The Chico Ruiz steal of home vs. Phillies, 1964

Remember Chico Ruiz? Quite likely you do not, even if you are an inveterate long-time baseball fan. Ruiz enjoyed his slice of fame even though that slice ended up meteoric. I assure you it was not insignificant. You needn't just pay heed to this blog post re. this. There was an actual historical novel written about his episode. It can still be purchased. It's called "64 Intruder" by Gregory T. Glading.
Yes, the year was 1964. I was nine years old. It was a big year for my family as we went to the New York World's Fair with the University of Minnesota-Morris men's chorus. UMM was only three years old, quite the energetic youngster. Our Minnesota Twins were only in their fourth year.
But out East, the Philadelphia Phillies were quite the story. The Phillies looked for most of that summer like they were virtually destined to take the National League pennant. Their fans were exuberant and felt it was about time. Chico Ruiz? He was a mere utility player for the Cincinnati Reds. The Reds with Frank Robinson, the recently-deceased Hall of Famer, were a quality team, capable of contending to be sure. But the Phils seemed to have the momentum.
The Philly manager was Gene Mauch, later to become manager of the Twins. He had a career-long reputation of being snakebit. Baseball historians seem to have concluded that Mauch kept getting gigs because, even though snakebit, he got more out of teams than if they had played without him. So Mauch led the Phils through a '64 campaign that seemed charmed for so long. They stayed near or in first place.
Their fortunes surged. Beginning in early August, they built a substantial lead over a two-week period. By August 20, their bulge over the closest challenger was 7 1/2 games! You could envision uncorking the champagne. They had a spell of going 12-4. All-star Johnny Callison was in right field. He was a favorite of future Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito. Callison hit a walk-off game-winning home run in the 1964 All-Star Game in New York City. Jim Bunning highlighted the pitching staff. There was spectacular rookie Richie Allen, later to be called "Dick" by his preference - what a pure slugger. Chris Short was a pitching stalwart.
 
The pivotal, historic moment
The totally fateful day was September 21. Those blessed Phils owned a 90-60 record.
The blessing was going to be cursed by a play that took mere seconds and came out of the blue. Little did fans know that the one fleeting play would turn into a hex, according to legend. The Reds were no slouch as they owned an 83-66 record, 17 games over .500. Their manager was Dick Sisler. A young Pete Rose was on the team.
Fate entered the picture in the top of the sixth inning with the score 0-0. First Pete Rose grounded out to second baseman Tony Taylor. Ruiz came to bat and singled to right. Vada Pinson - remember him? - then hit a long single that advanced Ruiz to third. Callison threw out Pinson who was trying for a double. Here's Frank Robinson at the plate. He sported a .306 average with 27 home runs. Quite formidable. The Phillies had Art Mahaffey on the mound. There were two outs. Ruiz had an instinct to steal home, quite the exotic play. Would this be wise with the Reds' best hitter at bat?

Mahaffey seemed instantly distracted and disrupted. He threw a wild pitch. The Reds won this game 1-0. More significantly, the Phillies were never the same over the rest of the campaign. The legend grew of a hex that the little guy, Ruiz, had appeared to impose. Thus we got the Gregory T. Glading book "64 Intruder." The reviews I read online indicate the book could have used better editing, but it's fundamentally good and inspired, a must-read for those inveterate baseball fans.
Maybe the problem for the Phils was that Mauch lost his cool following the game. He lashed out with profanities. It was just one game. Had the Phillies won the pennant, which they should have, the Ruiz play would surely have gotten buried in total obscurity. Maybe the Phillies could have looked back later and laughed about the whole thing. But the legendary "hex" absolutely sank them. Vic Power, ending his career with Philadelphia at the time, later recalled that "it seemed we played a close game every day and lost."
The Phillies went into a ten-game tailspin. The final 12 games saw the Phillies go 2-10. St. Louis went 9-3 and eked out the pennant. The Cardinals with a young Lou Brock, formerly a member of the St. Cloud MN "Rox," beat the Yankees in the World Series.
Samuel Alito and his fellow Philadelphia fans could close their eyes and imagine their team basking in the glory, so easy. Just like Minnesota Twins fans immediately following the 1967 season. I know exactly how it feels.
Ruiz's steal of home seemed an unlikely strategy at the time. That apparent conventional wisdom has given way to sabermetrics which instructs us that the play did not go against the percentages at all. There is a detailed sabermetric analysis of the Ruiz play called "In defense of Chico Ruiz's mad dash." I have never forgotten the drama of the Ruiz play and the "jinx" of legend it applied.
So, I have written a song called "He Stole Home, Ballad of Chico Ruiz." Perhaps I'll have it recorded and placed on YouTube, we'll see. In the meantime I'm pleased to share the lyrics here. The melody is strophic. Here we go:
 
"He Stole Home, Ballad of Chico Ruiz"
by Brian Williams

He stole home in autumn of '64
And unleashed a hex upon the Phils
To this day it has its place in Phillies' lore
The score was one to nil

There he was, a little guy no superstar
Perched at third and missing not one beat
He could sense a way to play his winning card
With fans on edge of seats

But no one envisioned what was in store
As the Reds and Phillies played their game
They would see that little guy break down the door
And grab his piece of fame

For the Reds, he was just utility
Not a name that stands out in the stats
Never mind, he had a sense to run and steal
To win without his bat

For the Phils, the game was a harbinger
Of a drought that burst their bubble true
Up 'til then their fans were feeling self-assured
Their team was coming through

Leaves were brown as fans came to Connie Mack
With the host in first and looking good
They could yawn and feel no need for looking back
No need to knock on wood

So they watched a duel of pitching arms
For the Phils, Mahaffey was the guy
And he looked just like a golfer under par
The bats he did defy

But the Reds were not going to fade away
On this night with season's end so close
So they fought and found a way to win the game
The home team sure felt hosed

After that, the Phils were a sinking ship
All the air had gone out from their sails
All because that little guy was into it
And made his team prevail

To this day, the mem'ry just casts a pall
For the Phils, the sadness will not cease
Just because a guy named Chico wowed them all
His last name was Ruiz

In a flash, he made baseball history
No one saw it coming, that's for sure
With a steal of home he shook obscurity
So fast it seemed a blur

He showed balls the way heroes often do
With no mind for what the odds suggest
And it was not long before the legend grew
Of how the Phils were hexed

With Gene Mauch, the Phils were a staggered crew
As the end of season came along
He could not pull strings to get a winning brew
Their bats would not go long

Looking back, we could say it was a choke
That their run was nothing but a tease
But we knew the truth was with that common bloke
His name Chico Ruiz

Was it all a matter of destiny
With the fans in Philly left to moan?
All because one little guy would aim to please
By gamely stealing home

He was on a team with Frank Robinson
And Pete Rose, a who's who that's for sure
And compared to them he only played for crumbs
And yet his drive was pure

What a scrum the race for the pennant was
In that year with LBJ in charge
There were five teams with their eye on No. 1
The pennant looming large

In the end it was not the Philly crew
Nor the Reds with Chico in the ranks
No instead it was the Cardinals coming through
They were not firing blanks

With Lou Brock, the Redbirds were on their way
And Curt Flood - the winning mix was sure
And the World Series would be on their plate
Against the Yankee crew

He stole home - it might seem like yesterday
'Cause it lives in annals of the game
For the Phillies fans it sure was hell to pay
When Chico won the day

He stole home. . .he stole home (fade)


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

It's Sunday, the wind roars, are churches open?

"Yukon Cornelius" would say this weather "isn't fit for man or beast." That's the character from the old "Rudolph" Christmas TV special. You're probably familiar with the elf who wanted to be a dentist.
It's Sunday morning and unlike Johnny Cash, I didn't have a beer "for dessert." I appreciate DeToy's Restaurant being open this morning as once again we're all just hunkered down to survive lousy weather. This winter reminds me of the late 1960s in the sense that our storms are marked by a persistent northwest wind. The drifts can really build up. They're still not as high as I can recall from the '60s. However, our windbreak is now better where we live.
The wind can roar down from the farm field, toward my neighborhood on the north end of town. We're across from ShopKo. There's a photo from my youth of my rear end on the roof and my feet on a drift.
This year we get updates on the desperate measures to try to get school days in. Various strategies for making up time are employed, as if our kids will be harmed so bad by just skipping a few days. Kids go online and enrich themselves every day. Yes there's lots of foolishness on the world wide web and with electronic gadgets. But seriously, kids do advance their literacy, quite substantially in fact.
I could strike a comparison with the comic books, trading cards and Hardy Boys mysteries my generation of boys consumed. Our elders weren't real impressed by that. And my, the educational establishment could condemn it! Of course, educators were trying to protect their monopoly status with dispensing knowledge. I gained much from soaking in the non-recommended material, like "Sergeant Rock" comic books. School classes foisted lots of questionable stuff, stuff that gained the imprimatur of intellectuals and academics, people who wanted to insulate themselves with their own air of self-importance.
So today it's Sunday and the wind roars again. Each winter storm can develop its own particular personality. As intense as our current one is, it's not impeding transportation. I got up in the morning and found I didn't even need to grab a shovel.
 
Status of church on stormy day?
I wonder if church was held this morning. I remember when I was young, Pastor Grindland would congratulate everyone who made it to the sanctuary for services. I will probably start to attend church again this spring. Morris has two ELCA Lutheran churches. Any time you have two of anything in a small town, they will be compared with each other, whether we like it or not.
If you belong to one of these ELCA churches, you will want it to appear stronger than the other one, much as we might want to discourage such thoughts. It's human nature. I remember a co-worker at the newspaper who mused on "small town paranoia." When you decide to join either of the churches, members of the other one might be nonplussed. "Gee, why did they choose the other church?" Or, "what do they have against us?" Well, nothing. You simply have to choose. Life has its issues in Peyton Place.
It's interesting: when I was young, we heard the "ELCA" initials and conceived of the most conservative images and notions, associated with the "Greatest Generation" of our parents, the old end of the fabled generation gap. Fabled yes, but myth it was not. It was incredibly real. My generation wanted to distance itself, to reject a lot of conventions that our parents wanted to pass down. The schism became unavoidable, thus we got the term "generation gap."
Young people of today might think I exaggerate. Heh heh. Those of us who were there, understand full well.
Today? Would you believe that today, the ELCA has an image of being liberal? My goodness! A very sad development for Morris area Lutherans was the need felt by a considerable faction to create a whole new church based on anti-gay bigotry. Don't let them deny that. They would assert that being gay is a sin. Well my goodness, aren't we all sinful creatures? So, what other "sins" would exclude you as a matter of policy, on paper, from being a minister? Adultery? I consider adultery to be far more of an issue than gayness, and frankly I don't consider gayness an issue at all. Responsible behavior is the issue.
I think the two in-town ELCA churches are challenged these days, more than usual. My old neighbor the late Les Lindor said "it's always a struggle" to keep things going well for the church. He was in his prime for the long Grindland tenure at First Lutheran. Grindland was the Lutheran pastor for the boomers just like Wally Behm was the high school principal for the boomers. They're in a special niche of local history.
So plentiful were the kids in my growing-up years, we were arranged in rows for our confirmation photo at First. Oh, you can spot me in one of the group photos along the upper hallway at First. Unfortunately I still had my "Moe" haircut, hadn't started combing my hair back yet.
 
New church image, lacking pizzazz?
So today our grand old ELCA is not nearly so conservative and we even read church publications that respect the theory of climate change. We have a president of the United States who says emphatically that climate change is a "hoax."
We have seen the self-fashioned ultra-conservative churches pick up steam. The Apostolics with all their business genius seem more high-profile than ever. Keep voting Republican, guys. And the ELCA just plugs away, unfortunately with their bland or milquetoast image which is not reasonable. I think the ELCA is very generous and all-embracing of humanity, reflecting the true values embodied in the Savior, Jesus Christ.
You'll decry me as a "liberal." Well, I'm so goddamed sorry.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

A Thursday full of success for MACA hoops

Girls: Tigers 83, ACGC 55
Basketball is a rising priority for us all as we approach the month of March. That, and keeping up with the ever-accumulating snow. We're getting numb to the snow. As for the basketball, it surely makes our winter seem shorter.
MACA fans can feel delighted with how our prep squads did Thursday night! The girls story was an 83-55 win over the Falcons of ACGC. Maddie Carrington gave prime fuel toward the winning "mo." Maddie was in the zone to make three 3-pointers. Emma Bowman, Riley Decker and Mackenna Kehoe each made one long-ranger.
The win was No. 14 for coach Dale Henrich's crew. ACGC is floundering this season with a record well below .500.
Carrington's 3's helped her build up her team-best 22 points. Malory Anderson had a prime role with her 19 points scored. Bowman's ten points put her in the double figures circle as well. The rest of the scorers: Decker (9), Meredith Carrington (6), Kylie Swanson (4), Sophie Carlsen (4), Kendra Wevley (4), Kehoe (3) and Jordann Baier (2).
I checked the roster on Maxpreps and this confirms that Sophie's last name is spelled "Carlsen" with an 'e' and not the 'o' that is seen in the Willmar paper. Also, I'm good at spelling Jordann's name as she has been my occasional waitress at DeToy's. The Willmar paper omitted one of the n's.
ACGC's Wilner girls, Rachel and Pailey, found the range from 3-point land with Rachel making three and Pailey one. Jeana Denton found the range to make one '3'. I wonder if Jeana is related to my old high school contemporary Craig Denton. These days, I wonder not if a certain athlete is a son or daughter of an old contemporary, but if the kid is a grandchild!
The Wilner girls each put in 13 points for the Falcons. Denton's contribution was ten points. Here are the others: Lindsey Minnick (8), Brittney Schultz (6), Erin Roemeling (2), Shayna Hobson (2) and Brooke Schroeder (1). Minnick grabbed 12 rebounds. She and Rachel Wilner each had two assists, and Minnick stole the ball three times. The Tigers led 31-28 at halftime.
 
Boys: Tigers 69, Parkers Prairie 68
A victory by one point blessed our orange and black male hoopsters Thursday night. It was a win building considerable confidence, as our opponent Parkers Prairie had high standing with its record. By virtue of our 69-68 win, we came out of the night with a 15-8 record, while Parkers Prairie's record stood at 18-4.
Congratulations to Jaret Johnson on scoring his 1000th career point! Jaden Maanum made two essential three-point shots. Every field goal was essential in this tight game. Camden Arndt and Jaret Johnson each made one '3'. We had to overcome Parkers Prairie's one-point lead at halftime, 32-31.
In the end, it was Arndt leading the way in scoring for our guys with his 25 points. Johnson was a cog with his 17, and Jackson Loge joined those two in double figures with his ten. Maanum put in eight points, Zach Hughes seven and Kevin Asfeld two. Loge led the charge in rebounding with eleven while Arndt collected six. Maanum and Arndt were top assist producers with four and three respectively. Arndt, Loge and Johnson each had two steals.
Let's look at the Parkers Prairie scoring. Here we see three players in double figures led by Travis Yohnke with 16 points. Alex Koep put in 15 and Andrew Warren eleven. Adding points were Noah Koep (9), Josh Helling (8), Preston Yohnke (6) and Eli Simonson (3).
 
Girls: Tigers 48, Montevideo 42
The Tuesday story was bright for our girls team as we got past Montevideo in a 48-42 outcome. Riley Decker was on a tear with her shooting eye. Riley connected four times from 3-point land. Liz Dietz made two 3's and Maddie Carrington one.
Decker ascended to No. 1 on the scoring list with her 17 points. Malory Anderson was No. 2 with nine points. Then we have Maddie Carrington (7), Dietz (6), Emma Bowman (5), Jordann Baier (2) and Sophie Carlsen (2). Anderson went up to collect ten rebounds and she was complemented by Bowman who had six. Decker had five assists followed by Bowman with three. Anderson executed six steals.
Three Monte Thunder Hawks each made two 3-pointers: Maddie Kilibarda, Tenley Epema and Avery Koenen. It was Koenen leading the T-Hawks in scoring with 14 points. Epema put in ten points. Other scorers: Kilibarda (8), Sydney Zindel (5), Kori Douglas (2) and Jasmyn Kronback (1). The individual totals add up to 40, not 42, and this is an old problem with info from the Willmar paper.
The Tigers broke away from the 21-all tie at halftime.
 
Sour or stinking grapes
So our former coach Jerry Kill has an ax to grind now against his former very generous employer, the U of M. I always thought the U bent over backward to accommodate coach Kill and to even line his pockets by the time he left here, largesse-style, as the U has been known to do, ahem.
Kill went on a verbal tirade against the current coach of the Gophers recently, as reported on page 5 of the Strib sports section. The article was plugged on page 1 of the section. Considering the sharpness of Kill's remarks, the article might have been put on page 1 of sports or page 1 of the whole damn paper. Nothing like our U of M making more notorious news, dirty linen style.
What was the gist of Kill's remarks, spoken on a radio show? I guess the substance isn't that important, as it all came across as personal, even with a reference to the coach's "first wife" (if you're counting). It makes me wonder if coaches have a depth chart for assessing marriages.
Wasn't Kill able to acquire a nice lake home in Cardondale IL as a result of the U's famous generosity? He's a long way from the U of M now. He should just focus on what he's doing there.
Aren't you all sick of the testosterone-infused world of football? Maybe these guys have just hit their heads too often. Maybe they're done in by painkillers. I am sick of the self-importance they project. We all must move on from football in our culture.
Remember those dudes running across our football field with the "Jerrysota" flag? I thought that was asinine. We shamelessly "pad" our W/L record each year with three games that are calculated to be automatic wins (without being real bad blow-outs). How scheming. Then, all the gullible fans observe our W/L record at season's end and think it's really legitimate. There's a sucker born every minute. Don't bother "rowing the boat."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

"P.K." can mean preacher's kid or professor's kid

The hub of music at UMM: the humanities-fine arts center

I once heard the term "P.K." and it was meant to mean "preacher's kid." I guess kids in that category have a certain mantle to wear.
A band director in our area, now retired, once said "don't put a pastor's kid on the tuba." The parents are known to be so mobile. A band does not have a full-fledged tuba "section," not like clarinets or trumpets. Curiously, clarinets (and flutes) were for girls while trumpets and trombones were associated with boys, with a few exceptions of course.
All this gender-associated stuff bothered me. A friend found an old school photo that included me playing the French horn. The photo included several French horn players, of whom I was the only male. I probably didn't say anything about feeling stigmatized. But for sure I felt it, and it caused some natural defensiveness.
Why should the French horn be associated with girls? The real safe haven for boys was trumpet. In that respect it was like football. We are learning more and more about the real suffering that the male gender is exposed to, playing football. It takes time for society to adjust. Football is not withering on the vine the way it ought to be. The progression is halting. My parents discouraged me from even trying to play football, as they thought it was senselessly painful. My goodness, how they exuded wisdom.
I also fancy myself answering to the "P.K." initials but in my case, it's "professor's kid." We too have recognizable spots, I feel. At present I'm preparing to share some thoughts on behalf of our family fund at the University of Minnesota-Morris. It's called the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund. My name can be left out of it. I supplied the impetus for the fund because my father was deceased and my mother had entered that phase of life where she was highly dependent.
Fortunately Mom was able to stay home until the end of her life last April. You may not know she had cancer - her death certificate, prepared by her highly capable family physician Dr. Barnstuble, cited breast cancer as cause of death.
 
A "tough Swede," definitely!
God intends for all of us to face end of life issues. A year before Mom died, a doctor at SCMC said she "may be showing end of life signs" and I'm most certain that was correct, but Mom summoned a fighting spirit that always characterized her. She described herself as a "tough Swede." Now my parents are in the realm of salvation which their creator promised them. My mortal life continues.
So I'm the spokesman for the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund at our "jewel in the crown," the U of M-Morris. I'm not sure "jewel in the crown" is still used for promotion. I liked it. I prefer it to the "in the middle of somewhere" phrase I see now! The "somewhere" phrase is a takeoff on "in the middle of nowhere" which non-Morris-oriented people have always felt tempted to use in regard to us. We do have a history - the town and the college - of lagging when it comes to "amenities" associated with larger communities.

Fund named for Martha and Ralph Williams

Don't you sense, though, that the traditional amenities are not as important as they once were? My point is that the digital world with all its connectivity and entertainment options, renders the old-fashioned amenities not as important today, perhaps not important at all.
I mean, there was a time when larger communities like Alexandria and St. Cloud had as a prime amenity the all-American "shopping mall." How the mall was instilled in our very culture! These days, shopping malls are literally dying everywhere. The Alex mall was almost up for a sheriff's sale not long ago. Our family used to go there occasionally in the mall's heyday, and feel a "rush" unlike anything we could feel in Morris. The heyday was when White Drug had that big shopping space in the middle, which along with Herberger's and J.C. Penney made for exciting shopping or browsing. And of course you'd also see 3-4 people you knew and chatted with.
And now it's gone? Gone with the wind? Well yes, the old experience is gone completely. The shopping mall was once such a hub - you'd see exhibitions of various kinds and maybe see a local radio station with a remote table. Excitement! No more.
So my point is this: when choosing a college with your child, you needn't think at all of the traditional amenities that might show Morris at a disadvantage. In fact, the campus community itself gives all the support and nurturing a student needs. You might say it's self-contained. We get our entertainment in electronic devices which know no bounds. Believe me, at age 64 I appreciate this and have perspective about it. Kids take it all for granted.
So, come one, come all to our U of M-Morris. And get enriched in the liberal arts!
 
A childhood with doubts
As a "P.K." (professor's kid) I developed defensiveness. Furthermore, an inferiority complex is easy to develop. Perhaps especially if your parents are associated with UMM. How wonderful that our college is selective and attracts such "smart" kids. (The quote marks indicate that maybe the term shouldn't be taken literally.) I grew up hearing all the talk about how UMM was "superior," and it's natural for that kind of talk to spring forth. We want to promote.
I also heard talk about how courses could be "tough" and high grades might be elusive. This makes me feel desperate. Man, could I ever cut it? The thing is, I personally should feel no special expectations just because I was a P.K. I assumed that burden and placed it on myself, with a serious toll felt in terms of self-esteem. So I didn't even go to college here.
I can't re-write the past. I probably would have been better off not going to college at all. My parents were willing to support me financially. In the '70s the financial burden wasn't nearly as great as today. I have learned that "college inflation" started taking off right after I graduated in 1978. I feel for the students today who I learn acquire tremendous college debt. I don't know how they can deal with it. It's a generational thing, something expected as the norm and with shared strategies for dealing with it. I'm just glad I never had to deal with it.
 
We navigated through potential adversity
I can feel profoundly thankful today. Both my parents lived into their 90s and were able to stay at their precious home, not being compelled to go into a nursing home. Both came very close. My mom in fact spent six weeks at a nursing home about a year before she died - it was recovery from pneumonia. Medicare covered that. I was concerned that I might have to fight to get her home again.
I'm sure the nursing home staff could see I was distraught and perhaps I grated on them some - I wasn't used to Mom being in such a challenged condition.

A cornerstone for our Morris community

I was told at one point (by an outside physical therapist) that I could use my power of attorney to just bring her home, against others' wishes, but if I did that, Medicare would not cover anything. I was prepared to do that anyway. After about six weeks I did in fact get the green light to bring her home, so she could continue attending her regular family church, First Lutheran, when she was up for it. She was up for it on the final Sunday of her life, two days before she died. I assisted her with the communion cup for the first time. I had assisted my father in like fashion.
One thing both my parents could do, until the end, was recite the Lord's Prayer with some assistance from me. This was after their communication skills had become curtailed, especially my father's. My mother showed "sundowning" toward the end of the day, being excitable and talking in a frantic way, but if you were around her in the morning, you'd find her quite settled.
I brought Mom to a UMM concert that started at 4 p.m. I was taking a chance and sorry to say it did not go well. But she was able to smile and shake hands with Simon Tillier, from whom I think we learned a touch of the British accent.
Our family could have probably pulled strings years ago to escape having a nursing home claw at our assets. I guess a lot of families are doing that now. I remember getting a postcard promoting a seminar from Dean Barkley, the former (appointed) U.S. Senator and buddy of Jesse Ventura, on how to protect your assets from the nursing home. I'm saddened by this reality. If so many families are going to be pulling such strings (with their attorney) to ensure that the government (or "the county") takes over, maybe we should just have a total government-run system for nursing homes. Just like how we'll end up with a government-run system for health care. Take all the administrative costs out of it. Medicare should be the model even if "Medicare for all" may not be workable in literal form.
 
The Fund is an obvious course
I find myself alone at this point in my life. Family-wise I only have a handful of distant, not intimate contacts. I of course have no children and no significant other.
So it is with great pride that our family assets will go mainly if not exclusively toward the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund at our beloved U of M-Morris. It's already set up. Our assets will become more secured when I get my Medicare card within the next year. I'm at the point where people assume I'm a "senior citizen" and I'm not sure how to take that! This assumption was made when I arrived for the fabulous UMM jazz concert at the HFA Friday. Kudos to director Jonathan Campbell.
We need more people at these concerts! So, to whatever extent the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund can assist in all this, I'm delighted. The names of Martha and Ralph are what matter - mine can be put aside.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

 

 

Our two state higher ed. systems needn't butt heads

This institution works to eradicate old image

An op-ed in March of 2018 suggested that Minnesota State's biggest challenge was to deal with how it has become overbuilt. That's a lackluster task. Downsizing is anything but glamorous but it's a necessary mission. That's if you survey the situation with complete objectivity. Government-supported institutions can have a hard time doing that. They can try to sneak past the normal vicissitudes of the marketplace.
Minnesota State might be feeling an impulse to fight back vs. the logic. Upon reading the Star Tribune's Feb. 4 editorial, I wondered if some lobbying had been done of the paper's editorial writers. It seemed a naked advocacy piece for Minnesota State.
I have a hard time using "Minnesota State" as the terminology. To me it's still MnSCU (or MIN-skew phonetically I guess), though this term seemed unwieldy. "Minnesota State" was a fictional school in a TV sitcom. Remember Jerry Van Dyke in that entertainment? Still well-remembered. Did you know that Van Dyke was the first choice to play "Gilligan" in that famous show? Van Dyke thought there might be more potential in "My Mother the Car." Just shows how difficult it is to read the audience.
"Gilligan's Island" has been put forward as the epitome of one size fits all "fluff" from the TV era characterized by Newton Minow as "vast wasteland." Remember the Jam Nabors Variety Hour? Surely I digress here. No longer do I have an editor steering me along.
 
Building up the U of M too
Our august University of Minnesota has a marketing mission. That's a no-brainer, you might say. Yours truly may even be called on soon to make some worthy pronouncements re. the fund set up in my parents' names. Surely this is a noble task. Thing is, Minnesota State is set up the same way, to try to engage in the same kind of marketing, a no-brainer for them.
What troubles me some is that these two expansive systems butt heads.
The alternative might be to have one coordinated state system for higher education. Haven't you all wondered why this is not reality? No one has ever sat me down to truly share why we have both the U of M and the State Universities, and why we should countenance at all any overlap in their missions. I recall when the Strib ran a series of columns in which their own writers took off on a pet subject, and one of them said "we all know" there is overlap, as if it was something we all just had to live with.
Waste and largesse are never to be taken lightly.
We develop emotional attachment to our schools overseen by the state. They have alumni with warm feelings.
For years we put up with St. Cloud State, a huge institution in the middle of Minnesota, having a reputation of frivolity, certainly not consistent with being ranked high in anything. Without a doubt, St. Cloud State has had its strong suits. So if you're associated, don't lecture me on how the reputation should be presented. Let's emphasize that the popular reputation, the one joked about so often, is in connection with drinking alcohol, partying and the like.
 
As if on cue. . .
We had an official "poet laureate" as guest speaker at our UMM commencement a few years back. As I recall she shared an anecdote connected to St. Cloud State and as soon as I heard the reference, I thought to myself "uh-oh, we're going to get a party reference." And sure enough it happened just as if scripted. Holy Frivolous image, Batman. And yet, the immediate reaction among the public is to smile with amusement, maybe not in a putdown way but in a "well, that's reality" way.
All of us remember frivolous aspects of our youth and not with total shame. But an institution of higher education, smack-dab in the middle of Minnesota, should not accept such an image. Today I can be happy to report that the image has certainly been addressed there. St. Cloud State had its first Homecoming in a long time last fall, after a hiatus necessitated by the reputational problems coming about due to full-fledged "riots." Even UMM has had some issues with Homecoming. It prompts one to think the ritual might not be necessary.
A tradition developed in St. Cloud, of the media collecting "police blotter" information immediately after Homecoming weekend and then reporting with a smirk about all the foolishness that went on. Society is turning away from such things now. I'm greatly relieved.
 
Logical proposal sprouts
So, we face the grim reality of the MnSCU system being "overbuilt." And just a few days ago a letter writer in the Star Tribune stole my thunder. Starting some time back, I tossed out the idea of something like a "base closing commission" to deal with the bloat in Minnesota higher education. It would follow the principle and model of military base closings, which are too much of a hot potato for elected representatives and their parochial interests to handle.
Would state government be brave enough to do this? I'm not holding my breath. I find it strange in our current reality that Rochester would have a new and developing U campus in a time when retreat seems necessary. Strange. Did Rochester just get that as a political plumb? Let's not be Pollyannish. How does this U of M campus really differ from a Minnesota State campus?
Why the two entities, which by necessity must now compete?
I suppose someone could lecture me on how the U of M is simply "superior." I get tired of words like "superior" and "excellence" in connection with schools. All schools strive for these qualities. It just starts coming across as sheep dip, a sales job.
If Minnesota State truly needs to be trimmed, serious pols ought to roll up their sleeves now and get it started. Do we need higher ed. campuses in Rochester and Winona, the latter having a Jerry Van Dyke school?
 
"Woof, woof?"
State University campuses get derided sometimes by people who make "mongrel" assertions about them, implying it's such a step down from the U. There's nothing wrong with saying the U of M is tremendous as I'm sure it is. But why drag the state-run campuses into this dichotomy where the two sides square off as if in combat?
Are my words too strong? Well, if we get to the point where serious downsizing is undertaken, via a base closing mechanism or whatever, you will sense a fighting posture in the Minnesota communities that are affected. And, I find this extent of conflict to be disheartening.
My goodness, the February 4 editorial in the Star Tribune, that puff piece for Minnesota State, describes that system as "undervalued." How can it be undervalued if it has too many campuses?
Ridgewater College in Willmar gave us a lesson last fall when it aborted its football schedule and canceled the program permanently. Congratulations.

The institution we love here in Morris MN!

The Star Tribune's kissy-face editorial said Minnesota State "punches above its weight." A cute statement but factually verifiable? The whole editorial gives the impression that Minnesota State advocates got a good shot at arm-twisting with the (Pollyannish?) Strib editorial staff. The editorial virtually "puffs" Minnesota State. A former corporate journalist like me sniffs that out immediately.
Oh, but we read that "enrollment has been dropping at a number of  campuses." Well, my generation of the boomers is long gone from the campus picture, gone from the days when we flooded campuses like St. Cloud State. There are far fewer kids today. This is the factor that probably needs prime attention. Another factor is the overwhelming cost of an education which tempts young people to seek an end run around the tired old bricks and mortar model. Needless to say, the opportunity to learn through electronic media is increasingly tempting.
The Strib quoted the Minnesota State chancellor saying "we're the best value in town." Why quote such a "stock" statement from a person charged with selling the system? As I read down to the bottom, I wondered if the whole thing was produced by a marketing department.
I'm helping the University of Minnesota try to accomplish the same in connection with our family's fund, the Ralph and Martha Williams Fund. But in the back of my mind, I wonder why the two state systems have to butt heads so much. We need some real leadership to wriggle out of this.
 
Yes, St. Cloud State has a storied and checkered history with Homecoming. But UMM has its 2005 goalpost incident in its background, as bad as anything else you want to cite. So sad that an innocent event like Homecoming should take on such a dark side. You may read my personal reflections on UMM's disaster by clicking the link below, a post I wrote in 2010. - BW

http://ilovemorris73.blogspot.com/2010/09/goalpost-incident-was-day-of-infamy.html

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

MACA boys' turnaround vs. Minnewaska defies belief

The late Al Hendrickson once said "the only thing predictable about high school athletes is their unpredictability." Al was the long-time wrestling coach. The wisdom is underscored by a pair of games this winter between our MACA boys hoops Tigers, and the Minnewaska Lakers. How can one know what to expect in these games?
Let's take a look at the December 20 game at 'Waska, where the host Lakers got the job done quite nicely. The Lakers downed our Tigers 49-37.
A re-match occurred Tuesday (2/5) at our home court, where the difference was so marked, you had to scratch your head. How unpredictable are high school kids? The orange and black not only won the re-match, we were so dominating that "running time" was used at the end. That adds insult to injury for the loser.
The Tigers pummeled the offense-deprived Lakers in the February 5 affair, with the scoreboard showing 59-27 at the end. I heard about the "running time" thing the next day. So I had to wonder: was there some kind of backstory for the tale of comparative scores - the loss and the win? How could the win have been so decisive? How could the Lakers have become so anemic as to score only 27 points? Backstory? My first thought was whether 'Waska might have had some suspension of starters. My conversation with knowledgeable fans indicated that "no," this was not the explanation.
We might have done one or two tactical things particularly well in the re-match. Even though, this is hard to swallow because 'Waska has well-established quality. They made state last year. Last year they got past our Tigers in a post-season game that we seemed poised to win toward the end. But 'Waska surged to overcome the Tigers, and went on to state.
Might the Tigers and Lakers meet for a third time this season? Surely that would be interesting. All bets are off. Follow the wisdom of the late Coach Al.
The Tigers led 27-14 at halftime of their rout over the Lakers. We pummeled our foe into a corner in the second half, outscoring them 32-13. The refs deemed "running time" the appropriate course. The Lakers wouldn't have to feel humiliated much longer. We cruised to game's end with a feeling of owning this one. Nice night for the home fans, in a week marked by the most unpleasant winter weather. I'm writing this on a most frigid day.
We crushed a Laker team that came out of the night at 12-7. We ascended to 10-7. The Lakers had an abysmal shooting percentage of 23 (on 8 of 34) including just one of eleven in 3's.
It is hard to find media coverage of this game. But I can tell you that Jaret Johnson was a leader for our Tigers with 23 points. Camden Arndt did his part with 13 and Jackson Loge put in ten. Minnewaska's Shawn Carsten scored ten points and grabbed eight rebounds. No other Laker scored in double figures.
 
Barber leaving us
Say it isn't so! Our lone barber, our answer to "Floyd the Barber," is going to enter his well-deserved retirement. Dave Evenson cuts hair capably and can provide background on local topics of note in the process of conversing. He has worked from several locations in Morris. He's wrapping up his career at the Theater Arcade. Yours truly has been pleased getting his rare haircuts there.

(image from Sr. Perspective)

My habit has been to let my hair grow out a little too long and then get it cut short. Perhaps I'm conflicted: the fashion was for males to have long hair in my teen and young adult years. The current fashion is quite different and conventional.
Young males once made a "statement" with their hair. Long hair suggested you were almost certainly against the Vietnam war. It's puzzling how hair length could be connected to any sort of opinion like that. The '70s were odd times. Young males also felt they had to wear tight-fitting clothing a la "Starsky and Hutch." Wear loose-fitting clothes and you might be considered a "nerd." Have short hair and you might be considered a "narc." Both terms are in the dustbin of history now.
Where will I go once Barber Dave leaves us? The latest word is that there's no replacement set for him. Can't Morris attract a barber? I don't think our local economy is doing that well, frankly. One can always go to a female cosmetologist. I have done that a few times in my life. I used to see a female hair cutter at the Viking Plaza Mall (Alexandria), a place that is in near-death now. There is a YouTube series called "Dead Malls." The videographer should visit Viking Plaza Mall, which almost got to the point of a sheriff's sale not long ago.
Looks like I'll be seeing a female hair cutter again. I'll sit down and have the apron placed over my lap, then I'll say "OK, I'll keep my hands where you can see them." You ought to smile at that line. It's a reference to a notorious episode from Morris history, the kind of thing you won't see preserved at our Historical Society. Seriously, I'll deliberately keep my hands outside the apron, just because of a certain image dancing in my head.
- Brian Williams - morris mn - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Ralph Northam should just say "it was a joke"

Ralph Northam

My first thought when hearing Virginia in the news - the state, not the iron range city in Minnesota - is about the outrageously high fines for speeding there. At least, this was the case a few years ago. Politicians have to be creative to keep state coffers stoked. Robert E. Lee put the interests of Virginia ahead of the United States. That was a quite different Virginia of course.
Being from south of the Mason-Dixon Line can have its issues. When I wrote my welcoming post about Joan Gabel, the new U of M president, I noted how she had spent key stages of her life in the South. And, that this very gifted academician should now feel welcome among the "winners." I'm not sure the Southern states have ever completely rebounded from the Civil War. I remember a former Morris Chamber of Commerce executive (from way back) commenting to me, "they lost." I forget what prompted that.
Yes, my memories stretch more and more as my age gets higher. So that's why I view this whole Ralph Northam mess differently than many people might. Is he faultless? Well no, but my age-based interpretation might suggest a more nuanced reaction.
"Well, how can that be?" the people soaked in today's standards would retort. Heh, heh.
I can remember from when I was a young boomer, those early 1970s, when we could be so misguided and irreverent in our behavior. So much so, I'm sure many of my age peers wouldn't want to talk about it. We have tried to erase it from our memory, to plunge into denial. Our elders did us a "favor" by lowering the drinking age just at the time I graduated from high school. How on earth could our society have countenanced this? It makes no sense. I would agree that it makes no sense from the perspective of 2019 America. But that's what it is: a perspective from 2019 America when our ability to exercise wisdom is much sharper.
 
Sinister intent? Probably not
Governor Northam of Virginia is making the same mistake as Al Franken. Joe Scarborough on his "Morning Joe" TV program said emphatically that Franken should have argued that the offending photo of him was "a joke." Quite plausible considering that Franken was a professional comedian.
To remind, Franken was in that silly photo where he's reaching out toward the ingenue's breasts while she was napping. It was a USO tour, right? Oh my God. We see it and feel incredulous today. How offensive.
We forget how our values have changed. I grew up when Dean Martin had a TV variety show in which there was misogynistic humor. We accepted it and laughed. Oh, how offensive. Well by today's standards yes.

Al Franken

Some perspective: I have ranted a little about my two experiences getting pulled over for seat belt in Morris, once when I got a ticket, the second one a warning. The ticket got complicated because the P.D. screwed up with a clerical error in arranging for the ticket to be paid. But what really irked me was how law enforcement had become so stringent in enforcing the seat belt requirement. Could you imagine this situation in the 1970s? Heavens no.
DWI was not the kind of serious thing back then either. Not even close. An officer might come up to your window and say "are you sure you're in good enough shape to get home?"
Our society found lots of humor in references to excess alcohol use. We could even find humor in the idea of an adult man getting confused about the age of a girl and feeling attracted to her even though she's underage. My exhibit for this would be a Cheech and Chong bit from a 1970s album, I think "Big Bambu." It's uncomfortable to even reference such things today.
Our current standards seem totally defensible. In theory you cannot contest them. But my argument for understanding is this: "It didn't used to be that way." For whatever reason, it just wasn't. It is important from the standpoint of appreciating history to just acknowledge the way things were. That's what I'm striving to do here as a 64-year-old who can readily retrieve memories of past dysfunction in our society.
Al Franken should have just said the offending photo was a "joke." He should have said such things were given a pass in that past era, no matter the prima facie offense it seems to suggest. Governor Northam was a college student at the time the photo was taken that is killing him now. He was a medical school student which suggests standards should have been set higher, certainly much higher than for the state college caliber of rabble I associated with in the 1970s. One of the young men in the Northam photo wore "blackface." The other was in a KKK robe. It isn't known as I write this which one was Northam. That's odd.
 
It's a time capsule
Back in the '80s, college students might be expected to engage in the most irreverent humor. Society expected this and we would just shrug. I strongly suspect Northam has never been a serious racist. If there is any evidence to the contrary, he must be dealt with harshly. But my immediate reaction upon seeing the photo was that "this was typical nonsensical, irreverent college student behavior from a bygone time." Stupid? Well of course it was.
I witnessed lots of stupid behavior including the compulsion to drink excessive alcohol, to party late, misogynistic comments like from college football players who could be horrible Neanderthals etc. If your parents are boomers, they likely wouldn't want to talk about this. They're lucky they even survived. Ralph Northam's professional career probably will not.
 
Addendum: Megyn Kelly's swan song as a big NBC personality was her statement about "blackface" not being prima facie offensive. Oh my God! Well, let me recall for you: There was a church in the Morris area composed of the sweetest rural Lutherans you could ever find, not a prejudiced bone in their body, whose members did a skit about Harriet Tubman. I recall this was the Cyrus church with the "Godly Women" thing. To appear authentic, they wore "blackface." And no sensible person would make an issue of this because the intent was so clear and transparent, just to look authentic. But today, the P.C. forces can absolutely steamroll you. The argument is that it's absolutely necessary to wear your seat belt. For safety, right? The irony is that distracted driving increases dangers on the road far more than anything else could. People insist so much on having their electronic device distractions or phones, law enforcement cannot even come down on it. I never ride my bike on the shoulder of a highway anymore. It didn't used to be like this.
 
Addendum #2: I can share my own personal experience. At the Morris paper I once ran a photo, taken by the Morris cross country coach of all people, of a spirit banner at the state meet. Two little kids posed with the banner. The banner read "Like a bat out of h---, Morris cross country." A parent of one of the runners, a dentist in town, took umbrage and exploded with anger, at me. "Such offensive language" was his point stated with such bluster. I thought the photo was innocuous. I'm not sure the word "hell" is even profane if you want to view this on strict terms. The father tried framing me, in a letter to the editor, as some sort of disgusting human being for running the photo. Given his professional standing in the community, some people probably saw him as credible. Sometimes people just "protest too much." Maybe I feel some sympathy for Governor Northam because of my experience being a public figure albeit at a micro level. Governor Northam is in the macro fishbowl. Once people start stirring up a little flashpoint, you can be dead in the water. I survived at the Morris newspaper in spite of being nicked by several controversies, all in connection to our public school. I'm not sure Northam will even be Virginia governor by the time I click on "publish" for this post. So I'd better hurry up.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com