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Toward the End: Readings, Writings, Football
Nothing Criminal about Pinball in Chubb Dodge’s
Getty Images/Bettmann Naïve lad that I once was, I did not know that I had embarked on a criminal enterprise in the back of Chubb Dodge’s emporium. Chubb never struck me as the kind of man who would lead impressionable youth astray in order to fleece them of nickels...
It’s a Good Year When Cooper Tire Returns to Akron
Findlay Courier file photo When David Giffels and I wrote Wheels of Fortune: The Story of Rubber in Akron, its title had the catchy ring of a television game show but a subtitle that could have been more inclusive. Throughout 1997 in weekly special sections of the...
When It Comes to Mayfield, There’s Only One Fear
Matt Starkey/Cleveland Browns Be afraid. Be very, very afraid. This is the prevailing wisdom emanating from those dissecting the effect of the failures and subsequent trades of Jared Goff and Carson Wentz, National Football League quarterbacks who had been thought to...
Killer Doyle Will Have Familiar Address Until 2027
This week a community rose again in a chorus of remembrance and outrage to stand with Charlie Wright, the 7-year-old boy killed in 1987 by his mother’s live-in boyfriend. Its letters, emails, Facebook posts, petition, and unwavering voice resulted in the Ohio Parole...
Alan Canfora Rehabilitated “Mission Accomplished”
Alan Canfora, in black, and eight of nine wounded survivors of Kent State May 4 shootings Don Roese Photo/Akron Beacon Journal via beaconjournal.com Sometimes—too often, actually—death fills my mind with darkness and it spills out onto the page. Writing about my...
Parole Doyle? Would They Release the Devil from Hell?
David Strittmatter, left, and younger brother Charlie, killed in 1987 by Wayne Doyle. Family Photo 1982 via beaconjournal.com When the Akron Beacon Journal published on Sunday a lengthy story concerning the possible parole of child-killer Wayne Doyle, relief swept...
Marty, Marty. You Were the Gleam, and We Cry for You
Cleveland Browns.com Photo Bullheaded tough-guy Marty Schottenheimer, the Cleveland Browns best head coach in the past 40 years, Old Browns or New, died this week in Charlotte, North Carolina, after suffering since 2014 from Alzheimer’s. He also was one of the...
Time to Redefine Who/What Is a Franchise Quarterback
Tampa Bay Buccaneers Photo The aftermath of Super Bowl 55 creates the conviction that it is time to update the use of the football phrase—Franchise Quarterback. This is the necessity for which 32 teams in the National Football League search with wanton and too often...
An Old Guy and His GOAT Are Worth Some Love
Tampa Bay Buccaneers/Tori Richman Photo For years, journalistic responsibilities and ethics prevented caring—at least openly—which team won the Super Bowl. In retirement, it has been different. I can acknowledge if not slobbering affection for the Cleveland Browns at...
If COVID kills, Chasing Vaccine Can Drive a Person Nuts
Photo by National Cancer Institute on Unsplash Once upon a time, a person could believe that Santa Claus descended through chimneys, hot dogs were good for us, and that American competence was the real deal. This country endured a civil war and found a way to form a...