Even the historically ugly world of partisan politics has worsened by taking on the characteristics of sports fanaticism, with the electorate declaring loyalty to their preferred teams and news commentators, aping all the worst tics of sports talk radio. At what point does this all stop being fun? Continue reading…
Print Column: Maybe Parents Shouldn’t Be Allowed at Sporting Events
MINOT, N.D. — What is it about sports which bring out the absolute worst in some parents? We’ve all seen the headlines, and sometimes the videos too. Parents brawling at a fourth-grade basketball game in Oklahoma. A half-dozen grown men punching each other at a game played by 7-year-olds in Ohio. A man firing a gun and chasing a…
Let’s Legalize Gambling but Also Let’s Not Get Too Cute With the Revenues From It
Earlier this year North Dakota lawmakers defeated two pieces of legislation which would have legalized sports gambling in the state. One would have legalized gambling on collegiate and professional sports; the other would have legalized wagering on the pros only. Neither bill passed. Yet other states are legalizing sports betting since the U.S. Supreme Court…
If We Really Wanted Equality We’d Make the Female Soccer Players Compete With the Men
“The U.S. women’s soccer team has more than earned equal pay,” the Washington Post says in an editorial today. I’ll admit to not knowing much about this team – I care very little for soccer, personally – but their argument is interesting. Here’s the crux of it: Sportswear giant Nike reported the U.S. women’s team…
Senators Introduce Bill to Stop Taxpayer Funding of Professional Sports Stadiums, but It Should Include College Sports Too
A bipartisan group of Senators are backing legislation to prohibit the use of public bonds to finance professional sports stadiums. “Professional sports teams generate billions of dollars in revenue,” Senator Cory Booker (D-New Jersey) said in a statement. “There’s no reason why we should give these multimillion-dollar businesses a federal tax break to build new…
At UND Sports Programs Lost Over $13.3 Million in 2016
With the controversy over cutting the women’s hockety team at the University of North Dakota making headlines I’ve had a lot of people asking me about the financial status of other sports teams both at UND and rival North Dakota State University. I put in requests for information to both schools, and while I don’t…
Are Websites Like FanDuel And Draft Kings Legal In North Dakota?
If you’ve watched a sporting event in the last year or so, or spent any significant amount of time online, you’ve probably seen advertising for fantasy sports websites like FanDuel or Draft Kings. They bill themselves as just another iteration of the fantastically popular sports games where participants draft fantasy teams of real players and…
Chris Brantner: How To Watch The Minnesota Vikings Without Cable
North Dakota is a great state to live in, but it lacks one important thing: an NFL team of its own! North Dakota is not alone in this struggle – more than half of US states don’t have their own NFL team. Most North Dakotans tend to root for the Minnesota Vikings, since they’re the…
If Only Our Government Got As Much Coverage As Football
Bison football has become such a big deal in North Dakota that the media is now running coverage about how much coverage the football team gets. It’s all very meta. Not that it ever takes much for the Fargo media to descend into an orgy of preening. Everything from the Fargo television show on FX…
James Kerian: Minnesota's Transgender Policy Harms Those It Is Intended To Help
Two weeks ago the board of the Minnesota State High School League voted to approve a new policy for “transgendered” students that would allow boys (who claim they are girls) to play on girls teams and to allow girls (who claim they are boys) to play on boys teams. [mks_pullquote align=”right” width=”300″ size=”24″ bg_color=”#000000″ txt_color=”#ffffff”]It…
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