Full Count with Fritz Neighbor
Read Fritz Neighbor’s Full Count sports columns offering seasoned analysis of Montana athletics, high school sports, and college rivalries. With decades of experience, Neighbor delivers sharp commentary, storytelling, and context on teams, athletes, and major sports moments across Northwest Montana.
Full Count: Masters class in making a big comeback
Maria Phelps discovered her talent in the 800 meters too late to excel at it in high school — she was already chu…
Full Count: Storybook finish for the Braves
Dan Hodge has been boys track coach at Flathead for eight of the Braves’ state championships, and Saturday was maybe the first where he began the cleanup portion of the meet before it was actually over.
Full Count: Troy softball -- Driven to new heights
The coach drives the bus, the third baseman throws lefthanded and the first baseman has only been hanging around the diamond for three seasons.
Full Count: A breakaway roper and her horse
When her horse, Monty, reared back in the breakaway roping box and pinned Anna Tretter to the back wall, the needle swung to “big mistake.”
Full Count: Things continue looking up for Phelps
Jack Phelps’ time through the 200 meters at the Iceberg Invitational on April 17 was 22.57 seconds, which tells you that the Columbia Falls sprinter can fly.
Full Count: I am here not to bury Donovan
On Nov. 25, 1985 a youngish reporter, in his Monday duties writing about Griz football for the Montana Kaimin student newspaper, traipsed into Larry Donovan’s office.
Full Count: Is there an O-lineman in the house
Dillon Botner felt he had a good reason to step away from football after a senior season in which he made three starts on the offensive line: Med school.
Full Count: 'Only Game in Town' turns 20
This coming Sunday at Bozeman’s Historic Ellen Theatre, at 1:30 p.m. in its upstairs ballroom, Wally Kurth and Montana PBS will present a viewing of Class C: The Only Game in Town.
Full Count: Vegas lights and press box fights
The passing of Norm Clarke, the eye patch-wearing Terry native who spent a lifetime in newspapers, has brought a flood of eulogies and remembrances from across the state and country.
Full Count: Missing out on magic of Divisionals
There are plenty of compelling reasons why there are no divisional basketball tournaments in Class AA. Dustyn Franchini-White, Avery Chouinard and I have our reasons why there should be.
Full Count: Fulfilling trip to Western B for Trojans
When Cody Orr was asked the last time the Troy boys basketball team made divisionals, he understandably hit a bit of a dead zone.
Column: Painting a pretty volleyball picture
Jaimie Nelson might seem like an unlikely pick to be Glacier High’s next volleyball coach, in that it’s her first varsity coaching job at the age of 48.
Column: Sherwood caught the bug early
Basketball fans in Kalispell should remember that George Sherwood was a centerpiece of the Flathead Braves team that made a surprising run at the 2012 State AA championship.
Column: A ranking and a giant from the past
When you see the Iowa State Cyclones are 9-1 and ranked No. 3 in the men’s college basketball poll, you might think this is the best they’ve been since “The Mayor” — Nebraska coach Fred Hoiberg — was putting up sho…
Column: Where QBs go - but not to stay
It was a spring evening a couple years ago when a longtime friend — we’d played fastpitch together, and like me he is maybe a little too fond of Red’s Bar — made an off-hand yet salient point.
Column: Senior season a test for Thompson
What was supposed to happen, coming off a scintillating 2023 season, was that Skyleigh Thompson would again be a force for the Montana Grizzlies soccer team her senior year this fall.