Charlie Voelker

Growing up near the ocean, one thing became abundantly clear, don't mess with the force of water. Being wiped out by a six foot wave, while you are body-surfing is one thing. Being on a boat when a 20 foot wave comes over the top, is another story. On Sunday, four lucky sailors found out how much damage water can do.

Little League baseball seems like a right of passage for boys and girls. 2.6 million kids play Little League baseball each year. Though, the experience is mostly fun and happiness, tragedy comes to the plate at times and sadness prevails.

When Brooklyn Nets general manager Sean Marks traded James Harden to the Philadelphia 76ers in mid-February, he was essentially making a big bet. Now, down 0-3 to the Boston Celtics in the first round of the NBA Playoffs, we may be seeing how that bet paid off. Essentially, the 46-year-old Nets executive bet on three players in that transaction and unfortunately for Brooklyn fans, it appears that he got it wrong.

The simple answer is, yes. Many golf historians will tell you that the legendary Walter Hagen was the best golfer ever to come out of the Empire State. Hagen's 11-major championships put him in third place on the all-time list behind Jack Nicklaus with 18 majors and Tiger Woods with 15. However, the Rochester, New York native only played in one Masters tournament in 1936 and tied for 11th place.

Lottery theft in New York State is hardly a rare occurrence. Just back in November a Long Island woman was charged with stealing winnings from a $1 million lottery ticket from her own cousin. Then there was the father and son convenience store owning duo in New York City that scammed their own customer out of a $1 million dollar winning ticket. The lottery is an easy target for thieves.

There is that old saying, 'when you're hot, you're hot.' Sometimes it just goes that way. Well, a small smoke shop in New York is red hot! They have sold 4 winning lottery tickets for more than $50,000 since Christmas and the biggest was a monster prize!

2s-day, 2-2-22 is a pretty cool day to celebrate one of the greatest sporting events in U.S. Olympic history and it occurred just up the road from the Capital Region. The "Miracle on Ice" happened 4(2) years ago 2 the day in Lake Placid! Few moments in the memory banks of viewers lucky enough witness and hear ABC-TV's Al Michaels ask the english speaking world, "Do you believe in miracles?"

When today's large rock bands, with elaborate stage shows and video backgrounds that synchronize with the music, they have to find a place to work out the kinks before playing in front of sell-out crowds. Albany's MVP Arena seems to be just the place for one of the music industries hottest artists. On Thursday, John Mayer kicked off his "Sob Rock" tour in downtown Albany but Mayer and his massive stage crew showed up four days early to get things right.

New York Yankees manager Aaron Boone has a ton of time to think about his pitching rotation these days. One problem is, he doesn't know who is doing well coming off of injuries and who is not. Nor does he know who general manager Brian Cashman will be able to add via trade or free agency. As the players are locked out of team facilities, communication between organizational staff and their players is supposed to be non-existent. From everything that I can gather, that is true. So, let's give the manager some help and design a realistic starting five to take the Bombers back to the World Series.

Last night, the Madison Garden Crowd was giving it to their home team, as New York came out and played a sluggish first half. Boston led by as many as 25 and the boo birds were targeting Knicks star forward Julius Randle. Then, in the 4th quarter, with New York in the midst of an amazing comeback, Randle made that familiar 'thumb down' gesture towards the fans. Uh, oh...What are these athletes thinking? Like, New Yorkers are going to stop when you do that to them? You'll get a finger right back and it won't be the thumb!