A touching start to this memorial event

"Jurgs"

Priceless how Fr. Schneider began the final rites for Chris Juergensen yesterday (Thursday). Many people including many young people were present for the event at the funeral home. Fr. Schneider started off the ceremony by saying "are there any sports fans here?" "Jurgs" was part of the local sports scene lifelong. His enthusiasm included UMM in a big way. 

It won't be the same with "Jurgs" no longer seen around the community. The time came when he started using a cane. I have noticed that with more and more of my old acquaintances. Knock on wood re. the possibility that time might come for yours truly. My late father never took to using a cane or a walker. People are different. 

It is unfortunate that at age 71 I have to monitor the obituaries regularly. My family came here in 1960 or '61. We did rent a place in Starbuck on Lake Minnewaska for a few months before settling in "Motown." So I remember the "stuffed animals" at the laudromat in Starbuck! We came to these parts because of the historic launching of the U of M-Morris. 

I remember watching basketball at the old "P.E. Annex," no longer standing of course. St. Cloud State had a building like this, "Eastman Hall," which got renovated instead of torn down. I assume you've heard in the news that a substantial portion of the St. Cloud campus is set to be demolished including some buildings that surprise me. I believe they are still waiting for the money. 

Speaking of waiting for the money, is our Congress going to disgorge significant funds for this treacherous "war effort" abroad? The government will always say there are reasons for a war. So the new disgorgement is $200 billion? The Persia interests may have a strategy as they've done before of dragging us into conflicts that damage our economy. Spending $ on the war only drains us. 

Can't everyone agree that it is odd that our president had a major campaign priority of "no new Mideast wars?" If you are a Trump supporter - odds are high that you are, out here in western MN - can't you agree with me that it is odd or even mistaken? I expected our congressperson Michelle Fischbach in her latest email dispatch to emphasize the need to support the war effort. No such mention. 

The Trump people - certainly Fischbach is one - usually sing in unison. 

Sports is an opiate that diverts our attention from such things. It's an opiate to keep us from feeling down because of the daily headaches of life. Of course that's the glass-half-empty assessment. I grew up during Vietnam so I plead with you to understand how I can express such an attitude. 

Trump is profoundly troubling. On so many levels. But compare our current state of affairs to when young men were drafted and sent to Vietnam. We are so fallible as a human species. 

 

SDSU in the NCAAs today (Friday)

Go "Jacks!" 

I just noticed there is a basketball game that we should be paying attention to today (Friday). Today we should all be cheering for the "Jackrabbits." Boy I laughed the first time when hearing that nickname. It was on my car radio. "Jackrabbits" is the nickname for South Dakota State University. 

Institutions like SDSU were considered quite second-tier when I was young, but boy they can be competitive with the big boys today. But I'm not talking boys right now, I'm talking girls. Actually "women" as the SDSU Jackrabbit women of hoops are set to play in the most prestigious college event. It's time for the "NCAAs." 

And SDSU is right in there albeit as a pretty big underdog today. They are seeded 11th and will play No. 6 Washington at 1:30 p.m. Well I'll certainly have fingers crossed for an upset! I am acquainted with a current SDSU student. Campus is in Brookings SD. 

I remember when I was with the Morris newspaper, someone wrote a letter to the editor quite strongly making the point that Brookings was more welcoming to its student population than our UMN-Morris. I am hopeful that the local climate is changing on this front. And I really think it is. 

For much of its history, UMM has not been the most happy place. It has been oddball in certain ways and this has to end. 

 

Bolstering its future (hopefully)

I implore you 

I am overdue in making the following suggestion but I will lay it out: UMM does not need a "student newspaper." The paper through the years has been far more trouble than it is worth. It has done anything but prompt a smile on so many occasions. It is not needed for any "democratic" ideal. 

Student-run publications should not seek the shield of the "First Amendment" for anything they do. If they are not serving a constructive purpose for the campus, they should disappear. A student-run newspaper is run by a group of students who may not be representative of the campus with their outlook or personality. Ax-grinding sometimes arises. 

And it has made wider the cultural gap between the campus and community. If UMM is to survive at all - yes we need to worry - well that gap needs to be tamped down or eliminated. 

The new chancellor in whom I place faith has stressed how he is going to be talking to public school leaders in this part of the state to see how UMM is perceived and how the image can be made more agreeable for kids out here. I already know some of the things he is going to hear. Don't make me spell it all out right now. The kids and their families out here believe in personal modesty and a sense of decorum that departs from what UMM has exuded all along. 

Is there time to make repairs? Well I'm not sure there is. We can hope. I won't say "hope and pray." But if you want, you can pray for the Jackrabbits of SDSU right now! 

It was nice to see Chris Juergensen "Jurgs" get such a nice send-off to heaven on Thursday. We'll never forget the guy.

 

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

A team that still has "Witts" about them!

Mason Witt ("Voice of Alexandria" image)

Alexandria is up with the "big dogs" now. By that I mean they're in with the state's largest schools in Minnesota's four-class system. 

We're really in prime basketball season now. Many teams have been forced to step aside like our Tigers here in Morris. An undefeated regular season was not enough to get our orange and black to the big show of state. You might say "many are called, few are chosen." 

The MACA boys and girls are done and now they're fans like the rest of us. The boys were stopped by Jackson County Central on Thursday. A stunning outcome for the MACA fan faithful to accept, to be sure. Adding insult to injury, the fans had to make the long trip back from Marshall after the 8 p.m. contest. This with the taste of having lost so fresh. 

Alexandria was the state champion last year in the AAA world. Those schools are relatively big. It must say something about the booming development of Alex that the prepsters are in AAAA. And they are doing quite fine competitively speaking. 

 

Morris ties 

There's a big reason for Morris area fans to show an interest in Alexandria. The "Witt" name remains prominent over there in Cardinal country. Don't y'all remember Jerry Witt as coach of our football team? And his sons as such athletically gifted kids? How can we forget the names Zachary, Forrest and Taylor from years gone by? I remember them as little kids too. 

My, today there's a new generation of Witts turning heads in sports! And yes my hair has turned white. But I'm still doing sportswriting just like I did when the Witts were in Morris. You've heard the lyrics "rock 'n roll is here to stay, it will never die?" You can substitute my name for "rock 'n roll." I think Jerry would laugh about this thought. Jerry played with the UMM football team during that program's 1970s heyday. 

Last year I wrote quite a bit about the Alexandria Cardinals in post-season. I wrote about both the boys and girls. The girls team had Morris connections too. 

 

Touching all bases 

I have been advised that when I write about the athletic genes in the Witt family, I should not overlook the genes provided by Jerry's wife Holly! Actually I never did know her birth/maiden name. Well no problem, fair request. 

Alexandria "Cardinals"

Here's what's going on right now: The Alex boys are in the state tournament thanks to their win at the home gym over Elk River. Yes, not a neutral location. Alex had the top seed, Elk River was No. 3. The Thursday action ended with the Cardinal red triumphant, score of 64-58. So the Cards took the 8-4A title. 

I'm old enough to remember covering some games at the "old" Alex High School. I remember going there to cover the Chokio-Alberta boys. Today C-A has joined in with Morris Area. I think the partnership started when Jerry was still football coach. 

We could have used the C-A boys all through the years. Getting the partnership cemented was a long and pretty arduous process with fits and starts. I remember when C-A tried to set up their own junior varsity basketball schedule when they were not entitled to do that! Oh, and I even remember the short-term pairing of C-A with Clinton-Graceville. The "CACG Thunder." Yes, that registers. 

We have now gotten past small town politics. I got too close to that at times, alas. Could be pretty ugly. I think the state should have moved in and taken charge more often, frankly. Remember how Dawson-Boyd came close to joining the new Lac qui Parle venture? And then they bowed out and ended up being thankful for that? 

Today I am of the view that the MACA programs should just be changed to "Morris" for everyone's convenience. No one should be offended by that. Do you think anyone cares anymore if Cyrus has "town identity?" No. It's a small community that is quiet and safe, just the way people want it. I'm old enough that I covered graduations at Cyrus High School along with some "Panthers" sports events. Oh yes I did. 

There was a period of time when Cyrus was competitive with Morris in basketball! Oh yes it was. And I scratched my head quite a bit. 

 

Distant but striking memory 

I remember publishing a photo of one of the Cyrus Solvie boys with a banner recognizing a career scoring milestone. He was joined in the photo by cheerleaders, everyone all happy, and I thought: "This photo represents a set of wholesome traditional values that the Morris school does not really like." And I assure you, my judgment on this was totally on the nose. 

Eventually we got more accountability for the Morris school. A struggle had to happen first. We had to overcome the avant garde "academic" crowd of Morris. The positive forces eventually won. And who would be against that? Well, mostly a group of teachers/employees within the system that were self-interested and entitled-feeling. They had bought into the avant garde stuff when it was in vogue in the 1970s. The crazy 1970s. 

 

Mason Witt's hot hand 

Mason Witt and Talan Witt play for the Alexandria Cardinals. Not brothers, rather they're cousins. Mason hit a deep 3-pointer to start Alex's scoring on Thursday. This was the first of four straight 3's that he hit. Talan made a layup as part of a 10-2 run by the Cards. 

Elk River kept the game close. Alexandria was triumphant in the end.  More headlines coming for the Alex boys now. Their luster remains bright in the Class AAAA firmament. Our MACA boys are AA. 

A check of the Alex roster shows the name "Scholl" as in Blake Scholl, another Morris connection. Blake is the son of Heather (nee) Lucken and grandson of Bev Kieffer who was known as Bev Lucken when in Morris. Bev was on the school board. She had to deal with some of the unpleasantness as Morris got certain things straightened out. We're talking approximately the year 1988. Our high school principal took over as chief sportswriter for the Morris newspaper. If that sounds strange to you, well it was strange. The school needed a real PR person. And I've never been a PR person. I am a Watergate era writer. 

 

Mason Witt is a captain of the Cards. He became the school's all-time leading scorer midway through this season. Is the "Witt" name German? Those people are competitive by nature as we saw in World War Two.

 

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

Crowded restaurant shows things going well

More new snow on the ground this morning (Wednesday). It's biscuits and gravy morning at DeToy's Restaurant and I had mine. It was also a day for the Missouri Synod Lutherans to gather there in the dining room. Seems like a weekly thing. 

Wow, I was impressed by the land office business being done at DeToy's this morning. It would appear quite the positive indication for the Morris economy. Are we really a refuge from all the "Gotham City" problems of the big city now? Well it would appear so. And we have chosen Republican politicians to lead us including the guy at the top. The guy elected to keep us out of new Mideast wars. 

Now that he has gone totally against that credo, and just kept America up to the norm, are his followers having second thoughts about him? Frankly I wouldn't want to bring up the subject with the morning male patrons of DeToy's. Man, if our friend Dean Monson was still alive, I'm quite certain we'd hear no skeptical word from him. Not about Trump or the Republicans. 

And we have a real full-fledger on the Republican side of the ledger with our congressperson. That's Michelle Fischbach. So loyal, even though Trump has shown a pattern of disrespecting women. Well, he was found responsible in a legitimate legal proceeding for committing sexual assault. And Judge Kaplan has suggested that Trump escaped the most serious judgment of "rape" only on a technicality in New York state law. It was rape. Now it only seems like a "process" story in the news - the term that journos and pols use to describe a passing story, one that blows over. Rape. 

The killing of so many by a U.S. Tomahawk missile in Iran that struck a girls school. Looks like another "process" story. Let DJT try to minimize it or mislead us by saying it was the work of Iran. It obviously was not. And we just sit out here in West Central Minnesota and take it. 

 

Changed impressions

So many things are going well for us compared to the situation in the big cities like our Twin Cities. When I was young the big cities were "cool" and the small towns were backward and shallow. It is certainly nice that our small communities have been lifted up - a real blessing. But why can't more of us be enlightened on the big picture stuff? 

Why do we file into church pews on Sunday with determination to affirm Trump and Republicans as our nation's leaders and example-setters? Historically speaking, the guy who was really responsible for this was Jerry Falwell. 

 

Ahem. . .

At this point in this post I shall change the subject. In saying that I expect people to applaud like when Ed McMahon used to say "I hold in my hand the last envelope." You do remember "Carnac the Magnificent" maybe? I'm age 71 and such memories remain well-ensconced in my head. Like of Bob Uecker saying "I must be in the front row." A Miller Lite commercial of course from the days when social drinking was quite accepted. 

 

Basketball euphoria here 

As I write this it is mid-March. A blend of good and sad news is the backdrop as it always is. Right now we have the local "mania" of a fantastic high school basketball team. Many of us are pretty consumed by this. 

For many of us it really has no connection to our lives. I remember when I was with the Morris paper and we had a consultant visit us. I saw part of his final report and he cautioned us on paying so much attention to high school sports. He cautioned "the interest is limited." You know, I suspected that all along. Seems like it's just part of small community culture to have a local newspaper that amplifies youth sports out of proportion. 

The people who are relatively uninterested do not assert themselves to the newspaper. But, the ones who are hugely interested? Emotionally interested? My God these people assert themselves until hell won't have it. The papers cannot ignore the loudest voices. Let's just make that our little secret. 

Nevertheless, we really truly want the MACA boys basketball team to do well on Thursday. I should emphasize "Thursday night." Indeed, it's a night game set to start at 8 p.m. My God, and the folks are going to have to drive home from Marshall after the game. Please consider checking into a motel instead. 

The fans don't even have the ease of using an Interstate highway. I remember driving to Mankato one year for the state softball tournament and I had to have a road map on the seat next to me. 

Seriously, be careful everyone. Don't rely on "No-Doz" if that product still exists. Steve Sack the great Star Tribune cartoonist liked to work in "No-Doz" with some of his panels. I got to meet Steve when he was a student at the U of M-Twin Cities. 

Our Tigers are going to play Jackson County Central. Having researched the JCC Huskies, looks like they are a team capable of doing damage. 

 

Chris Juergensen

Chris Juergensen RIP 

A note of sadness for fans of the Tigers and Cougars now: the passing of Chris Juergensen. "Juergs." Man, I talked with him 2-3 times in the recent past at the concourse level of the P.E. Center during Cougar basketball. Was stunned to learn he had left us. He was always a reliable fan of youth sports in Morris. 

I'm sure I'm not the only one who has had the thought that it would be nice if Cougar basketball players could be present for his final rites. 

It's hard to feel cheer about the kind of weather that marks St. Patrick's Day. Nature has not yet awoken. Everything is brown. I was discussing this with Sharon Martin out along the biking/talking trail a couple days ago. Sharon was babysitting the Rambows' dog and the dog accompanied her. She let him loose to come and greet yours truly. I was already acquainted with the dog. The Rambows used to be my neighbors up on Northridge Drive. We're out by the soils lab. "Semi-rural." 

Sharon runs the bakery at Willie's these days. The Iran war will have the effect of rising grocery prices and actually prices of everything. But can I get the Trump supporters to back off on their devotion to Trump? No way. 

Blasphemy IMHO

On Easter all the "Christians" will be flocking to their churches not only out of devotion to Christ and the gospel, but to Donald Trump. It's the way it is. I will condemn the USA for what we have done in Iran. Jesus would condemn us too. You all are lemmings.

 

Addendum: Re. the Missouri Synod Lutherans, is it true that they can only take communion in a Missouri Synod church and in no others? And you wonder why young people get alienated by organized religion? 

 

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

News and weather on day of big Tiger game

Still standing after all these years: the Drudge Report. Maybe you don't remember how this journalistic enterprise really found its footing because of Clinton/Lewinsky. 

Clinton/Lewinsky? You remember, right? Ah how time passes by. 

I have read recently that young people just want to moan when the Clintons surface in the news for any reason. It's all "old news" in their minds. So Hillary testified just recently. And for the record, she (and her fellow attorneys) performed masterfully to obliterate what the Jim Jordan types wanted to do. Or I guess James Comer, the wind-up toy that seeks to attack the Dems as his raison d'etre. That's "raison" with an "o." It is not a breakfast cereal. 

People in media have to be fascinated by the sheer staying power of the Drudge Report. Adding to this fascination is how the site's appearance has not changed through the years and is so beautifully simple. That's because really solid journalism can "sell itself." 

We are used to seeing media websites go through cosmetic changes - what they'd call upgrades - in a shallow effort. Or with newspapers the godawful "re-design" as we saw touted here in Morris when the newspaper was under Forum Communications ownership. The Forum is a very shallow company that will chase any "trend" that pops up. They chased after this stuff until they pulled up stakes and left Morris. Hey, wasn't the "re-design" good enough? 

Very well-grounded legend has it that the Forum was going to close the Morris paper. I got that background from a very well-placed source or friend. A new owner did come upon the scene. Wearing a hero's mantle I guess. Perhaps wearing a cape. Small towns are  notable for how they can anoint heroes (and proclaim villains). 

The Forum would have been proclaimed a villain but they weren't even around anymore. You knaves, they are just a typical Machiavellian enterprise. They shed yours truly at one time. It was in 2006. But of course we learn about the decline spasms of print media all the time. Maybe not disappearing but certainly consolidating. And is it toward true betterment? 

 

News on the Tigers 

How up-to-date is the Morris paper's coverage of our boys basketball team right now? It is Saturday as we deal with a new onslaught of weather that has no redeeming qualities. I'll bet the highways have an uneven surface - not pleasant to deal with. 

And on this day the Tiger faithful will have to travel to Marshall, quite far to the south of here. And we're playing Minnewaska Area. It's a fur piece for the 'Waska fans to travel too. Oh, my kingdom to see this game played at the UMM P.E. Center in Morris! A win-win for everyone. But, the setup is arranged long in advance, and high-level tournament games have been set for Southwest State of Marshall for a long time now. 

Sorry, I cannot claim to have ever attended a sports event at SSU. I did attend a music concert there once: Maynard Ferguson in the early 1980s, packed house, super night. 

 

Query 

I have wondered how many Morris fans actually attend the games at SSU this time of year. I doubt that we see the kind of mass turnout that I remember so well from when our UMM was a hub for this. 

Oh, I remember so well during the Kevin Loge days when the Concordia Fieldhouse was really jammed with fans. And I loved the Polish sausage served at the place! Sorry but I don't really know the level of fan turnout today for the same events. 

A friend of mine did offer something on this: he said that parents nowadays are divided into so many activities, we're less likely to see the mass turnout. That sounds very valid. 

Do I miss the "old days?" Let me say that I do miss the greater number of tournament games played right here in Morris at UMM. The big change happened, as I recall, when the big shift was made to the 4-class system for basketball. At that time, we saw the introduction of the terms "sub-section" and "section" to replace "district" and "region." 

 

Some hazard? 

I am concerned about the long trips fans have to make, especially when the games are at night. Really, someone could get in an accident because of getting drowsy at the wheel. I shudder as I worry about this. But today (Saturday) the starting time is in the afternoon for the Tigers' tournament game against Minnewaska Area. 

Frankly the Tigers look like the prohibitive favorite. Sometimes I think the travel is a dubious thing when the outcome of a game would appear obvious. This can happen when No. 1 seed plays No. 8. In hockey this can actually get sad. I remember when MACA basketball was the No. 1 seed hosting Paynesville the No. 8 and we lost! As the great Chris Berman of ESPN is known to say, "that's why they play the game." Coach Mark Torgerson survived that embarrassment as coach. 

Today there is a different Torgerson with the reins as coach. And my goodness, the Tigers are undefeated! Well, have a good time at the game today you all. You had better drive carefully. 

 

O captain, my captain

Now, let's take a look at the Drudge Report on this dreary yucky Saturday. Here's a link to an article that starts out: "Donald Trump is alleged to have sexually assaulted a woman while she was a minor." 

The legal record already shows that Trump engaged in sexual assault vs. E. Jean Carroll. We have chosen this man as our president.

Remember when we were supposed to have some concern about Ronald Reagan because he had been divorced? Many of us should now wonder if Trump is the biggest douchebag of a human being we've ever seen. But so many "Christians" hold him up like he's deity.

 

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

Tigers take it up to eleven vs. New London-Spicer

Here we are in the heart of basketball mania season. My, how we can get consumed by this for several weeks! It doesn't take such a big toll on me because I do not attend many games. Give me credit, please, for attending some of the UMM Cougar games. Unfortunately these teams had no post-season run. 

I will be redundant here and say I wish our UMM teams could play Northern Sun again. A lot of us are probably forgetting about those days. It got unpleasant toward the end as we could not be competitive. We took our pill of falling down to the UMAC. I resisted showing interest for years and then I finally capitulated. 

I found it quite enjoyable attending the games although I walked away from the last one - the men's playoff game - because the ticket price for seniors had doubled. Well, isn't that the way everything is going these days? When will we start acting like we are getting fed up with it? The new war with Iran is only going to increase the cost of living more. 

God is going to punish the U.S. for what it is doing. And I think of all the Trump supporters filling the pews of certain local churches, a majority of them really. The ones who are not in line with that are fading fast like our local First Lutheran and Federated churches. Sad to see but it's reality. 

There are parts of the New Testament that the "conservative" pastors do not quote from. If they do, the hardened MAGA types will stand up and walk out immediately. There were times when Jesus Christ could sound like Bernie Sanders. I can just hear Trump insulting Sanders with his usual language. Find a personal angle and rub it in: that's what Trump does. I personally think we should all just start laughing at him. 

I don't go to any church now - it is counterproductive. But I do pay attention to basketball. Basketball ought to be considered America's prime sport. So many advantages: highly entertaining to watch, all played indoors away from the vagaries of weather, and less injury risk compared to other sports (certainly football). 

 

Expected outcome 

So right now early in March it is prime hoops season and we are appropriately mesmerized. I opened my laptop early this morning fully expecting to learn that the MACA boys had dismantled, dismembered as it were, New London-Spicer in 3AA play. Well of course that's what happened! 

I looked immediately to an online source that I figured would tell me something about the game. Any suggestions? I knew the West Central Tribune website could fill in some blanks. But the WC Trib is not prepared, yet, to start getting quotes from our coach Torgerson. I thought they would have turned the page by now. But no. We are still being treated as second-class by this newspaper. 

The article this morning does quote the NL-Spicer coach. No quotes from our coach Torgerson, despite the fact Torgerson's team virtually walloped the Wildcats of NL-Spicer. 69-37. Wow, look at that margin of victory! 

There is one sign of progress from the Willmar newspaper. For this game, for the first time all season I believe, it has the thorough stat summary for MACA in the boxscore. Up to now we've seen one of two things: "stats not available" for MACA, or just the individual scoring totals and 3-point shooting. Our opponents get the thorough treatment. 

How good do we have to be to get the WC Trib's attention? In the old days the paper was pretty nice to us. And then, thud! Meanwhile our own Morris newspaper went from publishing twice a week to once. And Brett Miller left the radio station.

 

Tigers 69, NL-Spicer 37

Fans made the trip to Willmar for this 3AA-North playoff game. Obviously the Tigers were seeded No. 1. We have yet to lose all season. The Wildcats of NL-Spicer were in the No. 4 position. Not much chance for a close ballgame. 

We're now in the 3AA-North finals. And we'll face Minnewaska Area next. 'Waska has the No. 3 seed. We might moan as we realize we now have to make the fairly long trip to Marshall. So we'll play the Lakers at SSU's R/A Facility on Saturday at 2:30. At least the game is not at night. I get concerned about fans having to make the long drive home late at night. 

I remember the days when many games at this level were played here in Morris at the P.E. Center. Fading memories I guess. 

The West Central Tribune article this morning quotes NL-S coach Jeff Paffrath. He makes the rather bizarre comment: "This game didn't show it, but Morris/CA is obviously very good." Holy mackerel, guy, your team lost by 32 points. And the paper can't get a quote out of coach Torgerson? 

The WC Trib also quotes Wildcat player Griffin Thompson. 

The game began with Wildcat Zachary Lageson making a 3-pointer. Then the hammer came down on the Wildcats. MACA went on a 14-point run! OK so we see Alex Asmus finishing the game with 19 points. Riley Asmus put in 13 and Jack Kehoe 12. Here's the others: Tyson Grove 8, Ben Tiernan 6, Tanner Friesen 4, Jonah Huebner 4 and Bryce Hardy 3. 

Five different Tigers made 3-point shots led by Alex Asmus with three. Grove and Tiernan each made two while Riley Asmus and Kehoe each made one. Kehoe was tops in rebounds with seven. Riley Asmus contributed two assists. He also stole the ball five times. Kehoe and Huebner each blocked a shot. 

So thanks to the WC Trib, I guess, for having all stat categories included, probably for the first time all season. Winning brings attention I guess. I think Schweiter Chevrolet would like to see Morris getting a little more attention there.

 

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