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‘Y’ puts best foot forward with July 4 Race

Williamsburg’s Loc O outpaced seven-time 15K winner A.J. Kelly of Altoona by more than two minutes to win the 48th running of the Angie Gioiosa Memorial Fourth of July Race on Saturday. But the top two finishers didn’t gather on a medal stand to congratulate each other. In fact, no one really gathered anywhere. But, more than 300 competitors in three separate races and several more volunteers still enjoyed the holiday tradition in a time where many other events have been canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Loc O’s winning time of 52:47.56, which he began running at 7 a.m., ...

Unheralded Davis blossoms into solid major leaguer

There haven’t been many players step into a batter’s box at PNG Field or its previous name of Blair County Ballpark wearing an Altoona Curve uniform who went on to play 14 years in Major League Baseball and lead the American League in a statistical category. In fact, there might only be one. But he wasn’t a member of the 20th anniversary all-time Curve squad, and you won’t hear him mentioned by local fans as one of the most successful MLB players to spend a full season in Altoona. That’s because Rajai Davis spent parts of only two seasons with the Pittsburgh Pirates, in ...

Bonifay’s impressive career includes one crazy footnote

It’s tough to top Mike’s choice of Rajai Davis, who has a whopping 415 stolen bases in the majors, yet has never fully been appreciated as one of the elite former Curve players. Still, there's really only one answer to this question, when you consider something that quite frankly is unbelievable. There have been some incredibly mediocre and even some pretty weak Curve players who made it to Triple-A over the years. They were in the right place at the right time when someone had to be to promoted to fill a hole at the next level. Yet somehow, Josh Bonifay, one of the best Curve ...

Fans might not like what they see upon return

Don’t be too eager to sit in the stands if your favorite team is lucky enough to open play over the next few months. Going to the game will be risky all by itself. Once there, the experience won't be the same. No food. No drink. No cuddly mascot to slap high-fives with. Don’t even think about cheering loudly for your team. And if you need to go to the bathroom, well, maybe you should have taken care of that before leaving home. The future of sports is still very muddled as America’s top leagues take their first baby steps toward resuming play. Questions abound, and the ...

Pirates-Curve bond strong, but fans shouldn’t be at workouts

Over the years, I’ve often wondered what everyone around here did during the summer prior to the Curve’s arrival in 1999. Unfortunately, we are finding out this year, with the minor league baseball season wiped out because of the coronavirus. I’ve read social media posts from countless sports fans talking about how they miss going to Curve games. Ditto. There was some very good news on the Curve front this week, though, as the Pirates announced they’ll be sending their taxi-squad players to work out at Peoples Natural Gas Field. The move further exemplifies just how good ...

PSU’s Franklin paying big price this season

As the cloud of the coronavirus darkens the entire sports world with uncertainty, James Franklin is planning a major sacrifice. He confirmed earlier his week that he will coach the football season without his family in State College. In an interview with Bryant Gumbel of HBO Sports, Franklin said the decision was made for his wife, Fumi, and two daughters, Shola and Addison, to remain at the family’s home in Destin, Florida and have the girls home schooled this year. Addison, 12, suffers from sickle cell anemia, making her more vulnerable to the virus, and the family felt this is ...