Sports
Don’t Worry About It
I played football at UMD for two years.
No I didn’t.
I was on the UMD football team for two years. I had a locker and got equipment that wasn’t as nice as what important players got. I received most of the on-and-off-campus benefits that came with being in the football fold. I made it onto the lower tier of the second-string roster for a few practices by the end of my sophomore season in 1990. I was a legit but inconsequential member of the team. I never really played. I haven’t actually played football since November 1989, when my senior season as a Rochester John Marshall Rocket ended with a loss to the Winona Winhawks.
Some fellow seniors cried on the sideline of Winona’s stadium as our high-school football identities ticked away. I felt bad about not being able to muster that emotion. I couldn’t have said it this way then, but now I know I just didn’t much care. I mean . . . I suppose I would have preferred to win. It’s just that losing didn’t really bother me and I wasn’t bereft about that season ending.
No part of football for me had to do with feeling driven to win or averse to losing. Somewhere in my dudebro teenage brain I already knew that many aspects of football are stupid and creepy and “winning” and “losing” are illusory stories we tell ourselves to create meaning we can understand in an existence we can’t. (more…)
Video Archive: Wally the Beer Man
Here’s a look back to 1987 — when the Minnesota Twins won their first World Series and Wally the Beer Man was in the limelight. (more…)
Denfeld vs. Central: 1922 Football Stalemate
Duluth’s Jay Sonnenburg found these 1922 photos among his grandfather’s collection. They depict scenes at Athletic Park in West Duluth, where Duluth Central and Denfeld did battle on the gridiron. (more…)
Video: Duluth’s C.J. Ham scores first NFL regular season touchdown in Vikings loss to Steelers
Duluth native C.J. Ham took a handoff from backup quarterback Case Keenum and surged into the end zone for a 2-yard score against the Pittsburgh Steelers today. It was Ham’s first regular season touchdown in the National Football League, on his first carry. The Vikings lost the game 26-9. (more…)
Video Archive: Dino Bravo and Ken Patera cut wrestling promos for 1987 Duluth appearances
Thirty years ago today the World Wrestling Federation — now known as World Wrestling Entertainment — held its second-ever card at the Duluth Arena. Above, Dino Bravo threatens Brutus “The Barber” Beefcake, saying “I’ll break both your legs in Duluth!” Below, Ken Patera promises “lumps and bumps” for Hercules Hernandez and Bobby Heenan. (more…)
Clare Means – “Duluth Song”
Los Angeles-based singer/songwriter Clare Means was in Duluth recently for a performance at Wade Stadium. While here she recorded a “Duluth Song” and released this video, set to images of the Western Duluth Little League Intermediate Division District Tournament Team, which defeated Lake Park 15-5 on July 11 to claim the 2017 Minnesota state championship.
Lake Superior Surf: Summer 2017
Video by Spencer Nelson.
MN Hockey: Land of 10,000 Rinks
WDSE-TV‘s recent documentary about hockey culture in northern Minnesota — from the mini-mites learning to skate for the first time, to accomplished high school and college players striving to take their game to the highest level — is now available to view online … right here.
Radiophiles and Sportphiles
Fill me in; educate me. Local FM sports station, 92.1 WWAX, a KFAN affiliate known as “The Fan,” recently sold. Before and after the sale the station’s Duluth airspace remains stale with on-air talent imaging bites that are very old. After sale, IDs are played saying the station is owned by Red Rock Radio Corporation … but it was sold. Finally, too many dead, off-air minutes or hours. What gives? I wrote to both owners when they were in charge, no responses. I like radio, I’m a dinosaur in that respect. Even dinosaurs don’t like listening to “old-time radio” imaging bites over and over and over again.
Damage Boardshop Showdown Video
Duluth’s Damage Boardshop is one of 16 shops in the United States competing in the TransWorld Skateboarding Shop Showdown video contest on skateboarding.com. Over the past three weeks, TWS has posted videos by four shops each week. Damage’s video is part of round four.
The videos are bracketed against each other until the final four videos are determined through a blend of audience voting and analysis by TWS staff and pros from the sponsoring Mountain Dew skate team. To vote go to …
skateboarding.transworld.net/shop-showdown.
Video Archive: Billy Jack Haynes and Adrian Adonis cut wrestling promos for 1987 Duluth appearances
The World Wrestling Federation brought its first card to Duluth on May 14, 1987. The main event featured Billy Jack Haynes losing a chain match to Hercules Hernandez. The syndicated TV program Superstars of Wrestling featured two promos for the Duluth Arena card tucked into the commercial breaks of local broadcasts. One featured Haynes (above) and another starred Adrian Adonis (below). (more…)
Duluth native Ham moves to fullback position with Vikings
Minnesota Vikings running back C.J. Ham has been lining up at fullback during the team’s 2017 rookie mini-camp. The Duluth native broke into the NFL last season as a tailback.
Ham was on the Vikings practice squad in 2016 and was briefly on the active roster but did not play in a regular season game, making him eligible to participate in this season’s rookie camp. Vikings Team Reporter Eric Smith wrote on Vikings.com today that during team drills Ham “lined up as a fullback in front of Vikings rookie Dalvin Cook.” (more…)
Homegrown Kickball Classic: Friday shuts out Saturday
Team Friday celebrates after winning the 2017 Homegrown Kickball Classic.
DULUTH, Minn. – The Friday bands shut out Saturday to win 2017’s high-stakes Homegrown Kickball Classic 8-0, tying up the overall series at 9-9. (more…)
Duluth’s Mark Sertich: World’s Oldest Hockey Player
Duluth’s Mark Sertich has no intention of slowing down at age 95. He still plays hockey several times a week in a league consisting mostly of firefighters. This video is part of the Really Great Big Stories series — a yearlong celebration of storytelling and documentary film.
Lake Superior Surfing at Stoney Point
Yes, this is the third time in two weeks that Perfect Duluth Day has featured a Lake Superior surfing video. It just happens to be what people are making good videos about these days. This one is the second surf video by Jasper Meddock Productions, shot on April 20 at Stoney Point, about seven miles north of Duluth in Duluth Township. The music is “Quick Musical Doodles” by Two Feet.
Bulldogs Uncollared: Frozen Four
A look back at the UMD men’s hockey team’s NCAA Frozen Four battles against Harvard University and the University of Denver.
Bjorklund half-marathon entry auction to benefit Damiano
Once again Security Jewelers is auctioning one of its sponsor entries to the Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon on eBay. This year the proceeds will go to the Damiano Center, a Duluth nonprofit that provides emergency services to low-income and homeless people. The auction ends April 13 at noon.
Lottery registration for the 2017 Garry Bjorklund Half Marathon closed Oct. 31. The race is at capacity with 7,000 participants. The entry cost via the lottery was $95. Typically the auction price lands around $225, but the previous time the Damiano Center was the charity of choice the entry raised $1,000.
Minnesota All Hockey Hair Team 2017: Flowetry in Motion
John King is back with another roundup of the finest hair styles at the Minnesota High School Boys Hockey Tournament. Though Hermantown and Grand Rapids brought championship trophies north to the Arrowhead region, both teams landed zero players in the All Hockey Hair Team Top Ten this year. Several players and a team manager get shout outs, however.
The Boomchucks – “Birkie Fever”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KEbADJDXYC8
A silly little ditty by Duluth band the Boomchucks, all about the North American Birkebeiner.
PDD Quiz: Robots in Duluth
[This post originally contained an embedded quiz created on the platform Qzzr. It is no longer available at its source.]
Test your knowledge of local robotics teams (and other area robots) with this quiz, inspired by the upcoming FIRST Robotics regional competitions taking place Mar. 3-4 at the DECC.
Bowling
Ever since I tried curling a few months ago, I’ve hungered for bowling. It’s been ten years since I bowled, almost exactly, on the weekend my friends married (at the Incline Station). I’ve been to parties and for volleyball at Skyline Lanes. But I haven’t bowled in a while. (more…)
Backyard LED Hockey Rink
The list of oddball Minnesota hockey rinks is growing. In December Liftoff Aerials showed off PDD’s pond hockey rink shaped like the North Star State. Now, Gopher Aerial presents Shawn Carlon’s backyard rink in Maple Grove, which uses LED lights for added nighttime fun.
Postcards from the Duluth Curling Club
Duluth Curling & Skating Club was organized in 1891, with the first stone thrown Christmas Day on the ice of Lake Superior. The club moved from rink to rink until its first building opened in 1913. (more…)
Pond Hockey Rink in Shape of Minnesota
What says Minnesota more than pond hockey? How about a rink in the shape of Minnesota? I made this rink in the shape of Minnesota over the course of two days. The project took a total of a few hours and I had some help on the final shovel off.