"You'll never get ahead if you don't take care of what you have." - Doris Waddell, RIP

The late Ralph E. Williams with "Heidi" - morris mn

The late Ralph E. Williams with "Heidi" - morris mn
Click on the image to read Williams family reflections w/ emphasis on UMM.

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

PR aims for MACA sports should be wide

I wish I could post today (Wednesday, 9/24) on the significant MACA volleyball win over New London-Spicer last night. The MACA girls prevailed in five games in an outcome which was termed an upset.
NL-Spicer can always be counted on to be competitive in girls sports. Last winter I personally wrote extensive posts on the NL-S girls hoops team as it climbed in the post-season, to state. I "adopted" the NL-S girls because the MACA hoops teams, boys and girls, lost right out of the starting chute in the post-season.
Of course I prefer writing about the Tigers. I cannot post today about the Tigers' volleyball triumph because there are no match details in the Willmar newspaper. Plenty of other matches are reviewed in today's paper, but not MACA vs. NL-Spicer.
Also, I have not been able to post on the Friday football game in which the Tigers beat Sauk Centre in what must have been a very exciting affair, 33-28. I could have posted on that game on Saturday, and would have been delighted to. The Willmar paper had no details either in its Saturday or Monday papers. The Monday paper had "late Friday" details on the Minnewaska Area football game. There was a complete whiff on the MACA game.
Morris Area Chokio Alberta football had a sluggish start to the season, then had a win over YME that might have been a given, due to YME's long stretch of mediocrity in the sport. (That's strange, given that Granite Falls by itself was once a feared power in football. How do these things happen?)
Finally the Tigers beat Sauk Centre in a game that must have been particularly uplifting for the program. I'm not necessarily indicting the Willmar paper. The MACA coaches and boosters could ensure that some nice online-based coverage could treat the fans in a timely way.
I once saw Mike Martin lose his temper on what he alleged was a lack of timeliness in sports coverage (in the Morris paper). We need a little of that anger again. I realize that Mike was the sort of guy who could get a little obsessed over sports. Still, what he asserted had merit.
I have heard that Morris school board members have been known to say that Mike Martin was such an outstanding administrator, he will never again be matched. I really don't like to hear that kind of talk. No one is irreplaceable. It's bad for the morale of current administrators to hear that kind of idol worship.
Martin addressed certain priorities in his tenure here - fine - and then the school moves on to a somewhat different agenda. Let's be forward-looking. To hear some people talk, you might think we should have a huge statue of Martin erected by the high school entrance. That would be quite an erection.
The people at UMM tell me it's essential to have details of athletic contests posted promptly after every event. UMM of course prioritizes public relations. But why shouldn't MACA accent this aim also? Public schools do in fact "recruit" because student movement is fluid today (i.e. with open enrollment).
How hard would this be? Someone needs to put together a simple game review. Coaches have long submitted raw information to the usual corporate media outlets. Please don't defer to these outlets just because they're "corporate." Just because they seek advertising (i.e. fleecing local businesses) shouldn't give them any special standing.
You can use Pheasant Country Sports which I assume is an open door to publishing game reviews. I have a better idea: a given sports program could simply launch a free (yes, zippo cost) blog site - don't be soured by the word "blog" - and have game reviews linked on your "Maxpreps" page. A child of six could do this. A blog is simply an online platform.
As of yesterday afternoon (Tuesday) I could not find details of the Tiger football game on the newspaper website. I'm writing this early Wednesday morning. Perhaps it's there now, but it's still late and would most likely be brief and unimaginative in its presentation. You could consult with the radio station and ask to have links to game reviews appear on their site. Maybe a business could even sponsor this.
I typed various keywords into Google yesterday and could find no game review anywhere. It would be so incredibly easy to resolve these lapses. I'm just shouting from the nearest rooftop about this.
I am not taking photos of Tiger football like I did the last four years. I am getting too old to continually walk circles around the perimeter of the field in the second half. You will find links to my Tiger football Flickr photo albums of the last four years along the right-hand column of this blog site. I'm proud to have done that, and I encourage you to check it out if you haven't before. I do not wish to be "on the run" at these games anymore, as I do not appreciate being stalked.
I think the fans like any and all media people at the games, including (and maybe especially) me. Marie Hansen once said to me "the more the merrier." Amen to that.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

1 comment:

  1. I agree as at times I have been frustrated with the time it takes for the s-t to post scores/stories about variou teams
    should have read this b/4 I was to the school board meeting las tnight

    ReplyDelete