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Father’s Day should always be special

By Jim Lane For the Mirror Editor’s note: Retired Mirror sports editor Jim Lane wrote this column after his dad, Kermit Lane, passed away in 1987. It’s reprinted every Father’s Day. Sunday is Father’s Day. It’s a chance to tell your favorite guy thanks for all he’s been and done for you over the years. It’s usually celebrated with a small gift, perhaps a shirt or tie or wallet. In many cases, few words are expressed. And that’s a shame. I wrote this Father’s Day column a couple of weeks after my dad died because I missed him. I still do. A day doesn’t pass ...

Semi-pro league should be local option

Altoona should consider switching the Greater City Baseball League from recreational to semi-pro. In 2023 alone, according to the website Sports Advisory Group.com, the average revenue for each of the nine independent leagues nationally was $16.7 million. Just this year a new league called the All-American Baseball Association will attempt to form with six teams, 129 followers and with the help of GoFundMe. Altoona already has an established league with six teams, 127 players on the rosters and sponsors who support the league. The league also has fields available in Veterans ...

We can all agree: ‘That’s baseball, Suzyn’

By Steve Roberts Andrews McMeel Syndicate I heard this story from former Sen. Jack Danforth many years ago. An ordained minister, he would occasionally conduct evening services at the National Cathedral, which sits atop the highest point in Washington. So it gets the best radio reception in the region. On summer nights, long before satellite transmissions, a dozen cars would be parked near the cathedral. But their occupants were worshipping a different god than the parishioners gathered inside the sanctuary. They were listening to baseball on their car radios, tuned to the ...

Fan attire can only carry a team so far

By Jim Caltagirone For the Mirror The marketing mavens of the Indiana Pacers dressed the team’s fans in Gold Out T-shirts for Game 4 of the Eastern Conference finals, seeking to provide their team with every possible advantage in an elimination game against the Celtics. While the fashion statement made quite an impression on national TV, the T-shirts failed to score a basket or block a shot, and the Pacers were swept out of the NBA playoffs. At Penn State football games, the White Out experience long ago completed the evolution from gimmick to tradition. However, despite ...

City of Dallas buzzing for Mavs, Stars fans

By Schuyler Dixon The Associated Press DALLAS — Dereck Lively II of the Dallas Mavericks tossed the question back at the reporter when the rookie center was asked if he knew why so many fans shouted “Stars” during the national anthem at his home games. “You tell me why,” Lively said, prompting the explanation that supporters of Dallas’ NBA team were offering a shoutout to fans of the NHL’s Stars, who for years have yelled their team’s nickname both times it comes up during “The Star-Spangled Banner.” “I definitely had a sneaking suspicion, but I didn’t ...

Litwalk stood for all the right things basketball’

This is a followup to Neil Rudel’s column last weekend on the passing of former Greater Johnstown High School boys basketball Paul Litwalk. I met a slew of coaches over my years, and more than a few allowed the heat of competition to bring out a darker side. I saw Litwalk upset with officials, and I saw him be stern with his players, but I can never recall him being anything but a gentleman on the court and a sincerely kind and pleasant man I always enjoyed talking with off the court. I remember a scuffle between a Bishop Guilfoyle player and Johnstown player one year when the ...