Hardly an ordinary Joe; he was Joe Wolfe

MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports My memories of Joe Wolfe go all the way to the beginning – the beginning for me, that is. Thus, when I learned of his recent death it was with a great sense of melancholy and affection that I found myself in one of those wavy flashback-dream sequences that you…

Too much, too little (man) for Terps to overcome

MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports It was all too much for Maryland baseball to overcome for its dream season to continue into the NCAA super regionals – its battered pitching staff, its quaint but tiny home ballpark, a hot UConn offense and a questionable judgment call made by the umpire SEC baseball fans refer to…

Our friend Lee Schwartz

MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports We lost a great man and friend in our community May 16 when Lee Schwartz died at the far too early age of 71. Certainly Lee always possessed and lived with a wise old soul even in his younger years, but it hardly seems fair that a man who had…

Nothing personal, just tired of seeing you

MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports The consensus at the barber shop was it’s nothing personal; in fact, it’s a matter of great respect. But we’re tired of seeing the Golden State Warriors in the NBA Finals. And there’s a very good reason for that – the Warriors have won three of the past seven NBA…

Be the Best: No worries, Maryland is

MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports It was an enormous weekend for University of Maryland athletics, as the baseball team was selected as the No. 15 seed in the NCAA Tournament as well as the top seed and the host school for one of the first-round regionals, the College Park Regional, for the first time in…

Which ballpark is the ballpark for you?

MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports I am very fortunate to have been able to visit many big-league ballparks, and many of the best ballparks in the big leagues, in my time – two in Baltimore, two in Pittsburgh, two in Washington, two in Cleveland, two in Philadelphia, Yankee Stadium, Fenway, Wrigley, Kansas City, St. Louis,…

The Rebuild is officially on

MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports The $10 bleacher seats for last Thursday’s Yankees-Orioles matinee at Oriole Park were sold out, so our very able ticket purchaser instead secured us two Bob Uecker seats in one — dead center field, but also in the front rowwww … Overlooking the playing field atop the batter’s eye wall…

Birthday card to a friend

MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports Brooks Robinson never had Marilyn Monroe sing “Happy Birthday, Mr. Third Baseman” to him on his birthday. Brooks Robinson has always had his family and friends, and a million little kids from the Wonder Years wish him a happy birthday, even as those same little kids are now in our…

NBA recognizes what never would have been

MIKE BURKE Allegany Communications Sports It was a very appropriate touch made by the NBA last week when it announced the Most Valuable Player awards in the Eastern Conference finals and the Western Conference finals would, effective immediately, be the Larry Bird and Earvin “Magic” Johnson MVP awards respectively. In addition, the Eastern and Western…