Lions, Packers face big draft

April 17, 2019

As far as I’m concerned, it’s never too early — or too late — to talk football. And the next big day for fans of the Green Bay Packers and Detroit Lions is coming up later this month with the annual college draft. The Packers showed definite signs of breaking down last season. Not only did their record, 6-9-1, take a fall, they ended up making quarterback Aaron Rodgers most unhappy. Rodgers, conceded as a Top 5 quarterback in the league and an almost certain Hall of Fame pick, openly criticized teammates for sometimes lackluster play. And he has continued to be critical ...

Tiger, Tiger, Tiger

April 16, 2019

own the chute to the clubhouse at Augusta National Golf Club Sunday, a familiar cheer followed him, “Tiger! Tiger! Tiger!” How appropriate. I have never been a Tiger Woods fan. I respected what he did on the course, and hated him for his actions away from it. However, as Sunday morning rolled into Sunday afternoon, Tiger became compelling to watch. After joining my mother, my son and his girlfriend for breakfast, I fully expected to spend the afternoon watching the New York Islanders and Pittsburgh Penguins play in Game Three of their best-of-seven opening round NHL playoff ...

Arnie made Masters special

April 10, 2019

It was of those things I could never could figure out. Why did the annual Masters Golf Tournament hold such a fascination for me? It wasn’t because I had any particular interest in the sport. While I did my share of hacking around local courses, I never developed any golf skills to speak of — other than exploring every square inch of the layout. Oh, there were occasional good shots. Maybe a 300-yard drive at Wyandotte GC. Or the time I nearly made a hole-in-one at Portage Lake GC. But those efforts were immediately followed by a slice into the woods. Or a completely ugly ...

One word keeps coming to mind

April 9, 2019

Full disclosure from the outset: I did not sit and watch the NHL’s reveal of “Hockeyville USA.” I fully admit that I was enjoying a quiet Sunday of trying to find a goaltender for my hockey rental in the evening and playing a computer game about taming dinosaurs. When my phone buzzed, I looked down and saw that I had a call coming in from our managing editor. Upon answering, I discovered why he was calling me on a Sunday afternoon, but the reality of it had not set in. After I got off the phone with him, I immediately put a call in to the guy who had been texting me on Saturday ...

Believe it: Tigers are that bad

April 3, 2019

It’s way too early to make any predictions in the major league baseball season. But this is one I’ll post one right now. The Detroit Tigers are going to have a very rough year. The only reason the Tigers won’t lose 100 games is because they play in baseball’s weakest division, the American League Central. The Cleveland Indians are far from being dominant in this division, but they still have enough pitching to hold off an improving Chicago White Sox club. Actually, Detroit isn’t far behind Kansas City and Minnesota when it comes to talent. That tells you volumes about ...

A walk down memory lane

April 2, 2019

When I first heard that the Calumet Colosseum was up for Kraft Hockeyville again this year, my first thought was a very simple one: They wouldn’t award this thing to another U.P. rink so soon after Marquette’s Lakeview Arena, would they? In fact, I admit that I did not put a lot of effort into even following it because I figured there was no chance Sunday’s monumental announcement was on the horizon. Then, I jumped on a team for the Old-Timers Tournament. I had been to a game or two of the Calumet Copper Kings during the high school season, nothing like the previous years ...