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Big Ten in good position moving forward

In the near future, college athletics could look vastly different. But at what cost? Texas and Oklahoma kicked off the realignment trend in college athletics when they opted to scoot from the Big 12 for bigger money, and plenty of other benefits of the Southeastern Conference. Who can necessarily blame them? The SEC has been the powerhouse conference of football for quite some time and the Sooners and Longhorns are looking to establish themselves as programs that can compete with the best of the best. The realignment of two Power 5 programs has started a domino effect and several ...

Young angler finds joy in writing and fishing

Young Dominic Schiavoni is combining his love of fishing with a knack for writing and blazing a path for a two-career life that might make any of us envious. The son of Joe and Margaret Schiavoni recently penned a book entitled “The King of Lake Milton” even before starting the second grade at West Boulevard Elementary School in Boardman at the age of 7. His book is the saga of his pursuit, along with buddy Jake, of the variety of fish that swim in Milton – including the mighty muskie. The apex predator in Milton, muskies figure prominently in “The King of Lake Milton.” ...

What to watch for in the NHL Draft

With the NHL season in the books, the hockey world turns its head toward the offseason. That first milestone of the offseason is the NHL Entry Draft. This is typically my favorite time of year. I say typically because as someone who covers junior hockey, it’s fun to see the guys I’ve ...

Second chances in fishing and in life

Recently I wrote that I often felt I’d left unfinished business after a long fishing day, regardless of the success of the outing. Indeed, Friday I launched my laptop computer for the first time in two weeks. I wanted to return to writing this column, but along the way I discovered a bunch of other unfinished business in my busy and productive life. The lawn needed to be cut, my two email account inboxes bulged with more than 600 unopened messages and I had no fishing experiences from the past 14 days to share with readers. The reason for my hiatus from writing, fishing, ...

Local angler has unfinished business on area waters

Every time I put the boat on the trailer after a day on the lake, I have a sense that I left a little bit undone out there. Call it unfinished business. You know, like when you leave the job knowing you could have done a thing or two more. Or when you put the mower in the garage but saved the edging for tomorrow. Or when you’ve painted the walls of the spare room but left the molding for another day. Unfinished business is the byproduct of my days on the rivers and lakes here in Northeast Ohio and Western Pennsylvania. Regardless of the level of success at Mosquito or the ...

Year 1 in the books, big things await in year 2

Almost a year ago, I was packing up my life in Pittsburgh, putting it into the back of a U-Haul and moving about an hour and a half to the northwest here in Youngstown. I was going from being a sports reporter at the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review to heading my own sports department here at the Tribune Chronicle and Vindicator. Talk about a big change, but it was one I was ready for and one I always envisioned for myself. Growing up, I wanted to be the next Chris Berman or Stuart Scott in front of the camera on ESPN, but as I got older, I realized how important local journalism was for ...