Jim Lonborg pitched superb in "summer of love"

The year 1967 was troubling in many ways. So, what stands out most in my mind about the year? It's not the tumult with our culture or the Vietnam war. These things were in our face daily if we just consumed news. There was nothing that I as a 12-year-old boy could do about them. So I did what so many boys found enjoyable: follow baseball.
Jim Lonborg is frozen in my mind with the year 1967. It is the only year for which I have any specific recollection of the man. That's odd because he stuck around in the bigs for a long time. But in 1967 he was a big part of the Boston Red Sox mythic journey. The Sox's campaign came to be called "the impossible dream." The franchise had been through substantial futility. They truly found spark in 1967 to get New Englanders transfixed.
At the time, their success came as a profound dagger for yours truly, a Minnesota Twins fan. As a 12-year-old I had an emotional bond with my team. It was the age of the "Big 3" TV networks, far more limited media than today. Big league sports seemed to bring more of an emotional or sentimental connection between the teams and their fans. OK we were more provincial.
The 1967 Boston Red Sox did something that was commonplace in sports: they had a number of key players come together at the right time, the combination of talent and chemistry blessed with a little luck. The Red Sox won the pennant despite losing Tony Conigliaro to his horrific beaning incident. Lonborg was an essential ingredient. I remember Lonborg's image in a TV commercial soon after the season, typical fare for the time in which the product might be shaving cream.
"Jim Lonborg is one of the new stars, strictly up to date."
The commercial had quite the shelf life. For Mr. Lonborg got hurt in a skiing accident and was derailed from what otherwise might have been a Hall of Fame course. He ceased being a marquee player. A little research today shows that he carried his weight adequately after 1967. I just didn't notice it much, so my memories today have "Gentleman Jim" frozen with 1967.
It's a benign and fun memory that counters the troubling stuff of the late 1960s: the race riots, the wayward "hippie" movement, and most of all the hell-on-Earth Vietnam war. As stated previously I was merely a 12-year-old boy who barely had the capacity to make his voice heard. But I got keenly interested in baseball.
 
It took time, but. . .
The year 1967 is so long ago, I now feel the scars are healed from my Twins being denied at the end. I no longer grimace at the thought of the 1967 Red Sox. They brought unbridled joy for their success-deprived fans. It was the age of Carl Yastrzemski. He and Lonborg were like the straws stirring the drink for that team.
Lonborg led American League pitchers in wins with 22. He also topped the league in strikeouts with 246. He was on the hill as starter for 39 games. Boston prevailed in an incredible A.L. race to the finish, a race that had my Twins, the Tigers and White Sox involved. The White Sox got pushed out when losing a doubleheader to the lowly Kansas City Athletics. Twins fans watched desperately at the end as we tried to overcome the Red Sox in a season-ending series. I think the failure was more heartbreaking for me, even, than our Game 7 loss in the 1965 World Series.
We entered the final game with the Red Sox in a tie for first! Our ultimate failure left us pondering might-have-beens, like if we had given up on shortstop Zoilo Versalles sooner. He was in steady decline after his MVP 1965 season, and partly it was his own fault, according to legend. The legend has to do with inability to manage painkillers. We didn't remedy our shortstop situation until 1969 when we acquired Leo Cardenas. By then, our one-time ace pitcher Dean Chance finally succumbed to the wear and tear of the job.
Lonborg out-dueled Chance in the 1967 regular season finale. Chance had a chance, as it were, to go down in Twins annals as an iconic player. We needed to win the pennant in 1967 with our truly outstanding team. But it was the "impossible dream" year for the Red Sox, alas. Once the Yankees dynasty collapsed after '64, four different teams won the flag in the next four years. In sequence: the Twins, Orioles, Red Sox and Tigers. It was nice to see each team take a turn in the spotlight, each with an interesting batch of players.
The Red Sox went on to face the Cardinals in the '67 World Series. Lonborg pitched what was only the fourth one-hitter in Series history. Such is the magical stature of the '67 Red Sox in our memory, we might forget they lost the World Series. It was a full seven-game affair. Remember Orlando Cepeda's heroics with the Cardinals? Or Lou Brock?
We can see why Boston's Lonborg was touted as "one of the new stars, strictly up to date," whether he was selling shaving cream or whatever. He won the Cy Young Award for '67. He pitched in the All-Star game. He was sixth in MVP voting with his teammate "Yaz" taking the award. Yes, my memories of "Gentleman Jim" seem confined to 1967. Perhaps that confirms just how dramatic was the Red Sox's rise to the top, after considerable struggling earlier in the decade.
But Jim Lonborg did not fade from view. He overcame a horrible snow skiing accident to stay in reasonable big league form. It's a real testament to his dedication. He ended up with a 15-year career. He compiled a 157-137 record with 1,475 strikeouts, a 3.86 ERA, 24 complete games and 15 shutouts. He left the Red Sox after 1971. He went from Milwaukee to Philadelphia. He was released in mid-1979.
 

Jose Feliciano

"Summer of love," 1967
I followed baseball with relish at the same time I soaked in news on the cultural front with the hippies, the "summer of love," Haight-Ashbury and this new musical group on TV known as the Monkees. Is it just stereotype that the older folks gravitated to Lawrence Welk? Perhaps not.
There was a definite schism in our society represented by Lawrence Welk and John Wayne on one side, and rock music on the other. Lest you doubt that, consider how in 1968 Jose Feliciano caused shock waves with his quite reasonable, personalized interpretation of the Star Spangled Banner for a World Series game. No one would think anything of it today.
While Jim Lonborg seems apt for a 1967 time capsule in my mind, we should commend the guy for actually having quite fine staying power. I just didn't realize at the time. We should commend Lonborg also for showing the commitment to becoming a dentist post-baseball.
If only all our memories of 1967 could be so innocent as the Red Sox "impossible dream." We take our lumps in life. Baseball up until the 1994 players strike was a constant that always gave reassurance (that life would go on just fine). Nothing lasts forever.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Radio reaches out better to serve MACA fans

The line is getting blurred between news on radio and news in the newspaper. We have long assumed the nature of these beasts: radio can report news pretty instantaneously but it tends to be brief, probably superficial, and it's reported through the radio speakers. You have to be listening at the right time. The system is perfectly fine as far as it goes.
Serious news consumers have tended to gravitate to newspapers. Our revered newspapers which we count on for reliable and probing reports on matters of public interest. Times surely are changing. Radio stations can harness the Internet as well as anyone. There is no reason, then, that radio can't creep onto newspapers' turf and even begin out-performing them. They will have to feel some economic incentive of course. Maybe it's a "top of mind" thing, so if people get in the habit of relying on radio-based reporting, it will elevate the profile of the radio stations. The dividends are there.
This morning as I write this, I have not one but two current examples to share of what I'm talking about. The local citizens have been made aware of troubling stuff going on in Kimball MN football. For people outside the immediate orbit of our local high school sports, we're groping for the facts. The "insiders" appear to know more, because as Chris Matthews of MSNBC once said during the Jerry Sandusky mess, "coaches are gossips, they have to know everything."
Matthews' comment is true in spades. My own background in local journalism makes me sure of that. Well, for the benefit of the common citizenry - a category that includes me now - we are getting more details on the Kimball mess. Our MACA Tigers played Kimball in football twice this past fall. We're sort of dragged into it. To the rescue comes KNSI Radio, which I discovered this morning has served up a pretty detailed account of just what the heck is going on with Kimball.
A huge benefit of this is that the more the media can authoritatively report, the less of a void there is for rumors. I have become aware of the rumors even though I didn't necessarily seek them out. An email came from a friend who heard stuff from a guy who knew one of the coaches - well, you sure get the drift here. I remember a country music song of about 20 years ago with the lyrics: "How can there be so many ripples in a little puddle?" It was about rumors in a small town. The video showed guys sitting side by side on restaurant stools.
Let's applaud Jennifer Lawerenz of KNSI Radio from who knows where - I can't readily determine the location from the web page - on her reporting. It looked like a "scoop" as of Wednesday morning. A WCCO TV report at about the same time was very sketchy, of the type to just feed more rumors.
Lawerenz is the news director for KNSI.
No criminal charges have been filed in the Kimball matter, her report says. At issue here is the conduct of the football coach/special education teacher at Kimball High School. He's on paid leave. Government employees sure have advantages when they get into trouble. Consider the driver of the school van in the horrendous accident that happened 1 1/2 years ago.
Kimball police were called to St. Cloud Hospital on October 10 about a possible sexual assault. A student complaint prompted the action. Lawerenz refers to court documents filed in Stearns County. Let's let her reporting/writing take over:
 

In the document, the student said about 6:00 p.m. after practice on October 9th, he complained to the coach of pain in his back and hip, and the coach said he would rub Biofreeze on the area. The student said the coach was rubbing some sort of cream on his skin using an ungloved hand, and he said he doesn't think it was Biofreeze because he had used that on an arm injury in the past and the cream the coach applied felt different. He said he was unable to look because he was lying face down on a table.

The student says at one point; he felt the coach's hand going "too far" on the inside of his leg near his buttocks. He said something to the coach, and the student said at that point, the coach left the room.

The student says he isn't exactly sure if he fell asleep or what exactly happened, but he opened his eyes, and the coach was still massaging the injury. He says he got off the table and went to the locker room and noticed it was after 9 p.m. He said he was not aware that three hours had passed, and believed it was only 30 minutes after he laid down.

At the hospital, investigators say the student was lethargic and had dilated pupils. Initial drug screens came back negative. The student told police he had not been given anything to eat or drink other than what was provided to the players.

On October 15th, five days after the complaint was filed, a group text message was sent from another member of the football team to 46 of the Kimball football players, telling them not to go to football this week and that the victim should feel shame for lying out of spite.

The player who sent the text message is the coach's brother. Other members of the football team said even though the message came from the brother, they are confident the coach had written it because of the verbiage.

Further investigation revealed that the coach would regularly have contact with players on weekends via text message outside of school hours.

Documents also show the coach previously worked at ROCORI High School.

Police met with officials there and learned he was a special education teacher who worked with kids in grades six through eight. The principal said he was aware of the coach communicating with students outside of school hours via Snapchat. Workers at ROCORI said they were told by students they had contact with the coach outside of school hours playing baseball or basketball at a park. One student at ROCORI also said he had texted with the coach and was aware of the Snapchat account.

A search warrant filed in Stearns County District Court shows the coach cares for his grandmother, Mary Gagliardi ever since his grandfather, former St. John's Head Coach John Gagliardi, (died).

At their property in Collegeville, police seized two cell phones and two i-Pads.

Police also searched a locker on Kimball High School property belonging to the coach looking for "any and all liquids, lotions, creams, foam, pills or any other substance that can be surreptitiously mixed into or added into legitimate medications, but nothing was found.

So, it's off-the-field?
The report is on a different level from comments I had heard out and around locally: the usual roughhouse banter one might expect to a certain degree from cretin-type football coaches. Regardless of how the law enforcement investigation turns out, let's consider how often sports is the platform for needlessly unpleasant things happening. Why so often in sports?
Why so often in football, a sport which in tradition is a test for "toughness" and masculinity in young men? Can easily be dismissed as a dated notion, perhaps a notion that grew out of a culture so involved in overseas wars. Be tough, follow orders and defeat the opposition. I'm not sure young people are so interested in accepting this template for our culture, this way of grooming our young men. And why treat men/boys different from females anyway?
For a long time, it almost seemed a courtesy to suggest there was a Homecoming week volleyball match that might be considered equal to the football game. We knew they weren't really equal, except that now I believe they really are on par together. Genuinely. Forget the courtesy or (to be blunt) condescension. Heck, there is no condescension, and we might actually respect volleyball more because it is a more civilized, more healthy sport, and easily just as fun to watch.
Would an event as shattering as the UMM goalpost incident happen in connection to any school activity outside of football? Of course not. Football leads the way but is not alone in presenting scandalous things. There was the Hancock girls basketball coach who ended up in prison.
I want to wince as I reflect on times when I was at the Morris newspaper and was induced to pay more attention to sports rivalries than my better judgment would have suggested. It's water under the bridge now. I personally got derailed by the UMM goalpost incident. I wasn't even there when it happened - frankly I'm glad for that.
How preferable to attend the UMM Homecoming music concert. Amen and hallelujah.

Exhibit No. 2 regarding radio:
Yes, kudos to KMRS-KKOK and not just on what we hear from the radio speakers. The station's website did well reporting the basic stats from the MACA-Kimball football playoff game. The reporting was posted on the very next day. It has more value now because the newspaper website is basically dead due to circumstances that I guess are out of the new owners' control. It will probably be remedied with time. In the meantime let's appreciate the game details as reported online by KMRS-KKOK.
Let's add that game details did not appear as they normally should in the Willmar paper and its website. The Tigers beat Kimball 47-12 at Big Cat Stadium.
Durgin Decker injected momentum with a 78-yard touchdown run. We had Kimball buried 34-0 at halftime. Our total offense stat was 412 yards. The Cubs of Kimball were held to 167. Decker finished the night with 131 rushing yards and had two TDs. Tristan Raths reached the end zone twice. Passing the football, the reliable Zach Bruns had nine completions in 16 attempts for 159 yards. He hooked up with Jackson Loge for a TD aerial. Loge and Kenny Soderberg each covered 75 yards as receivers.
Defensive highlights included interceptions by Decker, Soderberg and Jack Riley. In all our opportunistic team forced five turnovers.
We own a 6-3 record as we prepare for the next playoff round which will be on Saturday. We'll tangle with Eden Valley-Watkins at 2 p.m. at New London-Spicer.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Not the most legitimate basis for popularity

A (cynical) gift for connecting

The Ann-Margret character in "State Fair" (1962) educated us about the phrase "leave 'em laughing." The point is that there is no meaningful bond between celebrities/entertainers and their audience. The entertainers strive to create the illusion of such a bond. It obviously serves their interests. In the back of their mind, they have some fear of the bond. The fear can be borne out by the crazed or obsessed "fan."
A friend in an email to me recently accused me of "hating" Donald Trump. We sometimes hear the term "Trump haters" from GOPers who are trying to restrain their own instincts for being critical of the president. The response to my friend was easy to make. "Hate Donald Trump? I don't even know him."
The skeptical view is based on my interpretations of observable facts. Trump definitely weaves the illusion of his caring about people. It has become essential to his appeal, as he eschews dry policy discussions and normal professional outreach to the people. He is actually schooled in professional entertainment. Maybe such skills have never been more important, given the frantic and hyper-competitive air in our media today.
This is critical: Many years ago we had a restrained media ecosystem in which the news divisions were not expected to make money. They existed out of a feeling of conscience or even because the FCC required it. The media in those days would have been skeptical of someone like Donald Trump pretty quickly. His charlatan or corrupt side would have been exposed and he'd be rendered a sideshow.
The media have become so wild and unfettered today, a guy like Trump who can cynically massage the media emerges to be taken seriously. Would Trump's most ardent supporters want their own kids to grow up with Trump's character? Well of course not.
 

Applying the right lens
The rationalizing by the most ardent Christians (at least in their own mind) is most puzzling to wrap your arms around. This element of Trump support, along with the likes of Lindsay Graham should perhaps be put under a certain lens. I suggest a regional lens. Not enough is being said about this.
People from below the Mason-Dixon Line have, shall we say, recognizable spots. They can tend to be impulsive.
We're hesitant to talk in such terms because it seems prejudiced. I have no problem feeling at least some prejudice against Deep South people (the prevailing race naturally). At the same time, I'm willing to be patient and to try to see people's true stripes. It has been said that "intellectuals" are defined in essence as people wanting to understand why people behave the way they do. It does not mean they are simply "smarter." So I put myself forward as an intellectual because I always try to understand the basis for behavior.
So many of the evangelicals who go to excruciating lengths to support Trump are from the South. What state is Lindsay Graham from, that mercurial personality with tics we'd never see in a Minnesota politician? He is from South Carolina. So while we in the North would never countenance such a guy, we are forced to take him seriously because of how he stands before us in the media. Compare him to the very solid and consistent thinker Amy Klobuchar.
Consistency and patience are traits we associate with people above the Mason-Dixon Line. Why am I prompted to think this? Partly it's because of a very old book I came across once, interpreting Civil War history. The interpretation was with analysis and words that wouldn't be expected today. A major term was "slave power conspiracy." The term once had great currency. But I never heard it when I was growing up.
Unionists feared the South because of the "advantages" it had from free labor in the form, of course, of the slaves. But one chapter I remember in particular focused on sheer regionalism and generalizations that could certainly be written off as stereotypes. A truly scientific basis would seem impossible to present. I personally buy it. It suggests that Southern people are impulsive by nature, and in the context of secession it is folly, because the South never had the resources to prevail. Even then it seemed the South was fighting the inevitable forces of history. There was no future in slavery.
 
Gut feeling vs. sheer strength
Southerners felt resentment in their gut and took up arms, while Northerners in effect took a deep breath and then methodically put the wheels in motion to crush what it called "the rebellion." "Rebellion" was a politically-tinged word. The South talked about "the war of northern aggression." Well, we certainly had to become aggressive in the final analysis. We took our time. We planned. We saw the long-term picture while impulsivity ruled in the South.
I am not generous enough to say "our Southern brethren."
I can't help but focus on regionalism now in the present, as I see the likes of the various anti-intellectuals doing Trump's bidding. Such evangelicals, charlatans and opportunists see a way of advancing their own interests.
This is an age in which "the news division" makes money. "Everyone seeks eyeballs" and there's a natural tendency to see what way the wind is blowing. Lindsay Graham seems to be doing that almost desperately. There are times when he gropes to adopt reasonable conclusions based on what is going on. The next day he succumbs to the "populist" and ignorant forces around him.
Southerners will never be comfortable with Washington D.C. So ironic that Trump is this amoral guy from New York City. Evangelicals seem to be following a siren song.
Franklin Graham of North Carolina thought the 2011 tsunami in Japan might be a signal of the Second Coming and Armageddon. Paula White preaches in Apopka, Florida. Robert Jeffress is a Southern Baptist pastor with headquarters in Dallas TX. Ralph Reed was hired by Pat Robertson as executive director of the Christian Coalition in Virginia Beach, Virginia. We all know about Jerry Falwell Jr. of Lynchburg, Virgina. Doesn't "Lynchburg" make you flinch?
 
To heck with this "prophecy"
Is Trump with his military decisions subtly trying to set the stage for a far-reaching conflagration - yes, a war - that serves a purpose of ushering in the "end times?"  Evangelicals believe the end times are soon, right? Well, I don't want that to happen. My late mother would want me to live out the rest of my life in a pleasant environment.
I'm reminded of the "Lightman" character in the movie "WarGames" (1983) who was pleading with the reclusive scientist. The scientist saw the walls caving in on humanity. Lightman as the voice of a more hopeful youth pleaded "I want to live."
I shake my head to think U.S. Southerners are having a way too disproportionate voice in our public debate. Why don't we hear more talk about regionalism, the fundamental differences between Northerners and Southerners? The latter evolved through a time when there was no air conditioning. Think about it. No really, think about it. Sometimes a non-scientific assertion will appear to have merit. We are in a time where we need to be grasping some answers. Or maybe Armageddon will really happen.
 
Threat to a great faith
The Southern evangelicals might be causing a great curtain to fall over Christianity. Polls constantly show that people are departing from the organized Christian faith. Let's ponder the reasons. How often do we even think about "Northern pride?" It's time.
Do not watch Trump on TV and think for a second that he connects to you, despite the illusion. He "leaves us laughing" and then he retreats into darkness, paranoia, insecurity or shock, the shock of realizing he's so skilled he actually got elected president. It is time for us to feel true fear.
Lindsay Graham's behavior is becoming more bizarre even as I proofread this blog post, on October 22, 2019. Heaven help us all.
The shrewd Hillary Clinton is trying to beat the Republicans at their own game, as she engages in conspiratorial ideas. This regards Tulsi Gabbard. This might give the Info-Wars people pause. Gabbard would get lots of votes because she's a "looker," a quality that cannot be cited in the media as it's non-P.C. Let me say she's especially a looker when wearing white! Well, this makes as much sense as the support for Donald Trump, doesn't it?
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

"Last Days of Patton" warned of "wallpaper hangers"

This was a made-for-TV movie

The movie "The Last Days of Patton" (1986) shows the war hero very realistic in how he assesses human nature. Europe was in rubble. How on earth does humanity allow this to happen?
Does history not repeat itself? Is human nature not consistent? Is there any guarantee that our U.S. will exist forever as this pulsating force for good in the world, guaranteed to be prosperous? Just because?
Human frailty, imbued in us by our Lord, hovers at all times. So it's ironic and potentially highly tragic, perhaps putting Christianity in an existential crisis, that the great underpinning faith of so many people is tied to our current president of the United States.
Patton understood fundamental human frailties. So in the aftermath of World War II he was not of a mind to discriminate harshly against all former Nazis. He was of a mind to in effect shrug over the issue.
He gives a speech early-on with a term that stuck in my mind. He said every generation has "wallpaper hangers." His reference was to power-hungry despots with a skill for building a following. The following itself becomes deluded.
In effect the great general seemed to be saying "forgive them, Lord, for they are ignorant."
Our current U.S. president recently spoke in Minneapolis. Did this speech really make you proud to be an American? We are awash in news reports every day about the absurdities and raw offensiveness of the executive branch in Washington D.C. For the news media it is starting to seem like a gravy train. How quaint to think back to the days when Larry King had his hour every night. He'd interview some frivolous celebrity who had a misstep and was seeking redemption.
The Clinton-Lewinsky scandal was bad but not existential for the country. Or maybe it was. The fallout from the mess set the stage for a resurgence of the Republican side of the ledger. For a while this seemed within acceptable bounds, though I'm not inclined to vote that way at all. But then we saw "conservatism" of the Weekly Standard kind morph into something different and sinister. It merely cloaks itself in conservatism. Even the pretending may be over. The cult of personality has grown to where many of the followers aren't even abashed about it.
There are local Christian religious zealots for whom voting Democrat would never be an option. They'd sneer and utter cuss words, just like the president, if even presented with that option. So for them - there are lots of them - supporting the Republican-affiliated president is like a default choice.
But can't these people pay serious attention to the news and start doing a critical analysis? This task would seem above them. And many of them attend churches where any embrace of "progressive" ideas might get them tossed out.
 
Whither the great faith?
Yes, Christianity itself faces an existential crisis, if it allows itself to sink or swim in connection to Donald Trump. History can repeat itself. We all have friends with German ancestry and we know these people are not stupid. Quite to the contrary, they can be brilliant. So what happened in the mid-20th Century? They found a scapegoat - the Jews - just like so many in the U.S. now target immigrants. But not immigrants from Norway, I guess. So it's related to color which gets us into a realm much closer than we'd like to admit, to 1930s Germany.
When I refer to the current Trump "rallies" as Nuremberg-style events, I am not exaggerating. Trump has the skill of demagogues. He is the kind of "wallpaper hanger" that Patton referenced in a manner suggesting "they come and they go." A couple of them every generation, he said.
He was not of a mind to dismiss all the ignorant followers who get swept up in the wave. He clashed with General Eisenhower over "de-Nazification." He claimed 98 percent of the Nazis were "forced into it." Can we really claim we'd be defiant of such a movement, if it might cost us our lives? Really? Were the Germans ignorant and weak? Were they primarily just scared? Of course they were wayward. But I'd assert they were just human beings showing the kind of weakness God incorporated in us. Hitler did not become an outright monster overnight. The Allies had to leave rubble all over the place just to exterminate the menace. It was a menace created by our German friends.
The menace builds with nationalism. This can lead to trade wars. Sound familiar? No one wants to admit early-on that horrible military conflict is going to develop from such things. We are instinctively scared of violence and death. So why did Germany wade into it? Not because the people were stupid. It was because of a "wallpaper hanger" who probably should not be dignified by having his name cited. The future will give us more such incarnations of the phenomenon.
 
Decorum, propriety
At present, does it not seem reasonable to think we are seeing the unfolding of a new phenomenon? Could you imagine a standard mainstream "conservative" giving speeches like Donald Trump? Getting huge crowds riled up? Inspiring the same element of rudeness and courseness that you'd see at a big professional wrestling spectacle? That is exactly what it is like.
Could you imagine someone like Jeb Bush behaving like Trump? There was a time when Bush fit the template of standard GOPers. Don't you all wonder what the likes of Bush are thinking as they consume the daily news about this cartoonish leader named Donald Trump? This wallpaper hanger? Mitt Romney is a faint voice of dissent. He needs to flinch in the face of brickbats.
We see the forces for good in Washington D.C. moving oh so tentatively and cautiously, in a truly halting way, making us think the top of this mountain may not be reached. Impeachment? The top of the mountain would be a restoration of intelligent norms in our government, such as the norm of leaving the Federal Reserve alone.
Trump needs dramatically lower interest rates to try to keep the stock market artificially propped up so he can sneak through the next election. Americans have been herded like sheep into their 401Ks. Many experts think the Fed and its printing press are just buying time for the economy. Many argue that delaying the inevitable recession will make the downturn far worse. And, it is in the midst of such financial crises that a "wallpaper hanger" can come along and lead us into tremendous tragedy.
Christianity ought to be with the forces for good at this time. But unfortunately we see the opposite situation, with only outliers like the ELCA being like voices in the wilderness. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America is a beacon of reason amidst the madness. But the synod seems to be losing ground. Perhaps I should proclaim "heaven help all of us."
 
Unique figure from history
The main story element in the 1986 movie "The Last Days of Patton" is the car accident that led to the general's death. Profoundly sad naturally. We see flashbacks to the general's earlier life like in World War I. He came from a line of military people.
A German character in the original "Patton" movie (1970) said of Patton, "the absence of war will kill him." The 1986 movie was made for TV.

Poster for original 1970 movie

The first movie might have been a little revisionist. The late general's family was unsettled before seeing it, even weighing the possibility of suing. There were smoldering matters of contention. But the 1970 movie left them feeling satisfied. The movie left behind the minutiae of war decisions and focused instead on the American ideal of simply winning! The war was receding into the past. It was time to call on our better angels, I guess. Also, don't speak ill of the dead?
Are there really any angels coming out of wartime? Hollywood got it right. We all know war is hell anyway. (That quote from General Sherman of the Civil War is really a paraphrase, as are many famous quotes.)

How will Hollywood portray?
What kind of movies might Hollywood churn out about our current chapter of history? Will the U.S. as we've known it even exist any more?
No matter what the media reveal about Trump these days, the administration just marches on. On so many days we think "well, now a line has been crossed." Well, we thought that back when the "Access Hollywood" tape came out.
George C. Scott played General Patton in both the original movie and the TV-based sequel. He played the same kind of character in "Taps" about the rebelling military school, remember? I have often thought the man "over-acts" some. But his success speaks for itself. There are times when he seemed to make Patton a little buffoon-ish, which I'm sure he was not. But when he articulated about "wallpaper hangers," he was dead on with wisdom. Should we all look in the mirror now? How much longer can we laugh about or dismiss all the outrageousness?
Will the "Access Hollywood" tape be too unsavory for even Hollywood to touch in future representations? What does that say about us?
We must consider: If Trump goes down, will he take his followers with him?
Another factor: We know that if Trump fails to win re-election, he loses the "force field" of the presidency. Therefore he will take extreme steps to try to ensure his survival. This has already happened, and what extreme measures will he take to try to keep the economic expansion going, against the odds? It is taboo to put pressure on the Fed. Trump does this blatantly. Fire Jerome Powell? Powell is a very wealthy man and doesn't need the job. Trump needs his. Beware the "wallpaper hanger."
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Tigers improve to 12-10 with win at Montevideo

The Tigers put away victory No. 12 with its 3-1 win over Montevideo on Thursday. LaRae Kram put up 26 set assists to ensure a smoothly running offense. That offense had two Tigers with double figures in kills: Lexi Pew with eleven and Kenzie Hockel with ten. Emma Berlinger and Sophia Carlsen each came through with five kills. Emma Bowman had two and Kram had one.
Kram's setting work was complemented by three Tigers who each had one assist: Courtney Lehman, Jaden Ross and MacKenna Kehoe. The Tigers prevailed by these game scores: 25-12, 23-25, 25-12 and 25-14. The action was at Monte, home of the Thunder Hawks.
Kehoe led the charge in the exciting serving ace category where her total was four. My old co-worker Janet Kehoe surely enjoyed that. Macee Libbesmeier came through with three serving aces. Kram zeroed in for two of these and Hockel had one.
Carlsen was aggressive at the net to lead in ace blocks with three. Hockel and Pew each had one ace block. Here's the digs list: Lehman 12, Ross 10, Bowman 5 and Kram 5. The Monte Thunder Hawks came out of the night at 6-20. Our record: 12-10.
The Monte stats show two T-Hawks each with ten kills: Jasmyn Kronback and Avery Koenen. Jaysa Herfindal pounded nine, and the list continues with Livia Gades (6), Lexi Brockmoller (5) and Megan Anderson (3). Koenen delivered an ace block. Two T-Hawks were at the fore in the setting department: Livia Gades with 24 assists and Tenley Epema with 14.
Tegan Marty had two serving aces and Meghan Erp had one. Marty was sharp in digging where she posted the team-best 21.
 
Football: unpleasant weather for sure
The report I'm getting Saturday morning is that weather did not exactly smile on the Friday night MACA game. The game was in Osakis, home of the Silver Streaks. The report I got was that the scoreboard outcome was not favorable for our crew.
The Saturday Willmar newspaper does not have a report on the game. Obviously we cannot find such a thing on the West Central Tribune website either. So we're kind of bereft of news. The late football broadcaster/former player Alex Karras had trouble with the word "bereft." He'd say "there's one of those bereft linemen." This was after his partner in the booth had just said a particular team was bereft of healthy linemen. We fondly remember Karras from the movie "Blazing Saddles."
What about the Morris newspaper website? Technically I guess it's "Stevens County Times." My impulse is to still say "Morris." A check this morning (Saturday) shows that website still basically "down." We give the new ownership benefit of the doubt because most likely they haven't been freed from the departing Forum Communications yet.
It appears right now that the Morris paper has only a very limited ability to post fresh stuff on the site. Sports news is hopeless there. I will repeat: It is essential that the new owners make a very strong statement about their commitment here, and it is not a good sign that their online presence is negligible. If you are a communications company in the year 2019, it is essential to have real online connectedness with your audience. That's even if your "forte" is the print product.
The current situation actually makes Forum Communications look good, because they did fairly well on balance putting worthwhile stuff on the site. They had come a long way in that regard. Yes, much of the sports may have originated with the Willmar paper (which they also owned) and some Morris people may have grumbled about that. But it was there!
It's true the Morris site may have a lot of "drive by" visitors, people checking a few headlines or just taking a glance out of curiosity. But the existence of the site kept the paper top-of-mind and relevant. Having no website or a "dead" or "zombie" site is not tenable.
The one big suggestion I personally made to the new owners, the Anfinsons, was that the paper place an immediate "greetings" message on the main page of the paper's website. I said many people were likely to come to the site out of curiosity because of the new ownership. They were likely to be looking for something like this. "We're happy to be here" could be the message and we might even read bios of the people, along with their goals for ownership. Obviously my suggestion didn't bear fruit.
And now the site is in the "zombie" state, unfortunately. I have since suggested they launch a temporary home on the web, maybe even a blog. I mean, just to "connect." It's imperative in my view, but maybe lifetime newspaper people are hard to convince about this. No such luck. What I'm implying here is that the Anfinsons could be rapidly burning up their good will.
Prior to their arrival, the paper was slated to be closed, according to good sources. This suggests the window might be narrow for getting things turned around or stabilized.
Question: If the Morris paper were to close, Chokio would have the only paper in Stevens County. Is that where the legal notices for local government would go? It might still happen. There are signs Morris is declining. And, it may be happening faster than we wish to acknowledge.
Shelly Anfinson asked if I had ever met her husband Reed. I answered by just stating I was familiar with him. If I were to probe the recesses of my memory, I could answer "yes" but it would go way back. Back to when I'd occasionally play tennis at the Benson High School courts with high school friend Art Cruze when Art worked for KBMO Radio of Benson. We'd conclude the night by going to the Benson VFW. What a grand institution of Benson: the VFW!
We were looking along the rows of pictures of past commanders one night - that's real Americana - and we noticed some empty spaces along the rows. Art chirped "those are the ones that voted for McGovern!"
As the years went by, Art and I would get to the VFW a little earlier in the evening! On one occasion, we were joined by Reed Anfinson. How long ago? Well, Steve Lang had just left the Morris paper. So, about 1980. I'd almost be embarrassed to admit remembering a conversation from that long ago. My memory can be uncanny.
I haven't talked to Reed since. My background with the Morris paper goes back to when Arnold Thompson was editor. He opened the door for me. Those were less politically correct days, so Arnold had pictures of scantily clad go-go or burlesque girls under the glass on his office desk. My uncanny memory again.
Art Cruze has worked many years for the Willmar radio station. As an additional memory of the Benson VFW, let me share how I enjoyed a big birthday bash for Roy Berens there once! Someone shot video of me shaking hands with the affable Roy. He and I hauled newspaper loads from Quinco Press in Lowry.
We'll see how the new regime with the Morris newspaper proceeds. To date I don't think the change has exactly been scintillating.
Has the paper reported on the Brent Fuhrman matter, former school board member now in a spot of legal trouble? Kudos to KMRS KKOK for now having had three items on their site about this. The most recent, dated Oct. 7, reads as follows:
 
A contested omnibus hearing is set for 2:30 p.m. today at the Stevens County Courthouse in the case of former Morris School Board member Brent Fuhrman, who was arrested in June on a second degree burglary charge for entering a neighbor’s house without permission.
 
So, non-amicable?
If Sue Dieter's departure from the paper had been amicable, I think we would have seen a news item about her new role with Collin Peterson. A theory: Maybe Sue knew of the Forum's plans on closing the paper but didn't tell anyone. Maybe certain community leaders became aware of the plans and quickly contacted the Anfinsons who were known to be pretty ambitious with West Central Minnesota newspapers.
An earlier heads-up from Sue, who may have put her loyalty to the Forum ahead of her loyalty to the community - wouldn't surprise me - would have helped. Like I said, a theory.
Why do I care so much? I just do. Where can we look to find info on the Morris-Osakis football game? Promoters of MACA athletics should see to it this is always done. PR is vital for all school programs.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Morris paper finding its legs? Or not?

We're in the early stages of trying to appreciate the "new" Morris newspaper, as it comes under ownership that is perceived as more local than before. The "before" chapter was Forum Communications. It is easy to feel resentful toward a cold and distant company that has a wide umbrella. Certainly I sensed that resentment of the Forum "on the street."
But let's remember that it's a universal for people to grumble about their local paper. Such sentiment has come to my attention often. To be quite frank, I have seen nothing in the "new" Morris paper that I would consider to be appreciably better. Even if it's marginally better, well so what? Not sure this is going to turn business fortunes around.
Informed sources have said all along that the Forum was going to close the Morris paper. Oh, the heartless and distant company, eh? Maybe that's just knee-jerk thinking. Maybe what's going on here is the truly inexorable, unstoppable decline of the print media.
Reed's column in the new paper is a plus. But it's not a plus making me want to spend $1.50 (up from $1.25) on the product. That's really a non-issue with me because I can see the paper at three public places. So sorry, no revenue forthcoming from me.

(Stevens County Times image - "fair use")

To the extent the Anfinsons have a honeymoon, it is almost certainly dampened by the dormant state of the website. If you ever complained about the Forum's website, well what are you going to say now? We assume the website's zombie condition is due to the ownership transition. But heavens, having a website is a given for corporate media organizations today.
Someone said to me "the paper probably doesn't make money on the website." Oh for sure, nevertheless the public expects and assumes that the website is going to complement the print product. It's true the Forum put material on the Morris website that was from non-Morris entities. Sports appeared largely to duplicate what the Willmar paper produced. I think the Forum saw this as a plus when it took over the Morris paper. Their owner would call it "synergy."
And if you sniffed at material that was simply recycled from the West Central Tribune, what would you say now? About nothing?
It's strange how I now feel an impulse to pine for the Forum. But they were going to leave us anyway, just like they closed up the Hancock paper and ended the Ad-Viser free shopper. The Ad-Viser was a nice little bonus to give local businesses who advertised. The Forum chopped the overhead and they hoped no one would notice. Just keep cutting us checks for advertising please. Many trees were chopped down to produce and distribute those Ad-Visers. And the Hancock Record too.
Our city manager told me we came close to having just one paper in Stevens County and that would be the Chokio Review. Amazing! The Chokio paper is compact in size but quite practical. Seems to me a community like Hancock with its own K-12 school could support something like that. Katie Erdman is still around.
 
How about something stop-gap?
What's the solution with the paper's website at present? Oh, there's a Facebook page too and this offers no relief for people looking for something fresh. I checked and there was a photo high up that included Sue Dieter, who is gone with the wind from the paper. Has the paper announced her new position with Collin Peterson? I don't think so. I'm not convinced it's an important position. I would want to know how much she's being paid.
If you check the paper's website now you'll see the school is looking for Homecoming parade units. Ahem, that's dated in a pregnant sort of way.
A communications business must connect with the people online, so perhaps the new owners should set up a temporary home on the web, even a blog site. It can cost zip to establish a website, certainly a blog site. Readers could be steered to that temporary place.
I'm looking at the new (October 8) issue of the Morris paper. I guess it's the Stevens County paper. The top article is one of those "hometown boy (or girl) makes good" articles. The Forum was fond of running these. Such articles recognize someone from the area doing something special. A related type of article simply announces some award or recognition for someone. These are safe, non-controversial and "happy" articles, right up the Forum's alley, and now maybe up the Anfinsons' alley too. The paper seems to suggest that everything is coming up roses, everywhere. Contrast that to my formative days when the press was ripping apart the government over Vietnam and Watergate. The press was supposed to be picking off scabs. Boy, today is quite to the contrary.
But I'd like to see the paper report on subjects that are contentious like when an argument breaks out at a county board meeting. Such an article would make me much more inclined to want to support the paper.
Sports? There's still too much sports. The Anfinsons are taking the easy road of feeding the sports beast - perhaps it's just a path of least resistance. There's still too much emphasis on Hancock, a tack that the Forum took to placate Hancock interests after cancellation of their paper. So, too much sports and too much Hancock? Well, take a look at page 2 of the Oct. 8 issue. First of all, it's a disaster. What if I had to answer for that? A third of the news space on that page is invaded by (infernal) sports. Not only that, the article is about Hancock! Mercy.
There's still another issue afoot here, and that is that the Hancock article is written by a Hancock school student in a class, written for a class. An editor's note explains that students in Nicole Schmidt's class are doing this stuff for the newspaper, which presents an issue: The paper is a commercial, business product that we presume generates a profit. Should students be required to submit what amounts to free work product? Are the students mature enough to realize the consequences of their writing appearing in such a conspicuous forum?
The article at the top of page 2 is about "Morris Area Day of Compassion." Well, no one is against compassion, right? I'll vote for it. The Hancock lunch menu is on page 2. On page A7 there's the Hancock library column. Let's remember that in spite of the Hancock school apparently going great guns, that town is considerably smaller than Morris.
The headline for the MACA vs. 'Waska football game is awfully small at the bottom of B1.
 
Let's step it up maybe?
The Morris newspaper may have been in free-fall over the last year or so of its Forum Communications chapter. Therefore I felt it imperative that the new owners make a dramatic statement of how the page would be turned. If they're reading this blog post - you never know - and if they're like typical newspaper people, they will laugh and smirk about me.
Maybe this tendency is not as bad as it once was. I have been away from the scene for 13 years. But newspaper people are quick to show a smart-alecky, know-it-all stance about everything. Sue Dieter did this. I have read that the decline of newspapers has had a humbling effect on the denizens of its offices. It used to be that the editor or publisher acted like they were smarter than all the people running the important institutions in town. It would be refreshing to see a retreat from that. The new media online is a great equalizer with its meritocracy.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

More than one way to interpret "being poor?"

Russell Kirk (NY Times image)

I think it was the great conservative thinker Russell Kirk who suggested in effect that poor people are happiest being poor. Most likely he would reject the paraphrase. Who would want to answer for that? On its face it's objectionable.
Kirk was a man of ideas and sometimes these people deliver a jewel that contradicts typical good judgment. So, we need to peel away and find at least a kernel of truth in otherwise absurd assertions. Why am I reflecting on this? I am prodded again by wanting to understand my generation.
We were the children of affluence. It is said that WWII resulted in the great American middle class. Really it was an affluent class of the type never seen before. War veterans got advantages thanks to schooling from the GI Bill. "Well, they earned it for having been in the service in WWII," you'll argue. And of course they did. But they did not earn it in the standard capitalistic way.
If you enjoyed the "professor" character on the TV show "Gilligan's Island," you're appreciating someone who studied acting thanks to the GI Bill.
"Middle class" is a curious term. Our impulse is to want to celebrate it totally. Politicians do this constantly. We need a strong and happy middle class, they say. But of course, in order to have a middle class you must have a poor class. The rich will always be with us.
The affluent folks of post-WWII gave birth to the likes of high school class of 1973 members. That's me. It was an odd time to approach adulthood. Society was doing us a favor, it was suggested, having the drinking age lowered. Could you imagine that kind of thinking today? Our public schools were set up as an obstacle course - it was a survival game. We wanted to jump for joy whenever school was called off due to the weather. That happened a lot in our intense winters of the late '60s here in Minnesota. Our local radio station (Morris MN) had a song ready to play immediately following the announcement of no school. It began with the lyrics "That's what happiness is."
Teachers of that era made no bones about how much they hated their jobs. They negotiated for higher salary in a scorched-earth kind of way, as if their paychecks were the only reason they wanted to continue their miserable ordeal in life. Maybe the fathers from the WWII generation felt this was the way it should be, as it would reflect military-type discipline.
Another theory is that the purpose of school back then was to prepare kids for industrial age jobs. Schools are always guided to replicate the outside world, to prepare kids for that environment. Industrial age jobs? I'm reminded of the character of Mary Hartman's husband from the groundbreaking 1970s TV sitcom. This guy, lamenting his life one day, noted how he had been tested at work one day to see how fast he could do something. After that, he was expected to work that fast all the time. Such different times from today when our digital assets have created shortcuts and efficiencies all over the place.
Today's work has stress but it no longer has the kind of drudgery that was once common. Today it is assumed you have "passion" for your work.
 
Song like a museum piece
Just as we might look upon the lowered drinking age as odd, it's ditto with the Johnny Paycheck song "Take this Job and Shove It." The attitude is an anachronism. The song is actually misunderstood. You're missing the point if you think this is just a guy driven crazy at work. The thing driving him crazy, in truth, is the loss of his significant other. She had "done left him" to use country music vernacular. (I actually used the word "done" in this context in the song I wrote about Kirby Puckett, on YouTube - lyrics say the Minnesota hockey North Stars "done left us" for Texas.)
However, I do not have a southern accent. My Christmas song for 2019 is at a Nashville TN studio as I am writing this. I love southerners as long as they can behave themselves.
 
Switch on the "Wayback"
So, what about Russell Kirk's suggestion, at least an implied suggestion, that poor people might be happiest in their deprived state, as "poor." Why would I even give this suggestion the slightest consideration? Well I can be like Peabody and Sherman and turn on the "Wayback Machine." No one in his right mind would want to go back to 1973. It's being done here to make a generational point.
I was at a summer resort in 1973, the classic "summer job." I will not give the resort's name. The operators were blameless. They sought young people to hire who had at least a modicum of musical talent. Many of these kids came from "good families" and attended college in places like St. Olaf. Most had not spent much time "on their own" in life. Most of them behaved in a disgusting way. This isn't even a matter of opinion.
Peer pressures made the problems worse. The young people stayed up late and behaved in a raucous, irreverent and actually anti-social way. There was nothing constructive about it. It was the antithesis of being constructive. And they reveled in it, I assure you. My observations are from firsthand. A girl who played in the St. Olaf band gave oral sex to a guy she'd just met at an outdoor party. I could go on.
Our "rock" music was so different from what our parents preferred, we might have been space aliens. And it had to be loud. The loud music became a subject at a meeting at UMM once. My father reported saying he had reservations about it, but that the voices on the other side affirmed "this is their culture." It might have been. But kids eventually retreated from it when technology allowed us to appreciate good music that did not have to be played loud to impress people.
The cabin where I stayed at the resort was full of marijuana smoke one night. The manager happened by, surprising us and he reportedly said "is Brian here?" He was no doubt concerned that I would relay reports of all the ridiculous debauchery back to my father who was in a position to facilitate employees for the resort.
 
Not claiming to be perfect
I had my own limitations that summer, but not related to the kind of misbehavior I'm citing. I really wasn't ready to live away from home yet, and my parents should have realized that. We all have human limitations. My parents grew up in the Great Depression and they knew they absolutely had to get their act together, just to obtain life's necessities. But then in the post-WWII, with real affluence coming their way, they forgot what adversity had actually done for them. They didn't want to wish that on their kids, naturally.
But they seemed clueless about what generous material blessings were going to do to their kids. Naturally, us kids should have been totally thankful for our blessings. But it doesn't work like that. Ergo, I'm returning to the Russell Kirk thesis that poor people might be happiest in the state of being poor. When you give them things they haven't really earned, it doesn't work out.

(image from "Goodreads")

Do I literally agree with Russell Kirk? Not really. I need to keep my faith in humankind, hoping that people can simply use their own wisdom to plot the desired path.
There is a book called "A Generation of Sociopaths" (Bruce Cannon Gibney) about my generation of the boomers. So it's not like I'm a lone voice in the wilderness. We continue to feel entitled as we retire with Social Security and other comfortable benefits, while the young get saddled with debt and become embittered. Pretty soon we'll have to start going to them to say we need even more help. Hey, it's always been there for us in the past, right?
 
Addendum: An exhibit to support how the boomers didn't appreciate all the things that had been given them, was Mad Magazine. The magazine poked fun at the symbols of the good life our parents had given us. Tom Engelhardt wrote about this in his book "The End of Victory Culture."
  
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Lakers beat Tigers in offense-starved game

A first quarter touchdown did the job for Minnewaska Area Friday at Morris' Big Cat Stadium. The weather was chilly and the crowd didn't seem particularly large. A 6-0 game would not seem very entertaining. That's what the scoreboard showed at the end of four quarters.
Rain began falling in the game's final stages. All in all it seemed bleak for the orange and black fans on hand. The 'Waska boys and fans could leave with the satisfaction of their team having won. The game was arguably boring if you like lots of points scored. Morris scored 43 points the previous Friday in its Homecoming game. How does a team go from one extreme to another like this?
Minnewaska Area fans would say that their team's defense was a big factor. If you admire defensive football, perhaps the Friday affair in Morris was appealing. Whatever, the game goes into the books as a 6-0 'Waska triumph. The Lakers improved to 5-1. The Tigers ended the night at 4-2.
The scoring summary for this game is going to be brief. Tyson Meyer scored the 'Waska touchdown on a one-yard run in the first quarter. The PAT kick attempt was blocked. After that, a feeling of futility took over for the offenses as the end zone stripes became elusive. The game dragged on. The chilly conditions with the possibility of rain hovering, made the atmosphere not really exhilarating.
I can offer these views because I was present for the second half. My transportation was by walking. I did not get drenched. Nevertheless you could see a steady rain coming down if you looked into the lights in the fourth quarter. The game was in Mid State 2 district competition.
Meyer was a cog in the 'Waska running game that proved superior on this night. He carried the ball 17 times for 98 yards. As a team the Lakers had 190 ground yards compared to 48 by the Tigers. 'Waska gained those 190 yards on 50 carries. Two other Lakers complemented Meyer with their ground yardage: Darion Alexander (16 carries, 58 yards) and Max Reichmann (6-37).
The passing game saw Grant Jensen complete five of 14 attempts for 82 yards and no interceptions. Peyton Johnsrud had three of the catches for 60 yards. Aaron VerSteeg had the other two catches for 22 yards. Three Lakers each made an interception: Reichmann, Dylan Jergenson and VerSteeg. The Tigers were held to seven first downs.

Three Tigers had modest rushing statistics: Jack Riley (nine carries, 23 yards), Zach Bruns (7-17) and Kenny Soderberg (2-3). Bruns called the signals at quarterback and he completed eight of 21 pass attempts for 55 yards. Durgin Decker completed one pass for 12 yards. On the receiving end were Toby Gonnerman (three catches, 25 yards), Jackson Loge (3-30) and Soderderg (2-5).
Fans of the Hancock Owls had a more entertaining game to watch Friday: their team scored 42 points in a win over Bertha-Hewitt. The Owls stayed undefeated.

Fair to say "ostentatious?"
Big Cat Field seems overwhelmingly superior to the high school facility in Hancock, wouldn't you say? However, I would further observe that it is no less fun to watch a game in Hancock. I would say there's zero difference. Morris has all the bells and whistles but frankly it seems, well, ostentatious. Certain people would like to deck me over that comment.
I made countless trips to the Hancock field back in "the old days." I wrote sports for the Hancock Record newspaper for 15 years. I'm not sure I missed even one week. Katie Erdman is now back with the Morris newspaper.
What about the Morris newspaper? A welcome mat was sure put out for the new owners. I'm not sure the new owners have done enough to make it clear there really will be a difference. For example let's consider the website. Now, newspaper industry insiders will say there is little reward, and possibly even drawbacks, to being dynamic with the website. Such arguments have logic. However, the public in a general sense sees the newspaper, or ought to see it, as a beacon for creating community with its presence. The paper's website simply must figure into that, IMHO. Does a dynamic website really hurt the print product's performance? Good question.
The new owners of the Morris paper have appeared to neglect the website. Now, maybe this has something to do with the transition from Fargo Forum ownership. If this is true, have the owners made any public announcement about this? I could have missed it. Perhaps the paper could have established a temporary site or blog to just share some photos with us.
 
An antiquated custom?
Which brings me to this topic: Is it quaint or trite for the tradition of newspaper "press passes" to be honored, in other words the paper getting allowed into the game for free? It's definitely a legacy tradition, isn't it. Now, if the paper really rolls up its sleeves to share lots of material about sports, including (and perhaps especially) online, such a gesture would be apropos.
However, if the paper shows commercial motives in terms of neglecting the website in order to promote newspaper sales, then I'm rather dubious about it. You see, we live in a new age in which almost everyone carries around a camera like with their phones. There is no exclusive privilege with having a camera on your person now. This is completely the opposite of the world I entered (eons ago) in the community press with the Morris Sun Tribune. I began covering Morris High School football for the Morris paper in 1971.
There's a "black hole" in my Morris background from when I went to college. I may have come home on most weekends but was not plugged in to community. I regret that. It was a mistake. While I had a low profile back then, my car did not. It was a 1967 Oldsmobile Toronado which we got from Bill Dripps. It's the greatest car that was ever made. It would turn heads if it made its way around today. Headlights that popped up! Front-wheel drive! Breathtaking.
I have a theory that the Anfinsons are having more trouble jump-starting the Morris paper than they expected. Remember, the Forum was set to close the Morris paper according to background from well-placed sources. Our city manager observed to me something I hadn't thought about: Chokio could end up as the only town in Stevens County with a newspaper! Shocking. Well, it might be irrelevant, considering that people are putting aside the print media in general.
Whether certain people like it or not, there truly is a new information "ecosystem" evolving. It develops by the day. This parallels the rapid shift away from bricks and mortar businesses. Some of these changes seem unsettling but they are proving to be inexorable.
 
We're not the pros
I arrived at Big Cat Stadium Friday and noticed some colorful poster representations of Tiger players. I immediately felt some skepticism about this. The players are presented in a way making them seem like community heroes. This is consistent with how pro leagues or Division I colleges present their "star" players.
My concern is this: What kind of message are we sending to the non-athletes, kids either not talented or interested enough, by putting up these posters? Yes, some people would want to deck me for saying this. Football is in decline because of the high-profile health issues - it's just a matter of how fast the decline proceeds. Lawyers and the insurance industry will guarantee this. You all had better adjust.
I continue to write about the MACA Tigers because it remains a staple of our local culture. I miss the days when the games were at Coombe Field. Games were more of a social event then.
 
Tennis: Montevideo 7, Tigers 0
Unfortunately the Tigers failed to come up with winning form in the Friday match vs. the Thunder Hawks of Montevideo. The Willmar paper reported that "Montevideo found little resistance." Well. . . This was a Section 6A quarterfinal match. I will report the Monte players first in this summary.
Kori Douglas defeated Abbigail Athey 6-1 and 6-0. Emily Brace prevailed vs. Katelyn Wehking at second singles, 6-3 and 6-1. Lauren Kluver in the No. 3 spot beat our Kassidy Girard 6-2 and 6-0. Cami Myers was on the winning end vs. Katie Messner 6-4 and 6-0.
Turning to doubles, Kristin DeJong and Tyra Sandven defeated the Tiger pair of Ryanne Long and Greta Hentges 6-3 and 6-4. Kaylee Pauling and Kylie Cobb beat Hannah Watzke and Lakia Manska 6-3, 4-6 and 11-9. Then at No. 3 doubles, it was Nina Fitzkappes and Mathea Jorgenson prevailing vs. Ireland Winter and Breanna Schmidgall, 6-1 and 6-3.
 
Volleyball: Sauk Centre 3, Tigers 1
The news about Tiger volleyball is dismal just like the weather of the past few days: dark and wet. The Tigers were dealt defeat by Sauk Centre Thursday. Let's emphasize that Sauk Centre has a juggernaut team. Their win over the Tigers Thursday was their 17th against two losses. They won 3-1 with scores of 25-12, 25-21, 19-25 and 25-16.
We came out of the match at 7-9. Sophia Carlsen and Lexi Pew led our hitting, each with eight kills. Emma Bowman came through with six kills, while Emma Berlinger and Kenzie Hockel each had five. Pew pounded down five ace blocks. Carlsen and LaRae Kram each had one ace block. Courtney Lehman was at the fore in digs with 18. Kram, Pew and Macee Libbesmeier each had 13. Jaden Ross and Hockel each had ten.
Two Tigers each had two serving aces: Libbesmeier and Pew. Three Tigers each had one serving ace: Kram, Ross and Lehman. Kram produced 27 set assists.

The national news, 10/5/19
As this post is going up, we are hearing a crescendo of concerns about Donald Trump and his extreme behavior. Voices toward impeachment are mounting. Trump is digging in. This is not the Republican Party I was once familiar with.
My advice to the people around Trump now is simply this: Tell the truth. Be relaxed and just tell the truth in response to all questions coming your way. If you simply do this, your job will be easy. You will be able to live with yourself and sleep well at night.
I am starting to worry about the most zealous Christians in the Morris area, the ones fashioning themselves "evangelical." At this point they might outnumber the reasonable and intelligent churchgoers. Are they at the point where they might start worshiping Donald Trump in place of God and Jesus? Is it getting that bad?

Just curious. . .
As I type this on Saturday afternoon, I'm putting some pressure on myself to get this material posted/published in a timely way. So I'm just curious: Do the people associated with the Morris newspaper feel the same urgency or sense of duty? Check their website: have you even seen a report of the Kimball football game on there? I know we get updates in the weekly print paper, but that's just once a week. In the Internet-dominated world, once a week does not fully suffice for reporting the news.
So I'm feeling conscientious in order to try to deliver product. Do the paid staff members of the Morris paper feel that sense also? Or not? And if not, what's the point in having a business built around this? I suppose they don't "work on the weekend." Well. . .
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Where does time go? We mark 2019 Homecoming

The first Morris Homecoming coronation I ever attended was at the now-razed "elementary auditorium." It was an art deco place, exuding charm to be sure. It's hard to imagine, looking at the barren ground today next to East 7th Street, that the elaborate erector set complex once sat there. My, if the walls could have talked!
I put "elementary auditorium" in quotes because I never stopped remembering that it was once the high school. I remember feeling a rush as I entered the auditorium in 1970 while the pep band played "Do You Know the Way to San Jose," directed by John Woell.
I'll never forget the last year I took my mother to the Homecoming parade. Her health was developing ever greater issues but it worked out fine. She was sensitive to weather extremes toward the end of her life. The weather in September is "just right," not too hot or too cold. Sorry, I did not attend the 2019 parade. Will try to remedy that next year, along with stopping by the game.
So in lieu of my personal attention, I'll quote a friend who had a mixed review of all the festivities. We all love school spirit although I'll put the sport of football aside. How many boys play football because of the positive feedback of cheers showering down on them? It's concerning. We know the health issues of football.
My friend reported on the Friday Homecoming stuff as follows:

The parade was pretty lame. One surprise – there was a float peopled by rainbow flags and the school’s LGBT club members. Not your father’s parade unit. No musical units at all – Wanda (Dagen) used to have either the drum line play, or a pep band on the community band’s trailer, but nothing for the last few years. The crowd for the homecoming game was very good. Wanda’s pep band played pregame, but didn’t do the Banner (some HS girl sang it – did a long, drawn out country-western female drama-queen rendition). The band hasn’t stayed for Homecoming half-time the last few years as they take the whole time to introduce the “Royalty," which includes all the losers (er, candidates), everyone’s parents, and seemingly their grandparents, cousins, and good friends. And also now the C-A royalty as well. It got darn chilly – we bailed after the end of the 3rd quarter.
 
News coverage decisions
The new ownership of the Morris paper is quite the item. I have wondered why the paper appears not to be covering the Brent Fuhrman matter. The radio station website has had more than one item. The individual in question is a former member of the Morris school board. Reports indicate he's in legal trouble. People who get traffic tickets get their name in the paper. I could pull this observation from an email of the past few days:
 
I think the Brent Fuhrman thing is now old news, so we wouldn’t expect to see or hear any more about it. Why it didn’t get picked up by the paper at the time is a puzzle. Maybe the Forum peeps didn’t think it was newsworthy? Maybe someone was afraid of Brent’s GI Joe Image? Or, maybe being a veteran he was cut some slack news-wise?

I responded as follows:

If Brent should be cut slack, fine but that's a decision for law enforcement and the courts, NOT the paper.
 
The new owners of the paper have a honeymoon that could be abbreviated if they don't get more fired up about their website, IMHO. Blame it on the transition? New owner, yes, but the staff of before carries on. They have someone paid to write sports, and yet I as an unpaid person appear to be doing superior work much of the time. It isn't work for me. It's fun. It's relaxing.

Outgoing manager joins pol
The Morris paper's manager under Forum ownership appeared to leave in an unceremonious way. One might speculate it was a non-amicable departure, n'est-ce pas? I haven't seen any coverage indicating otherwise, and this might have been easily done even if in a non-sincere way. Ah, sugar-coating.

But the former manager exited and has now re-surfaced as a political operative. She's the communications director for Collin Peterson, thus she's in the unenviable position of speaking for Peterson's "nay" stance on impeachment. Honest to God, if our congressional district really wants a Republican, red state kind of person, as CW suggests, well then let's just elect one.
And on the other side of the coin, instead of all this "blue dog" bull excrement, maybe my party of the Democrats could put forward a true, sincere Democrat, and this person might surprise you with how he/she would do.

Sue Dieter (radaris image)

How big a story is Sue Dieter's acceptance of the position with old fossil Peterson? First I would want to know how much she's being paid, really. Is it quasi-volunteer? Someone reported she'll do 90 percent of the work from home. I don't know, seems to me the congressman would have a true chief of staff coordinating a lot of this stuff, or as I have opined, Peterson could do it himself. Communications is what being a politician is all about. Like, communicating to your fellow party members about why you're against impeachment.
A Minnpost article says Peterson has "no intention" of supporting impeachment. The congressman asserts the process would be "lengthy and divisive with no resolution." He characterizes the process as "partisan." Well, yes. Is the Trump/GOP side eschewing partisanship? I have encouraged the local Indivisible Morris group, who had the door slammed on them by the Morris paper under Forum ownership, to try to pressure Peterson. Maybe Sue Dieter could offer the rebuttal. Wonder what she'd say.
Update: Just saw new (Oct. 1) Morris paper and I didn't see item about Sue taking position.
 
A cloud over football
Congratulations to the MACA football team on its Homecoming game success. We beat the Kimball Cubs. I wasn't there but a friend informs me that enthusiasm was quite high among the crowd, up to usual standards. The allure of "Friday night lights," I guess.
Jim Morrison used to call me a "contrarian." So let me just share the following from a September 30 article: A former Simms, TX, football player and his parents filed a Federal lawsuit alleging that helmet manufacturer Ridell is to blame for a catastrophic head injury. The young man is Charles Scott Akins. Charles got hurt in a 2017 game. He experienced a left subdural hematoma that resulted in severe brain damage. It left him with spastic quadriplegia.
So I'm a contrarian, I guess, when I seek to ask why this young man felt it necessary to play the game of football on that night. Aren't there many more constructive ways he could have spent his time? Totally safe ways? Is the allure of Friday night lights, its tradition, so overwhelming that it makes us just say "that's unfortunate," and then we move on?
The lawsuit says Akins "must have round-the-clock care and will never be able to live independently."
Revelations roll out about football. The movie "Concussion" with Will Smith was a catalyst. When school officials are asked about this matter, they'll say "we follow all protocols." I have experienced this answer myself, not from the current Morris administration but a former one. The Akins case is assigned to U.S. District Judge Robert Schroeder III.
These paragraphs I'm typing now are juxtaposed with the standard coverage of Morris football that I provide on my two blog sites. Why do I do it? I guess it's to try to still feel like a member of the community.
An item was published recently about this curious schizophrenia in the media: 1) informing the public about the increasing body of knowledge about the game's terrible hazards, and 2) covering the sport the standard enthusiastic way: touchdowns, W/L record, bowl game invitations etc.
I ought to be happy about the Gophers. I try to push those thoughts aside in my mind. Someday the obsession with football will be reflected upon as an old Neanderthal trait.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota bwilly73@yahoo.com