Michael Cochran
Michael Cochran, Ledgestone Championship Golf Course, StoneBridge Village - Big Sports
Ledgestone Gives Us a Taste for More Greens
Article from July/August 2008 Issue of Big Sports
(By Jamie Sullivan and Michael Cochran)
Michael Cochran, Ray Chapman, Baseball Rubbing Mud - Big Sports
Major league baseball rule 3.01(c) states that before every game, an umpire must properly rub down the required number of balls -six or seven dozen- to remove the gloss of newness. The rulebook doesn’t specify what is to be used for rubbing the balls down, but for the past 70 years or so, the same substance has been applied: Lena Blackburne Baseball Rubbing Mud. That’s right. Since the late 1930s, every ball put into play in professional baseball has been coated with mud.
The custom of rubbing the shine out of new balls was established in 1920 after Cleveland Indians’ star shortstop Ray Chapman was struck in the head and killed by an errant pitch. The tragic beanball was an accident blamed on the slickness of a new ball, and rule 3.01(c) was instituted to assure pitchers could get a more reliable grip. Early rubdown techniques, including shoe polish, tobacco juice and infield dirt mixed with water, yielded inconsistent results.
Michael Cochran, Hot Rods, Street Rod Nationals - Big Sports
Hot Rods Rock
We’ve been singing about our rides since In My Merry Oldsmobile became a popular ditty way back in 1905, but it was after World War II when car songs really took off as a genre. With America’s can-do spirit fully ignited by the victorious war effort, it was a natural progression for that inventive drive to be reflected in the cars of the postwar era. As the public unanimously embraced the streamlined modernism of new automotive design, the bulbous fenders and boat-bottom hoods that had long been the hallmarks of style became decidedly passé. As a result, pre-war cars (and those immediately following in 1946-1948) could be had for a pittance, putting automobile ownership within the financial reach of ‘50s/’60s youth. It was during this time that the hot rod became a fixture in our culture, quickly taking its place alongside jazz and baseball as a purely American icon. More often than not, the young men who bought those old cars were more concerned with performance than paint, leading to a critical ingredient of early rod mystique: the speed and power of a souped-up motor disguised as an old jalopy.
Michael Cochran, Ned Reynolds, KY3 - Big Sports
What a Ride! Ned Reynolds In His Own Words
Ned Reynolds may not be as busy as he used to be, but he’s still hard to catch. The following review of his long career was pieced together from hallway conversations at KY3, phone calls and one lengthy sit-down interview. The dean of Springfield sportscasters and one of the most recognized media personalities in the history of Ozarks broadcasting, here’s Ned in his own words, speaking for himself. –Michael Cochran
Michael Cochran: You’ve been a familiar figure here for so long, it’s like you’ve always been here…
Ned Reynolds: It does seem that way, but no, I was raised in Haddonfield, New Jersey, a little city of 12-13,000 people up in south Jersey.
MC: Give us a snapshot of your early life.
NR: Born in 1941, the second of three sons, my dad was superintendent of schools and mom was a concert pianist. My brothers and I really had to toe the line growing up because our dad was a very strict disciplinarian, both within the school system and at home. He was an authority figure, someone all the other kids feared, and, at times, so did we! (laughing)
