Recent content from Patrick Reusse
From Augsburg to Lakers: Teammate George said Bryant toughened him
Devean George beat outrageous odds to be drafted out of Division III Augsburg — by way of Benilde-St. Margaret's High — by the Lakers with the 23rd selection in 1999 draft.
Reusse: Rock Ridge comes to Minnesota 46 years after 'Blazing Saddles'
Minnesota soon will have the Rock Ridge Wolverines, a consolidation of Virginia and Eveleth-Gilbert, making any Mel Brooks fan proud.
Reusse: National search searches? St. John's just recruits across the hall
The Johnnies, under coach Pat McKenzie since 2015, are 16-1 and ranked No. 2 nationally in Division III men's basketball.
Reusse: U greats Willie Burton, Clem Haskins unified for all time
On Sunday, Willie Burton's No. 34 jersey will be retired at Williams Arena, a tribute being embraced in incredible fashion by his teammates, coaches and others at the U.
Reusse: Ervan? Ivan? Pampero? 'It is I, it is me'
The late Juan Kachmanian first came to the Twin Cities professional wrestling market in 1958 as Ivan the Terrible - and soon returned under different monikers.
Reusse: Finally given chance to lead, Brian Dutcher rides the wave at San Diego State
Brian Dutcher had to wait until age 57 to become a head coach, but he is running with the opportunity. San Diego State, 18-0 overall and 7-0 in the Mountain West, is the last remaining undefeated team.
Reusse: Twins pass Red Sox in appeal with Donaldson's addition, Cora's subtraction
The hot spring training story this season in Fort Myers will be for Twins' exhibitions, not Red Sox games.
Reusse: What's up at Twins spring training? This woman knows it all
Patty Creem has been with the Twins since they moved spring training to Fort Myers in 1991. Her business card reads: Spring Training Box Office Supervisor. "IDK; ask Patty'' might be a better title.
Reusse: The most interesting man in sports? That's LSU's 'Coach O'
Owing to his demeanor and to his team's success, LSU head coach Ed Orgeron has become a gigantic presence as he leads his team in Monday's College Football Playoff title game.
Vikings a clear No. 1 in Minnesota sports, except when ...
The pecking order in Minnesota sports: (1) Minnesota, (2) Everybody else, except for special runs like what the Gophers football team pulled off vs. Auburn.
Reusse: For Vikings' most stunning calamity, go back to 1970
There's not much question that NBC's pregame coverage of Saturday's playoff game will include a highlight or two from the most disappointing loss in Vikings history.
Reusse: Winter Classic comes to Target Field as TV viewership is down
The Winter Classic reached its lowest-ever television exposure Wednesday, when Nashville and Dallas in the Cotton Bowl stadium drew an average audience of 1.97 million viewers (including streaming).
Reusse: Gophers' Johnson among city's most important athletes ever
Tyler Johnson, the standout Gophers receiver who was a prep basketball and football star at Minneapolis North, will be honored Saturday at the high school he helped save.
Reusse: Win at New Orleans and San Francisco in January? Vikings have done it before
Anthony Carter's remarkable two-game playoff run got the Vikings to the NFC Championship Game 32 years ago.
.jpg?h=120&w=180&fit=crop&bg=999&crop=faces)
Reusse: Little to love in awful, three-point-heavy NBA game of today
Basketball's version of the home run has transformed the game into an unwatchable mess.
Reusse: Dynamic connections run deep for Gophers' Winfield Jr.
The father of the All-America safety was a Jim Thorpe Award winner, as was the father's Gophers rival Tyrone Carter.
Reusse: Ten years later, Erin Thomson ready for her next big move
A decade after a swimming pool accident made her a quadriplegic, Thomson has graduated from college and is seeking her next challenge.
Reusse: Housley owes much to Woog
Phil Housley went straight from high school to the NHL - all thanks to Doug Woog.
Reusse: After one historic playoff victory in high school, Lewis Kidd tries for another in college
The Totino-Grace product and his Montana State teammates have a tough task in visiting North Dakota State in the FCS semifinals.
Reusse: In style and substance, McCutcheon like Wild's Lemaire
Gophers coach Hugh McCutcheon spends 95% of his time with his long frame perched on a courtside chair, absorbing every action during the frenzy of a match.
Former Gophers hockey coach Doug Woog dead at 75
"The Wooger" coached the team to six Frozen Fours and was "the blue-collar friend to all hockey people."
Reusse: Butler providing Heat spark Thibodeau expected with Wolves
Miami has been cruising this season with its new leader, a season after finishing below .500.
Reusse: Gophers score their best regular-season victory under Pitino
It was hard to fathom this was the same team that was a noncompetitive 20-point loser to Iowa in the Big Ten opener. But the Gophers kept Ohio State off balance from start to finish.
Reusse: McCarville-Whalen teams paved greater appreciation of women athletes
Janel McCarville and Lindsay Whalen led the magical run to the 2004 Final Four, and the boisterous crowds that team attracted have found another compelling draw in this season's Final Four volleyball team.
Reusse: Battle for Stearns County football supremacy shows St. John's the victor
The Johnnies remain a college football force while St. Cloud State has decided to pack up the program.
Reusse: Hall of Fame class driven differently to same successful end
There was a quality beyond the norm to be found in all of this year's six people who were inducted in the Minnesota Sports Hall of Fame on Wednesday night.
Mankato linebacker finalist for college football's 'Academic Heisman'
MSU-Mankato linebacker Alex Goettl has a 3.93 grade-point average, and scored on an interception after figuring out an opponent's trick play during Saturday's Division II quarterfinals.
Reusse: Hopkins guard Bueckers shows she's the real deal
Much like the Miller twins, Coco and Kelly, from Rochester Mayo two decades ago, Hopkins' Paige Bueckers is on another level.
Reusse: One big thing still missing in Mankato's hockey turnaround
Minnesota State Mankato carries the No. 1 ranking in both men's college hockey polls but still has yet to win an NCAA tournament game. The Mavericks are 0-6 all time.
Reusse: MSU Mankato quarterbacks share the job — and team's success
You've heard it a lot: "If you have two quarterbacks, you don't have one." Minnesota State thinks it has proof otherwise, as well as one of the nation's best Division II teams.
Reusse: Ford joined life in fast lane in 1960s
The Shelby Ford started a rivalry with General Motors' Corvette in Sports Car Club of America racing in the United States, featured in the current movie "Ford vs. Ferrari," and also in "24 Hour War," from 2016.
Reusse: Roseville not surprised by Horsted's play with Bears
Jesper Horsted made an over-his-helmet, 18-yard touchdown reception Thursday.
Reusse: Caledonia's 67-game streak features a style more than hair
Traditions within Caledonia's football team run deep, from early mornings to tough practices to blond dye-jobs.
Patrick Reusse's 2019 Turkey of the Year
A tradition since 1978: Here is Patrick Reusse's Thanksgiving Day column.
Reusse: Enthusiastic fans? Determined skaters? Wild still has both
The sellout streak is over and the announced attendance of 17,574 was padded perhaps by a couple of thousand. But the alleged decline in interest in this team was not felt at the X.
Reusse: In era of chucking threes, pure NBA shooters hard to find
There's a growing number of NBA players who are firing away from three-point range based on the analytical arithmetic, not on outside shooting skill.
Reusse: All because Jim Beattie answered a boxing ad
Jim Beattie, who recently died at 77, was a 6-foot-9 heavyweight who had one of the most interesting stories you will find among Minnesota's home-state athletes.
Reusse: A ref, a coach and a columnist walk into an arena ...
Patrick Reusse kicked off the college basketball season with a 475-mile round trip through threatening weather with veteran Division I official Eric Curry. Here's how it went.
Reusse: LeClair took on a bear; the result is in dispute
In 1974, Jim LeClair, a young linebacker with the Bengals from St. Paul, was convinced to accept the challenge to take on a wrestling bear.
Reusse: Gophers football is latest target for 'Prove It' sect of fans
Do you need more evidence of Gophers and Vikings progress? Perhaps you're a member of the Prove-It-To-Me sect of Minnesota fans, who came into prominence during the Twins' season.
Reusse: St. Thomas football bids Northfield a 56-7 adieu
St. Olaf's major accomplishment was a touchdown at the end of the third quarter that ended a streak of being outscored 221-0 by the Tommies.
Reusse: The one that got away lives on in memories in Cambridge
The Minnesota prep football playoffs started in 1972. Conference champions were rated by a computer. And 45 years later, 60-year-old men from Cambridge still wonder about the process.
Reusse: Hutchinson football makes long-awaited return trip to state
Hutchinson and Marshall were both 8-0 in the regular season. Hutch was rated No. 1 in the final 4A ratings and Marshall at No. 8.
Reusse: Meet Gophers volleyball's newest leader: CC McGraw
Former Prior Lake star CC McGraw was 13 years old and competed with older players well enough to be offered a scholarship by the Gophers while she was still a ninth-grader.
Reusse: Delany's Rutgers/Big Ten idea was bad then and is worse now
Commissioner Jim Delany recruited Maryland and Rutgers to give the Big Ten an East Coast presence. Maryland brought a tolerable résumé. Rutgers seemed silly then and is a farce now.
Reusse: Faith in players, keen mind carried Wemeier to prep football greatness
George Wemeier, whose Minneapolis Washburn teams went unbeaten for 60 games in the late 1960s and early '70s, died this week.
Reusse: Wolves have new style and staff, but not the players to win
During the exhibition seasons, the Wolves showed themselves to be a collection of sub-mediocre shooters denting rims in Scottsdale, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Indianapolis and Milwaukee.
Reusse: MLB wants to downsize minors; is St. Paul a new option?
A report in Baseball America states MLB's aggressive proposal to the minor leagues calls for a reduction in affiliates from 160 to 120 and that St. Paul is one spot where MLB wants to place minor league affiliates.
Reusse: St. John's O-line paves the way to victory
What led to Saturday's second-half domination was the manner in which the Johnnies offensive line destroyed the Tommies' pass rush.
Reusse: Griffiths got to enjoy only one championship in nation's capital
The only World Series title for the franchise had come in 1924, beating John McGraw's New York Giants 4-3 in 12 innings in the seventh game at Washington's Griffith Stadium.
Reusse: Most upset about St. Thomas leaving MIAC? It's the Johnnies
Since the drama started last spring that resulted in St. Thomas being asked to leave the conference, St. John's fans are feeling more angst than their Tommies counterparts.
Reusse: Idea for Twins rotation: four starters, one 'pairing'
One factor making this strategy viable is the move to a 26-player roster in 2020. That makes it basically a given that teams will have 13 pitchers from Opening Day through Aug. 31.
Reusse: Good cheer was a process at the U
Gophers cheerleaders and dancers are letter-winning athletes with fully-staffed squads that perform at games and compete nationally. It was not always this way.
Reusse: Despite playoff sweep, Twins brought relevance to long summer
In the Age of the Internet, there are people who watch baseball as if they are watching football, where every blip is a crisis. That's not how the 2019 Twins should be judged.
Reusse: There is no Yankees jinx over Twins, just Yankees superiority
Even when the Twins proved plenty worthy by making the playoffs, the Yankees were simply a better ballclub.
Reusse: Even a playoff flop would reflect positively on Baldelli
Rocco Baldelli's qualities as a manager don't appear to be enough to stop this Yankees lineup. But they assisted greatly in winning 101 games.
Right at home: Encarnacion always enjoys hitting at Target Field
Yankees veteran slugger Edwin Encarnacion shares the lead for visiting home runs at the Twins ballpark.
Reusse: Game 2 starter Dobnak had big-league material well before joining Twins
A consistent release point has enabled rookie righthander Randy Dobnak to command his excellent sinker.
Reusse: Wild needs to win more, score more to bring back buzz
Add dull to another season of subpar results by the Wild and that will put an end to the passion of the team's fans, even in the State of Hockey.
Reusse: As Twins reach playoffs, it's time to remember feisty 2002 club
As Rocco Baldelli's improbable sluggers prepare for a best-of-five division series vs. the Yankees, the '02 Twins remain the franchise's last to win a postseason series.
Reusse: Pineda's absence fits in with Twins playoff lore
Michael Pineda throwing the starting pitching options into disarray with a 60-game suspension for use of a banned substance has continued a Twins postseason tradition.
Reusse: Did Twins' big surprise Arraez come out of nowhere? (No, Iowa)
It's hard to overstate what rookie Luis Arraez has meant to the Twins' lineup during this playoffs-bound season.
Reusse: Loons join Minnesota's phenomenal summer playoff parade
A phenomenal summer on the Twin Cities sports scene got brighter Wednesday night at Allianz Field when Minnesota United earned its first-ever MLS playoff berth.
Lefty Taylor Rogers takes up where others in Twins history left off
He is following in the same steps as other Twins lefthanded closers.
Reusse: They grow college hockey players on the prairie now?
The results — namely, Jaxon Nelson and Chaz Smedsrud — of hockey fever hitting far southwestern Minnesota two decades ago are now appearing on college rosters.
Reusse: Twins need Gibson at his best, but he's battling more than hitters
Kyle Gibson has yet to fully recover from E. coli he picked up last winter, which likely is tied to the colitis he was diagnosed with after the All-Star break.
Reusse: Was Curly Lambeau a 'miserable' coach?
A least one former Packers player from the 1940s was no fan of the legendary coach.
Reusse: What if the Vikings, not Raiders, went to the AFL?
Sixty years ago, Minneapolis-St. Paul was among six franchises announced for the AFL before ultimately backing out and waiting out an invite to the NFL in 1961. But what if?
Reusse: Celebrating a full year of free-swinging 'La Tortuga'
Willians Astudillo lives to swing the bat. He will play most anywhere on a diamond, anywhere that he's wanted, to get his hacks. Last September, he became a folk hero in Minnesota.
Reusse: Twins catchers keep contributing, and give Baldelli credit
The catcher position has never been handled better than it has been by Rocco Baldelli and his staff. Garver has looked fresh and strong, and so has Castro, coming off a season when he had knee surgery.
Reusse: Winning Super Bowl would ruin Vikings fans' sweet angst
Winning when your fans have relied on angst for so long is dangerous stuff.
Reusse: The relief route is quicker path to majors for Twins pitching prospects
Pitchers are groomed to be starters, but after the rotation is set, "you're either a reliever or in the minors."
Reusse: For seasons of improbable success, Twins compare to '09 Vikings
Aging players coming through in the clutch. Dynamic rookies. Emerging veterans. Injuries on defense. Does this sound familiar to you?
Reusse: Vikings needed help, and Kubiak was perfect for the job
Mike Zimmer and Rick Spielman needed to get real help for new offensive coordinator Kevin Stefanski. Enter Gary Kubiak into a situation where jobs are on the line.
Reusse: Jackrabbits bringing 'Big Ten commitment' to battle with Gophers
South Dakota State made the move to Division I and along with that came the kind of facilities, including a $65 million football stadium, that you'd expect to see at a bigger-name school.
