And the greatest of all time scared the shit out of me — All day at school in my sixth-grade classes, I doodled drawings on Muhammad Ali standing over Sonny Liston, punching Ken Norton, rope-a-doping George Foreman. Racer Arena was packed that January 16, 1981 night. I don’t remember much about the topic, but what struck me was his appearance. He overflowed with…

First-person perspective of Bills’ Scott Norwood’s worst nightmare — Eight ticks left in Super Bowl Twenty-five, Buffalo trailing the Giants by one. Football marked at the 30-yard line, Millions of Americans’ eyes are on me. I can bring a championship to the city Buffalo’s first one in twenty-five years, Third longest drought in all team sports. Hike! Here’s the…

Friendship forged on whimsical, wild adventure, starting at Dodger Stadium — My college buddy Darryl peered at me with a strange look as if he was about to solve a Rubic’s cube, then said, “I have a kinda crazy idea.” We were sitting in the top deck seats at Dodger Stadium. Mike Marshall had just smacked a two-run, blast— his second…

Nowhere to escape, a plethora of emotions experienced — “We’re gonna die up here!” wailed Greg Rose. Greg was panicked, perched atop the roof of the Fredonia Elementary School where he stood terrified along with myself and fellow fourth-graders, Andy Wheelock and Robby Bender, on October 5, 1977. It started innocently when Mr. Lucas asked — what we thought…

Let me count all the things I love about October, and all the types of Pumpkin items I enjoy — Oh, sure everyone loves June and July, the fun summer months. Vacations with trips to tropical islands, summer reading at the beach, baseball, and barbecues. But, how about October? It’s a pretty cool month, literally and figuratively. So much to love about it. First off, every single major sport is…

Fast, furious, and all over the place like American Gladiator meets ‘Gremlins’ — “Life moves pretty fast. If you don’t stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.” — Ferris Bueller (Matthew Broderick). Oh, there is plenty to miss every morning around 7 a.m. and it is highly advised that you do not stop or you will step on…

Oakland’s Joey Estes’ mound appearance made memories come flooding back — For baseball fans from Kalamazoo, Tuskaluska, Albureque, or Sioux Falls who scoured the September 20th box score of the Seattle Mariners' 6–3 win over the Oakland Athletics, it seemed like just another ordinary Major League Baseball game. Both teams had eight hits and seven different pitchers threw in a 12:37…

Charger game had her amped up! Not really, but she saw lots of scoring in a game that went down to the wire — AC/DC’s “Thunder” boomed over the SoFi Stadium speakers. The kickoff was seconds away. It was the season opener for the Los Angeles Chargers against the high-potent Miami Dolphins with Tyreek “The Human Joystick” Hill and talented quarterback Tua Tagovailoa. Where were Mike and Christine Butler, the proud season-ticket holders of…

Wanted to cry upon completing the race, seeking solutions — When I used to be a sports writer for the Antelope Valley Press, it was often hard to interview athletes after a disheartening loss. A cross-country race is a very different type of sporting event with often over 200 runners, but only one true winner is crowned. That’s 199 losers. …