I love winter, especially snow, but I look at the calendar and I realize that it is supposed to be spring, however, it appears that Old Man Winter wants to hang in there. The fact that I like snow has earned me some dirty looks, snotty comments and even some nasty gestures over the years. […]
Jeff Swank, Columnist
Posted inSports
Swank on Sports: Durham retires from St. Peter’s
Pat Durham, who has been a coaching at some level since 1966, has announced at he is retiring as a head coach and will not be on the sidelines at Mansfield St. Peter’s next year. To put that into perspective when Durham started coaching young people Lyndon Johnson was the President, the Beatles has just […]
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Swank on Sports: Fairness and one tournament
With all four teams in the boys’ basketball Division III final four being private schools again, there has been discussion about there being a need for separate tournaments for public and private schools in Ohio. I have always been against that philosophy and I continue to be so. First of all if I am a […]
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Swank on Sports: OHSAA state tournament always a good time
This week I will be attending the state boys’ basketball tournament in Columbus and plan to watch all 12 games for the 26th straight year. It is always a blast. This year, I have a rooting interest, which isn’t always the case, as the Norwalk Truckers, who shared the Northern Ohio League (NOL) title this […]
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Swank on Tournaments: Leave sites alone
What makes the high schools boys’ and girls’ basketball tournaments exciting? The upsets do. Well, unless you are a fan of the favorite that just got beat, then its just upsetting. I think one of the major factors in those upsets is the fact that the tournament games are played on a neutral site. That […]
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Battle of the unbeatens – we are lucky
The basketball fans of North Central Ohio are lucky because it is not often you see a battle of unbeaten teams this far into the boys’ basketball season, but that is exactly what is going to happen on Wednesday night at the O-rena at Ontario High School when the Warriors host the Norwalk Truckers. To […]
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Flow of the game
When you prepare certain foods they should have a particular texture and taste to them and when you go to a concert featuring a certain artist you know what songs to expect. Basketball is the same way. In my opinion basketball should have a flow to it and I see that missing many times these […]
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Ohio Sports: How to Deal With It
When I married my wife, a California girl, in 2005 and she moved to Ohio I had to explain a few things to her. Already a big a football fan she quickly noticed that things were a little different here than where she is from, such as Ohio State football. I told her “it’s not […]
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Benefits of League Play
Boys’ basketball league games begin this weekend in most cases, including the Mid-Buckeye Conference and for the first time Mansfield St. Peter’s and Mansfield Christian will be playing in a league. Although no one can argue with the past success of especially St. Peter’s in both boys’ and girls’ basketball, I think it is always […]
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Prime time: The girls deserve it
Some years ago now, many area conferences decided to schedule girls’ basketball games on Friday night, which previously had been reserved only for boys’ contests. In the opinion of this reporter, that is a good thing. There are a couple of Richland County area teams that enjoy this privilege, Shelby and Ontario, who are both […]