On the football end of things, not so encouraging. But that's the way it goes sometimes. Tiger football will be showcased at home on Friday. Montevideo will be here for the 7 p.m. contest. I wonder if there will be a good turnout at Big Cat Field. I wonder if the MAHS pep band will be there. I believe the band is open to the Chokio-Alberta musicians. Seems we can't count on the pep band as much as in bygone times.
The football Tigers dropped its opener to Minnewaska Area on Thursday. Rather bleak affair from the Tigers' perspective. The team is adjusting to the absence of Riley Asmus. We are reminded that "athletic specialization" is becoming more common. Riley is focused on baseball. He's going out of his way to avoid injury. Can't argue with that.
Meanwhile the boys who are out for football this year are living with the very real injury risk.
Sometimes I wonder about the second half of games that have become one-sided. It's just an exercise in players risking injury.
On Thursday evening I started out listening to Fargo radio as I often do, and so there was a broadcast of Barnesville vs. Roseau. Barnesville took total control of the game. Seems there are more such games nowadays, commonly referred to as "blow-outs." Don't you all have to feel for the losers in these situations?
Sometimes you sense in the second half that the winning team just starts "running over" the team that is not so fortunate. I can only wonder what it's like being on the defeated end of such affairs. I never played organized team sports.
While we're on the subject of the humiliation of losing, let's look at wrestling where the feeling has got to be considerably worse. We should commend those kids who hang in there when the outcomes are not favorable to them. Or should we? Really, couldn't these kids find better ways to spend their time?
I wonder if the wrestling fans are a little more subdued, calm than they used to be. I remember covering these matches at the 1968 gym and the fans made ear-splitting noise. Although I didn't say anything (or not much) at the time, my personal thoughts were "so much ado about nothing. Whether the Morris kid wins or loses, so what?"
So there's a kid from the visiting team who is "down" on the mat as the Morris "hero" wrestler keeps applying pressure for the foregone conclusion win. Many of the fans rise to their feet. Again, ear-splitting noise. Toward what end? The opportunity to thump our chests or something? And I just watched. Made mental notes to be sure.
The Barnesville football team rolled over Roseau 52-19. The 'Waska Lakers took command vs. Morris and won 48-14. Years from now no one will remember.
My preference
Right now I'd like to be reporting individual stat highlights for the first two MACA volleyball matches. Collect as much background for writing on this Sunday morning of Labor Day weekend. My hands are tied. In past times I could collect info on at least one of these matches from the West Central Tribune. Well, things have been quite rolled back at the Willmar paper - nothing like it was before.
The print edition is hardly a shadow of what it used to be. So we rely on online. Morris is no longer in the coverage territory of the West Central Tribune. However, we very often play opponents who are in the territory. Somehow our Morris football stats from Thursday did get reported there. So congratulations but will this be a rare exception to the rule?
So often when a Morris score appears there, we'll see stats for the opposing team but "stats not available" for MACA. Such was the case in MACA volleyball last week. What does "stats not available" mean? Does it mean they wanted the stats but didn't get them? Seems to imply that, but I'm guessing that the Willmar people make no effort to get our stats. They used to.
You might want to ask them about that. It looks bad: bad PR for Morris. You'd think that Schweiter Chevrolet would like to get eyeballs from the Morris area. But Forum Communications has been in retreat like seemingly all newspapers.
The Morris paper people would tell you "the volleyball review will be in our next paper" (which will be Tuesday). The Melrose match was played this past Tuesday. That's way too long to have to wait. What would Mike Martin say? This was a 3-2 win by the Tigers. Another 3-2 win on Thursday. So that's what yours truly would like to be typing about today. You can't always get what you want. I do try sometimes.
The problem with the Tuesday paper is that you have to BUY it. And with prices going up at the grocery store, well the cost of a newspaper may not be "token" anymore. Someone somewhere should harness the convenience of the Internet.
I personally know two members of the volleyball team. I'd like to follow them better. Put your thinking caps on, all you people. I realize that can be hard in Morris. Well, most of you are probably gone for the Labor Day weekend anyway. I'm perfectly happy to stay in Morris.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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