But first we have one more game in the regular season. It's what people my age call "the MEA week game." That's the week when the teachers union gets together to plot strategy against the rest of us. Just kidding! Well, I'm not kidding 100 percent.
The teachers union is one group you don't want to get riled up. But I get the impression it's not nearly as bad as it used to be. I think the system has been adjusted so that the teachers, administration and board in a given community are much more likely to "be on the same page" rather than dug into their foxholes. I was close to public schools (as newspaper person) for years when severe conflict marked the whole thing. There has to be a better way.
A big step was to clip teachers' wings in order to get them to realize that they are not nearly as important as they thought they were. We love our teachers and we want them to return to favor to our youth. We want our teachers to have a comfortable middle class lifestyle, OK? We don't want them to behave toward our kids like prison guards in a prison. Kids can get "smart" without teachers holding their hands the whole way.
Osakis 41, Tigers 6
OK, now on to football. The Tigers clashed with the Silver Streaks of Osakis - love that name - Friday amidst the nasty weather in Osakis. Space heaters were along the sideline. Remember when Vikings coach Bud Grant said "no" to that? It worked because we won. Had we not won, the coach would have been considered nuts.
The host Silver Streaks upped their record to 5-2 at the expense of our orange and black squad. Alas the score was not pretty from the MACA perspective: 41-6. One media account characterized the conditions as a "blizzard."
MACA enters MEA week with a still-encouraging 4-3 record. Osakis has won four games in a row. Osakis Coach Bill Infanger commented "for our offense to put up 41 points in these conditions against an outstanding Morris defense, I feel really good about it."
Click on the link below to read about our MACA volleyball team's 3-1 win over Montevideo on Thursday. This post is on my companion blog, "Morris of Course." Thanks for reading.
Osakis struck on its first drive of the evening. They had the ball back at their own eight yard line but climbed out of the hole impressively. Much of that climbing was with a 45-yard run by Luke Imdieke. Isaac Hetland did the scoring with both the touchdown and the two-point conversion. Hetland carried in from the four for the TD.
It was in the first quarter when our Tigers got their only score of the evening. This came on a two-yard run that had Zach Bruns clutching the football. We tried a pass on the conversion and it was unsuccessful.
Alas, Osakis owns the scoring highlights for the rest of the game. Let's plow through that. Imdieke broke loose for a 40-yard touchdown run in the second quarter. The conversion pass try was no-go. Bring on the third quarter: we see Hetland crossing the end zone stripe again, on a four-yard TD run. He got the handoff on the conversion play and succeeded again.
Osakis poured it on in the fourth quarter as MACA was possibly getting worn down. The weather certainly didn't help. Imdieke carried the football in from the one. Then it was Hetland finding the end zone from the three. Carter Rost made good on the PAT. The final Osakis score came on a ten-yard run that had Garek Radtke carrying the football.
So, the Silver Streaks overcame our Tigers and the weather, while we had to look ahead to our game this Wednesday, Oct. 16, which will have Sauk Centre as the opponent at Big Cat Stadium. After that: playoffs. Osakis coach Infanger said "playing in weather like this is a gut check."
Newspaper looking for editor
Well this is interesting. Or maybe not. Newspapers are a stressed industry so it's not surprising seeing staff changes or shakeups or however you want to term it. Our Morris newspaper is in transition or flux. Our local school superintendent once protested when I used "flux" in a headline - something about how school administration was in flux which it actually was. According to the dictionary definition, my use of the word was precise.
School administrators want everyone to think "nothing to see here."
The Morris newspaper website appears frozen or in limbo now, no doubt due to the Fargo Forum still having a connection to it. Perhaps there are paid items there where the obligation has to be fulfilled over a period of time. It appears the new owners have only limited ability to add anything on the site, but it appears they can shoehorn in a headline.
So last night I noticed there's a notice in VERY LARGE type that the paper is looking for a new editor. So I guess Rae Yost is departing? I saw no mention of her, just like I saw no mention of Sue Dieter's departure. Yes, a "sinking ship" type of business can become unpleasant and uncertain.
No one doubts that newspapers everywhere are on the defensive. The Forum must have abandoned Morris because it saw no business future here.
Put aside your rose-colored classes, everyone. Let's face it: nearby Alexandria is doing rings around us in every conceivable way - amenities etc. How are you gonna keep 'em down on the farm? Or in Morris? Or Donnelly?
It will be interesting to see if the Anfinsons can find a younger person to take the editor's job. The job does not strike me as attractive at this point in time. Regardless of what it would pay, the stresses could well be overwhelming. No matter how you do your job, you're likely to get some harsh feedback.
We live in a new age in which everyone feels empowered with communications. It wasn't like this at all when I was young. Today if people feel alienated by "the local paper," they will look around to see what other avenues might serve their interests better in our vast communications universe.
Good luck? Well I do wish the Anfinsons good luck, seriously. I don't know if Rae is leaving town, but she and her significant other were pleasant to have at our little "movie club" sessions at the Morris Public Library. I would miss them.
The image below recognizes Columbus Day which is today, Monday, Oct. 14. In many places it has been switched to "Indigenous People Appreciation Day," honoring Native Americans of course. Not sure if our Morris community has made the official switch. It's a good thing. Besides, Norwegians were here first, as we all know!
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
think you should take over the job as the new editor of the Morris paper :)
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