The Joshua Yoder Blog

 This month marks the debut of the very first game of one of my favorite gaming franchises and it was called Command and Conquer. 30 years ago is incredible game make its way to the MAC, PC, Sega Saturn, Nintendo 64 and the original Playstation. The game was created and published by Westwood Studios who sadly are no longer in business (RIP). The game is set in an alternate history and tells the story about a war between two rival factions. The first faction is the United Nations funded GDI (Global Defense Initiative) and the other is a revolutionary militant organization called the Brotherhood of Nod led by a mysterious figure only known as Kane. Both factions use what is called a Mobile Construction Vehicle which are used to help gather resources to help develop their respective bases as well as produce troops and armor. The only way to win each level is to either destroy or capture the enemy base. The setting of the game again follows an alternate history where in 1995, a meteor ...

 With the remake of Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater recently hitting the store shelves, I thought it be cool to go back and look at the history of the Metal Gear franchise itself. And WOW! It never really donned on me how old this franchise is until I started doing my research for this blog. But the Metal Gear franchise has been around for nearly forty years now 🤯. And it has set the standard for all stealth video games that came after it. Metal Gear was created by Hideo Kojima and was published by Konami with the first game being released back in 1987 on the NES. The story follows a soldier named Solid Snake who is a part of an elite military group called FOXHOUND. Snake is on a mission to sneak inside the headquarters of a group called Outer Heaven and destroy a walking tank that can fire nuclear missions from anywhere in the world, AKA the Metal Gear. Along with bring stealth games into the forefront, the Metal Gear franchise can also be credited for setting the foundations for...

 Although, it has become common knowledge, by many of us who live in Mifflin County. But former Huskies' great Trent Hidlay pulled off an incredible comeback and became the 2025 World Wrestling Champion in Croatia at 92 kg. After being down 10-2, Hidlay powered his way back to defeat Amanula Gadzhimagomedov 13-10 to win the World's Gold Medal. This is such an inspirational story that needs to be told because stuff like this does not happen very often, especially in a small community like Mifflin County.  To me, the story of Trent is all about never giving up and continuing to push forward as well as hard work and dedication. What this young man has done is truly remarkable. I have been covering local sports for over ten years now and seeing where Trent has started to where he is now really puts a smile on my face. I mean this kid has won two State championships when he was in High School before moving on to Division 1 college wrestling at NC State. While there, Trent was a fou...

 Sorry about this everyone, I was having trouble putting all of the photos in my previous blog post. So I decided to dedicate this blog post to some of the other photos from the Rothrock Fair. Hope and Pray you all a great time!

 This past weekend was the annual festival we have here in little ole McVeytown. It is called the Rothrock Fair which is a three day event that features fun events, music and some delicious food 😋. Despite living in a small town, we all try our best to help build up our little community with special events such as the Rothrock Fair. Unfortunately, I did not get to go on Thursday, but my twin brother Chad and I got to go down on Friday and had ourselves a good time. Although it was hot and humid and issues with my twin's camera, we still went out there and had fun. As we arrived, we bumped into so many people that we know like the Sunderlands, Lindsay Diven, Kody and Sierra Hassinger, the Feathers and so many more which is really cool to see a bunch of people there. One of the first stops for me and Chad was checking out the McVeytown Eagles Chicken BBQ meal that included colesaw, rolls, baked beans and a drink. This dinner was being used to help create funds for the youth football...

 After hearing about it for many months, I finally decided to go check out the brand new stadium for the Mifflin County Huskies.  I really didn't know what to expect to be honest with all of you, but nonetheless, I was very excited to be going to see it. And I had the perfect excuse to go, the Mifflin County boys soccer team was competing at the stadium that night so I wanted to cover it for Hometown Sports. Selfishly, I also wanted to see one of the most influential people in my life, and that is the current Head Coach of the boys soccer program, Mr. Yoder. Coach Yoder was one of my coaches as well as one of my teachers during my time in Lewistown Area High School (Now Mifflin County) and he certainly saved me through a ton of dark moments in my life and I was so happy to see him become the Head Coach for the soccer team. Walking through the entrance way and getting to see the stadium in person, my first impressions of it was WOW. I worked my way onto the field which is the s...

 You know over 60 years ago, this incredible sit-com came into the world and has been entertaining us ever since. The Addams family is an gothic sit-com which was based on the comic strips that were created by Charles Addams in 1938. The premise of the show follows the Addams family who are a tight knit group who are into macabre interest and supernatural abilities. Although, to be fair the show never really did explain their supernatural gifts.  The Addams Family Casting List: John Astin as Gomez Addams Carolyn Jones as Morticia Addams Jackie Coogan as Uncle Fester Ted Cassidy as Lurch (Addams Family Butler) Blossom Rock as Grandmama Addams Lisa Loring as Wednesday Addams  Ken Weatherwax as Pugsley Addams And of course, we can not forget about Thing, the disembodied hand that moves around the Addams Mansion. Oh man, I loved this show! One of the reasons why I loved the show was the comedy of it, the whole running gag throughout the series was how despite the unusual natu...

 I was down at good ole Mount Union High School the other day to cover some high school football for Hometown Sports magazine and something unexpected happened to me. I went into the stadium, found my way into the press box before getting me something to eat. I decided to get myself some cheese fries and when I got there I recognized someone that I use to cover has now graduated college and is now a teacher. Her name is Morgan Brumbaugh and I use to cover her playing softball for Mount Union. I have been writing my whole life whether it be writing my thoughts down on my journal, my poems, stories as well as my blog. But I have been covering sports for over ten years now and I am starting to see more and more student athletes that I use to cover now become adults with different careers whether it be a teacher, working in the medical field, military, playing at the college level through different divisions as well as different sports.  I have witness State champions, major upset...

 This past weekend marked the end of an era as Lee Corso picked his final selection when he picked Ohio State over Texas which turns out to be correct as Ohio State defeated the Texas Longhorns 14-7. And I got to be honest with you guys, it is going to be really weird not having him around anymore. Being a young fellow, I only really remember Corso as a sports analyst. But the more I looked into his career, he was once a Head Coach among the college ranks. After his playing career at Florida State, Corso joined the Seminoles as an assistant before moving on to Maryland.  After a few seasons with the Terrapins, he went over to the Navy Midshipmen for a couple of years before getting his first Head Coaching job with the Louisville Cardinals from 1969 to 1972. Corso then took over as the Head Coach of the Indiana Hoosiers and remained there for ten seasons and led the Hoosiers to two winning seasons. In one of those seasons included a Holiday Bowl win over the BYU Cougars by the ...