The Knuckleball
While a pitcher normally grips the baseball with their fingertips when throwing, knuckleballers resort to gripping the ball with this part of the finger instead.
Fingernail
The Biletnikoff Award is given annually to the best collegiate pass catcher in the nation. This player made history when he became the first-ever tight end to be named a finalist for the award in 2020.
Kyle Pitts
Whoa! The Cleveland Cavaliers shocked the world when they selected UNLV’s Anthony Bennett with the first overall pick in this year’s edition of the NBA Draft.
2013
The Force, a North Dakota-based member of the United States Hockey League, was founded in 2008 in this city.
Fargo
Christian Pulisic made history as the first American male to ever win the Champions League when his club topped Manchester City in the 2021 final 1-0.
Chelsea
2012 may have been a forgettable year for the New York Mets, but they did get a fantastic season out of this starting pitcher, who would go on to win the NL Cy Young Award.
R.A. Dickey
Known by many as “Tight End University”, this school made history in the 2019 NFL Draft when it featured two tight ends taken in the first round, the first time in league history.
Iowa
This NBA team fumbled the bag not once, but twice, passing up on Kevin Durant with the first overall pick of the 2007 NBA Draft and Michael Jordan with the second overall pick of the 1984 NBA Draft.
Portland Trailblazers
Located in Grand Forks, this university is seen as one of the premier collegiate hockey programs in the nation, with 8 national championships under its belt.
University of North Dakota
With 135 goals and counting to his name, this Manchester United winger/striker is the all time leading goal scorer in the history of the Champions League.
Cristiano Ronaldo
Pitchers with high spin rates are en vogue in today’s game of baseball, making the art of the knuckleball a dying one. There are this many active knuckleballers in Major League Baseball today.
1
Rob Gronkowski broke out in a big way for the Patriots in 2011 when he set the single-season record for most touchdowns by a tight end with this many.
17
The Minnesota Timberwolves were searching for a high-scoring point guard when they were on the clock with the 6th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft. Good news: Steph Curry of Davidson was still on the board. Bad news: they selected this Syracuse point guard instead.
Johnny Flynn
This NHL teams stadium is located 221 miles away from my childhood home, making it the closest professional sports franchise to the city of Fargo.
Winnipeg Jets
Barcelona winger Ansu Fati made history in 2018 when he became the youngest player to score a goal in the history of the Champions League, finding the back of the net against Inter Milan at this tender-young age.
17
Knuckleballer Tim Wakefield was drafted in 1988 by the Pittsburgh Pirates and began his career not as a pitcher, but at this position instead.
Antonio Gates is one of the greatest and most influential tight ends of all time. Prior to a Hall of Fame-worthy career with the Chargers, Gates was a power forward for this Mid-American Conference school.
Kent State
Darko Milicic may go down as one of the worst NBA draft busts of all time. He did however earn one of the best nicknames in sports, receiving this moniker thanks to only appearing on the court during blowout games.
The Human Victory Cigar
Former University of North Dakota hockey coach Dave Hakstol has been a coach in the NHL since 2014, making his debut as the head coach for this team in the 2021-2022 season.
Seattle Kraken
This country is the 7th most populous in all of Europe, and is the largest country to never have a club from one of it’s leagues win the Champions League.
Ukraine
Forget about Spider Tack. In 1987, knuckleballer Joe Niekro was ejected and suspended 10 games after being caught using this item to scuff the baseball and enhance movement on his pitches.
Naile file
The NFL Combine record for the fastest 40 yard dash by a player weighing more than 250 pounds was set by this Big 10 tight end, when he ran a blistering 4.38 in 2006.
Vernon Davis
Drafted 16th overall by Houston in 2012, this power forward would play a grand total of 8:55 his entire career, none of them with the Rockets.
Royce White
This NHL team selected Tyler Kleven, current University of North Dakota defenseman and former attendee of my high school, with the 44th overall pick in the 2019 NHL Draft.
Ottawa Senators
This former Real Madrid player made history on the touchline as well, when he became the first manager to win 3 consecutive Champions Leagues, winning in 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Zinedine Zidane