I hope the fans realize how complicated these state events can become for casual fans. The casual fan can try to grasp it all, but might need a hint of help sometimes. There are various levels of tournament play. There are the different enrollment categories.
The number is thinning away of people who remember the one-class tournament. We're supposed to get sentimental over that from the movie "Hoosiers" with Gene Hackman. Hollywood is the dream factory. In reality the one-class tournament was profoundly unfair and perverse. A region title game in the Twin Cities could have been considered the true state championship game.
I remember a year when Edina played Hayfield: a romp for the Hornets of Edina. Us kids could get let out of class at school to watch TV in the cafeteria.
We should never forget our 1955 Morris High School team that made state in 1-class. It does not matter that the team got dismembered by the big city kids - Minneapolis Washburn - in state. Legend has it some of those Tigers may have seen their accomplishment a little out of proportion. Know what I mean? I don't care, those guys deserved 100 percent credit. Yours truly was born in 1955. Did not come to Motown until 1960.
So we're anticipating state for our MACA Tigers in the year 2022. The 4-class system means there isn't quite the general hysteria as when I was young. But hey, there's still hysteria!
I had breakfast at Caribou Coffee this morning and mentioned all the basketball enthusiasm in the air. The employee thought I was referring to Hancock! That's OK as we certainly share in the feeling of congratulations. I confess I did not follow Hancock much - my attention was on the Tigers of MACA.
There was a time in my life when I wrote sports for the Hancock newspaper. "A time" was 15 years. There is no Hancock newspaper now. Time rolls forward. We have the "Stevens County Times" today, just once a week, and the post-season for high school sports is more complicated and multi-layered than in an earlier time.
Get ready to rumble, again
Now to the business at hand: Our Tigers are seeded No. 5 in Class AA. That's in the middle. Uh-oh, looks like we're matched against a private school! Does that ring warning bells or set off sirens? Private schools can sometimes be a steamroller, but not always. Tiger fans are hoping we'll play the mortal kind of private school.
Minnehaha Academy is seeded No. 4. Action will be at 8 p.m. Tuesday, March 22, at Williams Arena, U of M. Williams Arena is where the storied one-class tournament games were once played. A place steeped in memories and tradition.
The top seed in AA is Minneapolis-North. The semi-finals are set for Friday, March 25, at Williams Arena. Game-times are 6 and 8 p.m. The AA championship will be played at 1 p.m. Saturday, March 26, at Williams.
I found information online that indicates there is a third place game on Saturday also. So we must wonder: Is there in fact a conflict with the MAHS band/choir music trip to Texas? It's my understanding that they'll depart on Saturday. This is the current info I've been able to glean, presumably reliable. Hey, all my sources are good, aren't they?
So, what if the Tigers play in either the title game or third place game? The third place game would be easier to miss, right? Maybe not. I shared some concerns about all this in an email to a friend over the weekend:
Hi to (name withheld) - Great excitement with state basketball of course. There appears to be a complication: the band and choir kids are set to depart for their Texas trip on March 26. That's the day of the state championship and third place games. A matter of concern, because:
- we'd need the pep band
- we'd need all those kids to provide fan support and make our turnout look good, and
- the music kids themselves would obviously want to be there.
I hear the music trip was originally set for New Orleans and then was changed to San Antonio due to vaccination requirements in one place vs. the other.
It is always hard for music to co-exist with sports because sports can just smother everything, or so it seems sometimes. I wish Wednesday would be opened up for regular school activities.
My "I Love Morris" blog has been on top of the Tigers' climb. I checked newspaper website yesterday and they had three sentences on the Redwood game. Well, whatever. . .
If Tigers lose in first round, will be moot point for music trip.
On Sunday morning I got at keyboard again with further musings or whatever:
Hello (name withheld) - Well, another Sunday. I lay half-awake in bed this morning, realized that scheduling a music trip is difficult because you have to "wedge" it in between sports seasons. I'm sure Wanda or whoever did the scheduling was trying to do this. But the state championship game is at such a late date, and I'll bet spring starts right up if it hasn't already. So the music people are well-intentioned, but you have to "bet against" your team making state title game, Kemosabe.
(Naturally no one is going to root against Tigers!)
What all will transpire? Regardless, such an exciting week, on the heels of what Hancock accomplished, we might all have to work at floating back down to Earth again. Take some pills maybe?
Another question: What would have happened if I had arranged for a rose and balloon to be delivered to MAHS band director Wanda Dagen on Valentine's Day? Would I still be standing? Such a nebulous activity to consider.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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