Fire at Hersheypark Arena reaches five alarms

WILT CHAMBERLAIN had a habit of walking into arenas and inquiring about the scoring record; then he would go out and demolish it.

The Big Dipper is gone, and most of those arenas have been demolished, just like those old records. We almost lost another on Thursday.

At Hersheypark Arena, where Wilt set the single-game scoring record of 100 points, the roof was ablaze. The fire reached five alarms before being contained. The damage was limited to the roof and should be able to be repaired.

Had the arena met its demise, it would have left the Palestra as the only building that hosted a regular-season game played by Chamberlain in Pennsylvania.

Gone are The Arena, Convention Hall/Civic Center, Pittsburgh Civic Arena and, of course, the Spectrum

Speaking of records set in Pa., harness racing driver Dave Palone broke Herve Filion's North American record for career victories on Thursday when he piloted Herculotte Hanover to victory in the eighth race at The Meadows, in Washington, Pa. The win was the 15,181st of Palone's 30-year career.

The Onion, as only it can do, looks at the strongside and weakside of baseball commissioner Bud Selig's reign.

Strongside:

Patiently waited on Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa to stop making money for the sport before hammering down on steroids in baseball.

Under his watch, the sport of baseball received more Congressional attention than the Iraq War, which is frankly impressive.

Weakside:

His undeniable contributions to the sport are often overshadowed by the universal urge to just punch him in the face.

Is a defensive liability in centerfield.

Maintains a strict policy of making all MLB rules himself in a haphazard fashion, and then completely forgetting to ever enforce them

Since 1994, has presided over several labor negotiation ties