DON McCORMACK
Paying a visit to the variety store...
Radio waves
Joe “Mr. Sports” Pete — aka, The King of Ashtabula County Media — has announced a portion of the high school boys basketball schedule for ESPN 970, WFUN.
I use the term “partial” because Mr. Sports has smartly decided to leave some dates listed as “to be announced,” which will allow him and his staff to select the best possible games down the line.
Being joined by cohorts Ed “Lionheart” Looman and Brad “Golden Arm” Petro, Mr. Sports & Co. will tip off their 2009-10 broadcast schedule with the first boys basketball game played in the new Falcon Gym in Jefferson.
On Friday, Dec. 4, coach Steve Locy’s Falcons will host invading North in their first game in their new digs. The Jefferson girls of the legendary Rod Holmes will christen the new Falcon Gym on Saturday, Nov. 28 with an encounter against visiting Madison.
Here’s the list of boys games Mr. Sports and his henchmen have set up to this point:
n Dec. 4 — North at Jefferson.
n Dec. 11 — Madison at Lakeside.
n Dec. 18 — Edgewood at Jefferson.
n Dec. 29 — Edgewood at Lakeside.
n Jan. 15 — Lakeside at Geneva.
n Feb. 5 — Jefferson at Edgewood.
n Feb. 23 — Lakeside at Edgewood.
All of the station’s broadcasts will also be streamed on its Web site: www.espn970wfun.com.
Oh, deer!
This item comes courtesy of Dwight Perry, excellent columnist for the Seattle Times:
Who needs a deer rifle when you have a lawn ornament?
Mark Brye of Viroqua, Wis., boasts a freezer full of serendipitous venison after a love-crazed 7-point buck dropped dead in his yard after he rammed Brye’s concrete elk lawn statue. Talk about a mismatch: The deer weighed 180 pounds — and the lawn ornament 640 pounds.
And just to make it legal, wrote Bob Lamb of the La Crosse Tribune, “Brye claimed the buck with a tag from the Vernon County conservation warden. He laughed at the warden’s tag note: ‘lawn ornament fight — lost.’”
The statue isn’t doing so hot, either, lying on its side — one of its shattered antlers in five pieces — until Brye can round up friends to get it upright.
Blind leading the...
This gem from Greg Cote, columnist for the Miami Herald:
Baseball general managers meeting in Chicago failed to take a vote on expanding instant replay following a postseason in which several controversies arose from players tripping over umpires’ white canes or being chased by guide dogs.
McCormack is the sports editor of the Star Beacon. Reach him at donmac@suite224.net.
