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End of a great era to be a football fan

Shortly after Tom Brady’s retirement, well second (and maybe final?) retirement this past week, I saw a graphic being shared on Facebook with a list of the QBs who have retired in the last few years. On it were of course Brady, Peyton Manning, Big Ben, Drew Brees, Eli Manning and Philip Rivers. It donned on me seeing that graphic that the era of football that I grew up watching, the era that made me a fan, is over. Brady, love him or hate him, will go down as the best to ever do it. I actually grew to like him after his move to the Bucs after years of despising him with the ...

COLUMN: Signing days are special

I will never forget the first time I covered a signing day. Admittedly I was a little befuddled seeing a schedule starting me off bright and early, rather than letting me be the night owl I grew to accept. Working in the sports department at a newspaper will do that to you. But now, I ...

Behind the name on the court

You ever go to a stadium or gym and wonder why it has its name?   I cannot even make a guess as to how many different facilities I have been to a game at in the last five-plus years of covering local sports, from down state West Virginia to a few hours out into the Ohio countryside, and many of them are named after people.   Now, admittedly, I don’t always know the backstory of that person, especially the ones at venues far from home. But, it always makes me curious, often leading me to do some research.   We have several locally that are pretty self explanatory, Reno ...

Opinion: We have the best football in the area

Saturday night, after his Mathews team opened its season with a win over Catholic Central, Bill Bohren said something to me that got me thinking — “Steubenville is the best football town in America.” While I’m sure a lot of places, elsewhere in Ohio and in other football hotbeds like Texas and Florida, would probably claim their own town/city/area to hold that title, it’s hard to imagine another area that can say they love the sport more than the Ohio Valley as a whole. Bohren, after all, is 88 and has coached more football than I can ever dream of simply watching, so, ...

COLUMN: We take too much for granted

Dwayne Haskins’ tragic death on Saturday morning is a reminder that we take too much for granted. Some of the initial reactions to it are also a reminder that we need to keep the athletes we admire human, too. I woke up on Saturday to text messages asking if I had seen the news. My first ...

COLUMN: Sheriff Fred was a staple on the sidelines

When it comes time for the high school football playoffs, that typically means sports writers are going to be travelling, sometimes a few hours away, for our local teams. I learned that in a hurry my first year as a sports writer at the Herald-Star/Daily Times in 2017 when I was tasked with ...