Let me proclaim that I never lost faith in J.J. McCarthy. Dan Sayles greeted me with a smile and "Skol!" this morning at our favored restaurant in Morris.
My topic for online writing the last few days has been "running up the score." Can we still expect a fuss to be kicked up after games in which this alleged infraction is committed? Because, I can sure remember a time when this was the case. The complaints would get pretty hard-edged. I'd wonder if an aggrieved person (like maybe our own activities director) might want to punch the winning coach in the nose if given a chance.
The complainer would make an ethical issue out of it. And secondly, the intensity of the complainer would grow out of the sheer embarrassment of being associated with the losing side. I'm still writing about it today because I have felt troubled by those episodes. Wouldn't any reasonable person at least have conflicted feelings?
I mean, to expect a coach to tell his team to let up in some way, to have all the air taken out of the tires? For what end? To protect the feelings and the image of the opposing team? As if a mere score would cause people to make judgments?
I worked with a Hancock basketball coach over many years who really felt he should "let the ponies run." His teams generated great excitement. They made state in the two-class system which was almost herculean. Don't expect the coach to end up in any sort of Hall of Fame. He crashed and burned. His wrongdoing landed him in prison in fact. If you can blot that out - admittedly hard to do - my what a tremendous chapter in Stevens County sports history!
And I have never wanted that chapter to be obscured or forgotten. His teams could bring nigh a packed house at the UMM P.E. Center for the tournament. The "Owl" mascot would dash onto the court and lead a cheer. The son of Principal Roger Clarke played an electric guitar "riff" at the same time. These memories will stay fresh in my mind.
The Hancock team attracted a far greater fan turnout at UMM than what UMM's own teams attract today. And it's a night-and-day difference.
Was the Hancock coach guilty of "running up the score" sometimes? The suspicion floated around.
Fans here in Morris were inclined to not want to fawn much over what Hancock was doing, the obvious reason being that Hancock was doing rings - rings, I tell you - around our own programs. The sheer jealousy might be intense.
But the Morris fans, led by an intransigent (translation: pain in the a--) bloc of teachers would never admit to any jealousy. Instead they'd thump their chests with how the priority in Morris was "academics" and so a pox on the sports stuff. Was I irritated? Well, rhetorical question.
I made trips to the big-time Twin Cities sports venues to follow the Owls. I was in the newspaper media of course. It was the pre-digital times when the public was more reliant on newspapers. A newspaper writer could feel he had a sense of power back then. It was real. And in my case, my formative years were exactly when the whole Watergate thing was unfolding and newspaper writers were the heroes! Isn't that amazing? It happened in Washington D.C. where I presume you'd find the most expensive lawyers! And it was newspaper writers leading America out of its crisis.
And to be a newspaper writer, you did not need to have any special credentials or degrees!
The Morris teachers, or let's say a significant "problem" bloc, must have about lost their minds to realize that the chief sportswriter for the Morris paper was not "in with them." They had such a guild mentality. They had enough power as it was. It was healthy for a contrarian to be at the newspaper typewriter.
And so what I did to be contrary was to indicate real enthusiasm for what the Hancock programs were doing. Girls basketball and wrestling led the way but overall there was a spark throughout. Treasured memories. No one can take those memories away from me.
Focusing on the present
Update: In the past few years I have noticed an increased number of one-sided scores. Just when I thought I'd seen it all, along would come a new one, even "worse." And so I'd wonder if the losing athletic director or coach would want to punch people in the nose for this.
Take a look at the girls basketball score from BOLD vs. Montevideo on Friday. A tempest of anger and finger-pointing perhaps? I don't know but I doubt it. I sense that the times and attitudes have changed. Just a sense I have.
And so bless my old newspaper colleague Randy Olson of Bonanza Valley for noticing my writing and sharing his considerable wisdom. Here's what he wrote to me in just the last few hours:
Hello Brian, going to take a brief break from typing up basketball stats. It can make one go cross eyed, as you know quite well!
I'll speak briefly to the BOLD-Monte game. I definitely wouldn't accuse BOLD of running up the score. Here's my insight: a team like BOLD (which I saw in person on Thursday in Belgrade) did not have the deepest bench. I think a total of 12 girls dressed for the varsity game. I would imagine that the bottom 5 for BOLD were about equals with the starting 5 for Montevideo. Once the starters established that huge lead, I bet the reserves kept up the same pace. It would be difficult to say to those bottom 5 players for BOLD, "Hey, play conservative ball now since we have such a huge lead."
With the shot clock (which I can argue for and against) a team doesn't have the option to fully take the air out of the ball. They can withdraw a full court press. But every 35 seconds you have to take a shot.
I won't be surprised to see more lopsided scores. Also, I think reserves on your better teams (BBE, NLS, Minnewaska, Sauk Centre) are a notch better than reserves on teams 15 or 20 years ago. That's my two cents. A coach can "sub down" and not lose all that much.
Whither UMM Cougars?
Randy has been very attuned to our UMN-Morris. In a different email he pointed out some cause for concern with the competitive caliber of UMM teams these days - a dearth of competitiveness certainly. Or, at least some major questions being raised. He and I think along the same lines and we never kow-tow to a "party line." Randy shared the following:
Hello Brian, I'm sure this has crossed your mind at this point, but I had to write it out and have it in black and white in front of me.
UMM's winter basketball teams are 8-14 overall before Christmas; 6 of the 8 wins between the men and women are against Trinity Bible (4) and then the illustrious Oak Hills of Bemidji. Honestly, who has even heard of Oak Hills? I have never heard of them until recent years when UMM started playing them.
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| Randy Olson |
Randy works in Bonanza Valley where the pep band director is Brystin LaMont, UMM graduate and former director of the Hancock band and pep band. Outstanding person. I shared compliments on her Hancock pep band when I heard it perform for a football playoff game at Big Cat Stadium. And in particular I liked how Brystin played electric bass herself to really give a "bottom" to the sound.
Alas, I found out later that poor Brystin was reprimanded by her high school principal for doing that. An allegation of being "unprofessional," the way it was told to me. Well the Hancock principal could go and sit under a cow as far as I was concerned. I remember when I wrote about this young man when he was a Hancock student-athlete playing for Dave Schoeck.
I remember when coach Dave stuck his neck out to express sympathy for the Hancock girls basketball coach when the latter was in the throes of his legal imbroglio. I don't think any teacher would dare write a letter like that now. Here's a little secret: Through that whole process I was totally convinced that the accused coach was guilty. Sometimes I just knew too much for my own good. You might say I was the proverbial guy who "knew where all the bodies were buried."
I'd actually enjoy seeing that old Hancock girls coach again. God created all of us sinful. There but for the grace of God go I? Well maybe. Dennis would always say to me, "you old sidewinder." I don't think he liked me but I was in awe of his program.
The Morris program had a coach for three years who was supposed to accomplish great things here. No such luck. The exact opposite happened. Morris was "snakebit." Later on we had a coach named Steve Harter who if anything was worse.
The Hancock fans were left with memories of their team playing at Williams Arena and the Met Sports Center. Golden memories. And yes, in the two-class system. Phenomenal.
I'll quote Randy Olson here on the topic of Brystin LaMont and her BBE pep band. Thanks Randy.
Due to a lack of brass in her pep bands, Brystin generally has played trumpet or tuba when playing for her own pep bands. We're not nuts enough to tell her she can't play during her own pep band performances. Gosh! She once told me the story of how that all went down at Hancock. I'll share that with you sometime.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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