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NIT joins other fading traditions

With all eyes focused on the Final Four, it’s doubtful that many noticed the passing of a storied tradition in college hoops. The National Invitation Tournament ended a run of more than eight decades at New York City’s Madison Square Garden — actually, two different versions of the Garden, if you wanna get picky — with Xavier’s 73-72 victory over Texas A&M. “Madison Square Garden is a special court,” Xavier’s Jack Nunge said. “Everybody knows the feel when you’re playing out there and you just want to give it your all — all the history that’s there.” But ...

Strittmatter helped build foundation at Penn State

By Neil Rudel nrudel@altoonamirror.com On one hand, Mag Strittmatter is thrilled that collegiate sports is celebrating the 50-year anniversary of Title IX. On the other hand, she can’t believe a half century has passed since she became Penn State’s first female scholarship ...

Golf a different thing when Match Play begins

AUSTIN, Texas — The number of countries at the Match Play is the same as when this concept of World Golf Championships began, except for the flags. The 17 countries at the first Match Play in 1999 included Paraguay and the Philippines, Zimbabwe and Fiji. Now we have Chile and Norway, Colombia and Belgium. And still circling the waters 23 years later — in a far different capacity — is a Shark. “How much of a sense of vindication,” began the question to Greg Norman, one of the 64 players at La Costa in 1999. More than the No. 28 seed that week, he was considered the ...

USA women mixing in youth

The seventh annual SheBelieves Cup Tournament this year from Feb. 17-23 resulted in the fifth tourney title for the United States women’s national team. The SheBelieves Cup is part of the U.S. Soccer’s SheBelieves initiative to inspire and empower women and girls to achieve goals in soccer and beyond. The USA women won the title in a big way with a 5-0 rout of Iceland. The U.S. women controlled play throughout, but it was not until late in the first half that emerging star, Catarina Macario, opened the scoring and struck again with two goals to end the half. The Cup, played ...

Ukraine’s boxers now in the fight of their lives

The two big men standing shoulder to shoulder in The Associated Press photo taken Sunday in the mayor’s office in beleaguered Kyiv, Ukraine, were instantly recognizable to most boxing fans. Vitali and Wladimir Klitschko, the sons of a Soviet major general, are both former heavyweight ...

Sportsmanship can always use a hand

By now you’ve no doubt seen last Sunday’s altercation that resulted in a five-game suspension for Michigan basketball coach Juwan Howard. The Big Ten acted decisively in sidelining Howard, the former Fab 5 and NBA standout, for the remainder of the regular season after he slapped a Wisconsin assistant coach in the head during a post-game scrum as the teams were shaking heads. Wisconsin coach Greg Gard fueled the confrontation, but Howard turned it into a national embarrassment — one of the stories of the year in college basketball — and deserved the discipline. That Gard ...