SPORTS TALK
With Michael Betteridge Go West Young Man! Last year at this time, I wrote about skiing and snow conditions. I lamented how we hadn’t had any truly cold winters or snow since 2021. The last really big winter was 2010 and the Snowpocalypse! We had 70 inches of snow that year—44 inches in February alone.…
SPORTS TALK
With Michael Betteridge Never Say Anything Bad About Someone January is always the time of the year during which we reflect on the past year and prepare for the new year. We use the successes and failures of 2025 to shape our plan to increase the former and limit the latter. We take stock of…
SPORTS TALK
With Michael Betteridge The Real Reason for the Season Every December, we move from fall high school sports into winter sports. It’s a difficult transition from warm weather to cool weather, then cool weather to cold weather. We move from football, soccer, and field hockey outside to basketball and wrestling inside. I always use this…
SPORTS TALK
With Michael Betteridge Fasten Your Chinstraps Recently, I had a conversation with high school football historian and guru, Sheldon Shealer. Sheldon is the chairman of the Communications Department at Mount St. Mary’s. Sheldon has a Ph.D. in sports media. His website, mdprepfootball.com, is the repository for high school sports history. Sheldon knows high school football!…
SPORTS TALK
With Michael Betteridge Golf Is A Puzzle Without An Answer A sports topic we’ve never covered before in this column recently became big news in Thurmont: GOLF! Catoctin Cougars freshman Callen Edmonston was named athlete of the week last September after recording a five under par 31 at Maple Run Golf Course in Thurmont during…
SPORTS TALK
With Michael Betteridge 2024-2025 Season Highlights This is the time of year when things slow down a bit. Typically, every July, we take a quick look back at the season highlights from September to June. Next month, we’ll begin the exciting journey in this column into the new high school sports 2025-26 season. 2024-25 Season…
SPORTS TALK
With Michael Betteridge Go Make A Difference! Memorial Day marks the beginning of summer. Schools let out for summer break. Pools open. Carnivals begin. High school sports end a journey that began back in September and culminates in a whirlwind of playoffs and state championships. It also marks the passing of the baton from our…
SPORTS TALK
With Michael Betteridge Two New Theorems for May Curiously, it seems like we just started spring sports. Already, we are winding down the high school spring sports season and heading into the playoffs this month. After a comprehensive study of the schedule, I realized that the fall, winter, and spring high school sports seasons are…
SPORTS TALK
With Michael Betteridge Mountainball Has Always Been Legendary As April sanity triumphs over March madness, we look forward to our spring high school sports season. It is certain that our Lady Cougars softball team will be exceptional. With Taylor Smith back on the mound, and an experienced, solid infield behind her, this may be one…
Sports Talk
With Michael Betteridge A Tree Has Roots When I was young, I discovered a book in my Grandma’s attic one day, entitled The Bellows Genealogy – John Bellows the Boy Emigrant of 1635 and His Descendants. As I read through the tattered yellow pages of the book, I began to see names that I recognized:…
SPORTS TALK
with Michael Betteridge Over the past 13 years, the average snowfall in our area has been 22 inches per year. In the 2022-2023 snow season, we received two inches of snow for the entire year. Last winter season, our total was 16 inches. In the past three years, we have received 33.1 inches of snow.…
SPORTS TALK
with Michael Betteridge Confession Is Good for the Soul Traditionally in this column, I’ve always reserved January as a time to look back at the last year, to take stock of the new year, and to make some bold predictions. Let’s take that journey together again. For the past several months in this column, I…
SPORTS TALK
with Michael Betteridge We Are Blessed Last month, we were tracking the progress of our Catoctin Cougars sports teams, who were a disappointing 8-23 a month ago. Let’s see how we finished the fall season. Our Cougars football team finished the regular season 2-7. That’s a regression from last year’s 3-6 record. They ranked 22nd…
SPORTS TALK
with Michael Betteridge History Doesn’t Repeat Itself… Sports Columnists Do High school fall sports in November means playoffs, and the playoff structure is always a moving target. The governing body of high school sports, the MPSSAA (Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association), determines which schools are in the four divisions: 1A, 2A, 3A, and 4A.…
SPORTS TALK
with Michael Betteridge What Happened To Mountainball? High school sports opened the fall season officially on Tuesday, September 3, with golf, soccer, and volleyball. The following day, girls flag football and field hockey kicked off. The opening fall season sports week continued on Friday, September 6, with football, and then cross-country track on Saturday, September…
SPORTS TALK
with Michael Betteridge If Rodeo Was Easy, They’d Call It FootballMy 21-year-old granddaughter, Maida, lives on a farm up in Ortanna, Pennsylvania. She is an accomplished barrel racer, competing often at the Chambersburg Saddle Club. For many years, I coached her brother, Stephen, in Fairfield youth football. My daughter, Corinne, their mother, and her family…
SPORTS TALK
with Michael Betteridge For the second year in a row, I had the honor of broadcasting the Thurmont Little League All-Stars Maryland District 2 tournament. It was amazing to watch this special group of community leaders, parents, and young boys. The time, dedication, and organization that goes into making these tournaments a reality is commendable.…
SPORTS TALK
with Michael Betteridge High school sports fans, now that the high school sports season has ended, let’s put a ribbon on the 2023-24 high school sports season with a few highlights, our local athletes of the year, and a personal July reflection. 2023-24 Season Highlights Football Best Cougars football game of the year: September 22,…
SPORTS TALK
with Michael Betteridge Catoctin High School spring sports began with some pretty big news. With the retirement of Athletic Director Keith Bruck, who moved up north to take over at Fairfield, Catoctin began the search process for a new athletic director. Since WTHU arrived on the sports scene in 2008, Catoctin High School has had…
SPORTS TALK
with Michael Betteridge Memo to Catoctin Athletics: Do NOT schedule any baseball or softball games at Boonsboro next year! Last year, two remarkable Catoctin teams—baseball and softball—rode the bus all the way down to the tiny little town founded by Daniel Boone’s cousin, William Boone. That little Washington County town of Boonsboro was the scene…
