We are now just two weeks away from the opening night of the 2025 high school football season. Games in Ohio will kickoff on August 21. The West Virginia high school season starts the following week. The first game for area football teams will be a home contest for Mike Flannery’s River Pilots as they take on

Perry Traditional Commodores Friday, August 22, with a 7 pm start.

Next week we will publish our sports schedules for the fall high school season. We will have the schedules as listed by the schools and on the state websites. They will include Football, Volleyball, Soccer, Cross Country, and Golf. Pick up a copy and support your local teams. Let’s hope for plenty of success for local teams as they open the 2025-2026 school year with plenty of high school sports action. Here’s wishing the best for all teams and individuals, and for an injury free season for them all.

College football is also just around the corner and our favorite teams are working out preparing for opening day kickoffs. From preseason views it looks like big things can be expected. Several early polls have Ohio State in the top six. WVU is not listed in the top 25, but that can change in a hurry. The Mountaineers lost a lot on the defensive side, however several transfers should fill the spots and with Coach Rich Rod back we can at least expect excitement each week. The Blue and Gold will open the 2025 season on Saturday, August 30, with a 2 pm start vs Robert Morris. The game is scheduled to be on ESPN +. Don’t forget the big game on the schedule, a home contest against arch rival Pitt. “The Backyard Brawl.” One you don’t want to miss. It is scheduled to be on ESPN, however nothing is better than being there live for this highly anticipated contest.

There was big news in the wrestling world last week when word got out that

Hulk Hogan died at age 71. I was never a big fan of the WWF, however my youngest son was and we made a couple trips to watch it live. On June 10, 1991, I took him to the Wheeling Civic Center to see Hulk Hogan defeat Sgt. Slaughter to retain the WWF Championship.

My wife’s grandfather never missed a match back in the 70’s when they were on TV regularly. He would invite us up. It was fun watching him and his wife as they screamed and howled with each obvious fake move. At some point you could count on them throwing something at the TV when their favorite wrestler lost. I think it was like that in a lot of households.

I especially disliked Hogan because I felt it was a bunch of showboating and so unreal and he was the worst of the bunch. However, I did get some enjoyment out of watching the fans and the crowd, especially the younger kids and a lot of the women.

One wrestler I remember was “The Undertaker” whose manager was “Paul Bearer” who in the real world was a funeral director. It was a match against “Nature Boy” Ric Flair. An older lady near me was hysterical because she felt Paul Bearer was teaming up with Undertaker to get the best of Nature Boy. At one point she let out a large scream “Hit that sum beach” (I borrowed that phrase from an old friend of mine) then she ran towards the ring to help, but was quickly escorted away.

As obvious as it was to the naked eye much of it was fake, many believed it was real and so large crowds filled the arenas and many were glued to the TV screens. It was good old fashioned entertainment. I have a large collection of Wrestling magazines from those early days, featuring the best ones, including several with Hogan on the cover page. Thinking back on how easy it was to make people believe it was real, reminds a lot of today’s political scene. Some people will believe anything!

I read an article the other day about youth sports. It told about a Little League team that was kicked out of the State Tournament because a competitor filed a protest about their eligibility. Think about that, adults went out of their way to challenge kids who earned their spot on the field. And it worked.

Half an hour before game time, these boys were told they were done. Not because they cheated. Not because they weren’t good enough. But because their season had been soaked with rain and they didn’t meet some technical rule about “regular season games.” These kids played 12 games. The magic number was 12. But a couple of those were playoffs, so the powers-that-be said they didn’t count. Instead of competing, they packed up and drove four hours home, probably wondering why adults took this from them.

This isn’t kids vs. kids anymore, it’s adults ruining it for young players who just want to play the game they love.

Reminds me of a youngster who signed up for youth soccer only to be denied because he was $10 short on the league’s fee to play. Another child was denied the chance to play because of not getting a physical in time.

Some of these kids are disadvantaged and we should go out of our way to make sure they have what they need to get signed up. If someone is having a tough time, pitch in and help out or cut them some slack. The kids deserve the same chance as others.

Many kids are missing out on the benefits of playing youth sports due to financial constraints. According to a survey by Good Sports and the Harris Poll, 14% of parents say they haven’t signed their children up for sports due to the rising costs. This translates to millions of kids being priced out of participating in sports that can improve their physical and emotional well-being.