Eyes of journalist exposed me to history

"March Madness" is so tempting for media people to hype to unreasonable levels. Truth be told, I always started feeling uncomfortable this time of year with packed gymnasiums, blaring pep bands and obsessed fans. Everything seemed so out of proportion. I hardly spoke a word of these feelings to people.
I worked in the media. For 27 years I was with the Morris newspaper full-time, and prior to that did some stuff as a stringer.
Many of us have problems adjusting to changing times. We are seeing males today being taken down, being shot down mercilessly from their professional perches by this #MeToo phenomenon. Changing times are hard for a lot of us to understand. We are so frozen in the present. We assume our norms of today are so logical and defensible.

Your blog host at Quinco Press in Lowry, where I spent considerable time

I got involved in media work just before the creation of true women's sports programs. Can you imagine a world in which girls sports simply didn't exist? Well, I witnessed the seeds being planted. Obviously this was not an immediate sea change.
I wonder if even the biggest advocates of girls' opportunities could envision a time, i.e. now, when girls basketball is considered at virtually the same level as boys. It is. And it's totally wonderful of course. But given this assessment, why was it that through my junior year in high school, sports was nonexistent for girls?
We should all mull this over, just like we need to mull about how public smoking was accepted up until not that long ago. I think it's uncomfortable for many of us to admit these realities - admitting it is a mea culpa re. our shortcomings as human beings.
We once looked the other way about misogyny. I breathe a sigh of relief as I, too, may have a #MeToo issue but in my case, I only crossed the line with verbal and not physical behavior. Today a man might be forced into defensiveness if he simply says a certain woman is attractive. Barack Obama had to apologize to Kamala Harris for saying this. (I have kept my "Kamala" bumper sticker affixed.)
Is fundamental dating behavior going to become risky? I have come to grips with #MeToo. It's best to not even ask a woman on a date.
Reflecting back on high school sports, people in media had to adjust in fits and starts as we wondered: to what extent do we cover girls sports as being on the same level as boys? In theory you could always make a case for it. But realistically, many of us stayed in the "Hoosiers" (the movie) culture for a long time. Yes it's inexcusable. But we're human beings. High school girls basketball in the '70s was clearly different from boys.
You might think that our Morris High School with such firm advocates for equality, people like Mary Holmberg, would have set an example all along. But aha, for many years the stands were pulled out on only one side of the gym for girls basketball. Don't think I didn't notice that. The girls who played basketball back in 1973 were crusaders who should inspire awe as we reflect today, because their skills were rough at the start. How could they not be? There was no history of grooming skills through the years. There was no history of paying attention to girls basketball.
Just as I admit personal shortcomings in connection to #MeToo, I'll be candid here and say I didn't take girls sports as seriously from the very start. In fact, I will confess here that when the three-point shooting rule was created, I was surprised even to see college girls making the shot. I remember covering UMM and being very impressed by the girls, or women, making these long-rangers. And today it's no novelty at all!
I remember when Jim Morrison at the paper had a coverage suggestion of something and it conflicted with some attention I planned on paying to a girls basketball game. I mentioned this to him and he responded "well, I think (my suggested topic) is more important than girls basketball," and he pronounced "girls basketball" in a dismissive way. Hey, it was girls. Don't get mad at Jim because this kind of attitude was not surprising then. Really! Hey, we smoked all over the place too. In fact, the Morris Sun Tribune had some employees notorious for smoking including Sarah Kissock, editor.
I joked with Jim Thoreen once about how high school girls athletics was represented only in the yearbook with "Girls Athletic Association" or GAA. That was it. It was hardly even a novelty. Jim responded by noting how in his hometown, GAA would put on an exhibition of tumbling at halftime of a (boys) basketball game! Yes, it seems rather offensive to even report some of these memories, doesn't it. I have always been the type of person who is fascinated by our past shared cultural traits, our past warts which we might not want to think about. Those who don't remember the past are condemned to repeat it.
 
Addendum: Holmberg might say there wasn't sufficient interest for pulling out bleachers on both sides of the gym. My response would be that we should have pushed higher competitive standards for our teams. Many local girls sports advocates felt all that mattered was the budget and resources, while looking the other way when it came to competitiveness. I exaggerate not. A big problem was politics. OK I could write a lot more but I won't, for now.
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com