Tigers shine at Big Cat, downing Albany

Coach Jerry Witt and players savor win over Albany. (B.W. photos)

Logan Manska advances the ball vs. Albany in section win.

Connor Metzger is off and running on his 34-yard touchdown run.

Jordan Staples charges forward with football in the Saturday win.

Tigers 33, Albany 13

Next stop: St. Cloud State. The big football stadium at SCSU will be the site for the next MACA football challenge.

We're into the post-season now. It began with a bye for our undefeated Tigers. The well-rested squad then took the field Saturday night at their own comfortable venue of Big Cat Stadium.

Our stadium here has a feel much like the St. Cloud stadium. These stadiums are part of a popular new wave of artificial turf venues. The St. Cloud stadium is right next to the grand Mississippi River. It's part of a complex that includes the hockey arena and old Halenbeck Hall (and fieldhouse).

Kickoff time is set for 5:45 p.m. this Friday, Nov. 2. The Tigers take a 9-0 season mark into this new challenge. On the other side of the football will be New London-Spicer, the Wildcats. The Tigers and Wildcats are set to clash in the Section 6AAA championship game.

We saw the Tigers take care of business Saturday in the semis vs. Albany. The Tigers began taking over this game in the second quarter, and the situation became more rosy in the third. The four quarters ended with MACA up 33-13.

The first quarter saw each team score a touchdown. It was the Tigers striking first as quarterback Jacob Torgerson ran the football into the end zone from the seven. Noah Grove kicked the point-after.

But Albany answered promptly with a kickoff return that ended in the end zone. It was Mike Schlangen returning that kickoff for six for Albany. The PAT kick try was unsuccessful. The first quarter ended with coach Jerry Witt's Tigers leading 7-6.

Any suspense would fade pretty steadily. The Tigers seized the "mo" by scoring 13 points each in the second and third quarters.

Here's how these four Tiger touchdowns unfolded: Tom Holland scored on a run from the eleven. Grove's kick was true. Torgerson found daylight for a score from the one. This time the PAT try was no-go. Connor Metzger then took over, turning on the jets on a scoring run from 34 yards. Grove found the middle of the uprights. Then Jordan Staples scored on an eight-yard run, after which the PAT try misfired.

Albany scored the night's final touchdown as it was Schlangen again finding the end zone on a 14-yard scamper. Scott Litchy kicked the point-after.

The Tigers bathed in a wave of warm cheers from their home sideline. Warm, yes, on an otherwise quite chilly night.

Coach Witt had to smile about the turnover-free football his squad played. He also had to beam about his team's aggressive defense reflected in six quarterback sacks. Intensity, yes!

The Tigers had 17 first downs.

The rushing attack was a force indeed. Tom Holland covered 123 rushing yards in 14 carries. Staples charged forward for 58 yards in eleven carries. Tanner Picht picked up 69 rushing yards in ten carries. Metzger's big TD run was part of four carries for 53 yards for this reliable Tiger. Torgerson contributed 24 rushing yards, and Aaron Nelson added a handful of yards to the mix.

Torgerson's passing stats were five completions in ten attempts for 61 yards and no interceptions. The quarterback's targets were Holland (one catch, eleven yards), Logan Manska (2-47), Chandler Erickson (one catch, four yards) and Picht (one catch).

Picht handled the Tigers' punting - just two punts needed. Staples and Austin Dierks each intercepted a pass. Nick Vipond had a fumble recovery. Tackle chart standouts included Tyler Henrichs, Erickson, Metzger, Staples, John Tiernan, Nate Vipond and Nick Vipond.

The Viponds were in on sacking the quarterback. Other Tigers to cite in that role were Tirenan, Henrichs, Erickson and Staples.

Albany's Schlangen had 86 rushing yards in 15 carries, plus he had three pass receptions for 40 yards.

The Tigers' 26 unanswered points in the second and third quarters told the story of this game. What will the story be on Friday? Fans are looking forward with anticipation.

If you're new to this website, you should know I've reviewed every Tiger football game this season (not to mention the last two seasons also). I appreciate you visiting.

Most of my Tiger volleyball coverage has been on my companion website, "Morris of Course" (linked at upper-right on this page).

Thank you and good luck to coach Witt and his Tigers! Viva Morris Area Chokio Alberta football for 2012.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Smith makes state, volleyball team stung

Cross Country: Section 6A running

The conference meet may have suggested "summer" but you know how it is in Minnesota. We cross our fingers that the mild weather can persist but it never does.

A rather chilly day greeted the MACA running Tigers and their fellow harriers from around Section 6A Thursday (10/25). This was the big day for determining who'd get the nod for state. Maybe it didn't feel like winter but the 35-degree state of affairs suggested it's on our doorstep. At least we don't have a hurricane moving in like out east. "Hurricane Sandy" might wreak havoc. ("Sandy" is the name of our family dog, age 16 and holding his own nicely.)

Runners dealt with a piercing north wind in addition to the temperature that flirted with freezing. The site for this mass affair: New London (Little Crow Country Club). Runners took off from the starting line in late afternoon.

What a spectacle the Section 6A meet was, following tradition.

It doesn't take long for a runner to forget the effects of the cold. MaKenzie Smith was a runner to watch on this day. It was a smart bet Smith would make state. The big question for this MACA Tiger harrier was if she could be first to the finish line. Senior Smith is a two-time conference champion runner.

Smith had to settle for second place on this day. Ahead of her was a Dragon of Litchfield: Savannah Ramirez. Ramirez has had an up-and-down cross country career, making state in her eighth and ninth grade years only to falter as a sophomore when she finished a modest 14th in section. She demonstrated Thursday that her 2011 performance might just have been an aberration.

On Thursday Ramirez was on top of her game, turning in her season-best running and getting clocked at 15:01 over the 4000 meters. The Dragon junior carved out a 19-second advantage over second place Smith who arrived at the finish chute with a 15:20 time. Smith is obviously in for state with Ramirez.

Ramirez has won just two races this season but she's excelling when it counts. Smith is an MACA senior.

Ramirez was quoted saying she really just wanted to keep up with Smith. But she found she was totally on her game and just accelerated. She gives much praise to her coach Julie Dengerud. Dengerud has the boys and girls running together in practice a lot. So the girls often test and push themselves vs. the boys. Ramirez felt she had incentive to work harder.

Smith and her Tiger mates are coached by Dale Henrich. Henrich will be getting Smith ready for the climactic state meet which is set for November 3 in Northfield.

Smith was joined in the MACA girls effort by Rachel Rausch (24th, 16:43), Savannah Aanerud (29th, 17:12), Becca Holland (47th, 17:50), Tahni Jungst (70th, 18:56) and Miranda Day (101st, 22:41). The Tigers as a team placed sixth. The champion was Holdingford.

The boys race saw Seth Hare of Albany run like a hare and he took first, helping lift his team to No. 1.

Aaron Goulet paced the Tigers. Goulet was clocked at 18:18 which put him in 21st. Beau Keimig was clocked at 18:59 which put him in 40th. Ryan Gray's time of 19:18 put him in 53rd. Roy Reese covered the 5000 meters in 18:42, good for 66th. Jon Jerke placed 81st (20:12) and Eric Staebler 90th (20:51). The MACA boys placed ninth as a team.

 

Volleyball: Montevideo 3, Tigers 1

Boy, we didn't see this coming. The MACA volleyball team which had fashioned so much success in the second half of the schedule, and which had the No. 3 seed plus home court, got stunned by the No. 6 seed Friday (10/26).

About the only criticism yours truly has of MACA Tiger athletics in 2012, is that our teams have trouble surpassing expectations in the post-season. The Friday match can be added as an exhibit supporting this argument.

You might think the home crowd if nothing else could help lift Morris Area Chokio Alberta to success.

What happened to all those ingredients that spelled abundant success for our Tigers down the home stretch of the schedule? The purple-themed Montevideo Thunder Hawks, seeded a modest sixth, came to MACA and quieted the home crowd, turning back our Tigers in four games. This was a Section 3AA North quarter-finals match.

Here are the game scores (MACA numbers first): 28-30, 25-13, 21-25 and 13-25. Monte will strive to play giant-killer again on Tuesday at Gibbon-Fairfax-Winthrop (No. 2 seed).

Setter Tori Kuhlman of the T-Hawks was a dynamic force in her role Friday. Kuhlman had good/attempts numbers of 131-136 and picked up 45 assists. She was a cog helping facilitate the Monte hitting which had a balanced look. Kayla Collins produced 15 kills and Nettie Duvall 11. Several other T-Hawks had their moments at the net.

The Tigers had to be especially aware of Alyssa Stern at the net. Stern was a determined blocking force, coming through with seven solo blocks to frustrate MACA. An ace block in your face can give you the blues to be sure. Psychologically this might have taken a toll for the Tigers.

Paige Schieler of the Tigers came through with 14 kills while going 33-for-37 in good/attempts. Sydney Engebretson wasn't quite the force she sometimes is, and on this night settled for ten kills and 41-for-45 in good/attempts. Nicole Strobel and MicKenley Nagel each had four kills.

Schieler and Katie Holzheimer each had two ace blocks. Mikaela Henrichs performed 26 digs.

Beth Holland led in serve aces with three and went 18-for-22 in good/attempts. Sadie Fischer had two serve aces and finished 12 of 14. Tigers with one serving ace each were Strobel, Holzheimer and Engebretson.

The Tigers close out 2012 on an anticlimactic note but with a still-impressive overall mark of 16-9.

Viva Morris Area Chokio Alberta cross country and volleyball!

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

8-0 MACA boys set for post-season

The football Tigers were awarded with a bye for yesterday (Tuesday, 10/23). It's to be expected when you own the No. 1 seed.

It would have been fun Tuesday to have another fan gathering at Big Cat Stadium. Now as things stand, we'll have only one post-season game here. The big night is this Saturday, Oct. 27.

For the record we're in Section 6AAA. We're a relatively small school in this class but we're unfazed as shown by that No. 1 seed.

I suspect few fans are expecting any sort of cakewalk. The Tigers have indeed had some cakewalk type of games this season. One was at the end of the regular season. The Tigers hosted a struggling YME team on Wednesday night (10/17). This fall break game ended with a score of 55-6.

What about volleyball? The Tigers' stock is high there too. They'll play a post-season match at their own gym on Friday evening (10/26). Please click on the permalink below to read my full post about Tiger volleyball. Also included are some paragraphs about cross country. This post is on my companion website, "Morris of Course." - Thanks for reading. - B.W.

http://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2012/10/maca-girls-set-for-post-season-debut-vs.html

 

Football: pattern of dominance

Yet again the Tigers had a foe buried at halftime. The Tigers led the Sting 49-0 halfway through.

Fans could have anticipated this based on comparative scores. Yellow Medicine East lost to Paynesville 72-0 and the Tigers beat Paynesville.

There has been a trend around the nation toward more and more extreme routs. Some recent news reports indicate that tension can run high toward the end of these. In one instance, it was the losing team that was actually excoriated. A team in Michigan trailing badly toward the end managed to score a touchdown and then tried an onside kick. A physical altercation developed in the aftermath of this game, and an assistant coach with the winner got fired.

Should public high schools really be putting their imprimatur on an activity like this?

Big Cat Stadium has been a wholly pleasant place. It will be rocking come Saturday (7 p.m.) when Albany comes here for 6AAA action. Albany got past Melrose 24-6 Tuesday.

You're familiar with Albany if you travel between here and St. Cloud much. Its trademark is probably that golf course right next to the Interstate. Don't you wonder if any golf balls end up striking vehicles? When I was in college at St. Cloud State I'd stop at the Albany Dairy Queen en route home and get my essential chocolate shake, causing sighs among my passengers who often were itching to get home. Those were the days of my 1967 Olds Toronado.

The championship game for 6AAA is set for Friday, 11/2, at my alma mater of St. Cloud State. Kickoff time is 5:45 p.m.

Morris Area Chokio Alberta owns a spotless 8-0 record going into this Saturday.

 

Tigers 55, YME 6

The score was almost identical to when the Tigers trounced Montevideo for Homecoming.

The Tigers put 19 points on the board in the opening quarter. The MACA scoring express began when Tanner Picht carried the ball in from the four. The PAT try failed.

Austin Dierks scored with an interception return of 24 yards for MACA touchdown No. 2. Noah Grove kicked the point-after. Next it was Corey Storck bringing a wave of cheers from the home crowd fans, returning a punt 52 yards for a score. The PAT was no-go.

The MACA momentum just built up steam in quarter No. 2. Tom Holland had a scoring run of 19 yards and followed that up with a successful conversion run. Holland scored the next Tiger touchdown too, on a run from the ten. He was on the receiving end of a successful pass (from quarterback Jacob Torgerson) on the conversion play.

Torgerson passed 14 yards to Logan Manska for the next Tiger TD. Grove's toe was true for the conversion point.

Connor Metzger was the next Tiger to cross the end zone stripe. He brought a signal of "touchdown" from the refs with his run from the two. Grove added the PAT.

Bo Olson broke loose on a thrilling 85-yard run to complete the Tigers' scoring. This time the PAT kick was blocked.

YME  got on the scoreboard when Austin Vikander, who has Morris connections, caught a 16-yard pass from Aaron Lalim.

Olson finished with eye-popping rushing stats of two carries for 90 yards. Holland turned in another workmanlike performance, carrying eight times for 65 yards. Aaron Nelson sprang forward for 48 yards in his seven carries. Jordan Staples picked up 24 yards on four carries. Picht and Metzger each had three carries for 17 yards.

Torgerson didn't have to put the ball in the air much. His two completions in five attempts were good for 42 yards, and he had no passes picked off. Understudy Bryce Jergenson completed both of his aerial tries, good for 17 yards (with no interceptions).

Four Tigers each had one pass reception: Picht (28 yards), Manska (14 yards), Storck (ten yards) and Nelson (seven yards).

Trent Wulf delivered the only Tiger punt. Three Tigers each had one interception: Dierks, Manska and Devin Robertson. Metzger, Storck and Holland each had a fumble recovery. Tackle chart standouts included Tyler Henrichs, Dillon Johnson and Gage Backman. Quarterback sacks were performed by Chandler Erickson and Nate Vipond.

It's a short time 'til Saturday!

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

How best to pursue safety on our roads?

I was riding my bike into town one day when I noticed a woman pulling up to a stop sign along the service road by Pizza Hut. She smiled as she frantically put on her seat belt. She had probably been driving for just moments.

She's lucky because if she had been spotted in those few moments by a police officer, she would have been cited. I was riding my bike across the field on the north edge of Morris. I was on a road that gives meaning to the term "non-maintained." It has always been like that.

Many years ago I was biking home late one night, around 3 a.m. in fact (so it's morning?), and headed onto that road. I was working late at the newspaper that night, proofreading. It was my habit Tuesday night when I had to wrap up the sports pages of the Hancock Record and get ready for Wednesday "press day" of the Morris paper. The Morris paper appeared on Tuesday and Thursday then.

I pedaled toward home along Columbia Avenue, took a right onto the state highway for a very short stretch, and then went north along that primitive road. A Morris police officer spotted me and chased me across the field.

I pulled over, then turned to stare at the oncoming vehicle whose lights weren't flashing. A vehicle on that road at that hour was unthinkable. So I figured it was probably police.

The officer recognized me in short order and everything was cool. Not only did he know who I was, he probably knew I lived a short distance to the north.

I wonder what would happen today. Number one, I'm much less well-known today. I have "bum" status in this town, having been out of work for six years. And secondly, police seem far less inclined to be "cool" about things.
That nice lady in the car who appeared to have driven a couple blocks without putting on her seat belt would get nailed today.

I got an email from someone who reported she got a ticket just driving from one place of business downtown to another. I saw the flashing lights of a police car by the Willie's parking lot just a couple days ago. Was it another of those ubiquitous seat belt infractions?

I wonder if the officers deep down really feel comfortable doing this. Perhaps they blot out all feelings and figure they just have to do their jobs.

Today if I were riding my bike across that field at 3 a.m. and an officer gave chase, I might have real cause to worry. Would the officer pull his gun on me? Would I be at risk of getting shot and killed if I made some "gesture" that he interpreted as threatening? Incidents like these do happen.

I think the officer spotted me because there had been some thefts at Super 8 Motel. He was probably positioned accordingly. And then he thought, "who is that character out riding his bike at this hour?"

Technically the road across that field is non-public; it's University of MN property. But no one has reservations about using it. Forget using it if the conditions are wet and muddy. Forget using it once snowdrifts form over it.

To get from Columbia Avenue to that road you use the highway for just a couple blocks. At 3 a.m. there's barely any traffic on the highway. But I am immensely careful bicycling on any road more major than a county road. In daytime hours it would be essential to use the shoulder. Even then I don't simply trust all the vehicle drivers who would swish past me. I would rely on my sense of hearing and glance backward, using peripheral vision, to make sure there was clearance between me and the vehicles.

You really can't be too careful.

It's probably fundamentally unsafe for a bicyclist to use any road more major than a county road. I have told people "it only takes one" sleep-deprived truck driver to wipe you out. The danger is probably greater in this age of distracted driving, "data overload" and multi-tasking.

All this comes to mind reflecting on the recent tragic death of Richard Vos of Belgrade. He was a popular teacher and coach, as emphasized strongly in a regional daily paper, although there would be no less cause for sympathy even if he was an undistinguished soul.

Mr. Vos was on bicycle "before 5 a.m.," the newspaper noted. I wondered if that was a typo. "Was it really 5 a.m.?" Yes, I later learned, it was 5 a.m. and this fellow was on bike on U.S. Highway 71 south of Belgrade.

Vos was a math teacher and coach at the BBE school. He was struck by a semi truck going south like him.

The Willmar newspaper reported that the road at the scene had a gravel shoulder. So I suspect Mr. Vos may well have been riding along the highway rather than on the shoulder. He was wearing a reflective vest. The article reported "there were lights found at the scene that may have come from the bike."

While Vos may have been thoughtful taking these precautions, in my opinion he was in error thinking he was safe. At 5 a.m. you can cut the darkness with a knife. There may be various lights along or near the road that make it hard for bike lights to get your attention. At 5 a.m. a truck driver isn't going to expect seeing a bicyclist along a highway like this.

I'm trying to cut a little slack for the driver whose name is Brian Anderson and who I'm sure is devastated by this. It will hang like a cloud over the rest of his life.

The newspaper emphasized "the road there is flat and straight," so the reporters are hinting, in my view, that Anderson is truly negligent. According to the law he may well be judged negligent. But how many of us might be thinking to ourselves, "there but for the grace of God go I."

I'm assuming that Vos wasn't in violation of any traffic laws. Bicyclists are allowed to proceed as if they are motorized traffic, aren't they? And yet, I think the average person would look at how Vos was traveling at that hour and think it was quite dangerous. That's certainly how I'd assess it.

It's illegal to drive anywhere at any time or at any speed without wearing your seat belt. There's no discretion. And yet Vos (in his dangerous position) was probably in the clear legally. It does seem odd.

I think many of us view the aggressive seat belt enforcement as just a way to get money into state coffers. Republicans push for this because they want to keep taxes minimal. "Fees and fines" get pushed upward but when will the public start pushing back?

The seat belt infraction once cost $40. Now it's $110. It was once just a secondary offense because this was the only way lawmakers could sell it to the public. Then they pushed it up to being a primary offense. What's that old saying about one's "life, liberty and property not being safe when the legislature is in session?"

Now I read in the Star Tribune about "pedestrian crosswalk stings" that are beginning to crop up. One of these citations will set you back $178. As with seat belt enforcement, police aren't above using deceit and deception (i.e. plainclothes officers) to carry this out.
All to satisfy their Republican masters in the state legislature.

How many people who are living "paycheck to paycheck" are going to be devastated by one of these citations?

Police say as if hypnotized that it's all for safety. Police are supposed to use discretion. When judging speeding, for example, they're supposed to consider the driving conditions. But we seem to see this discretion less and less. Each citation spells more money for those starved state coffers. The money comes pouring into a collection center in Willmar.

There actually has been talk of tighter enforcement of traffic laws for bicyclists. This discussion has sprouted in Morris. Shall we ticket a kid riding his bike through a stop sign? That time may be coming. Let's all suck our cheeks in, because things are going to get very tight.

Republicans absolutely scream about not wanting to be taxed more. So us common souls who simply have to get out and about have to be more careful and vigilant.

Of course, you don't have to vote Republican.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Debates of today, historical perspective

Remember George Wallace?

 

Politicians govern with policies and not with debating skills. It's scary that many people are evaluating "performance" as if this will be the key criterion on which they vote.

It's the morning after the second presidential debate (10/17). Media observers are scurrying to analyze performance. They decided that Mitt Romney won the first debate. They decided our president had to come out swinging for the second. To an extent, Barack Obama seemed to do that.

But doesn't it all take on the aura of a hyped boxing match? Of course we don't have such phenomena anymore. It probably waned when Mike Tyson bit off part of his opponent's ear. So, no more "Shaker in Jamaica" which was how the Jim Brown character in "Mars Attacks" reflected on a mega match of his career. Yes, the rhyme isn't close enough. It was a nice parody.

Remember the great Johnson-Goldwater debates? You don't, they didn't happen. It's ironic because four years earlier we saw the celebrated Kennedy-Nixon debates when TV was still young. The 1960 debates are still quite famous. They're a chapter in TV's rapid strides forward as our household medium.

But there was no push in '64 for a repeat. It's surprising because we had a candidate who was so rigidly ideological: Barry Goldwater. Adherents to ideology are the prime debaters. Lyndon Johnson was the lumbering candidate of inevitability, clearly riding the coattails of the late assassinated president. I don't recall any suspense over the outcome.

Today the media would have none of that. A cynic might easily suspect that the media delicately guide the presidential campaign so it clearly is contested once the big day comes. That's scary because clearly there are times in America when the public mood pushes one way or the other. It should find its course like a stream.

In 1964 Johnson didn't even need debates to bury Goldwater.

There's a consensus today that we needed Ronald Reagan in 1980. Reagan was a man of broad principles who probably would have struggled with the kind of minutiae that today's debating seems to demand.

We elect a president on the basis of broad principles. Or at least we should. A president needn't supervise the White House tennis courts as Jimmy Carter did (unless that's just myth, but remember it wasn't myth that Carter was once threatened by a swimming rabbit in a swamp).

Remember the great Nixon-Humphrey debates? You don't because they didn't happen. I do remember "infomercials" (long before the term was coined) that had Bud Wilkinson chatting with Richard Nixon. Wilkinson, lest you have forgotten, was an old famous football coach.

Hubert Humphrey had been Lyndon Johnson's caddy. Had Humphrey been more forceful about the U.S. leaving Viet Nam, well, we can only speculate.

There was a candidate in 1968 who said something about Viet Nam that I applauded. Actually I found this candidate easy to applaud on many occasions. It was neither Johnson nor Humphrey. Remember? The theme was "Stand up for America."

He was a human being with human flaws as we all are. Heavens, Ross Perot demonstrated that years later.

In 1968 we had a man of the Deep South coming forward to enliven the debate. It wasn't surprising he had baggage with regard to racial questions. But on Viet Nam he said the following: "If it's not winnable within 90 days of my taking office, I'll call for immediate withdrawal."

Really, boomers like me didn't even care if we "won." We wanted out. At least Wallace suggested he was receptive to something drastic (i.e. with the word "immediate"), so there was no need to penetrate fog with regard to his stance.

Wallace probably captivated me because of his populist rhetoric and the fact he could be an entertaining campaigner. I was an unusual child in that I enjoyed digesting the evening news and looking at nuances of what was going on.

The two major parties seemed staid like vehicles stuck in mud. And there was Governor Wallace making blunt, populist-like pronouncements and supplying some entertainment in the process. The "new left" adherents of the time might deride him as "fascist." He retorted: "I was killing fascists when you punks were in diapers."

It's true. Wallace flew B-29 combat missions over Japan in 1945. I don't know if he had a Confederate decal on his plane. Some of the Deep South fighters were known to project that kind of imagery. It's harmless when you consider that the Confederacy was beaten, burned and kicked aside.

Of course, a lot of bad stuff festered in the Deep South well into the 20th Century. Wallace was a native of southeast Alabama and served as a page in the Alabama Senate in 1935. What sort of ideas do you suppose got impressed on him, coming from that kind of background?

He entered the field of law which even in the Deep South was tough to spin in the direction of pure racism. He studied law in Alabama. He was considered a moderate on racial issues when elected to the Alabama House in 1946. Let's not pretend that's effusive praise. But what was he up against? As a judge he was known to grant probation to some blacks, and this is seen as hindering him in the 1958 governor's race.

His foe? A man endorsed by the KKK.

Wallace seemed a born politician. An ex-wife once said with a tinge of bitterness that Wallace "didn't want a family, he wanted an audience." As a journalist I'm tempted to applaud a little, for Mr. Wallace that is. I understand the instinct.

Not wanting to be a loser, Wallace made what some have described as a "Faustian bargain" in the wake of his 1958 loss. Appearing to sell his soul, he began spouting segregationist rhetoric. He would later try to renounce as much of this as he could. He would proclaim from his wheelchair, perhaps having been humbled some by handicap, that he "did not wish to meet his maker with unforgiven sin."

I truly had a fascination with the Alabama governor in 1968. I was in junior high, not fully well-versed on all the relevant background, and I found his directness appealing. I represented Wallace in an eighth grade classroom debate. I wouldn't have had the time of day for any of the other southern politicians who appeared to have racial issue baggage, people like Strom Thurmond and Lester Maddox.

Somehow Wallace struck me as a little transcendent. I saw the populist Wallace and not the Wallace who talked about segregation and who "stood in the schoolhouse door."

Maybe my intuition suggested Wallace wasn't really the ugly racist some of his actions of a particular time clearly suggest. He was once circuit judge of the Third Judicial Court in Alabama. An African-American lawyer would later say of Judge Wallace that "he was the first judge in Alabama to call me 'mister' in a courtroom."

It may have been that Faustian bargain that did in Wallace, in a way that shoved him in the minds of many into that same dark hole as Thurmond and Maddox.

He served four nonconsecutive terms as Alabama governor. His life changed dramatically when he was shot and paralyzed in 1972.
We learn that Richard Nixon, Ronald Reagan and eventually even the senior George Bush adopted toned-down versions of Wallace's anti-busing (for desegregation) and anti-Federal government platform. Those Republicans learned they could pry away low and middle-income whites from the Democratic New Deal coalition.

In 1972, when seeking the Democratic nomination and no longer an independent, Wallace no longer supported segregation. But he was anti-busing and had Nixon as an ally in this.

He became a born-again Christian in the late 1970s. Continuing his evolution, clues of which had been evident way back when he was a judge, he apologized to black civil rights leaders for his past positions.

In 1972 he was battling George McGovern who at present appears to be on his deathbed in a hospice. Let's say a prayer. Boomers will express tremendous warmth toward McGovern when the statesman leaves this world. McGovern was the dove on Viet Nam. History will be very kind to him.

Boomers might forget that McGovern was a lightning rod for anti-progressive views, marginalized even in the year (1972) he ran for president following an absolutely tumultuous Democratic national convention.

Everything is calmed down now. We can view the influential political voices of the 1960s with far more restraint than we did then.
George Romney (Mitt's father) said he was "brainwashed" about Viet Nam. So it could be a very scary time.

Wallace's background was undoubtedly scary. Was I right speaking on his behalf? Probably not. Second-guessing what we did in the 1960s is a very easy pastime. That was then, this is now. And now we're weighing Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney.

Those of you who might be inclined to vote for Romney based on "debating skills," caution: You should only vote for him if you want Republican Party policies enacted. Period. Be Careful.
And "stand up for America."

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Another week, another win for MACA boys

The MACA football express steamed forward Friday (10/12), achieving win No. 7 by a 35-7 score.

The opponent was Lac qui Parle Valley. The site was the Eagles' field which has a countryside location.

The Tigers own a 7-0 record going into MEA week (which I realize is probably an outdated term but it's an old habit).
The Tigers will take their spotless record into the Wednesday MEA week (fall break?) game, which will have YME as the opponent at Big Cat. YME has struggled a lot this fall. Look for our orange and black crew to take an 8-0 record into post-season.

I'm sure fans are itching for the post-season now. It might be a long ride once it starts.

The Tigers actually aren't alone at the top of the West Central Conference. BOLD also sits at 7-0. The Tigers and BOLD have no head-to-head competition in the regular season. I know, that seems strange.

I'm only now finding out there are no more North and South divisions in the WCC. Instead there's a "confederation" of ten teams. I hadn't gotten the memo when I wrote my first volleyball post of this season, so I referred to Minnewaska Area as a WCC-North team. I always thought it strange that MAHS vs. 'Waska games were non-conference.

Now with the confederation, the arrangement is a little easier to process and understand. But sometimes I think change happens too fast in high school sports.

It was the Eagles scoring first Friday. Dylan Erickson passed 35 yards to J.D. Struxness for the score, and Erickson kicked the point-after. I'm not sure if the cheers would be heard from Milan, Madison or Appleton, but they would be the loudest cheers all night for the Lac qui Paarle cause. Morris Area Chokio Alberta owned the rest of this game.

Tom Holland ran the ball in from the five for MACA's first score. Holland would finish the night with 111 rushing yards on 15 carries. Noah Grove kicked the point-after.

The Tigers began taking charge on the scoreboard when Lincoln Berget caught a short touchdown pass from Jacob Torgerson. Grove's toe was true again on the point-after. Then it was Holland scoring again on a run from the eleven. Grove kicked the PAT.

Tanner Picht scored the Tigers' fourth touchdown with a run from the eight. Grove's kick was good, as it was yet again after the Tigers' final TD which featured Aaron Nelson running 33 yards.

Behind Holland on the rushing list were three teammates who made substantial contributions as well: Picht (eleven carries, 46 yards), Jordan Staples (11-50) and Nelson (3-41). Torgerson completed four passes in ten attempts for 19 yards and had none picked off. The four catches were by four different Tigers: Nick Vipond (13 yards), Holland (four yards), Staples (one yard) and Berget (one yard).

Picht handled the Tigers' punting, averaging 37 yards. Mac Beyer came through with an interception, and Chandler Erickson had a fumble recovery.
The Tigers scored in all four quarters.

Click on the permalink below to read my review of the UMM Cougars' games 4 through 6. This post is on my companion website, "Morris of Course." My system is to post on the Cougars after every three games.

http://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2012/10/umm-football-rolls-past-westminster-at.html

 
Here's a reminder to check out the photos I took of the MAHS Homecoming parade, football game and powder puff game. These photos are in a Flickr album. Here's the link:

https://www.flickr.com/photos/wcminn/sets/72157631708002860/with/8061010540/

 
I was 50-50 on attending the Morris Area Homecoming coronation. I photographed this for many years with very good results. It was very enjoyable to attend.

One reason I don't these days, is I figure other people will photograph this and share.

Is my time done? Maybe not. The only photos the newspaper has appeared to share, as I write this, are posed photos of the Homecoming royal court members. Oh, that's fine. But the ceremony itself is delightful to photograph with its various aspects.

OK, so then I discovered that KMRS-KKOK has a photo gallery of the coronation on its website. I took a look and discovered that many of these photos are of poor quality. What a shame. I still have all my old camera equipment. I could be doing all this just wonderfully. It's water under the bridge for 2012 unfortunately.

I need to dismiss some of my inhibitions about showing up for some of these things, because the local corporate media just aren't cutting it.

Did the newspaper photograph the parade? Was the newspaper represented at the powder puff game? As for varsity game photos, the newspaper holds back way too much on its website with these. You're lucky to find one game photo in the week following a game. There's a few seconds of fuzzy video if that excites you. It isn't enough to print 3-4 game photos in the ink-on-paper version because it comes out so long after a game is played. It's not like we have a mid-week edition anymore. The company that owns the Morris paper pulled the rug out from under us with that.

So now that company puts out a weekly paper stuffed with a staggering pile of advertising inserts, many of which guide us to Alexandria. What an ungodly disgusting pile that is. Even if I were a compulsive shopper, I wouldn't be interested in looking at even a tiny fraction of this. It's pollution. I don't need to look at the "Classy Canary" with its full-page ad for Gesswein Motors. I'm not going to buy a car at Gesswein Motors. So please save the ink.

A reminder to MACA volleyball fans: Much of my writing on Tiger volleyball has been on my companion website, "Morris of Course." Here's a direct site link if you haven't been to the site before. You might look for a recent post I wrote reflecting on Dennis Rettke, former Morris school administrator who recently passed away.

www.morrisofcourse.blogspot.com

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Girls beat ACGC in Monday home volleyball

Tigers 3, ACGC 0

The Tigers are really becoming a team to watch in section. They have truly gotten their engines humming in recent play with one exception, and that exception might have an explanation in that the Homecoming powder puff football game was the night before!

Not only is the orange and black squad winning habitually, it is often doing so by sweep. Their Monday, Oct. 8, match was their first since the 0-3 loss they were dealt by Benson. The Tigers asserted themselves in a way indicating that the Benson match was a pure anomaly. It was a night for fans to savor sweep victory.

The Tigers hosted and defeated the Falcons of ACGC with scores of 25-14, 25-21 and 25-12. This was the Tigers' 14th win overall against seven losses. In conference play they came out of Monday at 7-3.

Anytime there's a sweep you can feel quite certain the winner showed balance. The Tigers indeed displayed that attribute for fans to enjoy Monday. How proficient were they? They had only four non-good attacks in 118 attempts.

There were three pillars in the attacking phase. Sydney Engebretson was at the fore with nine kills, and her good/attempts stats were 25/26. Nicole Strobel was focused to pound down six kills, and she was perfect in good/attempts at 20-for-20.

Paige Schieler was a force with five kills and she went 18-for-20. Kayla Pring went five-for-five with two kills. MicKenley Nagel had 17 good in 18 attempts with one kill. Katie Holzheimer was a perfect 15-for-15 with two kills. Rebekah Aanerud was sharp at 14-for-14 and she produced a kill.

The Tigers got a nice push from Chelsey Ehleringer and Beth Holland in the serving department. Each had three serving aces. Ehleringer batted a thousand with 18-for-18 in good/attempts. It was ditto for Holland whose good/attempts numbers were 15/15. Nicole Strobel added a serving ace to the mix and she had six good in eight attempts.

Holzheimer led the squad in set assists with 14 and she was flawless with 46 good in 46 attempts. Ehleringer was busy setting too and this Tiger was good on all 55 of her attempts while accumulating seven assists. Pring was ten-for-ten with one assist.

Homecoming Queen Nagel went up to achieve four ace blocks, leading in this category. Strobel and Holzheimer each had two.

Digging specialist Mikaela Henrichs led with 28 in this category. Ehleringer had 15 digs and Holland eleven.

The volleyball Tigers came out of Monday having won ten of their last eleven matches.

Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City is a below-.500 team. Falcon Sydney Larson pounded down 17 kills which was high for the match. Mariah Remmel had three serving aces in the losing cause.

Morris Area Chokio Alberta volleyball is in the midst of a busy week!

Click on the permalink below to view my Flickr album of MAHS Homecoming photos. When the Flickr page comes up, you might want to try the "slideshow" feature. It's neat! - B.W.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/wcminn/sets/72157631708002860/with/8061010540/

 

Football: Next foe is Lac qui Parle

Two games remain in the MACA football team's 2012 regular season. It has been a highly banner season thus far.

Coach Witt's Tigers have yet to be beaten. Suspense has been minimal in many of the games. The Tigers take charge often. Will this happen again this Friday (10/12)?

Lac qui Parle Valley is the opponent and it's rather tough to size them up. At their best the Eagles are impressive like when they defeated Minnewaska Area 35-21 on September 21. They showed they could beat Benson when they edged the Braves by one, 21-20, on August 31. They also beat YME although YME has been a doormat this season. Success vs. YME came by a 35-6 score at Granite Falls.

Lac qui Parle has been on the losing end vs. Paynesville (28-0 on 10/5), BOLD (31-14 on 9/28) and ACGC (40-13 on 9/7).

So which Eagles team will show up this Friday? The game will be at Lac qui Parle out in that remote area which can seem especially remote at night.

After the LQPV game, just one regular season contest remains on the Tigers' slate and this will match them against the struggling Sting of Yellow Medicine East. The YME game is for MEA week which means it's on Wednesday (10/17).

The Tigers and Sting will play at Big Cat Stadium provided the Sting don't decide to forfeit. They lost to Paynesville 72-0 on September 28. There's really no cause for a score like that, no matter how the rosters match up. Teams losing by scores like this will have a hard time keeping their numbers up well enough to even continue having a program.

The Tigers own a 6-0 record as this post is being written.

YME includes Granite Falls which once had a powerful football program all by itself. Remember their distinctive nickname? It was "Kilowatts."

"Reddy Kilowatt" was the high school mascot for Granite Falls for nearly 60 years until consolidation. NSP had a power plant in Granite Falls for many years.

I'm sure many fans in Morris still remember a big win by Tiger football at Granite Falls in the late 1980s. The win was achieved dramatically with a trick play or gimmick play that had Kent Moser catching the football for a score. The thrower was Jared "Bru" Brustuen.

Thanks to Lyle Rambow for refreshing my memory on this. My memory had gotten a little fogged and I had thought Moser threw that pass, not caught it.

Granite Falls was considered a big obstacle for us at the time. I remember being in a school hallway, probably to keep warm, before the game and seeing those proud, chest-thumping Kilowatts headed down the hallway en route to the field. I remember a brawny guy in front shouting "we own this section!"

Granite Falls used a conventional hard-nosed attack while we were more fond of the pass and finesse. Our attributes won out, knocking Granite Falls down a notch. There was a big celebration of Morris fans on the field after the game.

Back to the present: My Saturday post on the Montevideo game (Homecoming) didn't include statistics. Let's get that taken care of here. We only had six first downs but that's because we were covering so many yards with big plays.

Quarterback Jacob Torgerson attacked the Monte defense surgically as he completed six of his seven pass tries for 199 yards and had no interceptions. Coach Witt might have left Jacob in the game to get over 200 yards but that hardly seemed necessary, so on came understudy Bryce Jergenson. Bryce completed his only pass attempt for ten yards.

Tanner Picht had just one catch but it covered 71 yards. Chandler Erickson sped over 84 yards of real estate on his two catches. Other Tigers with one catch each were Corey Storck (ten yards), Logan Manska (eight yards), Lincoln Berget (14 yards) and Tom Holland (12 yards).

Holland was the top ballcarrier with 70 yards achieved on just four carries. The running game was also buttressed by Picht (32 rushing yards), Jordan Staples (27 yards), Aaron Nelson (25 yards), Bo Olson (13 yards) and Jergenson (28 yards).

Trent Wulf performed the only MACA punt and it went for 35 yards. Staples and Berget each had a fumble recovery.

Tackle chart standouts included Staples, Connor Metzger, John Tiernan and Erickson. Two Tigers could boast a quarterback sack: Dillon Johnson and Tiernan.

I'm sure coach Witt was pleased with just the one penalty for five yards.

The night was futile for the visiting Thunder Hawks but Markus Kranz was able to rush for the robust total of 93 yards.

 

Cross country: Smith, Goulet lead Tigers

The Tiger harriers were off and running again for a Monday, 10/8, meet at Benson. The weather of late might seem chilly to us more sedentary folks - maybe I should just speak for myself - but runners can take to it nicely. After a mile or so, any sensation of cold seems to dissipate, I would suggest.

MACA displayed its share of excellence Monday. MaKenzie Smith was in championship form, posting a 15:38 time (4K) to beat all challengers. The MACA girls were runner-up as a team, trailing only host Benson-KMS. Sauk Centre's Madison Greenwaldt was the runner-up female runner (16:02).

Smith was joined in the MACA effort by Rachel Rausch (16:46), Savannah Aanerud (17:01), Becca Holland (18:21) and Tahni Jungst (19:38).

Aaron Goulet had a memorable day running for the boys team. Goulet with his 18:06 time (5K) placed second behind only Ben Burgett of Willmar Community Christian (16:55).

The MACA boys team placed fourth. Sauk Centre was the top-performing boys team trailed by Benson-KMS in second and BOLD in third.

Goulet was joined in the MACA boys effort by Ryan Gray (19:21), Roy Reese (19:59), Jonathan Jerke (20:23) and Beau Keimig (20:30).

Viva Morris Area Chokio Alberta fall athletics!

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

MACA boys dominate Homecoming foe

Tommie Holland, defensive back, confronts a Thunder Hawk during the Homecoming win. (B.W. photos)

Chandler Erickson is on his way to a Tiger touchdown on this play.

Noah Grove gets steadily more reliable kicking PATs.

Congratulations to the Morris Area Chokio Alberta gridders who won so convincingly Friday (10/5) in the Homecoming game. They are achieving their goals and then some. They are doing what they have been inspired to do.

I had to have a somewhat empty feeling, however, arriving at halftime (which is my habit) and finding the opponent so completely buried on the scoreboard. It was the Sauk Centre game redux. The 10/5 foe was Montevideo.

For many years it was all we could do to compete evenly with the likes of Montevideo and Sauk Centre. And now we're pounding them.

I saw a Montevideo player being attended to on the sidelines who may have been hurt quite badly. Is this game worth it? I would say no. But it's above my pay grade - my pay grade is zero - to decide what activities are healthy for our public schools to offer. If they want to sponsor gladiators, that's their decision. There are many people in this town who suggest I possess little wisdom. Maybe I'm just showing that again.

Hancock recently lost to Wheaton 70-8. Did anyone come out of that experience having benefited? You have to ask the question. Now, on to the game review:
  

Tigers 55, Montevideo 7

As the score suggests, our Tigers had a knack for "big plays." That tendency was fully on display in the first half. The score was 35-0 at halftime and 49-0 after three quarters.

The scoring barrage began with Tom Holland carrying the football in from the eight. Noah Grove, getting ever more seasoned and comfortable kicking, was true with his toe for the PAT. So the score is 7-0.

You ain't seen nuthin' yet.

The second touchdown came on a 71-yard pass from Jacob Torgerson to Tanner Picht. This time the PAT failed. On to touchdown No. 3: Picht scored this one too, this time eluding tackles in a 27-yard run. Torgerson passed to Chandler Erickson on the conversion.

Holland broke loose on a 29-yard run for the Tigers' fourth score. Grove kicked for the point-after. The big play surfaced again for the Tigers' final first half score: It was a 70-yard pass from Torgerson to Erickson followed by another good Grove kick. The rout is on.

The big Homecoming fan turnout was enduring the cold just fine.

Touchdown No. 6 came on a 14-yard pass from Torgerson to Erickson. Grove nailed the point-after with poise. Jordan Staples, a prolific scorer, punched the ball in from the eleven as the MACA onslaught grew. Again Grove kicked the PAT.

Montevideo scored on a punt return that had the returner appearing to be pinned back deep at first. He miraculously separated himself from the would-be tacklers and before you knew it, he was sprinting northward toward the Monte end zone. The name of this Thunder Hawk: Jimmy Haff. His return went into the books as an 81-yarder. Matt Fischer kicked the point-after.

Appropriately it was the Tigers ending the night's scoring. Bryce Jergenson scored on a 24-yard run, and shortly thereafter the game (mercifully) ended.

The MACA volleyball Tigers were up and down in Homecoming week, winning by sweep on the road and losing by sweep in the week's home match. My post on these two matches is on my companion website, "Morris of Course," and I invite you to click on the permalink below to read it. Thanks for reading. - B.W.

http://www.morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2012/10/3-tigers-nail-at-least-ten-kills-in.html

 

Again, whither football?

If you research what is happening with football at present, with all the talk of health concerns, what you learn is that there are more and more grossly one-sided games. Programs that are below average in their resources or numbers are struggling to keep enough boys out to continue playing.

The elite schools are holding their own for now. More and more they are having to play each other and traveling longer distances to do so. The weaker programs are shriveling up as prospective players and their parents 1) feel concern about the health hazards, and 2) find there are better things to do with their time.

A current in-depth article in Forbes emphasizes the latter. It's a bit of a contrarian article because it doesn't stress the head injury issue so much (or other injury concerns, which have always been well-known). It maintains that the culture of youth is changing. Football isn't the emblem for acceptance or admiration like it historically has been.

Where are we all headed? For the time being, Morris Area Chokio Alberta football is in fine shape. The broader picture isn't quite so encouraging.
But congrats to the Tigers on their success. The next foe is Lac qui Parle "out in the middle of nowhere" at that LQPV school. Listen for coyotes.

- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Big week for "Big Cat": MAHS Homecoming

It wasn't hard to locate where the Homecoming powder puff football game was Wednesday. The public address system was turned up pretty loud.
The game has become a pretty big spectacle at Big Cat Stadium. It has risen from the rather subversive status it had when it was played at Green River Park.
Those little "sound effects" at Big Cat are a nice little luxury too. At Coombe Field - remember Coombe Field? - those embellishments would have been unheard of. But there were features at Coombe field that haven't been duplicated at Big Cat.
It was expected in a former time that the MHS pep band would play for home games, at halftime in addition to pre-game. If the band didn't show for some reason, people would ask questions.
I remember one year there was no pep band for the opener which was on Labor Day weekend. It was explained that the holiday had something to do with it. The school year wasn't yet underway.
We can perhaps see some irony here.
Back when I was involved helping plan high school reunions, I heard it was folly scheduling a reunion for August. Everyone would write back and say "I can't come because we have to get ready for school." I was skeptical but who was I to talk? I'm not a parent.
Maybe in fact there is a building obsession in August about the new school year to start. The irony comes when finding out why a pep band can't be organized for the Friday of Labor Day weekend. The director is informed by the kids: "I can't be there because we're going to be gone."
What happened with that obsession with school?
I explained my puzzlement to a salesman I knew in town - salesmen are highly insightful about human nature - and he said: "The ones who want to be there (for the reunion) will find a way to get there."
I was also told once the band might have a hard time organizing because of kids "having to work." So one day I said to coach Witt: "Does the whole band work at Willie's?"
Where else would high school kids be tied up on a Friday night? Maybe Willie (who was alive then) could have freed up the musicians on Friday. I know Willie had a deep love for classical music. (He might pronounce Brahms as "Braims" but his interest was genuine.)
I have seen very little of our high school pep band since the move to Big Cat Stadium. I should insert an asterisk here because I don't arrive for games until halftime. I have been told that on at least a couple occasions, a band was formed for playing pre-game but dissolved at game's start. I consider that a letdown. When I was a kid the band would play at halftime even if the weather was a little chilly.
We played "Windy" and "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" before they were oldies. If the fans expected to hear a "charge," a trumpet player could just play it, whereas today someone up in that headquarters place can press a button. The old human touch had something to be said for it.
The Coombe Field days included cheerleaders on behalf of the Tigers. This was another inspiring human dimension - girls wearing the school colors and boosting enthusiasm.
Sometimes the visiting team at Big Cat has cheerleaders. Have you noticed those and wondered if MACA would be better served having this dimension again?
We can be conflicted. Some of us might say the traditional cheerleading model is anachronistic. Let's be blunt: the old model had "cute girls" performing routines that didn't necessarily involve a lot of talent. Maybe that's too cruel. You can maybe suggest cheerleading is innocuous - the old model, that is. Newer models involve males and females together with no stigma placed on the males. Such "cheer teams" as they are called can attend competitions. Movies have been made about this which frankly I haven't seen. But it sounds interesting and it ought to be weighed here.
So, conjuring up memories of Coombe Field and its heyday involves the band and cheerleaders in the atmosphere department. It was also like a "town square" with people socializing in clusters all over the place. Sometimes these were "moving" clusters. A group of junior high-age girls might do "laps" on the track.
The "senior couch" was a tradition that grew late in Coombe Field's history.
Big Cat Stadium is a jewel in this community today. It lacks some of the old traditions but presents a state of the art feeling.
The football program should harness public relations better. We get little help from the newspaper company in Morris which is a mere branch of a Fargo-based chain. A Tiger football game isn't reported in the print issue until a long time after the game - so long it really has no value at all. Well, then there's the website, right? I have noticed that when you click on a link to read about Tiger football, you'll just get some material generated by the West Central Tribune. Isn't that a rather substantial letdown?
And weren't you infuriated after the Tiger season opener when game information was almost impossible to come by? The Willmar paper and its website whiffed. Oh, they'll say they didn't get the information in time. Well, why do we have to play by their rules?
UMM football has its own website home which is managed with tender loving care. It's not backbreaking work. It shouldn't put anyone out. And Big Cat Stadium would seem to be justification enough for local public relations efforts that aren't tied to some newspaper whose main priority is to shower us with dumpster-ready advertising circulars.
I didn't sit idly by after our season opener. I called coach Witt on Monday afternoon, visited him at his house, gathered game information (a big win with 30-plus points scored by the Tigers) and even collected some tomatoes from his garden. He said I was welcome to come back for more. I was happy to post a thorough game summary along with two photos.
People who want to promote Tiger football and Big Cat Stadium need to think in terms of more of this being done. I'm happy to play my role for now. But I'd be delighted to see web-based reporting systems for Tiger teams that are newly-created and function with the coaching staff's direct approval. No more worries about "calling in too late" on a Friday night. In fact, why don't you all just get to bed and compile the stuff the next afternoon, when rested, and be happy to see it posted on your terms? If any errors are discovered they can just be corrected.
It would feel like a whole new frontier. Go for it!
The powder puff football game probably doesn't warrant such a review, but it sure looked fun for all. That P.A. voice (Lyle Rambow?) sounded like "The Great and Powerful Oz" as it wafted over the UMM campus and beyond.
Good luck to the MACA gridders as they take the field tomorrow (Friday, Oct. 5) for the 2012 Homecoming game against Montevideo. Football itself may be a sport in trouble. Let's just take things one day at a time. I'm looking forward to the kickoff.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com