Sports Posts

All Hockey Hair Team 2023: May the Flow Be with You

A long time ago, in a rink far, far away, the best salads and skullets, mullets and manes descended on the Minnesota State High School Hockey Tournament in St. Paul. Hockey-hair video maker John King is back with his annual compilation of the best flow in the state.

The Nimrods win American Birkebeiner Giant Ski Race 2023

This highlight video shows the drama from the qualifying run and finals of the American Birkebeiner Giant Ski Race, held last weekend on Main Street in Hayward. The Nimrod Giant Ski Team recaptured the championship this year.

Seasonal Leif Erikson statue update

PDD Quiz: Football

Are you ready for some football? Call up your best plays and tackle this week’s PDD quiz about football in the Twin Ports.

The PDD current events quiz comes your way on Nov. 27. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Nov. 23.

Duluth Kelleys defeat the Green Bay Packers in 1922

Although the Green Bay Packers generally get the last laugh, let it stand for the record that the Minnesota Vikings won the season opener in 2022 and the Duluth Kelleys topped the Pack one hundred years ago today.

Former Huskies outfielder makes major league debut

Former Duluth Huskies outfielder Cal Stevenson made his Major League Baseball debut for the Oakland Athletics on Aug. 10. He is the 301st former Northwoods League player to reach the majors.

Stevenson played for the Huskies in 2015. He was drafted in the 10th round of the 2018 MLB Draft by the Blue Jays.

Mystery Photo: 1962 State and Sectional Champs

This photo was acquired at the Ellefson Estate Sale in the Upper Cody part of West Duluth in 2019. It shows a youth baseball team with players wearing different jerseys, suggesting perhaps it’s an all-star squad or the team had multiple sponsors. The sponsor names on the shirts are: Kelley Duluth, City Bottling, YOT (Young Old Timers), Gately’s, West Arrow Chevrolet, Moose 1478 … and one looks like it might be M&J Super Value (the bottom word is blocked by the players forearms). Two jerseys are plain white; those players have an M on their caps while the other players have caps with no lettering.

The writing on the back of the photo gives the biggest clue: “1962 State & Sectional Champs.” But the names of the players and coaches are lost to history unless a nerd or two step up and solve the mysteries.

PDD Quiz: Take Me Out to the Ball Game

Step up to the plate for this baseball-themed PDD quiz! For more on Duluth baseball history, check out the Zenith City website and the Minnesota Digital Library.

The next PDD quiz will review the headlines from June 2022; it will be published on June 26. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by June 22.

Grandma’s Marathon 2021 Double: Ninth or Tenth Annual?

Eric Strand’s tradition of running a Grandma’s Marathon Double — starting at the finish line, running to the starting line, then running the official marathon — continued in 2021. The annual video package didn’t make it to YouTube until today — 11 days before the next Grandma’s Marathon — but hey, editing video is its own marathon, right?

Joining Strand on the 52.4-mile trek, which began at 2:30 a.m., are Andy, Andrew, John, Lance and another guy named Eric. All were impressed with the awe-inspiring sunrise over the porta potties at the half-marathon starting line.

Duluth Homegrown Kickball Classic 2022: A Short Film

Photographer Kip Praslowicz gets all artsy with this video showcasing Homegrown Music Festival kickball athleticism.

Rollers win Homegrown kickball, knotting series at 11

The chant is heard sporadically throughout the annual Homegrown Music Festival Kickball Classic. “MVP. MVP. MVP.”

Minnesota Historia: Duluth’s Doomed Olympics Bid

WDSE-TV presents the story of an Olympics that never happened in a city that never stopped dreaming.

Minnesota Historia is a six-part web series dedicated to Minnesota’s quirky past. It is hosted by Hailey Eidenschink and produced/edited/written by Mike Scholtz.

Duluth curler among stray Olympians in Beijing streets

John Landsteiner of Duluth, at right in the image, was among “hundreds of stray Olympians” who “had been left behind after the 2022 Winter Games,” according to the satirical news website the Onion. With Landsteiner in the photo is his curling teammate Matt Hamilton of McFarland, Wis.

PDD Quiz: Duluth at the Olympics

Go for the gold with this quiz about Olympians with Duluth ties!

The next PDD quiz will review this month’s headlines; it will be published on Feb. 27. Submit question suggestions to Alison Moffat at [email protected] by Feb. 24.

Alan Sparhawk of Low on American Football

This video is more than three years old, but with the Super Bowl coming up this weekend it seems appropriate to get Duluth musician Alan Sparhawk’s take on the sport of football.

The video was shot during Low’s tour of the United Kingdom prior to the release of the 2018 album Double Negative. Luke Turner, editor of the rock music and pop culture website the Quietus met Sparhawk at the Barbican Centre in London to talk about football as part of the website’s “At Leisure” series, looking at musicians and their non-musical interests.

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