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PSU Altoona gives wrestling in area a boost

This week’s announcement that Penn State Altoona was bringing back men’s wrestling and also implementing a women’s program, both for the 2024-25 season, was tremendous news for the sport in our area. Think about college wrestling in our area past the high school level. We have the best collegiate wrestling dynasty, maybe in the history of NCAA wrestling, just down the road from us at Penn State. Lock Haven and UPJ also aren’t too far away, and Pitt, Clarion and Edinboro are all a nice day trip. The problem is these are all NCAA Division I schools in wrestling, with the ...

TV sports landscape changing

In a recent trip out of the country, one thing that stood out was the vast difference in the sports that were featured on television. Cricket, cycling, soccer, tennis, auto racing, and even pickleball seemed to be more heavily covered than baseball, basketball, football, and/or hockey, America’s most popular sports. With that said, I have to wonder what non-Americans think of our sports landscape? The Super Bowl and the World Series may be the biggest sporting spectacles in the United States each and every year, but outside of our own borders, these events might be more of an ...

No need to play waiting game: Pirates should fast-track Skenes to MLB roster

Notes and observations as the second half of the Major League Baseball season begins: n The 2023 MLB amateur draft is history, and the Pittsburgh Pirates made the best choice that they could have by drafting LSU right-handed pitcher Paul Skenes with the very first pick. It was not just the best choice for the Pirates — realistically, it was the only choice, despite all the suspense leading up to it. In order to have a realistic shot at success, a team needs a minimum of two quality top-tier pitchers — and probably three — leading its rotation. The Pirates currently have ...

PIAA makes significant changes

The PIAA decided on some rule changes at its latest meeting Wednesday in State College, and the impact on high school and junior high basketball will be immediate. One-and-one foul-shot opportunities are now a thing of the past. The PIAA adopted the National Federation of High Schools’ rule change that all common fouls after a team has reached the bonus will mean two free throw attempts, regardless of the result of the first attempt. Teams will reach the bonus once they commit five fouls in a quarter, and team fouls will be reset after each quarter. NFHS Director of Sports Lindsey ...

How far does golf still have to go?

GULLANE, Scotland — So much consternation about the fracture in the professional world of golf. So much speculation about where it will all lead. That wasn’t just Tuesday at a Senate hearing on how the about-face agreement between the PGA Tour and the Saudis came together. That was last year during a British fortnight of golf, when what passed as scandal now seems rather small. Consider the Scottish Open a year ago. All the rage was Ian Poulter among three players who had defected to LIV Golf, won a preliminary injunction in a U.K. court and were allowed to play The Renaissance ...

Veteran golfers missing out on Pebble

PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — The sun tried to poke through thick marine layer in the late afternoon, which would have illuminated Pebble Beach on what already had been a special occasion. The “Reunion of Champions” was for all past U.S. Women’s Open winners. They gathered for a group photo Monday unlike any previous reunion because of the setting — short and left of the 17th green, with golf’s most famous coastline as the backdrop. This celebration had a measure of regret. Sure, they soaked up a view to their left of the fourth green, the steep cliffs along the right side of ...