First, a heads-up about my podcast post for today, June 17. It reflects on the WWII years in our Morris. The pastor at my church of First Lutheran was Rev. Emil Ede. He disapproved of dancing! Here is the link:
We love sports for our kids, don't we? A check of the kmrs website reveals so much sports with so many teams, the casual observer can get confused sometimes. Up 'til now I have been happy to do pretty regular online writing about various teams. I'm starting to wonder if I'm just too much of an outsider for this to be practical much longer.
So many teams and just as importantly, so many games to try to be aware of all the time.
Most of my own school life was spent with no serious organized sports for girls whatsoever. Yes it's mind-boggling. And mine was the boomer generation, characterized by teeming numbers. The numbers gave us a feeling of great significance. And it's true, we did leave an impact through the years. But there was no serious girls sports prior to my high school years.
"High school" was defined as grades 10-12 back at that time. We were housed in the then-new building. The community had to beat down doors, as it were, to get the building built. Failed referendums prior to that, including the storied one that had a pool, are a chapter of Morris history that needs to be remembered. Things shifted at the state level so that it wasn't so much heavy-lifting any more for the small outstate Minnesota communities. Are we "small?" Boy that's relative.
I began my full-time career at the Morris paper when the "malaise" of the late 1970s was still being felt. Most people do not like to dwell on memories a lot. I am programmed to do so. An outlier? I guess yes. So I'm astounded to reflect on times when real girls sports did not exist, right up to about 1971. And of course it didn't get up and running without baby steps. Mary Holmberg would not like to admit that baby steps were necessary, I figure. They were of course, and it wasn't just the kids themselves. It was the public which naturally was not accustomed to talking about girls sports as seriously as boys.
What a wonderful triumph we have today. We could not have predicted this in the nascent days of organized girls sports: I mean, a group of guys like in the barber shop scene of the movie "Hoosiers," talking about girls teams with the same seriousness as boys. But it's true and it's wonderful. But it's something that did not exist until the early '70s.
A person my age can think back to female classmates who might have accomplished great things in athletics. We wonder how they filled their time with alternatives. We associated girls with "home ec." A sea change finally came along. Not only are girls teams 100 percent established in our consciousness, I would suggest that all youth sports teams are managed and presented with great intensity now, to where someone like me who tries to supply media services can start feeling overwhelmed and intimidated.
So many teams, so many games, and such an elevated level of emotion shown by parents and friends. Let's emphasize parents. There was a time when I'd make that point with some levity, as if we might smile about the intensity of parents. But based on experience, let me tell you this can take on scary dimensions.
I'm serious. I have developed the theory that some sports parents want the media to serve emotional needs that the media is not equipped to deliver on. So it isn't enough for the media to have a casual or measured interest - the parents ought to appreciate that - the media must be, well, caffeinated intense. Get that?
The challenge got compounded when girls athletics achieved total parity with boys. Oh, and compounded further when certain sports that once had a "sandlot" quality, shall we say, like hockey, leaped into the front lines of competition. Indoor arena? I remember when the indoor arena was fresh news, a fresh accomplishment. I personally contributed a thousand bucks. I suppose nobody cares about that now.
Younger people might think the Lee Center has been around forever. I covered hockey for the paper when it frankly was a red-haired stepchild. Swimming was the same. Maybe the big push for development of all this was my generation - the boomers - and its "dark" memories of engaging in so much ill-advised behavior when we were late-teens, early 20s. You'll probably have a hard time getting most of us to admit to any details about that. Seriously. I saw the underbelly totally.
So as years passed and we matured, as was inevitable, we had kids and swore we'd lock them up in so many organized activities, they wouldn't regress into the kinds of disgusting behavior we experienced. I'll try to put my memories aside now. We're focused on the present and dealing with our present-day culture.
I could say we are "obsessed" with youth sports sometimes. What about music and the fine arts? Seems to get short shrift. Why do we bother even having the outdoor performance stage at East Side Park? The city maintains it. There are bleachers set out. It all seems a rather futile effort, to just have that facility sitting there. Maybe it will get used a couple times before next winter. I'd be surprised if it's more than a couple. And that is just negligible.
Here's a suggestion for a new park in Morris: the plot of ground between the water treatment plant and Holmberg Field. Take a look out there sometime. In fact, how about having a little amphitheater there? Imagine playground equipment and a picnic shelter.
For some reason the public just does not take to East Side Park. The cement there used to be a huge impediment. That has been removed. But the place reeks of being dormant. Does anyone care?
We must always ask "does anyone care" when it comes to any community issues in Morris. We are a town where people are so inclined to want to be gone. "Gone to the lake" or "gone to the Cities" or "gone to visit grandchildren" etc. Like people only spend time here if they absolutely have to.
Again I'm an outlier. I'm quite content hanging around. For sure we have sports. Should we perhaps balance this better with other priorities like the fine arts? A question to ponder, if anyone wants to bother here in Morris MN. Maybe you're "gone."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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