Caribou at Willie's has quite the history with ups and downs. Whenever I think it is stabilized, something comes up! Considering the shortage of restaurants that cater to the middle class people in Morris - that is, if the middle class even exists anymore - Caribou would seem to be a real asset. Remember the days of the Del Monico at the site that later became Thrifty White?
Well anyway, commenting on the weather would seem to be an apt way to start out my missive on this day which begins February. It's when the toll of winter weather seems to start weighing on us more. We can attend basketball games as perhaps the best therapy. And we are blessed in Morris to have UMN-Morris in addition to the prepsters.
"Raining threes"
You've heard the expression "raining threes" in basketball? Well that's exactly what we saw Wednesday night at our P.E. Center. Unfortunately it was our opponent that was putting on the exhibition. The display helped the opponent to a 71-63 win over our Cougars.
My, how First Lutheran of Morris has been floundering! We knew we had problems, we knew there was lethargy, but it was hard to imagine we would capitulate. We capitulated by "partnering" with another church in Morris. Oh my, a partnering with a non-Lutheran church! At least it's not a right wing blinders-wearing church. We do have several of those in and around Morris, places that fight for Donald Trump no matter what.
Even First Lutheran Church had at least one family that was Trump-disposed: that is the Hecks, Bob and Nadine. Their "Trump" signs across the street were clearly visible for children playing at East Side Park. I had to step aside. BTW First Lutheran is paired with Federated Church which is primarily Methodist in case you're keeping score.
When a church can no longer have Sunday morning services at its own building, it is dead. We can someday read the history of First Lutheran which was once so important and mainstream. And then the voodoo Christians started taking over like the refugees from the ELCA churches. These people coalesced out north of Morris. What a windswept godforsaken place. Do you wanna bet that no one out there has voted for a Democrat in ages? They probably even voted for the guy who said the "bad guys won World War II." That was the U.S. Senate nominee of the Republicans.
What did Good Shepherd spend on a new steeple? And what did that accomplish?
Can't beat the 3's
The UMM women's basketball team hosted Bethany Lutheran Wednesday. The Bethany women succeeded time and again from 3-point range. I had to feel entertained even though it was the opposition. Twelve times the refs raised their arms to signal "success" on a Bethany long-ranger. The Vikings shot 40 percent in this category. They came out of the game at 5-0 in league.
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| Kaylee Hunter |
The Cougars were buoyed once again by the play of Maddy Grove who scored 24 points. She was 11 of 20 in field goals. My favorite player Gianna Klarenbeek was second-high with 15. Gianna made two of her four 3-point shot tries. She isn't tall but she has a real nice touch in outside shooting. UMM made 27 of 60 shots.
Shelby Mortenson topped our rebounding with eight. Grace Perry had five of our 15 assists. Mortenson had our only two blocked shots. Three Cougars each had two steals: Grove, Klarenbeek and Brooke Ver Steeg.
On this bleak Sunday morning when I had to shovel in the driveway first, I communicated with my Bonanza Valley newspaper friend Randy Olson. I often do. I respond to two recent emails he sent me. Below is the perspective I shared with him in this time of weather travail and basketball excitement. I share UMM basketball thoughts along with (of course) some other things. I titled the email "Hello Randy on Sunday." Here it is:
Hello Randy, thanks for your two recent emails. These are the times that try men's souls, just crappy weather for one reason or another. Winter arrived so rapidly this year. Late fall was actually unseasonably warm. Then winter arrived with a wallop and has remained. Last night there was more new snow than I was expecting. I used the shovel to get out of my driveway. Our neighborhood is semi-rural. I'm one of those people living in a house too big for him. The Star Trib had an article on such folks recently. Moving would be too much of a hassle.
After 20 years of being away from the paper I finally started attending UMM sports events as a fan, just volleyball and basketball, mainly women's basketball. It's a little odd because if you park in the lot next to the P.E. Center, your inclination is to use the south entrance but there is no ticket counter there. It's on the opposite end. The doors are open. If you go in on the south, there is nothing keeping you from watching the whole game while standing along the concourse, which is not a bad way to watch. So far, I do buy a ticket. But then I wonder, if I walk past the admission table to go to concessions or use the restroom, I have to walk past the counter again to my seat. So do they memorize everyone who has bought a ticket? I think next time I'll ask them about this. I am considering just watching from the concourse. I pay $5 whereas the non-seniors pay $10 which I think is an awful lot.
I have revised my views of the UMAC in that I think the caliber of play is quite acceptable. If I were to attend an NSIC game, I wonder if I would really notice a superior level of play. I probably would. I can accept the UMAC at present. But the "cult" nature of some of the opponents still bothers me. The Wisconsin Synod school where everyone believes that the Pope is the antichrist! It's not like playing Moorhead State.
In about a year all colleges are coming up against the "demographic cliff." I gather this is pretty serious. I really wonder about UMM's future. I could tell them one of their main problems: get the students to just shut up about politics, or to keep their political views private or expressed through channels not connected to UMM. I have been saying this for several years, not sure anyone listens. The problems have come from both the "woke world" and the extreme political right. The right has probably been crazier.
I have been blogging more frequently lately because of being forced indoors so much by the weather. I blog a lot about basketball which is always fun and I'm veering away from politics and the national news because of a sense of futility. Like with commenting about ICE and Minneapolis - my views would just be stating the obvious and I can't change the minds of the MAGA people anyway. It's low-hanging fruit to comment on all the things involving Donald Trump. It is overwhelming. My voice would be futile.
The Morris boys basketball coaches are sometimes posting game stats on "Maxpreps." Sometimes but not always, but when they do I can provide a pretty comprehensive post about the game. Meanwhile I don't bother checking the newspaper website. I'd like to be privy to the phone complaints that the Morris paper must get. I wonder how they respond. I wonder if people get upset and stop financially supporting the paper. The website just sits there with so much potential. I have suggested that their sportswriter just "riff" about what's going on with MACA sports once or twice a week, then click to publish to the website. That would be fun for everyone. And holy cow, why does the newspaper even bother with UMM sports? UMM's website is state of the art all the way around. We could not have dreamt of this kind of service back in the Perry Ford days. And then UMM went through growing pains with its website, as I'm sure all colleges did. For a while Brian Curtis was expected to do everything. That had to give way.
Sports is really the "front porch" of the institution. And I remember when I was young, so many people in "academics" would pooh-pooh sports, make people feel guilty for getting excited about it. Today the "academics" have really shut up. These people are gone from UMM, the pretentious types. Everyone employed there just breathes a sigh of relief that the place can stay open.
In the old days, the UMM faculty would have risen up to protest Oak Hills Christian even coming here to play basketball, just like they protested the Carthage College "Redmen" coming here. That football game was at risk for cancellation. Today we wouldn't hear a peep.
Again, thanks for your emails.
- BW
