The Dollar Bay-Tamarack City High School boys basketball program has been one of the most successful in the state of Michigan the past three years. The Blue Bolts, a Class D state semifinalist the last two seasons, has lost only a handful of games in that period of time. Three of those ...
The 1970 basketball game between Houghton and Jeffers could only be described as a one-of-a-kind happening. Even though I wasn’t there to witness it, I’ve probably heard more about it than most other local athletic events since then. The score of the game — a 134-62 victory by ...
It’s been said that advancing age is merely a state of mind. But don’t tell that Bruce Coppo of Calumet or Harold Filpus of Tapiola that. The two senior citizens have shown clearly that age is just a matter of mind for some people. In Coppo’s case, he went out on the ice recently ...
I can honestly say that I’ve watched every Super Bowl that’s ever been played. And with very few exceptions, all of them have been overhyped by the media. Of course, probably a half of the people in this country can make the same claim as I have done. The Super Bowl is like ...
Those football fans who are curious about the future of the National Football League got a good look at it this past weekend. I don’t think there’s much doubt that younger — and much quicker — quarterbacks are the wave of the future. Kansas City’s Patrick Mahomes and San ...
It’s a subject that has been discussed endlessly ever since the first cavemen started playing competitive marbles. Is winning the main objective to any activity? Vince Lombardi had it all figured out. The legendary Green Bay Packers football coach simply said: “There is no substitute ...
The first time I saw Kyle Monroe put up a shot I was instantly reminded of another player. It was, as they like to say, deja vu all over again. Monroe, who will likely become the all-time leading scorer in Michigan Tech men’s basketball history this winter, reminded me of Dominic ...
I’ve never claimed to a be a seer of the future. Or even a modern day Nostradamus. But I do believe that there are changes coming on the sports scene in 2020. High school football figures to be the most obvious area for changes. Shrinking enrollment at many Michigan schools has led to ...
It used to be there was no choice when it came to choosing a sports movie to watch. There was William Bendix playing a very poor rendition in The Babe Ruth Story. Or Jimmy Piersall playing himself in Fear Strikes Out, also not an Academy award winner. But the last couple of decades have ...
Contrary to what propaganda the Ford family is putting out these days, they don’t have a football coach running the Lions. Matt Patricia has clearly shown that he belongs on the long list of Motown coaching/front office failures — people like Marty Morhningweg, Darryl Rogers, Matt Millen, ...
I used to have a saying that you can always tell a newcomer to our area by his/her reaction to the first heavy snowfall of the season. Someone who had never been to the Copper Country between late November and early April would always talk abut the volume of snow. But to local residents, ...
It’s that time of the year for good cheer, family get-togethers, sales and, of course, the football bowl season. Every business, from Chuckie Cheese to Los Dos Amigos has a name in its so-called honor between next week and some time after New Year. There are a total of 52 bowls in ...
The sport of hockey is at a crossroads much the same way the entertainment industry was about a year ago. With the resignation last week of Calgary Flames coach Bill Peters, the NHL, and really hockey in general, has had to admit it has a problem. In case you have been living under a rock, ...
It would not be unfair to call the professional sports situation in Detroit a case of riches to rags. It was only a few short years ago that Motown was billing itself as the “City of Champions.” After all, the Red Wings had a couple of Stanley Cup championships under their belt. The ...
It’s a point I always try to emphasize to every new coach I may encounter. And that point is: Try to keep the very best stats you can and get them to me as soon as possible. Late Mining Gazette sportswriter/editor Dick Loranger gave me the same instructions when I wrote my first sports ...
Between the second and third periods Saturday night at the MacInnes Student Ice Arena, I ran into a friend of mine who made as bold a statement as I have heard in quite some time: he believes that the Michigan Tech Huskies hockey team will win its next 10 games. Upon first glance, I fully ...
If there was any doubt the landscape for Upper Peninsula high school football has drastically changed, look back 25 or 30 years ago. Back in the late 1980s, the were several more 11-man teams than there are today. And no 8-man football teams. Consider the situation in Gogebic County today ...
Take a look at some of the salaries being paid to today’s professional athletes and you have to wonder if it’s case of them being overrated or overpaid. Now, I know the year is 2019 and everything has an exorbitant price tag. Take a look at your next grocery bill — or the sticker ...
Some years ago, there was a basketball player at Bergland High School by the name of Neil Kalember. A smooth lefthanded shooter, Kalember helped the Vikings to a couple of district titles and a berth in the U.P. regional finals as a sophomore. But early in his senior season, Kalember ...
When my family first moved to Houghton in the late summer of 1983, my parents, who did not grow up with the sport, but instead fell in love with it while falling in love with each other during their time at the University of Wisconsin, bought season tickets to Michigan Tech hockey games. In ...