McHugh, teammates celebrate title

April 2, 2019

With much of the country focused on basketball’s March Madness, and much of our region avidly following the Nittany Lion Wrestling team’s dynastic eighth national title in nine years, Penn State swimmer Ally McHugh quietly made program history, capturing the women’s swimming and diving team’s first-ever NCAA title. The senior captain finished the 1650 freestyle eight seconds faster than her Big Ten Championship winning time just a few weeks before, and an impressive five seconds ahead of the silver medalist. Earlier in the NCAA meet, McHugh marked another milestone with a ...

Celebrating chances to ‘Dream Crazier’

March 19, 2019

It was one of the most talked-about commercials to air during the Academy Awards broadcast: Serena Williams narrating Nike’s “Dream Crazier” message featuring women in sports. The commercial opened with the tennis legend describing common labels about women: emotional, dramatic, delusional, unhinged, and even crazy. But then came images depicting pioneers in women’s athletics, like a woman running away from people trying to physically pull her out of a marathon (similar to Katherine Switzer’s experience in the 1967 Boston Marathon.) Cut to women boxing, dunking a ...

Boys of summer start in the spring

February 19, 2019

They are four of the most anticipated words in sports: pitchers and catchers report. Four months after the World Series, baseball’s best are back at it, reporting for spring training at warm weather venues, and pre-season play in leagues that even sound sunny: cactus and grapefruit. These warmups to the regular season are more than a training ground, where seasoned veterans shake off the dust and young prospects look to prove themselves. And it’s more than a welcome break from the wind, snow and ice of the northeastern winter. Spring training is a fun and friendly baseball ...

Super and not-so-super observations

February 5, 2019

Some general observations from the biggest football game of the year, which was far less interesting than many of the commercials: n Overnight television ratings for Super Bowl LIII came in as the lowest in a decade (when the Steelers defeated Arizona in 2009.) Some pundits attribute the decline since even last year’s New England-Philadelphia match-up to “Patriot Fatigue.” n A Seton Hall Sports Poll prior to the championship game revealed that nearly half of those who responded admitted to being tired of New England’s post-season presence, with less than one-third of those ...

Gearing up as NASCAR season looms

January 23, 2019

It’s hard to believe that the Daytona 500 is less than a month away. It seems like just yesterday Joey Logano was celebrating his unlikely Homestead victory and Monster Energy Cup Championship. Now in the heart of winter, it’s kind of nice to think about the teams’ return to Florida for the sunny start of the 2019 NASCAR season. It means spring can’t be too far behind. The new year brings some new faces to the premier stock car series. Ryan Preece of JTG Daugherty Racing and Daniel Hemric of Richard Childress Racing are considered by many the favorites for Sunoco’s Rookie ...

Mental toughness key in sports

January 15, 2019

Mental toughness is a key to success. A combination of will power, focus, persistence and strength, it’s often the difference between good and great, winning and losing. Just ask an NFL place kicker. The Bears’ Cody Parkey was dubbed the most hated man in Chicago last week when he “double-doinked” a potential game-winning 43-yard field goal off the upright and crossbar, ending his team’s season. Just moments before he’d split the uprights, right after the Eagles called a time out in an attempt to ice the 26-year old kicker. It worked. Parkey had hit the uprights in ...