I read with great interest and enthusiasm Neil Rudel’s Feb. 15 column, “Nittany Lions jumping through high hoops” that focused on the recent, long anticipated resurgence of Penn State men’s basketball. Let’s face facts: For most of the 21st century, Nittany Lion hoop ...
By Ralph Russo The Associated Press College football needs to place a moratorium on the use of the words loyalty and commitment. Everybody involved, coaches, administrators and, yes, even players have ceded the right to demand it from others. “I think what we have created is a ...
What a week it was. Sports headlines should have been dominated by preparations for the Super Bowl, but instead, the biggest show on earth was overshadowed by the tragic death of Kobe Bryant, his daughter and seven others in a California helicopter crash. In the days that followed, Bryant, ...
By Steve Reed The Associated Press CHARLOTTE, N.C. — While Cam Newton remains optimistic about his chances of playing for the Carolina Panthers next season, the team is remaining mostly silent on the quarterback’s future. “He’s rehabbing, that’s all I can say,” Panthers general ...
Name: Mike Allison Age: 42 Residence: Altoona High school: Altoona College: Penn State Altoona My favorite sport: Basketball I usually attend games with: Family and friends Favorite high school team: Altoona Favorite college team: A tie between Penn State and North ...
MIAMI — Jerry Izenberg can still write, as anyone who reads his columns in the Star-Ledger in New Jersey knows. Just the other day he wrote a good one about an aging sports writer who has been to every Super Bowl since the first one in 1967. That sports writer won’t be in Miami this week. ...
Name: Tara (Nader) Wood Age: 48 Residence: Altoona High school: Bishop Guilfoyle Catholic High School Class of 1989 College: Shippensburg University Favorite sport: Basketball I Usually Attend Games with: My husband Scott and kids (Scotty, Alex, Lauren and Kara) when they aren’t ...
It’s a big night of back-to-back Penn State action Friday on the Big Ten Network. A home hockey game against Notre Dame (6 p.m.) starts the evening and a wrestling match at top-ranked Iowa (9 p.m.) completes the doubleheader. Sure, football drives BTN — the popularity of that sports ...
The walk down historic Bourbon Street towards the SuperDome for the National Championship Game between LSU and Clemson was unlike any other that I have made to a stadium. Tens of thousands of fans wearing purple and gold and orange and white paraded through the French Quarter hoping for the ...
By Eric Olson The Associated Press Six bowls this season had their smallest crowds on record, with section after section of unoccupied seats a yawning indication of just how little buzz there can be for the long, long list of postseason games on the schedule. Half-empty stadiums? Teams with ...
College football’s championship game between Clemson and LSU kicks off Monday night — 15 days since they won their respective semifinals — and that break was probably good for the teams’ health, just as the Monday night timeslot should be good for ratings. Still, a two-week plus break ...
By Tim Frank (Editor’s note: Altoona native Tim Frank worked closely with ex-NBA commissioner David Stern for more than two decades. He offers his perspective to the Mirror on Stern, who passed Wednesday at the age of 77.) When the phone rang, you knew you had to be ready. If ...
All those college football fans who clamor about a Southeastern Conference bias on ESPN might have more reason to complain soon. While ESPN launched and owns the SEC Network, it is also apparently close to securing the rights to broadcast the conference’s best regular season games and its ...
‘Safe tackling’ matter of interpretation Football helmets are almost as old as the game itself and, by now, about as safe as they’ll ever be. The polycarbonate outer shell flexes at impact to redistribute shock, yet remains strong enough to ram a car windshield at 40 mph without ...
ATLANTA — Haley Anderson has been through this before. In the lead-up to the Rio Olympics, all the talk about open water swimming focused on the conditions rather than the competition. Now, it’s happening again with the Tokyo Games less than a year away. This time, there is concern ...
We’re just a three days removed from Thanksgiving, and there are many reasons to be thankful in regard to sports media and television. Here are a few atop my list: David Feherty: The golf analyst and TV personality conducts the best sports interview program on television. We’re getting to ...
I have been to sporting events all over the USA, from sea to shining sea, and none is more awesome than an on-campus rivalry football game. Super Bowls, World Series, NBA Finals, Stanley Cups, bowl games and NCAA Final Fours are full of excitement, but they can’t top the energy of ...
For a decade and a half, ESPN Radio’s national morning drive sports-talk show was a testament to consistency and familiarity. Now it could be facing more change. Led by longtime hosts Mike Greenberg and Mike Golic, Mike and Mike in the Morning earned cultural relevance and respect from ...
LORETTO — Saint Francis assistant softball coach Hailey Breakwell has been a nomad in her softball career. Growing up in the fertile Napa Valley of California, a garden of grapes and softball players, Breakwell played shortstop at Idaho State, where she won Big Sky player of the year. ...
It’s been a good few weeks for Penn State football — arguably the best midseason publicity run in program history. It might not rival bowl performances and national championships, but in terms of consistently good news and high visibility opportunities, it’s hard to top three ...