Another test for new softball facility Tuesday

(kmrs-kkok image)

Graduation is done and now it's on to post-season softball. The MACA Tigers' stock is obviously high. No surprise the Tigers are seeded tops in their sub-section: 3AA-North. 

If past is prologue, the first round losers are done. Winning a game means you're in for double-elimination. Double-elimination can make playoffs somewhat difficult for fans or the press to follow. We don't see it in other team sports. In wrestling you have the "true second" concept where losers still have a chance. 

Speaking of whether past is prologue, there's a pretty long background of teams from southern Minnesota being like juggernauts. I used to be a little perplexed by this. There seems no logical reason, as the climate is not that much milder in southern Minnesota to make for better outdoor opportunities. I had a friend in college who used a put-on "southern accent" to try to suggest he was from southern Minnesota! 

I can't state for a fact that this year's softball post-season is double-elimination after round one. The memories based on my newspaper background recede ever further into the past. Times change, as we are seeing with the new softball facility on east end of town. It is promoted as a "complex" but I think the term has been a little misleading. 

Oh, technically there are multiple fields there but much of this existed before the current project, like the whole UMM field with its brick dugouts. Is UMM going to abandon that field? Will it move to the new field which is named for the high school coach? 

People with connections to the public school are at present using nothing but superlatives to describe what's going on out there. We can wonder how genuine all these thoughts are. Sharing even a slight reservation could have bad consequences for the critic. If a critic is speaking freely and sincerely, it ought to be OK. It's dodgy because the emotions surrounding high school sports are so strong. 

Once a certain meme gets set in a small community - "this softball project is awesome" or whatever - it can become a true party line. The initial media reports on the project made it sound more far-reaching and significant than it has turned out to be. The word "complex" was part of the problem. The photo of a whole lot of people with shovels for the groundbreaking was another part. It was such a grandiose sell. 

I was expecting this place to be suitable for hosting a state tournament, really. And why not? We have both the high school and UMM as institutions supplying the push. 

As for the City of Morris, its involvement seems questionable but perhaps we should consider the council people and their background with youth and high school sports. It shouldn't matter of course because school sports facilities are not the city's responsibility. Proponents will say that summer kids games are suitable for the city to support. In my mind, the city's involvement with sports should be directed at recreation. 

We all know that the push for the current project came from school-affiliated people. I know what it is like to feel the pressure from these people. I have been the subject of personal attacks. It's a network of people that will set a "party line" of position. We see this in connection to coaches who get "anointed" as it were. Those who dissent can be hurt even in their business and professional lives. 

In the late '80s we saw some Morris businesses boycotted over issues that were not at all of a grave nature. Self-interested teachers pushed their parochial positions, in a manner that I do not think we'd see today. Organizational structures have been smoothed over to promote accountability. 

I covered high school softball for many years and never got the impression that our facilities were insufficient. 

Building something new and better is always a good thing. The softball "complex" was promoted as a $1.4 million project. But when it comes to major work done by contractors, maybe $1.4 million doesn't buy all that much any more. Maybe not for a major sports facility. So it's $1.4 million, and is all the money in hand? Apparently not. Maybe this should have been made more clear in the early media reports. 

Those early reports troubled me because they could have been written by the zealous promoters. Not that such articles should be filled with skepticism, but a more moderate approach was needed, an approach with room for asking a few uncomfortable questions. 

 

Parking dilemma

We have an uncomfortable question staring us right in the face now. It has gone public. We read on the radio station's website that the Morris school activities director is highly concerned about parking. Mark Ekren says "someone's gonna get run over." 

To which I'd respond: Is anyone surprised by this? We're just now getting an advisory on this? As if it could not have been foreseen? I rode bike out to the place for the dedication and even before getting there, knew exactly what I was going to see. I saw a fan arrive on his riding lawn mower! 

Now that the AD Mr. Ekren has issued sort of a clarion call, what will be done? Will some sort of change be in effect for today (Tuesday)? The Tigers have a home playoff game. Our 18-2 squad will face winless ACGC at the new field. Wonder how this game will turn out. 

I would feel far less skepticism about the softball field project if the new field was more fan-friendly. It's incredible that the design wasn't better for accommodating the fans. Nevertheless, fans will assemble for today's 3 p.m. game. The Tigers have won eight straight conference titles. Quite a skein of success considering that before this season, we must have had inadequate facilities. 

Keep an eye on the south sub-section - that's where Pipestone is the No. 1 seed. The southern teams can be like a buzz saw. Will that pattern start to change? 

Our radio station website has an article posted on May 27 that gets caught up in the expected hyperbolic language about the new softball facility. The headline proclaims "new softball complex working great." Who says? Well, it's just the expected way to talk. I mean, if you know what's good for you. 

The first sentence of the article by Marshall Hoffman: "A status update of the new Morris Community Softball Complex on the U of M campus given at Monday's Morris School Board meeting found school officials giving high praise to the facility." 

Since the school has a big financial input with the thing, we can assume that officials would be speaking highly of it now. The article did not state that the public at large appears to share this glowing appraisal. Oh, there is a second part to the headline: "Except the parking." So the place is working great except for the parking. A messy little detail sure to be worked out, right? 

Ekren is concerned with "the way people park out there." He added: "I'm not happy about it." And then: "Someone's gonna get run over." 

With this as a public statement from a school official - the possibility of an accident - we had better hope that an accident doesn't happen. 

We read that "fundraising continues." Moan. I have felt that the State of Minnesota should supply its muscle and assets to get the project to completion. However, maybe if the state were to analyze, it might conclude we don't need the place. We'd have sufficient existing resources. 

 

Serving which master?

Every time Matt Johnson is quoted re. the project, his dual roles are cited of UMM athletic director and Morris Area school board member. His school board credential was cited first in Hoffman's article. But in my view, Johnson's overwhelmingly primary obligation is to serve the interests of UMM. UMM softball has had a very happy home at the field with brick dugouts and "Cougars" painted on the back. 

Johnson states in the article that he would "talk to the facilities managers at the U about improving traffic control on game days." So it's the U's problem? Will we see changes today? Will the grassy area be barricaded off? With what consequences? Should the parking lot have been constructed before inaugurating the place? Is it certain the $ will in fact be obtained for the remaining phases? 

"Oh, we can get the money" can be famous last words in effect. 

Yes, if ifs and nuts were candy and nuts. . .

Will we see more signs put up listing donors? This gets to be a turn-off. Get the darn thing built. Either that, or the Tigers could have kept playing at Wells Park, a perfectly nice home. 

Game-time is 3 p.m. today (Tuesday).

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