358 articles by Don Wade :

• September 2018

  • Of bunts and bombs

    There is more than one way to win a championship ring. The Memphis Redbirds’ pursuit of a second consecutive Pacific Coast League title featured a game-winning hit from a pitcher, a walk-off suicide squeeze bunt and two home runs in the championship-clinching game from a player who earlier had been demoted to Double-A Springfield.

    By Don Wade September 17, 2018

  • Amateur sports the way it ought to be

    The college basketball player might have become a college coach. She had the aptitude for it. Not to mention the will.

    By Don Wade September 17, 2018

  • Sam Mitchell: Memphis Tigers assistant teaching lessons of life and basketball

    His right foot is in a big black boot, but Sam Mitchell is at his desk, at work inside the new gleaming University of Memphis basketball practice facility. It is deep into the summer before the first season of the Penny Hardaway Era, the restoration project already in go-mode with rising ticket sales, legitimate, local, Top-150 recruits on the first roster and the hope, if not the promise, of more elite players in the pipeline and on the way.

    By Don Wade September 18, 2018

  • Memphis Redbirds finish ‘magical’ season with resounding victory in Triple-A title game

    The Memphis Redbirds were leading the Durham Bulls 8-0 in the fifth inning of the Gildan Triple-A National Championship Game Tuesday night when NBC Sports Network took a moment to interview John Mozeliak, the St. Louis Cardinals president of baseball operations.

    By Don Wade September 19, 2018

  • Memphis Springboard

    Father and son were both still in uniform. Dad had just managed the Memphis Redbirds to their second straight Pacific Coast League championship. His uniform was damp with champagne.

    By Don Wade September 20, 2018

  • New AAF Entry Dubbed the Memphis Express

    They are no longer a football team without a name.

    By Don Wade September 20, 2018

  • Parsons declares himself of sound body and mind at midway point of his 4-year deal

    Chandler Parsons’ most recent trip out of the country was not to Cancun, Mexico. Remember that hot-take social media moment, Parsons and his crew sporting “Chancun” caps for their All-Star break vacation and Grizzlies fans losing their minds?

    By Don Wade September 24, 2018

  • Tulane treating Memphis game as start of new season

    When the University of Memphis plays at Tulane Friday night, the Tigers will face a team with a 1-3 record coming off a 49-6 drubbing by Ohio State. And that lone victory? Over Southland Conference member Nicholls.

    By Don Wade September 26, 2018

  • Rookie Earned Respect: Dillon Brooks Grew Up Fast

    The best moment of your rookie season and the worst? This is the question before the Grizzlies’ Dillon Brooks and he goes straight to his personal tire fire.

    By Don Wade September 27, 2018

  • Stubby Clapp to Toronto Rumors Escalate

    John Gibbons knew he would not be returning to Toronto as the Blue Jays manager and it didn’t take long for him to go to work on endorsing a successor.

    By Don Wade September 28, 2018

  • Preparations underway for WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational

    The first FedEx St. Jude Invitational, a World Golf Championships event, is still almost 10 months away. But at TPC Southwind near the tournament office, a backhoe stands on a hill ready to be put to work.

    By Don Wade September 30, 2018

• October 2018

  • Talking the Talk: The sports betting terms you need to understand if you’re getting in on the action

    Truck racing. Mixed martial arts. College lacrosse. Rodeo. College hockey. Bull riding. And pro bowling.

    By Don Wade October 01, 2018

  • Tunica sportsbooks open for wagers; football drives the action

    Behind the counter at the Horseshoe Casino’s sportsbook in Tunica, employees wearing black-and-white striped shirts are taking wagers. The ghost of disgraced NBA referee Tim Donaghy apparently is not even a memory, bad karma having been cast out on these winds of change.

    By Don Wade October 01, 2018

  • New season, same truth: Jeremiah Martin vital to Tigers

    The peak and the valley arrived on a Thursday night in late February at FedExForum.

    By Don Wade October 01, 2018

  • Firm foundation? With healthy Mike Conley, Grizzlies say yes

    On Oct. 19 at FedExForum, the Memphis Grizzlies will tip off a new season against the Atlanta Hawks. At that moment, with ball and anticipation in the air, last season’s 22-60 debacle officially moves off-stage.

    By Don Wade October 02, 2018

  • Hardaway wants an active, selfish Kyvon Davenport

    Forward Kyvon Davenport was never better than in the Memphis Tigers’ first-round 79-77 victory over USF in the American Athletic Conference Tournament last March. Career-high 29 points, nine rebounds, 10-for-13 from the floor, 4-for-7 from 3-point range.

    By Don Wade October 03, 2018

  • UConn brings nation’s worst defense to Memphis

    For most of the first half, Connecticut kept last weekend’s game with undefeated Cincinnati competitive. The Huskies trailed by a touchdown late in the first half and were driving. An apparent touchdown turned out to be merely a close call when the receiver was ruled to have touched the sideline.

    By Don Wade October 04, 2018

  • Any preseason a bonus for Grizzlies coach J.B. Bickerstaff

    When the Memphis Grizzlies open the regular season on Oct. 17 at Indiana, they will have played just five preseason games and the Pacers will have played only four.

    By Don Wade October 09, 2018

  • UCF Knights less than likable

    The UCF  Knights might have become America’s latest college football darlings (see State, Boise, and the Jan. 1, 2007 overtime victory against Oklahoma in the Fiesta Bowl.)

    By Don Wade October 10, 2018

  • Points Aplenty: UCF scoring in bunches at “warp speed”

    In 2017, UCF had the most prolific offense in the land – leading the nation with 48.2 points per game. After that undefeated season, head coach Scott Frost was off to Nebraska. Josh Heupel, who had been offensive coordinator for the high-flying Missouri attack the previous two seasons, replaced Frost.

    By Don Wade October 12, 2018

  • Henderson’s big day isn’t enough for Tigers to hold on against UCF

    By the end of the first quarter, Memphis running back Darrell Henderson had rushed 12 times for 115 yards and a touchdown. Whatever the team’s fate Saturday against No. 10 UCF, there was not going to be any chance that second-guessers could point to the nation’s leading rusher not getting the ball enough.

    By Don Wade October 13, 2018

  • Learning Curve: Like all rookies, Jaren Jackson Jr. has one

    Orlando Magic guard D.J. Augustin was cruising toward the basket for a right-handed layup. That’s when from the left corner 6-foot-11 Jaren Jackson Jr. flew to the other side of the rim and blocked Augustin’s shot.

    By Don Wade October 13, 2018

  • Stubby Clapp’s name continues to surface as major league teams fill vacancies

    Memphis Redbirds manager Stubby Clapp’s name emerged Tuesday afternoon as a possibility for major league positions with two organizations, including the parent St. Louis Cardinals.

    By Don Wade October 16, 2018

  • Redbirds’ favorite son, Stubby Clapp, on verge of return to majors

    Stubby Clapp and the boys were still in the Memphis Redbirds’ clubhouse, spraying champagne like a bunch of kids with squirt guns at summer camp. Clapp had just led the team to a second straight Pacific Coast League title amid massive roster turnover that had robbed him of his starting rotation and the heart of his lineup.

    By Don Wade October 16, 2018

  • University of Memphis and QB Brady White focus on finishing

    In the aftermath of the 31-30 loss to UCF last Saturday, Memphis quarterback Brady White went straight to the aggravating bottom line: “We should have won that game, no doubt.”

    By Don Wade October 17, 2018