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Father’s Day should always be special

By Jim Lane For the Mirror Editor’s note: Retired Mirror sports editor Jim Lane wrote this column after his dad, Kermit Lane, passed away in 1987. It’s reprinted every Father’s Day. Sunday is Father’s Day. It’s a chance to tell your favorite guy thanks for all he’s been and done for you over the years. It’s usually celebrated with a small gift, perhaps a shirt or tie or wallet. In many cases, few words are expressed. And that’s a shame. I wrote this Father’s Day column a couple of weeks after my dad died because I missed him. I still do. A day doesn’t pass ...

We can all agree: ‘That’s baseball, Suzyn’

By Steve Roberts Andrews McMeel Syndicate I heard this story from former Sen. Jack Danforth many years ago. An ordained minister, he would occasionally conduct evening services at the National Cathedral, which sits atop the highest point in Washington. So it gets the best radio reception in the region. On summer nights, long before satellite transmissions, a dozen cars would be parked near the cathedral. But their occupants were worshipping a different god than the parishioners gathered inside the sanctuary. They were listening to baseball on their car radios, tuned to the ...

Fan attire can only carry a team so far

By Jim Caltagirone For the Mirror The marketing mavens of the Indiana Pacers dressed the team’s fans in Gold Out T-shirts for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, seeking to provide their team with every possible advantage in an elimination game against the Celtics. While the fashion statement made quite an impression on national TV, the T-shirts failed to score a basket or block a shot, and the Pacers were swept out of the NBA playoffs. At Penn State football games, the White Out experience long ago completed the evolution from gimmick to tradition. However, despite ...

City of Dallas buzzing for Mavs, Stars fans

By Schuyler Dixon The Associated Press DALLAS — Dereck Lively II of the Dallas Mavericks tossed the question back at the reporter when the rookie center was asked if he knew why so many fans shouted “Stars” during the national anthem at his home games. “You tell me why,” Lively said, prompting the explanation that supporters of Dallas’ NBA team were offering a shoutout to fans of the NHL’s Stars, who for years have yelled their team’s nickname both times it comes up during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” “I definitely had a sneaking suspicion, but I didn’t ...

Golfers have been arrested before during tourneys

By Eric Olson The Associated Press Scottie Scheffler’s arrest hours before his second-round tee time at the PGA Championship in Louisville, Kentucky, will go down as one of the most shocking in professional golf history. It certainly wasn’t the first, though. Tiger Woods and John Daly are probably the highest-profile golfers to wear handcuffs, but Scheffler’s arrest is very different because it happened while he was competing in a tournament — a major championship, no less. Woods was arrested in 2017 on suspicion of driving under the influence when he was found asleep in ...

Conklin’s proposal to separate PIAA championships misses mark

By Jim Caltagirone For the Mirror Ah, the annual rites of spring in central Pennsylvania. Temperatures are rising, flowers are blooming and consternation is peaking over the number of private, charter and parochial schools that won 2024 PIAA boys and girls basketball championships. A significant difference this year is that State Representative Scott Conklin of Centre County has injected himself into the discussion of the hottest recurring topic in PA scholastic sports. Conklin is the prime sponsor of a bill which proposes that the PIAA be allowed to establish separate playoff ...