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My time was special thanks to the people

Late morning, about 11 a.m. These grey corduroy and leather slippers hug my bare, size-14 feet on this chilly, snow-covered day as I make my way down the staircase inside my home. My daughter, Alexa, enveloped herself in a charcoal black polyester winter covering with a furry, brown Chewbacca suit underneath and my wife’s purple, rubberized boots as I gazed outward onto our snow-covered deck to find her frolicking in the inches of white, fluffy precipitation doused on the Mahoning Valley. The moments watching her in the frigid winter wonderland transported Alexa back to her ...

YSU seeks routine amid COVID chaos

YOUNGSTOWN — College basketball coaches, their players and supporting staff are creatures of habit. Schedules are followed. Itineraries are met. Practices. Weight lifting. Classes. Meals. One-on-one meetings with position coaches. Those are just some of the on-campus activities student athletes have on a daily basis. The laundry list of activities on road trips with hotels, meals, video sessions, practices and games keep each member of the team on task. A COVID-19 stoppage put a screeching halt to a sense of normalcy, as much as you can achieve these days. One positive ...

Sights, sounds of Scrappers bring normalcy

A nearby wooded area encompasses the baseball stadium parallel to the Eastwood Mall. The Eastwood Field facility has been a fixture in the Mahoning Valley since the summer of 1999. Shane Bieber, Asdrubal Cabrera, Jason Kipnis, Francisco Lindor, CC Sabathia and Tyler Naquin are a few of the future major leaguers to step foot on the Mahoning Valley Scrappers’ natural grass field, make contact from a wooden bat from a hard-thrown, tightly-wound baseball and entertain area fans for the better part of two decades. In-game giveaways, dollar-beer night and all sorts of giveaways attract ...

Optics of college basketball different

My wife looked at me, put up one hand, telling me she didn’t believe what she had just seen. I watched a clip from CBS’ Sunday Morning show myself, then shared it with my bride. George Clooney was trending on Twitter for some hair-raising reason, stunning for most of the fans of the longtime Hollywood actor. Conversation between CBS correspondent Tracy Smith and Clooney on the network’s Sunday Morning show shifted from his post-apocalyptic thriller “The Midnight Sky,” toward the title of the interview called “Down to Earth.” Smith queried Clooney if he cuts his own ...

Brody Rupe carves his own path at state

Chris Rupe has made so many speeches the week of the state cross country meet, invigorating his teenage distance runners to stretch their talents to heights they never would imagine. McDonald High School’s boys cross country is synonymous with Division III state excellence, winning five in that classification, along with two more in Class A in the early 1980s. Today, at 9 a.m., at Fortress Obetz, south of Columbus, there’s no grouping of young runners. The Blue Devils do not have a team at this year’s state meet. Only one remains, senior Brody Rupe. Chris Rupe, the McDonald ...

Fishing University stars test Mosquito Lake bass

Bass anglers looking to pursue higher education about Mosquito Lake will have an opportunity to earn their master’s degree when they view the Fishing University TV show in 2021. Professional bass anglers Charlie Ingram and Ray Brazier traveled to Trumbull County on Thursday and prepared for their first day of filming their popular television show Friday morning. Their first stop was the popular Clubhouse Brewing on North River Road in Warren. There they greeted local media to explain their choice of venues for a 30-minute show that will air in 2021 on the Outdoor Channel, World ...