By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com If someone had told me before Sunday’s Super Bowl that in the final minute, one team would punch in a go-ahead touchdown, only for the other to come within a foot of hauling in a last-second Hail Mary pass, I would have been ecstatic. As often as not championship Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com Every once in awhile when dealing with a work assignment, the urge to “mail it in” kicks in. Thankfully, I work with newspapers, so getting it in the mail is essential. Rim shot, please. Thank you. So, without further ado or analysis, here is my completely unscientific Super Bowl Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com It’s a Thursday afternoon and I miraculously find myself with an hour of downtime. If only I could land that Twins General Manager job, I could sign a couple of aging veterans and then just do relax like this all of the time. Anyway, there’s so much to cover, Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com With roughly one month left in the regular season for most area teams, here are a look at some of the potential section match-ups for several of the area’s top teams looking at trying to make a run at state. Boys Basketball Little Falls (11-2) The Flyers Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com In honor of my brother’s birthday, I’m going to sort this weekend’s NFL and BCS participants into “big brothers” and “little brothers.” My brother won 176 matches in high school as a wrestler and went on to win a national title in college. I, on the other hand, won Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com I’ve been feeling pretty good lately. Christmas, New Year’s, no angry voice/e-mail messages to return. Rather than let something unexpected come up and snap me out of it, I figured it would be best if I was proactive. So, I’m taking a shot at some NFL wildcard round playoff Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com Hello all, and welcome to a special Christmas version of the blog (special because it’s Christmas, not because the writing is any more or less mediocre than usual). One of the biggest challenges in maintaining a blog while covering anywhere from 40-60 high school events a week is that Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com When it comes to general managers demanding too much in trades, David Stern now tops the list. The NBA commissioner/owner’s lackey/New Orleans Hornets president of basketball operations had quite the busy weekend. Fresh off of ratifying a new collective bargaining agreement, Stern, who along with the other 29 NBA Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com There’s too much to discuss for my own good today, so bear with me as I try to touch on all of the subjects I’ve wanted to be able to for the past couple of weeks. MLB, NHL improve their playoff formats while BCS improves its corruption It boggles Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com The weekend after writing about the mediocrity of college football, four of the top seven teams in the country lose. Mediocre, absolutely, but at least it was entertaining to watch some of the “top” teams self-implode. Unfortunately for two of those teams, their upsets should have never happened. To Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com Coming off a dreadful 63-99 season, the Minnesota Twins decided to part ways with general manager Bill Smith last week after a mediocre four-year run. Good decision. Taking his place will be the guy who preceded him, Terry Ryan. Bad decision. Smith certainly struggled during his tenure, turning Johan Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com College football has always been a little goofy. While pretty much all other sports have seasons that gradually build in tension and fan interest, culminating in some sort of exciting playoff format, college football prides itself on the importance of the regular season at the cost of having any Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com Theo Epstein is smart. Even I’ll admit that. However, little did I know that he was such a devious genius. Epstein, who presided as general manager over a Boston Red Sox organization that ended an 86-year World Series drought in 2004 before winning it all again in 2007. Now, Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com HBO’s Bryant Gumbel pulled off the verbal equivalent of dining and dashing earlier this week on his Real Sports television show. Gumbel, an African American man, likened NBA commissioner David Stern to a “plantation overseer,” and claimed that Stern thought of players as “his boys.” Now, Stern has to Read more »
By PATRICK SLACK Sports Editor patrick.slack@mcrecord.com Wait, there aren’t any teams left from the A.L. East? What, not even the N.L. East? Nope. There aren’t any teams from the West really either, although baseball geography places Texas right next to Los Angeles, Oakland and Seattle. All of this means, sadly, that not nearly as many Read more »
