The Tigers have not had a great start to their volleyball season. So like I said at the outset, we might not have been optimistic. Sure enough we were denied victory. However the Tigers did win one of the four games played. Nice consolation? Maybe.
Well, our one win was in the opening game so this might have fueled upbeat expectations. The Tigers downed the Wildcats at the start 25-12. Fans cheered lustily I'm sure. But NL-Spicer got it together for the remainder of the match. They won the succeeding games 25-21, 25-15 and 25-20. The cheering subsided.
NL-Spicer gets a bigger test this evening (Tuesday) as they'll host top-ranked Albany (MN Class AA).
A void, again
The West Central Tribune has "stats not available" for MACA from the Monday match. So again I ask: Does this mean the paper wanted or expected our stats and didn't get them? That seems sort of implied. I take it as fact that we are not in the normal coverage area for the WC Tribune. But hey, we used to be!
Is Forum Communications bitter about their failed venture of owning the Morris newspaper? And the Hancock newspaper? Forum forced the Hancock paper out of existence. Thanks for nothing. And the Forum was reportedly set to close the Morris paper according to a very good source I had.
Today the Morris paper has been salvaged but it puts itself forward as also being the Hancock paper. So you might suggest that the Morris community is short-changed by having their (own) newspaper have the dual loyalties to Morris and Hancock. I know there has been a chorus of complaints over the last few years about Hancock being over-represented in the Morris paper. To the extent that the Morris paper has received these complaints directly, it has chosen to be unresponsive.
I think last week's paper was a good example of what I'm talking about.
Nothing against Hancock of course. Any community with its own K-12 school system should still have its own paper. We're out of luck here in Stevens County. So Hancock news and photos come swarming at us all the time from the Morris paper. And a lot of the photos in the Morris paper look at least a little "muddy," some of them very muddy. You know the better alternative to this? To have the photos on an online forum. Photos look totally sharp there.
The Morris paper does not harness its website at all for MACA sports interests. Check it out: click on "sports" from the website. I haven't checked this morning but I don't want to bother. Typically the material is almost 100 percent UMM. Why have we allowed this to continue? Are se really that apathetic as a community?
We should have had the opportunity to admire some photographic representation of the big Friday night event at Big Cat. What a community spectacle including the grand singing of the National Anthem by Emily Hamm. The first appearance of our pep band for a football game this season.
On Saturday through Monday, people should have had the opportunity to go somewhere online and appreciate all this. When Brett Miller was at the radio station I'm sure he would have done something. Brett is gone and Marshall Hoffman is gone. Now we have "DeeDee."
The Tuesday Morris paper will have coverage, hopefully with photos that are not muddy. but I would push for more timeliness. There is nothing preventing the Morris paper from using its own website for publishing photos on a timely basis. No roadblock at all. Sue Dieter was pushing for a dynamic newspaper website when she was at the paper. The dreams have been dashed.
I don't care about the profit margin for the Morris paper. I would just like to see the community, especially the kids, served better.
The WC Tribune this morning has no coverage of the MACA volleyball team. But it does share stats for the winning NL-Spicer team in its coverage. I like to give attention to the student-athletes in my online writing these days, so here goes.
NL-Spicer had two players share the load in setting. So we see Hannah Nieland and Munsch getting 22 and 20 assists respectively. Here's the kills list in hitting: Ava Carlson 10, Ayla Caskey 9, Emma Madison 8, Katelyn Delzer 8, Barney 7 and Grace Peters 6.
Barney had 4 1/2 ace blocks. Delzer followed with three, then we see Caskey with 1 1/2. Carlson performed one ace block. Madison and Peters each had 1/2.
The digging specialist was Grayce Reigstad with 29. Four other Wildcats can be cited in digs: Abby Knudsen 9, Munsch 7, Caskey 6 and Barney 5.
This is sad: I find that I can hardly ever type the names of the MACA female student-athletes any more. In the winter I have had some success with boys basketball. Not with girls. The boys coach has been making some use of the "Maxpreps" website for timely stats reporting. I really hope he continues that. Maybe his dad can give him a nudge or a reminder.
It is always a joy to write about MACA athletes. I just have a much harder time these days.
I am staying abreast of Minnewaska Area volleyball in my online writing. Odds are much better of me obtaining individual highlights for the Lakers. I'll take what I can get. Here is the permalink for my current 'Waska post which is on my companion blog "Morris of Course." The Lakers swept BOLD. Previous to that they swept our Tigers. Thanks for reading.
Addendum: Just before clicking on "publish" I checked sports on the Stevens County Times website. Might I see special attention for the MACA football win over Little Falls? No. So what's the top story in the eyes of the SCT? "Solid defensive effort falls short in 1-0 home defeat for Cougar soccer." Clever ploy in headline too: say something positive about the "home" team before admitting we lost the game. I'm familiar with all this, believe me.
Addendum #2: I do not hate Taylor Swift.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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