MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports Whether we watched them religiously or not, just knowing the Olympic Games were on seemingly 24/7 for the past two-and-a-half weeks provided a comfort – a respite from the stress that has enveloped us for the past eight years. Through the ongoing hate and political violence that prevail, the Games…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports Thirty-six years later, the 1988 Baltimore Orioles have returned to the conversation, as the current-day Chicago White Sox have tied their modern-day American League record for most losses in a row at 21. The futility of the ‘88 Orioles remains even more noteworthy, as those O’s (a nickname that became…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports The body language of both teams, the Baltimore Orioles and the Toronto Blue Jays – where they are going and where they have been – was evident Wednesday afternoon at Oriole Park at Camden Yards, one day after the Major League Baseball trade deadline had expired. The Orioles had a…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports Cal Ripken Jr. grew up in a Baltimore Orioles family, naturally, as his father had been a lifer in the Orioles system as a player, coach and manager; and in those days of young Cal’s childhood, no team in Major League Baseball won as often as did the Baltimore Orioles,…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports One of the first memories of the Summer Olympics for me was watching Bill Toomey running in the shadows of the Olympic Stadium in Mexico City to win the 1968 decathlon. My mother was watching it on our black-and-white TV, so I started watching even though I had no idea…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports In real-life baseball vernacular, it is the proper answer to, “Is this heaven?” No, it’s Cooperstown. Cooperstown, New York is Baseball Heaven. During Hall of Fame Induction Weekend, it may be the closest thing to real heaven on earth. Sunday was Induction Day in the quiet, sleepy village of Cooperstown,…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports The Major League Baseball trade deadline is Tuesday, July 30 at 6 p.m. It used to be July 31 at 4 p.m., but the Commissioner’s Office now sets the deadline for any date between July 28 and August 3 in an effort to avoid conflicting with games; which sounds reasonable.…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports The Major League All-Star Game is tonight and that used to be a red-letter day for baseball fans, going all the way back to the time the annual MIdsummer Classic was played in the afternoon. Of course, in those days every meaningful baseball game was played during the afternoons, and…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports It’s the All-Star break, the much-needed All-Star break for some teams, with the Baltimore Orioles being at the top of the list of teams that can use a rest and a reset the most. The Orioles have had three days off in the last 70 days, facing most of the…
MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports First of all, isn’t the Washington-Jefferson-Roosevelt-Lincoln Mount Rushmore good enough? Why must we be so pee-wee football, “Well, the big kids have it so it’s not fair for the little kids not to have it” as a society? The participation trophy mindset remains a pox on us all. That said,…
