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NFL’s top statistic: COVID-19 vaccination percentages

By Rob Maaddi The Associated Press The NFL’s most discussed stat has been COVID-19 vaccination percentages. As the first week of training camp kicked off, numbers continue to increase while debate persists. So far, 87.9 percent of players have had at least one shot of the vaccine and 19 teams have more than 90% of players vaccinated, including seven with more than 95% vaccinated. The league can’t mandate the vaccine but it made its stance clear through strict protocols for players who don’t get it. “I wouldn’t have got the vaccine without the protocols they are ...

Lilly built foundation for success

Former Lilly Raider football teams are set to celebrate three consecutive undefeated seasons from the 1960s this weekend. These men eventually became successful in life outside of the realm of football and athletics, with three earning doctorates and a number earning engineering and advanced degrees. They include an Ivy League graduate and player and some who worked for Fortune 500 companies. In addition, some were successful in the blue-collar trades, working for the railroad, steel companies and in the coal mines. The players from that melange of backgrounds will recall some ...

Advice from seasoned fisherman

This letter is in response to the July 3-4 mailbag letter “Fishing for wild trout should be preserved” by Nick Vrabel of Altoona. The article Vrabel refers to can be found by googling “Pennsylvania Bait Anglers Beware.” I fish strictly with minnows. I’m 74 years of age and have caught trout every month of year, including January and February, for I’d say the last 15 years. I’m not positive, but I think I have only killed one trout the last two years. Ninety-nine percent of the trout caught I’ve hooked cleanly in the mouth jaw area. I usually hook and land ...

How the NFL got through the pandemic

Saying the NFL is America’s most popular sport isn’t exactly brainiac territory. Arguing that it also dealt most successfully with the dangers and restrictions caused by COVID-19 should be just as obvious. So as training camps open — on time — in preparation for the 2021 season, here’s a look at how the league navigated through a pandemic to play an entire schedule and the Super Bowl in 2020: MARCH 2020 After having completed the combine in Indianapolis — business as usual — the NFL, like much of the rest of the country, went into remote mode. But not before the ...

Pitching becoming sticky business

By Bill Contz For the Mirror Spider Tack is a sticky, wax-like substance invented by a powerlifter to enhance his grip on barbells loaded down with obscene amounts of iron prior to tossing them around. Primitive versions of this goo can be traced back to classes taught by emeritus instructors Dr. Lester Hayes & Professor Fred Biletnikoff at the Oakland Raider Bay Institute of Technology (ORBIT). Major League Baseball has now decreed that any pitcher demonstrating excessive spin rates has been discreetly deploying Spider Tack and is therefore subject to immediate public ...

Olympics still learning to navigate strict rules in Japan

By Pat Graham The Associated Press Sydney McLaughlin turns 22 three days after the final of the 400-meter hurdles, in which she might win Olympic gold and may even lower her current world record. Her big birthday plans? “Try and find a cupcake and then blow out the candles by myself,” McLaughlin said. Welcome to the no-fun Olympics, where celebrations and camaraderie will be muted by stringent rules and regulations due to the coronavirus pandemic. Navigating the Tokyo Games may prove to be anything but a piece of cake: Masks and social distancing — 2 meters (more than 6 ...