's definitely out of the question.  I also thought about doing a one man protest in front of one of the new stations to draw attention but it's too dang cold outside for that.  I finally decided that whining might possible work and it's something that I do pretty good.  So from hear on out I will continue to whine until I hear the Weather Channel give our contest a mention.  Have a super day all!

12/19 - Just 0.1 for Rochester and Buffalo and 0.3 for Syracuse to report.  One thing to note is that 0.3 inches moved Syracuse to it's 8th snowiest December on record.  As it stands right now Rochester and Albany are still below their average snow totals for this time of year.  In other words they need to pick up the slack and start catching up.

12/18 - Not a whole lot to report since last update other than Buffalo has pulled farther away from Binghamton picking up another 1.2 inches.  Syracuse moved another inch closer to the 200 goal.  I know your all thinking who's goal, we don't want 200 inches .  Sure we do!  Anyways all the snowfall stats should be up to date now so enjoy the heat wave were having and have a great Sunday all!  Only one week until Christmas by the way so if your not stressing out yet, ya better start!

12/17 - Buffalo and Rochester each added around a couple more inches to their totals.  Binghamton better get it going soon or Buffalo will be pulling away from them and Rochester will be moving ahead of them.  Syracuse still holds a commanding lead over the rest of the group with second place Buffalo being close to 20 inches behind and get this, Albany is close to 4 feet behind the leader.  As a matter of fact Syracuse needs less than 12 inches to reach Albany's annual average snowfall.  But remember it's early yet and Albany still has a chance.  About as much of a chance as pigs have to fly .  The other city's though do have a real chance with all of winter still left.

Snowiest December on Record?  I know I've been talking about Syracuse a lot lately but lets face it, right now their the city to talk about.  The snow stats so far are impressive to say the least.  Here are some stats from an awesome site at http://mep1.phy.syr.edu/~rsholmes/snow.html.  Right now Syracuse has had it's 9th snowiest December on record with 44 inches so far for December and we still have half of December to go.  When all is said and done my guess is that this will be the second or third snowiest December recorded.  The snowiest ever was 70.3 inches back in 2000 which is reachable but could be a long shot.

Season to Date - So far this season has been the 3rd snowiest season up to yesterdays date of the 16th.  Again the thing that impresses me is how much snow we have received this early in the year and the cold spell really isn't showing any let up in the near future so chances are lake effect should continue to be part of the rest of December adding to the numbers.  Ok, I'll shut up, for now anyways .

12/16 Evening - Most of the snowfall stats should be up to date now.  At least as of 4 - 5 PM this evening.  I have to admit I am kind of surprised with the low totals and a little disappointed also.  Anyways, for today's snowfall Syracuse was once again the big winner with 6.9 inches, buffalo had 3.3 so far today, Binghamton posted 2.5, Rochester just a couple of inches and Albany just 1.1..  Remember that was on top of what I updated in the totals from earlier this morning.  Hey, have a super weekend all!

Morning - Most of the new totals are from late last evening and most of the new snow came early this morning so big changes will be forthcoming later in the day when NOAA updates all of the city totals.  Looking out the window I'm guessing at least a new 8 inches for Syracuse which came down fast and hard in the early hours but has stopped now.  Chances are that Binghamton and Albany might have done pretty good also and once stats come in we will post them.  ZR800 from the forum and Rochester area is thinking about 2-3 inches fell in the Rochester area and it will be interesting to see how Buffalo made out.  Anyways, look for a late afternoon or early evening update with all the final stats from this last storm.  For all the kids and teachers in the area, have a great day off!

12/15 - Not much to report other than Buffalo picking up 0.3 inches of new stuff.  A storm is on the way tonight so things should get pretty interesting around this joint the next day or two.  Right now there seems to be a lot of different forecasts which means this storm is hard to predict what it will do and who it will hit the hardest.  Buffalo and Rochester could make up some ground but then again with a little shift to the east who know what will happen.  Stay tuned for an update tomorrow and most importantly, take it easy while driving.

12/14 - Nothing new to report as far as new snowfall goes but that could be changing as early as the end of the day tomorrow.  There's a good possibility of a decent amt of snow falling in the next couple of days.  Check out the forums for the latest updates on a possible storm coming our way.

What's up with people wrapping presents the way they do?  I've seen 3 different people I know wrapping gifts and I don't get it.  I was so amazed at the time they were spending on Christmas wrapping that I timed one person and it took close to 5 minutes to wrap one gift and it would of been longer if they didn't notice I was timing them and try to do it faster and then finally tell me to leave the room I was bugging them.  These were kids gifts too.  Do you really think a child looks to see if they are wrapped right?  NO, the first thing they do is most likely count the presents to see how many they have.  At least that's what I do .  Then they will look to see how big they are, still not noticing how much time you spent on wrapping the gift to make it look so very pretty with bow and all.  Then they tear into it without even seeing who it was from.  That's what I do too .  Think about it!  It took you at about 5 minutes to wrap it and less than 20 seconds for a kid (or a big kid like myself) to unwrap it.  I just don't get it.

I takes me on average about a minute to wrap a present up.  The worse thing about wrapping for me is trying to find the tape and scissors.  Oh don't tell me it doesn't happen to you too.  Losing the tape and scissors is right in the same category as the missing sock from the wash except after a few naughty words we finally find the tape and scissors and hopefully Santa wasn't watching during the naughty words part .  The worse thing about it is we look all over the room only to find them right where we are wrapping.  Are we having fun yet?  Oh, and don't forget to use a ton of tape so it takes the kids longer to unwrap their gifts.  After all we did spend a minute wrapping it up, it should take them at least that long to open it.

Then you have those relatives, normally the adult relatives that you give a gift to and they have to shake the present and even put their ear up to it to listen to it.  What is that all about?  Are they shaking it and listening to see if it's a time bomb you gave them or something?  If so, that's a pretty stupid thing to do in my opinion to shake a bomb, don't you think.  Here is where I give some advise to all of my visitors.  Think of it as an early Christmas present from the Snowman to you.  First figure out which relative does do the shaking of the Christmas gift ritual each year.  If your not sure then make it a point to pay attention this year to see which one's do it.  Here's what you do.  Find some old drinking glasses, old dishes you want to get rid of or even empty beer bottles and break them into pieces. I think you see where I am going with this Huh?  Be careful not to hurt yourself when breaking them.  Now put the pieces into a box and wrap it up.  Don't spend 5 minutes wrapping.  Haven't ya learned anything from me yet.  As soon as the person starts their shaking ritual, yell out "Be Careful, That's an Expensive Gift".  Right about the time you blurt that out their face should turn pretty red and the look on their face will definitely be priceless so make sure someone has a camera pointed in their direction.  Now when they open it and see the broken pieces of glass do the "Oh my, That was an original Jacque Cheapola hand painted plate" or something like that.  Sure,  just make up a name.  And don't be afraid to let them grovel a bit, after all it is Christmas.  Just think, with the money you just saved you can go buy yourself something you didn't get that you really wanted for Christmas.  Yea, you bet you all owe me one .  Ahhh, there's nothing like the Holidays is there?  Have a Super day all!

12/13 - A few 10ths here and there for most of the city's.  Syracuse picked up another 2.6 inches of snow to move a little closer to the 200 inch mark.  Right now its sunny and cold which is a nice change from cloudy and cold.  Don't let the numbers fool you.  This is still anyone's race, well maybe not Albany's but the rest of the city's are still in it.  The season has just begun and it's a fluke that Syracuse has this big of a lead this early in the season. 

I added to the snowfall chart below what the normal average totals should be at this time of the year just so we can all get an idea as to how the season is going throughout the contest.  I give it a 95% chance that most of the city's will be above the normal season snow totals this year including Albany which is below it's normal right now.  One of the main reasons being that the tropics were so active this year and the hurricane activity even went past the the normal hurricane season and a record was set for the most ever this year.  Put that a long with the above normal snowfall for the start of the season and I think it will be a longgg, snowy 2005 - 2006 snowfall season.  One of the things I'm thinking because of the tropics is perhaps more Nor'easters than normal this season.  But remember, I'm not a weatherman and don't have a clue about predicting so take anything I say with a flake of snow.  The real weather forecasters are in the forum and they do know what they are talking about.  So to sum it up.  Goldennowball.com predicts an above snowfall season for 2005 - 2006.   With that said let the heat wave begin!

12/12 - Buffalo picked up 1.8 inches of snow since last updated moving a little bit closer to Syracuse who had only half an inch reported, Binghamton 0.7 and Rochester had 0.4.  Talk about being consistent, Rochester's normal season snowfall for this date is 14.8 which is exactly where they are at right now.  Another thing I noticed the other day is how most of the city's are blowing away last years totals at this time in the season.  Syracuse which has 42 inches as of today only had 6.6 inches for the same time last year, Buffalo only 3.2, Rochester had 3.9, Bingo had 5.5.  So in other words compared to last year we have already had a crappy great Winter season so far and winter hasn't even started yet.

12/10 - No new snow stats to report since last nights update SO I get to ramble on.

LET THE COUNTDOWN BEGIN!  Your all probably thinking the countdown to spring?  Nope the countdown to 200 inches!  I was looking at some past stats and with the start that Syracuse has had this year with a total so far of 41.5 inches it could happen.  I'm going to ramble off some stats and if I am correct then from December 1 - 9 we have had 33.1 inches of snow which sets a record for that period by more than 8 inches.  The record snowfall for the month of Dec was 70.3 inches set back in 2000.  Right now it's pretty much a no doubter that this month will be one of the top 10 snowiest Decembers on record needing than 7 more inches with a likelihood of being the top 5 on record if we can get to 48 inches. 

If I am correct and remember I am wrong a lot is that as of yesterdays date we are already at the second snowiest season on record for this time frame which is up until Dec. 9th.  Another interesting comparison is that the second snowiest season on record, once again if I am correct in reading stats was in 2000 - 2001 with a season total of 191.9.  That snowfall season just missed the record of 192.1 inches by 3/10ths of an inch.   Here's the kicker!  Guess what date that years first snowfall was?  Nope not even close!  Ok, maybe you nailed it dead on, anyways it was November 17th.  Guess what this years first snowfall was on?  Yup, Nov. 17th.  Kind of a scary coincidence don't ya think.  Alright, I'm probably reading more into this than there is but still, "Let The 200 Inch Countdown Begin!"

12/9 Evening - We just did a quick update see the snow graph below for totals.  I was surprised to see Albany didn't do as good as I thought they might of picking up 2.7 inches of snow, which I suppose is quite the storm for them.  Bingo was the big winner with 4.4 inches moving a little closer to second place Buffalo who picked up 2.8.  Syracuse grabbed another 3.7 inches of snowfall to push them up over the 40 inch mark with a total of 41.5.  Wow is what I say to that for this early in the season.

12/9 Morning - There's not a whole lot to report yet.  Once the official NOAA stats are updated later in the day we will post them.  Just a few 1/10ths here and there reported but that will change.  The chances are that Albany might of been the big winner with this last snowfall event and Binghamton might of made out good also.  Here in the Syracuse area a guess would be 4 - 5 inches of new and might I add somewhat heavy snow .  I'll post the official stats as soon as they come out.  If Albany was able to pick up 8.3 inches then that will put all of the city's over the 1 foot mark for the season.

On another note every now and then I check to see what sites are sending traffic to our Golden Snowball website.  One of the sites I've noticed is a site from a famous writer.  Even better a famous writer from our general area, Mexico which is soooo cool.  It's amazing how uneducated I am as to some of the famous people we have living in CNY.  Ok, it's not so amazing how uneducated I am but the rest is pretty amazing.  An example is the famous photographer Eric Meola that Sean Kirst wrote about in the Bruce Springsteen article which can be found Here.  The writers, Novelists name is Laurie Halse Anderson and has several novels out which have won many awards and has had at least one book that was on the New York Times best sellers list.  She has a great site at http://www.writerlady.com/ where you can read more about Laurie, her books Prom, Speak, Fever and others.  I love learning about famous people who we have living right in our backyard and don't even realize it.  Well at least I wasn't aware of it.  Another cool thing is that one of her family members attends a school where my sister teaches.  Talk about a small world, make that a small snowy world!  Have a great weekend all!

12/8 - Syracuse continues to add to the lead picking up around half a foot of fresh snow yesterday and they hit another milestone in this years covenanted snowball race.  They went past the 3 foot mark posting a new total of 37.7 inches on the season.  The rest of the cities snowfall totals are in the graph below.  One of goldensnowball's forum members brings up a good question.  Could this be a record snowfall season for DaCuse?  Can Syracuse break their own record from the 1992 - 1993 season of 192.1 inches?  Better yet can they dethrone Buffalo who holds the title for big city total snow in a season at 199 inches set back in 1977?  Syracuse gave it a shot two seasons ago back in 03 - 04 but came up just a snow storm or two short ending that season with 181.3 inches.  Right now Syracuse has almost 1/3 of their average season total and it's only the beginning of December. Once again all I can say is this year should be a good race for the trophy.

12/7 - Right now at about 9:00 AM we are getting a pretty good blast of snow with the winds picking up a bit.  It looks like the band of Lake Effect snow that was hitting the Oswego area and to the north of Syracuse is shifting down now.  If it sticks around the Syracuse area should pick up a few to several inches of snow.  Still not a whole lot to report other than an inch or so here and there.  DaCuse still holds a pretty commanding lead in the contest leading by just over 10 inches over second place Buffalo.  As all of you who follow the Golden Snowball award knows, that can change faster than the weather does around here.

For you kids that visit here I have something to share with you.  No matter how old you get your mom will still be yelling at you.  Yup, the snowman got yelled at by the Grinch (his mom) last night and let me tell you another secret.  Don't laugh when your getting yelled at because it aggravates them even more.  We all know one of the hardest problems is trying to figure out what the kids, nieces and nephews want for Christmas.  Well mommy dearest has been trying to get a list from my sisters kids so she can finish her shopping.  Last night my sister stopped over with a few ideas for one of my nephews and I happened to look at the list.  I went to the computer, found something on the list and bought it for him.  Mom walked in as I was hitting the buy button and asked me why I was buying that for myself.  I told her I was buying it for Joel and with a big grin on my face said to her "Well I have Joel done now".  Jeez you would of thought I stole her idea or something.  Ok, so I did .  Hey I didn't know that the list was for her.  Ummm, ok, so I did but you know what?  I'm finally almost done with my Christmas shopping .  I only have Mom left to go and the way she yelled at me last night it shouldn't be hard finding a big ole black bag of coal .  One other thing kids!  When you pull a fast one over on mom (which you should never do) DO Not GLOAT!  I think I made things even worse when I told her all my wrapping was almost done also.  Have a super day all and drive slow in snow!

12/5 - All the golden snowball cities picked up between 1 - 2 inches since the last update.  One thing I noticed that could be significant as to how the rest of the season goes is that most of us are over our average snowfall for this time of the year.  Syracuse has more than doubled the amt they should have right now, Buffalo and Binghamton has about a third more.  Rochester is almost dead on their average being only half an inch ahead of their normal snowfall.  No stats for Albany reported.  Temps seem to be mostly below normal also so this could be a winter to remember with a slight chance of records being broken.  Remember, I'm not a meteorologist and normally don't have a clue as to what I'm talking about!  Right now Syracuse already has more than a quarter of their normal snowfall for the season with the 3 main snow months, December, January and February left to go.  Hey, have a great week all!

12/4 - Not much to report since last nights updates other than a you might of noticed that a couple of the cities, Binghamton and Rochester's snow stats went backwards overnight .  Yup Rochester lost over an inch of snow and Binghamton just a couple of tenths of snow.  This year we decided to add the new snowfall amounts but then as it melts we will subtract it from the totals.  Before you all start emailing me telling me I've finally flipped, STOP, I'm joking .  For some reason the stats went down for those 2 cities which could of been a mistake on my part or perhaps NOAA made an adjustment.  It doesn't happen often that NOAA will correct some adding, as for me, well get use to mistakes .  In reality last year I can only remember once NOAA changing something for the whole season and I think it was around St Pattys day.  That's pretty good in my opinion.  Anyways, the stats below are the latest and they should change after today with more snow falling.  This should be a super contest this year with hopefully many lead changes and who knows, maybe even an a new snow champion when all is said and done.

12/3 Evening Update - More totals just came in at about 6:00 pm.  A little added for everyone except Syracuse.  They didn't have a little to add to their snow totals but a lot to add.  From around midnight up until now they added another 11.4 inches to snowmobile into the lead and to also take a commanding lead with a total of 29 inches.  Last years champs showed why they are just that being the first to go over the 2 foot mark.  Over 20 inches fell with this last lake effect snow storm.  More to come tomorrow.

12/3 - What an awesome picture I see looking out the window.  Snow and a lot of it!  Syracuse finally started to take this contest seriously and sledded into second place.  Yup, move over Binghamton and watch your back Buffalo.  Syracuse has posted 9.2 (record) inches of fresh snow for yesterday and more will be reported later today but will it be enough to over take #1 Buffalo???  Less than a couple of inches separates them.  Binghamton totaled out at 4.6 for yesterday which is pretty impressive but not enough to hold on to 2nd.  Right now it looks like the band of snow is hanging just to the North so it will be interesting to see if it shifts down to the south a bit.  If so there could very well be a new leader.  Look for an evening update.

Welcome home Rob, Connie, McKenna, Kiley and Connor.  My cousin Rob who is in the service and his family just moved back to good ole NY and yesterdays weather was the perfect welcome home gift for them.  Rob has been in the service for about 17 years with a few more years left to go.  He had a tough time deciding whether to pick Hawaii or Fort Drum to be stationed at.  He chose Fort Drum???  If my memory serves me right, I think Rob got kicked in the head by a horse when we were younger .  Yesterday after he got in he went outside and stood in the near blizzard conditions, umm in his t-shirt.  Must be something to do with the horse in the past, the same as Hawaii.  He was just stationed in Germany and returned from the Gulf war at the end of spring and was previously stationed in Alabama.  It was 60 degrees when they left Alabama yesterday to fly into snowy Syracuse.   So Robs coming from 100+ degrees in the gulf to 20's and 30's in Watertown and you know what, he couldn't be happier than to be back close to home in Good ole NY and we can't be happier than to have them all here!  Welcome home Robby, Connie and kids

12/2 Evening Update - I figured I would give a quick update for tonight with some new stats that just came in and should change once again in the morning.  Snowfall being reported in all the cities except for the capital.  All stats are for today since around 5:00pm.  So far Binghamton has set a date record going back to 1952 with 4.4 inches today so far and passing the 1 foot mark for the season, Syracuse also has over a foot of snow for the season and is reporting 4 inches of new snow and should set a date record by the end of the night, Buffalo and RocCity picking up just under an inch so far.  The stats graph has been updated below.  Have a great and safe weekend all and stay warm!

12/2 - There's not a whole lot to report since the last update but that will change in the next 24 hours or so.  NOAA is showing Buffalo with a new 0.3 of snow and Rochester with 0.4.  Here in Syracuse it looks like about 1 - 2 inches of snowfall overnight but the official stats haven't been posted yet.  Look for a later day update.  Several inches of snow has been on back order so keep an eye out the window because the delivery woman, Mother Nature should be dropping it off anytime now.  Here in DaCuse it's noon and the winds are picking up.  No snow yet but I can tell it's right around the corner.  Take it slow driving in snow!  It's most likely going to get pretty nasty with the wind blowing the snow all over the place so be careful.

12/1 - Happy December everyone!  All right Buffalo, enough already!  They continue to add on the inches of the fluffy stuff picking up another 1.8 inches yesterday for a season snowfall total of 17.9 inches.  As Anthony in the forum mentioned they better get all they can now because come January when the lake gets colder their snowfall should start to back off a little.  Right now Buffalo is half a foot over their normal snowfall for this time of the year.  The rest of us are below the average for this time of year.  But, don't let that fool you because my guess is that within a week or so we will all be above the averages so wax up the shovel you'll be needing it soon.

Does anyone want to Karaoke?  Well that's what I have on my Christmas list to Santa this year .  I'm normally the shy type but I figured this would be a good gift to bring to party's to liven them up a bit.  Like I'm not obnoxious enough as it is I can just see what happens when the karaoke machine arrives on Christmas eve.  I did try one last week at my cousins house and the only thing I can say is that it's true, you do sing better in the shower .  I wonder why that is.  My guess is because your ears are filled with water so you can't really hear too good.  There's something about a karaoke too that changes people.  One thing is that some people, I won't name names forget what they learned in school.  You know, sharing!  I have an Aunt who just wouldn't give up the microphone. What is that all about.  Ummm,  I will name names.  My aunt Dee must of had super glue on her hands because man, it was tough prying the mike from her hands. Of course her favorite show American Idol might have something to do with.  Anyways, I think Christmas eve should be a lot of laughs with my new present that hopefully Santa Claus is bringing me.  I just hope I get a turn to play with it, NOT! Have a great day all!

November 2005 Daily Whining

11/30 - Records set for every city in the Golden Snowball Award contest.  Unfortunately it wasn't record snow but record temperatures.  Someone needs to inform Mother Nature that tomorrow will be December 1st.  Albany's temp was 66, Buffalo was 67, Binghamton came in at 63, Rochester was 67 degrees and here in Syracuse a record of 70 along with what felt like 70 mile an hour winds. 

11/27 - Now that the long Thanksgiving holiday weekend is over it's time to play catch up with the stats and time for all of the city's to play catch up with Buffalo's snow totals.  Buffalo remains in the lead with a pretty good snow cushion for this early in the golden snowball race having a total on the season of 16.1 inches of snowfall to date.  None of the other cities have crossed the one foot mark yet but that might not be the case after this week is over and talk about screwy weather in CNY.  It's 56 degrees out as I ramble at 10:30 in the morning.  Three days ago it was in the low 20's with the wind chill in the teens.

Of course being the idiot that I am I have to pick one of the coldest days to decorate the outside or should I say for my kids to do it.  I'm lucky now because my kids are older now and can do a lot more with a just touch of supervision.  Supervision meaning Dad yelling out the window from inside the warm house "a little more to the left, just a little more, perfect" as the kids give me one of those stares.  I don't think the kids minded much though because they knew I had the tough job.  The job nobody wants.  Untangling the lights that we put hastily away every year.  Yup, make no mistake about it.  The worst part of Christmas decorations is definitely the lights.  Between untangling them and the sets that don't work the lights are definitely the worst part of Christmas.  Another tradition every year is that when the lights don't work because of one of the little bulbs is burnt out or broken.  For whatever reason I have to go through and see if I can find it.  After God knows how many hours of looking I'll' find one that looks suspicious and replace it with excitement only to find they still don't work .  If anyone sees me doing that next year you have my permission to slap me silly.  I mean come on, they only cost a couple of bucks and with all the time I waste trying to fix them I could of gone to the store and had them hanging up by now. 

Maybe that's why I like the Christmas inflatables so much.  You know, the huge  decorations in peoples yards popping up all over now.  They are pretty cool and we just got the new snow globe ones that look like those little snowglobes that you shake and it snows inside.  I have to admit I was a little skeptical about getting one but once the kids had it set up I was surprised at how good they work and they do look pretty cool and Christmassy.  One thing I learned this year though is only after a few minutes of repeatedly plugging it in and yelling "Live, Live I Command You" and then unplugging it and yelling "I'm Melting, I'm Melting" that the kids will indeed yell out "Daddd, S-H-U-T  U-P  Pa Leeeeassse!  Yup, Chevy Chase playing Griswold has nothing over me.  Happy decorating all!

11/26 - Talk about a getting spanked.  Buffalo spanked all of us yesterday setting a date record with 10.2 inches that dated all the way back to 1911.  That's a lot of snow for for a November day and the rest of us could be in deep trouble trying to catch up to the lead they now have.  Buffalo leads second place Binghamton by over half a foot of snow now.  Syracuse was the only other city to report just 0.3 inches of new snowfall.  See the snow charts for the totals below.  Buffalo was also the first city this year to cross the 1 foot mark now having a total of 15.5 inches on the season!  Right now they are almost double of what the normal snowfall should be for this time of the year while the rest of us are right around the normal snowfall amt for the season give or take an inch.  Go Buffalo, I'm Impressed to say the least!

The Syracuse basketball team broke their two game losing streak with a pretty good margin over Siena last night,  I tell ya all, I'm pretty excited about this team this year.  With McNamara as a leader and the talent, new and old that the Orangemen have this is really gonna be a GREAT team.  Something about them says special and I haven't figured out what it is.  Eric Devendorf got to start last night and the guy is good.  He is going to be one of the biggest things to hit Syracuse.  You heard it here first!!  There won't be a team that we come across that will be able to intimidate him or the team.  I emphasize TEAM because as long as they play as a team with no head cases were going at least to the final four.  As for Roberts he's given his all every game and is awesome!  Lets just say I am so psyched this year about how far I think we are going to go.

And how about the SU football team?  Today they wrap it up against Louisville.  Enough said .  No, I'm joking!  I think they are going to make an impressive stand against them today.  I know I've been saying that every game but this time I'm serious, I think!  I think if Patterson starts that he will have his best game of the season and perhaps his career along with Lane.  Coach R is going to the pass game today.  This is going to be a No more conservative, lets not get beat too bad kind fo game.  This is going to be a go after them offense game with a lot of passing and a lot of catching with maybe personal records being set.  As for the defense, enough said!  They have played Great all year round and will be able to hold off Louisville's passing game.  Hey what can I say, I'm always optimistic.  Enjoy the weekend all!

11/25 - Binghamton slides into the lead once again being the big winner yesterday with 3.1 inches for a season total of 8 inches! Nothing like I was expecting as far as yesterdays snowfall went.  I was waiting to get pounded but nothing more than an inch or so here in Syracuse.  Buffalo blew the opportunity once again getting only 2.5 inches while towns just to the south of them got hammered with over a foot of snow.  Albany finally broke the inch barrier with 0.9 inches and Rochester picked up an inch.  I'm a little disappointed but on the other hand with all the people traveling for the holiday I guess it's a good thing we didn't get the amts we could have.

Why? WHY? WHY?  I just don't get this black Friday shopping thing.  You know, people standing in the freezing cold in the wee hours of the morning to not get the deal they were hoping for because they all sold out.  If they didn't sell out you can just stroll in at noon at buy it.  Am I missing something???  Clean the car off and warm it up at 4am, go stand in line outside in 20 degree weather, fight to get a parking spot, fight to get the last whatever thats on sale, then stand in line again to pay for it if you were lucky enough to grab one of the whatever's from someone's hand without them taking you down.  Two words come to mind.  SHOP ONLINE!  Billions of dollars in sales every year and growing are done online.  No gas being wasted driving from store to store looking for that must get gift that everyone has run out of.  No lines, no taxes at some of the stores, free shipping specials and great deals. 

So lets compare in store shopping to online shopping.

Ok, enough said but the list could go on and on.  I just don't understand why some people still don't get the ease of shopping online.  Oh by the way did you see our shopping section at Golden Snowball .  Click here for Christmas gifts shopping!  Have a great weekend all!

11/24 - Go Syracuse!!!  They finally took the lead for the first time this season picking up enough snow yesterday to put them at 6.1 inches total.  Where did Roc City come from?  Rochester moved into second place and Bingo is hanging on to 3rd but!  Things will most likely be changing again with snow predicted pretty much everywhere in western and cny.  The weather station just had a the town of Mayville on which looked like it was getting hit pretty good and was expecting at least a foot or so of the white crap.  It will be interesting to see if Buffalo escapes this snowfall like it did the last big one a week or so ago.  Will the snow bands go south enough to get Binghamton back into the contest.  Stay tuned for another exciting race for the coveted Golden Snowball trophy! My guess is come tomorrow Buffalo or Rochester will be in the lead. Hey have a super Thanksgiving day all and drive safe!

11/23 - I'm buying!!!  A round of snow for everyone!  Even the capital, yup Albany got a little bit of the white fluffy stuff also.  Here are the recent snow totals for yesterday and overnight.  I would expect some changes and who knows, maybe even a new leader when all is said and done with this burst of cold air which is expected to last for quite some time.

Albany is showing 0.3 inches of new snow, Binghamton shows 0.2 inches, Buffalo just a trace but could change with a new NOAA update.  Rochester finally got their real first snowfall of the season with 2.5 inches being reported and Syracuse just 0.6 inches but that will also change with an update later in the day.

So the big change is that Rochester said enough of being next to last place and jumped ahead of Buffalo into 3rd place just behind Syracuse and Binghamton our southern most city in the contest holds on to first by almost a couple of inches.  I have a feeling by the time Saturday rolls around there will be a new leader.  Remember, Snow means Slow!  Take it slow and get to where your going all!  Look for a later day update.

11/21 - Nothing to report as far as the totals go but that could be changing real soon.  Snow is in the forecast for as early as later tonight.  It might be in the forecast for the next several days and unfortunately during the holiday travel time so keep an eye out if your traveling for the Thanksgiving holiday.  Check out the forum for some discussions on how the weather is going to be.

All right, on to the Syracuse Notre Dame football game .  I tried not to even bring it up today but I just couldn't let it slide.  I really did try though.  Seven words sums it up.  What were the coaches thinking???  Make that 5 words!  Why were we afraid to pass it deep in our own territory?  Was the whole game plan to go there and not get beaten too bad by the Fighting Irish?  That's what it looked like to me.  Where were the 3rd down passes?  Why weren't we trying to score at the end of the first half with 50 seconds left?  Why all the play it safe coaching.  This is Syracuse and we play to win, not just to survive!  How are the kids suppose to build confidence when the coaches don't have it in them?  I would have rather seen us lose by 60 points than to see the ridiculously conservative coaching that I saw on Saturday.  I could go on to fill 20 pages but I'll stop, umm in a minute.  Coach, just listen to the announcers who were a bit surprised with the running plays in a pass situation.  They were thinking the same thing.  The coach must not have confidence in the team to pass it.  This is Syracuse coach, play to win even if it means getting a spanking.  To the players, keep working hard I have confidence in you even with just one game left!  Sorry coach, just doing my normal whining!

11/19 - Well the final stats are in after the last snowfall we had and things are starting to look a little bit more normal for the contest now.  Albany is where they normally are, in the basement.  Binghamton has managed to hold on to their lead and if I remember correctly they did the same thing a few time last year in the early months.  No new snow reported for them so they stay at 4.5 inches on the season.  Syracuse managed to jump from last place to second place with a respectable 2.9 inches for their first snowfall of the year.  Buffalo took over third place with a new total of 2.5 inches and Rochester just picked up a tenth to go to 0.4.  I's scary to think how close Buffalo might of come to blowing us all away at the beginning of the season because a lot of towns around them got up to 2 feet.  That would make it tough for any of us to catch up to them anytime soon.  It's gonna be a good race this year!!!

Syracuse plays Notre Dame today!!!  Ummm, nough said!  Have a great weekend all!

11/18 - It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas, Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow, I'm dreaming of a white Christmas.  Sing a long all!  Ooops, sorry about the singing but I still turn into a sissy man every year when the first snowfall of the season hits us and it finally did .  The ground is covered with the beautiful white stuff making everything bright as can be.  It's not a typical day of gloomy, rainy in DaCuse.  It's a day of white bright fresh snow and all I can say is keep it coming!!!

As for snow totals there isn't a lot reporting yet but so far NOAA is showing 0.7 inches for Syracuse and 0.1 of new snow for Rochester.  Obviously the numbers will change as the day goes on.  Right now looking out the window I'm guessing Syracuse has around 3 - 4 inches of the white gold on the ground.  Notice how I call it white gold today.  Thats because it is only sticking to the grass and not the roads and more importantly not the driveway , which means NO SHOVELING today!  After a few times of shoveling I won't be calling it White Gold anymore, I'll be calling it the White .

Just a quick refresher about the snow stats.  We get them from NOAA which normally reports them on their website a couple of times a day. For Buffalo, Rochester it's something like around 5:30 am and 5:30 pm.  Albany, Syracuse and Binghamton are usually around 12:30 am and 12:30 pm.  That's why sometime you'll see a couple of updates a day here at goldensnowball.com usually only when it's snowing out and there is something to report.

Ok, now on to the Syracuse Orangemen basketball team.  One word comes to mind.  WOW!!!  What a game against Texas Tech and Coach Booby Knight last night.  Has Coach Knight changed his ways?  He was so calm and collective last night that I only read his lips once that had naughty words in what he was saying to one of his players.  Could it be that he has indeed changed his ways?  Nah, I think it came down to it being that he was shell shocked by the overwhelming SU team.  Man, did they play team ball last night or what and look at how well the bench looked, awesome.  Texas Tech isn't as bad of a team as they looked last night so don't blow it off as an easy team we played.  Knight like Coach Jimmy Boehiem knows how to get a team ready for the season and to teach basketball.  Syracuse just really played that good last night and the reason being they played as a team.  What I liked was watching the veteran players teaching and helping the rookie players.  An example was McNamara talking to freshman Eric Devendorf during the timeouts.  You could see him telling him something he should do. Eric did it and when he came back to the sidelines you could see Gerry say something like "see what I mean.  All I can say is the whole team played as a team and if they do that all year, Look out Duke

11/17 Night Update - Well it's about time.  After looking out the window a zillion times today to see nothing but the neighbor looking outside their window it's finally is snowing here in DaCuse.  Bring it on. Tomorrow morning should bring some new updates in snow with maybe a new leader in the contest.  Binghamton, be worried, be very worried about your lead.

On another note.  Go Syracuse Orangemen!  Kick a little bit of Bobby Knights butt tonight   It should be a good one!

11/17 Morning - GO BUFFALO!

Buffalo finally posts some stats for the 2005 - 2006 season reporting 1.3 inches of snow overnight!  Syracuse, yes the snowball champs of champions is the only one not on the board yet this year but.  Look for things to change soon.  Snow is in the forecast and chances are good that Syracuse will make a move to blow past hopefully at least Albany .  It should be interesting to see how the lake effect plays out later today and tonight.  As always, check out the forum to see what the weather experts have to say about our forecast.  When I say experts, myself excluded of course

11/14 - Who is thinking snow after the great weekend we just had.  Nothing wrong with 60 degree days in the middle of November.  On average most of us should have a few inches by now.  I say we call it a season and declare Binghamton the winner.  I've been having people ask me what kind of winter do I think we will have this season.  Don't ask me why they ask me because I know nothing when it comes to jet streams, high and low pressures and so on.  All I know is that when cold air meets warm air all hell usually breaks out and I head down to clean the basement :p  But, isn't there always a But?  I will make my prediction in the very near future for what I think we have ahead of us based on absolutely nothing scientific.

On another note I'm sure some of you realized that we added a shopping section to the website.  Yea, the golden snowball went a little commercial this year.  I started thinking that I deal with hundreds of merchants with my regular business, my real job of online sales.  They send me offers such as coupons and discounts that I can pass along to the visitors of my shopping websites.  I figured I might as well post the deals that the companies I am associated with send me and maybe you can save a few bucks when shopping online.  Anyways just Click Here for Christmas Gifts and Shopping to check it out.

11/12 - Binghamton keeps trying to build it's cushion on the rest of us.  They ended up with another half of an inch to bring their total to 4.5 inches.  By the way, the snow total graph is towards the bottom of the page this year.  Nothing else to report snow wise soooo!

This is definitely my time of the year when it comes to Syracuse sports.  Football still going on or at least still trying to go on, mens and womens basketball starting up.  Can it get any better.  You bet it can.  Today the Syracuse football team is going to show us all that the change of style, hard work and stick to it ness will finally start to pay off with a decent victory over South Florida.  My prediction that Syracuse will win by 17 pts.  I'm also predicting that they will win at least one more game against either Notre Dame or Louisville.  A word to the wise, don't be calling your bookies on my predictions because I'm normally wrong.  But this time I think I'm on.  My normal advise to Coach R, (like he even knows of this site or has come here) is to get the QB out of the pocket with running passes.  They do it well.  Let them scramble.  I know, enough of the couch coaching! Go SU Football

Update 5:00 PM -  South Florida 27 - Syracuse 0 - Now you know why I don't bet!

11/11 - Rochester finally begins their attempt to dethrone Syracuse's 3 year run as King of the snowland.  They picked up 2 tenths of an inch to slip past Albany and go into second place behind Binghamton with a sound 4 inches of total snow on the season.  Syracuse remains in dead last with Buffalo with each showing just a trace so far.  According to one of the weathermen that visits our forum, look for a good chance of some real snow and colder temperatures and decent snowfalls to be coming sooner than you might think.

Ewwwww!!!  Talk about a picture in the morning paper to ruin your breakfast appetite.  An article on the golden snowball award by Sean Kirst came out today in the Wintertime Special of the Post Standard along with a picture.  In my opinion there should always be some kind of warning that states an offensive picture is about to be shown on the next page.  Something like "please proceed at your own risk" or "finish breakfast before continuing".  Yes I'm talking about the picture of me, someone who has never taken a good picture in his entire life.  Even my baby pictures are scary .  As a matter of fact that was my baby picture, see what I'm talking about!  The worst part about it is the skilled photographer who came over to take the picture had to take about 3000 of them just to come up with one that was barely printable.  And why are my eyes always closed in pictures?  I know, enough about me, me, marsha, Marsha, MARSHA!   Sorry, went off to Brady Bunch land for a second.

Sean Kirst as anyone that comes here or have read his columns knows that he has always been my favorite journalist .  Today, another great article about the snowball contest came out hopefully bringing it closer to being a worldwide, national, Ok, at least a regional event for everyone to get psyched about each year.  Syracuse being the snowiest major city (population over 100,000) in the whole United States, possibly the world is something that Syracuse should indeed run with.  For some reason the city doesn't see the potential of all of this.  They must not realize the tens of thousands of people who live for winter.  My self not included as one of them of course.  But there are a ton of people that snowmobile, ski, toboggan, ice fish and the list of winter activities goes on and on.  Imagine drawing people to the city with a wintertime Golden Snowball parade, rename the winterfest the "Golden Snowball Fest" or "The Snowball Festival".  It seems every city has a winter fest, how many have a Golden Snowball festival?  Maybe have something at the beginning of Winter to kick it off.  As NYS tries to reinvent the Erie Canal imagine a yearly parade of Snowmobiles, hundreds of them if not thousands sledding into town from the Erie Canal into the city to join the Golden Snowball parade.  Imagine the national media coverage of an event like that not to mention the money being brought into town from out of Towner's.  The cash flowing into the local merchants registers.  Why is it that people like Sean, Peter Chaston (the originator of the contest), myself and a few others see where this could go but the city leaders don't?  Maybe a big corporation will catch on and sponsor something like this.  Imagine the sponsors that would jump aboard once it was started.  Any other suggestions as to what events could be done in the snowiest city in the US?  Post your ideas Here in the forum and we'll pass them along to the city officials.  Thanks Sean and Hey, Have a Great Weekend All!

11/10 - The prize money for last seasons Golden Snowball contest was once again awarded to a Syracuse city school to help with a coat and clothing drive for the children.  This year we were able to donate $200.00 to Dr. Weeks Elementary School thanks to the help of the teachers at the Liverpool 9th Grade Annex.  They were awesome and raised another $100.00 on top of what goldensnowball.com donates for a grand total of $200.00.  A special thanks to all of the teachers and Mrs. Daignault and Mrs. Johnson for bringing it together.  We still are open to suggestions as to where to donate the 50 bucks to Fulton.  Hmmm, I suppose I could take a ride down there and spend the 50.00 buying a few rounds .  I'm joking, I think.

Snow could be on the ground tomorrow morning.  Binghamton is still kicking butt and Albany is still in second.  That has to be the longest that Albany has been a head of DaCuse, Rochester and Buffalo. A trace to a few inches is in the forecast.  What's with the wind and thunderstorms the last several days?  Jeez, I've never spent so much time in the basement as I have the last week or so.  Yes the truth is out.  The snowman is a little sissy man when it comes to the wind.  Whenever it gets windy out the jokes start flowing from family and friends about me hiding in the basement .  I'm really down there cleaning it.  It just so happens I like to clean the basement when it's storming out . Bring on the snow!!!

October 2005 Daily Rants

10/26 - Wow Binghamton!  They started their snowfall season out pretty big for this time of the year with 3.6 inches being reported for yesterday.  Something isn't right when the south is winning the contest.  Albany looks pretty secure in second place with a whopping 0.1 inches of snow.  It's still hard to believe that Albany was the first city to get snow this year and they were actually in first place for a day.  Here in Syracuse just a trace of snow to report.

Enough of the rain already .  We're going on like a month now of darkness.  I'm sitting in my office / dinning room which has 3 big windows in it and I have to have the light on to see.  It's been like this for weeks now.  Even Alaska doesn't get this much darkness during their no sun season.  Enough already with the rain and bring on the snow.  Well 70 and sunny would work too but that may be a thing of the past. Has anyone seen Sean Kirst today? Sean, could today be the day ?

10/24 -   Let the snow contest begin!!!  You'll never guess who struck first in this years golden snowball contest.  Albany is in first place!  Albany is winning the Golden Snowball and no this isn't a misprint.  They picked up .01 inches of snowfall yesterday.  If your new to the contest lets just say this will probably be one of the few times that Albany will hold the lead.  Anyways, Congrats to Albany for being the first this year.

On another note if any of you happen to stop by the forum you would of seen that a prediction was made there by Daver about a real possibility than snow would be falling on or about Monday.  It looks like he nailed it dead on.  Snow fell Sunday with several inches reported in some of the areas in CNY and as I type there is a winter storm watch in effect with the possibility of several inches being picked up between tonight and tomorrow night.  We'll have to wait and see how it pans out.  Hey, have a Great week all.

10/22 - Pre-Interview  I'm a wreck!  Now I'm not the type who normally gets real nervous with interviews about the contest because they have always been telephone interviews in the past.  This one is an on camera interview .  It's going to be done by Jeff Sharon and Ari Ashe from the S.I. Newhouse School of Communications.

I think the reason I'm nervous is because with the phone interviews no one gets to actually see me and the worse I can really do is say something stupid.  Anyone that knows me expects that to begin with so I always take that in stride.  But now my cover will be blown.  The whole world will finally get to see that the Golden Snow Dude in real life looks and acts like a Dork.  Ok, maybe not the whole world will see it and just the students at SU but still.  They'll see I'm Not the smooth, cool snowball dude who gives great interviews on the phone.  Instead it will be me in panic mode stumbling on every word and most likely not sticking a foot in my mouth but both feet

Don't do's before an Interview - Don't wait until the day before to get a haircut.  I was long overdue for one, probably about 2 months overdue and I decided this would be a good time to get one.  So I tell the stylist that I want it kind of short but not real short.  Not short like a brush cut.  Well she didn't cut it short like a brush cut, she cut it shorter than one.  As a matter of fact she might as well have just taken out a razor and shaved my head because it's pretty close to what it looks like .  Kojak has nothing on me now.

Another don't do is don't decide to try the Grecians stuff on your mustache and beard the day of the interview especially when you don't have a clue as to what your doing.  You know the stuff that will turn they grey hair to brown.  Well the Golden Snowball idiot did just that.  So now I have a very colorful face.  A little grey, some brown and a touch of black.  I have a Halloween party tomorrow night so I suppose I'm all set for it.  Maybe a  little yellow and red in my hair and I can go as rainbow head man.

The Interview - Ari and Jeff showed up right on time.  After a couple of minutes of talking to Jeff and Ari I wasn't nervous anymore.  They were both pretty cool and professional and I calmed down pretty fast.  They both asked some good questions about the contest and I actually had a good time doing the interview.  It was fun watching how they were putting a story together.

 If I were their professor I would give them an A+ on the assignment for a couple of reasons.  The obvious being look at the subject they had to work with.  The dorky snowball dude .  Plus the fact that I was relaxed the whole time is a plus for them.  I know I am rambling on again.  Get use to it.  Anyways, thanks Jeff and Ari.  It was fun and I hope it turns out good for the both of you.  Oh, by the way you two forgot to get my address to send the money to for adding the A+ comment.   Ooops, there I go thinking out loud again

10/15/05 - Well it is getting closer to that time again.  Yea, I know shut up!  I just wanted to post a couple of new things in the works this year for the site.  I've been talking to a couple of teachers in the Liverpool school district and they might have their students make the graph and keep the stats this year which should be a pretty good learning experience for them.  They also plan on making a donation to the contest which will be nice.  Jeeze, SU just fumbled the ball .  Sorry, where was I? If you have a couple of bucks to donate, drop us an email.  Each year we donate to the winning city with the donations going to some kind of needy cause.  Hey, even if it's just a buck it will help.  I'll be making a page up in the near future to list people who have donated. 

Time to watch the DaCuse beat up on Rutgers .  If anyone sees the coach will they PLEASE tell him to have Patterson pass out of the pocket and on the run.  The guy does great at spotting receivers on the move .  Yes, if you've visited here before you know I'm a couch coach also.  Have a Great weekend all.