Welcome to another pandemic version of the Sports Feever column. We are in the third week of sports being shut down because of the exotic markets in a country I can’t name without being called racist.
The pandemic news that came out over the past week has COVID-19 peaking in Mid-May to June. If that is true, guess what that means for spring high school sports? Yep, that means we are about 99 percent certain there won’t be spring sports, playoffs, or anything. The possibility of not having college football or the NFL has been thrown around by “experts.” We will see what happens, but the one thing we know….we don’t know when this will be over.
There will be no proms, there won’t be any graduations and no sports. The one thing that sports do for people is a getaway for a couple of hours each day from any worries, problems, or whatever is bothering us each day.
While I feel bad for the kids, I feel terrible for the people that aren’t working because of this and trying to figure out how they are going to pay the mortgage, pay for food, etc while they try to get unemployment insurance or look for a temporary job. I feel sorry for those people way more than the kids who have their entire life ahead of them and probably living through what might be the toughest experience they will go through (hopefully). Most of these kids are lucky and the kids have adjusted to the new norm….remember, kids are more care-free than we give them credit for. They adjust and adapt quicker than adults!
I have been very fortunate at KROX to keep all my employees working their normal hours and we have been able to offer everything as usual. My wife was forced to shut down her work as a hairstylist. She has been without work for two weeks with no unemployment or anything. Luckily we have some money saved up and we should be fine as long as this doesn’t go longer than a couple of months. The hardest part of this shutdown has been No Minnesota Twins baseball. That is the toughest part of this for yours truly.
I hope you and your family is safe and healthy and we get this over with as soon as possible.
I was thinking we would have Frank do some top 10 lists for the next few weeks. We will see if I can get the email through his protective bubble!
If you have any ideas for topics in the Feever column, let me know! Or if you can think of a top 10 list let me know!
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We are running the 1987 World Series games this week on KROX. Next week we will have the 1991 World Series. Then the week of April 13 we will play some Crookston Pirate Section and State championship games.
April 13 – Crookston Pirate Baseball wins the State Baseball Championship
April 14 – Crookston Pirate Football beat EGF in the Section 8AAA Championship 2003
April 15 – Crookston Pirate Girls Basketball beat Barnesville in the Section 8AA Championship 2006
We are looking for other games that we don’t have at the KROX studios.
We would love to have the 1980 State Football Championship game if anybody has a recording of that anywhere. We would also love to have the Section 8A Girls Hockey Championship from 2007. And the Section 8AA Boys Basketball championship game Crookston vs Pelican Rapids from 2007.
If you have recordings of any of the games listed above or any other section championship games (like Pirate Boys hockey vs Warroad when Warroad scored two late goals to win) or any other memorable games let me know at chrisjfee@yahoo.com.
Thanks and stay tuned for the classic Pirate games!
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There will be no Major League Baseball in April for the first time since 1883!!!
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The American Hockey Coaches Association has narrowed down its Coach of the Year candidates to nine coaches. Some of the coaches of interest are listed below –
Brady Berry (UND)
Mike Hastings (Minnesota State Mankato – won in 2015)
Bob Motzko (Minnesota)
Scott Sandelin (Minnesota Duluth – won in 2004)
Tom Serratore (Bemidji State)
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Mackenzie Roller from Warren-Alvarado-Oslo has signed a letter of intent to play basketball next season for the Northland Technical and Community College Pioneers. She averaged 14.7 ppg, made 57 3-point shots while shooting 46% from the 3 point line. She was recently named to the Northern Galaxy All Conference team.
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JOKES
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A 90-year-old man goes for a physical and all of his tests come back normal.
The doctor says, “Larry, everything looks great. How are you doing mentally and emotionally? Are you at peace with God?”
Larry replies, “God and I are tight. He knows I have poor eyesight, so He’s fixed it so when I get up in the middle of the night to go to the bathroom, poof! The light goes on. When I’m done, poof! The light goes off.”
“Wow, that’s incredible,” the doctor says.
A little later in the day, the doctor calls Larry’s wife.
“Bonnie,” he says, “Larry is doing fine! But I had to call you because I’m in awe of his relationship with God. Is it true that he gets up during the night, and poof, the light goes on in the bathroom, and when he’s done, poof, the light goes off?”
“Oh sweet Jesus”, exclaims Bonnie. “He’s peeing in the refrigerator again!”
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How are former Crookston Pirates athletes doing in college or elsewhere?
****LET ME KNOW OF OTHERS TO ADD TO THE LIST email me at chrisjfee@yahoo.com
Paul Bittner is playing for the Cleveland Monsters, the AHL affiliate of the Columbus Bluejacket.
Brady Heppner, is playing hockey for the Roanoke Raildogs in the SPHL.
Aleece Durbin, is a Sophomore on the University of North Dakota Women’s Track and Field team.
Brita Fagerlund, is a Junior on the University of Jamestown Jimmy Women’s Track team.
Ben Trostad is a sophomore member of the University of Minnesota Crookston golf team.
Isaac Westlake, is a Senior on the Winona State Warrior Men’s Golf team.
Elise Tangquist, is a Junior golfer for the University of Northwestern in St. Paul.
Mason LaPlante, a freshman, is playing soccer at the University of Jamestown.
Rachel Hefta, a freshman, is playing volleyball at Hastings College in Nebraska.
Cade Salentine is a redshirt Freshman playing football at the University of North Dakota.
Nick Garmen, is a freshman playing basketball and tennis at the University of Minnesota Morris.
Thea Oman, a freshman, is swimming at St. Ben’s.
Crookston School District Coaches –
Jeremy Lubinski is a Pirate 8th Grade Football coach.
Amy Boll is the head Pirate Girls Track head coach and assistant volleyball coach
Sarah Reese is the Pirate Head Girls Soccer coach
Cody Brekken is the Head Pirate Girls and Boys Tennis coach and Crookston Community Pool Supervisor
Marley Melbye is the Head Girls Swimming coach
Mitch Bakken is the head Pirate Baseball coach.
Brock Hanson is the Pirate Baseball volunteer assistant coach.
Jeff Perreault is the Pirate Girls Golf head coach
Wes Hanson is the Pirate Wrestling Head Coach and assistant boys golf coach
Kevin Weber is a Pirate Boys Basketball volunteer assistant coach
Connor Morgan is the Pirate Boys Hockey assistant coach
Sam Melbye is the Pirate Boys J.V. Hockey coach
Chris Dufault is a youth wrestling Coach
Blake Fee is an assistant wrestling coach
Colton Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach
Non-Crookston High School coaching –
Cody Weiland is an assistant wrestling coach at Proctor/Hermantown
Kaylee Desrosier is a softball coach for Fargo Davies Middle School.
Justin Johnson is an assistant softball coach at the University of Minnesota Crookston.
Josh Edlund is an assistant football coach and phy ed teacher at Flandreau, South Dakota.
Allison Lindsey Axness is Assistant Varsity Volleyball Coach in Champlin Park
Jeff Olson is Head Wrestling coach and Head Baseball coach at Delano.
Jake Olson is an Assistant Football Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Delano.
Carmen (Kreibich) Johnson, is Head Volleyball coach at Little Falls High School.
Katy Westrom, is Head Girls Tennis Coach and Head Boys Tennis coach at Monticello High School.
Matt Harris, is a Director of Athletics at the British International School of Houston.
Marty Bratrud is the Superintendent and High School Principal at Westhope High School.
Gordie Haug is an assistant football coach at the University of Wyoming
Mike Hastings is the Minnesota State Mankato Men’s head Hockey coach
Mike Biermaier is the Athletic Director at Thief River Falls High School
Stephanie (Lindsay) Perreault works with the North Dakota State stats crew for Bison football and volleyball and basketball in the winter. Stephanie’s husband, Ryan, is the assistant director for the Bison media relations
Jason Bushie is the hockey athletic trainer at Colorado College
Chris Myrold is a Tennis Pro on Nevis Island in the West Indies
Kyle Buchmeier is a Tennis Pro at the Reed-Sweatt Family Tennis Center in Minneapolis
Jarrett Butenhoff is serving our country with the U.S. Navy
Joshua Butenhoff is serving our country on a Submarine with the Pacific Fleet with the US Navy.
Peter Cournia is a 2002 Crookston High School Graduate and also a grad of West Point and is currently is serving in the U.S. Army.
Erik Ellingson is serving our country with the U.S. Air Force at Minot.
Philip Kujawa class of 2004 from Crookston High School. He is an Army recruiter in Rochester.
Scott Riopelle is head of Crookston Parks and Recreation
Rob Sobolik is the General Manager of the Fargodome
That’s it for this week. Thanks for the comments and if you have anything to add or share, please e-mail chrisjfee@yahoo.com or call. Thanks for reading and listening to KROX RADIO and kroxam.com
