We are left with basketball memories now as we depart from one season, proceed to the next. Basketball concluded with such a rush of excitement here. The Hancock girls took No. 1 in state. Maybe they stole some of the thunder from the MACA boys who then climbed to state.
There always should be an asterisk with this reporting, as these accomplishments are with the 4-class system based on enrollment. For most of my life, "making state" was an extremely steep hill to climb. Imagine if the 2-class system was still in effect. Imagine the very daunting hurdles. MACA would probably have needed two Jackson Loges.
Loge was what we'd call a "headline performer" on the court. A person in the media would type his name over and over. Is it overkill sometimes? I think yes. The kids who play basketball are not developing skills that will serve them in any meaningful way in their post-basketball life. We must remember that we are drawing kids into a system we have created - there is the presumption that if you're big and fast, you'd better get on board.
I congratulate my old 1973 MHS classmate Gary Lembcke on his choice of cross country over football, very good for taking care of himself. I hate to see boys respond to peer (or community) pressure to go out for football. It is dangerous. Kids can hardly be expected to have much independent judgment about this. So they can get hurt. I had no talent so I skated through those years.
Gary avoided football but he was still in the "fishbowl" of attention bestowed on sports stars. And why do we engage in this? What is the constructive purpose of it all? Many of you would say I'm over-analyzing. I think my questions are merited.
The Tigers of this past season were not really fourth in state, they were fourth in their enrollment class which was one of four.
You know what? I think we should ask if there should even be a "state tournament." Seriously, why not just have teams play for their conference and section title? These titles are meaningful. They don't drag fans of the highest-achieving teams into the over-hyped rat-race of state. I get the jitters just thinking about it.
I once covered such affairs for the Morris newspaper. Privately I think "what a big hubbub about so little." There is no showcase that is anything like this for school music. I could cite other endeavors in school that are highly rewarding/enriching, and there is no hyper display of recognition for them.
When your team makes "state" in sports, you'll have to commit yourself to significant time, travel and expense. I heard prior to the state hoops tournament that prices seemed on the ridiculous side. They only go up. At some point, don't they have to stop?
Our Tigers played three games in state. That's three trips to Gotham, perhaps eased by taking a bus, but you have the over-priced tickets and concessions. Plus the huge time investment. All to watch a small group of kids play a game. Over and over they play these games. Not rare to see games on Saturday.
So many games and why?
A band or choir concert is an "event" when it comes along. Congrats to the music people, but sometimes I think their activity is a red-haired stepchild. Concerts are "events" while basketball games just flow along like an unstopped faucet. As a media writer through the present time, I get frustrated about how I'll complete a summary of a game, and then have very little time to feel good about it, because the next game comes right along in short order.
At the paper I felt real pressure. You must remember that when I was at the paper, we published twice a week. I was the sportswriter for the now-defunct Hancock paper for 15 years. And please remember that for most of my time at the paper, UMM was feeding us basically nothing about their sports programs. I say that not to point fingers, seriously. So I wrote about UMM sports in sort of a scattershot basis, as it was better than nothing. I think I developed rapport with basketball coach Perry Ford, who has left us for the basketball arena in the sky.
There were no high school football post-season playoffs when I was young. I can't remember when they started, but we take these for granted now. Former Tiger coach Stan Kent was disapproving of the playoff system. Stan felt the conference championship was a worthy enough goal for all. Also, teams don't have to play so deep into the cold weather. Also, the longer your football schedule goes on, the greater the chance of players having serious injuries. I implore you: these serious football injuries can have lifelong consequences.
We shower so much attention and praise on the "winning" kids, they commit themselves beyond reasonable bounds. They get hurt. They sometimes fail to live up to expectations. They get beat out for roster sports in college. And then, what are they left with?
The only "product" of these programs is entertainment for the fans. The fans gravitate to sports because it fights boredom. So what about music? Music-oriented people cannot even consider competing with sports.
Our MAHS band and choir took a wonderful trip to Texas in the past few days. First the band had to squeeze in a commitment as pep band for the state third place game. The game was at an obscure venue. The game was more trouble than it was worth. And it had to be draining for the music kids. It was unfortunate. But the sports racket rolls on.
Click on the link below to read the post I wrote inspired by the Texas trip. There's a super photo at the top of the band in San Antonio, playing outdoors. Thanks.
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| Very talented hoops player. Image from twitter. I wrote about Jackson's father Kevin when he excelled in high school. Jackson is headed to Augustana (SD). |
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| Talented young men at state. The media are always at the ready. The lights are bright. (image from twitter) |
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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