Score another one for political correctness and leniency in the face of bad behavior. The latest home run for the degenerates is Clark County School District ’s new policy for tobacco, alcohol...

To the parents of the youngsters wandering around the Virgin Valley High School gymnasium during every basketball game, I’d like you to write down this website address:

This is a complaint that has been aired here before. But once again, I beseech the broadcast networks, particularly CBS: Please, for the love of God and all that is holy, meaning that...

It doesn’t happen often, but every decade or two I get it right.  This weekend was one of those rare occurrences.  Upon the conclusion of the NFL regular season, I espoused a curse on all...

I’ve played football. I’ve coached football. And I’ve watched football my entire life. But I don’t’ understand it. I thought I did, but after Wednesday night’s Rose Bowl, I’ve realized that I don’t...

If a baseball team decided to run up the white flag on 1/16th of their season, they would give away 10 games. If a drywall hanger decided to call in sick for 1/16th of his year, he would miss 16...

It’s hard to believe that I’m old enough to remember the “Heidi Game.”  For those too young to remember Joe Namath back when women were debasing themselves trying to get a kiss from him...

Warning: The following article is fraught with clichés, homilies, and old saws that will bore the average 15-year-old. Life isn’t fair. Probably the number one cliché trotted out by parents any time...

I would like to put on an extravagant show, charge $150 a ticket, then go out of my way to make sure the ticket holders can’t see big parts of that show. Unfortunately, if I were to do that...

For more than a year, I’ve been bashing baseball about its drug problem. Now, it seems Major League Baseball has finally checked itself into rehab. The baseball owners unanimously agreed to a... 

Back in the seventies (back when you could advertise cigarettes on television, a time fondly referred to as “the good old days” by tobacco companies), there was a brand of smokes aimed at...

I know it’s unprofessional, in poor taste, and unbefitting a man of my advanced years.  However, I simply can’t contain myself.  Here it is: “I told you so!” There, I feel so much better.

The guys who earn their living making left turns at 180 miles per hour need to fire up their 500 horses and get the heck out of town. The football players are coming.

By all accounts, Air Force Academy head football coach Fisher DeBerry is a good, just, and honorable man.  And yet, his 22 years as a leader of young men and a successful football mentor have...

I am proud to announce that I finally caught some Major League Baseball.  Not a whole game, mind you.  In fact, not much more than an inning.  And I ended up tuning in not because I was... 

I understand that not everyone has played football. Because of that, there are things that some people just don’t know. For example, unless you’ve actually worn the pads and stepped...

During last Friday’s JV football game between Virgin Valley and Faith Lutheran, a member of the local media patrolling the sideline was upended in an unfortunate out-of-bounds incident.

It’s been a tough year for football here in Mesquite .  The high school varsity team is still looking for their first win, the JV squad is 1-2, and even our youth football teams are 0-and-a-bunch.

As the Nevada-Utah Boxing Challenge got underway last Saturday in Mesquite, announcer John Smith opened with a 10-count of the bell to honor Leander Johnson.

I think I need to tone down my pre-season workout regimens, because nearly every starter on my team has some nagging injury.  I’m also thinking of dumping Carolina running back...

Sometimes I wonder how schools arrive at their official “school names.”  I have a suspicion that it often involves a thesaurus and a set of darts.  For example, how did a school smack dab in...

I’ve got the blues thanks to the Blues.  I’m talking about the kids in blue who hung a 44-0 shiner on the Bulldogs on Friday night.  They were wearing the same color when they squeezed one...

It’s here!  I’ve endured a blistering summer, the equivalent of a long pedestrian journey through an arid desert, thirsting for this moment. Now it’s here, and not just a mirage...

I’m not much of a gambler.  It’s not a religious matter, or an ethical issue. I simply suck at it. I feel pretty sure that, if I were to bet $5 that the sun was going to rise tomorrow morning, it would be...

Once upon a time, the term “recreation” was nearly synonymous with “fun.”  Unfortunately, thanks to the stuffed shirts who sit in various state and federal legislative bodies, one no longer has...

Maybe it’s time to check the milk cartons. We’re missing kids in Mesquite and Beaver Dam. When last seen, they were wearing jerseys of green and white, or black and silver. While they...

First, I would like to begin with an apology.  For years, I have lambasted Bud Selig as a weak, ineffective, slimy, useless figurehead. I’ve always seen the commissioner for Major...

Last Thursday was the conclusion of the adult flag football league for this year.  It was just the right infusion of football-like activities to hold me over until the start of the VVHS football season on...

Baltimore Oriole baseball star Rafael Palmeiro recently tested positive for steroids, and was given the standard 10-day vacation by major league baseball.  Back in March, Palmeiro told a... 

It’s 109 degrees outside.  The NHL has finally agreed to a contract, which means the season will soon go into training camps and hockey will resume.  The pennant race is heating up, with the...

I know I’m getting old.  The signs are everywhere. Not just in the speckles of gray spouting from my beard, or the wrinkles taking up residence on my forehead.  And it has nothing to do with...

This weekend, bicyclist extraordinaire Lance Armstrong ended his career by winning an unprecedented seventh Tour de France. He did it without an end zone dance, without pointing at other...

Mesquite is blessed with more than its share of recreational amenities. We can boast of five sparkling golf courses, with Canyon Crest getting ready to come online in October...

This will probably be the last Hard At Play column about the Mesquite Boxing Club, at least for a while.  (That noise you just heard is the collective applause from readers across the city...

In all the hoopla surrounding London ’s winning bid for the 2012 Summer Olympics, a quiet death was muffled behind closed doors and secret ballots. It was the death of baseball and softball...

I don’t pretend to be an NHL expert.  A lot of the nuances of the professional game are lost on me, like the name of that little black thing they slap around the rink during a game.  But it doesn’t take...

Tonight, the biggest contest in local sports won’t be on the field. It won’t be on the court. It will be in the City Council chambers. At stake is more than just a score or a mythical sports title.

I’ve been jumping up and down like Daffy Duck on crack about the lack of honor and character in our country, particularly in sports.  Lately, the NCAA and the college campuses have been my...

While tracking the events unfolding at Wimbledon , I was rooting for Andy Roddick, Lindsay Davenport, and Serena Williams.  It’s not that I’m a particularly big fan of these three tennis players...

There are plenty of things wrong in big-time sports, both in the professional and amateur ranks.  Most of it comes down to a complete absence of honor or character on the part of the... 

It’s time for me to chow down on a four course meal of crow.  A few posts ago, I lamented the fact that American tennis has lost its prestigious label as the best in the world, much like the U.S...  

If you want to get away with a crime, any crime, you have two choices. One is to seek out Thomas Messerau, the Michael Jackson attorney who rivals Johnnie Cochran for getting off... 

To be honest, I’m not much of a Major League Baseball fan any more.  When I was younger, and the game was more pure, I was a huge fan.  I grew up watching the best pitching rotation in the... 

Formula One racing has never been big in America . We have Indy racing, which fulfills our need for speed nicely, thank you. But the European racing league has always been anxious to tap into the... 

On Tuesday, I attended a co-ed softball game at Pioneer Park . I was trying to find out why the first-place Bulloch Brothers softball team appeared to be so far ahead of the other five teams...

I’m making a prediction-slash-curse. It appears that Ricky “Pot-head” Williams is applying for reinstatement to the NFL. In a move that is reminiscent of the spineless Major League Basebal...

Where have all our tennis heroes gone? It’s Wimbledon time again, and it feels like an international party to which Americans are no longer invited. According to those who cover the sport...

Girls sports are getting a much-needed shot in the arm thanks to a pair of summer camps.  This week, Charles A. Hughes Middle School girls basketball coach Todd Sparks held a basketball...

Once again, I’m crossing the picket line of my own self-imposed boycott of the NBA to discuss a breaking story. It’s not just breaking, it’s heart-breaking.  There are about four truly...

Brace yourselves, folks.  In a dramatic and radical departure, today’s column…is NOT about the beleaguered Mesquite Boxing gym.  This is an open farewell letter to some kids from Virgin ...

Today is National Apology Day here at the DVT, similar to the Hebrew holiday of Yom Kippur.  The biggest difference is that Yom Kippur comes but once a year, while NAD is observed...

Ever since the boxing gym issue surfaced over a year ago, I’ve been trying to figure out the “why.”  Why are some members of the city government so insistent that the boxing gym should be... 

Virgin Valley High School has filled the vacant positions atop the varsity softball and baseball teams this week with a couple of familiar faces.  

All over America , sports schools and camps are cropping up. You have the Rocky Mountain School of Baseball, baseball camp, football camp, volleyball camp, basketball camp, and camp camp.

One of my favorite things about covering golf is the golf cart ride. Since they usually won’t let me pull out a club and take a whack during a tournament (which is a wise move on their part...

It’s looking more and more as if professional sports may need some professional help.  Only a gifted psychiatrist could diagnose the self-destructive behavior currently displayed by three of the... 

There are currently two recreational programs facing scrutiny by the city.  One is the idea of closing the Mesquite Boxing Team gym.  The other is the dilemma of what to do with the...

I met a golfer over the weekend.  That’s hardly an earth-shattering statement, since this IS Mesquite , where you can’t sling a dead cat without hitting a few dozen. But this man was different.

On paper, it was a good idea. A few years back, the Mesquite Rec Center opened a skate park behind the facility, complete with ramps and jumps. While much of the Rec Center facility and... 

If you had an extra $100,000 laying around, what would you do with it?  Some folks might use it for a down payment on a nice big house.  Others might buy a sports car.  Would you be willing...

On NFL draft weekend, former Oklahoma University quarterback Jason White sat by the phone.  After winning the Heisman Trophy following the 2003 season, the same year he led the Sooners...

The month of May in Mesquite is a sports writer’s dream. Instead of the bone-chilling temperatures of February, the relentless winds of March, the soaking rains of April, and the blistering...

They say the first step toward recovery is to admit you have a problem.  I’m admitting it here, publicly.  I think I’m becoming a girls softball junkie.

Here’s what I want you to do: I want you to reach into your wallet, take out a five-dollar bill, crumple it up, and throw it off a cliff. Now, dry your tears, reach into your pocket, and pull out the...

Did you ever play with football trading cards when you were a kid?  We called them “bubble gum cards” in my youth, emphasizing that the candy meant more than the images of players you often... 

The Nevada Department of Wildlife issued a press release last week regarding a fundraiser by the Nevada Bighorn Unlimited organization. As part of that fundraiser, three hunting permits... 

There is an old story about the man who complained about not having any shoes, until he met a man who had no feet at all.  I hate to admit it, but I kind of feel like that guy right about now.  

I witnessed something at a ballgame this week that turned my sizeable stomach.  While I’m not going to embarrass anybody by mentioning names, I was stunned to watch a player’s dad... 

Major League Baseball opened their season on Sunday afternoon (yawn) with a big game between the New York Yankees and the Boston Red Sox.  I was so excited, I didn’t know what to do first.

For the second time in two weeks, I had a high school student tell me that they thought I was too harsh on their school.  This time, it was a student from Beaver Dam, who apparently took exception.. 

I’m going to step out on a limb and make a bold statement here.  Mesquite is growing.  There, I said it.  Yep, I’m on the cutting edge of investigative journalism.

I was raised with a boxful of clichés that have shaped and formed the person I am today.  As a sort-of journalist, one that has served me well to this day is “Liar, liar, pants on fire.”

Last week, Virgin Valley High School held a special meeting for the parents of VVHS student athletes.  The purpose of the class was to go over some of the rules pertaining to high school...

Whenever I attend a local sport, I’m often disappointed at the ugly diatribes directed at the umpires and referees.  How did these arbiters of truth and fairness become the targets...

It’s no wonder that young people are suspicious of government entities.  Face it, various members of our government lie to us at just about every level.

They look so cute running up and down the field, their little red and yellow flags whipping in the wind.  While pro football players are busy studying their free agency offer sheets and rehabbing...

Being a columnist can be a lonely job.  Unlike my regular sports gig, where I am surrounded by mobs screaming for the blood of opposing teams, and often demanding the heads of the...

I don’t care what that silly groundhog says, spring is just around the corner.  I know it because basketball hoops are being abandoned for softball diamonds, and there are more and more...

I just wanted to thank Mr. Gary Edwards for his Letter to the Editor last week.  In that letter, I was accused of being a Joe Hawk wannabe.  Since I’d never heard that name before, it started me...

I hate wasting one ounce of ink on a pus-bag like Jose Canseco.  He was an arrogant scumbag when he played baseball.  After his disgusting career was over, he showed everyone what rich...

The curtain fell on my first season of Bulldog basketball last Friday when Virgin Valley faced off against the 3A Southern Conference Eagles from Boulder City .  While I don’t pretend to be a coach...

When you attend a high school basketball game, there’s more to see than just tall sweaty guys launching orange spheres at glass-backed rims.  It has to be one of the best tickets in town.

My wife loves my job.  She reminded me of this again on Friday as we headed home from the sports memorabilia show held at the Eureka as a fund-raiser for the Mesquite Cancer Help Society.

If you have my phone number, don’t bother calling me this Sunday.  Visitors aren’t welcome at my house, either.  After faithfully attending church services every Sunday over the...

I love college basketball.  The rivalries, the intimacy of a smaller venue where you are right on top of the action, and players leaving it all on the court for the love of the game instead of a fat...