There was a time when Hancock joined hands with Benson for Legion ball. Not any more. Hancock fields a quite capable team on its own.
"Capable" certainly describes the work of pitcher Brendon Foss. Foss set down 12 Morris batters on strikes.
Hancock was the 8-2 winner.
Virtually all of Hancock's hits were singles. Morris employed three pitchers but none could really blunt the Hancock attack.
Alex Erickson was tagged with the pitching loss. Hancock's Foss worked the full seven innings for the victor and he allowed just one earned run. He allowed eight hits and walked one.
Each team committed one error. The Morris hit total was eight.
Austin Steege was one of three Hancock batters with three hits. Steege posted three-for-four numbers and scored two runs.
Dylan Reese was also three-for-four and he drove in two runs. Luke Schwarz had three hits in four at-bats and drove in two runs.
Bryan Shaw contributed two-for-three numbers and picked up two ribbies. Collin Cunningham had a two-for-four showing and crossed home plate three times.
For Morris, Tyler Hansen was able to get to Foss for two hits (one a double) in four at-bats. Cole Riley's bat was activated for two-for-three numbers and he drove in a run.
Ryan Beyer had a double and an RBI.
The Hancock batters had Erickson figured out on this day, and Erickson lasted just two innings, giving up six hits.
Sam Mattson got roughed up in a two-inning stint, giving up six hits and five runs (four earned). Tyler Hansen had his pitching arm called on, but he too struggled as he gave up four hits and two runs in two innings.
Yours truly (B.W.) used to receive Morris Area junior varsity football reports signed "Coach Ek" at the bottom. Coach Mark Ekren had the JV reins.
It was neat covering Tiger JV football because these games were played in daytime hours. If only the High School League knew how challenging it is for football photography to be done in the blackness of night.
Fall temperatures can be considerably cooler at night too.
Some things are hard to figure, but for whatever reason, JV football is played under conditions more illuminating and fun for photographers and fans. Eventually these players "graduate" to the more visible and prestigious varsity ranks and they plunge into the darkness of night.
Last fall, at the first game I had photographed in years, one of the BOLD players jogged just a short distance to relieve himself. This might have not been practical in daytime. I was sort of lurking off to the side because I wasn't sure how I would be received as a non-corporate media photographer.
With time I realized no one was going to make an issue of it. I was welcomed with open arms by season's end.
God bless you all.
News flash: Now we have "Coach Ek" as Morris Area athletic director. He was a pleasant and dedicated person for me to work with in my younger days when I could withstand the rigors of working for the corporate media.
The corporate media are under tremendous stress these days. People can get the information they need in their day-to-day lives through myriad electronic platforms that involve no cost to them.
Personally I'd like to see Tiger athletics find an online home or homes that are separate from the corporate media. To an extent this process has already begun.
Kudos to Lyle Rambow, Morris Area baseball coach, for taking advantage of everything the Pheasant Country Sports website had to offer last spring. This was very empowering for him. It's far advantageous to dealing with a newspaper that only gets published once a week.
A newspaper's agenda is to sell advertising - especially a chain newspaper which unfortunately is what Morris has. Management decisions are made in distant offices. It's all about profit and numbers.
In a sense you can't blame them - it's a business - but there are alternatives that aren't built around advertising and profits. My website is one.
My only agenda is to supply some lively and colorful coverage of Morris area teams.
Would I go back to the corporate media? Of course I would, because it would be a job. And if I went back to print I'd actually be an advocate of the print media again.
But right now I can size up the whole media landscape objectively. Right now I'm on the winning side.
"Coach Ek" knows something about winning. I wrote the profile article of him when he first came here. I learned right away he's an old Breckenridge Cowboy.
I used to tease him about how he looked and carried himself like Jim Kelly, the Buffalo Bills quarterback. I'm not sure anyone else ever told him that. I hope it was considered flattering.
Jim Kelly was unquestionably a great quarterback, Frank Reich notwithstanding, but he's one of those athletes who'll be remembered for never winning the "big one."
The only other time I ever typed Ekren's name on this blog was in reference to softball. I was recalling how Dick Siebert, the iconic U of M Gophers baseball coach, came here to conduct a clinic for kids in the mid 1960s. Siebert referred to softball as a "sissy game."
Forgive him because that was his generation. I wondered in my previous post how Ekren would react to that. He's a slow-pitch softball fanatic.
I don't know if "Coach Ek" still unwinds at the Met Lounge from time to time. I'm at an age where that just doesn't fit my routine any more.
Considering the pressure Mark will feel as AD, a little "unwinding" at the Met might be therapeutic.
Keep in mind that this establishment's name is inspired by a great athlete whose background is in the Morris area: Jerry Koosman. Athletes are welcome. Sportswriters? I don't know.
Speaking of which, it looks like the company that owns the Morris newspaper is playing some musical chairs now. Regardless of what they say, I think their objective is to reduce what they're spending on the Morris-Hancock Division.
It has been a relentless race to the bottom for that company here. It's best for all of us to just ignore it and move on to the limitless possibilities of the new media, which is what the "Stevens Forward!" organization wants us to do.
One of the "Destiny Drivers" is the creation of a "virtual community." I don't think this includes receiving an Elden's Food Fair advertising circular every week - an item that then has to go through some sort of disposal process.
You should see how some of these circulars first arrive, as a virtual mountain of boxes jammed with these pesky circulars which are the equivalent of "junk mail." What a business.
Chain newspapers are just squeezing their legacy advertising customers (i.e. "suckers") with whom they developed a bond through their monopoly years, for every nickel they can get while the business model stays alive.
Please, let's put the newspaper business out of its misery. We could demonstrate for "Stevens Forward!" that we are truly a forward-looking community in this respect.
Isn't this what Morris always strives for?
The individual who has been the paper's editor here is going to Willmar. Both papers are in the chain. Perhaps he was offered a parachute to keep his career alive.
The person he is replacing in Willmar appears to have been let go, based on reports I've seen from there.
This is a company that doesn't hesitate to turn thumbs-down on people. You wake up one morning and you're persona non grata. All that's missing is the boiling oil.
I'm sure the Morris newspaper will try to put frosting on whatever new arrangement it has for the news department here. But it's a sinking ship regardless - a fate sealed when it went from twice a week to once a week.
"Coach Ek" always called me "B.W.," which I think derived from a sporadic column I wrote in the late 1980s. I had a little graphic that I used at the top, actually stolen from a poker magazine I picked up in Las Vegas - no kidding. It's also from that magazine I learned the expression "If 'ifs and buts' were candy and nuts, life would be a party."
This was back in the days before you could "copy and paste" graphics like that. Back then, "pasting" meant you were probably using Elmer's Glue.
The graphic I used, was of an old-fashioned typewriter in which I inserted "B.W." in the paper space. Cute.
I never did establish a regular column in my corporate media years. It was hard to balance that with all the other obligations. Maybe it's good, because some people might consider my writing style idiosyncratic.
But thanks for reading.
Good luck to "Coach Ek" in this definite adventure that awaits him, guiding Tiger athletics through interesting campaigns throughout the school year. He replaces Mary Holmberg who "served her hitch" with commitment too.
- Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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