Scott Pitoniak

1 week ago | rbj.net | Scott Pitoniak

The toughest foe Rory McIlroy encountered at this year’s Masters wasn’t Scottie Scheffler or Bryson DeChambeau or Justin Rose. Nor was it the famed Augusta National Golf Club Course, where prayers are answered or denied on the world-famous holes known as Amen Corner. No, the toughest opponent McIlroy faced was McIlroy himself. Never mind what the yardage markers said. The most difficult stretch of real estate the Northern Irishman had to negotiate was the five inches between his ears.

2 weeks ago | rbj.net | Scott Pitoniak

Home>Columns and Features>A night to celebrate Miller’s time with Rochester Americans Although 8-year-old Ryan Miller was dominating play as a forward, he was upset with the ease in which opposing hockey teams were scoring goals against his squad.

3 weeks ago | rbj.net | Scott Pitoniak

He was nicknamed “Bobby Barrels” for his ability to consistently smash baseballs with the sweet spot of his bat. And like other boys his age, Robert Hassell III dreamed about appearing on ESPN’s SportsCenter someday. Well, “someday’’ arrived on his 13th birthday at the Little League World Series in Williamsport, Pa. in 2014 when Mo’ne Davis made baseball history by shutting out Hassell and his Nashville, Tenn. teammates in a preliminary round game.

1 month ago | rbj.net | Scott Pitoniak

Baseball is a contact sport, but this obviously wasn’t the kind of contact Ernie Clement had in mind. The Toronto Blue Jays’ third baseman was hoping to connect bat — not face — with ball, but in a scary moment during an exhibition game a few weeks ago an errant 91 mph fastball smacked the former Brighton High School sports star in the kisser. “It was a shock at first,’’ Clement said by phone recently from the Jays spring training complex in Dunedin, Fla.

1 month ago | rbj.net | Scott Pitoniak

The historical document is on display at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio. It’s about the size of an index card and it features the hastily, handwritten message that the New England Patriots had decided to select Tom Brady in the sixth round of the 2000 NFL draft. “If you test it,’’ jokes Eric Finkelstein, who is intimately familiar with the artifact, “you may detect some of my DNA.”And his fingerprints, too.