Columns by Kevin Hieronymus

The United Way Illinois Valley branch is teaming up with the National Football League to get football fans back into the spirit of the start of the professional football season.

The Hall Red Devils and St. Bede Bruins may have been rivals in high school, but they can now all agree on two things — they can all play softball together and team up for a good cause.

Erin Snyder didn’t really think anything about it when her boyfriend, John Matlick, took her to the Rochester Honkers baseball game in Rochester, Minn. They had already taken in a game there two nights before and caught a Minnesota Twins game in Minneapolis on their vacation.

If you were one of those former football players who had a unexplained feeling come over you Wednesday, feeling like you had an old itch to scratch, or needed to tackle somebody in the office, then Jeff Schade and Mick Peterson have just the thing for you.