Come On Cavs! Recalling Miracle Of Richfield

by Kevin Burton    Some memories have a soundtrack and this one has the best.       On April 29, 1976 the Cleveland Cavaliers played in what they now call The Miracle of Richfield. It was the first playoff berth for the Cavs, who were born as an NBA expansion team in 1970. In the first …

Songwriters Day, A Musical Day Of Reckoning

by Kevin Burton    I grew up mostly at the school for the blind in Ohio. But I had (still have) some partial vision and I played a lot of sandlot baseball in my day.    The school used to hire recreation leaders to work with us restless kids. I think these were students from …

My Shifting Sports Team Allegiances

by Kevin Burton    Time and location, location, location, can change even the most fervent loyalties when it comes to sports fan allegiances.       On ESPN’s Pardon The Interruption, Tony Kornheiser talks about the New York Mets as “the team of my youth” to differentiate it from his current favorite, the Washington Nationals. That is …

Yay, Comma, Football Is Back, Period

by Kevin Burton     Remember the interjection song from Schoolhouse Rock?    The song says interjections are “generally set apart from a sentence by an exclamation point, or by a comma when the feeling’s not as strong.”    Well I was feeling pretty sheepish about this, but I said the sentence “Yay! Football is back” …

A Few Words For March Madness Fans

by Kevin Burton    You hear the word “hoops” what comes to mind?    Are you thinking earrings? Are you thinking bureaucracy, extra obstacles you have to jump through? Or are you thinking basketball?    No right answer to this, we try to appeal to all types of readers here. But for me, it’s basketball. …

Yo, Hartville, Ready For Your Closeup?

by Kevin Burton    Apologies right up front here, because Garrison Keillor would do this story better than I.    The US Census Bureau announced Nov. 16 that Hartville, Missouri, population 594, is the “center of population” for the United States.    Here is what that means, according to the Census Bureau release:    “If …