Breaking News

Voice of the Fan

Chiefs, 49ers good bets to meet again

By Barry Wilner The Associated Press Rematches can be fun, particularly with a Super Bowl berth on the line. NFL fans get a pair of them on Sunday. Most intriguing simply for its historical significance is the 49ers at the Rams. Sure, it’s a Cali kind of thing, but these are two of the proudest, most accomplished franchises in pro football history. They have met 145 times, with the 49ers taking the past six and holding a 75-67-3 mark against their downstate rivals. The Niners have won the only meeting this deep into the playoffs, 30-3 in 1989 on their way to a fourth of five ...

COVID creates an imbalance in sports world

By Jim Caltagirone For the Mirror The Covid era in sports deserves a great big asterisk in the record books. With cancellations shortening the length of seasons and health protocols sending athletes to the reserve list, team and individual records, from attendance and win totals to games played and scoring, cannot be compared to pre-pandemic years. In some venues across the country, sporting events are again being contested without fans present. At colleges and universities, teams are scrambling to fill open dates created by Covid concerns in their own program or their ...

Players from many eras built NBA

By Julius Erving For the Associated Press (Editor’s note: Hall of Famer Julius Erving, an NBA and ABA champion, is considered one of the greatest basketball players ever and one of the sport’s finest ambassadors. He is an 11-time NBA All-Star and league MVP. As part of an Associated Press series on the NBA at 75, the player known as “Dr. J” shares some of the experiences that provided him with the foundation to help lead the transformation of the league during the 1980s.) Those of us who played in the NBA in the 1980s definitely played a role in what the league has become ...

Games must go on … but not really

By Jim Litke The Associated Press The Olympic Charter runs 112 pages and reads like something Gwyneth Paltrow would have written if she were in charge of the Games instead of Goop. “The goal of Olympism,” the charter reads, “is to place sport at the service of the harmonious development of humankind, with a view to promoting a peaceful society concerned with the preservation of human dignity.” OK, forget about all that high-minded stuff. The International Olympic Committee and their Chinese handlers abandoned any such appeals not long after the bid was awarded in 2015. ...

Mailbag

NCAA must address opting out of bowls As a Penn Stater, class of 1963, I was disappointed with six starting football players who dropped out of the recent Outback Bowl. Five were defensive starters, which crippled the Penn State defense. Coach James Franklin said it was the worst bowl opt-out situation he has experienced. Happily, the Big Ten record in the bowls was 6-4. Players dropping out of bowl games for fear of being injured prior to the NFL draft is disconcerting. Injuries can occur anytime during their careers. Most of the players were on four-year scholarships ...

Lamertina feels pride, challenge of being college football official

By Charles Lamertina For the Mirror (Editor’s note: Charles Lamertina, an Altoona native, has officiated major college football since 2015. This past season, he worked the Army-Navy game and reflected on the experience for the Mirror.) To say that the avocation of football officiating has taken me to places that I would not otherwise get to in life, or to meet people with whom I would not otherwise meet, would be to grossly understate. Geographically, it has taken me from Hawaii to the Bahamas; while Eric Dickerson, President George H.W. Bush and Secretary of Defense Lloyd ...