To wrestling community, Joe is not just average

February 1, 2021

This past weekend, the Eastern Ohio Wrestling League had its annual tournament at Fitch High School in Austintown. It has become quite an event, as the league has grown to 25 teams spanning seven different counties in Northeast Ohio. This year, wrestling fans once again got to witness some of the best wrestlers in the state of Ohio right in our own backyard. However, there is an important story to be written within that narrative, and it must be done from someone outside of the media circle. You see, this year the league decided to honor a member of the local media for the first time ...

Knowledge can lead anglers to more success, memories

January 23, 2021

Nothing compares to lessons well learned when it comes to advancing and succeeding in life — and that includes fishing. Put another way, shortcuts will get you to your destination quickly. But thorough understanding and lots of study will serve to make the journey an investment in staying at the top. People who fish sometimes try to shortcut their way to quick limits and immediate gratification. But the anglers who investigate, read, practice and reinforce will not only enjoy great days when the fishing is good, but also know how and when to adjust when the conditions are poor and ...

Plenty has happened since last Browns road playoff win

January 15, 2021

Let’s put the recent Cleveland Browns playoff win over the Pittsburgh Steelers in historical perspective. If you have been a Cleveland Browns fan as long as I have, you may have experienced these life “stressors” and / or milestones between Browns road playoff wins: ¯ Getting cut by your Little League baseball team after the first spring practice; ¯ Falling “in love” with Marcia Brady after watching the first episode of “The Brady Bunch” on primetime Friday night on ABC-TV. In proceeding years, the above “crush” subjects would include Farrah Fawcett and the ...

Appreciation for fishing, life needed after 2020

January 2, 2021

In many ways, the dawn of 2021 is like the start of a new fishing day. When I go to the lake at sunrise and slide the boat off the trailer at the ramp, the day spreads out in front of me with opportunity and optimism. I can build on yesterday’s positives. But I also can learn from yesterday’s failures. The failed casts, broken lines and lost fish literally are history. What didn’t work then informs the decisions I will make in the day just beginning. So now it is 2021 and the slate is clean. Last year’s successes and failures are the lessons for this year’s living — ...

Couch Fan offers wishes for New Year

January 1, 2021

As part of the new normal, us “boomer” sports fans have to get used to: ¯ Downloading apps to our televisions in this post-cable, post-satellite television universe. Now, does that Cleveland baseball team play on Fox Sports Go or just the regular Fox Sports app? ¯ Telling the difference between which Collinsworth is speaking during NBC’s Sunday Night Football. Maybe we can trade in one of them so Carrie Underwood can come into the booth to sing the theme song live. ¯ Going to any sporting event with our facemasks on. Maybe it won’t be all that bad if the Browns can ...

My time was special thanks to the people

December 18, 2020

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 ...