Sports

The WNBA is the diversity leader among America’s professional sports leagues, according to the Institute for Diversity in Sports’ (TIDES) latest racial and gender report card. This is the eighth time that Richard Lapchick’s group has awarded the WNBA at least an A grade for race (2001, 2004, 2005, 2006-07, 2008, 2009, 2010 and now […]

Last year the Vikings missed the playoffs, winning just six games. After beating Seattle 20-7 Saturday on the road, the team took a big step towards establishing that 2011 is not a rebuilding year. When you are in the division of the defending Super Bowl champion that includes two playoff teams and NFC runner-up Chicago, […]

By Charles Hallman Staff Writer Calling all Black Minnesota Golden Gopher alumni! The second annual African American student-athletes reunion will be held September 16-17. Around 80 Black former players attended last year’s inaugural get-together, recalls U of M Special Events Director Linda Roberts. She hopes to double that attendance this year. The theme this year […]

The prep football season has arrived as schools across the state begin their second week of practice in preparation for their first games next week. The publication of this picture featuring St. Paul Central’s Gabriel Williams (28) blocking for Malik Glass (25) signifies the beginning of the high school football season. Central won the St. […]

Now that football is back, what have we learned? In the Vikings’ case, we’ve learned that they are not ready — they need work. After losing 14-3 at Tennessee, the Vikings are far from ready. That includes their offensive line, secondary and passing game. Against the Titans, the offensive line protection was not good, the […]

By Charles Hallman Staff Writer The big-league Minnesota Twins probably won’t play in any championship games this season, but they recently played host to a slewful of young ball players from across the country and the Caribbean in the 2011 Reviving Baseball in Inner Cities (RBI) World Series. “You could see the looks on their […]

Instead of heading back home, several out-of-state Minnesota Golden Gophers football players spent their summer working with local high school players. Up to eight U of M players, including junior MarQueis Gray (Indianapolis, Ind.) and Christyn Lewis (Fontana, Calif.), were involved in the summer-long leadership academy at DeLaSalle High School. “We worked with students during […]

Isaac Anderson David Gilreath -Photos courtesy of University of Wisconsin Athletics ISAAC ANDERSON and DAVID GILREATH were high school football phenoms in their own right during the middle of the decade. Now, after stellar careers at the University of Wisconsin as receivers, both are trying to realize their dream of playing in the NFL. Gilreath, […]

Despite the fact that it is just a few miles away from the University of Minnesota’s main campus, North Minneapolis was too often seen by former Gopher football coaches as a remote wasteland. It took a tornado on a Sunday afternoon in May to finally bring the head gridiron coach of the state’s largest university […]

By Charles Hallman Staff Writer PHILADELPHIA — Although the 2011-12 NBA regular season schedule was recently released, it looks more like an exercise in futility as the current lockout, imposed by the owners on July 1, remains intact. Last week, three NBA insiders at the 2011 National Association of Black Journalists convention in Philadelphia shared […]

The North Tartan 14-and-under AAU ninth-grade girls’ basketball team recently captured the National Championship held in Orlando, Florida during the first week of July. North Tartan, under the direction of RICO ALEXANDER (head coach), CHRIS McMORRIS (assistant coach) and JOHN NOGA (assistant coach), compiled a 30-4 record while remaining undefeated in ninth-grade competition. According to […]

Give the Vikings ownership credit: They are doing everything it seems possible to win. They have a deal with Arden Hills on a proposed new Vikings stadium site that awaits state approval. In fact, the historic State government shutdown has hurt their cause. Governor Mark Dayton called their stadium proposal “sloppy.” They are two years […]

Teresa Edwards will be inducted August 12 as the only female player in the 10-person Class of 2011 in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. She is the first U.S. player to win four gold medals in Olympic basketball. While sitting and talking about being a Hall of Famer when she was in town […]

By Charles Hallman Staff Writer For the record, the best rebounder at the downtown Minneapolis pro basketball arena is not a Minnesota Timberwolves player but instead Minnesota Lynx forward Rebekkah Brunson. Statistically speaking, she was the league’s second-best rebounder last summer, and Brunson currently leads the W in caroms this year. But in all actuality, […]

It’s finally over after more than four months of tough negotiations between the NFL owners and the Players Association (NFLPA). The agreement is 10 years and $150 billion with a salary cap set at $120 million per 32 teams. All the terms of the deal have not yet been released, but that is its foundation. […]

SAN ANTONIO — Minnesota’s mainstream media didn’t send a single representative to this year’s WNBA All-Star Game, which was played here last Saturday and featured four Lynx players — Seimone Augustus, Rebekkah Brunson, Lindsay Whalen and Maya Moore — the most players selected from one team for an All-Star Game since 2006. The MSR was […]

By Charles Hallman Staff Writer WNBA President Laurie Richie said it finally hit her that she is the first Black woman to lead a major league sport. “I don’t think you ever get over the significance of something like that,” admitted the league’s third president and first woman of color to lead a pro basketball […]

As a sprinter for St. Paul Central’s track and field team during the early 1980s, ROSALYN SMALLER made a difference. The St. Paul native, who still holds the City Conference record in the 100 meters (12.14), is trying to make a difference by spreading awareness about breast cancer. Smaller, who is herself a breast cancer […]

The WNBA’s Top 15 Players will be announced Saturday at the 2011 WNBA All-Star Game in San Antonio. “Each has made a unique contribution to the game,” League President Laurel Richie said of the 30 nominees. Current Minnesota Lynx players Seimone Augustus and Taj McWilliams-Franklin are among 22 Blacks on the list. “It’s a good […]

As determined as the 2011 U.S. Women’s Soccer Team’s bid was to end the long drought, having not won the World Cup since 1999, it appeared to be a formality. After all, they never lose to Japan. That’s why it hurts double today, because they were in position and had so many opportunities, including the […]