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…
Column: Regrettable detail, remarkable season
The most recent press conference hall of fame moment, where Tampa Bay coach Todd Bowles was asked about playing in frigid Detroit on Sunday — “You do know we play indoors, right?” Bowles answered — has me thinking …
Column: A memorable Texas trip is quite possible
Before there was a trip to Frisco, Texas, there were three voyages to Chattanooga, Tenn.
Column: Brisendine kicks open door to D-1
A few years ago, after watching a 5-foot-4 Glacier freshman bury a game-clinching goal from 70 feet in playoff win over Billings Skyview, a local writer wondered if Reagan Brisendine might someday add her name to t…
Column: Musings of an aging sports editor
On March 10, 2010, I and former fellow Missoulian sports writer Nick Lockridge found ourselves at Tiny’s Tavern in Billings.
Riders thrown by the Ponies down stretch
With the way they played the first half, it should have been a lock that nobody besides Missoula would have a better overall record in the Pioneer League than the Glacier Range Riders.
A belated pro debut for Guzman
In 2009 the Daily Inter Lake ran an article on a local boxing gym that featured, among others, an 11-year-old fighter named Dillan Guzman.
Picking a QB — it’s so 2003
That the Montana Grizzlies haven’t decided on a quarterback might seem news to some, as the squad prepares to open their season against Butler at noon Saturday.
A title long coming; a little boost at end
You wonder how history might differ if Cary Finberg had been a teacher, which of course was the original plan.
Awaiting the return of Griz DOLA
The acronym used in the 2000s, when the Montana Grizzlies were blowing open lanes for the likes of Lex Hilliard and Chase Reynolds, was DOLA.
In first summer, Stumptown sets fast pace
It was during the State A track and field championships, Memorial Day weekend, that Josiah Osborne said the quiet part out loud.
A dog-legged route to Saints’ Hall of Fame
Jim Mee’s original plan was to play on the hardcourt alongside Andy Garland, and it’s fitting that both the Libby Logger, Mee, and Sentinel Spartan are headed into Carroll College’s Hall of Fame in September.
Rex, Pete and that elusive playing time
My iPhone, like many out there, is stock full of podcasts, and as I scrolled through the other day I found one I hadn’t finished.
Thousands of teammates, pupils and Ws
Gary Evans, the unheralded (and unpaid) pitching coach for the Glacier Wolfpack, figures he’s played alongside a thousand different fastpitch players.
Lions 9 has roared into first season
There are some understandable and ongoing concerns from American Legion coaches about the addition of baseball as a Montana High School Association-sanctioned sport this spring.
Flathead alum Osweiler seeks happy campers
Second-year Flathead football coach Caleb Aland figured it couldn’t hurt to reach out to Brock Osweiler, the former Braves quarterback who ventured onto an NFL…