Leading off today: Ah, that Bucky Gleason lad over at The Buffalo News is raising all sorts of trouble with a column that has the audacity to tell adults they should behave like . . . well, adults.

   "High school football opens this weekend, kicking off the fall sports season," he wrote this week. "Please, I'm begging people to back off so the coach can coach, the kids can play and enjoy a positive experience. Unless it's a safety issue, the only time parents should speak to coaches about anything related to the game is when they thank them after the season."

   Yeah, good luck with that.

   By and large, Gleason's column is on the mark, right from the opening premise that some real behavior problems have crept into high school sports in the last 25 years — and he's not talking about showboating in the field. To drag out lingo from my old days in college radio, parents are pinning into the red on the obnoxious-o-meter.

   "It's ridiculous, and we have a nation of soft kids because of it," former Dunkirk and Orchard Park football coach Dan Elvin told Gleason. "How smart are you when you do that? Good God, what kind of parents are you? Think about what you're doing with these kids and the way you're trying to raise these kids, with no respect for authority. The kids are just soft — plain old soft with the capital 'S.'"

   Take a look at the whole piece here when you have a moment.

   Home-field advantage: As long as we're acknowledging interesting preseason work, there's Mira Wassef's story for The Times Herald-Record about the home-field advantage.

   It delves into questionable behavior by bands, public-address announcers and fans. When you stop and think about it, well-times music can be as good as sneaking a 12th defender onto the field — and every bit as shady.

   Saratoga coach honored: Saratoga tennis coach Rich Johns has been named one of two national winners of the U.S. Tennis Association's No-Cut Starfish Award, it was announced today.

   Johns, whose teams have rolled up 17 league championships and nine Section 2 titles, and Angel Martinez of Grapevine (Texas) High were presented their awards at the 39th annual USTA Tennis Teachers

Conference in New York City. The award honors coaches who who adhere to a no-cut policy for their teams.

   Off to a horrible start: A coach and a referee died in separate incidents Friday as football season opened in Alabama.

   Lincoln High head coach Keith Howard complained of chest pains during halftime of his team's victory at Etowah High in Attalla and was rushed to the hospital where, he died following a heart attack.

   Meanwhile in Dothan, referee James Parrish collapsed and died while working a game.

   New on the Web . . . Rich Thomaselli, who wrote for The Poughkeepsie Journal awhile ago, has launched a new online venture. Hudson Valley Sports Report is targeted at the athletic scene in Dutchess and Ulster counties, including high schools.

   Thomaselli has been developing the concept and architecture since the beginning of the year and has been working behind the scenes to enlist cooperation from coaches and ADs, which is crucial for launching this sort of venture.

   It's another example of non-traditional media entering the scene at a time when a lot of newspapers are reeling and TV news sportscasts consist of two-minute whirlwinds.

   Which leads me to . . .

   Improved on the Web . . . I've consistently criticized user forums and the comment fields beneath articles on the web because they promote cowardly, unsubstantiated attacks by morons who hide behind aliases. But that doesn't mean that such sites can't grow into something with a lot of potential.

   As an example, take note of SectionV.Talksback.com, which reached out to boys soccer coaches last month for information for previews and received a lot of help in compiling the sort of team-by-team capsules that used to be newspapers' bread and butter.

   It's not a great big leap of faith to picture SectionV.Talksback.com hitting a home run in November and December by previewing all 230 or so boys and girls basketball teams in the section, which would be a significant moment locally in the evolution of new media.