"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.

Thursday, August 27, 2015

Tigers to play ACGC on the road Friday

We have to train ourselves to be attuned to football when summer is still on. Summer can be a pleasant time to enjoy sports. If your fanny is in the bleachers, yes it's enjoyable, even though the Big Cat bleachers are a little hard, aren't they? Too bad we didn't have a benefactor like Ralph Englestad to make the place a little snazzier. You remember Ralph, the Hitler's birthday guy, who got people to worship at his shrine at University of North Dakota. Money's honey, my dear sonny, and a rich man's joke is always funny.
Our Morris Area Chokio Alberta Tigers have one game under their belt already for 2015. It was played on August 22. Fortunately we didn't have overbearing heat (for the sake of the players). One of these years that could happen.
This week the Tigers will play on Friday. The team will battle the ACGC Falcons on Friday, Aug. 28, at ACGC. The Tigers' game #3 is presented on Friday, Sept. 4, against Benson at home. The three games will be played before school even starts. What a shock!
Another big shock is the disappearance of conferences. No more West Central Conference. Everything is now set up with the post-season in mind. The post-season is also the reason why the schedule starts so early. The playoffs need to be completed before weather might deliver an ugly clout (not that it couldn't anyway). You see, we don't have the Metrodome anymore. That's rather sad. Man, if the fans of the 1950s could have looked into the future and seen the Dome, they'd have to pinch themselves. But now it's not good enough.
I have rich memories of covering the Chokio-Alberta Spartans in their championship seasons. One down note is the memory of George Dieter having his health affliction at the time of one of those games. In a way it was kind of a blessing because he was so close to the best medical assistance. I remember George with his unique sense of humor at C-A spring athletic banquets. Those banquets should be joyous affairs. I remember a winter banquet at Morris Area that was absolute hell, devolving into a stew of local petty politics. Only at Morris Area could that have happened. I'll never forget it.
The MACA football team debuted pretty spectacularly for 2015. We beat West Central Area 41-6. I'm not sure how to interpret the outcome. Are we really overpowering? Kevin Fick of the Craig Olson Sports website shared some interesting background:
 
This was truly a battle of David vs. Goliath as the 2A Knights entered Big Cat Stadium and went to battle with the 3A Tigers. For a reader who thinks that there is not much difference in 3A to 2A football, think again. With conference football now a memory of the past, crazy district matchups will happen across Minnesota. From this writer's perspective they can be viewed in two ways. A 41-6 loss such as this could be blamed on large vs. small. Excuses such as bigger, faster and stronger are always available, or this can be used as a measuring stick, a tool to gauge oneself and say: What do we need to do to get better and not let this happen again? Listening to head coach John Moore address his team after the game, it is pretty safe to say the Knights are choosing the high road. Coach Moore stated: "This gave us a glimpse of where we are and what we need to do to reach the goals we set at the beginning of the season." A question keeps popping to mind: What would they say if we (WCA) would have won? We will never know without opportunities.
 
Thanks to writer Fick for his commitment. The Morris corporate media were anything but inspiring. The Morris newspaper website was an insult with its lack of caring or enthusiasm. Football is fun. Someone should have just put together some colorful coverage and been proud to click on "publish." As a non-corporate media person, I'm happy to do that myself. Please, please, spread the word that I'm doing this. It costs you nothing to visit my blog sites (two of them). 
Had I known the Morris paper would have no photographer at the game, I would have been delighted to grab my old (film) camera and go out along the east sideline. I have to admit I have old camera equipment now. Thrifty White can no longer give me same-day developing. I'd have to wait at least a week to get the CD back. That's unfortunate. I don't know why it takes a week, when the actual job of developing the film takes only about 1 1/2 hours. I should talk to Marty Ohren.
I suppose that if I bought a digital camera capable of night football, with the appropriate "fast" zoom lens, it would be quite costly, maybe a thousand bucks? I could get a lot of camera film developed for that much money.
I know the school welcomes me for taking game photos. I arrived for the season opener one year and Mark Ekren shook hands with me. For four years, after my departure from that dreary place known as the Morris Sun Tribune newspaper, I took photos and displayed them on Flickr. Come and view them if you haven't already. I have links along the right-hand side of this blog site.
There is evidence that the Morris paper does not approve of me being there with camera. After all, I'm supplying a service for free that they try to make money from. I have discussed this evidence in previous posts. The parents enjoy seeing me there. Marie Hansen said "the more the merrier."
The more the years roll by, the more local residents forget my connection to the Morris paper. What I'll never forget about my last days there, is that the atmosphere didn't improve even after I submitted my written resignation. You know, life is too short for this, at least for most people, but not for Forum Communications, that Machiavellian owner of the Morris paper. Yes, the paper isn't locally owned, in case you didn't know. The Forum has no problem absolutely showering us with ad circulars (pollution) for Alexandria businesses, as if we didn't already know that Alex offers the whole nine yards with big box stores etc.
The Morris Sun-Tribune whiffed on the season opener for football, but maybe they'll get a little more fired-up now. It's not suitable to see links with material from the West Central Tribune - it's deflating. Meanwhile, I'll continue writing about the teams. Thanks for visiting.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

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