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Ah… A new season, finally.  Major League Baseball couldn’t start soon enough.  Fantasy owners are chirping about who the sleepers are, fans are purchasing tickets to enjoy a game on a Spring day, and it all starts next week.  Before you laugh at these five predictions, remember who picked the Saints to win the Super Bowl last August, and who picked Butler to beat Syracuse three weeks ago.

The following five items are heavily debated baseball topics for the upcoming year.  Having heard both sides of a few arguments over the past few months, Paneech.com presents the five things you can forget about in the 2010 MLB season.

• The Cleveland Indians will contend.  Forget it.  Cleveland has chosen to go the same route as the Pittsburgh Pirates, profit at the end of the year.  The bullpen was supposed to be the strength of this year’s team, but Kerry Wood is only getting exercise when riding his bike to the Cleveland Clinic.  No closer.  Grady Sizemore and Travis Hafner are both injury prone as well.  Hafner (looking good as always at Spring Training) blows a gasket every May and misses a couple of months.  The rotation is trash.  Mark Redman is the starting catcher even though he couldn’t start anywhere else in recent years.  Finally, Manny Acta, the new manager, has done next to nothing to merit his title, yet he will be shoved down our throats as a savior (ala Mike Holmgren) all season long.  Brace yourselves Tribe fans, it is gonna be a long year.

• The New York Yankees will repeat as champions.  Wrong, they will not.  By spending billions of dollars over the past ten years and walking away with a single championship, the Yankees have regressed.  George’s fat wallet is still on auto pilot, but the level of expectation can’t be matched regardless of what they accomplish during the regular season.  Andy Pettitte should have retired, AJ Burnett is an every other year pitcher with a DL history for blisters.  Can’t Big George afford Bactine and some Band-Aids?  The Yankees will have a potent offense, they always do, especially with the Fisher Price right field poke for a home run at the new stadium.  Pitching will doom the Yankees and expect most of the heat to fall on Joba Chamberlain, a ‘work in progress’ to be a permanent fixture in the starting rotation.

• Toronto should go about .500.  The Blue Jays will be lucky to go .300 this season.  The starting rotation is a mess.  Roy Halladay was it.  Guys that were expected to step up are hurt and the Jays are gonna be hurling a bunch of nobody’s all year long.  Bring back Dennis Lamp, Dave Stieb, Jim Clancy, and Luis Leal, hell…  let Jesse Barfield pitch too, they would all be better than the watermelon lobbing staff that the Canadians will present this season.

• Tim Lincecum will have an off year because of his fat contract signing.  Look for Little Timmy to duplicate last year and then some.  He missed four starts last season and still approached a few records.  The Cy Young will stay by the bay and the Giants, who have other good pitchers, and a prospect named Madison Bumgarner who will make a difference by seasons end, can contend if and only if they get some offense.  Barry Bonds is gone (for now, anyway) and the Giants and Lincecum might be drowning in champagne  this October.

• The Chicago Cubs will suck.  I see the Cubs winning the division this year.  Alfonso Soriano is going to fly back with a season enjoyed by few.  The Cubs are one of the best balanced teams on paper and have a respectable leader in Lou Piniella who knows how to construct winning teams.  The rotation is pretty solid and the position players can hit.  If Aramis Ramirez can stay healthy and Soriano can return to form, beware National League, no one can touch this team.  Expect Zambrano and Lilly to have good numbers and a high amount of quality starts.

It’s March.  In like a lion, out like a lamb.  If new YSU Coach Eric Wolford and his staff had their way, March would come in like a lion, and go out a bigger, faster, and stronger lion that was more physical at month’s end.  Saturday afternoon marked the first full-contact practice for the Penguins. The intensity was at a fever-pitch level as the team, at midpractice, broke into Oklahoma drills.

Oklahoma drills are simply one blocker, one defender, and one ball carrier.  Someone gets the best of someone else every play.  There are two bags set about four yards apart that the runner, who starts at a 5-yard drop,  must stay between.  The defender has the task of shedding his block and making a good tackle.  It is a great intensity builder and there was little disappointment on that front Saturday.

Coach Wolford saw good and bad on the first official day of contact.  “I was not really pleased at what I saw.  We need to be more physical, so we need to do more physical things at practices, that might be all we do.  Right now our coaches have more energy than some of the players.”

After the Oklahoma drill, the team broke into specialty groups.  The group with the most question marks remains the quarterback position.  All four quarterbacks in camp (pictured) took snaps with different units.  As Wolford had explained earlier, this position is of the most importance and he was not sure what exactly to expect coming into Spring ball.

When asked about the high-pitched practice where some players had to be seperated, Wolford (above) remarked, “I think it’s good.  Football is not for everyone.  If you don’t like contact and flying around and  getting excited, and getting red eyes and panting a little bit, then this may not be for you.  There are some guys out here who I’m not sure know what football is all about.  My expectations are for us to be a very physical football team, and we have got to address that immediately.”

Marc Kanetsky, one of the four quarterback candidates, commented on the atmosphere.  “Everything is more uptempo.  Coach [Wolford] is real intense.  If you are doing something wrong, he will get in your face and let you know about it.  We just have to keep learning the new system and working to get better every day.”

 

The Horizon League may well be one of the most underestimated conferences in all of college basketball.  Few programs have had the success that Butler has enjoyed over the past few seasons.  For some reason, the NCAA Tournament Selection Committee seeded the Horizon League regular season and tournament champions as a #5 seed.

Butler (28-4) finished the season ranked at #11.  If the math is true, they should have gotten a #3 seeding.  Instead they draw a quality first round opponent in UTEP, another underseeded team.  The Bulldogs also just ran the table in the Horizon League (first time that has ever been done), and hold the longest winning streak in the country at 20 games.

Three of the Bulldogs losses came to teams in the Big Dance.  Minnesota, Clemson (one point), and Georgetown all managed to beat Butler during the regular season.  Butler, however, holds wins against Siena, Ohio State, and Xavier, three more tournament teams.

Coach Brad Stevens, in just his third season, has an overall 77-14 record.  Stevens is trotting a young team onto the court to face UTEP with just one Senior (Willie Veasley, pictured), one Junior (Matt Howard), and three Sophomores (Gordon Hayward, Ronald Nored, and Shelvin Mack).

If the Bulldogs can defeat UTEP, they would face the winner of the Vanderbilt-Murray State contest.  If they can win two games in a row, they will be in the Sweet 16 and in all likelihood have a date with #1 seed Syracuse.  Butler can beat Syracuse.  Write that down somewhere.

No matter how far Horizon League teams seem to go in the tournament (Butler, Cleveland State, and Valpo have all done well in recent years) the reality seems that a #5 seed is the best the selection committee can give the conference. 

Good Luck Butler!  Represent the Horizon League with pride and knock ’em all down a peg or two.

(photo of Willie Veasley courtesy of Ron Stevens)

John Wooden would have had trouble winning a game with seven players dressed.  Pat Summitt would have quit midseason.  Phil Jackson would have went nuts.  Cindy Martin stuck it out.

With two years remaining on her contract, Coach Cindy Martin has resigned as head basketball coach at Youngstown State University.  In two seasons, Martin compiled a record of 3 wins and 57 losses, including an obstacle filled 0-30 campaign this year.  Beyond the numbers, so many factors worked against Martin in her two years.  This year, the numbers were a mess.  Having really only two post players made the Lady Penguins weak in the middle, especially when one would go out for a breather, or God forbid, foul trouble.

Martin only had two Seniors, Rachael Manuel and Kaitlyn March.  March dressed but was limited because of shin problems, and Manuel has been an improving work in progress since she got here.  Many of the players on the team were not even her recruits.  Credit her and the staff for finding Brandi Brown, a Horizon League Newcomer of  The Year finalist.

It’s a real shame that Martin has opted to go.  Those on the inside will tell you that there is nobody you will ever meet more competitive than Coach Martin.  Press conference after press conference, she always managed to take something positive and build on it.  She never used the numbers disadvantage as a crutch or an excuse.  Martin also never said a negative word about Youngstown, her staff, or her players because she believed in all of them.

Director of Athletics, Ron Strollo, said the choice to resign was Martin’s.  “We were surprised at Coach Martin’s decision to resign at this time.  She accepted a difficult challenge in rebuilding the winning tradition of YSU women’s basketball, and she and her staff worked tirelessly the past two years toward that end. We understand the end results of this past season put their efforts to the test, but a full examination of the extenuating circumstances that led to this year’s outcomes makes those familiar with the situation supportive of the progress she made.”

“I have decided to step down from my position because I feel in my heart it is what’s best for the program at this time,” Martin said. “I want to thank Youngstown State University and the athletic department for the wonderful opportunity. We signed back-to-back recruiting classes that are committed to their successes both on and off the court.”

Martin’s influence was obvious in her players who completed 30 community service projects over the past two years.  Academics were also important to the Lady Penguins as the team had a combined 3.29 GPA.

Best of luck to Cindy Martin!  She has paved the groundwork for the future of YSU Basketball over the next few years.

Donald Jones, the former Youngstown State Penguin, came home for a visit and he didn’t come alone.  Jones ran routes on the Stambaugh Stadium turf early Monday morning.  Scouts from Pittsburgh, Cleveland, and Indianapolis were there early to evaluate select Seniors in various categories.

To enter Stambaugh Stadium at 7 am brought back memories of the dreaded eight o’clock classes.  Looking around, the weight room was full of life as several people were doing workouts.  Unsure of where the scouts, players to be tested, or Donald Jones were, Jon Moffett, of the Vindicator, and I walked into the gym to strategize where to be.  Walking toward us was Donald Jones.  Jones had a big smile on his wide awake face and stopped to chat.  “It feels great to be home”, exclaimed Jones.

When asked what to expect today, Jones knew exactly what he would be doing.  “They [NFL scouts] are pretty happy with my numbers from the combine.  All they want me to do today is run routes.”  Jones did just that putting on a good show as classmate Aaron Pitts threw balls to Jones.

Jones enhanced his draft status with a good showing at the NFL Combine a couple of weeks ago.  He tied for first benching 225 pounds a set amount of times and he also ran a 4.47  40-yard dash.  He is projected to go in the fifth round, where he would be a steal.  Jones has the size, speed, and hands to carry a team and as an added bonus the NFL needs a few guys like DJ with their heads screwed on straight.

Phil Kreidler, a scout from the Pittsburgh Steelers organization, remembered me from the Pitt and South Dakota State games, where we spoke about Jones.  His task on this day was to put other Penguins through some tests in hopes of scooping up a good free agent or two.  “We have the guys run two forties, vertical jump, broad jump, and we look for explosiveness.  We also see how many times each person can bench 225.  We then move to some agility drills to evaluate their overall athletic ability and a few change of direction drill as well.”

If someone performs well, Kreidler reports back to the Steelers.  “We grade every Senior and look to see if maybe someone can be helpful to us as a free agent.  Every guy gets a specific grade based on their performance here today.  We then get together and go over every single player we give a draft grade to.”

Many of  last years Seniors were present for the testing.  Mychal Savage (pictured), Lenny Wicks, Dana Brown, Jabari Scott, and Brandon Summers, were all there to get timed, tested, and put there numbers on the board in hopes of making it to the National Football League.  Good luck to all who participated!

 

 

Goaltenders are wired a little different.  They usually are not the best skaters on the ice and rely on their reflexes to get their jobs done.  Jordan Tibbett and Matt Mahalak are the tandem that the Youngstown Phantoms have been using all season.  Any hockey fan will vouch that a teams defense makes or breaks a goalie.  The more shots faced, the more goals scored, that’s just elementary.  Both Phantoms goalies have done well this season but are very different as individuals.  In the first-ever Paneech.com dual interview, meet the netminders, Jordan Tibbett and Matt Mahalak.

Paneech:  How did you both end up as goaltenders, what was the draw?

Tibbett:  I thought the equipment was cool.  My dad always wanted to play but never did, so he stuck me on the ice.

Mahalak:  For me, when we were playing mytes, we would rotate at goalie.  One game I got in there and played pretty well and never got back out.

Paneech:  Unique situation, you are on the same team, yet you are in competition for starts.  How does that work?  Do you get along even though you are competing or does it get competitive?

Tibbett:  It gets competitive.  Really, through pushing each other we really want the best for each other.  The better he [Mahalak] gets, the better I have to get and I have to push myself.

Mahalak:  I have learned stuff from Jordan every practice, and I just try to pick up things.  We are both going for the same number one job, but we are pushing each other to get better so we can both get to the next level.

Paneech:  Is there a little light in your head that goes off when you are not in and you see your counterpart get scored on three times in a period, is there a response mentally, like, “I could have stopped all of those” ?

Tibbett:  Whenever I see a goal from the bench, I start to brainstorm and ask myself what he could have done differently to stop a shot.  Whenever we get a TV timeout, I can talk to Matt and tell him something I may have noticed.  I’m not over there going,  ‘Oh Yeah! Matt is getting scored on!’

Mahalak:  Same here.  I am looking for something that he might not be doing in that game to hopefully help him keep his head on straight.  We help each other to regroup to finish the game.

Paneech:  How much do both of you rely on the defense in front of you?

Tibbett:  It definitely helps.  If you see ten shots from the corner of the blue line, it makes your job really easy.  If you are seeing ten breakaways a game, it makes your job really difficult.  It varies game-to-game.  They are doing everything they can to help us out.

Paneech:  Why does a coach switch a goalie instead of a defenseman if you are facing forty-plus shots per game?

Mahalak:  Switching the goalie is because you are at a turning point in the game.  If a goalie is getting lit up, whether its his fault or not, the team will switch just to try to give an extra boost, or to create a turning point.

Paneech:  You both have little rituals.  When the puck is on the other side of the ice, Jordan, you like to skate across the goal line to the boards.  Matt, you usually drink water and then depart on your little trip.  What is the reason to leave the crease every dead whistle?

Tibbett:  It’s alot of things.  Whenever I am moving around when the play is at the other end or there is a whistle, it keeps my blood flowing and helps me to stay loose.  At the same time, you are getting mentally prepared.  Alot of goaltending is repitition and when you are doing the same thing before every game, and during every game, you go to a familiar spot that puts your mind and body at ease.

Mahalak:  I listen to the music and just try to relax.  Other times, I try to really get geared up and focus.  There is some superstition mixed in with all of the repitition.  Doing the same things over and over makes it easier.

Paneech:  You clear your head.  When the puck is on the other side of the ice, you guys have the best seat in the house.  You are still somewhat focused, yet you are now at ease a bit.  How often do you guys look around, watch the scoreboard, and take in the atmosphere?

Tibbett:  Whenever the play is stopped, I like to look up and see the replays just to get a different angle as to what is going on.  It helps me to have more knowledge in the back of my head to make better split-second decisions. 

Mahalak:  When you get scored on, the replay is played and you see what happened.  After the replay, you have to put it behind you and move on.  It helps refocus and regain confidence.

Paneech:  I have noticed at these USHL games, there are alot of times an opposing player will be crashing the net, stop on a dime, and spray ice flakes all over the goalie.  How mad do you get, do you put the hit out when someone does that to you?

Tibbett:  Players will do that in hopes of getting you in the eyes so that a puck may have a chance to get by.  It is just part of the game and something you have to play through.

Mahalak:  I don’t get too upset, I remain pretty calm.  Usually it is the defensemen that get upset over that kind of stuff.  I brush the snow off and just get back to what I am doing.  If they are doing that to me, I know they are trying to get in my head, that just means that I am in their head.

One Word Answers

                                                                                                                                                                 Tibbett                                        Mahalak

Favorite Meal:                             Dinner                                      Pre-game meal

Biggest Phobia:                              Heighths                                       Spiders

Best Movie:                                     Goonies                                         Surf’s Up

Best All-Time Goalie:                  Dominic Hasek                        Terry Sawchuck

What On A Pizza:                             Meat Lover’s                              Meat Lover’s

Music:                                     Anything, but Country     Anything, Especially Country

Worst Habit:                              Mumbling                        Sitting Up In My Butterfly

Soft Drink:                                 Root Beer                                     Anything Bottled

Fast Food:                                   Chik-Fil-A                                         Subway

Worst Thing You Ever Did:     

Tibbett: (Laughs)  I had a bunch of stickers of bugs and stuck them everywhere and watched my grandfather try to kill them.  It was pretty cruel.

Mahalak:  I haven’t done anything wrong yet.  I am the golden child.

Paneech:  Jordan, what do you thin is in Matt’s future in the sport of hockey?

Tibbett:  I think he is going to the NHL.  His first game in the NHL will be when he is 22. 

Paneech:  Matt, where does Jordan go?

Mahalak:  I think Jordan should be in college right now.  I don’t know what he is doing messing around.  He has NHL potential and hopefully he can get a scholarship this year.

 

Jordan Tibbett set a team record with 50 saves on Friday night as the Phantoms won a dramatic 3-2 OT thriller. Tibbett faced another 40 Saturday but was on the wrong end of the 3-2 score 24 hours later. To sum it up, Tibbett stopped 90 shots in two games, seemingly too many.

“It looks like a lot of shots, but we did a good job taking away the prime scoring areas.  They [Sioux City] are a team that does not score a lot of goals, and if you look at their shots they were just coming across the blue line and throwing the puck on net”, remarked Coach Curt Carr after the game.

Despite being outshot 17-3 in the first period, the Youngstown Phantoms found themselves in a scoreless game.  Credit  Tibbett for a couple of nice saves in the opening period.

Brett Gensler got Youngstown on the board first with 16:54 left in the second period. Gensler’s 16^th goal, which leads the team, came on a power play. Taylor Holstrom and Tom Serratore picked up assists on the man-advantage tally.

Nick Sorkin snuck the puck past a heavily screened Tibbett with exactly four minutes to go in the second period.  Dan Ford picked up an assist on the game-tying power play goal.  Sorkin fired from in-between the right face off circle and blue line around moving traffic.

Ryan Jasinsky, who was recently hampered with shoulder problems forcing him to miss several games, attempted to stuff the puck in from close range but was denied by Musketeer Goalee Jake Hildebrand. Jefferson Dahl collected the rebound from close range and knocked it in with 12:14 left in the game. Jasinsky was credited with an assist on the even-strength chance.

With 9:38 left, Adam Schmidt tied the game at 2-2 on a power play goal.  Stephan Vigier and Sorkin collected a point each with assists on the goal.

Mitch Zion put the Musketeers ahead 3-2 with 8:09 to go in the game.  The even strength goal gave Sioux City their first lead in the game.  Zion gathered the puck just outside of the goal crease on a rebound and drove it past Tibbett who was shaded left from the save he had just made.  Tommy Olczyk and Matt Paape were credited with assists on the goal.

Time ran out on Youngstown and pulling the goaltender as a last resort neither helped nor hurt the outcome for the Phantoms.  Put it in the books, Sioux City 3, Youngstown 2.

 

Interestingly, Coach Carr opted to start Ty Loney (left) and Dylan Margonari (right), two youngsters who have not been Phantoms very long, over experienced players.  “We are walking a fine line right now because we want to continue to perform and win games, but we also have some young guys who can return next year, so we want to make sure we do what we can to develop them for next season.  Dylan and Ty played hard and earned the ice time that they are getting.”

The Phantoms dropped to 17-33-3 in their inaugural campaign, while Sioux City improved to 21-23-8 on the season.  The Phantoms take to the road next weekend to face Omaha and Sioux City on consecutive nights.  Be sure to tune in to AM-1240 to catch Matt Gajtka as he calls the action from afar.

The Youngstown Phantoms returned home after completing a 1-3-1 road trip. The record on that trip failed to show that the Phantoms were in every game against three very good teams. Friday night, Sioux City rolled into town 20-23-7 and barely alive in the playoff hunt, a win was paramount for the Musketeers to stay alive.

Taylor Holstrom sent the audience home after 65 minutes of hockey and an extended shootout when he beat Sioux City Goaltender Matt Skoff on a five-hole shot.  The shootout goal came in the seventh round of the tiebreaker.  The teams were even at two apiece in the shootout when Brett Gensler tied it up with the last shot setting up Holstrom’s heroics.  The end result was the noisiest 1,300 people I have ever heard and a 4-3 Phantoms win.

Tom Serratore got the Phantoms on the scoreboard just 2:05 into the contest. The unassisted goal gave the Phantoms a lead on a Friday night, a good omen considering Youngstown had not won on a Friday game in eight straight chances. The goal was Serratore’s 14^th of the season.

Jefferson Dahl pushed the Phantoms lead to 2-0 when he beat Sioux City Goaltender Matt Skoff (pictured making a save). For Dahl, it was the 14^th goal on the year. The goal was scored at the 9:17 mark of the first period. Jiri Sekac picked up the assist on the even-strength goal. The Phantoms, who had not won a game at home since January, were playing hard early.

Sioux City got on the board when the Phantoms Adam Berkle picked up a ten-minute major for his role in a fight. The power play opportunity was successful for the Musketeers as Stephan Vigier tallied with assists from Dan Ford and Tommy Olczyk. The goal cut the Phantoms lead to 2-1 and Sioux City kept the one-man advantage because of the major penalty. The Phantoms killed off the remaining six minutes of the Musketeers power play.

With just 1:20 gone in the second period, Sioux City tied the game at two goals apiece. Nick Sorkin scored after taking a pass from Olczyk who picked up his second assist of the game. Richard Zehnal was also given an assist on the game-tying score. The remaining 18:40 of the period went scoreless and the teams remained deadlocked at two goals each.

The Phantoms took a 3-2 lead on Jiri Sekac’s even-strength goal. Dahl and Serratore picked up assists on the go-ahead tally with 13:33 elapsed in the final period. The Sekac goal came amid several flurries in the Musketeer zone over a span of two minutes.

 

Holstrom had a chance to make it a 4-2 game but he fanned at an open net (above).  He would later atone for the whiff and then some.

Vigier snapped in his second power play goal of the evening to tie the game at 3. Vigier beat Jordan Tibbett on a hard-angle wrist shot from the bottom of the right face off circle. Picking up assists on the goal were Adam Schmidt and Sorkin.

At the end of regulation, the teams remained tied at three goals each and overtime would be needed to decide a winner in the contest. After three periods, the Phantoms were out shot by the Musketeers 46-27. Jordan Tibbett made some pretty high-quality saves to keep things tied as the Phantoms who were 2-1 in overtime games this season, pressed onward.

In the overtime session, the Phantoms first since November 27^th at home, nobody scored forcing a shootout.

Ryan Carpenter took the first shot for the Musketeers. Wide Right.

Cody Strang had first crack for Youngstown. Wide Right. 0-0

Alex Krushelnyski beat Tibbett high. 1-0 Musketeers.

Jiri Sekac was next. Backhand shot. 1-1.

Richard Zehnal up for Sioux City. Nope. 1-1.

David Donnellan up for the Phantoms. High and Wide Right. 1-1.

Dan Ford, nope.

Andrew Lamont, nope. 1-1.

Final round, Tommy Olczyk good on a sliding move. 2-1, Sioux City.

Brett Gensler, with a chance to tie it, Good! 2-2.

Final shot, Danny Wurden, nope.

Jefferson Dahl, nope.

Seventh round, Nick Sorkin, denied by Tibbett.

Taylor Holstrom beat Matt Skoff with the backhand, Phantoms win!

What a finish!  These two teams will lock it up again Saturday.

After the game, Coach Curtis Carr was praiseworthy of his team.  “I felt that the guys came out and played really hard.  We have a young team and they were stressing when Sioux City tied it up at two, but to their credit, they rebounded and played a great third period.  Jordan [Tibbett] is a heck of a goaltender and he came up huge when we needed him to.  We were able to regroup which allowed us to come back and win this game.”

Phantoms hero Taylor Holstrom said his game-winning shot was not something he premeditated.  “No, I was watching when the other guys shot and kind of noticed the five-hole was open.  I think we are finally catching on and playing as a team, we are getting our legs back under us.”

B-b-b-benny and the jets.  If Benny lives in Singapore, he might have scored tickets to see Elton John in Youngstown at The Covelli Centre on May 1.  The general sentiment of Youngstown area residents was frustration Friday morning.  At least 100 people who have talked to 100 people who have talked to 100 more have said five hours after the concert was announced sold-out, that nobody was able to buy more than one ticket online. 

The sellout will go down as the fastest in the arena’s four-year history smashing the old mark of seven-and-a-half hours that it took Carrie Underwood to fill all of the Covelli seats.  The Centre, and director Eric Ryan are on fire with pushing the right buttons to draw crowds these days.  The Ringling Brothers – Barnum & Bailey Circus, which was originally scheduled for seven shows, had to add one to meet the demands of the public.

Marketing Director Bridget Wolsonovich said those who could not purchase tickets online were just unlucky.  “When thousands of people all log into Ticketmaster at once to buy tickets for an event like this, many will be unsuccessful.”  When asked why all of the people who have conversed in circles all day were unsuccessful at 10 am,  Wolsonovich was quick to mention that people were successful online and that I just hadn’t come across anyone who did succeed yet.

Joel Hoskins, of Youngstown, was quick to cry foul.  “There were tickets available through brokerages and scalping agencies hours before the on-sale began.  I checked the same sites that had seats listed before the sale started and the information was identical.    I even called a couple of them who said that they did not have the tickets in-hand yet, but was assured that the seat numbers and sections listed on their sites were accurate and that for about double the face value, I could buy tickets.  They sold those tickets ahead of the advertised sale date, isn’t it obvious?”

Melanie Taylor, a Poland resident, claimed Eric Ryan went back on his word.  “Ryan was all over the media yesterday telling people that they would have a better chance online.  I heard that all of the people who went to the Covelli box office got tickets a half hour after the sale started, it is crappy business.”

In fairness, a show of this size creates so much more demand.  Elton John can sell out 100,000 seat arenas in an hour.  Our 7,000 seat venue is fractional in stature to Wembley Stadium.  One must wonder, is this show too big for Youngstown?  Wolsonovich didn’t think so.  “Nothing is too big for Youngstown.” 

Whatever the situation, a big tip of the cap to Eric Ryan and his staff for drawing an act as big as Elton John.  This is a good problem for the Youngstown area to have, demand has not exceeded supply very often here in the past thirty or so years.