Fourth quarter magic wins for UMM!

Logan Ahlers kicked the game-winning point for the Cougars on Saturday. His hometown is Medina. He's a product of Providence Academy.

 

The UMM Homecoming can be filed away as very pleasant and successful. A college homecoming presents risks. Risks associated with excessive exuberance, shall we say. I know of no such incidents for 2024. 

A traditional highlight for me is the music concert. I guess time was too limited to allow that for 2024. We saw the same situation for the high school football opener: no pep band. Things got going too fast for the new school year, or so we are told. My rejoinder might be: "Where there's a will there's a way." 

The public school wants people to keep voting "yes" on referendums, n'est-ce pas? I saw an unfamiliar name on a yard sign for the school board election. The sign was on a teacher's property. Few yard signs are seen at this time. I have to wonder if this particular candidate is "anointed" by the teachers to represent their interests.

It was disturbing a few months ago IMHO to read about a stream of teachers appearing at school board meetings and venting with strong discontent. Even disrespectful toward our elected school board. Being quoted in media accusing board of "lying." 

I have experienced stretches in this town's history in which teachers became discontented to the point of being disruptive and threatening community harmony. Would not surprise me if we're headed in same direction again. And then the teachers might get some of their own people, like spouses of teachers, elected onto the board. And then all heck could break loose. 

I remember the underground write-in campaign to get Gail Nelson onto the board. It was so underground I didn't even know about it. Nelson was propped up to get a certain incumbent removed. The late 1980s was the most uncomfortable period for sheer conflict in our public school's history. It got to where certain businesses in town were boycotted. 

The 2024 UMM Homecoming promoted a totally positive air for our community. People like talking about how the football team did. So they can celebrate the 17-16 win by the Cougars over Macalester of the Twin Cities. The highbrow city college came out here and lost in the place where we hear coyotes at night. 

On Sunday morning I wrote a post on my "Morris of Course" blog about the 2024 UMM Homecoming in general. You may read and thanks:

https://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2024/09/injection-of-vitality-for-umm-homecoming.html 

 

Macalester took the early lead on a run up the middle from 14. UMM struck with a sustained drive. It ended with a 30-yard field goal by Logan Ahlers. 

Macalester has the "Scots" nickname. And they scored on the first drive of quarter No. 2. They too showed proficiency with the field goal. No routine one either as it was from 42. It was good! The Scots led 9-3 halfway through this one. 

Macalester opened up more breathing room in the third. A drive ended with a 28-yard touchdown play. The PAT was good and now "Mac" was up 16-3. 

Could the Cougars summon some renewed momentum? Yes! But it wouldn't happen until the fourth. Going to work from their own 35, the Cougars worked for their first touchdown. Hey, a pair of "Ethans" did the work for 6. It was Ethan Klimek throwing and Ethan Tang catching. The play covered four yards. Ahlers kicked for the PAT. See how important the kicking game is? 

The Cougars felt pressure to move the ball with the clock showing 2:42 left to play. We were at the Mac 40. Move the ball the Cougars did, with a 35-yard TD play! Fans were ecstatic to see Klimek launching the ball and Cole Mitchell on the receiving end. Touchdown! 

But boy, we'd sure need Ahlers to come through again. Ahlers' toe was good for the decisive PAT! All that was left was for the UMM defense to clamp down. It was mission accomplished. Mac experienced three INC passes and a sacked QB. What an exclamation point. 

A win and a nice placid UMM Homecoming, just the way it ought to be scripted!

Out and around

From an email I sent to friend Warrenn Anderson on Monday:

 

Dick Cheney now endorses Harris. A couple of the Trump campaign signs that were up along the service road on north end are removed now. But there are still a couple along the ditch between Fastenal and the soils lab. Wouldn't that have to be gov't property? The farm field is the U's. I have not seen any Harris signs yet and it might be risky for anyone to put one out. People should use video surveillance cams.

Not sure what the U proved beating Rhode Island so one-sided. Yawn. More exciting to lose to North Carolina. ANY loss drops our stock for our bowl game status.

Hey, Notre Dame lost to Northern Illinois! And Notre Dame has to pay Northern Illinois lots of $.

Not sure what Tigers proved traveling all the way to Thief River Falls and then winning 42-0. We may be good but it's hard to believe TR Falls could be that flat. Must be a backstory. This game was too far away. I checked to confirm that it began at 7 p.m. Imagine driving through the night back to Morris. I wouldn't think of it. I was snoring.

The high school teams really need better and more timely media coverage. It is sad so far.

The radio station has slipped so far since losing Marshall Hoffman and Brett Miller. Now we're left with "DeeDee."

I wonder if the teachers are setting someone up to run for school board who will represent their interests. We cannot let the school get too carried away getting our money because there are other gov't entities too. I walk by the softball complex every day and I could just shake my head.

 

Every so often, the community needs to put on the brakes with just letting the school have endless $. Because believe me the school can always come up with a wish list. Property taxes are killing us. We need LGA, don't we? Republicans only want to cut income taxes. Many people do not even pay income taxes.

I watched most of Caitlin Clark's game yesterday vs. Atlanta. I watched even though I had to put up with translucent blue square in middle of screen. Indiana won but they were very lucky. Atlanta had a close shot that would have won it at the end of regulation. Clanged off rim. Fever won in OT, so they're winning a lot but most of their wins are hard-fought. They did dominate a demoralized Chicago team but that was the exception. Is Chicago playing better now that Angel Reese is out? And if it weren't for Caitlin, I would be paying ZERO attention to the WNBA. I am very happy about this, could make basketball a year-round major sport. I'd like that. Baseball should worry.

I don't think Harris should debate Trump. Debating Trump legitimizes him, and he knows how to use the media. A man found responsible for sexual assault? Why give him a platform? If Biden had refused to debate he might still be the candidate. His approval is going up now. Debating just wasn't his "thing."

Jim Cramer says Trump's policies will bring massive inflation. That could mean the very end of the USA. Like the Weimar Republic of Germany? How did all of that turn out? The Apostolics have to think about this.

- BW

Trip to Thief River Falls: 42-0 win

A morning that signals fall - that's what we're in now. People who were at the MACA football game last night, Friday, I'm sure are sleeping in, or should be. Our late neighbor here on Northridge Drive was perplexed at how our high school sports teams had to "travel so far for so many of their games." Ol' Les was pretty conservative and sensible, having dealt with the Great Depression. That's just like my own late father. 

And then the traits got passed on to a good share of these people's children. Too conservative? Too penny-pinching? There were pluses and minuses with such thinking. 

MACA sports fans will be wiping the sleep out of their eyes in a couple hours, no doubt. Their Tigers had one of those major trips for sports action. My goodness, Thief River Falls! I wonder what the story is behind this scheduling. There must be a backstory. 

I started getting concerned about such trips when the Tigers had a first-round football playoff game in Fairmont. You know where Fairmont is, right? Down by the Iowa border. 

My sense of concern increased when I noticed that Morris wasn't even sending a fan bus to games like this. I was still with the Morris newspaper. I called the school, naively perhaps, to ask about a fan bus. Jill or Rita would say "no." I was not required to go to Fairmont. I made a comment around the shop that "I wouldn't if you told me too" but seriously, I would have done it if required. 

What a difference between a game like that being "home" versus "away." I have argued that such trips actually endanger the safety of fans. Even late games played in Marshall would fall in that category. Fans are tired and stressed. If it's a weekday they may have worked. Late-night driving is no picnic. A fatality due to all this would really get us thinking about the issues. But for now that's just a worrisome hypothetical. 

Driving a car on the face of it has dangers. Look at the recent tragedy involving Shane Decker. What a shock. Is it true that he missed a dead end? You never know when a potential hazard will crop up. Insurance agents would be the first to tell you this: an incident can arise so suddenly and unpredictably. 

Insurance rates of course are going up. What isn't going up? At a certain point wouldn't a person have to adjust? And the Federal Reserve which is the constant lifeline for the hallowed stock market is outright promising a series of "rate cuts." Some people will celebrate that. The other side of that coin is that we'll get more inflation. 

And how much longer can we keep absorbing inflation? I have concerns unless you all know of some tricks for dealing with it. Homeowners insurance! Car insurance! My goodness. 

On the positive side we might reflect on last night's football. Or should we? The Tigers stomped all over Thief River Falls. Is that a reflection of our superior talent? Or might the Thief River Falls parents be more cautious than us, kept their sons out of football? Cautious and wise I might add. The glory of a big football victory will fade pretty fast. It will be nearly forgotten in the future. All those hard hits on the playing field could have sad consequences for some if not many. 

I was hoping that the advent of soccer for our school would draw away some boys from football. Not sure if that is happening. Year 1 for our soccer program has not yet brought success on the field, unfortunately. A new sports venture often gets going like this. Hang in there, guys. The first-year players will always have a special niche. I remember writing about the first-ever home boys varsity hockey game for MAHS. Yes it was "MAHS" and not "MBA." I wrote for the Morris paper. Go look it up. I wrote with emphasis about the first Tiger to score a goal. 

Year 1 of MACA soccer ought to project the same sense of history. 

This post that you are reading now is not proceeding the way I had planned or preferred. I would prefer writing about the Tigers' 42-0 win at Thief River Falls. I'd love to describe the scoring plays and share highlights. But as expected, I cannot find the game info anywhere in the media on this Saturday. 

For the hundredth time or so I'd like to implore that this problem be corrected. I guess I won't hold my breath. I still cannot find highlights of our home opener win over Minnewaska Area. Unbelievable. I have been able to find Minnewaska highlights but not for MACA. Unbelievable. Morris has its shortcomings with community enthusiasm. 

When I cannot write a summary of a game, I "vamp." So that's what I'm doing. I am happy to have quoted our old neighbor Les Lindor. He served as chairman of the Morris school board. The old faces of Northridge Drive are gone except for me. My family moved here in 1962. Remember the Cuban missile crisis? We were prepared to "kiss our asses goodbye" according to the old joke. 

I have not been able to do any writing about MACA volleyball either. It's a shame. 

Oh, here's an interesting news note: The "Minnesota Scores" website no longer reports our home games as being at U of M-Morris. It now reads "Morris Area School - Big Cat Stadium." I have raised an issue about this in the past. Maybe that helped. Big Cat "feels" like it's a part of UMM but of course the facility is joint between UMM and the public school. 

There should probably also be a concert hall that is "joint." But the concert hall is wholly Morris Area School. 

How is UMM looking for the new school year? I cannot say I feel heartened. We lost our foreign students who were our "cash cow." We lost them because of the Trump presidency. Could be a dagger for UMM's future. I don't think that's overstatement. 

But the local Trump fans are fueled with as much zeal as ever. I drive to and from town each day and pass by "Trump" signs. We are clearly Trump country. I have not seen any Harris/Walz signs. People might be scared to put those up because of fear of vandalism or actual bodily harm. This would be influenced by our local very Christian Trump supporters.

 

Addendum: A check of the kmrs-kkok website on this Saturday shows only the score of the game vs. Thief River Falls. Just the score! Brett Miller used to give us a nice little summary. Why has he not been replaced? Maarshall Hoffman goes, Brett Miller goes. But we always have "DeeDee."

 

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

A media desert for MACA sports

It is Thursday, Sept. 5, very early in the morning when things are so peaceful. Sometimes I have the floodlights on so I might see a raccoon or other critter passing by. Human beings are still in bed. And so the miracle of the Internet allows us to check at this quiet hour to see what's happening out and about. As always we see the mug of Donald Trump with a variety of expressions on his face, reflecting various emotions. Like we need a daily reminder of what he looks like. We must want this face to consume. 

Already there are Trump campaign signs quite visible along the highway on the north end of town. The highway where you find Homestead and Pizza Hut of course. Morris thus appears proud to be totally MAGA. A majority of our Christian churches are all in with MAGA. Might their fervor re. this supersede their enthusiasm about Christ and the Bible? I think it does. 

All I can do is observe. My thoughts about all this carry no weight. What about high school sports? Are we short-changing our student-athletes here in Morris? I mean from a media standpoint? 

We are a full week after the very exciting home opener win by the MACA football team. I believe three volleyball matches have been played. Can a parent or fan "surf" online to find some thorough and fun coverage of all this? Yes it is fun and not work. At least it would not be work for me. 

The football Tigers defeated Minnewaska 46-27. I was present at the Big Cat place for a portion of the game. The event itself was 100 percent successful for the school and its backers. The most recent school referendum passed only narrowly. So I would suggest that public relations is important for the school at this time. 

More importantly the student-athletes should get more attention in the news media. Again, where can I find some coverage of the game, I mean coverage with names of the MACA players and some stat highlights? Can anyone get off the schnide and do this? It is not heavy lifting. 

Over the years I have done better finding the desired coverage from media sources like the West Central Tribune of Willmar and the kmrs-kkok website. Brett Miller really did some nice work for the latter. What happened to that? A check of the kmrs-kkok site these days just seems to report "scores." I don't want to just see "scores." 

A fan could write something up, email it to the station and then it could be copied and pasted in. So, a nice little headline you could click on to read some lively and much-deserved coverage. People demanded a lot of me during my days with both the Morris and Hancock newspapers. There is no stand-alone Hancock paper now. The Morris paper is greatly reduced in size and content from when I was there. We're not supposed to notice. 

The football Tigers scored 46 points last Thursday. Right now I am not even familiar with the names of the MACA players, not even the starting offensive backs. 

Volleyball? I think this week's 14-page Morris paper - puny - has limited coverage from when the season first started. But the "news" is so dated. There is a very easy solution to this. We are in the year 2024. The "Internet" is very far advanced. 

I can find individual highlights for Minnewaska Area in more than one place. I totally whiff for MACA. It is a lost opportunity. How will our next school referendum do? Maybe it will lose narrowly. Something should be done to open up the exciting world of MACA athletics for the broad public to enjoy. 

Brett Miller is no longer a resource. The West Central Tribune of Willmar has dropped MACA from its coverage area. These are significant developments. Let us note here that the Morris newspaper has a website. It has a website with a "sports" link. In theory all sorts of coverage could be posted there. The sports person for the paper could just "riff" now and then. Expand on what's happening. 

Here I sit and I cannot tell you the name of our quarterback although I might remember this from being at the game. I do not have a note pad with me. 

Let us take a look on this Thursday morning, a week after the game, to see what we might find using the sports link on the Stevens County Times website. Am I asking so much? I don't think so. Doesn't the Morris paper actually pay people to work there? So let's click on "sports" to see what might be discovered. The headlines:

- "Women's soccer takes a loss to physical Hamline team." Pictures included.

- "Men's and women's golf sees UMAC opponents for the first time this season."

I scroll down the entire page and it's all UMM. Proceeding to the next page there's more UMM. Finally I come to a high school item but it's Hancock and it's not timely. It's about post-season basketball awards. Now I see a Bantam hockey item. The first MACA Tigers heading is about the 3AA boys basketball tournament. Totally old and stale news. 

I have bad memories from the section tournament because Charlie Hanson was forced to stay here and play one last stinking game at Marshall which we lost anyway, instead of being able to go on the MAHS band's trip to New Orleans. Charlie is a top band performer. 

I personally helped with the band's trip by contributing $2000. At first I was going to write a check for $1000 but then Wanda shared some background about apparent hardship cases or challenged cases for families coming up with their share. I succumbed! So I was happy to help out. 

How many sports articles on the Tigers has yours truly written over the years, going back as far as 1972? Well, tens of thousands maybe? And today all the coverage seems to have dried up. The newspaper fails on the timeliness test. What a shame. It would be so easy to do something about it. 

School referendums always passed easily in my heyday with the Morris newspaper. 

A final thought: Local churches where the tenor of conversation favors Donald Trump and MAGA over the word of Jesus Christ ought to feel God's wrath. I'll just assert: "May God have mercy on their souls."

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

Awkward question from long ago

C. Peter Magrath

I remember when the old "Sunwood Inn" was in its prime as the site for very important events with dignitaries. It was where I had the thrill of meeting Bud Grant and shaking his hand. Back then if you were introduced to someone as a representative of the newspaper, you felt important and were acknowledged as such. I have to confess that was fulfilling. 

I studied "mass communications" at a time when aspiring writers were encouraged to be change agents. It was hard to argue with that because the USA had to be bailed out by the press on a couple fronts. First and most important on the Vietnam war, where the press had been led along by government through the critical early stages. Finally the truth could not be denied. 

Writers realized they could not trust so many "official" sources of news. Literally we could not trust our own government. "The press" was the one institution with the reach to do something about it. Given this power, it's ironic that the writers never needed any special credentials or licenses to do what they did. Hey, we could be hired off the street! Basically that's what happened with me. 

And then I decided my own judgment meant something at times. Don't let any press person tell you he dismisses his own judgment as he makes his rounds. The difference today is that "the press" as we once understood it has lost its reach, its power. We are flooded with communications from the electronic media, of course. 

We once had gatekeepers for so much of the news and communications we digested. That was a mixed bag for propriety. But today the media is like a cacophony. 

I mention our old Sunwood Inn of Morris because of remembering when the U of M president came here. Actually more than one U president has visited the building. My memory goes back to when C. Peter Magrath was the head person. Getting rather remote in our collective memory now. And I remember Magrath giving his expected type of speech and then inviting questions. 

I had to be embarrassed for a few moments. I wonder how many other people noticed this: an awkward question followed by a stiff, actually resentful response from the U of M VIP. Everyone should have noticed it but people in this town can be a little slow. We dragged our feet for years - years I tell you - before getting some serious issues resolved with our school district. 

But back to the U president's visit. So, he opens things up for Q & A and a local dignitary was among those speaking. It was our public school superintendent. Ironic that he should ask a question that would irritate the visiting academic luminary. The superintendent acted so innocent. 

I guess Mr. Switzer had caught some news reports of the time about the "downgrading" of college textbooks. Downgrading? Well, let's say making them less arduous to plow through. Less boring? Well, those were the days when so many people in education subscribed to "pain equals gain." We heard about students "cramming for finals" with the suggestion this was pretty unbearable. As I'm sure it was. I went through this a few times myself and then we were supposed to feel proud afterward. Proud of overcoming adversity, I guess. 

"Pain equals gain." I remember the late Mike Miller, the Native American guy at UMM, talking about how too many classes out there "assigned too many books." We were supposed to be such a "rigorous" institution. It was a way of promoting, at least in certain quarters. But time passes. Society undergoes change. The tech revolution turned our world upside down. Tech delivered a direct route to making our lives easier. It pushes through barriers. 

We increasingly learned that our lives could be made easier. And this would be without the kind of rigorous academic studies that once came across as sort of a badge. You'll still need to read a lot if you're headed to a rarefied air field like medicine or law. Most of us are not and here's the deal: We do not exercise value judgments about things like we were inclined to do in past times. 

I will be blunt here: we used to think in terms of "flunky" jobs. I'm just describing the way things were, just like I might describe how men's and women's fashions differed so much. 

Today the worst thing we might say about certain jobs is that they are "common" jobs. Not a strong value judgment there. Being common is quite OK. And don't assume for a second these jobs are "easy." 

To be truthful, we once looked down on "fast food" jobs like they might just be stop-gap in our lives. But why should any job be seen as "stop-gap?" It's true that fast food places had a lot of young people working and the turnover rate could be high. These jobs were never "easy" and take a look at them today: today we see many mature long-term employees at such places. I think it's fair to say no one looks down on these people. 

Do you hear the term "menial" in connection to jobs any more? People used to be afraid and self-conscious about ending up in such jobs. A way to overcome this might be to simply "get a college degree." Like from UMM. That way, even if you end up in a "common" job, you have the feather in your cap of a degree. But today I don't think that logic holds. Logic might suggest it's foolish to build up college debt. Get out in the world after high school and show you can do something well. 

You might decide that college needn't figure into your plans at all. Take responsibility and be focused. When I was young my generation partied and consumed alcohol. Forget about that. Maybe we were dealing with the stress of college classes that were difficult and may have even seemed irrelevant. If they were irrelevant, why did we do it? It was sort of the zeitgeist, you might say. 

So our superintendent Fred Switzer rose to speak from his table in the pool area of the old Sunwood Inn. And so he dared to ask C. Peter Magrath if college textbooks were in fact being downgraded. Downgraded? Well, made easier. Hey, maybe with more pictures! Larger type? Why did the type ever have to be so small? 

Right away you could see Magrath took umbrage at the question. He proceeded to say he didn't see anything of the trend. I don't blame him for saying that. He had to defend the citadel. Or as the author Edwin Newman once mused, "some enchanted citadel." 

"Cramming for finals?" I think that has gone the way of the old "bar rush" at local hospitality establishments on Friday and Saturday nights. Such behavior was once a staple for many of us. Today we seem oblivious about it. 

"Tough" college classes were once a right of passage for so many youth. Heaven help them if they had to work at a fast food restaurant of course. Many of them did but only if they had to. Today it might be a rewarding career and that's super! 

"Downgrading" of textbooks? Today we might eschew all that for the bite-size nuggets of knowledge on the web. And that is wonderful too. Mike Miller RIP.

Addendum: Just to make clear how Dr. Magrath bristled at the superintendent's question, I'll recall how Magrath, after initially sniffing and fumbling for words, said "well, you ask a question. . ." In other words, I don't want to answer this but I'll have to.

(It was always unpleasant to approach Supt. Switzer with any implied criticism of his work.) 

My memory tells me that Magrath's last name was pronounced "McGraw." My memory recalls that he praised UMM's football program in his address here. He said "I certainly don't need to remind you of that." The Cougars were at the peak of their heyday at the time. 

A tragic note: Magrath and his wife Deborah Howell were vacationing in New Zealand in 2010 when Deborah was struck and killed by a motorist. She was an editor with the Washington Post. 

BTW the Sunwood Inn is today known as Hudson Inn. The building went through a substantial down period before being resuscitated. 

Advertisements for Myself (Norman Mailer): I remember that the Morrisons of our newspaper got a positive note from Magrath himself about my coverage of his visit here!

A more recent photo

Addendum No. 2: Surprise! Who did C. Peter Magrath choose to bequeath his personal wealth to? I learn now that he bequeathed a big chunk not to the U but to an institution where he served as an interim president. That be West Virginia University! Surprise! Gee, was he that upset about Switzer's question? Just kidding on that. I think. The following is dated 2018 and it's from WVU Today:

 

C. Peter Magrath, who served as interim president of West Virginia University from 2008-2009, is leaving nearly $1 million to WVU in his will.

A highly respected leader in higher education circles across the country, Magrath made his intentions known Nov. 14 during WVU’s second annual Day of Giving.

“When one leaves the planet, you can't take your money with you; so send it ahead to a great place like WVU,” Magrath said.

Magrath’s estate plan names the WVU Foundation as a beneficiary of his individual retirement account in the amount of $877,000. The gift agreement calls for the donation to be used for scholarships to support future graduate students at WVU.

“There is no one who understands the land-grant mission better than Peter Magrath, and for him to select West Virginia University for this gift – out of all the land-grants and institutions he has been associated with – is a sterling testament to the way this University is meeting that mission,” President Gordon Gee said. “Peter led this University during a challenging time and helped redirect toward our purpose. His vision is now reinforced with this gift. Our gratitude extends beyond words.”

 - BW

A new fall and the new MACA soccer!

There is rumbling from the sky overhead as I initiate writing this post. The weather has never settled down during this spring and summer. Our lawns never burned out. Everything has stayed so green and lush. Good news for wildlife, even the kinds we can find concerning. That is what I will remember most about this spring and summer. 

The calendar rolls onward as it always does. So the UMM young people are around. Labor Day weekend approaches, a time to appreciate the qualities of organized labor in the development of America, right? That comment is offered with levity. Organized labor tends to bond with the Democratic Party. It is almost dangerous to present yourself as a Democrat in these parts. 

Our congressperson attaches herself to Donald Trump in every way she can think of. But she needs a memo as of now. She has been so passionate about pro-life. But her hero/God Trump has changed his stripes on this. Now he presents himself as the champion of reproductive health rights. So he's pro-choice now. 

Dr. Scott Jensen went through the same kind of metamorphosis. With him it happened rather abruptly after the first poll came out and he was 19 points down. Then his campaign ran ads advising Minnesota women that they had full abortion access. Prior to that, Jensen's "brand" was being pro-life. So it is indeed fascinating to watch how people change. 

Time moves on and we're already seeing some high school sports. This is probably the most stimulating reminder of the change of seasons. Tennis is always an early-bird sport. It signals the advent of fall just like the upcoming welcome UMM picnic. But the most significant event of late in our community is the advent of high school soccer. 

It is about time! We can look for our beloved Hispanics giving a big push to this. And I hope the interest is also high among the non-Hispanics. 

Looks like our Morris school board continues to sponsor the sport of football. It would be nice if football were to fade. We can hope participation is going down. We can hope that soccer would push that trend. I don't know what the numbers are. Already there have been a couple deaths around the USA as a direct result of football's intensity and violence. 

A manly sport? In past times it was perceived as such. Or maybe it was a means to get young men ready for the rigors of military service. George W. Bush was a war monger president. He challenged us to be tough, patriotic and unyielding - you know the lingo - whereas the new Republican Party rejects that. Foreign wars are bad, we are now told. Ideally as U.S. citizens we should all make up our minds about that. No intimidation. 

Historically we have been led along too easily. Face the pain of football and "be a man." It's a dated outlook. Good health ought to be the overriding objective. Soccer is not totally without physical risk. I guess there's a thing called "heading." But I can't imagine this practice is as bad as the plethora of football's dangers. 

Life goes on and we will indeed have football again at Big Cat Stadium. St. Cloud State erected a new football stadium in 2004 and since then has followed the wise course of cancelling football. Just because you have a nice stadium does not mean you cannot do the wise thing. Change can be a cumbersome process. 

But change comes to our Motown in the fall of 2024 with the thrill of real official high school soccer! The coach is Juan Cid Ghadarrama. 

I was with the Morris newspaper when UMM began its soccer program. I was quite aware of the historical quality of the moment. 

I wrote the kind of articles that projected the sense of historical significance. You might say I over-dramatized things some, which was actually a trait that I was known to show over time. I remember seeing the late coach Jill Willis at a function of some kind and she smiled/laughed immediately. The fresh edition of the Morris paper had a headline that suggested that Willis' Chokio-Alberta Spartans were looking like a "team of destiny." A little hyperbole, yes, but why not? 

A fair number of people did not like my approach sometimes. I think it's fun to inject an air of drama when writing about our student-athletes. Try to be just like ESPN I guess. I did all my writing before "Stephen A." came along. I do remember Chris Berman being current. When Moe Williams of the Vikings caught a pass, Berman would go "why I oughtta. . ." Roy Firestone was current, he of the Keith Jackson impression. 

There's always a big new story in sports. Look at Caitlin Clark right now. Look at the tremendous growth of women's basketball. And here at the micro level of Morris MN we have the most exciting new chapter of boys soccer. Yes I would absolutely be "over-dramatizing it" if I were still in the local commercial media. I smile. I would have fun doing this. Isn't that what life is all about? 

I saw so many dour and humorless Tiger sports fans through the years. Remember, the 1980s were nothing like what Tiger sports projects today. Night and day. No more pompous academics saying "sports is secondary." The faculty has lost considerable power from what it once had. No more pompous lectures on how "wins and losses" are not important. Well it sure is important to strive for wins. 

 

Hillcrest 7, Tigers 1

Alas the MACA soccer team did not win its debut. In this instance I will agree that "wins and losses are not important." The program has gotten off the ground. The Tigers were defeated 7-1 by Hillcrest of Fergus Falls. We scored our lone goal just one minute and 30 seconds into the game. 

Rod Jensen, coach of the Comets, was quoted on Craig Olson Sports saying: "I applaud and congratulate Morris High School and coaching staff for launching a MSHSL program - this was their first game ever. This old coach remembers the challenges and work to develop and build a new program!" 

Thanks for the thoughtful words, coach Jensen. 

I can close my eyes and imagine the kind of spread I'd do in the Morris newspaper, replete with some hyperbole and a sense of history. Just like I did for the then-new UMM soccer program. I remember our first women's goalie, Katie Riba.

The Olsen twins were featured in a soccer movie! Back when VHS tapes were a thing, my mom and I would watch some of the Olsen twins' movies. I don't think we watched this one. Name any sport and you'll probably remember an appealing movie. With wrestling, I remember "Win Win."
 

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

Again, the "heroin" of low interest rates

(image from youtube)

Quantitative easing, again? It happens so regularly: the absolute drumbeat from high places saying we need lower interest rates, rock-bottom interest rates. The lower the better. Is this always the universal fix? The impatience is, well, palpable. 

The voices have been ever so strident over the past week or two. Jerome Powell of the Federal Reserve is having his arm absolutely twisted. How firm or resolved is Mr. Powell? That is a good question because he only recently talked like he was the absolute caretaker of the U.S. I mean, he actually talked about how inflation hurts the poor and middle class. What a benevolent soul. But then the arm-twisting takes over. Billionaires and their ilk absolutely salivate over rock-bottom interest rates. 

We hear J.D. Vance characterized as a "Wall Street investor" as if this is his defining feature. So we're looking to him to help lead the way for creating prosperity? Well, he definitely will help create increased prosperity for the well-off. And Kevin O'Leary trumpets that "there's nothing wrong with being rich." He too purports to be leader or example-setter for us all. I looked him up and he's "Canadian." 

Piers Morgan gets quoted prominently and he's certainly not American. He's really an entertainer. And doesn't O'Leary oversee "Shark Tank?" Is being on TV your ticket to being a widely-quoted VIP? Really? And how did Donald Trump get his name established? Through the entertainment media and television, right? We are being led along by such folks. 

And no one should think there is "anything wrong" with being rich. How do we define "rich?" AOC has said "no one needs to be a billionaire." Stop and think about how much a billion dollars really is. 

Jerome Powell has absolutely telegraphed an interest rate cut at the next meeting for such things. He sounded so resolute yesterday (Friday) that I wondered why the Fed didn't call an emergency meeting. After all, the Wall Street heavy-hitters are waiting for their next heroin injection. 

And we the common people just observe this with nary a questioning eye. 

Vance didn't need much if any talent to do well in the investing community, not over the recent past when interest rates have on the whole been incredibly low. He could ride the wave with his fellow Scrooge McDucks. 

You have a 401K? So maybe you're receptive to the whole scenario: lower interest rates signal stock market erupting to wildly higher heights. Is prosperity that simple? There is no free lunch. "Free money" does not just create unbounded happiness for all. 

Most commentators are now foreseeing a whole succession of interest rate cuts, extending through not only 2025 but 2026 as well. Some experts are trying to ring warning bells, like for example an "inflation spike" as early as January. Should this be concerning? We have seen plenty of inflation in contemporary times. I have been very surprised to not hear more concern voiced about it. 

Paul Volcker

The USA once had to put Paul Volcker to work attacking inflation, pulling it out by its roots as if it was nasty weeds. He guaranteed us a recession. We got it. Surprisingly Americans got through it all in a happy state. I mean, just look at the popular entertainment we consumed through the 1970s. Aha, "Laverne and Shirley." Anti-intellectual fare yes but also fun. 

Today we have the Internet as a foundation to our lives. Generally speaking the Internet is a meritocracy. But I am surprised that more voices aren't breaking through to warn us about what another wave of "QE" might do. Will inflation come along and "break the camel's back?" 

The Roman Empire collapsed because of inflation. Inflation of Germany's Wiemar Republic led to the rise of the Nazis. Panic sets in and then people look for a "wallpaper hanger." That was Hitler in Germany. And right now in America, who do you suppose looms as Hitler redux? Who has all the qualities? Well of course it's Trump who stays so incredibly prominent in our national conversation despite his notorious and criminal background. We just don't seem to care. 

Many people now are assuming that the Democrats with Harris at the fore guarantee the end of Trump-ism as a national threat. It absolutely does not. Trump hovers as much as ever with his new partner Vance, he of the Wall Street rarefied air world where everything comes up roses due to rock-bottom interest rates. 

Jerome Powell is not subtle. He is quite up front in suggesting that the Fed is going to satisfy the restless interests of the investors, the billionaires. They have made known to this thing called "the Fed" that they are desperate for the heroin of quantitative easing. And isn't it certain they'll get it? You know how money talks, right? 

You get attention when you have money or if you give it away. Any organization will fawn over you like you're a total VIP if you give them some money. I hope and pray that the day will come when we in America will see there has to be some nuance with this, some reasonable perspective. 

There is no free lunch. Reject the heroin. You'll have to persuade J.D. Vance and Doug Burgum about all this, of course. It may be impossible. Heaven help us.

 

On to basketball

What a day in Minnesota! It's Saturday and a marquee day for the hoops sport 'cause Caitlin Clark will be here. Game-time is 7 p.m. from Target Center. I quote here from an email I sent to my fellow UMM advocate Warrenn Anderson this morning.

 

"CC"

Hello Warrenn - Well it's Caitlin Clark day in Minnesota. She has been so incredibly refreshing on the national stage, and usually when someone gets that famous we start to learn about their human failings. This has not happened with Caitlin yet, and maybe that amazes me more than anything. She just seems "perfect" all the way around.

I heard very interesting commentary on women's basketball this past week. It registered with me because I have noticed the same thing. The women's basketball players of today are more feminine-appearing than in past times. The commentator said the players of today are "snow bunnies," not "dikes." I have seen a fair number of the latter through the years. But look at Lexie Hull of the Indiana Fever. Fit for magazine covers. There are many others. Cameron Brink is a looker. Caitlin ranks high on that scale herself. Like I said, she's perfect.

- Brian W.

Let's welcome boys soccer into the mix

Time flies by faster as one get older. We proceed from one significant event on the calendar to the next. We keep our orientation. We know what to expect. So we've put the county fair behind us. 

Advancing years also makes me aware of what seems to be concerning inflation. I meandered around the fairgrounds and did not hear concerns about the price of everything. Well I'm 69 years old, will turn the page to my 70s in January, God willing. 

Inflation was an up-front topic in the 1970s, the decade of disco music and "Smokey and the Bandit" movies. Jackie Gleason was willing to play a sheriff who came across as so foolish. Whereas today, our pop culture encourages us to have respect for law enforcement. 

The law enforcement that was present at the U.S. capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, was not worthy of so much respect. We read of at least one U.S. Congressperson who refused to shake hands with capitol police after that event. 

Our world can be "Alice Through the Looking Glass" at times. So in the future we might look back with some amazement. We look back now at the many years when we were sold on the escalation of the Vietnam war. Remember the movie "The Green Berets?" Yes we look back in amazement. 

Again I will use a quote out of its intended context: "We are so human an animal." 

Now I am getting to my main point in this post, prompted by the realization of how time flies. We look at the calendar and my goodness, summer is fading. And that means we have the signaling by the Donnelly Threshing Bee, Labor Day weekend and the start of fall high school sports activity. And I am so happy to note we have boys soccer in the mix of offerings, finally. 

A favored activity by the Hispanics? Well yes, that's the word out there, and it's a happy thing. But it would be nice to see enthusiasm from the other boys as well. This would include boys who would normally go out for football. I'd say "hooray" if football fell off to the point where our school board would consider just canceling it. Wishful thinking I suppose. 

The endless sea of easily accessible information on the dangers of football to its participants puts up a warning signal. You may enjoy watching football. You may enjoy watching it so much, you'll be resentful about the tone of my commentary here. But of course we need to put the entertainment value of football aside. And I realize that is hard to do. 

I just consumed a couple podcasts about pro players who became highly damaged by injuries that were either physical or brain-related or both. These players: Carson Wentz and "RGIII." They are dealing with conditions that will almost certainly haunt them the rest of their lives. And there are plenty of similar stories, including stories ending in death, about males who never made it to the pro level. 

Carson Wentz

Wentz had a pounding concussion. Plus, an ACL tear that a teammate reported was "affecting his back." 

Wentz is now a backup at Kansas City. If you were to see him trot out onto the field, you would expect him to look like when he was in his prime. We don't even want to think about the affects of extreme injury. We sit comfortable in our own lives, just wanting to enjoy watching football. 

Remember the ghastly injury that Teddy Bridgewater had when he was with the Vikings? It was reported that the bottom portion of his leg almost came off. 

So you say you're bored watching soccer? Well, learn to like it. It is a stupendously popular sport around the globe, inspiring riots even. 

Soccer means there is a net increase of student activities at our Morris Area High. In athletics we are "MACA" but we're still the Tigers. But never forget the Spartans! I see Neal Hofland on many mornings at DeToy's Restaurant. He made famous the toss-sweep play when he coached Chokio-Alberta. 

 

Is it time?

The steady growth in extracurricular makes me want to repeat a suggestion: Let us open up Wednesday night for student activities just like the other weekdays. I'll remind you of the problem: Wednesday is considered "church night." Is this proclamation by law or what? 

I say open up Wednesday night 100 percent. Why not? The Christian faith has become bastardized anyway, at least in many places. Most places, actually. We have seen reports of ministers getting complaints from their members about quoting from Jesus' "Sermon on the Mount." It's amazing. Jesus' own words. 

So maybe our Lord and Savior could sometimes sound receptive to a little collectivism? Are people so influenced by Republican politics? By Republicans of the MAGA stripe thee days? And amazingly it reaches the point where many people who call themselves Christian have more respect for Donald Trump than for Jesus Christ our Lord. This appears literally to be true. 

Jesus had a little Bernie Sanders in him. Let me remind you, since so many of you appear clueless, that all advanced industrial nations are a combination of free market enterprise and socialism. Yes, socialism. If you cannot accept that, please stay home on Sundays. 

So because of the highly political nature of so many of our Christian churches today, I implore our public schools to treat Wednesday like any other day of the week. I have always heard that school music programs have a hard time getting their concerts shoe-horned into the schedule. I heard of one school that "put its foot down" re. this, deciding that a couple days were to be absolutely set aside for humanities events in spring, no matter how many sports "makeup games" were piling up. 

I applaud that. 

It's important this coming fall for us to get out and support soccer. Cheer for the Hispanics and the non-Hispanics in this more gentle sport compared to the barbarity of football. Why did Carson Wentz allow himself to be put in position to be hurt so badly? Or RGIII? 

RGIII refused to allow himself to be taken out of games. It was all because of this tragic allure of football, how stadiums get filled with people screaming out of their minds. All I can do is continue to try to warn y'all.

 

It's still summer

Before all the fall excitement begins, consider getting out to the biking/walking trail to "commune with nature." Now there's a romantic notion. It has allure but can be misleading. That is because nature can be a foreboding place. Yes, even out by our Pomme de Terre River you could come in contact with "nature" that would not be welcome. I write more about this in my current "Morris of Course" post. I invite you to read and thanks:

https://morrisofcourse.blogspot.com/2024/08/i-thought-i-saw-fisher-cat-maybe-not.html 

 

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