By CHRIS WALTERSKIRCHEN
From 1990 to 1995 KPAX sportscaster Andy Baskin was a familiar and popular face on Missoula TV. Baskin with his diverse interests brought different sports to his broadcasts. Baskin got a video from some middle schoolers asking him to coach their YMCA basketball team which he did but didn’t win a game. Baskin has been back in his native Cleveland since 1995 as the Sports Director at the main CBS affiliate. Baskin wore his love of the Indians on his sleeve so it was fitting in his final Missoula broadcast that he got to report the story that Cleveland had finally won a Divisional Title.
Heading into the month of May the batting leaders in both major leagues provide a contrast. Tori Hunter, recently acquired by the Detroit Tigers is nearly 38 years old, while Washington Nationals Phenomenon, Bryce Harper, will not turn 21 until October.
The Green Bay Packers missed a PR opportunity in last weekend’s NFL draft. The Pack twice passed on drafting troubled LSU Defensive back Tyrann Mathieu who was selected by the Arizona Cardinals. Why the Packers might have found promotional gain with Mathieu is that his nickname is “The Honey Badger.”
Twenty years ago this week the sports landscape was forever changed both locally, nationally and internationally. During a match in Germany, Women’s World No. 1 player Monica Seles was attacked and stabbed several times by a crazed fan of German superstar, Steffi Graf. The events ushered in the era of sports terrorism.
In North Carolina former NC State basketball coach Jim Valvano’s life and eventual death sparked a movement in sports to help find a cure for all forms of cancer. In Missoula, in a happier event, Brent Hathaway coached his first game with the AA Legion baseball Missoula Mavericks with a pair of wins over the Butte Minors. In the previous 20 seasons the Mavericks had had 11 different mangers since 1993.
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Chris Walterskirchen has been an observer of Montana sports for nearly half a century. A Kalispell native, Chris has worked in various capacities for professional and college sports organization of at various times: ranging from announcing and statistical work to the concessions and even a stint as a costumed mascot.
Chris has academic degrees in communications and elementary education. His style of sports trivia involves more than just who won and who lost, but also focuses on the obscure or human side of sports. In this blog you will learn things like the Grizzly football team has won 210 games over the 19 seasons since they have had Monte as their mascot or that UNLV is the only school that both the Griz and Lady Griz have both faced in the NCAA basketball tournament
When not following sports Chris enjoys taking care of animals of all kinds (a peacock rescue?) and reading to pre-schoolers.