Perhaps it’s only coincidence that the Minnesota coaches association announcement came days after the owner of the Mr. Basketball award in the state found himself in hot water for anti-Muslim tweets, but the association has made the right decision in announcing a statewide award in honor of a man who would do no such thing.
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MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Sports
The ground hog gets far too much attention for predicting spring.
This is better.
Today, the first baseball team — the Cleveland Indians — reported to spring training. Read more →
Is it time to let the air out of the Mr. Basketball award in Minnesota?
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German tennis has responded with outrage after the United States Tennis Association (USTA) made the embarrassing error of playing the Nazi-era version of Germany’s national anthem during a Fed Cup tie in Hawaii. Read more →
Ogilvie, Minn., (pop. 361) has the same problem a lot of small school districts have when it comes to high school sports. There just aren’t enough kids to field competitive teams. Read more →
Nothing says ‘people’s stadium’ like a fence to keep people out. Read more →
The main trouble with bad stories with happy endings is they quite often become happy stories with bad endings. Such is the story today of Jeff Bauman, whom you may remember from the Boston Marathon bombing.
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The convergence of sports and politics is usually an ugly scene and now that President Donald Trump is prepared to exercise the office’s traditional — and incredibly tired — welcoming of a sports team, it’s going to get uglier. Read more →
He was the voice of the Gophers for generations. Read more →
Three ads extolling American values have got the patriots stirred up. No, not those Patriots. Read more →
Particularly since they’re usually released in advance now, it’s getting harder for Super Bowl commercials to stand out from the crowd anymore.
A sure-fire way to get noticed, however, is not to get your ad on the TV at all. Read more →
The extent to which politics invades every corner of American life these days can be seen best this week in Houston, where the New England Patriots are scheduled to play in the Super Bowl against the Atlanta Falcons.
Or, as might better be described The Trumps vs. the Non-Trumps.
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The boy’s varsity and junior varsity hockey team — the entire teams — have been suspended for a week, Forum Communications reports, but privacy laws are preventing officials from saying what’s going on.
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Last year, Rahawa Haile, a writer in Oakland, became one of the very few black women to attempt to hike the entire trail. And her interview with Atlas Obscura today is a must-read for people who’ve thought about discovering America by hiking the trail.
Be careful what you wish for; you might find it. Read more →
The high school in Pine City, Minn., is known more for arts than sports. But that might be changing because of a coach who believes there are only two shots worth trying in basketball: Shots from the paint and beyond the three-point arc. Read more →