MACA football wins big - watch for details?

It is 5 p.m. on Wednesday, Oct. 22, as I put up this post. I wrote this post on the assumption that there would be no details of the Tiger football team's playoff victory in the usual media sources yet. If this assumption is wrong, I would not be putting up this post. But I'm pretty sure I'll be right.
The MACA football Tigers played in Redwood Falls Tuesday night. It's unlikely the info would get phoned in to the Willmar newspaper from Redwood Falls. Actually this has been a terrible fall for following the football Tigers in the Willmar newspaper.
If the West Central Tribune cannot come through with coverage, where else might we find it? Step 2 in this process would be the Morris newspaper website. You know, the newspaper that told us on Saturday that we need to toss Senator Al Franken out of office. Franken has been very good to Morris and to UMM. He is no stranger here. He is gracious and supportive. He spoke for UMM's graduation.
But Forum Communications, the Fargo-based owner of the "Morris newspaper," tells us we need to elect the Republican guy, McFarlane or McFadden or whoever he is. I suppose he just wants bigger tax cuts for the very wealthy, as if that'll solve everything.
The Forum cleverly endorsed Collin Peterson who'll probably roll over Torrey Westrom regardless. The Forum protects its backside that way - it can try to claim it's not overly partisan. They did this with Amy Klobuchar too. Everyone knows the Forum is Republican. The local managers have no say in these endorsements.
The Forum endorses Republican candidates in the truly pivotal races. Then, when the occasional Democratic blow-out presents itself, those execs will say the Democrat is really OK, holding their noses of course. If you don't like how the Sun Tribune is in effect taking a dump on Senator Al Franken, then stop supporting the newspaper financially. It's not hard.
If I cannot find coverage of the Tiger football playoff win in either the West Central Tribune or the Morris newspaper website, I'm not sure where else those details will surface. (A check at 11 a.m. today shows the Willmar paper has two sentences on the game, one of which simply announces when MACA's next game is. The Tigers beat Redwood Valley 42-13 Tuesday in a game that I'm sure had lots of highlights.)
Sans the game details, we'll have what could be called an "issue." It's important that these school programs be high-profile. Back when the Morris newspaper was twice a week, it was much better positioned to provide a service. Today it's totally peripheral, really just an advertising vehicle. Have you noticed?
My solution, as I have suggested in the past, would be for MACA school programs to develop their own reporting and PR systems, online naturally. Let's not dismiss these PR objectives. Let's not shrug with the typical dismissive line, "I don't have time." Already the coaches have to oversee some sort of system where info gets to the usual corporate media sources. One problem with that, is that some games fall through the cracks, like the Tuesday night MACA football win.
I was at Willie's Super Valu this morning trying to find out the outcome of the game. A couple people who I thought would know, did not. Finally I got the news. A person shouldn't have to ask around town. We invest a lot in these high school extracurricular programs. We shouldn't just sniff at the need for good public relations and outreach.
Let's use our imagination. I hope the community appreciates that I'm still interested in all these activities.

Oh, and the Tigers will resume play on Saturday against the No. 1 seed, New London-Spicer, at NL-S.

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