Kurtz’s Korner 7/21/14

HELPING ONE OF OUR OWN

There’s plenty of sports coverage coming up later in this column, so keep reading and you’ll get your fix. Sometimes there are more important things to discuss, however, and today just feels like one of those times.

I’m a graduate of Jackson High School, and I am very proud to boast about having Stark County roots.  Stark County and the surrounding area is a great place to grow up because unlike a lot of places in the world, people there actually care about their neighbors and their community.  You can drive down the street and wave at a somebody you don’t even know, and they smile and wave back instead of looking at you as though you’re crazy. Stark County certainly isn’t a modern day Mayberry and it’s far from perfect, but there’s just something about it that few places can match.

By now you probably know the story of Sharon Budd, who teaches Language Arts at Edison Middle School in the Perry district.  While driving home from a tip to New York City with her family, Budd was critically injured when four hoodlums threw an eight pound rock through the windshield of the family vehicle from a Pennsylvania overpass.
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Kurtz’s Korner 7/13/14

CHARLES BARKLEY ON GORDON AND MANZIEL

Charles Barkley is good for a lot of laughs, but most of the time he makes a lot of sense. In a radio interview with Canton native Dustin Fox during the LeBron watch earlier this week, Barkley was asked to weigh in on Johnny Manziel.  Prior to answering that question, the entertaining and outspoken TNT analyst offered a genuine show of support for receiver Josh Gordon.

” I don’t know Josh Gordon, but I’m wishing him the best,” Barkley said. “I have a brother who died (from addiction) a few years ago. Drugs and alcohol, they’re undefeated. When you get involved with drugs and alcohol, it’s not a matter of if. It’s a matter of when it’s going to get you, and I hope the Browns don’t just throw him away. At some point you might have to kick him out, but he’s still a young kid. Put him in rehab for an extended period of time, and give him at least one more chance after sitting out a year.”
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Kurtz’s Korner 6/25/14

JEFF HITE REINSTATED AS HOOVER BASEBALL COACH

Hoover Superintend Michael Hartenstein announced earlier today that after his abrupt firing last week, veteran baseball coach Jeff Hite will return to the Viking dugout next spring. In 10 years at the helm, Hite has guided the Hoover baseball program to a 180-103 record and a district title in 2013. That total includes a 19-9 record in 2014, which was good for a second place Federal League finish behind Division I state champion Jackson. Hite, a Hoover graduate, also spent 14 season in charge of the Viking softball program. Hite compiles an astonishing 341-64 record and guided Hoover to the first two of the program’s eight state championships.
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Kurtz’s Korner 6/15/14

HAPPY FATHER’S DAY

I don’t refer to myself very often in the writing of this column, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t wish Happy Father’s Day to my dad and all of the dads in the Big Time Sports audience. I can honestly say that my dad has given me countless gifts for which I will never be able to repay him, and among the most precious of those is a healthy appreciation for the beauty of sport and all of its contributions to the world in which we live.
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