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Fly tying events are scheduled

With deer season over for another year, I now find myself transitioning into “Oh, how I wish winter was over” mode. Yes, I’m aware that winter doesn’t officially arrive until Dec. 21 this year, but that doesn’t help much. That fact only magnifies my weariness for a winter that hasn’t really started yet. And we haven’t had any real winter weather yet other than a few cold days. So while I will be logging my share of couch time in the coming weeks, catching up on some reading and watching what looks like a lot of lackluster college bowl game matchups on TV, it would be ...

CFP group got it right … sort of

Notes and observations from the world of major college football as the 2023 bowl season kicks off with some appetizer games this weekend: n The College Football Playoff format will expand from four teams to 12 for the first time in 2024. For the Florida State Seminoles, that change will be one year late in coming. Despite finishing its season with a perfect 13-0 record and winning its Atlantic Coast Conference championship game, the Seminoles were boxed out of this season’s CFP in favor of Southeastern Conference champion Alabama. The committee voted to leave the Seminoles out ...

Unity fueled 2003 AAHS boys team

Altoona will honor its 2003 boys basketball team that won the District 6 title and advanced to the PIAA western final Friday night during the Mountain Lions’ home opener with Central Dauphin East (6:30 varsity tipoff). The squad, coached by Kraig Hetz, was the last Altoona boys team to play ...

Time right for Diaz’s departure

Maybe this is one of the reasons offensive coordinator Mike Yurcich was fired with two games remaining in the regular season. James Franklin knew it was possible if not likely that he could lose Manny Diaz to a head-coaching opportunity, which was confirmed Thursday when Duke hired the Nittany Lions’ defensive coordinator. Franklin also knew the Lions didn’t need any offensive coaches to put away Rutgers and Michigan State in the final two games. So rather than having to deal with searching for two coordinators simultaneously in what is the busiest month of the year — the ...

National hunting by the numbers

With the firearms deer season wrapping up this weekend, many thousands of Pennsylvania hunters will have bagged one or more deer starting from archery season in late September and the special firearms and muzzleloader seasons in mid-October until now. And for those hunters still desiring to fill a deer tag, they will have the opportunity to do so during the late archery and flintlock seasons that begin the day after Christmas and continue for three weeks into mid-January. We won’t know how well deer hunters did overall until the Pennsylvania Game Commission releases its official deer ...

Kotelnicki gets turn to fix Nits’ offense

Penn State has its new offensive coordinator, Adam Kotelnicki of Kansas, and the social media world is tripping over itself to decide whether it’s a good or bad hire. I have an idea: Let’s wait and see how the offense functions at least into next October before shaping an opinion. There are things about him to like. Kotelnicki has worked beside and been mentored by Lance Leipold, one of the better coaches in the country and certainly among the most underrated, having turned around Kansas after a successful stint at Buffalo (Bulls, not Bills) and being a Division III national ...