The Detroit Lions are one of four teams, and the only NFC team, not to have played in the Super Bowl. They have, however, won four NFL championships, the last in 1957.
Charles Hallman
Charles Hallman is a contributing reporter and award-winning sports columnist at the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder.
Posted inSports
My top wish for the New Year: better sports radio
This columnist usually doesn’t make New Year’s resolutions, but if I did, like a 1978 Angela Bofill song title, the only thing I’d wish for in 2016 is a “serious” sports talk station.
Posted inNational, News
Blacks, Native Americans more likely arrested on light rail
Metro Transit is now looking at how to improve its policing in light of a recent report that showed Blacks and other people of color overwhelming cited for violations rather than warned, especially for “first-time fare evasion” incidents.
Posted inOpinion
Reverse racism: Is there such a thing?
The first time I heard the term “reverse racism” was back in college in the late 1970s, created and falsely promoted by some White students, and shared by some White professors who thought that Black students were taking spots away from them. They treat racism like a transmission shift gear, as if Blacks have the power to flip the racial switch.
Posted inSports
Sportswriter finds himself invisible even in his hometown
The “Mindy factor”— coined after the 2014 Super Bowl commercial featuring actress Mindy Kaling playing a woman who everyone treats as invisible — reared its ugly, insensitive head once again, this time not in Minnesota but in Motown.
Posted inSports
A few second thoughts on our 2015 sports coverage
A regular practice is that after filing our weekly MSR columns and they make print, a three-point self-critical review is conducted like a Lou Rawls song from the ’70s — a could’ve, would’ve, should’ve (CWS) check. Therefore, as we close our sports journalism notebook for this year, we briefly look at some CWS’s of 2015.
Posted inGophers/College, Sports
Gophers in Motown
There are countless, faceless people who work athletic contests: ticket takers, concessions sellers, restroom attendants and post-game arena clean-up crews. These are folks too often taken for granted by fans and others in their rush to reach their seats by game time.
Posted inLocal & State, News, Sports, Twins/MLB
Twins announce new partnership with Latino-owned La Raza
About a third of Minnesota Twins’ 2016 regular season games will be broadcast on Minnesota’s only Latino-owned radio station.
Posted inLocal & State, News
Media coverage of protests missing depth, balance
Did local media tell the whole story of the Jamar Clark shooting and its aftermath? An all-Black forum featuring representatives of both the community and local media discussed the coverage last week at the Minneapolis Urban League’s Northside headquarters, only a block west of the 18-day encampment outside the Fourth Precinct police station.
Twin Cities Black Journalists (TCBJ), the NABJ’s local chapter, sponsored the December 17 forum, which included the MSR, Insight News, the Star Tribune, Black Lives Matter (BLM) Minneapolis Organizer Adja Gildersleve, Shiloh Temple Pastor Bishop Richard Howell, and Minneapolis NAACP President Nekima Levy-Pounds. Minnesota Public Radio (MPR) News Senior Reporter Brandt Williams moderated.
Posted inSports
College bowls generate big bucks — except for the players
What is a 5-7 football team with a losing record like Minnesota doing in a bowl game? According to a new Harvard Business School study, one more win might be worth about $1 million.
Posted inSports
Women’s pro hockey games were first in MN
History was made recently at University of Minnesota’s Ridder Arena as well as in the state of Minnesota. The first professional women’s hockey game ever played here — actually the first and second such contests — took place between the Boston Pride of the first-year National Women’s Hockey League (NWHL) and the local Minnesota Whitecaps, an elite women’s hockey club.
Posted inSports
Women’s college basketball adjusts to new rule changes
Women’s college basketball games this season are played in quarters. The length of games haven’t changed, but now contests are four 10-minute quarters, which is similar to WNBA and international rules rather than two 20-minute halves.
Posted inOpinion
Black women athletes disrespected once again
Last week two premieres took place — the latest Star Wars movie, and a real-life drama, called Another Attack on Black Women.
First, the controversy over Serena Williams’ selection by Sports Illustrated as “Sportsperson of the Year,” and her self-chosen cover photo shoot that drew some boos.
Posted inLocal & State, News
New MPS super promises growing grad rates, shrinking achievement gap
Originally slated to start in July of 2016, newly named Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS) superintendent Sergio Paez could assume his duties much sooner, pending negotiations. The school board last week voted 6-3 to hire Páez to succeed Bernadeia Johnson, who resigned in January.
Posted inGophers/College, Sports
Media demand more of Black coaches
Is the real concern of local White reporters like Robson that they can’t get Mitchell to meet their unrealistic expectations?
Posted inGophers/College, Sports
White-Black grad gaps among some schools ‘alarming’
Minnesota (5-7) is among the 80 football teams picked to play in a bowl game this year. The Gophers will play Central Michigan in downtown Detroit December 28.
Posted inLocal & State, News
County attorney defends withholding Clark videos until trial
Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman said he won’t be rushed in the Jamar Clark shooting investigation. Speaking exclusively last week to the MSR, Freeman said, “We’ve had an expedited investigation. This will be done and presented to the grand jury in no longer than three months.”
Posted inEducation
What went wrong with CSI? Part II
It is often said that the best of intentions can result in miserable failure. Last week, the MSR examined the Community Standards Initiative (CSI), its beginnings, and its eventual failure to meet promised goals.
Posted inGophers/College, Sports
U-M athletics review: the cost of doing business or monkey business?
Did former Minnesota athletic director Norwood Teague run amok financially during his three-year tenure at the school? Who is on the hook to pay nearly $700,000 and counting to find out?
Posted inGophers/College, Sports
Jackson State takes loss in stride
The four-team NCAA volleyball first-round bracket last weekend in Minneapolis featured a nearly all-Black but all-females-of-color team (Jackson State), and an all-White squad (Northern Iowa), along with host Minnesota and Marquette, who met in the second round, each of which had several Black players.