Patrickp Marek News Today

By Patrick P. Marek

By Patrick P. Marek, publisher

By Patrick P. Marek

First published on July 21, 1979

(5/12/2021)   And they said it wouldn’t last. Fifty years ago, a dynamic and idealistic young couple thought that there was room in Winona for two newspapers. The pair, who were both gifted writers with strong opinions, created the Winona Shopper and unleashed it on the Winona trade area. The first issue on November 3, 1971, featured a musician banging a bass drum on the cover, and the fledgling paper made a lot of noise during the first few months of its existence, even though i...

  Minnesota’s season ending finale against the woeful Detroit Lions had all of the entertainment value of watching two little kids duke it out in a school yard fight. It was kind of fun to see them throw haymakers at each other with no regard for defensive consequences, but it was hard to take it seriously. It’s a miracle that play wasn’t stopped and both defenses sent to the principal’s office for imitating professional NFL defensive units. In fantasy football, they call meaningless, ...

  As Vikings fans enter the long winter of their purple discontent, here is a ray of sunshine, just in time for the holidays. My pre-season prediction of an 8-8 record for Minnesota this season has a good chance of coming true! After a year like this one, you have to take any victories you can. Actually, this year’s version of the Vikings should consider themselves lucky to finish the year with a mediocre (some would say average) record. Mediocre is a high grade for the bunch, especially t...