From the Catbird Seat

Ron Tondryk has a reputation as a teacher of the game of softball. Now, he's getting the chance to teach at a higher level. Tondryk is the new head softball coach at Cloquet, stepping up from his assistant's role over the last three years for Steph Sklors to take the helm himself. It's...

It's never easy to part ways with a longtime friend. The recent decision by Cloquet athletic director Tom Lenarz to change girls hockey coaches means that for the first time since the Bill Kennedy days, Dick Bartholdi will no longer be involved with a Cloquet hockey program. "Bart,"...

Well, at least it was good for the game.... Sunday's gold medal hockey game was great theater, another excellent hockey game between the United States and Canada and a fine advertisement for hockey the way it ought to be played. Unfortunately, the wrong team won. I say that without...

Viking fans were expecting to see improvement from their new quarterback on Monday night in Houston. I think they saw some, but if anyone is ready to proclaim mid-season form for Brett Favre, they've got another guess coming. You can't judge his first drive, simply because Adrian...

While we wait for the Brett Favre saga to (hopefully) play itself out over the coming week, it's time to sneak in one or two more thoughts about the Twins before the Vikings dominate the conversation over the next few weeks. A distressing article appeared in Monday's Minneapolis...

While we wait for the Brett Favre saga to (hopefully) play itself out over the coming week, it's time to sneak in one or two more thoughts about the Twins before the Vikings dominate the conversation over the next few weeks. A distressing article appeared in Monday's Minneapolis...

For 71 holes, the sports world watched in awe. On the 72nd hole, the awe turned into something quite different. After the 72nd hole, it changed again. I'm sure Stewart Cink is a very nice man. Yet I can't imagine there were too many people other than his family and friends who...

It's a sport that isn't commonly thought of as a high school activity. However, if George Pappas has his way, opinions about the sport of trapshooting might soon change. Pappas, who lives in Island Lake and is a member of the Proctor Gun Club, is working on putting together a team...

There are two questions being asked after last week's NBA draft by fans of the Minnesota Timberwolves and I find both equally interesting. First, will 18-year-old Spanish sensation Ricky Rubio ever play for the team? Second, does anyone have any idea what David Kahn was thinking...

With the onset of summer, it's time to take a dip into this week's Catbird Seat Grab Bag. The Brett Favre story is like a bad check. It never seems to go away. The revelation that he has indeed undergone surgery on his ailing throwing arm hit the Twin Cities papers over the weekend...

Percy Harvin seems to already be having an impact on the Minnesota Vikings - but more importantly, he seems to be having an impact on their imagination. Reports from Eden Prairie this week indicated that the first-round draft choice was taking turns in a 'Wildcat' formation, and...

Two teams with quite different reputations made the same job hire last week. The Wild and Timberwolves have new men in overall charge of their operations. The Wild are a franchise that has frankly underachieved in recent seasons. The reasons for that are as varied as opinions of...

Last weekend showed some of the frustrations of being a Twins fan. The organization that is, at least in theory, the model for major league baseball showed why the team built for moderate success is achieving its goal. The lost weekend in New York against the Yankees is nothing...

Weren't we here last year, discussing this same topic? As he is wont to do, the person of one Brett Favre is dominating the sports headlines around the Upper Midwest, with the age-old question (if you'll pardon the expression); will he, won't he, and if he does, where will he play? Opinion...