The four teams in the boys AA semifinals today are Peekskill, Panas, Pearl River and Port Chester. All P’s.

You don’t get this kind analysis anywhere else.

I’m just wondering if any of them can step up and knock off undefeated Peekskill, which has a larger mission: To win an unprecedented fourth consecutive state championship. Remember, the Red Devils nearly got booted out of the throne by Lakeland at County Center last year, then ran the table.

Port Chester is always here, and always comes up short, and I think it would be a big upset for the Rams to beat Peekskill. But it would be an interesting final, if that’s what the matchup turns out to be.

UPDATE AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS POST. …

Don’t mean to beat the same topic to death, but because of the stuff I’ve written about stuffs, a colleague just asked me “What’s the best dunk you’ve seen this week.”

And you know what? There hasn’t been a single dunk yet, in three days of semifinals.

But that will change in the next half an hour. Mount Vernon is playing Scarsdale in the AA semi at 4:30 and the Knights open up most games with a set alley-oop play in which Kevin Jones wins the tap and Sherrod Wright sneaks backdoor the basket to slam it home.

Scarsdale surely knows this, but can the Raiders stop it? Kevin Devaney just told me he expects Scarsdale to lose the tap on purpose in order to defend against the opening slam. We’ll see. If it doesn’t happen off the tap, though, there will be a dunk in this game at some point. I’d bet my car on it (I wouldn’t be sad to see it go, as long as the golf clubs aren’t in the trunk at the time).

Meanhile, keep those suggestions coming. This “best dunkers ever” thing is finally gaining some momentum. See the post below to add your faves.

UPDATE: Mount Vernon 78, Scarsdale 49 and still no dunks this Championship Week. Sherrod Wright had one that he clanged and the ball bounced in anyway, and then he had another semi-dunk—hard to explain, he was above therim and threw it down, but it really wasn’t a slam. So, with two girls games tonight, we expect to go into Day 5 tomorrow still awaiting a slam dunk. I imagine there will be a few in the Class A games, with Port Chester’s 6-11 Jordan Henriquez, and Peekskill’s Mookie Jones and Elliot SWAT-son.

Of the five classes in which one or both finalists have already been determined, the No. 2 seed is alive in every one of them:

No. 2 Keio will play No. 4 Tuckahoe for the boys Class C title Saturday.

No. 2 Blind Brook will play No. 1 Haldane for the girls Class C title Saturday.

No. 2 Briarcliff will play No. 1 North Salem for the boys Class B championship Saturday.

No. 2 Briarcliff will play the winner of No. 1 Albertus Magnus and No. 5 Irvington (ongoing now, Magnus up by nine in the third quarter) for the girls Class B championship Saturday.

No. 2 Poughkeepsie will play tomorrow’s winner of No. 1 Mount Vernon and No. 4 Scarsdale for the boys AA championship Sunday.

As for the other classes, the only No. 2 seeds still alive in semifinals are No. 2 Port Chester in boys A, and No. 2 Spring Valley in girls A.

Just awaiting today’s first heavyweight basketball game at County Center—New Ro vs. Poughkeepsie. And still awaiting—and will all week—your nominations for the greatest area dunkers of all-time. See the post below to throw some names out there. The list is getting really long.

So some thoughts on other stuff:

Billy Wagner was annoyed yesterday when a U. of Michigan player bunted on him. Hey, Billy, it’s the fourth inning of a 2-2 game. What are the kids supposed to do, let you strike them out? Try to lose so you don’t have to field a bunt? They’re playing the game, which is, afterall, a game. If you don’t think the Mets should be playing Michigan, take it up with Omar. If you don’t want to pitch against Michigan, take it up with Willie. Otherwise, if you’re going to pitch in A GAME, shut up and pitch.

A local basketball coach had this take on the NHL’s trade deadline, and he’s absolutely right: “It’s mostly my garbage for your garbage.” The Islanders got rid of the biggest pile of garbage, Chris Simon. The Rangers traded garbage that wasn’t always garbage (Al Montoya) until they made him garbage. That’s why you deal a prospect when he’s a prospect, especially if you no longer think he’s a prospect. And what’s going on with Colorado? Trying to recreate the old Stanley Cup teams with Forsberg and Foote. What, Patrick Roy and Ray Bourque didn’t want to come out of retirement?

Jose Reyes said he’s going to tone it down this year. Well, whether he does or not—and we could certainly do with a little less fancy dancing, at least until he gets to the dugout, and fewer complicated handshakes—he ought to turn up some of his energy in one area: Running out little ground balls.

*-this is a list from court-siders, etc., at County Center this week, of the best dunkers in the history of area basketball. It is by no means meant to be a defining list, and surely we will have left some great dunkers off the list. So if you have any favorites, please feel free to add them via your comments below.

Also, we borrowed a few of the more recent dunk doctors from Kevin Devaney’s blog.

Those listed are in no particular order.

We apologize in advance for any misspellings of names, starting with the first one. We’re working from memory and suggestions here. Thanks

Rasul Salahuddin, Mount Vernon.
Bill Pleas, Mount Vernon.
Al Collins, Port Chester.
Andre Battle, Yonkers.
Daymon Yizar, Rye Neck.
Lowes Moore, Mount Vernon.
Curtis Moore, Mount Vernon.
Bill Brickhouse, Peekskill.
Bernard Toone, Gorton.
Charlie Criss, Gorton.
George Finney, Hamilton.
Eddie “Sky” Walker, Ossining.
Ray Williams, Mount Vernon.
Ed Felix, Yonkers.
Ben Gordon, Mount Vernon.
Wayne Penn, Hamilton.
Mike Young, Mount Vernon.
Kenny Wilkens, Somers.
Bill Schwartzkopf, Westlake.
Jason Ston, Blind Brook.
Greg Draddy, Rye.
Rashad James, White Plains.
Sherrod Wright, Mount Vernon.
Mookie Jones, Peekskill.
Mike Kach, Carmel.
Kevin Jones, Mount Vernon.
Jimmy McGhee, New Rochelle.
Geoff McDermott, New Rochelle.
Elton Brand, Peekskill.
Shawn James, Peekskill.
Melquan Bolding, Stepinac.
Keith Benjamin, Mount Vernon.
Taj Finger, Fox Lane.
Eric Mingo, Martin Luther King.
Billy Tibbs, Hamilton.
Curtis Dennis, Blessed Sacrament.

PS, for a period in the late 1960s and early 1970s, dunking was prohibited in high school basketball. We’re told that in those days, people would get to games early—even the referees would come out onto the court early—to watch teams such as the great ‘71 Mount Vernon team throw ‘em down during layup lines.

I’ve already gotten some responses to the intentionally incomplete list of names of all-time HS basketball dunkers in my column today in The Journal News and on LoHud.com.

I am going through them with my unofficial histrorical staff (the long-timers on the County Center sideline) and later today I’ll post a list of some of the best ever. If you have any nominees, please send them along.

Also, click here to read my column about why dunks still excite us, after all these years.

Maybe the best thing about the Tuckahoe boys’ victory yesterday, in addition to the closing 12-0 run for a two-point win over Blind Brook, was that it means maybe the national anthem singer will be back on Saturday. I will get his name later, but this gentleman from Tuckahoe was one of the best we’ve ever had at the County Center (more than a hint of Nat King Cole in his voice). Great job, sir.

Also, cool and appropriate, was the moment of silence for Eli Strand, the Tuckahoe resident and devout Tigers booster, former NFLer and social activist who used to sit for just about every second of Championship Week behind press row. We’d have conversations, and we’d laugh and argue, and you could have nothing but respect for the man. He passed away Jan. 2, and somebody put a placard with his name on his empty seat yesterday.

Changing gears, kind of sounds like maybe it wasn’t such a good idea for Roger Clemens to try to shout down his accusers and doubters, because now the truth is bound to come out, and now he may be facing much worse than a soiled reputation, huh?

And can we please stop saying how wonderful Andy Pettitte is for telling the truth. He lied at first and said he didn’t use, then he lied again and said he only used twice (because that’s what McNamee said in the Mitchell Report) and we don’t know if he’s lying again saying he used twice more, when he injected himself with the HGH his dad had scored. (nice throwing Dad under the truck). It seems to me that you’ve got to be a pretty hard-core user before you can start injecting yourself, right?

It took until the second game until we had a barn-burner in Championship Week. Tuckahoe came from behind with a 12-0 closing run and beat Blind Brook 41-39 in the boys Class C semifinal.

In the first game, Keio beat Leake & Watts in a very competitive game, and while that didn’t go to the wire, it was an event as it always is with Keio’s enthusiastic, singing, chanting student body in the balcony.

So we’re 2-for-2 and off and running. This is going to be a great week if this keeps up.

I’m working on a column for The Journal News and LoHud.com tomorrow on why we still get excited over dunks. I mean, they’ve been done to death, and for the big guys to get up and dunk takes about the same effort as me typing my name—or eating one of the many French fries that will be consumed here this week.

Yet we are mesmerised by the dunks. We anticipate them, and we are ejected from our seats when they happen, and the big guys still love to do it.

A couple of stories in the recent SportsBusiness Journal:

1) That the Yankees won’t sell naming rights to the new Yankee Stadium, but that they are offering a major sponsorship for the nice sum of $20 million.

So are they going to pass that windfall on to the patrons? Fat chance.

2) That the Yankees’ top ticket price in the new stadium will be as high as $2,500. No, that’s not season tickets. That’s one seat, for one game! One regular-season game. Against Tampa Bay, probably.

People always write to me saying that the cost of player salaries aren’t related to ticket prices, and to an extent I believe that. Why? Because pro sports teams will take, take, take as much as they can possibly squeeze out of their fans, whether payroll is $220 million or $30 million. But that doesn’t mean your higher ticket prices aren’t going into the pockets of, say, Carl Pavano or Kei Igawa. And the Yankees are going to milk and bilk every last penny out of the demand this new stadium brings—especially since it seats fewer fans than the old stadium.

I know, the schedule for Section 1 basketball’s Championship Week that was on the site today was hard to read.

So here’s a cleaner version:

Championship Week

(At County Center, White Plains)

Monday, Feb. 25
Boys C semifinal: No. 2 Keio vs. No. 3 Leake & Watts, 4:30 p.m.
Boys C semifinal: No. 1 Blind Brook vs. No. 4 Tuckahoe, 6:15 p.m.
Girls C semifinal: No. 2 Blind Brook vs. No. 3 Tuckahoe, 8 p.m.

Tuesday, Feb. 26
Girls C semifinal: No. 1 Haldane vs. No. 4 Valhalla, 4:30 p.m.
Girls B semifinal: No. 2 Briarcliff vs. No. 3 Woodlands, 6:15 p.m.
Boys B semifinal: No. 1 North Salem vs. No. 4 Irvington, 8 p.m.

Wednesday, Feb. 27
Boys AA semifinal: No. 2 Poughkeepsie vs. No. 6 New Rochelle, 4:30 p.m.
Boys B semifinal: No. 2 Briarcliff vs. No. 3 Albertus Magnus, 6:15 p.m.
Girls B semifinal: No. 1 Albertus Magnus vs. No. 5 Irvington, 8 p.m.

Thursday, Feb. 28
Boys AA semifinal: No. 1 Mount Vernon vs. No. 4 Scarsdale, 4:30 p.m.
Girls AA semifinal: No. 1 Mount Vernon vs. No. 4 Lourdes, 6:15 p.m.
Girls AA semifinal: No. 6 North Rockland vs. No. 10 White Plains, 8 p.m.

Friday, Feb. 29
Boys A semifinal: No. 1 Peekskill vs. No. 12 Panas, 3:30 p.m.
Boys A semifinal: No. 2 Port Chester vs. No. 3 Pearl River, 5:15 p.m.
Girls A semifinal: No. 2 Spring Valley vs. No. 6 Pearl River, 7 p.m.
Girls A semifinal: No. 1 Beacon vs. No. 4 Byram Hills, 8:45 p.m.

Saturday, March 1
Boys C championship: noon.
Girls C championship: 2 p.m.
Boys B championship: 5 p.m.
Girls B championship: 7 p.m.

Sunday, March 2
Boys AA championship: noon.
Girls AA championship: 2 p.m.
Girls A championship:  5:15 p.m.
Boys A championship: 7:15 p.m.