Retire Already Virgil

In his prime, attending a Virgil Hill boxing match in Bismarck was a treat. Not only because he was taking part in one of America's top sports at the time, but because he was Light-Middleweight Champion of the World. At that time, Boxing was the centerpiece of any Olympic primetime schedule in the United States as well as a major series on cable networks such as ESPN and USA Network.

Virgil Hill was, pound-per-pound, one of the best fighters in the world. Not because he made sure he had a homefield advantage for the majority of his fights, but because he would almost always knock somebody out in the first or second round of a fight.

As for the older, and shriveled up Virgil, it is clear that he should hang up his gloves. It is hard to talk about his financial situation, but Virgil's health is more important than his career at this point. Even if he has little education, he could be making money off a book deal and maybe opening up his own boxing school and training the next generation of North Dakota boxers. If that happened, Prairie Knights and Four Bears wouldn't have to spend as much money trying to lure music acts to North Dakota.

Virgil's most recent match was against a German named Henry Maske who he beat 10 & 1/2 years ago in a split decision, and forced into retirement. The decision this time around was a unanimous decision in which the scorecard most in favor of him belonged to the media. Granted Maske was getting up there in age at 43 years old, but their first bout was a 12 round affair that aired on a Tuesday night on USA Network. This past Saturday's bout wasn't hyped locally except for a few reports in the paper.

Despite his attempts at a comeback, Virgil has mostly failed but his appreciation night at the Bismarck Civic Center, during a Wizards game, will be a night to remember. The sad thing though is that Virgil may not be around for any of it if he dies while trying to stage a comeback.

Mandan and the Drive for Five

Mandan won its fifth straight girls basketball title tonight with a 58-51 win over Devils Lake. I am not going to bore you with the details of the game, but lets put it into perspective. First, winning state titles in girls basketball isn't anything that new for Mandan. The Braves won their first title in 1995 after falling short the previous four years.

What followed the next 13 years is that Mandan was in the title game for 12 of them losing out only in 1998 and holding an astounding 8-4 record in state championship games in that time span. Making that kind of record and holding it is hard, but it is easier to make it to state in North Dakota Class A Basketball than to make it in North Dakota Class B or any college or pro sport.

The requirements for making it to State in Class A Basketball are that teams must win two regional tournament games before losing two of them. There are only 18 Class A teams compared to over 100 Class B teams, and only eight spots per state tournament. In the meantime, Class B basketball regardless of sex must qualify for one of eight single elimination style regional tournaments through 16 District tournaments. As a result, only three different North Dakota Class A basketball teams, regardless of sex, have been able to stage a three-peat. The last boys team to do so was Bismarck High from 1957-1959 while Williston was the only girls team to do so before Mandan achieved the feat in 2005. No Class B team regardless of sex has been able to achieve a three-peat though the Bottineau Braves Girls Basketball team has a chance to do so next year.

Since it is almost a lost cause to compare the Mandan Girls dynasty to just North Dakota sports, we must do it on a national level in College and Pro Basketball. In the college game to the run that UCLA had under John Wooden in winning 10 titles in 13 years, 10 consecutive Final Fours from 1967-1976, a 38 game NCAA Tournament winning streak 1964-1974) (though UCLA didn't make the 1966 big dance), and a 88 game regular season winning streak from 1971-1974. On the Women's side, both Geno Auriemma (U-Conn) and Pat Summitt (Tennessee) would be amazed at what Greg Amundson has done at Mandan, and with less resources than what they had. And that does include John Wooden and his UCLA teams too.

With that, only one more team remains in Mandan's way and that is the Boston Celtics who won eight NBA titles from 1959-1966 under Red Auerbach and 11 titles in 13 seasons. While Mandan may have 5 straight titles, the Celtics streak is the longest in sports history and is the top of rarefied territory in which dynasties and all other teams aspire to pass.

Congratulations to the Mandan Girls on their fifth straight championship and good luck next season.