St. Francis is a football factory

October 31, 2018

The first time I saw the Traverse City St. Francis High School football program in action came twenty years ago. TC St. Francis was playing L'Anse in a pre-regional game at the Superior Dome in Marquette. That was in a more enlightened time when the MHSSA was trying to cut down on traveling distances for teams separated by many miles. The Hornets of coach Jerry Bugni had a strong team in 1998, led by speedy tailback Jerry Cleary, who had rushed for more than 1,000 yards that season. To make a long story short, L'Anse came out strong that afternoon. Led by Cleary, the Hornets led ...

Brewers rebuilding right way

October 24, 2018

If there is a major league baseball franchise out there looking for a way to rebuild without spending the equivalent of the national debt, it would be advised to follow the way the Milwaukee Brewers are doing it. Now, the Brewers are not like the money-rich New York Yankees, Los Angeles Dodgers, or even the Detroit Tigers. Those teams just go out and spend what is required to put a winning team on the field. Milwaukee is in what is commonly known as a “small market,” meaning they do not have a large base of fans to draw from. Yet, the Brewers have managed to make themselves ...

Rivalries becoming hard to find

October 17, 2018

There was a time when rivalries were easy to find in the Upper Peninsula. Wherever you found a school of any size, you could find a nearby rival school without any trouble. Mass City had a rival a few miles away in Rockland. J.A. Doelle and Chassell, separated by nine miles, were fierce rivals. Ditto for Dollar Bay and Lake Linden-Hubbell and White Pine and Bergland. But today, there are just a few rivalries alive. School consolidation is the main reason that many of these rivalries have vanished. And co-op programs have taken their toll as well. If you don't agree, look at ...

Hockey season in swing

October 9, 2018

With the playing of the annual Black and Gold game Saturday night, and the start of the NHL season taking place last Wednesday, hockey season is in swing. At the NHL level, we have already been treated to some crazy, high-scoring affairs, starting with Washington’s 7-0 blanking of Boston and multiple 7-6 overtime games involving Pittsburgh, Chicago, Toronto and others. Toronto’s Auston Matthews already has eight points through just three games, including an overtime winner off a pass from former San Jose Sharks draft pick Patrick Marleau. Sorry, I could not help myself on the ...

Golf’s crazy week, and the curse

October 3, 2018

While watching some of the Ryder Cup matches over the weekend, I had to wonder whatever happened to the once-gentile sport of golf. The spectators at the matches in Paris, France (not Texas), appeared like they came straight of the set of the movie, “Happy Gilmore.” The unruly crowd cheered the homestanding European team with all the enthusiasm found at a large college football game. On the other hand, they jeered heartily whenever the Tiger Woods-led American squad messed up. And Woods and his teammates played plenty of screwed-up golf to help the cause. Tiger, himself, ...

End of an era

October 2, 2018

When I first heard, via Twitter, that the New York Mets were going to activate third baseman David Wright for the final series of the season, my first thought was, “finally!” Wright has been a staple in the Mets’ roster for the last 14 years. He was named captain of the team in 2013, but in reality, he had been serving in that role since he first stepped on the field. Wright is a large part of why I became a Mets fan. Since joining the team in 2004, Wright had 14 or more home runs every season but one from 2004 through 2013. He hit over .300 seven times in that same ...