Hagerstown receives Soccer Franchise

     I was scrolling the internet recently and stumbled upon the logo to your right.

Hagerstown will host a minor league soccer team, although it's unclear whether it is a true minor league or semi-pro team, with the season running from May through July.

The Hub City Football Club (Black Roses) will start play in May as a member of the National Premier Soccer League, which is listed as a Tier One league, the top level of amateur soccer in the country.

I have become quite an ardent admirer of the English leagues (all four levels, which can be streamed on the Peacock (Premier League) or Paramount (EFL) ), I haven't followed the other top European leagues (Spain, Germany, France, or Italy), the U.S.-based MLS, or the national competitions such as the World Cup.

I'm intrigued, at least for now.

Much would depend on where their games would be (It would almost have to be either Meritus Park, where the Atlantic League Boxcars play, or one of the two Hagerstown high school stadiums), and when the games would take place (Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays would be out due to work commitments) would be a factor in how many I could attend.

North Hagerstown's Mike Callas Stadium is newer and nicer than South Hagerstown's School Stadium, and they have the advantage of not being located where people can watch the game from the Pizza Hut parking lot for free, so if I had to guess on where the team will play, I'd pick North Hagerstown.

I enjoy soccer, although I don't write about it often here.

I don't have enough knowledge about the sport to feel like I'm adding anything valuable to discourse, or I'd write about Newcastle United here at TRS.

I watch all their games, but I would be re-warming other people's work because I don't know enough about the nuances of the game.

Still, I'm interested in the arrival of HCFC, and I could see a world (presuming things fall the right way) where I attend some games and cover them here.

Hopefully, things work out for a successful debut.

Road Trip: Landucci Hits Ohio

    In December, I was able to do something that I've wanted to do for a while.

I've written about Fred Landucci many times through the years, and in recent times, Fred has had his share of physical issues, but he's always wanted to visit the Pro Football Hall of Fame, and I wanted to be able to deliver that for him.

Fred's always been there for me, and I wanted to do this for him.

Originally, the trip was planned for Mike Oravec to join us, but his mom had been in poor health, and he needed to stay home in case he was required, which is more than understandable.

Fred and I left in the morning with one early stop planned in Steubenville, Ohio, at the Naples Spaghetti House.

Noted as the favorite restaurant of the late Dean Martin, Mike Oravec, and I had stopped there in 2024 and enjoyed it so much that Fred wanted to eat there as well.

However, there was one problem- there were no parking areas near Naples due to a town parade/event!

Fred was disappointed, as was I, but with Fred's limited movement, it would have been just too difficult for him to navigate.

Leaving Steubenville with regrets, we traveled to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

I've been to the Hall many times (and this is my third visit this year!), so I'm not getting too deep into the Hall, other than Fred had a great time, and I was happy to help him see something he has always wanted to see.

We traveled to Ashland to spend the night, and bought a few things from the store, along with me buying some items for someone from work.

We ordered some pizza from Donna D's before watching the Big Ten title game with Ohio State losing a disappointing 13-10 decision to Indiana.

We got up early for a big day on day two, with a gas stop where I was able to buy Fred his Christmas present- an old school football from Ohio State with a neat look of worn leather.

The photo above is a small hint of one of the hits from day two, which I'll write about at a future date!

PPM

   The collegiate game decides a national champion, and the NFL showcases its best weekend of the year!

Last Week: 4-2  

Overall: 163-80

College

Indiana over Miami 32-27

NFL

Seahawks over 49ers 24-17

Rams over Bears 38-33

Bills over Broncos 27-22

Patriots over Texans 17-14

 

Cleaning out the Inbox: Passings

 We return to the world of tributes to a few recent passings from the sports world.

Goodbye to Rodney Rogers at the age of 54.

Arguably the second-best player (after Tim Duncan) in the history of Wake Forest basketball, Rogers was a lottery selection (ninth overall) in the 1993 NBA Draft by the Denver Nuggets after winning the ACC Player of the Year award the previous season.

Rogers would play twelve seasons in the NBA for seven teams and would win the Sixth Man of the Year award in 2000 with the Phoenix Suns.

Rogers had been paralyzed from the neck down since a dirt bike accident in 2008.

Goodbye to Elden Campbell at the age of 57.

The all-time leading scorer for the Clemson Tigers, Campbell was named All-ACC three times in the late 1980s before being drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round, where he played for the first nine years of his fifteen-year career.

Campbell led Clemson to the only regular-season ACC title in the program's history and is the surprising answer to a question: Who scored the most points for the Los Angeles Lakers in the 1990s?

Goodbye to Dave Morehead at the age of 82.

Morehead was one of a group of pitchers that the Boston Red Sox hoped could return to contention in the early sixties, but were not part of the eventual Impossible Dream team in 1967.

Morehead pitched for the 1967 American League champions but was not a key contributor, finishing 5-4 in ten starts.

Morehead fired a no-hitter at Fenway Park for Boston over Cleveland in 1965 in a game attended by only 1,200 fans.

Goodbye to Steve Taneyhill at the age of 52.

Known for his long ponytail and his homerun swing touchdown celebration, Taneyhill set the South Carolina record for passing yards and led the Gamecocks to the first bowl victory in their history with a 1995 CarQuest Bowl win over West Virginia.

Taneyhill spent two seasons on the Jacksonville Jaguars' practice squad but never appeared in a game for them.

Goodbye to Steve Regal at the age of 73.

Often remembered as the "other" Steven Regal," Mr Electricity" held the NWA and AWA's light heavyweight titles, and with "Gorgeous" Jimmy Garvin, held the AWA tag team titles, defeating the feared Road Warriors in a match with tons of outside interference.

Regal would later wrestle for the NWA and WWF as a preliminary wrestler after Garvin and Regal's title reign ended with a loss to Scott Hall and Curt Hennig.

Regal was the son-in-law of the star wrestler of the Golden Age, Wilbur Snyder.

Goodbye to Jawann Oldham at the age of 68.

The second round pick of the Denver Nuggets in 1980 from the University of Seattle, Oldham would play until 1995, playing for eight teams as a backup big man known for his shot blocking and defense.

Oldham would later play a key role in starting the Chinese, Japanese, and Korean professional leagues.

Goodbye to Rags to Riches at the age of 21.

The first filly to win the Belmont Stakes in over a hundred years was in the 2007 edition.

Rags to Riches also won the Kentucky Oaks and would win the Eclipse Award for Champion Three-Year-Old Filly.

Boxing Challenge! Smith knocks out Matias

   Most people thought Dalton Smith had a chance to upset Subriel Matias in his attempt to take the WBC junior welterweight title from Matias.

Few thought that Smith could knock out Matias, who had shown a strong chin in his many slugfests, but Smith surprised everyone with a fifth-round KO to lift the WBC title from Matias in New York City.

The fight was filled with toe-to-toe combat, and with Smith bleeding from a cut over his left eye, Matias seemed to be edging ahead in what promised to be a bruising affair.

Smith ended all of that when he landed a right hand in the fifth that took away the legs of the champion, and as he wobbled, a second right hand dropped him face-first to the floor.

Matias managed to reach his feet, but his legs were clearly not listening to him, and the fight was waved off.

I had Matias slightly ahead 39-37 at the time of the stoppage.

Smith will meet former champion Alberto Puello next in a WBC-mandated bout.

Puello lost his title to Matias last year in a close fight, so he's a deserving challenger and should test Smith.

Smith moves to the top of a division filled with talented young champions (Teofimo Lopez WBO, Gary Antuanne Russell WBA, and Richardson Hitchens IBF) and could make good matches with any of them should he defeat Puello.

Matias may have taken a step back after being knocked out, as his style is built on wearing fighters down until they wear out.

Now that his chin has shown some vulnerability, Matias could be at the beginning of a slide down the division, and his next fight is worth watching to see how being knocked out for the first time will affect him.

In Germany, heavyweight contender Agit Kabayel survived a strong first round from Damian Knyba to score a third-round stoppage.

Knyba landed several right hands in an aggressive first round and bruised Kabayel around his left eye, but the German landed well in the second round before hurting a dazed Knyba with right hands of his own.

I thought the ending could have been a little premature, but I think Kabayel would have ended the fight anyway, so Knyba was spared some punishment.

Boxing Challenge

Kabayel should be in line for a possible future challenge of Oleksandr Usyk, who owns three of the four heavyweight titles, but a potential fight against recently promoted WBO champion Fabio Wardley (Usyk vacated that title after his win over Daniel DuBois) would be an almost-guaranteed firefight.

TRS: (3) 

Ramon Malpica: (2)

Vince Samano: (1)

PPM

   The NFL postseason arrives with six playoff games over three days!

Last Week: 3-4

Overall: 159-78

AFC
Patriots over Chargers 24-21

Bills over Jaguars 35-33

Texans over Steelers 20-17

NFC

Packers over Bears 31-29

Eagles over 49ers 27-21

Rams over Panthers 35-17

Boxing Challenge

    January is a slow month in boxing, usually because few want to train during the holidays.

But this weekend, there are two fights of interest for the boxing challenge for 2026.

In Germany, heavyweight contender Agit Kabayel makes his ring return with a minor title defense against unbeaten Damian Khyba.

Kabayel has stopped his last three opponents, each a notch higher up the ladder, with a 2023 knockout over then-unbeaten powerhitter Arslanbek Makhmudov, a 2024 KO of smooth boxing Frank Sanchez, and last year's knockout of perennial contender Zhilei Zhang, and has made himself a deserving championship contender.

The unbeaten Khyba hasn't fought top competition yet, with his best wins coming against then-unbeaten Marcin Siwy and journeyman Joey Dawejko, and takes a big jump forward against Kabayel.

In New York City, Subriel Matias defends his WBC junior welterweight title against his mandatory contender, England's Dalton Smith.

Matias, who held the IBF version of the title before an upset loss to Liam Paro, won the WBC title last July with a majority decision win over Alberto Puello.

Smith, the youngest and most heralded of the British Smith family, is an aggressive fighter, but other than a KO win over a washed-up Jose Zepeda, his opponents have been of the European level.

Style-wise, this should be a very entertaining fight, with both fighters enjoying a more aggressive approach, so I'm looking forward to this one!

Boxing Challenge

Heavyweights 12 Rds 

Agit Kabayel vs Damian Knyba

Ramon Malpica: Kabayel KO 6
TRS: Kabayel KO 4

Vince Samano: Kabayel Unanimous Decision

WBC Junior Welterweight Title 12 Rds

Subriel Matias vs Dalton Smith

R.L and V.S: Matias Unanimous Decision
TRS: Smith Split Decision