By Steve Svetovich

Congratulations and best of luck to Marguerite Garbolino Bradley who is retiring this June after 34 years as Dunmore Elementary School librarian…Dunmore basketball coach Mark Finan has his Bucks off to fast start in turnaround season…Dunmore junior power forward Brayden Canavan scored between 12 and 16 points in Bucks first five games, all wins…His sister Tristan Canavan, former all-state softball player and member of Dunmore Lady Bucks state champion basketball team, is now freshman at Cecil College in Maryland…Holy Cross sophomore forward-center Adam Badyrka averaging 17 points and eight rebounds per game in early going for Crusaders…Fan favorite Nasty Nestor Cortes and infield prospect Caleb Durbin gone from New York Yankees to Milwaukee Brewers in trade for all-star relief closer Devin Williams…Nate Schimelfenig scored 33 points in West Scranton’s 59-58 win over Nanticoke Area…NFL Hall of Fame receiver Randy Moss, second all-time with 156 touchdown catches and record 23 TD receptions with New England Patriots in 2007, battling cancer found outside of bile duct between pancreas and liver…Mollie Urban led Lady Crusaders with eight points in Holy Cross girls’ basketball loss to,Holy Redeemer, 55-26…Dunmore School District students of the month this past November for grades seven through 12 include Michael Gentile, Beau Golden, Elena Piepoli, Sascha Novak, Miles Stephenson and Aidan Walsh…It was 20 years ago when Dunmore graduate Brett Trichilo was named to Associated Press Little All-American Team for second straight year…Playing football for Wilkes University, he was named to third team in annual list of top Division II, Division III and NAIA football players in nation after rushing for 1,685 yards and 21 touchdowns…Do you remember Dunmore VFW winning 1992 Little League City-County championship?…Dunmore VFW 1992 team members included John Joseph, P.J. Sacco, Chris Gilhooley, Jim O’Malley, A.J. Thompson, Frank Olechna, Justin Amendolaro, Thomas Murphy, Richard Dempsey, Joe Bonewicz, Jeff Bonewicz, Tim Connors, Kevin Moylan and Thomas Kelly…Dunmore VFW coaches in 1992 were Joe Sacco and Donald Moore, Jr….Holy Cross boys’ basketball, No. 1 team in Times-Tribune Top 10 Poll, earned 84-81 road win over Abraham Lincoln High from Brooklyn, New York on opening weekend…Matt Lyons led Crusaders with 19 points…Michael Hughes scored 18 points and Adam Badyrka added 17 for Holy Cross…Mario Matrone scored 12 and C.J. Thompson added 11 in balanced scoring for Holy Cross…Michael Hughes scored 18 points to lead Holy Cross to non league win over Holy Ghost Prep, 67-55…Matt Lyons added 16 points while sophomore Adam Badyrka finished with 15 for Holy Cross…Jimmy Clark scored 28 points and Nate Aviles added 22 to lead Dunmore over Montrose, 73-45, in non league basketball contest…Bill Belichick taking his Super Bowl rings and going back to school at age 72 to coach University of North Carolina football team on five-year, $50-million contract…Belichick, despite his accolades, was 29-39 in final four years at New England without Tom Brady as his quarterback…Beyon McLean scored 15 points and Aiden Smola added 14 as No. 5 Valley View handed top-ranked Holy Cross its first loss of basketball season, 52-49…Adam Badyrka scored game-high 20 points for Crusaders…Women’s flag football will become 23rd varsity sport at Marywood University, beginning in 2025…The Pacers will play as club team in spring of 2025 before competing in Atlantic East Conference, which last year became first NCAA conference to offer varsity women’s flag football…Jimmy Clark and Bobby Hoban scored 11 points each as Dunmore beat Carbondale Area, 55-19, in non league basketball game…Two-time world champion and four-time gold glove shortstop Brandon Crawford announced his retirement from baseball after 14 seasons, first 13 with San Francisco Giants…Congratulations to Dave “The Cobra” Parker and family of late Dick Allen for election by Veteran’s Committee into National Baseball Hall of Fame…Allen hit .292 with 351 homers in 15-year career with Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers, White Sox and A’s and was former NL Rookie of Year and AL MVP….He had .378 career on base percentage, leading AL twice…He led AL in homers twice and was league leader in OPS four times…Parker, known as “The Cobra” and currently afflicted with Parkinson’s, was long overdue as five-tool player with rifle arm and 2,712 career hits…The Cobra played with Pittsburgh Pirates, Cincinnati Reds, Oakland A’s, Milwaukee Brewers, California Angels and Toronto Blue Jays hitting .290 with 339 homers, 526 doubles, 75 triples and 1,493 RBIs…He earned an NL MVP, three silver sluggers, three gold gloves, two consecutive batting titles and was two-time world champion…Both Allen and Parker were seven-time all-stars…But what about Tommy John and late Luis Tiant not being elected?…John, 83, who Tommy John surgery is named after, won 288 games, totaled 162 complete games and 46 shutouts, had 3.34 career ERA and won 20 games three times after his historic surgery by Dr. Frank Jobe…El Tiante, who recently passed away at 83, won 229 games, completed 187 games with 49 shutouts, had 3.30 ERA with two AL ERA titles at 1.60 and 1.91 and won 20 games four times…Its a huge slight these two legendary pitchers are not in National Baseball Hall of Fame…No pitcher in today’s game is compiling these numbers…Both pitched to go the distance and win…Look for baseball writers to elect Ichiro, southpaw reliever Billy Wagner and possibly former Yankees lefty C.C. Sabathia into National Baseball Hall of Fame this month…It’s time former Phillies shortstop Jimmy Rollins gets more support…Times-Tribune sports writer Scott Walsh called late Scrantonian-Tribune sports editor Guy Valvano a great resource on local sports history who will be missed tremendously…Dunmore’s Valvano died two months ago at 96…Dunmore’s Brian McGurl, John Quinn and rest of QBall put on quite a show at Dunmore corners for Dunmore’s highly successful Chrstmas on the Corners event attended by hundreds last month…So Juan Soto signs with Mets for $765-million and private suit for his family…Yankees offered $760-million, but no suite…Good way to get out of shelling out $765-million…Do you remember John Loury?…Whatever became of Dennis Leonard?…Happy New Year, everyone…