It’s been a productive, if at times turbulent, 12-year run for DeMaurice Smith as executive director of the NFL Players Association. Smith’s term ends later this month, and he had already informed the union and league that he would step down after it ended. Smith had several notable triumphs. These included getting the minimum salary increased from $300,000 to a minimum. He teamed with the union to stop the owners from expanding the schedule without additional player compensation. But the one failure that Smith acknowledged last week still bothers him was the lack of progress the league has made in…
Author: Ron Wynn
Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Star Vanderbilt center fielder Enrique Bradfield Jr. was the first Commodore chosen in Sunday’s MLB draft. He was taken 17th by the Baltimore Orioles. Though he did not have the offensive year last season he anticipated, Bradfield still completed his Vanderbilt career with a .311 batting average and .426 on base percentage. A leadoff hitter all three seasons, he never hit a lot of home runs, his best power year being eight in 2022. He had six this past season. Defensively Bradfield was arguably the nation’s finest. He won two Rawlings Gold Glove awards, the…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The Nashville Predators are striving to remake their squad after missing the playoffs last season for the first time in eight years. Last week they completed a flurry of off-season free agent signings, while also bringing back some young veterans. Ryan O’Reilly, Luke Schenn, Gustav Nyquist, Anthony Angello and Troy Grosenick were all free agent acquisitions. They also re-signed Cody Glass and Alexandre Carrier. They were both restricted free agents. New general manager Barry Trotz told the media last week that these moves were only part of the makeover. “We have to get more…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Guitarist Jean-Paul Lilliston considers the greatest influence on his playing not the soulful sounds of Motown he heard in his Native Detroit, but the powerhouse ensemble approach and defiant lyric messages contained in the Chicago blues. “The Blues are the music that I really gravitate towards as a player,” Lilliston told the Tribune last week. “Now as a group we mix lots of things, but the blues for me are the prime influence.” However the power of the groove and the ability of the band to hook listeners and get them on the dance…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — A Hip-Hop giant and one of the genre’s founding members is coming to Nashville this weekend as part of an effort to save a historic building. Grandmaster Flash is the headliner for a benefit concert at the Ryman that is part of efforts to convert the currently vacated Morris Memorial building into a Civil Rights museum. The building was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1985, and was designed by a Black architectural firm. A press conference was held last Friday during which coalition members discussed their goals and talked about…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The reshaping of the Nashville Predators continued last Friday as the team placed forward Matt Duchene on unconditional waivers. This move was followed by a buyout of his contract, a decision that made him a free agent. Duchene had signed a seven-year, $56 million dollar deal back in 2019. By doing this the Predators will take cap hits of $2.56 million next season, $5.56 in 2024-25, $6.56 million in 2025-26 and $1.57 million from 2026-2029. It follows a decision to trade center Ryan Johansen to Colorado June 24 for Alex Galchenyuk, another deal that…
Despite its reputation in some circles as strictly a sport for whites, the National Hockey League is making Major League Baseball look weak and ineffectual in terms of outreach and courting new and diverse audiences. Last week they made two bold announcements that put them on the pathway in terms of permanently exploding the myth hockey doesn’t want Black participation. In Nashville, Tennessee State University announced plans to become the nation’s first HBCU with a hockey program. They will begin at the club level and hope to have a men’s team ready to go by the 2024-25 school year, with…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — The latest production from the Tennessee Playwrights Studio (TPS) offers a powerful message, one that no doubt will resonate with audiences the way it did with the cast and crew both before and during rehearsals. “Fan Me With a Brick,” a stirring work written by Kenley Smith and directed by Shawn Whitsell, with original research by V. Yalewa Sparrowhawk Ferguson, debuts this weekend at the Darkhorse Theater, 4601 Charlotte Avenue. For Whitsell, one of Nashville’s busiest and most prolific theatrical personalities, this play has struck a lot of chords due to its story, which…
By Ron Wynn NASHVILLE, TN — Although many in the acting community feel she should have received one on merit, actress Angela Bassett will finally get an Oscar. Bassett is among a group of distinguished individuals in the film industry who will receive honorary Oscars later this year. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences made the announcement last week. Bassett was nominated this past year for Best Supporting Actress for her role in “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever.” She became the first person starring in a Marvel film to earn an Oscar nomination. The 64-year-old Bassett also was nominated…
Two names have made tennis news lately, one that’s still gaining recognition, and another that’s an all-time great. While Francis Tafoe is a rising star, Venue Williams is among the finest tennis players of all time in either men’s or women’s circles. Each has been in the news over the past few days as the tennis world’ anticipates the start of Wimbledon next month. A few days ago, Tafoe became only the third Black American to make the men’s top 10. That came on the heels of his third career ATP title in Stuttgart June 18. The 25-year-old’s achievement puts…