YSU

YSU
Basketball showset on Channel 21
YOUNGSTOWN -- The first of eight editions of "Penguin Gameday" featuring the YSU men's and women's basketball teams will air on WFMJ Channel 21 and The Valley's WBCB station Saturday at noon.
WFMJ Sports Director Dana Balash hosts the show which features player profiles, interviews with coaches, a weekly special guest, a look at upcoming opponents and an instructional segment.
AREA
Scrappersretain Odor
NILES -- Rouglas Odor will return as skipper for the 2006 Mahoning Valley Scrappers Class A baseball team.
Odor becomes the second manager to return for a second season. Ted Kubiak managed the Scrappers from 1999-2000 and in 2003.
Odor led the 2005 Scrappers to a 33-43 record, finishing 12.5 games behind the Auburn Doubledays in the New York-Penn League's Pinckney Division. Before managing the Scrappers, Odor spent four seasons as manager for the Burlington Indians (Indians Rookie League affiliate). Odor has a career managerial record of 161-185 (.465).
Prior to coaching, Odor played six seasons in the Indians Organization. A 32nd round draft pick by the Indians out of the University of New Orleans, Odor made it to the AA level with the Canton-Akron Indians before his playing days concluded.
Returning to the Scrappers after two seasons with AAA Buffalo will be pitching coach Ken Rowe, who was the Scrappers' pitching coach from 2001-02. Returning from the 2004 team that won the New York-Penn League championship will be hitting coach Jim Rickon, who spent last season as hitting coach for the Lake County Captains.
During his first stint as hitting coach for the Scrappers, they hit .273 as a team, which ranked second in the league. The club also ranked first in hits (717), third in runs (389) and third in home runs (50).
New to the Scrappers organization will be Chris Tremie who will serve as a coach while also assuming the role of Roving Catching Instructor.
In other moves, the Indians promoted former Scrappers skipper Mike Sarbaugh to manager of its minor-league team in Kinston, N.C., the club's top Single-A affiliate.
Sarbaugh, 38, led Single-A Lake County to a 72-66 record last year. He has been a member of the Indians organization as either a player or coach for the past 16 years. He made his managerial debut in 2004 at Single-A Mahoning Valley, which plays a short season.
The Indians also said that Kevin Higgins will begin his first season as a manager in the club's farm system by coaching the rookie team at Burlington, N.C.
Higgins, 51, was a coach at Burlington last season after spending the previous five years as the hitting coach in the New York Yankees farm system.
Lakeviewhires DeToro
CORTLAND -- The Lakeview school board hired Mike DeToro as varsity baseball coach. DeToro was junior varsity coach at Liberty last year. He has also coached football at Lakeview and Liberty.
The board also hired Pamela Lewis as assistant varsity girls track coach, Chuck Lininger as the eighth grade girls track coach and Andrea Yocum as junior high track coach.
Whipple honored
CEDARVILLE -- Point Park University's Chivas Whipple, a Youngstown native, has been named American Mideast Conference Player of the Week. Whipple, who paces the conference scoring, connected on 16-of-24 shots, including 3-of-4 from 3-point range and he was 3-of-3 from the foul line for a career-high 38 points. He also grabbed nine rebounds, had six steals and six assists.
Hartman picks KSU
LEAVITTSBURG -- Danny Hartman, a two-way football player for LaBrae High School, has made an oral commitment to attend Kent State University.
He was the 2005 Vikings' football captain. The 6-foot-2-inch, 190-pound athlete was a four-year starter for LaBrae.
His junior and senior years, he was a first team All TAC, Trumbull and NEO first team selection and a 2004 All-Ohio second team choice.
REGION
Cavs sign Hamilton
CLEVELAND -- Center Zendon Hamilton returned to Cleveland on Tuesday, signing a 10-day contract with the Cavaliers. The team waived Hamilton last week after he averaged 2.3 points and 1.0 rebounds in 11 games. While Hamilton hasn't seen much playing time, first-year coach Mike Brown credited his contributions in practice.
"He's a big part of the little bit of success we've had," Brown said. "He really pushes our first unit. He's always ready and he's a joy to be around."
NATION
NBC announcesOlympics plans
NEW YORK -- The Turin Olympics will be the most televised Winter Games with 416 hours of coverage, an increase of more than 40 hours from the 2002 Salt Lake City Olympics.
There will be about 200 hours of live television coverage during the Feb. 10-27 games on the NBC Universal networks -- NBC, USA, MSNBC, CNBC, NBC HD and Universal HD. There were about 140 hours of live coverage from Salt Lake City.
Vindicator staff/wire reports