TOM RIFE

Seems like these days, the only swamp buggy driver who can one-up Eddie Chesser is Eddie Chesser himself.

With mere fractions of a second separating the fastest entries, and only a handful of points separating the championship contenders, the stage is set for today’s season-ending Spring Classic swamp buggy races at the Florida Sports Park.

Things — good and bad — happen quickly in motor sports.

Gound game wins for Barron Collier over Lely, 17-0.

State super senior team titles are up for grabs this weekend in Daytona Beach, and Collier and Lee players are among those in the hunt. All players are age 60 or older.

In what is being called the “Play for Blue” tennis event, the Naples Community Tennis Center is hoping to raise some “green” for charity Saturday on its green clay courts.

Just one week away — and counting. Be sure to mark March 2-3 on your tennis calendar, because 18 of the world’s top former touring tennis professionals will gather at Bonita Bay Club for a weekend of tennis matches, mini-clinics, ...

For good reason, it seems, local tennis players get a little bit sneaky this time of year.

The phrase "girls night out" now has special meaning to local tennis players.

Troy Ortega wound up holding the biggest trophy.

Organizers of the Swamp Buggy Races have postponed races scheduled for today and Sunday. They will be rescheduled for Nov. 12-13 because of wet conditions at Florida Sports Park.

Competing with the Immokalee Indians at Gary Bates Stadium is always a tall order. Stir in some special ingredients such as district implications, brand-new uniforms and homecoming, and this one wasn’t close.

As everyone knows, there’s never been an “i” in team. What everyone may not recall is that at one point in time, there was no “i” in Deion, either.

Regional USTA Adult League championships are on the line the next two weekends at eight sites around the Sunshine State. The Naples Grande Beach Resort is among the facilities hosting regional action. At stake are berths in the 2011 USTA ...

To no one’s surprise, two Naples men’s teams represented their region well in this past weekend’s USTA League 6.0 and 8.0 Super Senior National Championships in Surprise, Ariz.

If Dan Greenling played poker the way he drives swamp buggies, he’d be in deep, deep trouble.

Make no mistake. Whenever Eddie Chesser buckles into his swamp buggy racer called The Rapture, he plans on winning.

Local tennis professionals will tote their talents to the Wyndemere Country Club for a special event Tuesday through Thursday.

When the 2010-11 Budweiser Cup Series swamp buggy racing championship wraps up March 6 at the Florida Sports Park, it promises to be a quite a finish.

Wilkins Vilcin was injured at the dance after landing on his head wrong. He was doing back flips on the dance floor.

Winning any kind of swamp buggy race is never easy. But Dan Greenling sure made it look like a Halloween treat Sunday in the Budweiser Fall Classic at the Florida Sports Park.

Short of lightning striking the 50-yard line at Tudryn Field, Friday night’s football shocker between host Gulf Coast High and visiting Lely had all the sparks one could possibly ask for.

A trip to Daytona Beach was one sweet ride for three local men’s tennis teams.

Can swamp buggy racing leadfoot Eddie Chesser put the finishing touches on his eighth Budweiser Cup Series points championship this weekend at the Florida Sports Park?

The Dunes in North Naples will conduct its annual professional singles tournament Saturday and Sunday. This event will bring together the area’s finest professionals in a winner-take-all, prize-money format.

It wasn’t a decisive victory, but then again, sometimes all you need is one more point than your opponent and you can go home happy.

Laden with unconventional traditions and colorful competitors, swamp buggy racing may not be the fastest form of motor sports. Yet that won’t keep the Monstsers of the Mudway from getting some valuable national television exposure on the Speed channel.

It was an odd recipe, yet victory was sweet for the Lely Trojans in their 21-6 win over Immokalee on Friday night.

In Southwest Florida, tennis players generally don’t rake leaves to get into the autumn swing. Instead, many of them get in their swings by playing in the wide variety of local leagues that are offered.

The Barron Collier Cougars want to show everyone that they can play football with the big dogs. And that is why head coach Mark Ivey and the Cougars are eager to sink their claws into the Miami-Archbishop Carroll Bulldogs on ...

Numbers are up. Spirits are up. Time is up.

As dress rehearsals go, the Golden Gate Titans had to like what they saw in Friday night’s Kickoff Classic preseason football game at St. John Neumann.

Yet another prestigious national event awaits Marco Island’s Lauren Embree. She is seeded fifth among the top eight players in the USTA Girls 18 Nationals that begin this weekend at the Berkeley Tennis Club and the Claremont Resort & Spa ...

You’ve heard of tough acts to follow? I wouldn’t necessarily want to be the person who next takes the reins of Lely High School’s boys basketball program.

Germain Racing driver improves to fourth in points standings

Marco Islander Lauren Embree has had quite an adventurous summer on the tennis court, one that has included her first title in a professional event and a national championship run in the Girls 18 National Clay Courts in Memphis.

What if you went to this week’s Oliver Group Champions Cup men’s tennis tournament — and a Davis Cup donnybrook broke out.

Back in the day when the Tennis Grand Masters played each year in Naples, Australian great Ken Rosewall often commented that if he was within seven years of his opponent, he could still be highly competitive.

Now, it’s time to “match” the best from the city of Naples against the top players from the city of Marco Island.

Offense ruled Friday night in the regular-season finale for Gulf Coast and Lely High at Trojan Stadium. Despite 301 yards and three touchdowns from Lely senior quarterback Mike O’Regan, the Sharks pulled out a 45-38 victory in a seesaw thriller.

A look back at island issues and happenings.

In motor racing, every driver from time to time needs to catch a break. Saturday at the paved half-mile paper clip known as the Martinsville Speedway, some drivers in the NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series will be hoping just to have ...

In the event you haven't checked the calendar of late, be advised that the month of March is very soon to be a thing of the past. April arrives Sunday — no foolin'. And showers or no showers, taxes or ...

In a tangle of bizarre circumstances and drama that played out through the very last lap, William Thornton and Eddie Chesser emerged the big winners in Sunday’s Budweiser Spring Classic swamp buggy races at the Florida Sports Park east of ...

What has three legs, spews grime and causes scaly reptiles to skeedaddle for cover? Shucks, that’s an easy one. It’s the Budweiser Cup Series world championship of swamp buggy racing. The second leg of the 2006-07 trifecta looms at the ...

Many people came from miles around Sunday to enjoy the sunshine and festive atmosphere of Goodland’s 23rd annual Mullet Festival.

It’s quite unlike Coach Don Stewart and the Lely High boys basketball team to stay out of the gym during the Christmas holiday break. But changing up the routine a bit, that’s exactly when the veteran coach and his 9-3 ...

The clock may be ticking toward the drop of the big lighted ball in New York’s Times Square on New Year’s eve. But as the glistening sphere awaits its downward slide, it means that the third annual “Rackets Up!” tennis ...

If Dave Rice is to relinquish his lead in the Marco Eagle National Football League swami race for 2006, it’s going to take a lot more than a frozen tundra in Chicago and a trick play from Brett Favre. Heading ...

For 25 years, the Marco Island 5-Mile Hill Run has been an event that has crowned winners young and old. And yes, crowned is the perfect word, because race director Mark McGarity has come up with a royal name for ...