In this latest installment in our “Only One” series, we conclude our search for Black fans at college football games. This week the Only One’s month-long search winds up at the “Holy Grail.” The football field stretched from the left field fence 100 yards to the visitors’ dugout September 23 at the Minnesota Twins ballpark […]
Gophers/College
Sports: a space for local and national sports news, with emphasis on stories pertaining to African Americans.
Posted inSports
Gophers ‘rowing the boat’ at 3-0
Little did I know about the name P.J. Fleck until recently. My time might be drawing to an end. Back in 1992, while doing talk radio on KFAN, the Gophers’ flagship station, I told my broadcast partner Eric Nelson and our listening audience that things were so bad here in the culture of the program […]
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Back to U of M in search of scarce Black fans
In this latest installment in our “Only One” series, we are in search of Black fans at college football games. This week the Only One returns to the U of M campus. Nearly three hours before kickoff at each Minnesota home game, new Coach P.J. Fleck and his players, the school band and cheerleaders greet […]
Posted inSports
The Only One catches up with Stephanie Samedy
It was a busy Labor Day weekend for the Only One. We began a new four-part series. We also watched U-M Opposite Hitter Stephanie Samedy in action, one of six newcomers on this year’s Gopher volleyball team. The 6-2 freshman from Florida led the squad with 43 total kills in three home wins last weekend […]
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The Only One goes in search of Black college football fans
In this latest installment in our “Only One” series, we go in search of Black fans at college football games. This week the Only One takes the search to the U of M and Augsburg season openers. The typical college football experience: Arrive early; eat outside the stadium like you’re breaking fast while wearing your […]
Posted inSports
Summer internships provide real-world experience for student-athletes
There are approximately 100 African American and other student-athletes of color this school year at the University of Minnesota. In an occasional series throughout the 2017-18 school and sports year, the MSR will highlight many of these players This week: Gopher football junior Rodney Smith and senior thrower Temi Ogunrinde We recently talked to two Gophers […]
Posted inSports
What is a diversity conundrum?
First in a multi-part series Longtime columnist William C. Rhoden has written on The Undefeated.com about the “blinding Whiteness in virtually every sector” of college sport, including key leadership and other essential positions, calling it the “diversity conundrum.” This multi-part series will expand on Rhoden’s observation. We begin the series this week with a description […]
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Proposed HBCU pro league could shake up NCAA status quo
Change sometimes comes through “disruption.” Just such change through disruption could result from a new plan to change the NCAA amateur rules whereby everyone gets paid but the players. Andy Schwartz, Richard Volante and Bijan Bayne introduced in Vice Magazine last month a 22-page play-for-pay HBCU men’s basketball league outline. Their “Why HBCUs?” plan hopes […]
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U of M athletic director talks the talk of ‘community engagement’
Time will tell if he also walks the walk Mark Coyle later this month will celebrate his first-year anniversary as Minnesota athletics director. He was hired last May. The MSR historically, through sports columns and in its commentary section, has published writers who have called out the University of Minnesota about its culture, especially in […]
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Twin Cities selected to host nine NCAA championship events
The Twin Cities is quickly becoming a college sport championship destination end-point. After last week’s NCAA announcement, beginning in 2018, the area now will serve as host of nine championship events over the next five years. Over 3,000 bids from schools, conferences, sports groups and cities were submitted last summer for consideration to host predetermined […]
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Undrafted rookie takes her shot at the pros
What do Adrian Dantley, Gary Brokaw, John Shumate and Breanna Richardson have in common? They are all part of hoop history. Dantley, Brokaw and Shumate were teammates on the 1973-74 Notre Dame squad that defeated UCLA in January 1974, snapping the Bruins’ 88-win streak. And just a few weeks ago, Richardson and her Mississippi State […]
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Four teams desert-bound for Final Four
Over the years I’ve grown very fond of Arizona with so many golf courses and resorts, and between November and March you can get away from the stress that goes with winter and the bad weather. Arizona is the spring home of 15 of Major League Baseball’s training sites in Tempe, Scottsdale, Tucson, Mesa and […]
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Recalling a great Gopher run now 20 years past
Erasing it from the record books does not erase it from memory Inspired by TV One’s Unsung series, this multi-part MSR series shines a well-deserved spotlight on individual or group accomplishments that unfortunately have been overlooked, or perhaps even “forgotten.” This week the spotlight is on the last Big Ten champion. Before the league instituted […]
Posted inOpinion
Former Gopher hoops coach now coaching executives
Former U of M women’s basketball coach Pam Borton, since leaving the school, now coaches senior business executives. After nearly 30 years as a Division I head coach, Borton was the fifth Gopher coach we covered in our women’s basketball beat. She recently published On Point: A Coach’s Game Plan for Life, Leadership, and Performing […]
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Texas in the house: Gopher gymnasts from Lone Star State excel
There are approximately 100 African American and other student-athletes of color this school year at the University of Minnesota. In an occasional series throughout the 2016-17 school and sports year, the MSR will highlight many of these players This week: Gopher gymnasts Ciara Gardner and Paige Williams Both native Texans and the team’s only Black […]
Posted inGophers/College, Sports
March Madness, the numbers behind the hoopla
Often drowned out by the March Madness basketball hoopla and the “bracketology” of who got in and who didn’t, is the “exploitative” nature of the NCAA, wrote Dave Zirin in his latest Edge of Sports column for The Nation. He duly noted how the men’s tournament that first expanded to 64 teams in 1985 now stands at […]
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March Madness makes NCAA a bundle!
When do the athletes — most of them Black — get their fair share? Many years ago my mother, Sally Fitzgerald, taught me how to value a dollar. “Practice trying to save 25 cents out of every dollar,” she said. “It’s a great financial strategy — it challenges you to keep an eye on your […]
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Gopher senior night disappoints Mpls native player and family
Senior night is a time-honored tradition in sport. It’s the player’s final home game of their career, and parents, friends, and other well-wishers are on-hand to honor them. Sometimes, a player that is a non-starter gets the starting nod as a symbolic gesture. Four players were so honored at Williams Arena Feb. 23 prior to […]
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Gophers’ miracle season continues
Do you believe in Miracles? Wow — from 8-23 last year to 23-8? Richard Pitino is just 31-31 the last two years, I remind you, as Gophers men’s basketball coach. This is his fourth season, and just like Minnesotans, some fans are worried the famous name Pitino, son of legend Rick Pitino of Louisville, will […]
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Gopher baseball kicks off indoors at the Vikings stadium
It also was the MSR’s first college baseball game we covered indoors. Not since the old Metrodome, where both the Twins and Gophers, who played there during the late winter portion of their season, have we watched baseball under a roof in downtown Minneapolis. Other than the improved spacious press box and better sight lines, […]