Hal Phillips https://www.halphillips.net/ Small-Batch Journalism & Comment Sat, 06 Jun 2026 15:03:41 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://www.halphillips.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/09/cropped-BNyb0KwmkKGrHgoH-C8EjlLlhlGBJrZchZqHQ_35-32x32.jpg Hal Phillips https://www.halphillips.net/ 32 32 Medieval Politics Suit a World Informed by Watching & Listening https://www.halphillips.net/medieval-politics-suit-a-world-informed-by-watching-listening?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=medieval-politics-suit-a-world-informed-by-watching-listening https://www.halphillips.net/medieval-politics-suit-a-world-informed-by-watching-listening#respond Sat, 06 Jun 2026 14:53:49 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=6344 Turns out Moms & PBS were right: Reading is fundamental — to democratic stability. Neo-fascist leaders and their movements are ever more prevalent and powerful in 2026 because so-called low-education voters are ever more prevalent and easily led. These are the constituents famously preferred by Donald Trump. Yet these voters are proliferating worldwide, because the […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/medieval-politics-suit-a-world-informed-by-watching-listening/feed 0 The Celtics should Hire Joe Mazzulla an Offensive Consigliere https://www.halphillips.net/the-celtics-should-hire-joe-mazzulla-an-offensive-consigliere?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=the-celtics-should-hire-joe-mazzulla-an-offensive-consigliere https://www.halphillips.net/the-celtics-should-hire-joe-mazzulla-an-offensive-consigliere#respond Wed, 03 Jun 2026 14:39:26 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=6333 BOSTON, Mass. (June 3, 2026) — This column concerns Joe Mazzulla and the Celtics, but bear with me while I use George Horton as a framing device: My very first-ever sports-writing job allowed me to cover Horton’s Lincoln-Sudbury Regional High School boys basketball team. That winter of 1986-87, the genial, middle-aged coach had trained up […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/the-celtics-should-hire-joe-mazzulla-an-offensive-consigliere/feed 0 The Essential Soccer Book for 2026: Sibling Rivalry now Available, from Bloomsbury https://www.halphillips.net/sibling-rivalry-halphillips-net?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=sibling-rivalry-halphillips-net Fri, 13 Mar 2026 15:04:00 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=4987 Welcome to HalPhillips.net, where the lede headline remains the March 2026 publication of my new book. My publishers at Bloomsbury issued Sibling Rivalry: How Mexico and the US Built the Most Contentious, Co-Dependent Feud in World Soccer on March 5, 2026. Get your very own copy here, or click that handsome book cover. We recommend […]

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]]> Ernie D Built the Big East, One Local College Basketball Broadcast at a Time https://www.halphillips.net/ernie-d-was-an-adorable-pro-but-does-the-big-east-even-happen-without-him?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=ernie-d-was-an-adorable-pro-but-does-the-big-east-even-happen-without-him https://www.halphillips.net/ernie-d-was-an-adorable-pro-but-does-the-big-east-even-happen-without-him#comments Thu, 05 Feb 2026 20:46:39 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=5315 PROVIDENCE, R.I. (Jan. 5, 2024) — It’s never too late to mark and quantify the impact of Ernie DiGregorio. Not in New England. Not when the subject is college basketball. Yet here’s the immediate news peg, the reason to contemplate Ernie D and his attendant rabbit hole early in 2024: It was 50 years ago […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/ernie-d-was-an-adorable-pro-but-does-the-big-east-even-happen-without-him/feed 1 Pocket Full of Mumbles Ruminate on their Tribute Band Origins https://www.halphillips.net/big-2026-coming-meantime-the-mumbles-ruminate-on-tribute-origins?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=big-2026-coming-meantime-the-mumbles-ruminate-on-tribute-origins https://www.halphillips.net/big-2026-coming-meantime-the-mumbles-ruminate-on-tribute-origins#respond Mon, 26 Jan 2026 23:01:51 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=5798 Heartiest New Year’s greetings from the band to everyone out there in Mumbles Nation. We wanted to share some content here and encourage you to monitor this space, as 2026 is shaping up as a busy year on the gig calendar. We should soon have news about a cool April date at a new, prestige […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/big-2026-coming-meantime-the-mumbles-ruminate-on-tribute-origins/feed 0 Golf Wallpaper: Home-Screen Takeaways from Royal Lytham & St. Annes https://www.halphillips.net/golf-wallpaper-home-screen-takeaways-from-royal-lytham-st-annes?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=golf-wallpaper-home-screen-takeaways-from-royal-lytham-st-annes https://www.halphillips.net/golf-wallpaper-home-screen-takeaways-from-royal-lytham-st-annes#respond Mon, 29 Dec 2025 23:49:21 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=5790 I tend to spend a lot of time at the computer. In 2025, I started collecting fun golf course images to use as wallpaper on my oversized monitor. The better ones stay in place for several weeks, allowing for detailed scrutiny and study. I decided to share some of the most thought-provoking examples here. 1) […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/golf-wallpaper-home-screen-takeaways-from-royal-lytham-st-annes/feed 0 Fescue Programs: A Roadside Meditation https://www.halphillips.net/fescue-programs-a-roadside-meditation?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=fescue-programs-a-roadside-meditation https://www.halphillips.net/fescue-programs-a-roadside-meditation#respond Sat, 20 Dec 2025 22:58:00 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=5784 Driving home from a dreamy golf excursion, author Hal Phillips noticed wispy grasses glistening alongside a newly widened stretch of a busy interstate. Their presence raised questions about the agronomics of incorporating a linksy feature into inland settings. [Ed. This essay was first published in the November 2026 print edition of Golf Course Industry magazine. […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/fescue-programs-a-roadside-meditation/feed 0 Maine Place Names: Observations on visiting, pronouncing Vienna, Madrid, Calais and Peru — while never leaving the 207 https://www.halphillips.net/maine-naming-conventions-observations-on-visiting-bremen-rome-troy-denmark-peru-palermo-paris-while-never-leaving-the-207?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=maine-naming-conventions-observations-on-visiting-bremen-rome-troy-denmark-peru-palermo-paris-while-never-leaving-the-207 https://www.halphillips.net/maine-naming-conventions-observations-on-visiting-bremen-rome-troy-denmark-peru-palermo-paris-while-never-leaving-the-207#comments Wed, 03 Dec 2025 14:16:00 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=4837 Prior to the smartphone era, when folks read mainly in analog fashion, a great many of us kept a Maine Atlas and Gazetteer in the glove compartment of our cars, or the privy. Published by Yarmouth-based mapmaker DeLorme, this oversized, soft-cover booklet neatly divided this Great State of ours into 96 pages, or rectangular quadrants, […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/maine-naming-conventions-observations-on-visiting-bremen-rome-troy-denmark-peru-palermo-paris-while-never-leaving-the-207/feed 2 Heart-Stopping: My Big Day Out in Spokane https://www.halphillips.net/heart-stopping-my-big-day-out-in-spokane?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=heart-stopping-my-big-day-out-in-spokane https://www.halphillips.net/heart-stopping-my-big-day-out-in-spokane#respond Mon, 01 Dec 2025 03:20:26 +0000 https://www.halphillips.net/?p=5757 While I’m a “Masshole” born, bred and proud (the word’s now ensconced in the Oxford English Dictionary), I’ve made my home in Maine since 1992, and never has there been a bigger soccer story to hit the Pine Tree State than Hearts of Pine, our first-year entry in USL One. The club’s fairytale run finally […]

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]]> https://www.halphillips.net/heart-stopping-my-big-day-out-in-spokane/feed 0 World Series 1975 Revisited: Recapturing an All-time Classic, via iPhone https://www.halphillips.net/recapturing-the-75-world-series-via-iphone?utm_source=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_campaign=recapturing-the-75-world-series-via-iphone https://www.halphillips.net/recapturing-the-75-world-series-via-iphone#respond Thu, 16 Oct 2025 00:59:00 +0000 http://theaposition.com/halphillips/?p=1873 It’s often argued that the 1975 World Series — contested 50 years ago this month — ranks among the finest in baseball history. In terms of legendary personalities and the competitive iconography that framed them, Game 6 featured enough fairy-tale moments all on its own: a not-yet-befouled Pete Rose bellyflopping into third then popping up […]

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