Cautiously hopeful

Anyone watch the Browns-Lions exhibition game yesterday?

OK, I know exhibition games mean nothing. All they are is an excuse for the owners of the ballclubs to squeeze two more $44 tickets out of average slobs like me who buy season tickets.

But I am at least encouraged by what I saw yesterday on television. They scored more than one touchdown and as sad as it seems it’s a step in the right direction. I’m not ready to declare my Brownies a Super Bowl contender, but at least I am a little more comfortable about them than I was after the offseason, LeCharles Bentley’s injury and all other other woes that always seem to happen to the Browns this time of year.

On a side note, we are putting out a pro tab for The Courier and of course much of it will be centered around our very own hometown hero Ben Roethlisberger. Dave Hanneman has covered Ben ever since he was in high school and the Courier first started calling him “Big Ben.” He has been trying to contact him since before the Steelers even started training camp.

What has he gotten? Zero, zip, nada, bupkis. It’s not his fault either. He’s made numerous calls to the Steelers and Ben’s agent to get an interview. They have been less than forthcoming in providing at least 10 minutes to Ben’s hometown paper.

Hey if I was a big time superstar I might not care about the local paper either.

Anyway Dave is headed to Pittsburgh this week to try and track Ben down in person. We’ll see what happens.

I figured while I have the Buzz I’d open op the Courier archives and share some local sports information we have at our fingertips that doesn’t get in the paper.

Here is a list of the Hancock County League football champions (the predecessor to the BVC).

Hancock County League
Football Champions
1922 Rawson
1923 Mt. Blanchard
1924 Van Buren
1925 Liberty
1926 Vanlue
1927 Liberty
1928 Rawson
1929 Liberty
1930 Vanlue
1931 Rawson
1932 Arcadia
1933 McComb
1934 Arcadia & Mt. Cory
1935 Mt. Cory
1936 Mt. Blanchard
1937 Mt. Cory
1938 Mt. Blanchard
1939 Mt. Blanchard
1940 Mt. Blanchard
1941 Arlington
1942 Arlington
1943 Arlington
1944 Mt. Blanchard
1945 Liberty
1946 Arlington
1947 Arlington
1948 Arlington
1949 Arlington & McComb
1950 Arlington
1951 Arlington
1952 Cory-Rawson
1953 Arlington
1954 Cory-Rawson
1955 Arlington
1956 Vanlue
1957 Arlington
1958 Arlington
1959 Mt. Blanchard
1960 Arlington
1961 Arlington
1962 McComb
1963 Arlington
1964 McComb
TOTALS: Arlington 16 Mount Blanchard 7 McComb 4 Liberty 4 Vanlue 3 Mount Cory 3 Cory-Rawson 2 Arcadia 2 Rawson 3 Van Buren 1