Bob Collins
It’s a crime to take selfies while running for your life from the bulls in Pamplona. Read more →
MPR News Reflections and observations on the news
Sports
Hello, America, and welcome to Minneapolis-St. Paul! Well, actually, just Minneapolis. Read more →
The Star Tribune’s Phil Miller provides the must-read story of the day (so far) with his profile of Pat Neshek , the Brooklyn Park native who makes his first-ever appearance on the All Star game this week. Read more →
It must kill the rest of America to admit it, but Cleveland has had a pretty good week, landing both the Republican National Convention and LeBron James. In quite a surprise, it was Sports Illustrated that released the word that has had the sports tongues wagging. In his essay today, James does not promise a Read more →
It’s been about 70 years since World War II, but when Germany beat Brazil in the World Cup this week, it unleashed a torrent of Nazi references on social media. Why? Read more →
Soccer is called “the beautiful game,” because “the game that rips your heart out, stomps on your gut, and leaves your country humiliated in the eyes of the sports world” just doesn’t have the same ring to it. Read more →
Andrew Rector says his life has been ruined since he caught up on some sleep at a Yankees-Red Sox game in April.
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After finishing fourth last year, Ville Parviainen and Janette Oksman have reached the top. They won the world championship in wife-carrying in Finland over the weekend. Thirty-six couples from a dozen countries took part. The prize? Oksman’s weight in beer. Meanwhile, in Monona, Wisconsin, Jon Fenrick carried his wife, Angie, 850 feet through an obstacle Read more →
It was fairly frightening watching Serena Williams trying to play tennis today. The five-time Wimbledon champ pulled out of a doubles match today, which came after a lengthy courtside visit with a doctor. Were it not for the seriousness of the situation, the cheekiness of the Brit broadcasters would be positively entertaining. Wimbledon doctors are Read more →
The sports arena “arms race” in the Twin Cities took a step forward today when the Minnesota Wild and Xcel Energy Center announced a “technology upgrade” that includes a new video scoreboard that will be six times larger than the one that’s there now. It was installed in 2000. The Wild press release indicates the Read more →
After the Netherlands eliminated Mexico, 2-to-1, in today’s World Cup soccer match, KLM Dutch Airlines, which apparently doesn’t need any business from Mexico, issued this tweet. ‘ The tweet was “racially insensitive,” according to Mashable and it has since been taken down. But not before stirring up Twitter. @KLM I use to fly your airline Read more →
By now you’ve probably seen the pictures of professional kayaker Hunt Jennings’ plunge over Minnehaha Falls on Thursday. What did it look like from his point of view? This. He writes: After seeing a picture of this waterfall for the first time, I was instantly intrigued. At the end of a long, but awesome Colorado Read more →
These are tough times for the self-esteem of Minnesota Timberwolves fans. Kevin Love can’t get himself out of town fast enough and he probably won’t even pause long enough to say “see ya,” when he’s finally traded. It would be refreshing if whomever is coming here would be excited as all getout to play in Read more →
A Seattle newspaper is banning the use of the name Washington Redskins in an acknowledgement that it’s a racist expression.
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That questionable study we mentioned last week that suggested that there are more head injuries in cities — including Minneapolis — where there are bicycle ride-sharing programs is looking even more questionable. The researchers’ theory was that people don’t wear helmets for most rideshare rides and that accounts for the increase in head injuries. As Read more →