Trying to stay abreast of sports

It's 9:30 a.m. as I get started writing this, and I cannot find even the scores of yesterday's Tiger softball/baseball action. Even the usually reliable "Minnesota Scores" has "report score" next to the games. The radio station website which gets a high grade for its performance has nothing regarding yesterday's action. 

It's ditto with the West Central Tribune which generally is spotty, and is an annoyance mainly with its paywall and/or registration requirements. I use the "incognito" system with that site, so I at least don't have to pay. I don't pay to read anything online. 

So the WC Trib site whiffs on Friday's Tiger action also. We can assume the fault for all these deficiencies lies in the sports programs themselves which are expected to submit the info in some way. 

I could toss and turn at night thinking of these issues from when I was with the Morris newspaper. We published twice a week throughout my tenure. If I had been a coach, it would be a no-brainer to realize that to the extent I could make the media people's work easier, it would benefit my own program. 

I grew up in a time when very few people were interested in writing. Still fewer were interested in typing. The old "typewriter" had nothing in common with today's high-tech systems for information processing. My point is: today any coach ought to find it easy and convenient to simply write an article on a particular game, thorough and accurate, then click on "submit" to a particular media entity. That media entity would then perform at least cursory editing but maybe not even that. Who cares? 

Coaches are well educated people and they can handle the English language. Publish the material and satisfy the fans. 

My generation thought it important to follow myriad rules for writing and editing, e.g. the "AP Stylebook." Today's young generation has a much looser understanding of things. I'll bet teachers of English have had to adjust in a difficult way. The English language is fluid, so it evolves. Check out the original Charles Dickens "A Christmas Carol" from our library, as I did, and you'll feel like you're dealing with a foreign language. 

At present, our younger people are barely interested in capitalization. Should the word "midwest" be capitalized? Technically yes. But many of today's younger people will write emails that are completely lower case. Does it matter? And what about the myriad abbreviations to make our communication quicker? They began as cute novelties as all such transformation does. With time, the new approaches or tweaks become standard. 

When the Morris American Legion baseball team took second in state a few years back, their final game was on a Saturday. This has often spelled trouble for the West Central Tribune. We still have a culture where we're expected to slow down for the "weekend," especially on Sunday. Sunday is the sacred "Sabbath" where we attend institutions showing reverence to Donald Trump. Well, many churches appear to do this, mine doesn't. Mine still puts God and Jesus first. 

Mine is composed of people who do not watch Fox News, hence they are much more receptive to getting the Covid vaccine. I hear we recently lost a well-known local person to Covid who had resisted the vaccine. 

Don't trust the vaccine? Listen to Tucker Carlson of Fox News? For my part, I don't trust the Covid. I want no part of it. I got the vaccine as soon as I got a heads-up it was available locally. I even went to a different clinic other than my usual one. So, go ahead and call me "woke." It's the oft-used putdown word used by Carlson and his ilk from the TV screen. I'm woke but I'm alive and totally healthy. Others have died or become gravely ill, and I mean locally. 

So the Morris Legion baseball team had a phenomenal accomplishment that summer of a few years back. And the Monday West Central Tribune came out with very brief and shoddy coverage, I'm sure attributable to the game having been on Saturday. The name of a prominent Morris player was butchered. So my point is: the Morris coach could have used email - a child's task - to type some paragraphs and "send" to the WC Trib to ensure proper acknowledgment of the team's accomplishment. I believe our coach was Kyle Berget, a school teacher by profession and obviously very literate. So, this would have been my constructive suggestion. 

Our radio station in Morris has developed nicely to where we can reasonably count on good text reviews on the website. Today, Saturday, is an exception to that, and I can hardly blame the station because I'm sure that just like when I was at the paper, they rely on coaches. It's very irregular to not even find the Friday scores on "Minnesota Scores" at 9:30 a.m. 

It's highly strange because Friday was a super historic day for the MACA softball program. This program is still trying to generate money for development of this "complex" thing on east edge of town. When you're in a position like that, you should take advantage of any and all media opportunities as much as possible. This costs you nothing! Just get on your computer and see to it the media entities get what they need and want. Yes, they want it! Can't you see the forest for the trees? Or something like that. 

My intent this morning was to write some of my own coverage of Tiger sports from Friday, using info from other media sources. It's no-go. So, here I go on Saturday morning, sort of "vamping." Isn't it fun? Now I'll continue on the subject of the Friday dedication of the softball complex. I have a theory that there are tense back room discussions in Morris about how this project has gone, if it was needed in the first place, if it now disappoints for various reasons, etc. 

The same people in these tense discussions would publicly go out and be dripping with positiveness about it. Matt Johnson of UMM is hooked on the word "amazing." He used it yesterday. I could make it out even though the P.A. system was abysmal. Ask anyone who was there. 

"Amazing." No, the new field or complex or whatever is not "amazing." It's a new field with dugouts and fences. As I expected, fans are having a hard time getting a comfortable vantage point to watch the action. My concern with this was not relieved yesterday. It's too hard to see through the fence on the first and third base sides. Behind home plate there are three small sections of aluminum bleachers. On the ends, fans don't get to see the whole field. The people seated there create a problem for people who might want to stand and watch. 

I concluded that the best place from where to watch is just outside the outfield fence. So, I compliment the Jay Nelson gang on getting comfortable out there. Oh, bring your own lawn chair. 

Parking? Well, that's quite the subject. I arrived on bike and as expected, saw cars lining both sides of the road that leads out to the bypass. Will local authorities decide this is an unsafe situation? They ought to, if they're being objective about it. Cars proceed along that road a little faster than in town. 

Worse yet, people drove down the little slope to park in the grassy area between the new field and the UMM field. And by the way, I think the fans of UMM softball will end up missing the current UMM field. It affords better fan viewing opportunities. Who ever concluded that UMM needed a new softball field? It's crazy. People involved with education institutions can get so carried away with these ideas. It's up to us, the public, to keep an eye on these people and restrain their zeal. 

The City of Morris, which has been the most questionable partner in the "complex" - it ought to focus on our roads and sidewalks etc. - declined to make a second financial contribution to the complex, beyond the $150,000 that it has already kissed goodbye to. Not only that, the city found it necessary to announce this "nay" decision through the radio station (at least its website). 

Now, why the effort to make such a "negative" announcement? Perhaps the city is hearing from skeptics and is seeking to be attentive? 

For cars to be parked on the grass between two of the fields is "bush league." It does not befit a new facility that was promoted in such grandiose terms. 

I will repeat that windy days are going to be a problem out there. Spring winds can be annoying, n'est-ce pas? 

I tuned in yesterday's game on YouTube for a couple minutes after I got home. Sound quality was poor and there were no graphics on the screen. I hate to apply pressure on people, but a lot of public money has gotten poured into this project. I'm sure the Tuesday Morris paper will come out with hyperbolic language about the wonderfulness of the "complex." That's what the newspaper will be expected to do. 

The real truth might lie in the back room discussions which I will assert or suggest have taken place. 

Seemed like a no-brainer to name the field for the coach. Did the promoters put the naming rights out for bids? Just asking. 

To remind, softball is not the only fair weather sport for girls. It does not have a monopoly despite what softball coaches might say. I have made the futile effort of trying to prop up soccer. Of course there's track and field. The bottom line the way I see it, is that the planners of the new complex failed to appreciate the interests of fans. We will bemoan this shortcoming IMHO. (Actually this whole blog post is IMHO.) 

Cheers.

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