Labor Day is a rather odd "holiday" because, how is it officially observed? Through much of my life we heard testaments to "organized labor." In fact, each year in the past when I worked alongside Jim Morrison, I'd tease him about how "it's time for your annual editorial honoring the role of organized labor in building our great nation." Shall we say this was not Jim's disposition.
Organized labor does not have the support it once did. I sure oppose unions for academic people in the public sector. Or really in the whole public sector.
No speeches or programs for "Labor Day!" Well maybe its significance as a holiday is that it simply allows people to spend one last long weekend at "the lake" for summer. I'm not a lake person. I used to enjoy spending Labor Day weekend in Las Vegas. At the paper we'd go to press early on Friday so we'd get the three-day weekend like everyone else.
You have to pay attention going into Labor Day weekend regarding the exact scheduling of football games. Some are on Thursday, some on Friday.
Back when the pep band was more taken for granted than today, I noted how we'd be without that for the opener. The explanation was that too many kids would be "gone." Well this is Morris where so many people choose to be "gone," just as a rule. "We're going to be gone." I have written that this statement should maybe be on the water tower.
The word "gone" is interesting: it doesn't specify where you're going to be, only where you are not going to be. And you aren't going to be in Morris, at least if you have any kind of choice.
A friend told me once: "Don't schedule a class reunion for August because people will communicate back and say 'I can't come, we have to get ready for school.' "
Well if school is such a top priority, why can't the families make their kids available for pep band? An irony I guess. Steve Dudding shared his wisdom: "The ones who want to be there (at the reunion) will come." So let's get to the essence of it.
Town talk
There's always drama with high school sports. Starting a couple weeks ago, if you brought up the subject of 2025 MACA football with anyone, right away you'd hear about how Riley Asmus was not going to play. So I guess that's the big story. I'm reminded of Gene Hackman telling the pep fest in "Hoosiers" that "I would hope you're interested in who we are, not who we are not."
Nevertheless, MACA fans are talking a lot about "who we are not." Riley Asmus who I've never met is opting out for his senior year of football. Our best athlete? Sounds like he might be. He's so talented he has a nice baseball scholarship arranged. Congratulations. And he's wise enough and prudent enough to realize you can get hurt in football.
So, let all those other kids risk serious injury out on the football field I guess. Meanwhile Riley is going to keep his body intact for what awaits him in college. I would never point fingers at a kid for bypassing football in order to ensure good health including long-term brain health. Again, congratulations.
I wonder if Riley is going to be a fan at games. Our home opener is Sept. 5 against Montevideo. Will the pep band be there?
You can see a nice photo of Riley in his baseball uniform with my current "Morris of Course" post. I write about how we are welcoming fall with smoke still in the air from the wildfires to the north. Remember the Platters' tune "Smoke Gets In Your Eyes?" Here's the link:
48 to 14
Ugh, looks like it might be a long season. The Tigers opened last night (Thursday) at Minnewaska. The home team owned the day. I have to be happy for Minnewaska. Such great school and community spirit. I enjoyed going over there for the "Minnewaska Showstoppers" summer musical production of "Newsies." There were significant Morris area connections to that. I'm biased in saying Jennie Odello was the star of the show.
The Odellos attend my church of First Lutheran. Let's see, are we supposed to go to the First Lutheran building or to Federated this next Sunday? Is that weird pairing going to work? Suppose I should be a glass-half-full person.
ELCA churches are in trouble. Too "liberal." We are losing out to MAGA or "Make America Great Again." How do y'all like RFK Jr. running our health care policy? He was a heroin addict for 14 years. The West Central Tribune headline reports that "Minnewaska wallops Morris/CA in opener." You have to be careful with words like "wallop" for high school sports. You don't want to get sadistic. Jim Morrison was amused by this issue.
Sometimes a team will "steamroller" an opponent. Well that's part of what happened with the 2025 football opener. We got steamrollered (or is it steamrolled?). The score was 48-14. The Lakers rolled up over 500 yards of total offense.
The stadium is named for Glenwood State Bank. My late uncle Howard Williams was president of Glenwood State Bank! Can you believe I have such distinguished relatives?
The halftime score was 35-7. Doesn't the second half of games like this just seem futile? It's just a chance for players to get hurt.
We scored our second touchdown in the fourth quarter. 'Waska had two TDs in the fourth.
The stats were pretty lackluster for MACA. The West Central Tribune continues to refer to us as "Morris/CA." Erratum.
'Waska had two top ballcarriers: Kearri Dickens and Alex Adams. Their quarterback was quite top-notch: Marc Gruber completed 13 of 16 passes for 255 yards with no interceptions. Tristan O'Neill looked like a superstar as pass-catcher: six catches for 157 yards.
Hey, this is great: our volleyball Tigers defeated Melrose and New London-Spicer in the opening week of play. On a down note, I must report that I cannot find any stat highlights on the Tigers. I'd love to dive into thorough match reviews. The West Central Tribune is back to its old habit of having "stats not available" for MACA.
It's always a plum for the Tigers to defeat NL-Spicer in girls athletics. Both of the week's wins were by 3-2: lots of suspense and back-and-forth. The Thursday match must have lasted a long time too. The first two games had the score of 23-25 with MACA on the losing end. So we sure turned it around after that. MACA needed 28 points to win Game 3! We took the last two games 25-20 and 15-11.
I'd like to know the total duration of this match. The match was played at New London.
Addendum: What can we find on the kmrs-kkok website about Tiger sports? Mostly the bare minimum "scores." I'd like to see some fleshing-out beyond that. Wouldn't you? I commend the tennis coach for getting more detailed info to the radio station for publishing. Kudos to Ms. House. She sets an example.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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