We are so, so lucky as sports fans to be living in an area where championships aren’t just the hope, they are the expectation. Since 1971, there have been 16 major sports titles won by teams from central and western PA, including the Steelers (6), Penguins (5), Pirates (2), Penn State ...
TRENTON, N.J. — A win tonight would cap a remarkable season for the Curve by giving them a clean sweep of the Eastern League playoffs and just the second championship in franchise history. This is a terrific Double-A team. And the key word is team. The Curve’s tremendous pitching is ...
I usually spend this Monday column looking ahead to Penn State’s next opponent or weekly story lines, but despite what James Franklin says, no one in the world considers playing Georgia State like the Super Bowl. So, let’s take one last look back at that doozy of a comment Franklin tossed ...
Nostalgia is very nice. I, for one, listen to nothing but 1980s music and still dress like it’s 1996, so I know plenty about getting stuck in the past. The rivalry with Pitt is a huge part of Penn State’s past. And for a legion of Nittany Lion fans — older ones who grew up with the ...
Brad Eldred is the best pure power hitter I’ve ever seen covering the minor leagues, and it may surprise some people to know that he’s still launching home runs in impressive numbers. Two days ago, Eldred blasted the 400th home run of his career while playing for Hiroshima in the Japanese ...
UNIVERSITY PARK — Penn State could have a Heisman Trophy winner this season, but don’t just assume it would be Saquon Barkley. As good as the stellar running back was last season, the view here is that quarterback Trace McSorley was more deserving of Heisman consideration. I vote for ...
The Pirates have an interesting decision to make with shortstop Jordy Mercer, and it’s not making matters easy for them that the Curve’s Kevin Newman is having a down year so far at the plate. Newman is the Bucs’ shortstop of the future. A first-round draft pick in 2015, he can hit for ...
Two brothers who come from 7,884 miles away in Taiwan will find themselves separated by one foot tonight playing minor league baseball on opposing teams in central Pennsylvania. Talk about a small world. Jin-De Jhang will be behind the plate at catcher tonight for the Curve, and probably in ...
While we wait for the inevitable contract extension for James Franklin following a terrific 2016 season, one thing that’s interesting to start thinking about is how long he will remain Penn State’s coach. Ten more years? Fifteen? Longer? It may seem a bit presumptuous to throw out such ...
ESPN dropped the hammer on a bunch of its best sports journalists last week, and whether you realize it yet or not, fans are going to lose out in a big way because of it. We are going to lose out on some great reporting and insightful storytelling from experts who are on the ground, actually ...
Commentary Blair County is already well represented on the Penn State football team, and that could only continue to grow in the coming years. Altoona’s Kevin Givens gets a lot of the attention, and rightfully so, as the redshirt sophomore defensive tackle appears to be on a path to having ...
Baseball is changing right before our eyes, and will continue to do so, as more and more hitters begin to understand that a once-seemingly dumb idea is now the smart way to go. Hit the ball in the air. Don’t swing down or necessarily even level, as we were all taught when we first picked ...
HARRISBURG — The start of any minor league baseball season includes frequent — and quite often meaningless — discussions about where so and so falls on a list of prospect rankings. Those are important, and can be a starting point to determine which players to watch for. But in a lot of ...
It takes baseball a long time to make changes, as we all know, but there finally will be a big and very welcome change coming to some local ballparks. The Pirates announced earlier this week that they will be extending the protective netting to the end of each dugout at PNC Park. The Curve ...
Ambition is a wonderful thing. To be the best, it takes courage to try new things, to take risks, to think big and never settle for the status quo. Thinking outside the box and trying something different are how you become great. If you can pull it off. Penn State is attempting to do ...
Welcome to the glorious national holiday known as Selection Sunday, which unfortunately and sadly once again means nothing to any of our local Division I college basketball teams. As someone who loves the college game and watches hundreds of hours from around the country each season, here are ...
Commentary EMMITSBURG, Md. — Let’s get the easy stuff out of the way first: Rob Krimmel has done a fantastic job bringing Saint Francis basketball back to a level of prominence, and the program is in very good shape with a ton of young talent. Saint Francis was picked to finish ninth in ...
Young people often are oblivious to the past, which can create some problems in the real world, especially when the youngsters repeat the same mistakes others made before them. In sports, though, being young and oblivious can have major benefits. Young athletes don’t worry about whatever ...
LORETTO — The Saint Francis men’s basketball program has almost always, even during its leanest years, had one or two really good players. The problem, though, is that there usually was a significant dropoff in the team’s talent after those one or two guys. The Red Flash lost a lot of ...
Altoona closed its match strong, winning the final four bouts, including three by fall, to carve out a 42-36 victory over visiting Mifflin County Wednesday night in high school wrestling action. With Altoona trailing 36-24 the Mountain Lions’ Jerrell Kephart (138 pounds), Kobe Harr (145) ...