Taking in UMN-Morris basketball is a nice way to spend time in this awful weather December of 2025. I take a look out the window in the morning and I think "Siberia." Not just cold but dreary. There's a haze. It's all supposed to be overcome by the Christmas holiday season, right? I'm not sure I sense as much of that as usual. I try to take the proper steps including putting out Christmas lights at my place on Northridge Drive.
Is the mood held down by stuff that is going on with Donald Trump? He is addicted to attention and so he calculates what to do and say each day so he will dominate the news. The president of the U.S. does not have to be so dominant. We in theory have co-equal branches of government. Our congressperson out here in coyote country acts like she supports Trump each and every day.
Last night (Monday) I was not about to be distracted by the disturbing stuff in the news. I made the excellent choice of attending a UMM basketball game. The women's team played at 5:30. I was present throughout. Then at the end we saw the men's team warming up and so it looked like a doubleheader. I did not stick around but I congratulate the fans who did.
Quite the way to get your mind off the macro news and the frightful weather outside.
Intrepid?
Here I'll brag that I walked to campus and back home again! I'm amazed at how 50-degtee weather in late fall feels uncomfortable and discourages me from walking. I think once the frigid stuff really sets in, we develop a mindset to deal with it. Plus I have the ideal outerwear.
I enjoyed watching the women's basketball game. However I cannot be impressed by a win over this outfit called "Trinity Bible College." Such is the way of UMM sports now: playing obscure and almost cult-like schools that don't necessarily present challenging competition.
Cult-like? I don't think that's an exaggeration or a "rip." Nice kids maybe but I'm looking at what their institutions stand for. I wrote about the recent men's win over "Martin Luther."
You might think Martin Luther merely presents a bunch of nice Lutheran kids. The kids may be nice but the institution is sketchy. Can I elaborate? Well yes and I already did so in a whole post on my companion blog of "Morris of Course." "Martin Luther" is not so innocent as you might think. Here is the link to what I wrote:
The UMM women won Monday night by a score of 80-48. It was the last home game of this calendar year. Alas we have a losing record of 3-8. The game had an unusual start. In fact I've never seen this before and I've been to countless games. There was a technical freethrow shot awarded to Trinity Bible before the action even started.
My, what was the story? Well at halftime as I walked along the concourse, someone elucidated. If I understood correctly it had something to do with a scoreboard malfunction. Maybe a shot clock gone errant? This was good news because it meant that the technical was not because of a UMM player saying something inappropriate!
Last night was the first time in ages that I watched an entire UMM hoops game. So I was seated for a preliminary announcement that made clear fans have to behave properly. I wonder how long it has been policy for this statement to be shared. I was tremendously cheered to hear it. Because, I remember in UMM's long-ago past there was some quite inappropriate behavior and language coming from the UMM student-fans.
To be blunt, UMM fans often showed arrogance in those days. UMM athletics had a "swagger" that did not sit well with me, although I hesitated to say much. Some of this "swagger" appeared to come from the students' perception of themselves as intellectually superior. Well we were UMM. We were the great liberal arts bastion, the "jewel in the crown."
We can toss the crown aside now as we hope and pray that the sudden appointment of a new chancellor can help save the place. We're on our heels. Maybe it's good to be humbled. Again let me congratulate UMM on having the pre-game announcement on standards for fan conduct. We can't be too arrogant anyway when we play the likes of Trinity Bible College.
Our top scorer was Maddy Grove with 21 points. Shelby Mortenson was next with 14, and Anna Myers scored 11. Brooke Ver Steeg scored nine while Gianna Klarenbeek and Reece Wassink each had eight. Klarenbeek made two of four on 3-pointers. Congrats to the Cougars who showed winning form.
I purchased my normal Snickers bar for $2 at the concessions counter. Then I examined their whole menu. Pizza slice for $4. I remember all the years I regularly showed up at the P.E. Center and had my "evening meal" - no kidding - of two pizza slices for three dollars total. But I'm not shocked at present because inflation is such a given. Tariffs and trade wars.
And now farmers are having a bunch of money dropped on their laps by the Feds. In the media we hear this described as "a boost for the farmers." Well of course it is. Wouldn't you appreciate getting a bunch of government money handed to you too? And so now I suppose the farmers will vote Republican again. They'll probably vote for Trump again or maybe Don Jr. The father might find a way to get on the ballot. You know how he gets his way with help from the Supreme Court.
All the news
On my way home last night I stopped by Oyate to pick up the University Register newspaper. An interview with the new chancellor! I got home and scanned through most of it. I was prepared to be bored by a lot of safe and comfortable statements. However, this Mr. Rodriguez did appear to stick his neck out. I was surprised.
Instead of tamping down the conflict with state legislative big shot Steve Sviggum, Rodriguez spoke in a way that continued the discomfort. He recalled Sviggum's visit to our campus in the wake of Sviggum's controversial comments. Rodriguez described the visit in a way that suggested that the GOP luminary was not trying to be conciliatory.
Rodriguez's description may have been accurate - may have - but I'm surprised he'd put it out through the media.
I would have expected Sviggum to be in a fence-mending mood when he came here. Well I guess not.
More on sports
Lately I have put forth the opinion in my online writing that UMM ought to do whatever it takes to get our Cougars in the Northern Sun Conference again. So much time has passed since we departed. I have a long memory of when UMM was in with the likes of Moorhead State. I expanded more on my thoughts in an email to friend Dan Sayles yesterday. Here's what I sent to good ol' Dan:
Hello again Dan - I have been trying to point out how UMM would benefit if we could somehow get our athletic teams in the Northern Sun Conference again. We were once quite at home in that conference, we even had outstanding teams at that level. I know, I know, people point out "it can't be done" because of scholarships/money and all that jazz. But I guess money dictates everything now. So what befuddles me is that it's a money issue even though UMM is part of the wealthy and powerful U of M. In fact, I was told for a long time that the MIAC would never accept us because those schools were afraid of us - they were afraid of the resources we'd have due to being with the U of M. Where are those resources now?
I have attended about three UMM basketball games lately. The bleachers are now pulled out on only one side of the gym. This looks permanent. There are decorations on the other side. You and I remember when it was routine to have both sides pulled out. And back in those days we played the state universities. We have lost considerable prestige now and this hurts the visibility of the whole institution, and heaven knows UMM has overall problems now - look at the emergency change at the chancellor position. The change became necessary after the big Star Tribune article that embarrassed us. It embarrassed UMM and by extension the people at the central administration too. So now heads will roll and people will have their positions cut. I have faith in the new guy because he is totally beholden to President Cunningham and she sees UMM as a 5-alarm fire.
I listen to WDAY radio a lot and they have discussion shows where they get into the fine details of the small college athletic teams. This includes Northern Sun but I don't notice talk about UMAC. Aren't people a little embarrassed about UMAC? I am. Some of these schools seem "wacko." The UMM men recently defeated Martin Luther. So you might say "what's the big deal about beating a bunch of Lutherans?" Well, that school represents a fringe synod of the Lutheran church and that's the Wisconsin Synod. That synod believes the Pope is the antichrist. That's what we're dealing with now.
Trinity Bible College? WTF.
Oak Hills Christian may not be in the UMAC but we play them every year. Oak Hills Christian has the reputation of being the most anti-gay college in the whole U.S. And they come here to play UMM? UMM is famous for pushing gay activism and this has hurt our enrollment. There was a time when the UMM faculty would have risen up to protest Oak Hills Christian even coming here. That won't happen now because the faculty has to be thankful for every day that UMM even survives!
Look at our Big Cat Field and the Cougar Sports Center: such fantastic facilities but these are for the UMAC level? It is simply not right. Let's get the Moorhead State "Dragons" coming here to play again.
MACA girls had a great week last week. The big test will come when we play Minnewaska. I hope we can stay within 50 points! 'Waska cannot pass a school referendum!
The MACA boys obviously doing well.
Say, there are coyotes out and around. I saw some to the north of my place about a week ago, at 7:30 in the morning.
- Brian W.
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