Sports

This Easter weekend we continue the celebration of Carol Fitzgerald with the Seventh Annual benefit weekend. Carol died April 10, 2003 of breast cancer. This is year seven of the mission in her memory of raising awareness and money to support the causes that were especially important to her during her lifetime of 47 years: […]

-Photos by Charles Hallman PHILADELPHIA — I watched the Philadelphia 76ers last week play their last regular season contest and fail to clinch their first winning season since 2004-05. At the same time, the hometown Minnesota Timberwolves didn’t fail to clinch the NBA’s worst record for the second consecutive year. Philadelphia is in the playoffs […]

DAVID HICKS (St. Thomas Academy) quietly led Long Island University to NCAA men’s basketball’s last tournament last month. While much was made about Minnesota natives’ participation in the tournament, Hicks was rarely, if at all, in the conversation. The 6’-1” guard, who led St. Thomas Academy to a Class 3A third-place finish in 2006 while […]

Part two of a three-part series: In DR. COLUMBUS SALLEY’s informative book The Black 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential Africans-Americans Past and Present, his list included 14 people who had significant athletic experience. These athletes’ exploits, life experiences and athletic achievements have contributed to advancement of people of African descent in particular and […]

Charl Schwartzel of South Africa shot a final round 66, the best of the day, and birdied the last four holes on Sunday at Augusta National to capture his first Masters by two shots. It was an incredible Masters. However, Augusta National, since it was Tiger-proofed years ago to 7,435 feet, no longer humbles the […]

When you have the top overall pick in any draft, especially a draft that clearly has the best player in America, the choice is so obvious. Yet not until Maya Moore’s name was called first Monday afternoon in the 2011 WNBA Draft could Minnesota Lynx fans finally stop being like Whitney Houston — “Waiting to […]

COLUMBUS SALLEY, an accomplished historian and author, ranks the most influential 100 Black people in America in his book The BLACK 100: A Ranking of the Most Influential African-Americans Past and Present. Among the 100 are 14 who have exhibited extraordinary athletic prowess in their life experience. The REV. DR. MARTIN LUTHER KING, JR. is […]

Marquette University point guard ANGEL ROBINSON (St. Paul Central) and University of Iowa shooting guard KACHINE ALEXANDER (Benilde-St. Margaret’s) were dominant players during their prep and collegiate basketball careers. Now both hope to continue that dominance at the pro level, coming back to the state in which both learned their craft. Robinson, who led St. […]

By Charles Hallman Staff Writer and Onika Nicole Craven MSR Intern Two former Twin Cities prep stars were the only Minnesotans selected in Monday’s WNBA Draft. Angel Robinson (St. Paul Central) was the 22nd overall pick by New York but was later traded to Minnesota in one of two “pre-arranged trade deals” completed by the […]

Not since the heyday of Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls in the late 1990s has the NBA had a lightning-rod team like the 2011 Miami Heat, that one team that moves the sports fans VU meter of curiosity like the Jordan-led Bulls, the Philadelphia 76ers of Dr. Julius Erving and Moses Malone in the […]

As was the case five years ago when Seimone Augustus, now a sixth-year veteran, clearly was the best player in the WNBA draft, University of Connecticut forward Maya Moore holds a similar distinction this year. The Minnesota Lynx holds the WNBA’s top overall pick for the third time in franchise history. In a recent interview, […]

ESTAN TYLER (St. Paul Johnson), ROOSEVELT SCOTT (St. Paul Johnson), BRETSON MCNEAL (DeLaSalle), JONAH TRAVIS (DeLaSalle), LUCAS BROWN (Roseville), DAVID STANLEY (Roseville), MALIK EL-AMIN (Minneapolis North), CALVIN JENKINS (Minneapolis Roosevelt), CLARENCE THOMAS (Minneapolis Washburn), MARVIN SINGLETON (Hopkins), T.J. OKAFOR (Champlin Park), ZACH LOFTON (Columbia Heights), MARCUS ALIPATE (Bloomington Jefferson), MARQUEL CURTIS (Robbinsdale Armstrong), and TEREZ […]

Many young people are led to believe that a successful career in sports will subsequently lead to freedom. Much of that notion emanates from the fact that the high salaries from playing professional sports are a sure path to freedom. Nothing could be further from the truth. Few people, regardless of race, creed or color, […]

The NCAA tournament does not always deliver the best team to their marquee event, the NCAA Final Four. In 2011 the Final Four will have zero number-one seeds in Houston to prove it. Is that a major problem? With number-one Ohio State 38-3, Kansas 35-3 and San Diego State 34-3 at home? Legendary former Georgetown […]

Onika Nicole Craven -Photo by Charles Hallman Crystal Flint – MSR file photo My March Madness reached an all-time vertical high this year. Every NCAA men’s tournament game was broadcast live on one of four networks — 26 games on CBS, 16 on TNT, 13 on truTV and 12 on TNT — while the women’s […]

Marving Singleton Siyani Chambers Zach Lofton Joe Coleman – Photos by Mitchell Palmer McDonald Hopkins, led by MARVING SINGLETON, JOE COLEMAN, SIYANI CHAMBERS, and ZACH STAHL, led the Royals to their third consecutive Class 4A title in the boys’ state basketball tournament last weekend. And an interesting tournament it was. Defending 3A champ and top […]

Jeff Phelps Brian Anderson Melvin Rice Photos courtesy of the U of Minnesota Melvin Rice photo by Scott Walstrom, NIU Media Service DAVID M. WINFIELD, the executive vice president/senior advisor of the San Diego Padres, is expanding his duties at the ESPN program Baseball Tonight. He will be seen mostly on Sundays and Mondays. The […]

It’s always been about team and winning as far as I’m concerned, and basketball, remember, can play only five guys at one time. But a dominant team leader can take you a long way. The last two years, the NBA’s MVP has been LeBron James. He was the man in Cleveland, as you know; however, […]

Perhaps the best storyline not being discussed or written about during this year’s NCAA men’s and women’s basketball tournament is this: Do these players graduate? This is “the elephant in the living room” or TEIR question that hoops fans and pundits annually ignore or simply won’t ask. The mainstream print media has been “shockingly quiet” […]

Brianna Williams Nia Coffey The girls’ basketball state tournament was certainly one to remember. BRIANNA WILLIAMS, NIA COFFEY, SYDNEY COFFEY, EBONY LIVINGSTON, MIKAALA SHACKLEFORD, TT STARKS, JULIA WEIMER and GRACIA HUTSON led Hopkins past Eden Prairie, led by AUBREY DAVIS, JACKIE JOHNSON, SHAYNE MULLANEY and MORGAN VAN RIPER-ROSE, 67-45 for the Class 4A crown. DeLaSalle […]