Sports & Outdoors

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Masked Fan Speaks

The NFL regular season roared off to start with an eventful opening day. The Minnesota VIKINGS met up with longtime rival, the Green Bay Packers, in a game that had some of the usual game-week tension and excitement. Being a lifelong fan of the VIKES, I am keenly aware of some enhanced physical and mental changes in the lead-up to any game between these two. There is a little bit of stress, the pulse and metabolism likely go up in a measurable fashion, and you get this overall feeling that something really big is on the verge of happening.

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From the Outside

Bikes and Trails One of the best purchases I made during the Covid-19 pandemic was a gravel bike, the acquisition made much easier with the stimulus check I received from the federal government. I was lucky to find the bike, because in the wake of massive lay-offs, bike manufacturing slowed way down, and the existing supply was being rapidly depleted as folks bought bikes and pretty much every other type of recreational equipment to help fill their free time. For me, getting a bike re-connected me to an important part of my youth, satisfied some local wanderlust, and was an easy way to maintain some of the aerobic fitness that typically peaks for me at the end of the ski season.I think for the vast majority of kids from my generation a bicycle was a huge part of their lives—the small-scale parallel of the adult world, where the car or motorcycle was the key to mobility across the landscape and a symbol of personal freedom. For sure, my friends and I felt free to go where we pleased on our bikes, the radius traveled from home increasing as we aged. By the time we were on the cusp of getting our driver’s license, that radius was as far as fifteen miles, mostly to access local lakes and streams to fish—or to explore the rapidly vanishing pockets of somewhat wild land remaining in suburbia. I believe every kid today, no matter what, should own a bike or have easy access to one.Biking, like so many other sports or activities, has morphed and splintered into a wide variety of niches, and the new technologies and materials applied to bikes has made them lighter and more efficient to ride than ever. Think carbon fiber and titanium. And if you like to ride on a variety of terrains, you will need more than one bike. That road bike ain’t gonna be fun to ride on gravel, and that gravel bike might be outgunned on some single tracks–or on snow. Some(electric bikes or “ebikes”) even have battery- powered motors to assist the rider on uphills or anywhere else they mig

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Runoff Report

Editor’s note: We will soon return to the saga of the Great March for Community Newspapers. In the meantime... We had our annual visit from the ghost of Babe Ruth last weekend at the shack. He appeared out of nowhere at home plate in vast and historic Camp Shack Stadium, No. 3 in Yankee pinstripes, wistfully looking toward the outfield fence, facing a past that has receded from view like a passing comet. “The old days are gone,” he said shaking his head with a reminiscent smile. “I used to know every kid that changed the numbers in every scoreboard in the league. I can still see their faces peering out from those scoreboards, excited about the game. Now they sit there and play videogames in between pitches in a control room that looks like it came out of a Buck Rogers movie, too preoccupied to be excited about the game. I couldn’t use a cell phone if it came in a bottle of rye.” The Babe stops by every hunting season for a drink and a cigar and he really is a cheerful fellow, even in a deceased state. “Nothing wrong with being departed, inanimate, without physical substance, defunct. My knees don’t hurt and I haven’t had a hangover since 1948. Don’t rush to get here but it ain’t all bad.” He signs our shack log every year and we have an autographed picture of him on the wall that says: “To the boys at the shack, save a drink for me.” Here’s to you, Babe.

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North Shore Storm Does Itself Proud in Wisconsin

By Katya Gordon At another steamy meet at Pattison Golf Course south of Superior, Wisconsin, the North Shore Storm (with runners from Cook County, Silver Bay, and Two Harbors) had a very respectable showing against ten other teams from around the region including Duluth East and Superior High School. This was a new meet and a new course for the Storm, relatively “flat and easy” according to the runners. The weather was anything but easy however, as temperatures again hovered in the mid 80s. A breeze and haze kept the conditions from worsening, but water spraying and ice was handed out after the race and the danger of hyperthermia was distinctly present.

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Howie’s Sports Notebook

by Howie Hanson Two Harbors scored 21 unanswered fourth-quarter points enroute to a 28-6 home victory over Barnum in a nonconference high school football opener for both teams last Friday night. Agates running back Kyler Pitkanen rushed for 170 yards on 19 carries -- for an 8.9 yards per-attempt average -- to physically soften a 1A Bombers’ defense that wore down late in the second half. The Class 3A Agates scored two rushing touchdowns, threw for another and Trent Gomez returned an interception 90 yards for a highlight-reel score.

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Cross country teams beat the heat at first competition

Cross country season began this year on September 1 with a blisteringly hot meet, unusually so for its location at Pincushion Ski Hill near Grand Marais, Minn. With a hot westerly wind and temperatures in the mid-80s, the North Shore Storm team (combining Cook County, Silver Bay, and Two Harbors schools) hosted the meet which included major competitors Duluth East and Proctor. The runners competed admirably despite the heat, particularly the Junior High Girls and Boys Teams, both taking home team firsts.

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Masked Fan Speaks

It was a semi-good week for the USA Women's National Hockey Team at the IIHF World Championships. After a blistering performance in the prelims and in the quarter and semifinals, the Yanks appeared poised to grab another Gold Medal to bring back with them. But after losing to the USA club in a 5-2 tilt in the preliminaries, Team Canada had other ideas and came up with a hard-nosed defensive effort to beat the Americans in a 2-1 thriller on Sunday afternoon. It was a disappointment to say the least. The USA entrant had amassed a 4-0 record after beating Canada and built up a 52-5 scoring differential before the Gold Medal tilt. In the game for Gold, the USA managed only 2 SOG in the first and 9 in the second period before putting 12 on the net in the third. At least a third of them were perimeter shots that were unlikely to score without a tip in front or other offensive maneuvers. I counted only five shots that I'd consider Grade A scoring chances, and the team just never seemed to be overly aggressive in going after offense throughout this game. Both teams played well on defense, and USA netminder Nicole Hensley kept the Yanks right where they needed to be, but in the end, to no avail. The USA returns home with Silver. HILARY KNIGHT returned home with another award of sorts. While competing in the tourney, she became the all-time leading IIHF Women's scorer in World Championship tourneys. Against Team Canada in their prelim tilt, Knight surpassed Canada's Hayley Wickenheiser to become the new leader. Wickenheiser had a total of 86 points to lead the pack, and now Knight is at 51G & 36A for 87 points. (in 64 GP) As word filtered through the hockey world, speculation began to consider if Knight would be the greatest ever at the end of her playing days. If I think of at least three of the players in that debate, Wickenheiser, Cammi Granato, and Jayna Hefford, Knight has to be a part of that discussion. But has she done enough to move past Granato or Wickenheiser? That

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From the Outside

The Challenges of White Pine. The ancient white pines living along Baird Lake had been there a long time—no less than two centuries, and more likely closer to three.

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