The passing of Bill Mazeroski brought back so many great moments with the Pirates when they were a team we took pride in.

There was the man himself, Maz, his historic home run, his outstanding defensive ability and, maybe above all, his humility and sound character.

Well over a decade ago, I had occasion to meet Maz on a trip my sister and I took to the Finger Lakes area of New York.

We were checking into a motel behind a man with his back to us who was having a hard time with the registration clerk, making her understand how his name was pronounced and spelled.

There was no question in our minds who the man was — Maz!

We effusively greeted Maz and helped the clerk register him. Then, of course, we lavished praise and excitement at meeting him, explaining how much we loved the Pirates and how excited we had been in high school when he hit the home run in 1960.

He graciously expressed disbelief that we could have recalled his home run then, since we could not possibly be that old. Of course, that endeared us to him even more.

Thanks for the memories, Maz.

Kathie Richardson

Hollidaysburg

Idle thoughts for good of order

Some things I think I think:

n To offensive football coordinators who believe they need to put a paper in front of their mouth as they call in the play to the QB: No one is lip-reading signals, and they’re in team gibberish/code.

n Pro golfers taking three minutes to read a six-foot putt. A couple of years ago, one pro tourney had a 20-second rule when it was your turn. They loved it, the fans loved it, so let’s put a “shot clock” on that says you have 30 seconds to hit the ball. It has trickled down to your average 30-handicapper playing Mud Hills C.C. If baseball can speed up the game, so can golf.

n Dunks being worth more than one point in the NBA. OK, no one watches anymore, but still, spice things up by making layups and dunks worth one, then have a two, three, and even a four-point line. Give credit to talent, not genetics.

n Field goals worth what the yardage dictates — one point up to four. Narrow the goal posts again, and stop the nonsense of special kicking balls. The teams must have to kick the ball used for the last three downs.

n Shootouts in soccer are just dumb, but again few care. But why did hockey go that route? Of course no one wants two or three full periods of overtime. Decide hockey with two minutes for each team 4-on-3. If the shorthanded team scores, game over.

n It used to be kids tried to excel in a sport to maybe get a full or partial ride scholarship, gain an education and good job prospects. Now we have sports camps and travel teams and focus on that one sport and voila — NIL money in college that have turned colleges into semi-pro minor leagues. How long until the high schools are infested?

Joe Maschue

Altoona