Sports
Calkins: Even at Disney, Grizzlies are moving on up
When the NBA season resumes in Orlando, the Grizzlies will be staying at the Grand Floridian. Just another sign that the team is moving up in the league.
Geoff Calkins
Columnist
Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. He is host of "The Geoff Calkins Show" from 9-11 a.m. M-F on 92.9 FM. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.
There are 1013 articles by Geoff Calkins :
-
June 2020
-
Premium
Sports -
Premium
Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Ryan Silverfield and Memphis football won’t stick to sports
The Memphis football team put together a massive march through campus Sunday morning. The fact that it felt almost routine — another football team marching for social justice — shows just how much the world has changed.
-
Calkins
Memphis GrizzliesHow Ja Morant came to ask Murray, Ky., to tear down a Confederate statue
Ja Morant wrote a letter to the judge executive in Murray, Kentucky, asking that a Confederate statue be taken down. Here's the story of how that letter happened — and what might come next.
-
Premium
Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Fans at college football games? Not so fast, my friend
Dr. Jon McCullers, head of the task force to open the University of Tennessee, remains skeptical that there will be large fan gatherings at football games this fall.
-
Geoff Calkins Calkins: Want to run a 5K? Go to the beach? Expert says how — and when — you can resume activities
Dr. Jon McCullers thinks we'll have 5Ks before the year is out. He's OK with the beach (and the protests!) too.
-
Geoff Calkins Calkins: As Memphis prepares to play football this season (really!), the Liberty Bowl may be the perfect place
The Liberty Bowl has long been mocked as "too big" for modern times. But in this strangest of college football seasons, it may be the perfect place to spread out.
-
Premium
Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Here is Penny Hardaway’s real statement about racial inequity – and it’s not the one he released
It’s good that Penny Hardaway released a statement in support of the protesters. But he didn't have to. This is why.
-
Public Safety ‘Enough is enough': Penny Hardaway to meet with city officials in wake of George Floyd
Memphis coach Penny Hardaway releases statement on the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery.
-
Premium
Public SafetyCalkins: A turning-point of a week — but what happens next is what matters
Apologies are necessary. Especially now. But it's what happens after the apology that matters. A story of two Memphis ministers and one simple request.
-
Premium
Memphis GrizzliesCalkins: They’re not going to rook them! (The Grizzlies catch a break as the NBA returns)
The NBA is returning! And in a truly shocking development, the Memphis Grizzlies were not hosed by the back-to-basketball plan.
-
Geoff Calkins Calkins: With Miller gone, pressure increases on Hardaway
Penny Hardaway will have to hire a crack recruiter to replace Mike Miller. It's another in a long list of challenges facing Hardaway as he heads into his third year as Memphis coach.
-
Public Safety Calkins: In a country roiled by violence, Memphis shows amazing grace
There's no right way to protest. But Tuesday in Memphis, several hundred protestors marched to Mason Temple and forged a moment of heartbreaking grace.
-
-
May 2020
-
Geoff Calkins Calkins: Y’all wrote a lot of emails about Lance Thomas and the national anthem — so I thought I should write back
A lot of readers were upset about the suggestion that Memphis Tigers forward Lance Thomas might not stand for the national anthem. So it's time to answer their mail.
-
Premium
Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Lance Thomas may choose to sit for the national anthem — and it’s not hard to understand why
Memphis forward Lance Thomas tweeted Wednesday that “I’m never pledging allegiance to the American Flag before any of my games or anywhere I’m at ever again." Thomas later took down the tweet, but his anger and disgust is understandable.
-
Geoff Calkins Calkins: Hey, Memphians, there’s good news on COVID-19 (so you’re allowed to embrace it)
The experts are "optimistic and hopeful" about the trajectory of COVID-19 in Memphis. So you can be, too.
-
Premium
Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Memphis football’s testing plan is out. Is it good enough?
When Memphis football players start returning to campus for voluntary workouts on June 6, they'll be tested for COVID-19. There are no plans for regular, asymptomatic testing after that. Is that ideal? Maybe not. But, as a country, it's what we do.
-
Premium
Geoff CalkinsCalkins: 78 youth baseball teams are playing in Memphis this weekend – let’s hope they are safe at home
Seventy-eight youth baseball teams are playing a tournament at GameDay in Cordova this weekend. It is scary beautiful.
-
Geoff Calkins Calkins: Memphis football will be ‘moving forward in the near future’
In the wake of Wednesday's NCAA vote to allow football and men's and women's basketball players to return to campus starting June 1, Memphis president David Rudd says the athletic department has a plan for football players to return "in the near future."
-
Premium
Geoff CalkinsCalkins: She went the wrong way down the grocery aisle (and there’s nothing to be done about it)
You see it all the time when you're out shopping — people breaking the new norms around COVID-19. So what's to be done about it? Nothing at all.
-
Spirit of Memphis Calkins: Gibson’s is open! And life has sprinkles again!
There was a line of people waiting when Gibson's Donuts re-opened at 5 a.m. Friday. They weren't just there for the donuts. They were there for the joy.
-
Premium
Spirit of MemphisCalkins: Pepper Rodgers believed in Memphis before it was fashionable
Pepper Rodgers died Thursday at the age of 88. He wasn't just a football coach. He was a civic salesman when Memphis needed it most.
-
Geoff Calkins Calkins: Johnathan Lawson gets an offer from Memphis — and at long last, a bitter feud may be at an end
Johnathan Lawson received a scholarship offer to play basketball at Memphis. So the long, twisted saga of the Lawson family at Memphis may have a happy end.
-
Memphis Tigers Basketball Calkins: Nearly eight years after committing to the school, Austin Nichols got his Memphis degree
He was supposed to be an NBA star. Now he's working at a steel factory. But when Austin Nichols got his diploma Saturday, it came with a feeling of accomplishment unlike any he has known before.
-
Calkins
Spirit of MemphisFor this Mother’s Day, letters (37 of them!) from my Mom
Before Zoom, there were letters. My Mom was the best letter-writer I've ever known.
-
Geoff Calkins Calkins: Hey, America! We’re Memphis, we’re open for business — and we’re not as crazy as you think
Yes, Memphis and Shelby County are trying to figure out how to do business in in the midst of a pandemic. That's not irrational. It's the only path there is.
-