Newspapers have not faded as fast as certain experts like Michael Wolff once predicted. We heard so much doomsaying. A part of me was suspicious through all that. The people who own newspapers like to project adversity like they might be going over a cliff. Crying wolf?
This is not to say newspapers haven't had to confront some pretty daunting challenges. And yes, many of the "journalists" have lost their livelihoods. Remember Doug Grow of the Star Tribune? Some have maintained their positions through the shifting times. This circle includes Patrick Reusse.
Surprises me a little because Reusse made a name for himself appealing to the cynical side of boomers like myself. We understood National Lampoon Magazine. Our parents would not. So Reusse engaged in pretty hard-edged skepticism at times, leveling it against the more pretentious people around us. He built a following.
His cynicism came through at Thanksgiving with his "Turkey of the Year." Over the years I have often been curious about who he'd target next. I don't follow sports as well now.
I remember at least one letter writer to the Strib who thought Reusse's attitude could become excessive. Reusse had written some uncharitable things, I guess, about Mike Lynn of the Minnesota Vikings. Lynn was the guy in charge although I can't remember his exact position. He took a lot of brickbats generally speaking.
The CW was that Lynn had to keep expenditures down and this of course limited the Vikings' competitiveness. So he'd draft players partly on the basis of whether they would be easy to sign. Mardye McDole?
Reusse as columnist appealed to the sports crowd who had no empathy for a frugal sports team manager. Reusse probably got a little hard-edged in his writing. This prompted a response from someone who suggested we need to be gentler with people when it comes to their "human failings." That kind of resonated with me.
Reusse expanded his "Turkey of he Year" to a supplementary "award" and this was "Herschel the Turkey." So notorious was Herschel Walker in Vikings annals, what with the price the Vikings paid to acquire him, Reusse pilloried the acquisition with a mock award. But the memory of Walker and his notoriety faded within a few years. I believe Reusse abandoned the extra award.
You know what? I don't even know if Reusse still does the Thanksgiving thing. His attitude with that has become so dated, as our culture has "flipped" to reject the old cynicism, the disrespect that came from National Lampoon and like material. Young people of today would examine the old deconstructionist stuff and just be puzzled. We're supposed to believe in our leading figures and institutions now.
Young people would say "why shouldn't we?" You kids, you don't know what it was like growing up in the 1960s with an older generation and its fossilized views regarding war and conformity. You just have no idea. The war instinct actually hung on for a long time. Its last spasms were for Afghanistan? Appears might be the case.
We aren't going to get drawn into that for Israel, are we? Might be an easier case to make than for Vietnam. But I personally disapprove of Israel, wish it would just dissolve. Imagine all the tragedy this would prevent, even among the Jews over there. The American people are ahead of our elected leaders on this matter. Or maybe it's a case of our elected leaders still being unduly influenced by AIPAC.
But I grew up under the specter of Vietnam and then Watergate in a time before the right wing media machine had gotten built enough to shield the crazy autocratic conservatives. Look at the maddening molasses-like progress of the legal wheels turning vs. Donald Trump. We may never get there. So many power-seekers working to run interference for Trump. They now have a means through the contemporary media to apply a blowhorn to at least influence people.
In Watergate the wrongdoing and the appropriate punishment came forward in starkly clear terms. Then it was over.
If this thing with Trump cannot be stopped as I fear it cannot, the U.S. as we've known it could be doomed. It's anyone's guess what will rise up to take its place.
A generous tone
Maybe Reusse the Star Tribune scribe is mellowing some. You might be aware that he paid some attention to our humble burg in the last few days. When I was a kid, any Minneapolis writer who paid attention out here would have us excited. That is not the case now. But it still does draw attention.
So Reusse came here and it was not with his generally snarky attitude. He did not come here to poke fun at anyone. I wonder if he made clear to UMM officials what his approach was going to be: charitable. Reusse wrote about us with a fawning mindset like we're underdogs I guess. Like we're not on the bandwagon with the lust for power and attention with the rest of college football. He fell into the gentle mindset very comfortably. The fact that he was writing about minorities helped.
So he acknowledged how our institution means much for Native Americans. I can't really determine if our policies with Natives reflects a "treaty" or some other kind of measure enacted long ago. But to be frank and direct on the matter, I fail to see how UMM's policy on this can really pass muster in light of the Supreme Court ruling nixing "affirmative action." I mean, if words and laws mean anything.
I know that Stephen Miller is trying to send out his attack dogs on this. And he's a subordinate of the real power-seeker Donald Trump. How much power do they have with education institutions that have wielded a fair amount of their own power?
I will suggest that when the Native American policy was first enacted many moons ago, the cost of college was a whole lot less than today. So, the free tuition thing did not handicap the institution as much as it almost certainly does today? Do I think it's fair? Really no, not in the year 2023, and a pregnant question to be asked is "what is a Native American?"
One-fourth Native? Is that enough? I don't think it should be. Maybe half would be better if not more. And how is all this really proven? Where entitlements are concerned, "funny stuff" happens. I may agree with much of what Elizabeth Warren stands for politically, but she does not seem at all to be a Native American. So I say to UMM: consider ending the policy if you have the latitude to do that.
The bottom line with Reusse's column was that it sort of pulled at our heartstrings: this football program out here good for opening doors for players who might find barriers elsewhere. Cute. The UMM administration would be approving.
Erratum
It appears that Reusse completely missed the dartboard with some of his facts. I assume he was just fed some erroneous stuff. From an email from a businessman friend:
Reusse must’ve been fed the company line on some of his stats, as we know that the real enrollment is considerably less than he wrote. I also had thought that the enrollment had hit 2000 for one year – if you remember that year, there wasn’t enough dorm space for everyone so the school rented rooms at the Sunwood Inn to house students for the year (or at least the first semester). But, whoever Reusse talked to probably wasn’t around then, so they don’t know much about UMM prior to their arrival (see also UMM music department staff). Speaking of UMM football, I remember you were puzzled a few weeks ago when you thought you heard/read about them playing the same school 2 weeks in a row, and assumed another typographical error. But, no – they did play Westminster College 2 consecutive weeks, October 14th and 21st. I heard someone on the radio say it was a “fluke due to a scheduling error.”
Here's from Randy Olson of Bonanza Valley:
Hello Brian!! I managed to read the entire Star Tribune column by Reusse on my cell phone. Apparently the "cookies" haven't told the StTrib servers that I have viewed too many stories, which allowed me to read his column without a "Paywall" warning or "Paywall" block.
I really enjoyed his column, and it was certainly a puff piece, a feel-good story. I think if I'm Reusse and near the end of my career that's a fitting type of thing to write about. I'm surprised that someone at UMM gave him incorrect information on the construction of Big Cat Stadium. I am 99% sure, in fact I'd bet the $20 bill in my wallet, that Big Cat Stadium was opened for the 2005 season with Coombe Field used last in 2004. That's my recollection without actually looking it up. I think I could dig into the UMM sports website football archives and it would tell exactly which year Big Cat was first used. (Reusse's column said 1997)
It was 2006?
Yours truly responds: How could I forget the 2005 football season? That had to be the fall of the goalpost incident. I left the Morris newspaper in June of 2006 as part of the fallout from that. Sam Schuman had to be haunted the rest of his life. I left the paper just before Big Cat was opened for football. I never got to cover any games there.
An asterisk for that: Starting in 2010 I got perched on the sidelines and took photos with my "film" camera of Tiger and Cougar football for my Flickr account online. For blog posts too. I'm so proud to have done that for a few years. I assembled whole albums on Flickr for the various seasons of MACA.
I have to be pretty close to certain that Big Cat opened for football in the 2006 fall, about three months after me leaving the paper. One's memory can always get distorted though.
I of course spent countless seasons covering Tiger football at Coombe Field. Today? I enjoy writing about Tiger football when I can get the raw information from other media sources. I don't have the standing to talk to coaches.
Brett Miller has left the radio station and this deals a blow to my efforts, unfortunately.
And there's more
My current post on "Morris of Course" takes the U of M to task for what I see as a flaccid situation with administration/leadership. Can't help but draw that conclusion. Did you get the recent annual fundraising letter for the Hort. Garden? Before getting the letter, I was ready to make my usual contribution. After reading it, decided not to! Can you blame me?
I invite you to read my post:
Addendum: Mike Lynn once said something like the following: "If you think my wife is attractive now, you should have seen her 15 years ago." Uh. . .
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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