Geoff Calkins
Calkins: Now LeBron James is trashing the city? What’s a Memphian to think?
“It was a disappointing cheap shot from a guy who grew up in Akron, Ohio, who should know something about hardscrabble towns.”Related content:
Geoff Calkins
Columnist
Geoff Calkins has been chronicling Memphis and Memphis sports for more than two decades. Calkins has been named the best sports columnist in the country five times by the Associated Press sports editors, but still figures his best columns are about the people who make Memphis what it is.
There are 1103 articles by Geoff Calkins :
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April 2026
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Hana Haden is going to save the Memphis women’s basketball program. But you don’t have to take my word for it.
“Women’s basketball is booming. Except in Memphis, where it’s been a drag. Hana Haden — the new coach of the Tigers — is going to change that.”
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March 2026
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Geoff Calkins Calkins: Iranians in Memphis say ‘It’s torture to even explain.’
The Daily Memphian asked local Iranians how they feel about the war. The prevailing sentiment? “The bombs do not scare us; what scares us is the war ending and the Islamic Republic still ruling Iran.”
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Trump came to Memphis. We’ll soon be ‘virtually crime free.’
President Donald Trump came to Memphis to declare victory over crime. Two Friday night shootings were a reminder that work still remains.
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Trump visits Memphis to talk Task Force
US to hold off striking Iranian power plants, Trump says in Memphis
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Justice Amy Coney Barrett is speaking at Rhodes. It’s more complicated than it should be.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett is returning to Rhodes College to speak Wednesday. Why isn’t Rhodes talking about it? That’s complicated.
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Memphis Tigers BasketballCalkins: Penny Hardaway is back. It will take real change — from him — to bring back Memphis basketball.
“Penny Hardaway is returning as Memphis coach. How can he fix things? He can start by accepting that the disaster that was this past season wasn’t some ‘one-off.’ ”
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Tigers will bring Penny Hardaway back for ninth season
Three Memphis assistant basketball coaches not returning next season
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Lionel Hollins has never left Memphis — or stopped working to make it a better place.
Lionel Hollins is the new board chair of Heal the Hood. Why has he stayed in Memphis for 23 years? Because our purpose is lift others up.
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Spirit of MemphisCalkins: The Medicine Man used to rally Memphis fans. Now his old friends are rallying to help him.
Sam Bielich was famous in Memphis as the Medicine Man. Now he’s recovering from triple bypass surgery — and his old friends from the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity are trying to help.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Could this be Penny Hardaway’s last game at FedExForum?
As questions again swirl about the future of Penny Hardaway, athletic director Ed Scott had every chance to address them Wednesday. He chose to stay silent. What could that mean?
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: It’s just what Memphis needed. A win for the city’s sports.
Professional tennis is returning to the city. That isn’t some accident. It’s because Memphis did something very, very well.
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Memphis GrizzliesCalkins: It’s the worst basketball season in Memphis history — times 2!
Ja Morant is on the way out. Penny Hardaway is teetering. It’s the worst basketball season in the city’s history, featuring the fall of two Memphis icons.
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February 2026
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High School SportsCalkins: The basketball manager at Houston High delivered a moment no one will soon forget
Henry Griffith is the basketball manager at Houston High. He had never played in a game before. But after he hit a buzzer-beater Friday night, he was carried off the court.
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Spirit of MemphisCalkins: He’s our Memphian at the Olympics — back for one last bobsled run
Garrett Hines was a football star at Bartlett High. Now he’s in Italy coaching bobsled for the last runs in what has been a remarkable Olympic career.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Mayor Young talked about crime, immigration and the future of the city. Of course it got loud.
Mayor Paul Young was heckled during his State of the City address. But here’s the thing about Young and those hecklers: They want the same thing.
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MetroCalkins: Why did a Holocaust survivor visit Graceland? A story about hate, survival — and the importance of joy
Mark Schonwetter spent years hiding from the Nazis as a boy. He came to Memphis this week to talk about the journey of survival, the persistence of hate — and a lesson his mother taught him about joy.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Will Ja Morant play for the Grizz again? We have an answer to that — and more.
Grizzlies GM Zach Kleiman was asked if Ja Morant will play for Memphis again this year. He gave an answer — which you can read for yourself.
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Memphis GrizzliesCalkins: Jaren Jackson had to be traded. Because it’s time for the Grizzlies to start again.
The Grizzlies stunned the city by dealing Jaren Jackson Jr. Yes, it’s disappointing. But it’s time to start fresh.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: After a year of triumph, death and music, the Central High jazz band plays on
Well, darn. The Central High band won’t be going back to New York this year to defend its title in the Essentially Ellington jazz contest. But after a year of triumph and tragedy, that won’t stop director Ollie Liddell from teaching “with (his) hair on fire.”
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January 2026
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Robert Pera remains city’s best hope for keeping Grizzlies in Memphis
What is keeping the Grizzlies in Memphis? Robert Pera. And that’s it. He’s still the best chance the city has to keep the team.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: How to cure the snowbound blues? Free tix, brave fans and a Memphis blowout win.
No pep band. No anthem singer, either. But lots of brave fans got free tickets to watch the Memphis Tigers win a basketball game Thursday. How better to defeat the snowbound blues?
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: Good news, chilly Memphians. Some 650,000 (!) tulips will be here soon.
So many tulips! A truckload of tulips! The Dixon Gallery & Gardens is celebrating its 50th anniversary with 650,000 tulips — more than double what it’s ever had before.
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: An epic storm may be coming. Let’s break out Champagne?
How bad could this storm be? Even Ja Morant was asking about it. (And he’s in a storm of his own).
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Geoff CalkinsCalkins: The new leader of Ballet Memphis has a hobby. It involves Michael Jordan — and you.
Andrew Goldberg, the new executive director of Ballet Memphis, has more ticket stubs to Michael Jordan games than anyone in the world.
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BusinessCalkins: Sally Jones Heinz — ‘the face of MIFA’ — to step down
Sally Jones Heinz is retiring as executive director of MIFA. “There isn’t an organization like this anywhere in the country,” she said. “It’s the best.”
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Memphis GrizzliesCalkins: Ja Morant is still ‘the most famous’ Grizzly. But Sunday may have been the end.
Sunday may have been Ja Morant’s last appearance at FedExForum as a Grizzly. If so, it was a fittingly disappointing end.
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