Sportsmanship reminders from the Little Leaguers

August 22, 2017

This year’s Little League World Series in Williamsport had an extremely cool added twist: a Major League baseball game for the tournament teams and lots of time with some of their big league idols from the Pittsburgh Pirates and St. Louis Cardinals. The youth tournament is one of the most interesting amateur sporting events in the country, with young players from around the globe competing in the spirit of fun and friendship with the backdrop of baseball. Nationally televised by ABC or ESPN since the early 1960s, the coverage, and interest has increased with each passing decade. ...

Larson gives glimpse of NASCAR future

August 15, 2017

Just last week, former NASCAR Cup champion Kevin Harvick speculated that stock car racing’s failure to draw more fans in recent years was due in part to the fact that the “sport’s most popular driver is not their most successful driver.” While Dale Earnhardt Jr. reportedly called those comments “hurtful,” NASCAR teams and officials continue to try to solve the dilemma of the sport’s declining attendance, even as Earnhardt prepares to retire at the end of this season. Sunday’s race may provide a clue to finding a crucial piece of that puzzle: a fantastic finish by a ...

Outdoors recreation for the birds

August 8, 2017

Famous aviator, Charles Lindberg said, “I’d rather have birds than airplanes.” Their sound greets us every morning and lulls us to sleep every night: the chirping, cooing and whip-poor-willing of the winged population that lives around our wooded home. If we step out onto our deck at any time of the day, or open the windows on a cool summer evening, we can eavesdrop on their ongoing chatter: the cheerful songs of orioles and sparrows, the alarm-sounding of the blue jays, and the calming coos of the mourning doves. They all seem to be talking at the same time, like they’re ...

August brings anticipation in the air

August 1, 2017

Some summertime sports observations, while wondering how August came upon us so fast… While we don’t want to wish away these beautiful summertime days, fall and football is fast approaching. As soon as July 4 is over, stores are brimming with back-to-school displays and the new styles of clothing. Weight training and heat acclimation practices will give way to full-fledged two-a-days for scholastic football teams, with the fall sports schedule less than one month away. This is a great time of year for high school athletics, when team building and skill development take center ...

PSU backers: Pitt fans are people, too

July 25, 2017

Some of the best people I know are Pitt fans. I say that somewhat reluctantly, because growing up in a Penn State household, those words would have been almost sacrilegious. You know the old line: “I’m for Penn State and whoever is playing Pitt this week.” We’d say that pretty much every week during football season. It was the greatest rivalry in the world (or so we were taught to believe) and the biggest and most exciting game of the season. The rivalry is what made it so thrilling. Of course, it was all in fun, for the most part: the Pitt-Penn State rivalry offered ...

Exercise and charity: a win-win combination

July 18, 2017

Some general observations while enjoying a summer of recreation and charity, which seem to go hand in hand, now even more than ever. I remember as a kid in elementary school, collecting pledges for CROP walks: church-related walk-a-thons to benefit the hungry. We’d collect a few cents per lap around the track, and then push ourselves to walk as far as we could, knowing the farther we walked, the more money we raised to feed the needy. In college, there were bounce-a-thons, and of course the famous Penn State dance-a THON, taking charity/physical activity to another level. Today, ...