The D-G-F "Rebels" defeated our Tigers 31-27 last night (Saturday).
Such a bittersweet Sunday morning in this late October of 2024. Weather stays nice for being outside. I took my standard walk yesterday that includes a good chunk of the bypass east of town. It also covers a good portion of the biking/walking trail. I make new friends out there and by that I mean primarily the dogs that people are walking/running. Nice to be able to make new friends somehow.
This morning is bitter too because of what happened last night (Saturday) at Big Cat. The Big Cat place was a magnet for fans again as playoff-time began. Oh my it ended much too abruptly. How deflating. It has to feel deflating because the Tigers played such a high caliber of ball all season. Not only winning but scoring points in abundance.
I walked out to the facility to savor the atmosphere. I was wondering if the pep band would be playing this deep into the fall. Temperatures have dropped but not by that much. Hey, the band played on!
Here's a good place to insert that the MAHS instrumental music program has a concert set for tomorrow night (Monday), 7 p.m. Directors Andrea DeNardo and Wanda Dagen are in charge. Andrea is a fellow morning customer at Caribou Coffee.
Hey, I just got back from Caribou on this Sunday morning, Oct. 27. I have to be aware of when we go off daylight savings time. Looks like we have to wait one more week. Then we'll have more daylight in the morning which is nice in some ways. But we have to accept the curtain of darkness arriving earlier in the evening. A fair trade-off? People do debate this.
Seems almost unfair that we could lose in the first round of playoffs. Man, the Tigers seemed at times to show the kind of caliber that could get us to the state championship game! Well, maybe we'll see the Rebels reach the title contest.
Meanwhile, our student-athletes will now have the maximum possible break before winter sports gets going. Yawn. You see, our volleyball team lost in the first round too. We put up a battle but were on the short end 3-2. Seems a rather long time since our volleyball or girls basketball teams caused any real excitement in this community with a tournament climb.
Oh there I go again, putting too much emphasis on competitiveness. We are so conflicted when it comes to that. There is a natural urge to want to "win," isn't there? But so many of us realize we shouldn't get caught talking in such terms. Because, we need to "support our student-athletes" no matter what, right? But I don't think chronic losing or under-achieving ever makes us want to diss the kids. It really makes us want to second-guess the coaches some.
I have a very long history of observing the dynamics when it comes to this. School administrators everywhere have headaches dealing with what I'm sure they would call a "good old boy" dynamic with coaches. The coaches become friends with each other. They fan out and have friends outside of that, like in church. And when questions arise, it causes discontent with a lot of people who have to come up with ways of defending the status quo.
We had school board members in the '80s - what a total mess of a decade for our Morris school - who would say to people "don't come at me about wins and losses." Oh really? It means absolutely nothing? There were issues outside of wins and losses and the W/L just became symptomatic.
But you absolutely could not argue with certain people and you might be told, in effect, "lay off this if you know what's good for you." This was the epitome of the "good old boys syndrome" wielding its clout. Girls/women too of course.
How do we assess our football and volleyball teams for 2024? How could we be anything but ecstatic about about the football boys? So much obvious talent, at times breathtaking talent. Some of these kids will no doubt ply that talent in college. Good luck to them.
I'll add a big "however" here. . . Both our football and volleyball teams lost in the first round of playoffs. So I think it is perfectly legitimate to feel a little disconsolate about that and to ask some questions. I really think it's deflating.
Maybe some of you will question my cognitive health. That's a popular thing to do in the wake of Biden and Trump being at the top of the national news so much. What a country! Stumbling geriatrics even with incontinence as a symptom, commanding our attention seemingly 24/7. And we can't find a national leader closer to middle age with middle age robustness? There is one: Kamala Harris.
Hah! Now that I've mentioned her, all sorts of people around our "red" Morris area would descend on me using the harshest language and cliche-filled putdowns, even making personal attacks against me. I have experienced this.
Aren't you nervous about election night being so close? The possible ascendance of Donald Trump again could become more than a theoretical possibility.
Our worst fears about DJT are always realized. So now we have to fear a truly Hitler-like person taking charge in America? You really don't care about this?
Things could not have made it to this point without the support of crazed "Christian" zealots. In the end, Christianity is going to have an awful lot to answer for. Maybe the Christian faith is going to have to fade away so as to rescue us all. Can you all not see that DJT is a 100 percent charlatan and flim-flam man who has exploited the Christian faith? Co-opted it? When in fact one of his main reasons for running for president is to stay out of prison?
You are all such fools.
Sorry, but. . .
I would like to share here some details from the Tigers' last volleyball match. I'd like to type some players' names. Everything is different these days because 1) we are no longer in the West Central Tribune's coverage area, and 2) Brett Miller has left the radio station. When Brett was there I could actually type some paragraphs about Tiger cross country, now I cannot.
I haven't typed any names of MACA volleyball players all fall. I'm thankful for the years when I could do this. It's fun staying on top of things and getting to know the players' names. But life goes on. We deal with the hand that we are dealt. Just like we'll have to deal with all the tension that will come with election night.
Even if things look good for Harris, we know the other side will have a virtual army of lawyers and strategists ready to go to work. Many of these people are willing to sacrifice their own personal well-being to support Trump. I mean look at the pathetic Rudy "Hair Dye" Giuliani and Tina Peters. The latter was willing to accept nine years in prison to support DJT, the guy who shits in his pants.
Herman Cain gave his life for DJT. He was talked into attending a crowded "rally" for Trump in Tulsa OK at the height of covid. Shortly thereafter we read on Drudge that he was on a ventilator.
I have to give a shout-out to "Drudge" here. If we can suppress the menace that is DJT, some credit will have to go to the good ol' Drudge Report. It was once known as "conservative." But what does that word mean any more?
Today I would call Drudge "honest," "unfazed" and hard-hitting. Same kind of journalist that I have prided myself to be. I took on the Morris teachers union in the 1980s. Ultimately all that caught up to me. But not until 2006.
Update: Someone told me at church coffee that the "play-in" games represented the real first-round games in football. Well, maybe. I'll dismiss that for now as a quibble. It would help if I could see some real brackets. The structure of prep sports these days can get a little confusing for people who are not the most ardent fans. I thought that since last night's game was the Tigers' playoff debut, it was first-round. Well it was first-round for us.
Media watch
Always a delight to hear from my old newspaper compatriot Randy Olson of Bonanza Valley. He and I share notes on how media is doing justice, or failing to do so, with our local sports teams. Shall I say Randy is exemplary with his approach. What would I be doing if I were still in the commercial media? Well I'd be trying.
An email from the always-energetic Randy this morning (Sunday):
Hello Brian, I'm seeing this at MN-Scores:
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
D-G-F 31
MA/CA 27
Final score.
Regular season game was decided in overtime.
I wonder if the Stevens County Times will get any playoff coverage posted online?
Here's how I cover sports playoffs!
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