I'm 63 today (1/28) so I take stock in a great deal

I'm 63 now so let's put on a pedestal a special scene: yours truly (left), Del Sarlette of Morris (right) and G.G. Shinn at the Minnesota Music Cafe, St. Paul, in 2007. Shinn was lead singer with the jazz/rock group "Chase" in the '70s. The 2007 event was a reunion. The late Bill Chase played trumpet. Del and I have some experience with that too.
 
It's a peaceful and uneventful Sunday afternoon and up 'til now, I haven't much felt inspired to write as inspiration from my birthday. Yours truly is 63 today (1/28). Time drifts on. It's nice to have collected Social Security for a year.
Nothing much to command our attention today. Cable TV news drones with attention to the investigation of Trump's people. Trump himself is in the crosshairs eventually. He is the quintessential bully. Can he bully virtually everyone who he thinks is in his way? Will his sycophants in the right wing media keep shaking their pom poms on his behalf? What happened to the model of "conservatives" as being of restrained, respectful temperament? What happened to the conservatives' general idea of wanting a gentle sort of continuity in our society, even if they don't always get their way?
We're told that the stock market gains should cause us to dismiss all questions of taste connected to Trump. A cesspool of behavior involving racist suggestions and porn stars should be neglected. The almighty dollar rules.We can't even be sure that any particular Trump policy, like the "tax cut," is to explain for the rocketing-higher market. What about the central banks?
Don't our community banks exist for the purpose of giving the "common man," to the extent anyone cares about such souls anymore, a safe place to save money? Isn't that why we have the FDIC? Hasn't the Fed been gently nudging up interest rates lately? I cannot figure out why the interest rates paid to savers have been trending down. I was shocked recently to check in with a couple banks. Bank of the West is paying just one percent for a five-year CD? The bank in Hancock pays 1.3 percent? What is the common person to do?
Trump is so proud of the stock market as if that should be our only measuring stick. Are we really supposed to assume that risk is gone from the stock market? With Republicans in control? With an administration that seeks to slash any and all regulations? Don't many of these regulations in fact exist to try to assure the common folk that the bottom won't fall out? We're inundated with stock market news all the time. The message, I guess, is that we'd better get in. In my mind it has been a long and dangerous siren song. But could I be wrong? I doubt it. At some point the dam will start to crack, won't it?
Annuities? I have read screaming warnings about getting into that racket. They are complicated insurance contracts. "Insurance" is not a magic word for me. I remember the pilot Carl Johnson of Morris, RIP, who said "I don't believe in insurance."
 
Adjusting to economic realities
Maybe our nation will sometime soon have "universal basic income." Even the conservative sociologist Charles Murray believes in this. No panic over whether your basic needs will be met. Murray advises that as automation and globalization continue their inexorable advance, we'll realize we can no longer count on the traditional "job." Indeed, the idea of doing something tedious 40 hours a week seems something now confined to the world of black and white film noir movies. I used to knock myself out working in journalism, thinking that this approach to life would bestow some sort of virtue and win respect.
Our perspective has changed due to the digital age. What matters today isn't how many hours you work in a week, it's whether you have mastered methods to be productive. You can be tremendously "productive" working half the traditional work week. The tech-based systems have almost scary power. Tom Friedman notes this and gives an example where someone types a code or instruction of some type and gets one number wrong. The results can be disastrous.
I was at the Morris Sun Tribune newspaper in its heyday when we put out a big thick product twice a week. All that pulp isn't so necessary now. What would it be like sitting in my old office today, trying to do "my thing" like in the old days? Well, when the paper size is down to as few as ten pages a week, as it was recently, my output would have to be negligible. What's the use?
 
Cockeyed notions of years ago
A person reflects on his birthday. I remember attending college when avant garde ideas ruled. We were discouraged from just "reporting scores" in sports. We were always supposed to try to see some bigger picture, something profound. Avant garde ideas had real pull which is how we got the UMM science auditorium. There was an irritating "intelligentsia" out there that would browbeat people who tried to just do a simple job.
Case in point: an op-ed that appeared right after the famous episode of Ohio State football coach Woody Hayes punching an opposing (Clemson) player along the sidelines. An op-ed noted the outrage that built up, and observed that "even people who read scores for a living" vented the outrage. As if such people were just supposed to be one-dimensional, i.e. stupid. The suggestion was that we couldn't trust the established sports media - i.e. people who just "read scores" - to make the kind of judgment that was needed re. Hayes.
I remember when Jim Bouton had his foray into television sports. Hey Jim, they only hired you because of your name. Bouton, you might recall, had already gotten famous writing the book "Ball Four" which was iconoclastic as hell. His foray into TV sports saw him become a pain as he had a persecution complex over how his avant garde work was perceived.
Avant garde never got implanted in our culture as well as we thought. Architecture went back to 90-degree angles - actually it never really left - but we still have the UMM science auditorium.
Bouton did short subjects for TV sports that had little to do with reporting the kind of news that TV consumers want. He was a shining ornament for a time and then he moseyed on, bound to make money no matter what he did, thanks to Ball Four. That's his meal ticket today, still.
On my birthday I look back to how the iconoclastic phase of our culture may have affected me too much. I'm too impressionable, maybe too insecure, so I sought the approval of the snarky intelligentsia. It was a mistake. I'm too old now to begin anew, so I can only mull it over and ponder an alternative history.
I'd love to go back to the day after my graduation from high school. I'd wake up in the morning realizing I was the same person as the day before. Only I'd tossed aside the shackles of high school coursework and expectations. I'd look in the mirror and tell myself there was absolutely no need to do anything. Move forward with a grasp of life skills. As far as compensated work is concerned, don't fret about how many hours you "work." Slowly get acclimated to this. If you falter for some reason, find a way to volunteer. "Network" and make friends.
 
In need of mentorship, I guess
A friend should have grabbed my shoulders, shaken me and said "whatever you do, don't ever go back to school again - don't even enter a classroom - a pox on you if you do." That would have been the best advice. It was a road not taken and I regret it. I needed to sever ties with my silly age peers completely, in that time when us youth were so immersed in debauchery, to an extent that I even hate to try to describe.
You cannot live life over again. A shame. At 63 I'd like to think I still have some sort of interesting future. Let's remember the words of Yogi Berra, RIP: "When you come to a fork in the road, take it!" And let's remember John Wayne in his last movie who went to the saloon and said "today is my birthday, give me the best you've got." Reminds me of the joke about the three-legged dog who jumped up onto a barstool at an Old West saloon. He said "I'm looking for the man who shot my paw."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Success in Falcon country of ACGC, 69-53

Boys hoops
Morris Area Chokio Alberta got its seventh straight win in January 23 action on the road. The site was Falcon country of Atwater-Cosmos-Grove City. The orange and black prevailed in the 69-53 final. Our W/L coming out: 9-7. ACGC is having a .500 type of season.
Things were well in hand by halftime as we owned quite the impressive 44-19 lead. We marked time through the second half in which ACGC outscored us 34-25.
Tate Nelson supplied thrills with his four made 3-point shots. Camden Arndt and Jaret Johnson each made one long-ranger. Three Tigers scored in double figures led by Nelson with his 18 points. Arndt and Johnson each put in 17 points. Here's the rest of the list: Jackson Loge (6), Tyler Reimers (4), Connor Koebernick (4), Kyle Staebler (2) and Mace Yellow (1). Arndt and Nelson each grabbed six rebounds to co-lead in that category, and Johnson had five boards. Koebernick and Johnson co-led in assists with five, and Arndt came through with four. Johnson led in steals with four followed by Koebernick and Nelson each with three.
The ACGC scoring was spurred by Dawson Miller who scored 19 points. He made two 3-pointers. Steven Lawver scored eight points while Josh Kinzler and Jaren Kaddatz each put in seven. Other Falcons scoring: Michael Lambert (4), Brayden Hedtke (3), Kobe Holtz (3) and Noah Cunningham (2). Kinzler and Hedtke joined Miller in the long-range shooting attack as each made one '3'. Lambert and Jordan Schumacher each grabbed four rebounds. Holtz and Kaddatz each had two assists. Schumacher was ACGC's steals leader with three. Miller and Kinzler each stole the ball twice.
 
Milbank (SD) 68, Tigers 62
A skein of MACA success ended at our home court Thursday evening (1/25). We had put seven wins in a row together. At halftime it appeared that prospects were good for upping the win streak to eight. We were up 33-28. But Milbank SD surged in second half play to outscore us 40-29. So the final horn sounded with the Tigers on the short end vs. this out of state rival, 68-62.
Jaret Johnson made a three-point shot and topped our scoring list with 14 points. Arndt succeeded three times from beyond the three-point arc, and his point total was 13. Chandler Vogel made one 3-pointer and put in nine points. Here's the rest of our scoring list: Connor Koebernick (6), Kyle Staebler (5) and Jackson Loge (4).
Johnson attacked the boards for seven rebounds while Arndt collected six. Koebernick and Loge each dished out three assists. Vogel led in steals with four followed by Nelson with three.
 
Super Bowl seems less super
There was a time when the whole American public seemed rather mesmerized by the Super Bowl. A voice in the back of my mind always told me this was out of proportion.
It was hard not getting excited when our Vikings were in four such spectacles. We not only lost all four, we were outplayed to where a cloud of depression set in here. We seemed to have a chance against Pittsburgh until Bill Brown fumbled. But who really cares about that? The Pittsburgh teams of that era had a center who ended up as the centerpiece in discussions about head injuries in football. He is portrayed in the movie "Concussion" which I watched thanks to our Morris Public Library having it available on DVD. Mike Webster was that Pittsburgh center. Among things he suffered: He pulled out his teeth and super-glued them back in.
Health problems connected to a background of football are becoming more prevalent than we once thought. A recent discovery is that "concussions" per se are not really at the heart of the problem. It is the routine, repeated hits that prompt real concern, so anyone with a substantial background of playing football is at risk.
So why get excited about the Super Bowl? Consciousness of head injuries is one of several reasons why TV ratings for football have been faltering. Bob Costas will not help cover the Super Bowl because his conscience is tugging at him. TV will survive Costas' absence. There are plenty of drooling young broadcasters who'd love to get in on the action.
Hopefully the public will slowly drift away with its interest. I wish there would be a rapid drift. How nice it would be to not show such anticipation for those Super Bowl TV commercials. It's weird how this ritual got going. Historically we all fall into a weird stupor on "Super Sunday." Society needs a big deprogramming effort but it could be happening on its own, albeit slowly.
We see Super Bowls these days that are suspiciously close, like last year's when the Patriots had that improbable comeback. I'm suspicious because I suspect there are excruciating pressures for these big games to be reasonably hard-fought. It's not that the NFL would stoop to the level of pro wrestling and script things, but I think measures are taken in terms of game tactics, which both coaches agree on, to try to keep the games close. So much money is at stake, the NFL must try to pull all strings to ensure a competitive product, to keep those eyeballs.
I would advise fans to just plan doing something special on that Sunday to get away from the distraction of this odd American quasi worship shrine known as, sitting on your a-- and watching men smash into each other.
I was pleased to see a childhood hero of mine, Jim Plunkett, do a TV interview in which he looked suave and healthy. I later read that appearances can be deceiving, as the former quarterback takes 13 pills a day to deal with myriad health issues most likely connected to football. We hear about players with ALS and Parkinson's and of course dementia. I do not want to be party to any of this. Bob Costas is right. Let's show how insightful and wise we can be.
 
Addendum: This is my first week ever with a computer at my residence. For years I have used public computers. It feels a little strange doing this at home and I'm adjusting. Thanks to Mobiz of Morris for selling me a high-end laptop which is working out great, though I need a little time getting comfortable with the keyboard. I can even post on Sunday now. This coming Sunday, Jan. 28, is my 63rd birthday.
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Movie "Dunkirk" (2017) seems to get lost at sea

The Dunkirk episode may have been highly significant in ensuring that the good guys could resist the Nazis. As a movie, "Dunkirk" seems basically to be a morass of depressing and confusing scenes. People with an artsy view of the cinema will probably like it. They liked "The Right Stuff" about the space program. That movie drifted in the same dreary way, getting us to think U.S. astronauts spent their free time in bars watching TV and laughing at Bill Dana.
I found "Dunkirk" rather a chore to watch. Thanks to our Morris MN public library for ordering it for me. It was with great anticipation that I punched in the DVD. I found the movie had no real discernible characters. We constantly see this boundless sea where danger slinks around. Miserable souls fend for themselves. We don't see the Germans. I felt like I might get seasick (just kidding). We always see smoke billowing on the horizon. Young men fend for themselves as planes occasionally streak overhead. Some planes are menacing and some are friendly. Reminds of the old cliche movie line "Is it one of ours?"
We never see full-on combat. The enemy just sort of lurks. It is faceless. I would rather read a historical account of the Dunkirk episode rather than to watch this movie. If you watch the movie without knowing much background, you'll want to seek out some reading material later. A movie like this should do a better job of educating. The movie plods. Men in danger on the water with grim expressions. Some make it and some do not. This is not your father's World War II movie. Perhaps we should not be entertained by WWII movies at all. We are in fact entertained and we need to draw a line between fantasy and reality.
Paul Anka as a GI (in "The Longest Day") is fantasy. Hollywood, perhaps with some spasms of guilt about how combat is so often sanitized, finally gave us "Saving Private Ryan." It is with mixed feelings that we accept the newer, more realistic WWII movies. Blood and gore at its essence is not appealing to watch. A whole series of WWII movies came out in the 1960s that protected us from the more unpleasant stuff. At the end of "The Longest Day" we see Eddie Albert fall into a hole as the rat-tat-tat of a machine gun is heard. That's it, he's dead. He's motionless. No blood. (The "rat-tat-tat" representation is from the "Sergeant Rock" comic books I read as a kid!) A human being is actually harder to kill than that.
Let's consider "The Bridge at Remagen" from the 1960s, starring Robert Vaughn as a conflicted German officer, an officer who has a human element. No blood in this movie either. We see German bodies at the start with uniforms that aren't even torn - they're just limp. Soldiers die pretty efficiently. The movie had appeal because the main characters leaped to the forefront. You could wrap your arms around them. You couldn't beat George Segal and Ben Gazzara as the heroic grunts. The whole story line along with the main characters develop in an obvious way that is compelling. Perhaps the whole Remagen episode would be ripe for a re-make. It takes place in the closing stages of WWII when bridges into Germany turned into a horrible magnet for conflict.
A U.S. commander says that saving the bridge could save tens of thousands of lives. My God, what possessed humanity in the mid-20th Century that we got pulled into such incredible conflict. Maybe we should be whistling past the graveyard today.
The Dunkirk episode reminds us that WWII was very much developed by the time the U.S. plunged in. The whole Dunkirk story is about evacuation. It doesn't seem like the most compelling premise for a good movie. Christopher Nolan is the moving force behind "Dunkirk" as writer, director and producer. There is little dialogue. Nolan decided to tap cinematography and music instead, though there is no music that would leave me whistling a melody afterward. "The Bridge at Remagen" left a distinctive melody, though I smile as I consider that melody more suitable for a western! I wonder why. It's based on my background watching movies, I guess.
"Dunkirk" has won lots of praise. But is this disproportionately from that "artsy" crowd? Let me say this: No way would I consider watching "Dunkirk" a second time. No way would I choose to watch it, if I came upon it while surfing cable TV channels. Compare that to "Tora! Tora! Tora!" of the 1960s, a movie about Pearl Harbor, which is always gripping to watch. It's ditto with "Midway" that had Charlton Heston. "Dunkirk" drags and has a mysterious quality as if the moviegoer isn't really entitled to understand everything that's going on. I'm watching the movie "cold" and I need some help understanding the basic elements. How nice it would be to see a clearly defined character who stays with you, like the Henry Fonda character in "Battle of the Bulge."
"Dunkirk" has already been described as "one of the greatest war films." I don't think that's how the Roger Ebert crowd would describe it. But we couldn't always be certain how Ebert was going to assess a film. (He liked Adam Sandler's "The Longest Yard" in perhaps his most disputed review.) I'm guessing the late critic would describe "Dunkirk" as a morass, just like me. Add the adjective "turgid." Problem is, this seems a rather cold-hearted way to describe a movie that showed the good guys in a rather desperate struggle. The year was 1940. The fall of France is accelerating. Allied soldiers have retreated en masse to Dunkirk. The German attacks seem to have only a pinprick quality. A menacing plane races in and out of the picture.
Nolan thought for a time that he wouldn't need a script! Just improvise, he thought. He was persuaded otherwise, but the script ended up pretty minimal, which you can appreciate when watching the movie. I'm left with images of a vast sea with smoke billowing in the background. You'll find those images linger with you too. Maybe I feel a little detached because there are no U.S. armed forces.
Like "Tora! Tora! Tora!" this is a movie about defeat rather than victory. You have to surmise a positive outcome - in the case of "Tora! Tora! Tora!" it was the awakening of America to the Axis threat, and the sudden mobilization it caused. In the case of "Dunkirk," it's the sense of relief at the evacuation. We see no scenes of Winston Churchill and the generals in the war room. No scenes of generals pushing little plastic boats around a map! The actors are young and unknown. All of the cast is British.
Filming in Dunkirk took place at the location of the real invasion. Filming was done with attention paid to tidal patterns. Special effort was made to minimize the need for CGI. Hey, amen and hallelujah! "Tora! Tora! Tora!" and "Midway" seem quaint with their absence of CGI. The real roaring planes seem quite preferable, not the kind of Japanese Zeroes we saw in "Pearl Harbor" which seemed to be going way too fast. Nolan saw the value of "real" boats and warships. The movie used 6,000 extras in France. The principal cast members did their own stunts. The film was shot in natural lighting. Hans Zimmer developed the musical score. He chose not to watch raw footage of the film while composing.
The box office results for the movie have been impressive, so if that's your criterion, give it a salute. It is the highest-grossing WWII film, not adjusting for inflation, going even beyond "Saving Private Ryan." The people have spoken, I guess.
"Dunkirk" is to WWII what "Cold Mountain" was to Civil War movies. These are somber movies that may be authentic with content but not riveting as cinema. A boundless sea with smoke billowing in the distance. That's how I'll always think of "Dunkirk."
One critic complimented the movie because it didn't have "manufactured sentimentality or false heroics." I don't know, I think these elements - sentiment and heroics - are pretty desirable in movies about war between good and evil. The movies remind us about what was at stake. The heroic characters - e.g. John Wayne! - are composites of the good guys fighting for proper values. A toast to Paul Anka! One critic said Nolan has "without sentimentality or sanctimony, raised the survival film genre to the level of art." The critic proclaims the movie a "classic." "Art" may be the whole problem here. Cinema needs to be compelling even if it exaggerates here and there, gets maudlin or gets sanitized some. How about a new movie about the sinking of the Bismarck? It was a World War One vintage plane that did in that mighty German ship.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

MACA boys assert selves early in home win vs. Sauk

Tigers 50, Sauk Centre 37
The Tigers kept rumbling through January with a 50-37 win over Sauk Centre on January 9. This game seemed wrapped up from early-on. We built a 28-16 lead by halftime. We essentially cruised through the second half. Fans at the home gym enjoyed the success.
Five different Tigers made three-point shots. Camden Arndt made two of the long-rangers while these Tigers each made one: Connor Koebernick, Tate Nelson, Chandler Vogel and Jaret Johnson. Jackson Loge topped our scoring list with 13 points. Arndt and Nelson each put in ten. Jaret Johnson added nine points to the mix, while Koebernick tallied five and Vogel had three.
Loge led in rebounds as well as scoring with his rebounds totaling nine. Johnson snared seven rebounds. Koebernick was the top assist producer with five while Johnson had three. Arndt stole the ball four times.
The win was our fourth of the season. Sauk Centre is having a .500 type of campaign.
 
Girls: WCA 54, Tigers 48
The MACA girls made the trip to West Central Area on a cold Thursday, January 11. Malory Anderson was outstanding with her point total of 24 but it wasn't enough. It wasn't enough that post player Malory had ten rebounds. West Central Area had the weapons to come up with a 54-48 win.
The Knights overcame our Maddie Carrington who made two 3-pointers. Riley Decker and Anderson each made one '3'. Carrington was second-high on the scoring list behind Anderson with 14 points. Jenna Howden put in four points. Other scorers were Decker (3), Carly Wohlers (2) and Liz Dietz (1). Anderson's ten rebounds were followed by Wohlers with eight. Dietz stood out in assists with five while Carrington had three. Anderson stole the ball four times while Decker had three steals.
WCA ascended to ten wins on the season. The Tigers came out of the day at 7-6. WCA held the lead at halftime, 30-18.
 
Our language evolves
I am writing this on a morning where the pundits are discussing the president's use of the word "shithole." Could you image a president from the boomers' younger years - even Richard Nixon - engaging in this? An easy rebuttal to make to the president is that he could find alternative language that would be more civilized.
Many people would likely shake their heads and say we have simply become numb to the odd and idiosyncratic tendencies of our president, a president who lost the popular vote to his Democratic opponent. Had Hillary Clinton won, there would be many days where we would not even be talking about the president and the White House.
Trump and the people around him are stepping on states rights which is normally a conservative principle. Jeff Sessions is threatening states that want to legalize marijuana. The administration is opening the door to offshore oil drilling which is a threat to states that have a thriving coastal tourism industry. Except that the administration makes an exception for Florida because Florida is a red state with a Republican governor. You have to know what side your bread is buttered on.
President Trump says we need to toughen libel laws so that public figures will have an easier time suing. There's a complication for him, though, in that there is no Federal libel law, unless he wants the Feds to take this over. I thought conservatives like the Info-Wars (conspiracy) crowd bristled at any suggestion that Federal power be expanded. Remember their reaction to Waco where the ATF was involved? One of their ranks blew up that government building in Oklahoma City.
And now we have a Republican president with autocratic instincts, wanting to flex the "Feds' " power. We seriously wonder if a pattern is developing similar to 1930s Germany, don't we?
The Republican Party now has the power to end this nightmare. "Shithole?" Really? Well then, I can be excused for using like language when criticizing our Morris MN newspaper which now seems a fraction of the size it was when I was there. I can describe the Morris Sun Tribune or Stevens County Times or whatever the heck it is, and its owner Forum Communications, as "shitty." No problem with that, is there? Our language is evolving, I guess, to where our standards are adjusted and we can freely use words like that in public.
I remember when a Morris cross country parent went berserk - no exaggeration - when I ran a photo of an MAHS spirit banner at the state meet, a banner that used the phrase "bat out of hell." The kids who made the banner even used hyphens in the word "hell." The parent said in the letter than he "personally" took down the banner. And now we have a president throwing around words that are clearly objectionable. Our churches need to rise up against Trump. Any other suggestions?
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Saturday showcase: Tigers give Hancock first loss

Tigers 65, Hancock 56
The Tigers met the Owls in a Saturday showcase. It was the Tigers of MACA prevailing in this January 6 affair. They dealt the Hancock Owls their first loss of the season. The winning margin was nine points, 65-56.
Jaret Johnson gave lots of fuel en route to the Tigers' victory. Johnson made two 3-pointers and finished with 27 points. Connor Koebernick made two shots from 3-point land. Koebernick had a point total of 13. MACA had four players total score in double figures. Camden Arndt put in eleven points and Jackson Loge scored ten. Tate Nelson and Kyle Staebler each added two points to the mix.
MACA led by twelve at halftime, 38-26.
Hancock's biggest offensive producer was Noah Kannegiesser with 35 points. Noah connected four times from three-point range. Four other Owls scored: Connor Reese (9), Peyton Rohloff (6), Bennett Nienhaus (4) and Kaleb Koehl (2). The top Owl rebounder was Kannegiesser with nine followed by Koehl with seven. Daniel Milander contributed three assists. Reese and Nienhaus each had two steals. (Note: The rebound, assist and steal data were not reported for MACA in the West Central Tribune.)
MACA is trying to scratch and claw its way to .500 - the Tigers came out of Saturday at 3-7. Hancock's quite sterling W/L numbers were 6-1. The West Central Tribune described this game as a "renewed rivalry match" but really the Tigers don't play the Owls very often. I heard this game was played at UMM but it's only word of mouth.

I remember vividly, many years ago, someone calling in some bogus info to the West Central Tribune about a game that was reported to be played at UMM but was not. The colorful article even noted there was a packed house at UMM. The sports columnist for the Pope County Tribune, Jay Norman, wrote a column about "some wag" from Morris calling in the misinformation, but for what purpose?
I wouldn't even care about this, except that Ron Lindquist of the Starbuck paper sort of "felt me out" as if I might be somehow involved. I wasn't aware of the whole incident until Ron brought it up with me. Then I looked up Norman's column. Ron said he'd heard that "a reporter from Morris" was involved but this is very vague terminology. Ron said "maybe it was the radio station" but hey, there's another theory: the Willmar paper often uses the word "reporter" to describe anyone who calls in game information. So when the paper wants to announce a changed deadline, they might say "attention game reporters."
It was a very mysterious episode and maybe I shouldn't have even written about it, but you know me, I did. After that I got a threatening anonymous phone call one evening at the shop. So the matter may have become quite sensitive. Prompting me to wonder: do you suppose a coach, perhaps getting a phone call from the paper after he'd gone to bed - just a theory - got ticked off and fabricated stuff as a prank? I never could pin down any facts about this.
Years later I floated this episode for John Stone, Glenwood newspaper operator, and he knew nothing. He reminded me that Ron Lindquist had once been pranked or punked on another matter. So many years have passed now, but if anyone out there is aware of what happened, I'd still like to know, so please contact me. My email address is at the bottom of each post.
The telephoned threat probably came from a Tiger sports insider who was a card-carrying member of the clique that ruled with an iron fist in those days, a clique even with the power to intimidate our superintendent. They were perhaps "protecting their own" and they would likely mutter obscenities or profanities about me.
Good for you, you a------s.
 
Boys hockey: Storm 4, Worthington 4
The teams scored in a flurry in the third period of this January 6 hockey game on the southern Minnesota ice of Worthington. The MBA Storm outscored Worthington 3-2 in the third period but we had to settle for a 4-4 tie in the end. The battling goaltenders were Chase Engebretson and Preston Thavixay.
Worthington took a 1-0 lead in the first period when Anthony Fogelman scored with an assist from Carter Ponto. Each team scored a goal in period No. 2. Ashford Swenson got MBA on the board with a goal assisted by Parker Klemm. Then Worthington answered with a Fogelman goal assisted by Colby Nickel.
Bring on that wild period 3. Nickel of Worthington scored with assists from Tommy Bauman and Zach Ahrenstorff. Then Zach Bruns of the Storm struck with a goal assisted by Tyler Buss. MBA skater Kolby Goff scored with a Bruns assist. Worthington's Ryan Newman scored, assisted by Bryce Olsen and Nickel. Then MBA finished up the night's scoring with a goal assisted by Bruns and Buse. Engebretson of the Storm accumulated 39 saves.
 
Wrestling: Tigers 45, Benson 30
A flurry of wins by fall were instrumental in MAHACA winning on the wrestling mat. The January 5 match was at home versus Benson. Davin Rose at 106 pounds was part of that pinning flurry for MAHACA. Rose won by fall in :17 over Preston McGee. Dylan Rose at 113 pounds won by forfeit. Jed Feuchtenberger won by fall over Colby Hogrefe in 1:46.
Ethan Lebrija got Kaden Kurkosky's shoulders pinned to the mat in 2:47. Ben Travis was on the short end of a decision outcome vs. Michael Nagler, score of 9-6.
How about those Roses in the MAHACA lineup? It was Dalton Rose winning by a 3-0 decision over Adam Koosman. Most everything was coming up roses for MAHACA on this night.
At 145 pounds it was Benson's Aaron Zosel winning by forfeit. At 152 pounds, Gideon Joos of the Tigers was on the short end of a 13-10 decision vs. Brady Ascheman. MAHACA grappler Bradyn Cardwell won by fall over Wyatt McGee in 4:25. Christian Dodd lost by fall to Jared Knutson in the battle of 170-pounders, time of 1:43. Bain Laine lost by fall to Dylan Stewart in 0:42.
MAHACA's Tristan Raths won by forfeit. Benson's Alden Sylte was the forfeit winner at 220 pounds. The big guy Gage Wevley pinned Grant Evenson in 52 seconds.
 
The Lynch matter at the 'U'
I squinted to read the front page headlines early this morning in front of DeToy's. All was dark outside. But I could make out the large top headline in the Star Tribune. Regardless of the substance of the headline, I'm tired of notorious U of M athletic scandals getting so much of our attention. This whole pattern had reached parody even before the current mess which focuses on this Lynch fellow.
There is only one reason why Mr. Lynch is commanding lead story attention in our state's premier newspaper - it's because he has a talent for playing basketball. I'm tired of this, aren't you? We are so mesmerized by sports, we keep feeding this big-time system involving big bucks. We are pathetic if we are so dependent on sports entertainment.
We feed a system where young men play football and subject themselves to the very definite risk of future cognitive impairment. Do we really want to condone this system anymore? Someday we may look back and be ashamed of ourselves, just as we look back and feel ashamed at how we allowed the air in restaurants and bars to be turned blue by cigarette smoke. I hope this Lynch fellow straightens out. Other than that I really don't care about him, least of all his basketball talent.
- Brian Williams - morris mn Minnsota - bwillyh73@yahoo.com

USS Ward sailed into history at Pearl Harbor

The four-inch gun of the Ward

The USS Ward seems relatively unsung. It's an important chapter of Minnesota history. It also gives us a fuller understanding of the notorious "sneak attack" by the Empire of Japan at Pearl Harbor. The popular conception is that we were essentially asleep when those Zeroes descended upon us. I suppose it's accurate to say we were "essentially" asleep. The naval base was a bustling operation that was never going to be completely in repose.
So, the wonderful crew of the Ward, mostly reservists from St. Paul MN, had the sleep rubbed out of their eyes well before the attack. They were out and about in the harbor at around 6 a.m. The Ward was a Wickes-class destroyer. It kept watch on the harbor entrance. Because? Well, the U.S. Navy must have been aware of a general danger. The Ward's crew numbered 115, of which 85 were from St. Paul.
What happened at about 6:30 a.m. is depicted in the movie "Tora! Tora! Tora!" The officer of the deck spotted the periscope of a Japanese (or "Jap" to use the vernacular of the time) midget submarine. It was an 80-foot vessel trailing the cargo ship USS Antares. The Ward's commander was Lt. William W. Outerbridge. It was St. Paulite Giles LeClair who shouted "commence fire!" The No. 1 gun missed. The No. 3 gun was deployed and it hit paydirt, putting a hole in the sub's conning tower. The sub began to sink. Several depth charges finished it off.
The incident seemed significant. The movie shows higher-ups under-reacting, one of them noting that there had been false sightings of danger. Later when word reached higher up, the reacting officer was incensed that more wasn't made of the incident, that more of a red flag wasn't raised.
The incident would pale in comparison to what was to come shortly thereafter. The "Jap" Zeroes arrived like flocks and wreaked hell on Earth. The U.S. "battleship row" was sitting there vulnerable. No one can dispute that the Japs initiated the war with the U.S. with their reckless tactics. But technically speaking, the first "hostile" action was actually taken by the Ward when it sank the sub.
"Tora! Tora! Tora!" was as good a movie as we might expect about the attack. It's compelling to watch today because it does not employ CGI. A movie that followed many years later, simply called "Pearl Harbor," struck me as a way to transfer the formula of "Titanic" to the Pearl Harbor story. The romance angles were going to be dripping. "Pearl Harbor" ended with a WWII episode that happened subsequent to the attack: the Doolittle raid. I found that disconcerting. I can't think about the Doolittle raid without feeling depressed about how it ended up borderline suicidal. The planes had to take off prematurely and exhaust their fuel.
The Japs were brainwashed and sadistic. The mid-20th Century revealed the worst in mankind's proclivity for conflict. It's a lesson: it could happen again. We have a president of the U.S. now with nascent fascist tendencies. A sudden economic collapse could tilt us toward disaster.
We always assume "the good guys win." We can never be certain. U.S. forces were "the bad guys" in Vietnam and we even deployed chemical weapons.

A (preferable) alternate history
I have always felt haunted by what WWII may have cultivated for our country. What if we had not been drawn into WWII? Think of all the fine young men whose lives could have been saved. Think of how the size of our military could have stayed limited. No dramatic expansion for war. Once expanded, did political leaders look for ways of exercising it to justify its breadth? What about Korea and Vietnam and the immense tragedies presented by those conflicts? Did we have to feed General MacArthur's inclination toward confrontation? MacArthur was a hero and then he bombed when running for president. My father who was in the Navy in WWII said: "People were afraid that MacArthur would get us into more wars."
Heroic as our commitment seemed in WWII, and in spite of it being known as "the good war," it was in reality hell. We don't hear from the people who were killed. We hear from the survivors who speak at assemblies for holidays like Memorial Day. I tend toward pacifism myself.

The ship meets its end
Three years after Pearl Harbor, the Ward was attacked near Leyte (the Philippines) by several Jap kamikaze planes. The suicide-piloted aircraft were loaded with explosives. One slammed into the Ward's hull, igniting a fire that could not be contained. The crew was ordered to abandon ship. By that time, the Ward had been converted to a high-speed transport. With its mortal wounds, the gallant little destroyer was intentionally sunk by the USS O'Brien. The O'Brien's skipper was none other than William Outerbridge.
The Ward was constructed way back in 1918. It was named for James H. Ward, the first U.S. Navy officer to be killed in action during the Civil War. The USS Ward lies at the bottom of Ormoc Bay, just off the island of Leyte, Philippines.
After the war, the crew members formed the "First Shot Naval Vets" which held reunions on December 7. The ship's No. 3 gun, having been removed as part of the ship's conversion, was moved to Minnesota for the state's Centennial in 1958. The gun can be seen "standing guard" on the grounds of the state capitol.
RIP, USS Ward crew members.
 
A tribute in music
I have written a song about the noteworthy vessel. I am fond of acknowledging famous episodes out of Minnesota history with song, such as the 1940 Armistice Day blizzard, and the First Minnesota Regiment of the Civil War. I have those two songs recorded. I don't know if I'll have the Ward song recorded, but I'm pleased to share the lyrics here.
 
"The Ward"
by Brian Williams
 
A wake was left behind her
Stillness all around
No one knew there would be hell to pay
It would be just an hour
'Til we heard the sounds
Of the bombs exploding with their rage
 
A boat was in the harbor
Keeping watch for all
There it saw a midget submarine
The crew was men of ardor
Mostly from St. Paul
All together they'd be quite the team
 
CHORUS
The ship was called the Ward
So active on that morn
Consider it the little ship that could
And though it was too small
To stop the coming squall
Its vigilance was still a force for good
 
 
The submarine did slither
Through the murky depths
Crewmen of the Ward knew what to do
They did not wait or dither
'Cause they knew the threat
We were all on edge for World War Two
 
They longed for Minnesota
And what it meant to them
Clutching at a harmless fishing pole
Those Japanese pagodas
Should be all condemned
They would say if they could bare their soul
 
(repeat chorus)
 
A depth charge made it certain
That the job was done
Now the Ward continued with its day
So soon we'd close the curtain
On our peaceful fun
As the conflagration came our way
 
They could not have suspected
What was yet to come
Flocks of roaring bombers from the sky
The fury was relentless
From the Rising Sun
Why was it so many had to die?
 
(repeat chorus)
 
They say we were in slumber
Taken by surprise
That's the way the textbooks make it seem
We should not be encumbered
Blinders on our eyes
'Cause there were exceptions to that theme
 
That little ship on duty
Out at 6 a.m.
Did its job exemplary and true
We celebrate it truly
And its gallant men
St. Paul has a way of coming through
 
(repeat chorus)
 
 
© copyright 2017 Brian R. Williams

Morris, MN - bwilly73@yahoo.com