Karl Lindholm: Bill Lee saves me from Pete Rose

Writing about Pete Rose filled me with despair. Pete died last September at age 83. I was hoping interest in him might fade with the man. Alas, he’s back.

A common style of offense in basketball is the “motion” offense. Like much of life, it is defined by an oxymoron: constant change.

The big event in the U.S. sports world this week is the annual college draft of the National Football League. There is a genuine possibility that Thomas Perry, a Middlebury College senior, will be one of the 250 players selected to join the approximately … (read more)

Last week, Thursday, was Major League Baseball’s Opening Day, despite the fact that the Dodgers and Cubs had played two official games in Japan the week before.

I’m in church when the Amtrak train, the Ethan Allen Express, rumbles by on Sunday mornings. It used to be at 11:05, right near the end of the service during the last hymn or the closing words. The schedule has changed: now it goes by at 10:42, right in t … (read more)

In January, I got a call from my college friend Greg: “Hey Karl, want to see Cooper Flagg in person?” he asked. “Heck, yes,”  I said.

Here’s the setting: The cavernous Virtue Field House at Middlebury College, 10 a.m. on a quiet Sunday morning early in the fall, the football season. Some 40 to 50 young men, all dressed similarly, shorts and t-shirts with “Middlebury Football” lettering, … (read more)

October 1975: I was a young secondary school teacher in Cleveland at University School, teaching English and coaching baseball and basketball (yes, I’m that old).

When Middlebury College women’s volleyball team defeated Manhattanville College in the 2023 NCAA postseason tournament it gave Middlebury volleyball coach Sarah Raunecker 500 wins exactly for her career at Middlebury.

Some time ago, at a Reunion event at Middlebury College, I saw an older fellow sitting by himself. His badge said he was in the class of 1957. I had a question I wanted to pose to him. I introduced myself and asked, “Who was the most prominent athlete on … (read more)

The baseball, this magical orb, the actual baseball, Angell’s small miracle of design and utility, has not essentially changed in nearly a century.

I must begin this column with a correction, a mea culpa. In my last column, about golfer Keegan Bradley who was born in Woodstock and spent his early years there, I declared that he was the “most prominent and accomplishment sports figure from Vermont on … (read more)

Who is the most prominent and accomplished athlete or sports figure from Vermont on the national or international stage? I have my own candidate.

My second night at Middlebury in the fall of 1963, I was roused from my bed after midnight and dispatched with the other freshman men to serenade the senior women from the lawn in front of Forest Hall. That night, I stood behind the biggest person I had e … (read more)

If you are a basketball fan, you probably know the name “Cooper Flagg.” This past basketball season, he was the best high school player in the country.