Bob Collins
Gregg Popovich, the coach of the San Antonio Spurs, provided exactly what has been missing in the nation over the last 72 hours — a calm and honest perspective about the problems facing the society in which he lives. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Sports
Nobody gets upset when a country music star plays at Target Field, but country music hasn’t stolen baseball’s popularity.
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Lynx star and league MVP Sylvia Fowles is making $109,000 this year. If the WNBA paid its players the same share of revenue that the NBA pays, she would be paid $1.2 million. Read more →
It’s 2017 and old sportswriters and sports broadcasters are still railing against mathematics in sports. Here’s the most recent rant, caught on video. Read more →
In happened in the bottom of the fifth inning of the game and the players were so shaken, the game had to be stopped for awhile.
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Though there are plenty of gorgeous days left, the baseball diamonds in the ginormous sports complex in my town are empty; the kids and their parents have moved on to either soccer or football.
It doesn’t appear that anything has stopped football from being the sport of choice for these younger kids and their parents, so it’s unlikely today’s study from Boston will change anything. Nonetheless, your kids brains are getting scrambled by tackle football. Read more →
An ad campaign in Boston is dubbed, ‘Take The Lead’, will involve the Red Sox, Bruins, Celtics, Patriots, and Revolution. The teams started planning the campaign in May, after the racism against Baltimore Orioles star Adam Jones. Read more →
We laughed last spring when a baseball statistics prediction program predicted 77 wins for your Minnesota Twins. The front office had done virtually nothing to change the worst team in the American League. Last night, thanks to a walk-off home run by Byron Buxton, the Twins won their 77th game of the season. Read more →
Fenway Park in Boston and discussions about race in America seem to go hand in hand, which might well explain why three people — all of them white — unfurled a banner over the park’s fabled ‘Green Monster’ last night. Read more →
The other day I attended my “interview” with the committee organizing volunteers to put a nice face on Minnesota when the Super Bowl is held in Minneapolis at the end of the NFL season, which started here Monday night when the Vikings played the New Orleans Saints. The goal is to send people away thinking Read more →
If you feel a little bad for what the online world did to Sergio Dipp last night, there’s hope for you. If you don’t, a heart transplant probably won’t help. Read more →
The fans of the University of Iowa football team started a wave during their game against Iowa State on Saturday Wyoming last week, and this new tradition should stick. At the end of the first quarter, the fans turned and waved at the building next to the stadium, particularly those assembled on the 12th floor, Read more →
In southwestern Minnesota, a Hills- Beaver Creek High School football player was paralyzed while playing in a game against Mountain Lake on Friday night. Read more →
Hailey Dawson was born with a rare congenital disease called Poland Syndrome, which affects the use of fingers. She was unable to use her right hand — her pitching hand — so the University of Nevada Las Vegas engineering department made her a 3D-printed device.
It worked. And she got a taste for the first pitch when she threw one out at a Baltimore Orioles game two years ago. Read more →
Something’s got to give on Saturday when the St. Scholastica football team takes on Greenville of Illinois, which lost last weekend 76-to-3. St. Scholastica lost to St. John’s University 98-doughnut. Read more →