HS seniors take their next step

February 2, 2023

National Signing Day is a day that high school seniors around the country look forward to each year. They take a seat at a table in the gymnasium of their high school, or in some cases a local restaurant, or even at the kitchen table of their family home and they sign their National Letter of Intent on the dotted line. They secure where they’ll spend the next four years of their life playing the sport they grew up learning and practicing. Wednesday was no different for seniors in the Mahoning Valley as several athletes from around the area chose where they will continue their ...

YSU coaches laud weekend crowds

January 30, 2023

YOUNGSTOWN — Ahead of Youngstown State’s games against Oakland and Detroit Mercy, the Beeghly Center was shown a highlight video that began with Jerrod Calhoun’s introductory press conference. Among the statements Calhoun made that day that were shown in the video, perhaps none sticks ...

Fishing, like all sports, filled with unique jargon

January 29, 2023

Ribbees, gimmees and mulligans are among the terms that add color, fun and uniqueness to the sports we play and watch. They are words that are in the special lingo of baseball and golf, two sports with especially unique vocabularies. Baseball fans and golf nuts can jabber on and on with their kindred spirits in conversations that may very well leave an uninitiated outsider clueless. Every sport — indeed every vocation, hobby, church, club and more — have their own special terms to describe and communicate what they are doing to others within their circles. Fishing, too, is a ...

Valley offers great venues for football

January 16, 2023

Back during high school football season, there was a lot of talk surrounding football venues given schools’ hesitation to host playoff events. Obviously with OHSAA taking gate revenues, there’s less incentive than ever for schools to prepare everything. It’s a shame, because we have plenty of great places to watch a game in the Mahoning Valley. And of course, I’d love for our playoff games to stay local as long as possible. It’s a lot cheaper on the gas tank. This situation led my brain to think about some of my favorite venues in our area to catch a football ...

Anglers should be multifaceted, not one-dimensional

January 15, 2023

So you think you’re a pretty good angler. You’ve caught your limit of your favorite fish and learned a thing or two about your favorite lake. But are you a one-trick pony? Have you simply memorized fishing spots or do you understand why and where the fish will be biting? Can you hit a triple on Mosquito Lake? Can you catch a steelhead on a fly? Can you pinpoint the smallmouth bass on the Ohio River? Have you boated a 45-inch muskie? All of these feats are possible for anglers in the Youngstown-Warren region. But many are sadly one-dimensional in their approach to fishing and the ...

Valley anglers possess truly unique characteristics

January 8, 2023

Youngstown and Warren have many distinguishing features and successes that add up to differentiate our corner of the world in a uniquely satisfactory way. From GF desks, Sheet & Tube steel and Lordstown Chevies to Penguin football, Brier Hill pizza and Mill Creek Metroparks, the Mahoning Valley is unique in our nation, our world and, most of all, our people. To be a Mahoning Valley native really is a pride point. We are special in a way that nobody from elsewhere can claim. We have our own pizza, our own dialect, and our own gritty determination about hard work and fair play. I ...