And then the traits got passed on to a good share of these people's children. Too conservative? Too penny-pinching? There were pluses and minuses with such thinking.
MACA sports fans will be wiping the sleep out of their eyes in a couple hours, no doubt. Their Tigers had one of those major trips for sports action. My goodness, Thief River Falls! I wonder what the story is behind this scheduling. There must be a backstory.
I started getting concerned about such trips when the Tigers had a first-round football playoff game in Fairmont. You know where Fairmont is, right? Down by the Iowa border.
My sense of concern increased when I noticed that Morris wasn't even sending a fan bus to games like this. I was still with the Morris newspaper. I called the school, naively perhaps, to ask about a fan bus. Jill or Rita would say "no." I was not required to go to Fairmont. I made a comment around the shop that "I wouldn't if you told me too" but seriously, I would have done it if required.
What a difference between a game like that being "home" versus "away." I have argued that such trips actually endanger the safety of fans. Even late games played in Marshall would fall in that category. Fans are tired and stressed. If it's a weekday they may have worked. Late-night driving is no picnic. A fatality due to all this would really get us thinking about the issues. But for now that's just a worrisome hypothetical.
Driving a car on the face of it has dangers. Look at the recent tragedy involving Shane Decker. What a shock. Is it true that he missed a dead end? You never know when a potential hazard will crop up. Insurance agents would be the first to tell you this: an incident can arise so suddenly and unpredictably.
Insurance rates of course are going up. What isn't going up? At a certain point wouldn't a person have to adjust? And the Federal Reserve which is the constant lifeline for the hallowed stock market is outright promising a series of "rate cuts." Some people will celebrate that. The other side of that coin is that we'll get more inflation.
And how much longer can we keep absorbing inflation? I have concerns unless you all know of some tricks for dealing with it. Homeowners insurance! Car insurance! My goodness.
On the positive side we might reflect on last night's football. Or should we? The Tigers stomped all over Thief River Falls. Is that a reflection of our superior talent? Or might the Thief River Falls parents be more cautious than us, kept their sons out of football? Cautious and wise I might add. The glory of a big football victory will fade pretty fast. It will be nearly forgotten in the future. All those hard hits on the playing field could have sad consequences for some if not many.
I was hoping that the advent of soccer for our school would draw away some boys from football. Not sure if that is happening. Year 1 for our soccer program has not yet brought success on the field, unfortunately. A new sports venture often gets going like this. Hang in there, guys. The first-year players will always have a special niche. I remember writing about the first-ever home boys varsity hockey game for MAHS. Yes it was "MAHS" and not "MBA." I wrote for the Morris paper. Go look it up. I wrote with emphasis about the first Tiger to score a goal.
Year 1 of MACA soccer ought to project the same sense of history.
This post that you are reading now is not proceeding the way I had planned or preferred. I would prefer writing about the Tigers' 42-0 win at Thief River Falls. I'd love to describe the scoring plays and share highlights. But as expected, I cannot find the game info anywhere in the media on this Saturday.
For the hundredth time or so I'd like to implore that this problem be corrected. I guess I won't hold my breath. I still cannot find highlights of our home opener win over Minnewaska Area. Unbelievable. I have been able to find Minnewaska highlights but not for MACA. Unbelievable. Morris has its shortcomings with community enthusiasm.
When I cannot write a summary of a game, I "vamp." So that's what I'm doing. I am happy to have quoted our old neighbor Les Lindor. He served as chairman of the Morris school board. The old faces of Northridge Drive are gone except for me. My family moved here in 1962. Remember the Cuban missile crisis? We were prepared to "kiss our asses goodbye" according to the old joke.
I have not been able to do any writing about MACA volleyball either. It's a shame.
Oh, here's an interesting news note: The "Minnesota Scores" website no longer reports our home games as being at U of M-Morris. It now reads "Morris Area School - Big Cat Stadium." I have raised an issue about this in the past. Maybe that helped. Big Cat "feels" like it's a part of UMM but of course the facility is joint between UMM and the public school.
There should probably also be a concert hall that is "joint." But the concert hall is wholly Morris Area School.
How is UMM looking for the new school year? I cannot say I feel heartened. We lost our foreign students who were our "cash cow." We lost them because of the Trump presidency. Could be a dagger for UMM's future. I don't think that's overstatement.
But the local Trump fans are fueled with as much zeal as ever. I drive to and from town each day and pass by "Trump" signs. We are clearly Trump country. I have not seen any Harris/Walz signs. People might be scared to put those up because of fear of vandalism or actual bodily harm. This would be influenced by our local very Christian Trump supporters.
Addendum: A check of the kmrs-kkok website on this Saturday shows only the score of the game vs. Thief River Falls. Just the score! Brett Miller used to give us a nice little summary. Why has he not been replaced? Maarshall Hoffman goes, Brett Miller goes. But we always have "DeeDee."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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