Mailbag: Yesteryears bring back fond memories of Altoona ‘show’

January 23, 2021

If you enjoy Altoona sports, as I do, you enjoy reading the Altoona Mirror sports yesteryear by Tim Doyle each day from years gone by. Lately, each day from 50 years ago, you have seen a name regularly — Billy Moore. Man, was he something. I was lucky. I was a skinny 10th grader in 1971, and Tom Bickel, Mark Boston and I had the best seats in the Jaffa Mosque — at the end of the Altoona bench. We saw our coaches, John Swogger and Art Taneyhill, barking orders to show time. Moore, Galen Bickel, Larry Betar, Terry Acker and Reese Piper were the starters. Backup center ...

Mailbag

January 16, 2021

Big Ben’s career may end on sad note The game was over, players milling around, and the TV camera moved in on a figure dressed in the familiar black and gold and sitting alone on the bench and showing that lost look in his eyes. It was Big Ben Roethlisberger, and his eyes told the whole story. There was a new bully in town, this time the new-look Cleveland Browns and what a story they could tell when they got back to Cleveland. But let’s get back to the stoic figure sitting on the bench. His position and his eyes told the story of the once great Pittsburgh Steelers. If you ...

Mailbag

January 9, 2021

For PSU, 2021 surely will be better About this time most years, Penn State fans are returning from a good bowl game in a warm area of the country. In 2019, the Nittany Lions were in the midst of being a top-5 team, stumbled twice and went on to the Cotton Bowl to post a win over Memphis. Their No. 11 finish created a bright future for 2020. But then, COVID-19 turned America and the world into a killing field. The 2020 Nittany Lions, on paper, had a top-10 team but never materialized due to their best player opting out to prepare for the NFL Draft, and then the ...

Story on Conlan stirred good memories

December 26, 2020

I enjoyed Neil Rudel’s fine story on Shane Conlan. Being from Frewsburg, N.Y., I graduated a couple of years ahead of Conlan. He was part of original start-up football program in the school and played running back/linebacker. He came from a solid family unit and his dad was a state trooper. We don’t see enough of that character building in sports these days. It was a thrill following his career and then joining the Buffalo Bills (who I still root for) and having great success at that professional level. Tom Lundgren Altoona PSU seniors turned up passion to end ...

Searching for real candor in sports world

December 19, 2020

Has there ever been a time in history when sports figures moved their mouths so much but said so little? And when they slip and actually do say anything, rest assured, their PR coaches are summoned quickly to remind them what they meant to say, and the next day we either get a nicely constructed written statement (signed by but certainly never read or written by said offender) or a short vanilla comment usually zoomed so no one can ask any follow-up questions. Now as much as I hate the fact that hearing from these players and coaches is as boring as many of the days have been ...

Sunday Sports Mailbag: Sports should be independent from schools

December 12, 2020

I have been a faithful proponent of year-round school for over 30 years. As in Europe, year-round school has several months of school, and then there are three weeks of break. So breaks, vacations, etc, happen several times a year. The school day is also longer than what we have here. With this model, child care is also less of an issue since students are in school more. There is much more continuity of learning since there are no extended breaks, so no extended periods of review. They also do not have sports in schools. Sports exist as clubs separate from the school. I was not ...