The Morris Legion baseball team used a big inning, the fifth, to get out of a hole and eventually prevail in Thursday home action. The big six-run rally in the fifth propelled the Post #29 squad to an eventual 8-3 win over Benson at Chizek Field.
It was the eleventh season triumph for Post #29 and gives the squad some cushion over .500. Their loss total coming out of the day was seven. They scored eight runs on eight hits and committed two errors. The Benson line score was 3-6-2.
The first three innings were scoreless. Then Morris took a short-lived lead with one run in the bottom of the fourth. Benson got untracked with a three-run rally in the fifth that gave them the 3-1 advantage.
Then Post #29 got the skids greased with that decisive outburst in the bottom of that frame. Key hits in that outburst were off the bats of Tyler Hansen and Brady Valnes, each with a single that plated two runs.
Morris scored its final run in the sixth.
Dustin Sauter supplied his usual punch at the plate with a double as part of his two-for-four showing. Dustin drove in one run. Tyler Hansen was the other multiple-hit achiever for Post #29 and he went two-for-four while drive in two runs and scoring two.
Ryan Beyer tripled and scored two runs. Brady Valnes accumulated three RBIs while going one-for-three. Travis Rinkenberger finished at one-for-three and Cole Riley one-for-two.
For Benson, Cameron Simmonds stood out with his double good for driving in two runs in that team's most impressive rally (that three-run fifth). Simmonds had two hits in the boxscore. The following Benson batters all went one-for-three: Carter Fennell, Kyle Pederson, Brennan Kent and Anthony Frank.
Nate Gades and Eric Riley handled the Post #29 pitching. Gades picked up the win with his five innings of work in which he struck out six batters and walked none. Nate gave up six hits and three runs (all earned).
Eric Riley hurled for two innings and set down three batters on strikes while walking none. He allowed no hits and no runs.
For Benson Legion baseball, Brennan Kent worked the whole way on the hill. Brennan gave up seven hits and eight runs (six earned) while striking out three batters and walking two.
Morris Post #29 aims to put some more distance over .500 on its mark as the season approaches the playoffs. The firepower in the bats promotes optimism.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Sunday, July 11, 2010
Friday, July 9, 2010
Evaluating the lot of working people today
I once read that the reason kids hate school is that the purpose of school is to prepare them for a world of work that they will often find to be unpleasant. I read that many years ago when one of the main complaints about work was its tedium. What we have witnessed since is a lot of that tedium being wiped out by technology-stoked efficiencies.
Back in about 1980 I had a chance to be a "distribution clerk" at the Minneapolis Post Office. But the job rang of so much tedium as to rob you of your soul.
Who would have dreamt in 1980 the kind of storm clouds that lay ahead for our stalwart U.S. Post Office? The institution was the hero in the movie "Miracle on 34th Street," when it could demonstrate that there really was a Santa Claus.
The U.S. Post Office has been a wonderful work haven for our nation's military veterans. It had a union that asserted itself quite effectively.
But then we had the microchip which opened the door for inexorable technology advancements. Indeed tech moved forward like a relentless bull. A piece of folk wisdom has it that the whole tech avalanche happened because of that flying saucer that crashed in New Mexico. Whatever the origin, tech has turned our world upside down.
The Post Office may still have a union but I would guess it's vestigial. Unions seem like an annoying throwback - annoying because the vast majority of us simply aren't in one. Today you're supposed to thank the Lord if you simply have a job. Owners and bosses rule.
And even many of the bosses are what George Ure of "Urban Survival" would call "mid-level corporate suck ups" with no more job security or real prestige than those at the bottom.
But none of us are supposed to complain. When I was in college, the youthful and exuberant boomers of the time flirted with the "new left." We had high regard for unionism and workers' rights.
Students willing to call themselves Republicans were as rare as that elusive spotted owl.
Workers' rights are so yesterday. Unions are in retreat as shown by the Florida governor's veto that was the only thing standing in the way of teacher tenure getting nixed. Not that I don't think teachers need to be declawed a little.
But there is no discernible uprising against this chipping away process vs. the once important pillar of basic job security and worker dignity in this country.
If you want to see a rare exception, tune in to the Ed Schultz program on MSNBC.
I hear no meaningful outcry against the growing gap between rich and poor. This amazes me, based on my recollection of those "new left" years on college campuses. But maybe that was a mirage in the first place. Because, I remember that at the same time the rhetoric of Malcolm X seemed so appealing, a lot of students calling themselves "business majors" quietly made their rounds on campus. They looked poverty stricken like the rest of us but they were ready to leapfrog beyond that.
A top executive of the Wells Fargo Bank was a student at St. Cloud State University at the same time as me. He was probably one of those little mammals scurrying around the rocks while the "new left" dinosaurs were headed to extinction.
I have always been amazed at how these prevailing moods come and go, in academic settings and society at large.
Given the trend of the rich getting richer (but crying for more tax cuts) and the poor struggling ever more, you might think that college campuses would be the place for a rebellion to begin. Hardly.
Colleges court well-heeled benefactors. As my friend Glen Helberg is fond of putting it: "Money talks and bulls--t walks."
Of course, unionism and workers' rights were always about money but it was about money for the masses of working types. I don't sense even a hint of a pushback from America's working class now.
Have we just been pounded into subservience now, like the horse character in George Orwell's classic "Animal Farm" (who protested only after he had gotten too old to fight back)?
Ed Schultz advocates for it, but his voice gets lost. The common folk instead seem enamored with tea party rhetoric which insists that more of the shackles allegedly imposed by government be thrown off. The rich can thus get richer.
Wall Street can continue its gluttonous ways. Politicians look the other way as the privileged hogs indulge themselves at the trough. Consider the TARP legislation.
Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann gets by with rhetoric that would have gotten her tarred and feathered in the marketplace of ideas of the 1970s. She warns BP Amoco to not get bilked by the U.S. government (us) in the wake of the oil spill. What amazes me is that her words still have currency.
And the tea party thinking sprouts from a common class of citizens, people who ought to appreciate the kind of safety net an active and benevolent government can provide. Why?
It probably sprouts from a primal sort of paranoia. A well-known book on the topic, which I confess I haven't actually looked at, is "What's the Matter with Kansas?" I doubt that the author is as blunt as me, using words like "primal," but I think he looks through the same lens.
I remember that in the 1970s, any political candidate who even hinted that Social Security needed some scrutiny (for possible austerity) was toast. Instant toast. "Liberal media bias" - bless that - would pounce on it.
Then conservatives got the idea that they could just buy out the media. Remember the movie "Mississippi Burning" in which the local motel wouldn't do business with the G-men who were attacking racial persecution? The top G-man (Gene Hackman) gave instructions to a subordinate to just "buy the motel."
"How much do we offer?" the subordinate asked. The answer: "Whatever it takes."
As Mr. Helberg states, "Money talks and bulls--t walks."
Conservatives solved the problem of left-leaning public television by getting power and then making sure that conservatives got installed there, like Tucker Carlson (a whining dweeb, eventually signed by Fox News and then marginalized).
Of course, today in the new media universe, we need public television as much as we need two parts of the human anatomy associated with waste excretion. (I learned that expression from an old trombone player who used a coarser term for the part of the anatomy in question.)
It is not at all taboo today to discuss possible austerity with Social Security or anything else in government. The Republican challenger to Senator Harry Reid in Nevada has actually talked about eliminating Social Security. Well, she certainly would eliminate Social Security as we know it. Although she backtracks like heck when she's challenged on it.
President George W. Bush did the same thing, initially talking about "privatizing" Social Security and later scrambling for euphemisms that would enable him to sell the idea better. Finally the likes of Bush and tea party product Sharron Angle in Nevada pushed the language of "personalizing" Social Security. How could anyone argue with "personalizing" something? Let's invent new language to deceive the public. Maybe not.
George W. Bush tried those end runs for a long time. He even tried paying off pundits.
Angle has a track record that makes me think she climbed out of a crashed flying saucer in the New Mexico desert. But the shocking thing is that she's actually a viable candidate. The polls show she's in the running.
Perhaps the thing that's wrong with Kansas is spreading through the whole country.
The slumping economy hasn't kept people from streaming through turnstiles to watch major league baseball players who are paid in sums that are so wildly high they become mere empty numbers. They don't mean anything to us anymore.
The money that Tiger Woods rakes in (or that his ex-wife gets in a divorce settlement) playing golf becomes a number on a page (or computer screen) only. There is no populist revulsion. Yet.
Times can indeed change. Maybe the Ed Schultz rhetoric will begin to take hold. Maybe we'll soon see a "tea party on the left," as Bill Maher would put it (and he'd readily join).
I'm old enough to have seen grand swings in the political mood, and it could certainly happen again, as could a flying saucer crash in the desert somewhere.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Back in about 1980 I had a chance to be a "distribution clerk" at the Minneapolis Post Office. But the job rang of so much tedium as to rob you of your soul.
Who would have dreamt in 1980 the kind of storm clouds that lay ahead for our stalwart U.S. Post Office? The institution was the hero in the movie "Miracle on 34th Street," when it could demonstrate that there really was a Santa Claus.
The U.S. Post Office has been a wonderful work haven for our nation's military veterans. It had a union that asserted itself quite effectively.
But then we had the microchip which opened the door for inexorable technology advancements. Indeed tech moved forward like a relentless bull. A piece of folk wisdom has it that the whole tech avalanche happened because of that flying saucer that crashed in New Mexico. Whatever the origin, tech has turned our world upside down.
The Post Office may still have a union but I would guess it's vestigial. Unions seem like an annoying throwback - annoying because the vast majority of us simply aren't in one. Today you're supposed to thank the Lord if you simply have a job. Owners and bosses rule.
And even many of the bosses are what George Ure of "Urban Survival" would call "mid-level corporate suck ups" with no more job security or real prestige than those at the bottom.
But none of us are supposed to complain. When I was in college, the youthful and exuberant boomers of the time flirted with the "new left." We had high regard for unionism and workers' rights.
Students willing to call themselves Republicans were as rare as that elusive spotted owl.
Workers' rights are so yesterday. Unions are in retreat as shown by the Florida governor's veto that was the only thing standing in the way of teacher tenure getting nixed. Not that I don't think teachers need to be declawed a little.
But there is no discernible uprising against this chipping away process vs. the once important pillar of basic job security and worker dignity in this country.
If you want to see a rare exception, tune in to the Ed Schultz program on MSNBC.
I hear no meaningful outcry against the growing gap between rich and poor. This amazes me, based on my recollection of those "new left" years on college campuses. But maybe that was a mirage in the first place. Because, I remember that at the same time the rhetoric of Malcolm X seemed so appealing, a lot of students calling themselves "business majors" quietly made their rounds on campus. They looked poverty stricken like the rest of us but they were ready to leapfrog beyond that.
A top executive of the Wells Fargo Bank was a student at St. Cloud State University at the same time as me. He was probably one of those little mammals scurrying around the rocks while the "new left" dinosaurs were headed to extinction.
I have always been amazed at how these prevailing moods come and go, in academic settings and society at large.
Given the trend of the rich getting richer (but crying for more tax cuts) and the poor struggling ever more, you might think that college campuses would be the place for a rebellion to begin. Hardly.
Colleges court well-heeled benefactors. As my friend Glen Helberg is fond of putting it: "Money talks and bulls--t walks."
Of course, unionism and workers' rights were always about money but it was about money for the masses of working types. I don't sense even a hint of a pushback from America's working class now.
Have we just been pounded into subservience now, like the horse character in George Orwell's classic "Animal Farm" (who protested only after he had gotten too old to fight back)?
Ed Schultz advocates for it, but his voice gets lost. The common folk instead seem enamored with tea party rhetoric which insists that more of the shackles allegedly imposed by government be thrown off. The rich can thus get richer.
Wall Street can continue its gluttonous ways. Politicians look the other way as the privileged hogs indulge themselves at the trough. Consider the TARP legislation.
Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann gets by with rhetoric that would have gotten her tarred and feathered in the marketplace of ideas of the 1970s. She warns BP Amoco to not get bilked by the U.S. government (us) in the wake of the oil spill. What amazes me is that her words still have currency.
And the tea party thinking sprouts from a common class of citizens, people who ought to appreciate the kind of safety net an active and benevolent government can provide. Why?
It probably sprouts from a primal sort of paranoia. A well-known book on the topic, which I confess I haven't actually looked at, is "What's the Matter with Kansas?" I doubt that the author is as blunt as me, using words like "primal," but I think he looks through the same lens.
I remember that in the 1970s, any political candidate who even hinted that Social Security needed some scrutiny (for possible austerity) was toast. Instant toast. "Liberal media bias" - bless that - would pounce on it.
Then conservatives got the idea that they could just buy out the media. Remember the movie "Mississippi Burning" in which the local motel wouldn't do business with the G-men who were attacking racial persecution? The top G-man (Gene Hackman) gave instructions to a subordinate to just "buy the motel."
"How much do we offer?" the subordinate asked. The answer: "Whatever it takes."
As Mr. Helberg states, "Money talks and bulls--t walks."
Conservatives solved the problem of left-leaning public television by getting power and then making sure that conservatives got installed there, like Tucker Carlson (a whining dweeb, eventually signed by Fox News and then marginalized).
Of course, today in the new media universe, we need public television as much as we need two parts of the human anatomy associated with waste excretion. (I learned that expression from an old trombone player who used a coarser term for the part of the anatomy in question.)
It is not at all taboo today to discuss possible austerity with Social Security or anything else in government. The Republican challenger to Senator Harry Reid in Nevada has actually talked about eliminating Social Security. Well, she certainly would eliminate Social Security as we know it. Although she backtracks like heck when she's challenged on it.
President George W. Bush did the same thing, initially talking about "privatizing" Social Security and later scrambling for euphemisms that would enable him to sell the idea better. Finally the likes of Bush and tea party product Sharron Angle in Nevada pushed the language of "personalizing" Social Security. How could anyone argue with "personalizing" something? Let's invent new language to deceive the public. Maybe not.
George W. Bush tried those end runs for a long time. He even tried paying off pundits.
Angle has a track record that makes me think she climbed out of a crashed flying saucer in the New Mexico desert. But the shocking thing is that she's actually a viable candidate. The polls show she's in the running.
Perhaps the thing that's wrong with Kansas is spreading through the whole country.
The slumping economy hasn't kept people from streaming through turnstiles to watch major league baseball players who are paid in sums that are so wildly high they become mere empty numbers. They don't mean anything to us anymore.
The money that Tiger Woods rakes in (or that his ex-wife gets in a divorce settlement) playing golf becomes a number on a page (or computer screen) only. There is no populist revulsion. Yet.
Times can indeed change. Maybe the Ed Schultz rhetoric will begin to take hold. Maybe we'll soon see a "tea party on the left," as Bill Maher would put it (and he'd readily join).
I'm old enough to have seen grand swings in the political mood, and it could certainly happen again, as could a flying saucer crash in the desert somewhere.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Big Cat Field not quite the cat's meow
I have written before that the abandonment of Coombe Field was sad for this community. That site is still very visible in east Morris and it's not very attractive, even if the City of Morris manages to keep the grass cut.
It's hard to pass by that site and not envision the heyday when it not only was a quite fine football field, it was a festive gathering place for the community - a "town square," as a current school board member put it to me once.
Now we have Big Cat Field. Big Cat undoubtedly works well for the U of M-Morris. That's something to celebrate. I checked it out when the Cougars played their Homecoming game last year, on a day when patches of snow were on the ground, and found the bleachers to be full. A facility like this helps the UMM Cougar program with its recruiting.
Also, even though the stadium was built between UMM and the public school, it has the definite feel of being part of the UMM campus. A visitor who didn't know better would assume that it was simply part of the campus. It's right next to the P.E. Center, and the parking lot there is an official UMM lot.
You might be asking "so?"
It was my understanding that the stadium was built as a cooperative venture between UMM and the public school. Community leaders were known to trumpet this when it was proposed and promoted. One told me that the project was somewhat cutting edge in that regard, and that the state was most approving.
I'm not sure I'm so enthralled by the approval of "the state." There is no substitute for the judgment of people at the local level. When you drift away from that you have to bow to priorities that may not be in our interests.
The "cooperative" nature of Big Cat was a concept that seemed appealing at a bureaucratic level. In reality we have a field that is a fine showcase for UMM and serves its interests - wonderful - but leaves the public school feeling as though it's riding piggy back.
And even though Big Cat seems like a boon for UMM, was there really anything wrong with the old UMM field? I remember attending games at the old UMM field as far back as about 1970. I never saw any shortcomings, and it's not as if UMM football grew in its competitiveness (or talent) through the years.
Is there anyone among us who doesn't feel wistful and nostalgic about the days when UMM played schools like Winona State, Moorhead State, Bemidji State and Northern State? Those foes were known quantities - household words. Now so many of the opponents seem obscure and almost mysterious, like Principia College.
But I don't think anyone argues that Big Cat Field isn't in the best interests of the local college.
The primary issue to address here is whether the other partner in the field, our local high school, is being served well enough. We're into July and the pre-season workouts aren't far off. Then we'll see if somehow more fannies can get parked in the Big Cat bleacher seats for MAHS Tiger football.
Cougar football is played during the bright daytime hours. The temperature tends to be warmer of course.
But for the prep action? Big Cat Field with its location on the edge of town seems bleak and desolate at night. It overlooks total barrenness to the east.
There is an assumption that fans will come and park their butts on hard bleacher seats and seriously watch football for four quarters. Here we have a disconnect between reality and what might appeal to bureaucratic planners. Anyone who attended Coombe Field through the years knows that a huge percentage of fans paid only partial interest to the football. It was, as my school board acquaintance pointed out, a "town square."
I have previously written that this town square is now "gone with the wind." And how very regrettable. No such warm feelings could ever be felt about Big Cat. It sits there like a big airy mausoleum most of the year. At the end of August we'll see if our public school leaders can think of ways of getting more people to show up for football.
Kitschy promotions? Who knows.
The school has discontinued cheerleading. To those who might suggest that cheerleading is anachronistic, I would respond that we could have a "cheer team" with both male and female members - a quite fine contemporary model.
We also have a band program that seems to me indifferent to supporting Tiger football. It should be a given that a band of some sort play for every home football game, especially since we're supposed to feel so proud of this new stadium. There was no band for the Tigers' playoff game against Minnewaska Area last fall. The poor attendance for that game should have been a wakeup call for the community.
Resurrect Coombe Field? Only in our dreams. That would make too much sense. We have a new field designed to please "planners" of the ivory tower type and now we have to try to make it work. I think it will be uphill.
Here is an absolutely huge issue: Can fans feel totally comfortable parking close to Big Cat? In other words, can fans use the "UMM" parking lot without inhibitions? My goodness, you would think "yes" because high school games are played on Friday night when the campus is pretty much cleared out anyway.
But no, it came to my attention from a friend last fall that there were actual P.A. announcements at the public school encouraging fans to use the public school parking lot for football games. This is disastrous. This friend was actually at the school and heard one such announcement, so it's irrefutable.
I passed this information on to a school board member (a different one from the one I cited earlier), and he/she got confirmation of this. He/she (anonymity granted) got an explanation from the school that these announcements were just intended to encourage use of the public school lot by fans who wouldn't be inconvenienced by this.
In other words, "we'd appreciate if you could use it." I don't want to misquote or misinterpret.
But I still disagree 100 percent. It's hard enough in this town to get townspeople to feel comfortable going out to the campus. There is a social/cultural division, for one thing, plus the parking permit required in daytime that seems to make the campus off-limits.
In light of this, the absolute last thing we should be doing is encouraging people to park at the public school for prep games at Big Cat.
There is an attendance problem at Big Cat, apparently not for the Cougars (based on my Homecoming glimpse) but for the Tigers. In theory the field was built as a 50/50 proposition between the two institutions. But it doesn't seem to be coming across that way.
As an experiment last fall I actually visited the public school parking lot and walked to Big Cat Field and back. There are issues like a long fence that makes this more arduous than the sheer distance might suggest. But even the sheer distance is an issue, especially for many people or kids who might be physically limited in some way.
Were those P.A. announcements at the high school the result of requests from UMM? I don't know the answer to this.
Put the shoe on the other foot: I can't imagine a situation where people affiliated with UMM would be discouraged, even via a hint, from using any UMM parking lot. So why would people with an interest in high school football be getting this seeming dirty end of the stick?
Big Cat was supposed to be a totally cooperative venture. One lesson from this might be that there's no such thing as a totally cooperative venture.
I don't doubt that players like Big Cat Field. But I don't think they had an issue with Coombe Field. Home football games at Coombe Field were one of the most heartwarming chapters in the history of this community.
During good economic times it's easy to think in terms of just tearing everything down and building new.
The economic realities are different now. The City of Morris is coming off like "Oliver" (of the musical of the same name) asking for "more gruel," such is the apparent austerity it's being forced to deal with.
Come to think of it, I attended the all-school musical "Oliver" at the old elementary auditorium in about 1970. The place was packed and it was wonderful.
That auditorium was perfect for music and theater. Oh, but we had to turn thumbs down on this ultimately, so now the grand art deco facility sits there decaying and haunted, like Coombe Field.
I think it's overwhelmingly sad.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
It's hard to pass by that site and not envision the heyday when it not only was a quite fine football field, it was a festive gathering place for the community - a "town square," as a current school board member put it to me once.
Now we have Big Cat Field. Big Cat undoubtedly works well for the U of M-Morris. That's something to celebrate. I checked it out when the Cougars played their Homecoming game last year, on a day when patches of snow were on the ground, and found the bleachers to be full. A facility like this helps the UMM Cougar program with its recruiting.
Also, even though the stadium was built between UMM and the public school, it has the definite feel of being part of the UMM campus. A visitor who didn't know better would assume that it was simply part of the campus. It's right next to the P.E. Center, and the parking lot there is an official UMM lot.
You might be asking "so?"
It was my understanding that the stadium was built as a cooperative venture between UMM and the public school. Community leaders were known to trumpet this when it was proposed and promoted. One told me that the project was somewhat cutting edge in that regard, and that the state was most approving.
I'm not sure I'm so enthralled by the approval of "the state." There is no substitute for the judgment of people at the local level. When you drift away from that you have to bow to priorities that may not be in our interests.
The "cooperative" nature of Big Cat was a concept that seemed appealing at a bureaucratic level. In reality we have a field that is a fine showcase for UMM and serves its interests - wonderful - but leaves the public school feeling as though it's riding piggy back.
And even though Big Cat seems like a boon for UMM, was there really anything wrong with the old UMM field? I remember attending games at the old UMM field as far back as about 1970. I never saw any shortcomings, and it's not as if UMM football grew in its competitiveness (or talent) through the years.
Is there anyone among us who doesn't feel wistful and nostalgic about the days when UMM played schools like Winona State, Moorhead State, Bemidji State and Northern State? Those foes were known quantities - household words. Now so many of the opponents seem obscure and almost mysterious, like Principia College.
But I don't think anyone argues that Big Cat Field isn't in the best interests of the local college.
The primary issue to address here is whether the other partner in the field, our local high school, is being served well enough. We're into July and the pre-season workouts aren't far off. Then we'll see if somehow more fannies can get parked in the Big Cat bleacher seats for MAHS Tiger football.
Cougar football is played during the bright daytime hours. The temperature tends to be warmer of course.
But for the prep action? Big Cat Field with its location on the edge of town seems bleak and desolate at night. It overlooks total barrenness to the east.
There is an assumption that fans will come and park their butts on hard bleacher seats and seriously watch football for four quarters. Here we have a disconnect between reality and what might appeal to bureaucratic planners. Anyone who attended Coombe Field through the years knows that a huge percentage of fans paid only partial interest to the football. It was, as my school board acquaintance pointed out, a "town square."
I have previously written that this town square is now "gone with the wind." And how very regrettable. No such warm feelings could ever be felt about Big Cat. It sits there like a big airy mausoleum most of the year. At the end of August we'll see if our public school leaders can think of ways of getting more people to show up for football.
Kitschy promotions? Who knows.
The school has discontinued cheerleading. To those who might suggest that cheerleading is anachronistic, I would respond that we could have a "cheer team" with both male and female members - a quite fine contemporary model.
We also have a band program that seems to me indifferent to supporting Tiger football. It should be a given that a band of some sort play for every home football game, especially since we're supposed to feel so proud of this new stadium. There was no band for the Tigers' playoff game against Minnewaska Area last fall. The poor attendance for that game should have been a wakeup call for the community.
Resurrect Coombe Field? Only in our dreams. That would make too much sense. We have a new field designed to please "planners" of the ivory tower type and now we have to try to make it work. I think it will be uphill.
Here is an absolutely huge issue: Can fans feel totally comfortable parking close to Big Cat? In other words, can fans use the "UMM" parking lot without inhibitions? My goodness, you would think "yes" because high school games are played on Friday night when the campus is pretty much cleared out anyway.
But no, it came to my attention from a friend last fall that there were actual P.A. announcements at the public school encouraging fans to use the public school parking lot for football games. This is disastrous. This friend was actually at the school and heard one such announcement, so it's irrefutable.
I passed this information on to a school board member (a different one from the one I cited earlier), and he/she got confirmation of this. He/she (anonymity granted) got an explanation from the school that these announcements were just intended to encourage use of the public school lot by fans who wouldn't be inconvenienced by this.
In other words, "we'd appreciate if you could use it." I don't want to misquote or misinterpret.
But I still disagree 100 percent. It's hard enough in this town to get townspeople to feel comfortable going out to the campus. There is a social/cultural division, for one thing, plus the parking permit required in daytime that seems to make the campus off-limits.
In light of this, the absolute last thing we should be doing is encouraging people to park at the public school for prep games at Big Cat.
There is an attendance problem at Big Cat, apparently not for the Cougars (based on my Homecoming glimpse) but for the Tigers. In theory the field was built as a 50/50 proposition between the two institutions. But it doesn't seem to be coming across that way.
As an experiment last fall I actually visited the public school parking lot and walked to Big Cat Field and back. There are issues like a long fence that makes this more arduous than the sheer distance might suggest. But even the sheer distance is an issue, especially for many people or kids who might be physically limited in some way.
Were those P.A. announcements at the high school the result of requests from UMM? I don't know the answer to this.
Put the shoe on the other foot: I can't imagine a situation where people affiliated with UMM would be discouraged, even via a hint, from using any UMM parking lot. So why would people with an interest in high school football be getting this seeming dirty end of the stick?
Big Cat was supposed to be a totally cooperative venture. One lesson from this might be that there's no such thing as a totally cooperative venture.
I don't doubt that players like Big Cat Field. But I don't think they had an issue with Coombe Field. Home football games at Coombe Field were one of the most heartwarming chapters in the history of this community.
During good economic times it's easy to think in terms of just tearing everything down and building new.
The economic realities are different now. The City of Morris is coming off like "Oliver" (of the musical of the same name) asking for "more gruel," such is the apparent austerity it's being forced to deal with.
Come to think of it, I attended the all-school musical "Oliver" at the old elementary auditorium in about 1970. The place was packed and it was wonderful.
That auditorium was perfect for music and theater. Oh, but we had to turn thumbs down on this ultimately, so now the grand art deco facility sits there decaying and haunted, like Coombe Field.
I think it's overwhelmingly sad.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Monday, July 5, 2010
July 4, the fair, and our too-short summer
Is a holiday really a holiday if one doesn't get excused from work on a weekday? The July 4 holiday this year reminds us of how an "artificial" holiday gets carved out sometimes. July 4 was on a Sunday.
Isn't it enough to acknowledge our nation's independence on the proper day and just resume our normal lifestyle on Monday? I guess not.
I'm writing the first draft for this post at 5 a.m. Monday morning, July 5, at which time I'm being informed that the stock market is closed, and the usual Joe Scarborough TV program at 5 isn't on. Adding insult to injury, the MSNBC network (Joe's) is putting one of their prison documentary re-runs on the air for that slot.
There is a certain element of the population that must be captivated by those prison shows. MSNBC relies too much on these re-runs to fill their weekend programming.
Fox News, meanwhile, does much better airing live and relevant shows on the weekend or on holidays. That's profoundly sad because Fox News is a megaphone for the political right wing.
It's 5:05 a.m. right now and I'm noticing that "Fox and Friends" has their weekend personalities (i.e. second-stringers) on the air instead of the usual automatons spouting the tea party-ish talking points. It's embarrassing that the latter category includes Gretchen Carlson, a native of Minnesota. She's joined by Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade. They've been at it for way too long. They need a breath of fresh air.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) we'll see a sense of routine again and we can hold our breath to see if the stock market resumes its tumble. You don't suppose a bailout could be arranged for all the common folk affected by by this, like what George W. Bush arranged for the banks? Not that these were banks as we have come to know them. They're mutant banks. Whatever, their interests are being taken care of. The common folk are treading water.
Perhaps a push-back is already starting as evidenced in those Mark Dayton (for Minnesota governor) TV ads openly suggesting the rich should pay more taxes. Until recently such a message would have been taboo.
There was a time when "trickle down" seemed palatable, but there are too many people hurting now. Maybe the populist message will roll over Fox News and prevail. Populists have been on the defensive for too long.
Not everyone is taking a work day off for the 2010 Independence Day. The Morris Senior Nutrition Center served on Friday and will again today (Monday). Hats off on that.
I'm sure the Hancock community had a festive Fourth celebration with the parade and all the other bells and whistles. Hancock July 4 makes that town a mecca while Morris is in a relative slumber.
Now that the Fourth is past, the dog days of summer will truly set in. Getting ready for the Stevens County Fair will be a priority for a lot of people.
Our fair has grown enormously in the past 30 years. I remember when our fair had fallen into sort of a malaise in the late 1970s. I remember a barber (not Dave Evenson) who remarked with the fair nearing that "if it weren't for the 4-H kids, there wouldn't be much there."
We were inclined to chuckle at such a comment. It just seemed to express reality.
It almost seemed like the institution of the small town county fair was close to becoming an anachronism - a throwback.
I covered our fair for the media for the first time in 1979. The fairgrounds were considerably smaller than they are today. The company running the midway seemed as small-time as you could get. The commercial exhibits were in a rickety-feeling wooden building - a far cry from today's Lee Center.
I remember how the seating was configured in the 4-H foodstand, accommodating far fewer diners than now. And these days it gets packed. There was no outdoor arena for the livestock shows if you can believe that. The 4-H kids would parade their animals on the opposite side of the livestock buildings from now, with no roof overhead and in front of some aluminum bleachers that the City of Morris crew would run in.
We in this county went through a period of an incredible inferiority complex when the Traverse County Fair in Wheaton brought in big-name talent, while we just sort of sat on our hands. Wheaton's run of success with that began with some luck. They parlayed it.
One could sense that the momentum was slowly building for an improved Stevens County Fair. It would not suffer the "anachronism" fate. Quite to the contrary.
We went through a copycat phase as we, too, brought in some big-name entertainment like the Statler Brothers and Ronnie Milsap. It began with Donna Fargo.
Why would these big names bother with small county fairs in the rural countryside? My goodness, we got Donny and Marie (Osmond) here, plus some other names that were big at the time even though they are obscure now (e.g. Charly McLain, who by the way was a woman).
Why would such luminaries come here? Ah, casinos hadn't proliferated yet. Gambling had an immoral stigma. That barrier came crashing down almost without discussion. Casinos became a gold mine for entertainers and they have probably been a particular boon for the smaller-time ones like Sherwin Linton. I'm happy for that.
County fairs have gone back to their staples of earthy grandstand activities, the kind that throw up dirt. Everyone seems happy with that too.
It will be interesting to see if county fairs keep their vitality as outstate Minnesota continues to lose population, and economic travail is felt more here.
But forget about the "anachronism" scenario. County fairs have an appeal that will endure.
After the fair we all start thinking about the school year nearing. Labor Day weekend is one of the "bookend" holidays of summer, the other being Memorial Day which kicks it off.
But Labor Day weekend is rather strange because there are no formal ceremonies to acknowledge it. It's just a three-day weekend. That probably hurts the turnout for the home high school football game if one is scheduled for that weekend (and it would be the opener).
On Labor Day weekend we can kiss goodbye to summer, which always seems a little too short.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Isn't it enough to acknowledge our nation's independence on the proper day and just resume our normal lifestyle on Monday? I guess not.
I'm writing the first draft for this post at 5 a.m. Monday morning, July 5, at which time I'm being informed that the stock market is closed, and the usual Joe Scarborough TV program at 5 isn't on. Adding insult to injury, the MSNBC network (Joe's) is putting one of their prison documentary re-runs on the air for that slot.
There is a certain element of the population that must be captivated by those prison shows. MSNBC relies too much on these re-runs to fill their weekend programming.
Fox News, meanwhile, does much better airing live and relevant shows on the weekend or on holidays. That's profoundly sad because Fox News is a megaphone for the political right wing.
It's 5:05 a.m. right now and I'm noticing that "Fox and Friends" has their weekend personalities (i.e. second-stringers) on the air instead of the usual automatons spouting the tea party-ish talking points. It's embarrassing that the latter category includes Gretchen Carlson, a native of Minnesota. She's joined by Steve Doocy and Brian Kilmeade. They've been at it for way too long. They need a breath of fresh air.
Tomorrow (Tuesday) we'll see a sense of routine again and we can hold our breath to see if the stock market resumes its tumble. You don't suppose a bailout could be arranged for all the common folk affected by by this, like what George W. Bush arranged for the banks? Not that these were banks as we have come to know them. They're mutant banks. Whatever, their interests are being taken care of. The common folk are treading water.
Perhaps a push-back is already starting as evidenced in those Mark Dayton (for Minnesota governor) TV ads openly suggesting the rich should pay more taxes. Until recently such a message would have been taboo.
There was a time when "trickle down" seemed palatable, but there are too many people hurting now. Maybe the populist message will roll over Fox News and prevail. Populists have been on the defensive for too long.
Not everyone is taking a work day off for the 2010 Independence Day. The Morris Senior Nutrition Center served on Friday and will again today (Monday). Hats off on that.
I'm sure the Hancock community had a festive Fourth celebration with the parade and all the other bells and whistles. Hancock July 4 makes that town a mecca while Morris is in a relative slumber.
Now that the Fourth is past, the dog days of summer will truly set in. Getting ready for the Stevens County Fair will be a priority for a lot of people.
Our fair has grown enormously in the past 30 years. I remember when our fair had fallen into sort of a malaise in the late 1970s. I remember a barber (not Dave Evenson) who remarked with the fair nearing that "if it weren't for the 4-H kids, there wouldn't be much there."
We were inclined to chuckle at such a comment. It just seemed to express reality.
It almost seemed like the institution of the small town county fair was close to becoming an anachronism - a throwback.
I covered our fair for the media for the first time in 1979. The fairgrounds were considerably smaller than they are today. The company running the midway seemed as small-time as you could get. The commercial exhibits were in a rickety-feeling wooden building - a far cry from today's Lee Center.
I remember how the seating was configured in the 4-H foodstand, accommodating far fewer diners than now. And these days it gets packed. There was no outdoor arena for the livestock shows if you can believe that. The 4-H kids would parade their animals on the opposite side of the livestock buildings from now, with no roof overhead and in front of some aluminum bleachers that the City of Morris crew would run in.
We in this county went through a period of an incredible inferiority complex when the Traverse County Fair in Wheaton brought in big-name talent, while we just sort of sat on our hands. Wheaton's run of success with that began with some luck. They parlayed it.
One could sense that the momentum was slowly building for an improved Stevens County Fair. It would not suffer the "anachronism" fate. Quite to the contrary.
We went through a copycat phase as we, too, brought in some big-name entertainment like the Statler Brothers and Ronnie Milsap. It began with Donna Fargo.
Why would these big names bother with small county fairs in the rural countryside? My goodness, we got Donny and Marie (Osmond) here, plus some other names that were big at the time even though they are obscure now (e.g. Charly McLain, who by the way was a woman).
Why would such luminaries come here? Ah, casinos hadn't proliferated yet. Gambling had an immoral stigma. That barrier came crashing down almost without discussion. Casinos became a gold mine for entertainers and they have probably been a particular boon for the smaller-time ones like Sherwin Linton. I'm happy for that.
County fairs have gone back to their staples of earthy grandstand activities, the kind that throw up dirt. Everyone seems happy with that too.
It will be interesting to see if county fairs keep their vitality as outstate Minnesota continues to lose population, and economic travail is felt more here.
But forget about the "anachronism" scenario. County fairs have an appeal that will endure.
After the fair we all start thinking about the school year nearing. Labor Day weekend is one of the "bookend" holidays of summer, the other being Memorial Day which kicks it off.
But Labor Day weekend is rather strange because there are no formal ceremonies to acknowledge it. It's just a three-day weekend. That probably hurts the turnout for the home high school football game if one is scheduled for that weekend (and it would be the opener).
On Labor Day weekend we can kiss goodbye to summer, which always seems a little too short.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Post #29 wins twice; Erickson tosses 1-hitter
The offense and defense took turns leading the way for Morris Legion baseball (Post #29) in impressive recent triumphs.
Morris 6, Glenwood 0
The defense took centerstage for the Thursday game at Glenwood. In particular it was Alex Erickson leading the way with his performance on the pitching mound. Erickson was stellar in his hurling as he recorded a one-hitter in Post #29's 6-0 win.
Not only couldn't the Glenwood batters break through for hits, they were retired to the dugout on strikes a total of 17 times.
Erickson walked just one in his seven innings of work. The only hit allowed by this righthander came off the bat of Trenton Berg: a single with two outs in the third. One Glenwood batter reached on an error, but no Glenwood baserunners got as far as second base.
Erickson retired the side on strikes in three innings. He has been a Chokio-Alberta Spartan in his past prep exploits, but he will don the orange and black of Morris Area for his senior season.
The Morris Legion baseball boys scored one run in the first inning, two in the sixth and three in the seventh. Tyler Hansen scored two of the Morris runs and he rapped two hits in four at-bats.
Dusty Sauter tripled and had a sacrifice fly while going one-for-three. Ryan Beyer supplied some fireworks leading up to the Fourth (July 4) as he hit a two-run home run in the seventh.
Eric Riley joined the attack with two-for-four numbers and an RBI, and Cole Riley finished one-for-three.
The losing pitcher was Cory Houlten, and Mike Whittemore also pitched for Glenwood.
Morris 12, Big Stone 1
The offense propelled Post #29 to victory in its next game, to the tune of twelve runs scored, and this success was over big Stone on Friday. Actually the defense was good enough to set the pace also. The Morris Legion baseball squad allowed one run in the first and after that it was all zeroes in this 12-1 win at the comfortable home diamond.
Post #29 had the superb line score of 12-16-0 (runs-hits-errors). Nate Gades and Travis Rinkenberger combined on a pitching gem: a three-hitter. Gades hurled for five of the innings, fanning nine Big Stone batters; and Rinkenberger had a two-inning stint on the hill in which he allowed one hit/no runs.
The ten-run rule abbreviated the action. Alex Erickson rested his pitching arm on this day, but his hitting instincts were activated in a big way! Alex was a perfect three-for-three with two of his hits doubles and the other a two-run homer. He scored three runs and drove in two. His homer was his fourth of his sterling campaign.
Dustin Sauter excelled again with the stick (his norm), as on this day he went two-for-three with an RBI. Ryan Beyer connected for a solo home run, his fourth of the summer, as part of going two-for-four, plus he scored two runs.
Eric Riley smacked two doubles among his four at-bats. He scored two runs.
Brady Valnes came through with a hit. Nate Gades doubled as part of his two-for-three day, plus he drove in a run.
Cole Riley had a hit in his two at-bats and drove in a run. Mitch Kill went one-for-three as did Evan Schultz, and Mitch drove in a run.
The losing pitcher was Taylor Rademacher.
Morris Legion baseball came out of the recent stretch of success with a 10-7 season record. The squad wants to establish further distance over .500, and based on their recent play, prospects are excellent!
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Morris 6, Glenwood 0
The defense took centerstage for the Thursday game at Glenwood. In particular it was Alex Erickson leading the way with his performance on the pitching mound. Erickson was stellar in his hurling as he recorded a one-hitter in Post #29's 6-0 win.
Not only couldn't the Glenwood batters break through for hits, they were retired to the dugout on strikes a total of 17 times.
Erickson walked just one in his seven innings of work. The only hit allowed by this righthander came off the bat of Trenton Berg: a single with two outs in the third. One Glenwood batter reached on an error, but no Glenwood baserunners got as far as second base.
Erickson retired the side on strikes in three innings. He has been a Chokio-Alberta Spartan in his past prep exploits, but he will don the orange and black of Morris Area for his senior season.
The Morris Legion baseball boys scored one run in the first inning, two in the sixth and three in the seventh. Tyler Hansen scored two of the Morris runs and he rapped two hits in four at-bats.
Dusty Sauter tripled and had a sacrifice fly while going one-for-three. Ryan Beyer supplied some fireworks leading up to the Fourth (July 4) as he hit a two-run home run in the seventh.
Eric Riley joined the attack with two-for-four numbers and an RBI, and Cole Riley finished one-for-three.
The losing pitcher was Cory Houlten, and Mike Whittemore also pitched for Glenwood.
Morris 12, Big Stone 1
The offense propelled Post #29 to victory in its next game, to the tune of twelve runs scored, and this success was over big Stone on Friday. Actually the defense was good enough to set the pace also. The Morris Legion baseball squad allowed one run in the first and after that it was all zeroes in this 12-1 win at the comfortable home diamond.
Post #29 had the superb line score of 12-16-0 (runs-hits-errors). Nate Gades and Travis Rinkenberger combined on a pitching gem: a three-hitter. Gades hurled for five of the innings, fanning nine Big Stone batters; and Rinkenberger had a two-inning stint on the hill in which he allowed one hit/no runs.
The ten-run rule abbreviated the action. Alex Erickson rested his pitching arm on this day, but his hitting instincts were activated in a big way! Alex was a perfect three-for-three with two of his hits doubles and the other a two-run homer. He scored three runs and drove in two. His homer was his fourth of his sterling campaign.
Dustin Sauter excelled again with the stick (his norm), as on this day he went two-for-three with an RBI. Ryan Beyer connected for a solo home run, his fourth of the summer, as part of going two-for-four, plus he scored two runs.
Eric Riley smacked two doubles among his four at-bats. He scored two runs.
Brady Valnes came through with a hit. Nate Gades doubled as part of his two-for-three day, plus he drove in a run.
Cole Riley had a hit in his two at-bats and drove in a run. Mitch Kill went one-for-three as did Evan Schultz, and Mitch drove in a run.
The losing pitcher was Taylor Rademacher.
Morris Legion baseball came out of the recent stretch of success with a 10-7 season record. The squad wants to establish further distance over .500, and based on their recent play, prospects are excellent!
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Eagles score in double digits in two wins
The month of June wound down in an upbeat way for the Morris Eagles baseball team, which won Friday and Sunday contests on June 25 and 27. It was upbeat for the Eagles as a team and for Chase Rambow as an individual, with Chase continuing to develop a new chapter in his diamond career after shoulder surgery.
Rambow, whose mechanics have always appeared textbook (not that this guarantees against injury), was called to the pitching mound to help right the Eagles' ship in the fifth inning of the Friday game.
Morris 13, Wheaton 7
Rambow relieved an off-and-on Andy Lembcke in the June 25 contest. Lembcke allowed the Wheaton Walleyes to score six runs (five earned) in four innings. He walked six batters and allowed five hits. It wasn't quite his day at the Wheaton diamond.
Chase Rambow got into the groove, fanning eight Walleye batters as he finished out the game in this 13-7 triumph.
Rambow allowed five hits and one run (earned) in his five innings. He walked two.
Wheaton seized the early lead, 2-0 in the second inning, but the Morris Eagles surged to score five in the third. The host Walleyes found new life in the fourth inning with four runs, and now the score is 6-5 with Wheaton up.
The Eagles drew up even on the scoreboard with one run in the fifth, and they persevered by adding one run each in the sixth and seventh innings and then three in the eighth and two in the ninth.
The Morris line score was a solid 13 runs, 12 hits and just one error. Wheaton's numbers were 7-10-2.
Chase Rambow complemented his pitching with one-for-four numbers at bat, plus he scored two runs and stole a base. Ross Haugen had the other stolen base. Haugen, the #3 batter in the order, drove in three runs and scored two while going one-for-five.
Lefty leadoff batter Kirby Marquart scored three runs while going two-for-five. Cory Marquart, batting #2, pounded three hits in four at-bats, drove in three runs and scored one. Eric Asche had a one-for-five day with two runs and an RBI. Dusty Sauter contributed with two-for-four numbers and a pair of ribbies. The ageless Matthew Carrington went two-for-four, scoring a run and driving in one.
Former UMM Cougar Bobby Culbertson crossed home plate twice and drove in a run. Walks were received by Cory Marquart (2), Asche, Rambow (2), Adam Torkelson (2), Carrington, Culbertson and Craig Knochenmus.
Morris 12, Appleton 4
Two days after their winning exploits at the Wheaton diamond, Morris was at it again, carving out a victory with a double-digit run total. The Eagles had a short-handed look as they took the diamond in Appleton to play the A's. This has been a dues-paying season for the A's and they got no relief in the June 27 affair.
John Lembcke helped the Eagles by "coming out of retirement." John did more than just hold his own, as he connected for a two-run home run (to left-center) in the third in this 12-4 Morris Eagles win.
Dusty Sauter attacked the A's with five hits in six at-bats. One of Dusty's hits was a double, and he drove in three runs while upping his average to .361. He has set the pace in RBIs.
Andy Lembcke supplied a distinctive highlight by stealing second, third and home (on a throw) in the fifth inning. Wow!
Adam Torkelson did a workmanlike job on the mound, overcoming some early control difficulties. Adam pitched six innings, fanning eight batters, to get his fourth win of the summer. He gave up five hits and walked five batters.
Jamie Van Kempen had his pitching arm called on for two innings and he fanned one batter and walked one. Craig Knochenmus set down two A's on strikes in one inning.
The Eagles were aggressive on the basepaths, epitomized by Andy Lembcke's work in the fifth, and other Eagles with stolen bases were Sauter, Knochenmus and Culbertson.
Matthew Carrington worked Appleton's pitching for three walks. Chase Rambow occupied the leadoff spot in the order and he posted two-for-six numbers with two RBIs. Craig Knochenmus had a hit and scored a run.
Carrington managed three official at-bats in spite of walking three times, and he went one-for-three with two RBIs and a run. Adam Torkelson socked three hits in six at-bats and scored two runs. John Lembcke went two-for-six with two runs and two RBIs.
Jamie Van Kempen had a three-for-five day with two runs and one RBI. Andy Lembcke had a hit and scored a run. Bobby Culbertson went one-for-four with two runs and an RBI.
The Morris line score was a superb 12-19-0 (runs-hits-errors).
This was the Eagles' ninth win against five losses, and in league the numbers were stellar at 8-2 coming out of the weekend.
Morris Eagles baseball came out of Sunday with a four-game lead over Montevideo with four league games remaining. Fans are starting to sense the home stretch of the schedule, and then the playoffs where the results count most!
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Rambow, whose mechanics have always appeared textbook (not that this guarantees against injury), was called to the pitching mound to help right the Eagles' ship in the fifth inning of the Friday game.
Morris 13, Wheaton 7
Rambow relieved an off-and-on Andy Lembcke in the June 25 contest. Lembcke allowed the Wheaton Walleyes to score six runs (five earned) in four innings. He walked six batters and allowed five hits. It wasn't quite his day at the Wheaton diamond.
Chase Rambow got into the groove, fanning eight Walleye batters as he finished out the game in this 13-7 triumph.
Rambow allowed five hits and one run (earned) in his five innings. He walked two.
Wheaton seized the early lead, 2-0 in the second inning, but the Morris Eagles surged to score five in the third. The host Walleyes found new life in the fourth inning with four runs, and now the score is 6-5 with Wheaton up.
The Eagles drew up even on the scoreboard with one run in the fifth, and they persevered by adding one run each in the sixth and seventh innings and then three in the eighth and two in the ninth.
The Morris line score was a solid 13 runs, 12 hits and just one error. Wheaton's numbers were 7-10-2.
Chase Rambow complemented his pitching with one-for-four numbers at bat, plus he scored two runs and stole a base. Ross Haugen had the other stolen base. Haugen, the #3 batter in the order, drove in three runs and scored two while going one-for-five.
Lefty leadoff batter Kirby Marquart scored three runs while going two-for-five. Cory Marquart, batting #2, pounded three hits in four at-bats, drove in three runs and scored one. Eric Asche had a one-for-five day with two runs and an RBI. Dusty Sauter contributed with two-for-four numbers and a pair of ribbies. The ageless Matthew Carrington went two-for-four, scoring a run and driving in one.
Former UMM Cougar Bobby Culbertson crossed home plate twice and drove in a run. Walks were received by Cory Marquart (2), Asche, Rambow (2), Adam Torkelson (2), Carrington, Culbertson and Craig Knochenmus.
Morris 12, Appleton 4
Two days after their winning exploits at the Wheaton diamond, Morris was at it again, carving out a victory with a double-digit run total. The Eagles had a short-handed look as they took the diamond in Appleton to play the A's. This has been a dues-paying season for the A's and they got no relief in the June 27 affair.
John Lembcke helped the Eagles by "coming out of retirement." John did more than just hold his own, as he connected for a two-run home run (to left-center) in the third in this 12-4 Morris Eagles win.
Dusty Sauter attacked the A's with five hits in six at-bats. One of Dusty's hits was a double, and he drove in three runs while upping his average to .361. He has set the pace in RBIs.
Andy Lembcke supplied a distinctive highlight by stealing second, third and home (on a throw) in the fifth inning. Wow!
Adam Torkelson did a workmanlike job on the mound, overcoming some early control difficulties. Adam pitched six innings, fanning eight batters, to get his fourth win of the summer. He gave up five hits and walked five batters.
Jamie Van Kempen had his pitching arm called on for two innings and he fanned one batter and walked one. Craig Knochenmus set down two A's on strikes in one inning.
The Eagles were aggressive on the basepaths, epitomized by Andy Lembcke's work in the fifth, and other Eagles with stolen bases were Sauter, Knochenmus and Culbertson.
Matthew Carrington worked Appleton's pitching for three walks. Chase Rambow occupied the leadoff spot in the order and he posted two-for-six numbers with two RBIs. Craig Knochenmus had a hit and scored a run.
Carrington managed three official at-bats in spite of walking three times, and he went one-for-three with two RBIs and a run. Adam Torkelson socked three hits in six at-bats and scored two runs. John Lembcke went two-for-six with two runs and two RBIs.
Jamie Van Kempen had a three-for-five day with two runs and one RBI. Andy Lembcke had a hit and scored a run. Bobby Culbertson went one-for-four with two runs and an RBI.
The Morris line score was a superb 12-19-0 (runs-hits-errors).
This was the Eagles' ninth win against five losses, and in league the numbers were stellar at 8-2 coming out of the weekend.
Morris Eagles baseball came out of Sunday with a four-game lead over Montevideo with four league games remaining. Fans are starting to sense the home stretch of the schedule, and then the playoffs where the results count most!
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Friday, July 2, 2010
Senator Franken revives craft of doodling
A psychologist might have certain interpretations of what doodling represents. Is our U.S. Senator Al Franken reviving the practice, the innocence of which is open to debate? Franken did a quite nice little drawing of one of his colleagues.
Does this mean his attention wasn't adequately focused during the Elena Kagan hearings? The Senate Judiciary Committee was examining the Supreme Court Justice-to-be.
Perhaps Senator Franken wanted to take his mind off the predictable and in many cases (from Republicans) tedious/chafing line of questioning/grilling. I don't blame Senator Al for wanting to doodle instead of paying attention to some of the attack dog Republicans.
I remember glancing over to a fellow student on the first day of a college semester once, and seeing that he had drawn a pizza and beer on his notebook page. He even labeled them "pizza" and "beer" lest his artwork was seen to have some shortcomings.
But is doodling art? Is it a bad habit? Is it subversive? Is it a window into someone's soul? Does it reveal psychological issues?
I think the world would be a better place of more of us doodled. We have an instant gratification society in which our pace of thinking and living has become intense to a troubling degree. Do people even slow down to ponder if they're happy?
I read an analysis recently that asserted that boredom had been completely eliminated in our tech-fueled culture. Driving a car isn't enough to occupy one's attention. How often do you see people with a mobile phone to their ear when driving?
Doodling is a basic, retro way to slow down. Ironically there was once a time when doodling could combat boredom. Today we can use it as a wedge to withdraw from our tech distractions and frenetic pace of life. Ergo, it has a transcendent purpose!
I'm thrilled that Senator Franken, who might have the most creative mind in our nation's capitol, brought some sudden attention to the pastime. And it's not like he merely drew a stick figure. It was just as good as those drawings you'd see on matchbook covers promoting an art instruction school. "Draw Winky" they would implore.
I presume that matchbook cover art and advertising have faded along with the pastime of smoking itself. If someone hasn't done an interpretive study of matchbook cover communications, it should be done. Attention, some graduate school student somewhere.
Doodling is fascinating because of its informal and impulsive nature. Surely serious art instructors pooh-pooh it. When I was in college, I considered general education art classes to be exercises in pure garbage - a pretentious exploration of crap that might somehow be rationalized as serious art when most of it could be toted to the nearest dump.
No, doodling is a craft to be respected. It deserves a revival, if that's what Franken's little episode can inspire.
Bored in class? Do a little caricature of your instructor. You might get kicked out of class but so what? All the info you might get in the class is available on the Internet anyway.
All our traditional educational systems, as Tim Pawlenty famously pointed out on The Daily Show, are sinking rapidly into obsolescence just like newspapers.
How I'd love to see those art courses or "Sociology 101" be given a proper burial. Whoever decided that "Sociology 101" was something that had to be thrust on impressionable 19-year-old minds? Hats off to any student who chooses to doodle when such drivel is being shoveled at him/her.
The Franken episode reminded me of when I did gargoyle-type drawings on spiral notebook pages during bus trips for high school activities. I was in the Morris High School marching band when it made some quite long trips. I also kept the stat book for the MHS Tiger baseball team.
My drawings were sometimes offered as caricatures of some of my peers, and I can remember at least two of them who resented it. I didn't get punched out. The lines could be a little squiggly because I was drawing on a moving bus, but all in all I think the drawings had merit and they were somewhat unique.
How would I have engaged my time if not drawing? Horsing around with other kids or playing a mundane card game on a band instrument case?
I think doodling has advantages because it taps creative impulses and requires some sober concentration. For Franken he could escape some of the Republican-uttered rhetoric that was so trying to ingest.
Senator Al, I hope you have brought some renewed interest to a true "street craft," an artistic pastime truly of the people, a craft that can make a statement like "I'm bored and I can find better things to do."
In the old days my generation might describe it as a "beatnik" type of thing to do. "Beatnik" is a term that the oldest baby boomers are most familiar with. Bob Denver did a nice portrayal as "Dobie Gillis" on television. This was before Denver went on to great fame as "Gilligan" (vs. "the Skipper," remember?) in a show that was the epitome of lowest-common-denominator TV entertainment in the 1960s.
The beatniks preceded the hippies and the Yippies. "Do your own thing" was a trademark phrase of the liberated young crowd, and doodling seemed consistent with the whole blooming credo.
Doodling springs from your own life experience, and its impulsive nature means it's free of external guidance or discipline. It's a window into the soul. It's a way to escape tedious discussions or distractions.
A surprised onlooker will say "oh, look at that!" and immediately the attention is suspended on the purported matter at hand, which is often a great relief.
Elena Kagan will become a Supreme Court member and our Constitution will be safe under her scrutiny. Maybe she'll be tempted to doodle sometime on a napkin at a Chinese restaurant.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
Does this mean his attention wasn't adequately focused during the Elena Kagan hearings? The Senate Judiciary Committee was examining the Supreme Court Justice-to-be.
Perhaps Senator Franken wanted to take his mind off the predictable and in many cases (from Republicans) tedious/chafing line of questioning/grilling. I don't blame Senator Al for wanting to doodle instead of paying attention to some of the attack dog Republicans.
I remember glancing over to a fellow student on the first day of a college semester once, and seeing that he had drawn a pizza and beer on his notebook page. He even labeled them "pizza" and "beer" lest his artwork was seen to have some shortcomings.
But is doodling art? Is it a bad habit? Is it subversive? Is it a window into someone's soul? Does it reveal psychological issues?
I think the world would be a better place of more of us doodled. We have an instant gratification society in which our pace of thinking and living has become intense to a troubling degree. Do people even slow down to ponder if they're happy?
I read an analysis recently that asserted that boredom had been completely eliminated in our tech-fueled culture. Driving a car isn't enough to occupy one's attention. How often do you see people with a mobile phone to their ear when driving?
Doodling is a basic, retro way to slow down. Ironically there was once a time when doodling could combat boredom. Today we can use it as a wedge to withdraw from our tech distractions and frenetic pace of life. Ergo, it has a transcendent purpose!
I'm thrilled that Senator Franken, who might have the most creative mind in our nation's capitol, brought some sudden attention to the pastime. And it's not like he merely drew a stick figure. It was just as good as those drawings you'd see on matchbook covers promoting an art instruction school. "Draw Winky" they would implore.
I presume that matchbook cover art and advertising have faded along with the pastime of smoking itself. If someone hasn't done an interpretive study of matchbook cover communications, it should be done. Attention, some graduate school student somewhere.
Doodling is fascinating because of its informal and impulsive nature. Surely serious art instructors pooh-pooh it. When I was in college, I considered general education art classes to be exercises in pure garbage - a pretentious exploration of crap that might somehow be rationalized as serious art when most of it could be toted to the nearest dump.
No, doodling is a craft to be respected. It deserves a revival, if that's what Franken's little episode can inspire.
Bored in class? Do a little caricature of your instructor. You might get kicked out of class but so what? All the info you might get in the class is available on the Internet anyway.
All our traditional educational systems, as Tim Pawlenty famously pointed out on The Daily Show, are sinking rapidly into obsolescence just like newspapers.
How I'd love to see those art courses or "Sociology 101" be given a proper burial. Whoever decided that "Sociology 101" was something that had to be thrust on impressionable 19-year-old minds? Hats off to any student who chooses to doodle when such drivel is being shoveled at him/her.
The Franken episode reminded me of when I did gargoyle-type drawings on spiral notebook pages during bus trips for high school activities. I was in the Morris High School marching band when it made some quite long trips. I also kept the stat book for the MHS Tiger baseball team.
My drawings were sometimes offered as caricatures of some of my peers, and I can remember at least two of them who resented it. I didn't get punched out. The lines could be a little squiggly because I was drawing on a moving bus, but all in all I think the drawings had merit and they were somewhat unique.
How would I have engaged my time if not drawing? Horsing around with other kids or playing a mundane card game on a band instrument case?
I think doodling has advantages because it taps creative impulses and requires some sober concentration. For Franken he could escape some of the Republican-uttered rhetoric that was so trying to ingest.
Senator Al, I hope you have brought some renewed interest to a true "street craft," an artistic pastime truly of the people, a craft that can make a statement like "I'm bored and I can find better things to do."
In the old days my generation might describe it as a "beatnik" type of thing to do. "Beatnik" is a term that the oldest baby boomers are most familiar with. Bob Denver did a nice portrayal as "Dobie Gillis" on television. This was before Denver went on to great fame as "Gilligan" (vs. "the Skipper," remember?) in a show that was the epitome of lowest-common-denominator TV entertainment in the 1960s.
The beatniks preceded the hippies and the Yippies. "Do your own thing" was a trademark phrase of the liberated young crowd, and doodling seemed consistent with the whole blooming credo.
Doodling springs from your own life experience, and its impulsive nature means it's free of external guidance or discipline. It's a window into the soul. It's a way to escape tedious discussions or distractions.
A surprised onlooker will say "oh, look at that!" and immediately the attention is suspended on the purported matter at hand, which is often a great relief.
Elena Kagan will become a Supreme Court member and our Constitution will be safe under her scrutiny. Maybe she'll be tempted to doodle sometime on a napkin at a Chinese restaurant.
-Brian Williams - morris mn Minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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