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| Coach Cheryl Reeve |
Sports can evolve like any organism. And money gets quite into the picture. It is mid-July and the WNBA has finally reached its mid-season break. Whew! It is having some growing pains, what was quite to be expected.
Our own WNBA coach here in Minnesota lost her cool. I could forgive her for that to an extent. Emotions can overwhelm all of us in sports.
I wrote about high school and college sports for many years in the community press. How I know the truth about that.
The organism of high school sports is changing. We're saying hello to high school soccer this fall in Morris. Quite the new chapter. I would be quite focused on it, were I still a member of the commercial press. I would write about it with a little hyperbole which would be my wont. I behaved this way at the advent of UMM soccer. The program is so well-established now, we might lose sight of when it was groundbreaking.
One of my traits is that I have a good memory and I find it important to remember past events and strides. Even with a sense of drama. Yes I was wont to project as much in my community press days. Why treat anything like it's merely routine? Life is too short.
Sports is the toy department of the press. For society as a whole it is escapism. For the athletes it is business, if not literally so, then in a very real sense anyway. Because the kids know the games aren't played in the media or the imagination of fans. Fans experience it vicariously, deluding themselves into thinking they can really relate to the players. A sad delusion.
Football fans have for decades overlooked the health dangers presented for the young people out there. Even when reminded of such, they try to avoid thinking about it, or to pretend that the concerns are overblown. You see, football means too much to them as entertainment. It is their escape from the stress and tensions and even boredom - let's lump it together as "ennui" - in their lives.
Abandoning all that calls for change. Change disrupts us.
So, can Morris get in the swing with boys soccer? Can the sport take hold with decent roster numbers? It is July and the time is nigh.
But wait a minute, something is quite different about this July. Hey sports fans, we can demote baseball a little. We are making room for women's basketball. And isn't this just a sea change? Have y'all internalized it yet? Maybe not. In the short term you'll look up the next Indiana Fever game, right? When in the past have you ever been in the habit of doing such? I'll suggest "never."
I personally saw the birth of high school girls basketball at my prep alma mater, MHS here in Motown. I'm thinking that 1971-72 was the first year. Can't be far off. I remember Leatrice Tomoson as a pioneer. And I'm sad to realize how much better and well-known "Leets" would be if she were coming up today in the better-developed world of girls basketball.
Girls and women's basketball has been around a long time now. There has been so much time for further inroads to be made, yet it appears our current spring/summer of 2024 is the breakthrough time.
The stage was set with the NCAA Tournament. Iowa made the championship game in back-to-back seasons, and fair or not, became the banner carrier for all that is going on. Unfair maybe in the sense that placing second means there was a higher-achieving team. Some people invoke race. Sad if true. And c'mon it's probably true. The preponderance of white fans can relate better to the white bread team of Iowa I guess.
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| Aliyah Boston |
Hallelujah! Let's all get on board.
But what about our Minnesota Lynx? A lump of coal for coach Cheryl Reeve, please. She has done such a good job getting her Lynx to be one of the better WNBA teams. Her creds are quite underscored by being the Team USA coach. So I wish she could project an underlying feeling of joy at all times.
Prior to this season I would not have been interested in reading any quotes from the Lynx coach. Reeve should be jumping up and clicking her heels together over the state of affairs in women's hoops. She should be pinching herself! You're not dreaming, coach Reeve.
Really? In July?
Well, the Indiana Fever came to Target Center on Sunday. A total marquee sports event, and basketball in July! Front and center? It was, 100 percent. The Paris Olympics begin later this month.
Coach Reeve, speaking in advance about the Sunday game and the likelihood of a pro-Indiana crowd at Target Center, said of that likelihood "I don't give two shits." She was pressed further on the matter. Showing flashing wit once again - not - Reeve said "I don't give one shit."
Ish.
Who coaches for the University of Minnesota? I cannot name even one Gopher player. Just think if we had the U of Iowa program here in Minnesota. No such luck.
The U of M overall is having lots of headaches these days. What do you suppose the new U president has been told behind closed doors about the "coordinate campuses?" I don't think Rochester is a problem because that community is headed for boom times.
Morris? Crookston?
Our own campus has students that do not pay tuition, the Indians. The campus might be a hard enough sell even without that limitation. Money is the mother's milk. For sports and for college. Morris looks remote indeed. And keep in mind the coyotes howling at night out here!
Addendum: Forcing our MAHS boys to choose between football and cross country has been a profound disservice to them. Cross country has never been a legitimate option for so many of the boys, boys who are too large to ever have any hope of excelling in cross country. The two sports are night and day. Size is tremendously important in football and a total hindrance in cross country. Even I was too big to ever do well in cross country. It is a sport for the small and wispy types.
Now the boys have soccer available. Way too belated. I hope there is a major switchover from football to soccer.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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