Happy St. Urho's Day! It comes on the day before St. Patrick's Day. A way of irritating the Irish? Perhaps. Instead of talking about snakes, we're talking grasshoppers. The idea is to save the grape crop. Are grapes even grown in Finland? Finland does not seem to get its due among the Scandinavian countries.
So it's St. Urho's Day and take a look outside at the weather. An occasional quick-hit winter storm can be expected this time of year, even into April. But think of the sheer persistence of this year's winter. The drifts have hung on in their mid-winter form. Today (Thursday) it is cloudy and miserable. And the temperature!
I am thinking of the impact for MACA school activities. The hiatus before spring looks to be especially long this year. I have already cited one big reason: persistence of winter. The other is that our winter teams did not progress very far in post-season. The MACA girls basketball team played just one game. They had a lackluster season overall. I'm not sure we don't need a little coaching shakeup in that program.
Then there's the boys: a really fine regular season but then just two games played in post-season. The first of those was a slam-dunk win over a Minnewaska team that kept 'Waska boys athletics absolutely floundering this year. The Tigers might have approached that game like a scrimmage.
After that the real competition began. Unfortunately we were not up to it. We played a New London-Spicer team who we had beaten in the regular season. What happened the second time around? In my newspaper days I'd have the contacts to find out the most likely explanation. Was there an excuse like with players injured? I don't think so but I do not have thorough knowledge, not at this stage of my life.
The MACA boys were seeded No. 1 in sub-section. Holy cow, we lost to NL-Spicer 49-35. A real downer. So they joined the girls for being done with hoops season. So there's a hiatus.
Look out your window: When do you think we can even start thinking about the spring sports season? Track and field has its opportunities because of fieldhouse meets. Hey, track and field need not have that kind of monopoly! In Big Cat Stadium we have the kind of facility where we could get an "inflatable cover" for the playing field.
St. Cloud State has a facility just like Big Cat and they do in fact have an inflatable cover. What a stupendous asset! Are you thinking this would just be out of reach for Morris? Well, we got Big Cat Stadium in the first place. Some movers and shakers must think we're well-positioned.
When weighing this as a proposal, do not for a second confuse the idea with a "domed stadium." That it is assuredly not, and if you mention domed stadium you'll get laughs from those who know it really is a pipe dream for Morris. So we're talking "inflatable cover for the playing field" and then we must ask: Is this within reach somehow?
Just think what an incredible asset this would be. Our MACA softball team could play a game under totally perfect conditions today! The facility would become like a magnet for other softball teams.
Don't you get depressed during the early portion of the softball schedule - could be as much as one-half the season - when conditions are just uncomfortable, maybe miserable? Sometimes I get so down over this, I lack incentive for even writing about the teams on my blogs. The spring season is unique for this kind of stress. It makes the spring season anticlimactic on the prep sports calendar, depressing even.
Let's be honest, the fan turnout can shrivel down to negligible. Why can't spring sports be just as robust for engendering community enthusiasm, just like for fall and winter?
I am unable to write anything positive about the "softball complex." My skepticism has dimmed not a bit. If the Morris Area school board members had been forced to pony up some of their own personal money, I assure you they'd feel distressed. I'd be embarrassed to have my name on one of those tacky donor list signs out there. Yes they're tacky. In a few years we'll walk past those and start thinking to ourselves: oh there's so-and-so - he's deceased now.
It's not as if the facility is living up to its billing. The newest of the ballfields is a 100 percent waste of money because there was no need to get rid of the old UMM field (with its brick dugouts). Fans loved it at the old UMM field - I personally was present for some games. But certain glory-seekers always get carried away with grand schemes. It's simple if you use OPM, other people's money. How do you feel about your property taxes?
I think we'll hear come summer that the newest ballfield out there has the batters facing the sun too much. I'm the kind of person who checks this out by positioning myself appropriately. The old UMM field was positioned perfectly, as if its planners knew exactly what they were doing.
The ballfield that is closest to the water treatment plant barely qualifies as "sandlot." I thought the whole new "softball complex" would have a classy look and feel to it. I should not assume so much.
Focus on music
Of course I relish the chance to be positive about certain things school-wise. So my attention turns to music! What a facility we have in the concert hall! We have brilliant faculty and brilliant students.
Wanda Dagen has had to overcome a bump in the road with losing some kids to PSEO. That's the program where kids take a hike from high school and take college classes. My big fear is that PSEO might develop into a way for colleges, which are desperate to get students, to start "raiding" the high schools. I hope people are smart enough to recognize this when it happens, and to try to get something done about it.
I attended Wanda's band concert on March 13. I could not have been more pleased. Featured were the seventh grade band, eighth grade band, concert band and wind ensemble. I don't remember the "wind" term from when I was in high school.
Andrea DeNardo directed the younger kids. She and Wanda keep the program at a prime level.
I explored the topic of the inflatable cover for the Big Cat playing field with my Feb. 2 post on my "Morris of Course" companion blog. Here is the link:
You know, I am surprised that when the "softball complex" idea was first trotted out, with the predictable over-the-top hype, it was not met with the same kind of reaction as the proposed county jail. Remember the big meeting at the armory? Remember how the county commissioners felt they'd get a chance to speak there, but were rebuffed: "You're here to listen to us." I love to see that kind of community activism. Take charge!
Russia/Ukraine sickening
In high school I heard the refrain "light at the end of the tunnel" for Vietnam. Kids today have no idea what it was like growing up during the Vietnam thing. Boys were susceptible to the draft. Countless lives were changed or extinguished. Today the government wouldn't dare suggest "sending troops." But don't think it hasn't crossed their minds.
What on Earth could cause so many people in the Russia/Ukraine region to put their very lives on the line? I fail to understand it. So I wrote the song "Why Can't We All Get Along?" with words taken from the late Rodney King of course. Not a model citizen but so what? Words had transcendent wisdom.
I had my song recorded at a Nashville TN "demo" recording studio. I published the song to YouTube on May 3, 2022. I invite you to listen with the link below. I feel my words are stronger than ever. Thanks to Brent Gulsvig of Gulsvig Producions, Starbuck, for designing the YouTube presentation.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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