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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 ...

Trout stocking gets underway

Trout season will see some significant changes for 2022 here in Pennsylvania. The first of those will be a return to a single opening day with a single Mentored Youth Trout Day statewide. In 2007, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission adopted two separate opening days for trout. In 18 southeastern counties, trout season opened two weeks earlier than the traditional first day in the rest of the state. This format also necessitated two separate Mentored Youth Trout Days. The first day of trout season will now happen on the first Saturday of April each year rather than the ...

Donald not about to let go of Super Bowl trophy

INGLEWOOD, Calif. — Aaron Donald was in the Cincinnati backfield one last time, his arms closing in around Joe Burrow with everything on the line. On a Rams team loaded with stars, this was his moment in his town and Donald wasn’t about to let go. Matthew Stafford and Cooper Kupp had just finished giving Los Angeles the late lead with a long drive that came out of nowhere. Now it was up to Donald and the rest of the Rams defense to seal the deal. No real pressure. Just the first Super Bowl championship at stake in a city rediscovering its love affair with the Rams. No real ...

Stars line up for surprising Bengals

It’s not that difficult to figure out how the Los Angeles Rams made it to the Super Bowl. They were built much like the glorious edifice that is their new home, with the checkbook always open whenever a new shiny bauble attracted their attention. The quarterback came in an audacious swap of passers with the lowly Lions. A feared, if somewhat disgruntled, receiver was picked up midway through the season after the Browns couldn’t find a way to trade him. And, of course, defensive star Von Miller was making tackles in Denver one week, and in a Rams uniform the next. From Matthew ...

PIAA yet to perfect formula

The Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association began counting points for its competitive balance formula in 2018 for high school football and basketball, and there have been plenty of bumps along the way. There was a major one Wednesday when the Aliquippa and Wyomissing football teams won their appeals to remain at Class 4A and 3A, respectively, despite being tabbed by the formula to move up. Earlier in the appeal process, teams like Southern Columbia (2A) and Redbank Valley (1A) had already won their arguments against the formula without a hearing by sending documentation ...

QB security gone with Ben’s departure

Ben Roethlisberger made it official on Thursday — his 18-year NFL career is finished. He certainly produced a Hall of Fame resume as the Steelers’ starting quarterback, winning two Super Bowls, three AFC championships and 165 regular-season games, along with throwing for more than 64,000 ...