The St. Louis Blues and Toronto Raptors have already shown that miracles can occur in the world of professional sports. In this most improbable of years, the Blues stunned all in the hockey world by defeating the Boston Bruins in Game 7 of the Stanley Cup finals. And their first-ever cup came ...

If the ongoing National Hockey League and National Basketball Association finals are showing anything, it’s which teams have more sand. The Boston Bruins showed a lot of grit in forcing a Game 7 with a big win over St. Louis on enemy ice. The city of St. Louis had all but conceded that ...

Despite the sheer volume of them in this year’s NHL playoffs, there are still no two words better than these: Game Seven. Yes, thanks to a 5-1 victory Sunday by the visiting Boston Bruins, the Stanley Cup Finals are going to a Game Seven, in Boston. After two straight wins by the St. Louis ...

Looking at the state of the so-called “independent” sports in our area, it’s hard to believe things have changed so much. By independent, I’m talking about baseball and softball for the most part. Those were the main sports played by people beyond high school age in the ...

There’s a reason why the seats at Comerica Park are mostly empty this season. And it’s not all because this year’s edition of the Detroit Tigers is dreadfully bad. Tigers fans are beginning to realize that 1984 was a long time ago …. and that there has been no World Series flags ...

It’s been said for some time that the signs of the apocalypse are with us right now. And without even considering — or even factoring in the situation in Washington D.C. — I can see enough in sports alone that should have everyone very worried. Take the recent selection of the ...

There is an epidemic in our culture. It has permeated into sports culture in waves and we need to stop it before it takes root permanently. That epidemic is blame. We are always looking for blame, someone to blame, something to blame. In sports, this manifests as blame of referees. That is ...

I was recently listening to one of those late night sports shows when I heard something that really surprised me. Now, I don’t normally pay much attention to these so-called “shock jocks.” They almost always originate from the West or East Coast — where they assume the only real ...

Several years ago, when I was still in high school, ESPN had a contract with the NHL and developed their own theme music for games that became iconic. It is still hard for me to sit down to watch a hockey game and not hear that music in my head. The theme music even made it into the ESPN NHL ...

It was with more than a little regret that I read about the recent retirement of long-time Ontonagon High School basketball coach Dick Franti. In a business where you see coaches come and go with the regularity of a north wind off Lake Superior, Franti was unique. Sure, he was around for a ...

There are a number of strange things in the world of sports, that quite honestly, baffle me. Take the just completed National Football League draft, if you will. After listening to a so-called battery of experts (Mel Kiper Jr. and numerous others) dissect the draft for the last year, I still ...

Last week, hockey fans were treated to not one, not two, but three Game Sevens. Man, talk about an opportunity ripe with chances to run the full gamut of emotions over the course of 30 or so hours. On Tuesday evening, the Boston Bruins and Toronto Maple Leafs got things going with a bang, ...

It was one of those things I intended to do …. but never got around to. The year was 1968, one of the most turmoil-filled in the history of this country. There was unrest in city streets, assassinations of our leaders and riots wherever you looked. But it was also the Year of the Tiger, ...

With two exciting games on Sunday afternoon and early evening, NHL hockey fans were treated to events leading to two of the best words in the English language: Game Seven. The Boston Bruins overcame a 1-0 deficit to the Toronto Maple Leafs in the afternoon game with power play goals from Brad ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...

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 ...