Has old media been carted to "glue factory?"

(image from pinterest)

Somehow I'm reminded of "Boxer" from "Animal Farm" when thinking of the media and Donald Trump. We used to depend on the mainstream media for guardrails, to ensure that the oddball elements did not actually dictate this nation's course. We were always conscious of the oddball elements like when looking at exotic and marginal State Fair booths. What's this? The Libertarian Party? Surely the State Fair exposes us to "all types."
But we could switch on the 5:30 p.m. network news to re-connect with reality, what was truly practical for the country.
How does "Boxer" fit into all this? He fought back when it was too late. The old horse was being sent to the glue factory. "Clover" screams to Boxer to escape. The horse which was once such a grand exhibit of strength, is no longer up to it. I'll refresh that "Animal Farm" is the classic book by George Orwell. A primer today describes "Boxer" as a hard-working but naive and ignorant cart horse.
I recently exchanged emails with John Ziegler who said "I think you are giving the media too much credit." Ziegler has a prolific media background and these days contributes to "Mediaite." He added re. the media: "They are a bunch of morons."
But Ziegler himself is a quite close media observer. (My email to him focused on stock market coverage along with the new apparent policy across the board of never objectifying women.)
 

John Ziegler

Discretion of the public
First of all, thank you Mr. Ziegler for responding. I will retort by saying that "morons" seems an oversimplification and it really doesn't matter because the public "chooses its poison" in terms of media. I am nothing if not sensitive to what the media can do.
I might have even had some delusions of grandeur when I was in the community press. If I was convinced that a certain point of view was right, I could inject such observations into my work. The idea was to be savvy enough to not have it too blunt. (Some people would say I failed at that.)
Let's say I knew the boundaries, albeit blurred at times. Does Donald Trump blur boundaries?
The great David Brinkley said there is no such thing as objective reporting. He epitomized the old, rather paternalistic mainstream media, off-putting for many of us for being self-important, sometimes pompous and boring. Think I'm cynical? People in the business of journalism or punditry will say that boredom and indifference are their ultimate worry.
People react like the opinion movers are motivated solely by the zeal behind their opinions. Oh, it can start out that way. Power can do dark things to people. We're seeing this not only with the commentators in the media, the type who call themselves "conservative," but with the president himself. You should be very worried that Trump lacked background in the craft of politics, yes the horsetrading (no reference to "Boxer"). His neophyte qualities present a danger because how would he handle the roiling vortex of influences all about him, and try to square that with whatever ideals he had?
Trump may have had one or two genuine ideals - I'll concede that. But the presidency is a monster concentration of power. Knowing the simple reality of that, and using skills honed over a period of acclimation to politics, would seem essential. Lacking that, a void of confusion can open, to be filled by impulsive thoughts to try to sell the public.
The conservative media latched onto Trump while the public wasn't paying much attention. These people are in the craft and business of a certain brand of punditry. It is a commodity. And the practitioners have a business sense about it all, just as all professional people do. The consumers miss this fact so easily.
 
Down the escalator
So let's drift back to the summer of 2015. How spoiled we were, bored maybe but with nothing like a worldwide pandemic. The media labored along in what we might describe as a "slow news period." That would not do, for the professionals. Trump took his ride down the escalator. People were paid to be at his candidacy announcement. By our standards of today with our ridiculously shortened attention span, the scene was novel, captivating.
I mean, Trump was certainly a character, a personality, a novelty, a shiny object. All of which is cute. We knew Trump from TV.
The late Roger Ailes was ahead of his time in understanding the sheer power of TV. The glowing screen hypnotizes us. Which is fine if we have become enamored with our favorite western. "Gunsmoke" or "Bonanza?" It seemed everyone got attached to one of the two. What a different mass culture we had then. At least it was tasteful. Compare to Trump and Jerry Falwell Jr. in 2020. Hush money to a porn star. Let's not review the whole list here.
Trump comes down the escalator and the "conservative" pundits saw an opportunity to salivate, to use this opportunity for "easy content." Trump's celebrity guaranteed an audience. Compare the excitement with, say, Carly Fiorina. She's now behind Biden, incidentally. Didn't Trump knock her for her "looks?" Wasn't there an incident where she fell down and Ted Cruz didn't immediately assist her? And hadn't Cruz announced her as his running mate?
If Trump is objectifying women, I will too. Pam Bondi is a "babe."
The conservative media industry saw Trump giving them a kind of "red meat excitement," to use Ziegler's words. Ziegler saw dishonesty in what was going on. The pundits (deep down) had to doubt that Trump deserved treatment beyond that of a transitory novelty. He could intrigue us until our limited attention span insisted we move on.
The pundits figured we all would move on. In the meantime, they could use the better ratings for their shows. The immediate fix or buzz was priority No. 1 for them. The media people aren't really "jackals" as Jesse Ventura postulated, they are businessmen.
Back in the "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza" days, we could depend on the pillars of the mainstream media to pull us back to reality, back to what was right. The Dan Rathers of the world were going to assure this, despite the fact that Hillary Clinton vs. Jeb Bush would be the ultimate of boring. Other elements of the media had crept up on the traditional heavy-hitters, the Dan Rather types. The crowded media landscape, the ridiculous contemporary competition for eyeballs, made it hard to withdraw from the shiny object of Trump. Impossible.
Commentators rejected their own senses or instincts. Surely they knew Trump was a clown with no resume. A cynical Ziegler suggested that so many of these souls were "selfish or jaded." They pushed forward, to be rewarded in many cases. Rush Limbaugh ended up with an award from Trump, never mind that media people feel they lose credibility when forming this kind of bond with government. Trump and his people ate it up. Selfish? Jaded? Or just being businessmen?

"Fire" gets out of control
When momentum first built for Trump, the conservative/reactionary crowd was in effect "playing with fire" - Ziegler's description - and may have sensed this. Problem is, naturally, a fire can get out of control. Ziegler observed "the modern news media's conditions were such that those who used to be relied on as firefighters were now pouring gasoline on the fire."
And they of course benefited from it all. But their interests are naturally not to be squared with the public's interests. The Trump cult began forming and could not be restrained.
The old mainstream media with the hoped-for guardrails recognized the situation and I suspect believed they could do something about it ultimately. They had so much power years ago. The public would surely turn to these people like in the past, right? The warning lights went on too late. The mainstream media no longer had the power to perform like before. No, they were like "Boxer" the horse kicking in vain to try to escape his containment, as he was being trucked to the glue factory.
 
Addendum: John Ziegler is a radio program host, documentary film writer/director and journalist. He built his profile in radio with a show on KFI-Los Angeles, a station you can pick up through the "I Heart" system. Tim Conway Jr. is on the air. I always enjoy Ziegler's perspective and I am humbled that he would communicate with someone like me in "Flyoverland."
 
My podcast for today (8/28/20)
Thanks for visiting this page and I'll invite you to listen to my "Morris Mojo" podcast episode. It's about the evangelicals and Donald Trump. The permalink:
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/Evangelicals-and-Trump-eiptqp
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

They'll always be "Los Angeles Angels" to me

"I Love L.A." This song was woven in so wonderfully in the "Naked Gun" movie that had Leslie Nielsen as umpire. Oh, he also "sang" the National Anthem - remember? - as an imposter for the real guy who was tied up. "Frank Drebin" had to get onto the field to thwart an assassination attempt (on the queen of England).
The movie was a riotous and actually rather touching gesture toward Angels baseball. Their history interests me partly because their year of inception, 1961, was the same as for "my" team, the Minnesota Twins. There is a distinction: the Angels were a pure and raw expansion team, while the Twins were transplanted from Washington D.C.
The Twins owner was Calvin Griffith, hailed as a hero then, being wiped from Minnesota history now. The problem is in line with Confederate statues. The statue of Griffith was recently literally removed from Target Stadium grounds. All of this stuff is happening so fast. Griffith's words on their face had no defense, from an appearance at an outstate Minnesota service club. "Outstate" in Minnesota means outside the Twin Cities. Something else about our state: Minneapolis is not assumed to have primacy as the "big city."
The delicate relationship of Minneapolis with across-the-river St. Paul was such that, in 1961 there was no way our team was going to be named for a city. It was a given for it to be "Minnesota." And "Twins" was a reference to the "twin towns" as we call them: Minneapolis and St. Paul.
The Angels baseball team has been through rather an adventure or roller coaster with acknowledging physical locations. In my mind they'll always be "Los Angeles Angels" because that was first.

Maybe stick with habit?
It's disturbing when familiar names from sports have to get tweaked IMHO.
Example: Curt Gowdy once learned that to be technically correct with the name "Tony Perez," the accent in the last name should be on the first syllable, not the second. I found it irritating as he kept emphasizing his "revisionist" treatment. Maybe I resented how he seemed to feel we had to be lectured. I don't think the "new" pronunciation caught on.
And did you know the correct last name for the Alou boys should have been "Rojas?" Something about a cultural misunderstanding. I would have struggled converting those guys to "Rojas." When I think of Rojas I think of "Cookie" Rojas. Remember when Cookie and Bobby Wine were in the same infield with the Phillies? A wise guy talked about "days of Wine and Rojas."
IMHO the Alous had to be Alous, a famed sibling tandem from the Dominican Republic, outstanding players and people.

The (true) West beckoned
Not sure if the following is a legend or fact or a kind of hybrid, but talks began as early as 1940 for MLB to reach Los Angeles. Can you believe in the old days "a trip west" meant St. Louis or Kansas City? I am surprised the prosperous West Coast had to wait until 1958.
Old baseball movies show us the one-time norm of transportation: the rails. Time on the train would build camaraderie I'm sure. And going all the way west, I mean all the way, was not going to be practiced this way. Teams have demanding schedules. And once commercial flight got established, I imagine it was not routine for some time. Not only that, it was scary, I mean with propeller planes. I was reminded of this in a documentary about John Dillinger. Some G-men made a plane trip with some trepidation. And you thought "Striker" was scared on a modern day passenger jet?
Anyway, the legend of the '40s overtures for big league ball has the St. Louis Browns making feelers for relocation. Reportedly there was a "request for permission" to move. Reportedly it was denied. But the story continues with a proposal for the Browns to move for the '42 season, a dream that got nixed pretty decisively by a complication: World War II.
Fast-forward to 1953 and the Browns were again the focus for speculation or gossip. But the team got sold and landed comfortably on the East Coast in Baltimore. Welcome the Orioles. Griffith's Washington Senators began acting restless and eyed L.A. Speaking of gossip, word circulated that maybe the Athletics' move from Philadelphia to Kansas City was a way station en route to L.A.
Push all these teams aside. Los Angeles would have the welcome mat out for the Dodgers. But wouldn't they always be the "Brooklyn" Dodgers? "Dem Bums?" Brooklyn fans themselves knew the end was coming. The certainty was because of urban planning and priorities in NYC.
The Dodgers sought to lock up the L.A. market and probably would have succeeded, had MLB not become fearful of a new league taking root: the proposed Continental League. MLB took expansion steps in '60: two new teams in each league.
MLB had wanted only to expand to cities previously without MLB. However, the upstart Continental League was eyeing the "plum" of NYC which had lost the Dodgers and Giants. MLB wanted to cling to that plum. So the National League got the Mets and Los Angeles got the Angels.

The Angels debuted in 1961, the season in which Yankee Roger Maris hit his 61 home runs. Just as significant, I might add, was Norm Cash of Detroit batting .361. Something very suspicious going on that summer, n'est-ce pas? It was wildly entertaining and many of us, I feel, would have loved to see the offensive showcase continue. We got the opposite: pitching picking up steam to culminate in 1968 "the year of the pitcher."
 
Movie star to fore in L.A.!
What excitement as fans learned a genuine movie star, Gene Autry, was going to own the new Angels! "The Angels" is a literal translation of the Spanish "Los Angeles."
Griffith took his Senators with Harmon Killebrew to Minnesota where they'd play on the suburban prairie, quite literally prairie at the time, outside the "twin towns" and not one inch closer to one than the other. A new "Senators" team was created to keep a team in the nation's capital. The "new" Senators seemed never very interesting, although Ted Williams as manager got a bouquet.
The Angels? By expansion standards they were OK if not scintillating. Boy, MLB sure made it a challenge for new teams to get decent talent. What if the Mets had won even fewer than 40 games? Could have happened.

Curtain rises for Angels
We always look through a fond sentimental lens at the first year of an expansion team. The 1961 maiden voyage of the Los Angeles Angels saw them win 70 games and lose 91 under manager Bill Rigney. The general manager was Fred Haney. General managers could sort of ride herd over players in those days. Ever read "Ball Four" by Jim Bouton?
The Angels played at Wrigley Field, a name that bothers me because I've always associated it with Chicago. But Wrigley it was. Alas, neither the expansion novelty, nor the fact of playing in such a populous area, was a boon for attendance. The Angels were tenth of ten in the A.L. The Twins were much more entrancing in their new environs - I was there (albeit six years old) and I remember. Bob Allison! That's of the Twins. He had an All-American boy image.
Think back to the early Angels and you might think Albie Pearson. He was a diminutive guy but he played bigger to do quite well in '61, seeming as rather a signature player. The little guy played in 144 games, amassed 427 at-bats, batted a fine .288 and with eleven stolen bases. Not a power merchant.
 
More on my podcast
Albie Pearson is the focus for a podcast supplement to today's post. My podcast is called "Morris Mojo" for Morris, Minnesota. Here is the permalink for the fond reminiscences:
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/Albie-Pearson-of-the-Angels-eijv74
 
I see the name Earl Averill and I'm perplexed because I associate that name with the seemingly "caveman times" of pre-WWII baseball. No, it's not that Earl Averill, the senior probably remembered more for ending Dizzy Dean's run as a top MLB pitcher, than for his quite impressive talents. But remember, those were segregated times. An asterisk always, probably a pregnant one. Suppose you can't blame the guys themselves.
The senior Averill hit a line drive in the All-Star Game that broke Dean's toe. Dean wilted after that.
So we're talking the younger Earl Averill, "Junior" with the 1961 Los Angeles Angels. He performed well. He wore the catcher's gear. He batted .266, in line with many of the best catchers, and hit a pretty impressive 21 home runs in 323 at-bats. The top infielders were Steve Bilko at first, Ken Aspromonte at second, Joe Koppe at short and Eddie Yost at third. No household names there.

The center fielder was Ken Hunt who had a playing background back to his high school days with Roger Maris. In left was at least a borderline household name: Leon Wagner, a.k.a. "Daddy Wags," and Pearson worked in right. Expansion was good for Lee Thomas who was able to flourish for a while in the bigs, all the while readying himself for a career as a baseball exec. Thomas whacked 24 home runs for the '61 Angels. Another Thomas was George Thomas who fit in quite fine with his .280 average and 13 dingers.
Veteran Ted Kluzewski plied his skills, perhaps still with his famous "bare arms" (giving a musclebound look). Rocky Bridges saw a fair amount of action. Three pitchers had double figures win totals: Ken McBride, Eli Grba and Ted Bowsfield. Dean Chance was just coming up.
I remember all these names from baseball cards! Hey, the famed Ryne Duren, he of the sunglasses and sometimes wild deliveries in warm-ups (to intimidate) was on the team. Plus, Art Fowler, Ron Kline, Jim Donahue and Tom Morgan. I recall Kline being the "goat" of the Twins' failure to capture the A.L. pennant in 1967. We fizzled at the end vs. Boston. I believe Kline dished up a gopher ball to George Scott. I felt more pain with that setback than with the Twins' failure in Game 7 of the '65 Series. We had an excuse in the Series: we were facing Sandy Koufax!
The Angels went through a bit of schizophrenia with location and nomenclature. "My" preferred name of Los Angeles Angels was in effect from '61 to '64 and was retrieved from mothballs for 2016. It continues through the present - warms my heart. I remember wondering why the name had to become "California Angels" starting in 1965. So, the team was like Minnesota: named for a state. "California" would have a very long run, but in 1997 we saw Anaheim elbow its way in. I could have shrugged. "Anaheim Angels" was the name 1997-2004.
A low point was reached with a name that was cumbersome and seemed a political sop: "Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim," 2005-2015. Finally "Los Angeles Angels" made its triumphant return.
I have never cared for the alternate name "Halos" which I put in a category like "Twinkies" for Twins.
 

Albie Pearson, Marilyn Monroe!

Break-even in competitive fortunes
The team is very close to .500 for its all-time won-lost. The franchise has one pennant and one world championship. They have made ten playoff appearances. Boy, the 60 total seasons seem to have gone by quickly!
I can still remember Albie Pearson and what he contributed at the start. So that's why I have written my own song lyrics for a tune I call "Albie Pearson Got It Done." The verse part is meant to be done narration style, no melody, while the chorus is sung. Sort of like the '70s hit "Convoy" by C.W. McCall.
The lyrics originally appeared in my January 25, 2016, post on my "I Love Morris" blog site. That post focused on Pearson. I'm happy to refresh these song lyrics!

"Albie Pearson Got It Done"
by Brian Williams
 
The Angels came to play their game in 1961
A whole new team to chase their dreams in the L.A. sun
A little man would take command with that fledgling crew
Running fast on outfield grass, swinging hard and true
 
Fans would rise and memorize the Albie Pearson name
Looking large on their scorecards as they watched each game
Big league ball was standing tall there on that West Coast
Taking planes instead of trains made our nation close
 
CHORUS:
Albie Pearson got it done back in 1961
Wowing fans in La-La Land
He expressed the city's brand
Playing great in his home state
Making baseball shine first rate
Win or lose they brought us fun
Albie Pearson got it done

 

Giants, Dodgers felt the urge, leaving NYC

Yankees were the only team not a memory

Ebbets Field was gone for real, New York sang the blues

Polo Grounds would hang around 'til the Mets were news
 

Willie Mays would see new days by the Bay so grand

Sandy Koufax was the max in his newfound land

Fans were glad the Angels had stars to cheer on too

Not enough to really strut, but they could come through
 

Ken McBride could find his stride on the pitching mound

Earl Averill gave us thrills, hitting homers loud

Albie shone in his new home - what a neighborhood

All those beaches within reach, close to Hollywood
 

(repeat chorus)
 

The owner's box was all the talk with that singing gent

From the screen he owned that team, knowing what it meant

Fans could see ol' Gene Autry staying right on course

So beloved in cinema, singing from his horse
 

With halos on, the team built bonds, hearty all the way

Cheers and shouts were heard throughout Californi-aye

Looking good in Hollywood, up on that marquee

On a par with movie stars, sharing in that scene
 

They were in where Errol Flynn flashed his shining sword

Where the reign of ol' John Wayne was the town's last word

Rod Carew would join that crew, hitting in his prime

With Gene Mauch he kept his stock elevated high
 

Years go by and yet we strive to recoup the past

We recall the old baseball, Albie and that cast

Leon Wagner hit with verve, causing quite the buzz
We recall his moniker: "Daddy Wags" it was

 

The team today just comes to play, 55 years old

Looking good like Albie would, confident and bold

Fans would chant to see this man so diminutive

He just played real hard each day, all that he could give
 

(repeat chorus)

He's a high-profile Christian too

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

Dubious "food fair" serves as welcome to Morris?

A photo I took several years ago for "Flickr"

A big food fair in Morris today (Wednesday)? That's the word, gleaned from posters. On the south end of Atlantic Avenue. Actually the street is not organized strictly along north/south lines, but if I say "south" you know what I mean. I live to the "north."
The poster suggests that the big "foodie" event will be at the funeral home parking lot. OK your mind is working ahead of mine here: the symbolism. I mean, a potential big gathering of humanity in these times of a menacing virus. Seems absurd and contemptible on the face of it.
Fair-type food is bound to be a magnet. Could not think of a bigger magnet, n'est-ce pas? It plays to our pining for normal times, a pining for the usual county and state fairs. Food so often seems to be the main point.
Will a mob of humanity end up being a regrettable thing here? Could well be. I'm sure the (late) Herman Cain would (posthumously) regret attending the Donald Trump rally in Tulsa OK. There is a picture of him just sitting there, smiling in fact. Rest in peace, Herman Cain. Why was it so important for the circle of people around Trump to argue afterward that Cain may not have picked up the virus there? "He had lots of meetings," someone like that Kellyanne said. (She must do it for the money.)
Cain was 74 years old and tremendously wealthy. If in fact he kept going to meetings, why? He didn't need to. Must we really sacrifice our lives for material things? Maybe we have actually reached that point in America. Mine is a voice in the wilderness, trying to speak out on this. I am an "outcast" Christian in the ELCA of the Lutheran faith, an organization that has decided that discrimination against gay people is not appropriate, plus some other "progressive" aims. I do not view them as "progressive" or with the "L" word, liberal - I view many of these stances as reasonable. Maybe someday they will be mainstream.
I have a feeling that some of the food vendors for today's event will be Apostolic Christian, just a guess. They would be inclined to not put much stock in the pandemic's threat, as this is what they have been told to think by Trump. As yet they cannot see through the man. My perception is that so many of these "conservative Christians" are willing to put aside so many concerns simply because their "heroes" talk about being pro-life. Yes, Trump "says" he's pro-life. So what? Have you even weighed the practicality of this?
Republicans do this: it's called deflection or maybe bait-and-switch. They use "moral issues" merely as cover, to try to gain support from a segment of people while they really pull strings on their true priorities: less taxes on the very rich and less regulation. Have you wondered about the true effects of "slashing" regulations? It's done with a broad brush but if you have a scintilla of intelligence, don't you realize each of these regulations was enacted for a reason? Isn't this worth at least a look? Regulations to protect vulnerable seniors from predatory investment salesmen or "wealth counselors?" You know, they invite you to an expensive dinner with exotic offerings, then "nab" you with their pitch. Republicans don't even care about this.
Sometimes I'm in Willie's and I see 4-5 women with the "Apostolic" look about them, and I wonder: What is the allure of that faith? Why the need to look different? You can comment about my appearance too, I don't care. In fact I'm learning to cut my own hair, and have found it is no big deal! I discover this at age 65.
A friend shared his thoughts with me on today's "food fair" or whatever you want to call it:
 
Regarding the fair food extravaganza at the Pedersen Funeral Home parking lot – I will stop by to see if I can get a couple Tri-tip steak sandwiches to go. However, it doesn’t look like the rasslin’ boosters will have their fries booth – if so, that is disappointing. And I see there is a visitation going on from 5-7 for Tom Rach – who booked that? I see a traffic jam coming.
 
Perhaps the food fair is set up to coincide with UMM's first day of classes. No ordinary year, this one, for UMM kids all moving in. Man, we're seeing news from all over the country about colleges having to retreat from normal classes. One after another they announce this retreat, so what about here in our humble town of Morris? Well, I think it's a universal that college kids have to gather and carry-on in close proximity to each other. The "food fair" is probably the last thing we should be allowing.
Music at UMM is obviously a priority for me. Here's a heads-up I got:
 
Music at UMM is planned to continue with many modifications – as in much smaller groups meeting at any given time. Basically small ensembles instead of large groups like concert band and choirs. Even tho, I’m not exactly sure what Brad (Miller) is doing for choral things.
 
There is a Facebook posting from a UMM faculty member expressing chagrin about student behavior. Such behavior IMHO can be counted on like crime, death and taxes. So, what's the revelation? Here's what the faculty member shared:
 
“We may as well call it right now. There is a college party happening across the street with 20+ people and no distancing - no masks. This is likely a microcosm of what's happening, or what will be happening soon, in every college town in America. I was hopeful. Not anymore. How dare these young adults be so cavalier with my family's health, our 2nd and 3rd graders' education, and frankly, our careers? My last-ditch idea is to gather faculty, staff, and community members to protest these gatherings, but it's probably futile. Getting ready to pivot before we've even started. . .”
 
This individual has since commented that the intended in-person learning at UMM will probably have a "run" until Labor Day, maximum. A friend of mine reacted:
 

He later commented that he’d “give it until Labor Day," meaning, I assume, that school would possibly revert to on-line classes within a couple of weeks as the numbers spiked. I’m guessing that either that will happen - or it’s all a hoax and nothing negative will occur. And of course, if the COVID numbers spike, then that means the county readings would be such that the area schools, which are all slated to open Sept. 8th, would be affected and not be allowed to open “live.” I guess it’s wait and see, just like South Dakota after the biker rally. UNLESS – if a lot of UMM students test positive, they won’t necessarily be “credited” to Stevens County totals as the students will give their home addresses, and that’s possibly who will show the affected numbers. That’s what happened here early on – someone tested positive at SCMC, and the county tally initially reflected that. But then, it was discovered that the infectee was “from out of town," so our numbers went down again. Makes no sense, but that’s how the numbers are tracked.

Interesting. Once again, if Hillary Clinton had been elected - an observation that gets an immediate wrenching guffaw from lots of my acquaintances - end of conversation - we'd be largely out of the woods now, after perhaps a period of intense sacrifice, short-term pain.
We are unable to defer gratification. Besides, what about Hillary's emails? OK, you can feel satisfied with that issue, but then accept the near-panic we are into now: questionable school, no football, and on and on. But according to you people, it's better to accept this than to allow "the libs" to have power. Congratulations, you total fools.

Traffic mishap downtown
From the fine KMRS/KKOK site (great job Marshall):

A 2 vehicle property accident occurred Monday afternoon at 5^th Street and Atlantic Avenue in downtown Morris. No one was hurt. 
The motorhome that was involved was preparing to turn right onto West 5^th Street from Atlantic Avenue. In doing so the other vehicle, a passenger car, attempted to utilize the parking lane as a right hand turning lane. The car did not notice the motorhome was turning right and the two vehicles collided. Both vehicles were able to drive away from the scene. Members of the Stevens County Sheriff’s Office and the Morris Public Works Department assisted the Morris Police Department in traffic control until the intersection could be cleared and traffic could resume safely.
 
Seems to me, the intersections where both stoplights are found in Morris, are too prone to mishaps. A town of our small size should not have risky intersections. I always thought that the Dollar Store could be located somewhere else and the intersection there could have been enlarged - more breathing room like for the very long trucks that sometimes turn there.
Frankly, isn't it "bush league" for motorists at the intersection, coming from the west, to "back up" in order to allow a monstrous truck to turn? Seems to me this could have been solved a while back.
The accident the other day was because of likely confusion over whether there is a right turn lane leading to the intersection, or if it's all parking spaces. If it's all parking spaces, maybe it should not be. Right and left turn lanes are a huge asset for avoiding accidents everywhere around the U.S.
I remember a letter to the editor in the Morris paper, I think by the late Sherman Waage, suggesting there be an additional bypass to reduce the big truck traffic through downtown Morris.
Please avoid today's "food fair" at the funeral home parking lot, or you, or someone with whom you have contact, will be making a "return visit" there soon. Don't follow Herman Cain's example. Death is permanent.
 
Donnelly Threshing Bee
Safe to assume there is no Donnelly Threshing Bee, as all such events are scrubbed. But this time of year revives memories of that wondrous community event through the years. My podcast episode for today is inspired by the memories. I invite you to click on this "Morris Mojo" podcast link:
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/Donnelly-Threshing-Bee-eicftc
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Can the old baseball movies still pass muster?

Any room for BLM pride?

Old baseball movies exude a charm of their own, don't they? They entrance us in an irresistible way. We feel entranced like when observing Norman Rockwell magazine covers. I apologize but when I say "we" I'm probably practicing some unintended exclusion. Doesn't the fact jump out at you from such movies that it is a segregated world?
So, while such movies have the charm element, they are surreal in how they present a world of homogeneous human beings. As if no one should notice or care! A confession for this horrible sin was at the end of the '90s HBO documentary "When It Was a Game." The narrator expresses shock at how in his own childhood, he didn't particularly notice or care about baseball's exclusion.
The old baseball movies scream "segregation" yet we seem not to feel alarm about this. Such movies appear not to be banned or blackballed. Legally they cannot be banned but forces within the commercial world could be applied. A concerted push has happened with BLM and the George Floyd incident, to not merely shrug about such offenses.
 
Circling of the wagons maybe?
We're seeing a creeping defensiveness from entertainment as it tries to keep dated artistic works from being killed off. We're seeing disclaimers now about offensive qualities, as if there's a pleading to see these things in a historical context. You may have seen news items about this being done with "Gone With The Wind." Of course it's not going to end there.
So more recently we've heard about "Blazing Saddles," of all things, getting the treatment. It's ironic because the "brains" behind that movie were the opposite of racist. They just tried making their points with a broad parody of racism. Of course, such indirect techniques as parody and irony fly over the heads of many people. Remember the line "the sheriff is near" from Blazing Saddles? Well, "near" was not the word spoken - a ringing bell caused confusion. My generation laughed uproariously.
We laughed not because we were racist but because we saw racism as archaic and indefensible. We were mocking it.
Hollywood still mines the old material to be sure. I guess it's called "residuals." The archives are stuffed with entertainment reflecting all tastes over a wide and disparate spectrum of our history. Will the old westerns with the unsympathetic and stereotypical presentation of Native Americans be blackballed? Until recently most of this stuff could be defended the way we once defended cigarette smoking in public. "Hey, it happens."
Hollywood people probably started losing sleep a while back about how far the scythe might go. You might call it a political correctness scythe. Political correctness has many virtuous aspects, make no mistake about it. We just wonder how far the scythe will go for ferreting out unfair portrayals.
Old baseball movies present a genuine problem. Robert Redford made a retro baseball movie called "The Natural," remember? It was set in the heart of segregated baseball days. Hey, were we supposed to not notice? Guys my age, honestly, probably have a hard time simply noticing. We realized in our boyhood that integration was a good thing. But we were not going to blot out baseball's inarguably rich history from before Jackie Robinson. We could not shut out that history.

We reveled in various "light" baseball movies like "The Kid From Left Field," "Angels in the Outfield" and "It Happens Every Spring." These movies were made around 1950, when technically the color line had been broken, but I'll wager there were no African-Americans in them. Baseball's progress with integration was halting and hard to understand even for my generation. Kids my age could not draw a line and blot out all the baseball that preceded it. At present it seems the prevailing impulse is to, in fact, blot out the sordid history. That would mean pushing aside the legendary names like Babe Ruth. While some of those guys were surely racist, I'm sure many were not.
 
Enlightenment vs. history
So do we throw out the baby with the bathwater, as it were? Tough question. If you doubt the present push, consider what happened in Minnesota where the statue of Calvin Griffith has recently been spirited away. Now, Griffith was without doubt an "Archie Bunker" type. I think that nails it. He "stepped in it" when appearing before a Lions Club in outstate Minnesota once. Were his comments cause for crucifying him, excising him from Minnesota sports and business history? The current attitude would tilt in that direction.
People my age realize this is a losing battle, but we saw so many of our own beloved parents be less than totally enlightened on cultural issues. Many of them lived in a white bread world and we didn't condemn them for that. Tom Brokaw's famous book "The Greatest Generation" had a chapter about this. I believe it was called "Shame."
This trend setting in with "Gone With the Wind" and "Blazing Saddles" - well, how far is it going to go? There is precedent for thinking it could go a very long way. It could wipe out reams of old entertainment. For the better? Many would argue "yes." I would implore people to cut some slack and remember that entertainment cannot resist reflecting the norms from when it was produced. "Three Stooges" shorts had black people like kitchen servants scaring easily, with eyes bugged out, running off etc., and my father informed me that was an old stereotype.
Will we excise all such entertainment? Well, we're talking about the potential "slippery slope," aren't we? How would I like it if I were in an ethnic group portrayed in an insulting way by old Hollywood? Well, I guess I wouldn't like it at all.
 
There can be a gray area
We can beg for people to appreciate satire like "Blazing Saddles." But, you'd be surprised how many people have a hard time grasping satire. Or irony. The movie "Texas Across the River" with Dean Martin ran on network TV periodically when I was a kid. It was a comedy that poked fun at all categories of characters in the standard western. Well, that included Indians. Sometimes you have to rely on your intuition to sense if a movie is mean-spirited or not. My intuition had no problem with "Texas Across the River," or with Johnny Carson's "Aunt Blabby" character which some saw as an affront to old people.
Well, I am now old. I'm 65. And I can still laugh at "dear sweet lovable. . .OLD Aunt Blabby." Ed McMahon spoke the line. Remember how she had a "thing" for Ed? Carson of course played the character.
When you watched the movie "Pride of the Yankees" about Lou Gehrig, remember that in those baseball times, blacks "need not apply" for any roles in baseball. When Hollywood glorified baseball, it was a tip of the hat to white culture 100 percent. I could take seriously any push to excise such movies. That would include "It Happened in Flatbush," a delightful romantic comedy that I could celebrate were it not for the Neanderthal segregation.
We cannot overlook it anymore.
We should all share the consternation expressed by the narrator of "When It Was a Game" at the ending. "I didn't notice, I didn't object." The time for objecting is now.
Jim Bouton in "Ball Four" wrote about how Satchel Paige was confused about a new exhibit at the Hall of Fame "honoring" the Negro Leagues. Paige said he didn't know what it was all about. Bouton enlightened, saying that black stars like Paige were being ushered to "the rear of the place by the kitchen," the way restaurants of the South used to treat their black patrons.
Paige gave us a sense of humor that helps disarm us some. He once said "age is a case of mind over matter. If you don't mind, it don't matter."

Addendum: Some critics might read this post and say I'm coming at the whole subject from an "entitled" perspective. Maybe I'm too stubborn to admit it. I cannot challenge such criticism.
 
Podcast extra:
Please visit my "Morris Mojo" podcast where I talk about the movies "Safe at Home" and "Whistling in Brooklyn." You may click on permalink:
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/Baseball-movies-ei6nrp
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

1963 Los Angeles Dodgers at end of "Camelot"

He could turn on the jets.

The baseball Dodgers were quite detached from Brooklyn by the time of JFK and the 1963 baseball season. We were encouraged to look at the Brooklyn past through a nostalgic lens. We read paeans. Ebbets Field was in New York City so it must have been a "cool" place. That was the bias of the East Coast power media, just like they saw Fenway Park with its oddities in a cool way.
It was much harder to sell ourselves here in the heart of Flyoverland.
The primacy of the East Coast-centric media has waned. The digital age has been a nice equalizer. I talked with a friend once who saw a game at Ebbets Field when he was in the service. "What was it like?" I eagerly asked. "It was a dump," my friend (initials D.E.) said.
Pop culture such as the movie "It Happened in Flatbush" - Lloyd Nolan starring, remember? - would not diss the place. By contrast us Minnesotans had to be defensive feeling good about our Metrodome. There was a dismissive air to how broadcasters said "homer dome." Well, we were in the Midwest, no slack cut for us.
Roger Angell of The New Yorker seemed condescending when writing about the Twins in the 1960s. I mean, such an attitude would be off the table with the East Coast teams. He only seemed generous when acknowledging our team's roots as the Senators of Washington D.C. I imagine the Dodgers tapped into his wellspring of memories too from their days in "Flatbush."
The Dodgers got their nickname from the big city trait of "dodging" streetcars - did you know that? Neat. "Twins" is maybe not clear to some either: it's based on the "twin" cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul, who walked a tightrope to make sure no toes were stepped on at the origination. So quaint to remember now. Young people would need a history lesson.
 
Year after missile crisis
So in 1963 the Dodgers reached the summit with their stellar play, dispatching the New York Yankees in the minimum four games in the Fall Classic. The Yankees' mystique would not fade until 1965. They barely hung on to take the American League flag in '64.
In '63 the Bronx crew seemed pretty stable and powerful. It was the year after the Cuban missile crisis. We all should have just been thankful to be alive. In '63 I'm sure that Angell was most delighted to see the Yankee pinstripes holding on from the A.L. And the Dodgers most likely had a special niche in the writer's mind, as these were the former Brooklyn Dodgers. Yes, from "Flatbush." In a sense he probably saw the 1965 Series as being between the Washington Senators and Brooklyn Dodgers. (It was Minnesota vs. L.A.)
There was a time in big league baseball when St. Louis meant "a trip west." Need I remind also about the belated nature of racial integration. "Quaint" is too mild a word to describe. Years passed before the door got opened sufficiently for the so-called minorities. Look how belated Boston was. Was really criminal.
 
Aura of Camelot
The '63 World Series inspires nostalgia for yours truly because it was at the tail end of "Camelot." JFK was in the White House with First Lady Jacqueline. A year earlier, October 1962, when my father Ralph had a university music ensemble in Seattle for the World's Fair, JFK canceled out of the closing ceremony under the cover story of a cold. He was grappling with the missile crisis.
The Cold War colored my youth. In 1963 I was eight years old. I was barely becoming familiar with major league baseball. Minnesota still had a mania about our still-new Twins. We were entranced by that, partly because in those days, the only team anyone could see on TV regularly was your "home" team.
I acquired my first baseball cards in '63 at a neighborhood grocery in west Morris MN. I still visualize the design of the Topps cards, nice use of color.
It was from a breakfast cereal card that I learned about what Roger Maris did in 1961: 61 home runs. Finally in 1964 I collected enough cards at a nickel a pack to fill a couple shopping bags. Thankfully I held onto all those. Someone sold them for me for commission in the mid-1980s.
The 1963 World Series was a month before we lost JFK in the earthshaking assassination. The smiling visage of JFK defined our spirits as we followed the Fall Classic in 1963. The Classic was not a classic if suspense was your bag. It was a classic if you appreciated top-notch pitching.
The '60s would develop as a decade with pitching really coming to the fore, excessively by '68. So MLB made adjustments.
In October of '63, the Dodgers showcased Sandy Koufax, Don Drysdale, Johnny Podres and reliever Ron Perranoski. The Yankee bats went largely impotent. How much so? My, the Dodger arms gave up just four runs in the four games. Yawn (maybe). At no point in any of the games did the Yankees have the lead!
The Bronx bombers proved to be duds as their team batting average was .171. The "Mendoza line" did not exist then! Chris Berman wasn't around but Mel Allen was. The '63 Series was Allen's 22nd and last World Series broadcast. He came down with laryngitis and had to bail in Game 4 with Vin Scully moving in for him. Game 4 was the highest rated sports broadcast of 1963.
The Joey Bishop show in 1964 had lead character Joey Barnes host members of the 1963 Dodgers on his variety show. Drysdale actually sang "I Left My Heart in San Francisco."
The first two games of the '63 Series were played at Yankee Stadium, the next two at Dodger Stadium. The Dodgers prevailed by scores of 5-2, 4-1, 1-0 and 2-1.
 

Halsey Hall

Veiled racism, probably
I can plumb from my memories how a long-time color announcer for our Minnesota Twins said "I've never liked the Dodgers." It lodged in my mind a little because he did not elaborate. What is there to "dislike" about a major league baseball team, unless you're pointing out specifics or alluding to certain individuals and their behavior?
Looking back all these years later, I wonder if it was an Archie Bunker-like problem. I don't wish to be hard on the late broadcaster. That's why I make the immediate parallel with Archie Bunker, a loved TV character in spite of his, well, Neanderthal traits.
Why would Mr. Hall simply dislike the Dodgers? I have to ponder now: I remember the L.A. lineup having Maury Wills batting leadoff, Jim "Junior" Gilliam at No. 2 followed by Willie Davis and Tommy Davis in the heart of the order. Tommy won the league batting title. John Roseboro was the catcher and Lou Johnson was a World Series hero vs. our Twins in '65. What do they all have in common? They were players of color.
Mr. Hall's background with baseball went back a very long way. He was invited to tell stories in the opposing team's booth during rain delays. I remember when he was asked "who's better, Rod Carew or Ty Cobb?" and without hesitation said Cobb. (Larry Calton asked the question.)
Without hesitation? Why? Carew was a player of color while Cobb played in segregated times. Carew was so phenomenal as a batter, he got on the cover of Time Magazine. It would have seemed obligatory for Mr. Hall to talk up Carew. Cobb was not a model citizen with his attitude or behavior. Thinking about Cobb almost evokes caveman times.
Mr. Hall would be upstaged in the non-enlightened department by Twins owner Calvin Griffith. Griffith's statue was recently removed from Target Field. Nothing subtle about his racial feelings. Then again, let's trot out Archie Bunker in connection to both Halsey Hall and Calvin Griffith. People my age are painfully conflicted about these guys. I have written a song about Halsey Hall. But he should have been congratulatory toward the Dodgers. And he should have extolled Rob Carew. Then he could light up another cigar or avail himself of another "refreshment."
His broadcast partner Herb Carneal once said Halsey "really appreciated good cigars." Unfortunately "that's not the kind he smoked," Carneal added.
 
Never forget: Camelot!
We ought to associate our memories of the grand '63 Series with the glory or innocence of Camelot. After JFK it was Lyndon Johnson and the nightmare Vietnam war.
The '63 Series was the first meeting between teams from New York City and Los Angeles for a major professional sports championship. All hail Sandy Koufax at his peak, plus the other stellar cast members. Do we even think about race or color?
 
More on my podcast
I'm pleased to share additional background/highlights from the Dodgers' superb '63 campaign on my "Morris Mojo" podcast. I invite you to click:
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/The-1963-Los-Angeles-Dodgers-ei2bki
  
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Dominating, so often

Super deal lifted 1967 St. Louis Cardinals

Peter Minuit

People my age can remember coming across the name "Peter Minuit," however fleetingly, in our American history studies in school. Remember that? If you don't, maybe you're younger than me and went to school when political correctness influences were active. This is not to suggest that P.C. is a bad thing although there can be excess zeal.
I was researching the great baseball player Orlando Cepeda when I was reminded of Minuit. I remembered a scholastic current events reading assignment that must have been in the fall of 1967. The World Series was approaching. So here was an article spotlighting Cepeda.
The angle was how the St. Louis Cardinals had come to acquire the star. "Not since Peter Minuit," the article stated, had such a terrific deal been struck.
Peter Minuit? The young people of today would probably say "huh?" Making light of Minuit's dealmaking would today rank alongside "Redskins" as an NFL team name. Or, "Fighting Sioux" at University of North Dakota. Prolonged battles were needed to remedy those name issues. As I expected, people associated with UND got over the nickname thing faster than was expected. The "battle" over that is going to start looking quaint and likely foolish in the institution's annals.
Sports fans can seize on team nicknames in a base way. So, fans of UND hockey opponents were known in one example to chant "smallpox blankets" in an unbelievable display of crudeness.
This raw element of college sports has been fading. As I write this in late summer of 2020, we have such pressing matters in front of us with the pandemic. It seems beyond foolish to think of the Neanderthal traits of a certain element of college sports fans. It ought to go into the dustbin along with the name of Peter Minuit.
 
Baseball's joy to offset war
So, "not since Peter Minuit" has such a shrewd "deal" been crafted, eh? This attempt at cleverness or cuteness in our scholastic reading assignment touched on the impending World Series of 1967. I was 12 years old and loved baseball as an escape from my mundane life and school routine. We read a lot about the swelling Vietnam war. Every impulse I had when reading about the war suggested to me it was terrible and indefensible.
I learned the word "strive" from a scholastic reading task. As in, the president of South Vietnam was "striving" to accomplish something. Well, whatever. We were supposed to root for the South in this "good guys/bad guys" dichotomy, a neat dichotomy dished up so well through incessant TV westerns, a panoply of entertainment in which it was so often suggested we had to overcome the "redskins" or Indians. The Indians were "the other" in this insidious presentation.
Orlando Cepeda himself might have reflected the struggles of non-whites. He was a dark-skinned man from Puerto Rico, not African-American, although such hair-splitting seems itself to be objectionable. Who cares? Well, a lot of people cared about color then, even years after the color line was broken by the Brooklyn Dodgers.
It's almost sad to reflect on the initial breaking of the barrier, embarrassing because years passed when the progress was so halting. Legal action or threats of same were finally needed for the Boston Red Sox to integrate. Pumpsie Green was their pioneering non-white.
One of my favorite early Minnesota Twins was Vic Power - what an unforgettable first baseman and interesting personality - and he should have been the first player of color with the New York Yankees. What a statement that would have been, for the heralded Yankees to have a black man of panache in the lineup. He had a flashy style on the field too. Not acceptable for the Yankees at the time. Power was knocking the cover off the ball in Triple-A. People carrying protest signs began appearing at Yankee Stadium demanding Power's promotion. No. The Yankees dispatched Power who then played nicely with non-major market teams, a nice story in the end but it could have been better and more heroic.
Power had black skin but like Cepeda was from Puerto Rico. Races did not matter in that island land. I have learned about how Power had to "learn" our culture. Presumably Cepeda had to also.
Cepeda spent part of his minor league development in St. Cloud MN, playing for the "Rox." So did Lou Brock, Gaylord Perry and Matty Alou. I graduated from college at St. Cloud. Today their baseball team is not affiliated with a big league club. It has resurrected the name "Rox" after a period of years when the name was "River Bats." St. Cloud is on the Mississippi River. Cepeda came back for a parade once.
 
Cepeda: from Giants to Cards
The story of the 1967 world champion St. Louis Cardinals is largely the story of Cepeda. Cepeda previously made a pretty big mark with the San Francisco Giants. He left the Giants in a 1966 trade that is not reflected upon in the most positive way. Oh, it was certainly positive from the standpoint of what he meant for the Cardinals. It probably meant the pennant and world championship for them. But why did the exciting player leave the Bay Area? There is suspicion that the Giants didn't like such a strong presence of players of color. The heart of their batting order had featured Willie Mays, Willie McCovey and Cepeda. Juan Marichal was a stellar pitcher. Non-whites all.
How does Peter Minuit fit into all this? Well, my scholastic reading assignment tried making such a cute point over how the Cardinals braintrust had pulled off such a fantastic deal in acquiring Cepeda from the Giants. "Not since Peter Minuit."
So, if you're younger than me and probably studied American history when it had been "cleaned up," I'll give you a refresher on Peter Minuit. Minuit is credited with orchestrating the purchase of Manhattan Island for the Dutch from a Native American tribe, the "Lenape." Minuit purchased Manhattan for $24 worth of trinkets. Hah hah! Isn't that funny? Well, naturally the Native Americans did not have the same concept of property as the new Europeans. Exploitation set in.
Alas, it is said that history is really a story of "the strong exploiting the weak." It is not to be celebrated. Not intended for generating a chuckle or two among schoolkids in a reading assignment. My childhood was when some Neanderthal aspects were present. But of course, nothing as bad as the Vietnam war. I learned so much cynicism.
I could not have cared less that the South Vietnam leader was "striving" to accomplish something. I tried to find happiness in baseball cards and sports magazines. What else could I do?
For the record, the San Francisco Giants traded Cepeda for pitcher Ray Sadecki.
The Yankees' first player of color was Elston Howard.
A footnote re. Vic Power: In the days when blacks could be hassled trying to get access to the same restaurants as whites, Power opted often to get food at grocery stores, lots of salami and bananas.
 
More on my podcast:
My "Morris Mojo" podcast episode for today reflects on the exciting St. Louis Cardinals of 1967. The Redbirds were world champions with their win over the Cinderella A.L. champ, the Boston Red Sox. I invite you to click on permalink below:
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/The-Cardinals-of-67-ehthhh
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Peter Minuit with Native Americans

Please, keep kids at home if at all possible

Jim Carrey's painting of Jared Kushner, "The Self-Unmade Man"

Maybe it is time to just cling to life. Is it selfish to think that? Well, by taking care of "number one," to stay healthy, we're not just preserving ourselves. We are protecting others.
It is hard to believe that so many of us can still be in denial. We sense a prevailing notion that you have a positive outlook if you want to see kids back in school. And, that you're some sort of 'fraidy cat or defeatist if you do not.
Or, you buy the outrageously shallow Trump rhetoric that you just seek to "harm him politically" if you wish to see schools closed. The time is long past to pay any attention to what he says. Impressionable people dragged their feet on acknowledging the health crisis. Mask-wearing was made into a point of contention.
Why are we taking any chances at all, considering the prospect of a worsening virus outbreak? The "second wave" may be looming. It has already surprised us.
A couple weeks ago there was a headline on the Drudge Report on new dangers in Idaho. The stereotype of that state is that it presents itself as about the most anti-"woke" place. But when the welfare of kids enters the picture, it sweeps aside any mere political "fashion." I read some of the Idaho coverage and learned that Boise schools would make an announcement on August 3.
An op-ed headline this morning from the Idaho Statesman reads: "In high-spread areas in Idaho, keep schools closed, start the fall semester online-only."
Does any serious person think this suggestion is based on any sort of political judgment re. Donald Trump? The Statesman piece reads: "What may seem like an insurmountable and unreasonable ask today will one day be recognized as a wise and necessary step during extraordinary times."
The piece notes that "some schools are pushing to open now, with the possibility of going online later in the fall. It's almost as if we are expecting a disaster." The piece suggests a reversal, that schools should start off online, and weigh the possibility of bringing the students back later once conditions improve.
Maybe some people sense there is a stigma in being conservative (holding back with in-person), and why for that matter should we use the term "conservative?" Is it possible that we're unduly influenced by the many people who make their living or are connected to our many-tentacled public school system, a beast that needs to be fed? It's an intimidating power, perhaps one that gains traction with the suggestion that you're "positive" if you want the doors to open, "negative" if not.
That considerable power is countered by the fear of dying we must weigh, both for ourselves and our children. The latter can obviously transfer the virus to the former.
As time goes on, we will feel less and less security as a result of just feeling healthy on a particular day. We are all vulnerable, especially those up in years or with pre-existing conditions. We are fools if we become influenced by Trump's rhetoric. Major League Baseball tried moving forward with the best of intentions. Ah, the best-laid plans. . .
We saw Herman Cain show a carefree attitude going to Tulsa OK to simply be present for a Trump rally. He was photographed smiling and looking quite content, surrounded in close proximity by others. He got the virus and is now deceased.
 
The Kushner problem
There is a strong belief making the rounds this weekend, that Jared Kushner's task force believed at one point the pandemic would affect Democratic areas worse. The politically-oriented people closest to the boyish-looking son-in-law of the president thought a coordinated nationwide response was a bad political move. Outbreaks appeared for a time particularly bad in states inclined to vote Democratic.
And of course, why the heck should that matter? Even a "Democrat" state has many people who voted Republican and for Trump.
A strategy developed, to "hold back" and then blame the Democratic governors. At the cost or sacrifice of lives lost? Well, apparently. So I'm wondering, where is the overwhelming outcry from all over re. this? The demand for expedited action, to perhaps set up a panel to charge Kushner and others of a "crime against humanity."
Maybe there is a chance of this happening if Democrats seize enough power in November. That is not guaranteed. The Trump machine of power is doing all it can to wreck the U.S. Postal Service to try to make sure mail-in voting doesn't work, or will end up looking so suspect there would be lawsuits to gum up the gears, resulting in chaos. I depend on the P.O. for my bank correspondence.
You would think enough responsible people walk the corridors of power in Washington D.C. to ensure that such a sinister thing does not come about. Through most of my life I would have assumed the presence of enough people motivated by wisdom and goodness. "America is just like that." But that model is under considerable threat now.
So, it appears there is a totally plausible suggestion that Trump and his people were willing to see lives lost so certain political aims could be realized. And on this very day, August 2, I still have to drive up toward the soils lab in Morris and see a sign off to the right, on property I assume is owned by Superior Industries, promoting "Trump-Pence." Surely I must be in some sort of alternate universe. The considerable Trump-oriented crowd of the Morris area was fed raw meet from the Trump right wing for so long, it's like trying to turn a barge around in a river to deal with it. Such incredible stubbornness. Mask-denial. Finger-pointing at Dr. Fauci.
 

Dr. Birx

"Enabler" Dr. Birx
This morning it appears the Democrats are making some belated jabs at Dr. Birx who has become a fool, Trump's fool. History is written by the winners. If Trump cannot be overcome, Birx will skate to a degree, but what price will this country pay? If the pushback vs. Trump succeeds, the likes of Birx and other "enablers" would be in for a world of punishment. Jared Kushner up for "crime against humanity?" It almost seems like a no-brainer. The wheels should start turning immediately.
Here's a totally damning headline from "Business Insider": "Trump was 'bored' with the pandemic until he was told it was hurting 'our people': fellow Republicans." I mean, what hath God wrought? It has come to this? Right before our very eyes? In the year 2020? Aren't you concerned how God will pass judgment?
The Business Insider article reported "senior advisers tried a new approach: they told the president the coronavirus wasn't just killing liberals in blue states but was hurting Republicans and could spread in swing states."
The term "our people" lands like a lead balloon. We are not two species of humans in our U.S. of America: blue and red, liberals and conservatives, Democrat and Republican. And if we are allowing our society to degenerate into this, it's what might be called an "existential crisis."
Nobody wants to die. No one wants friends and family to die, not even the many religious diehards of our Stevens County who will retreat from Trump only when it has been determined that hell has frozen over. I encounter these people. One used to forward me his tea party-flavored stuff and I read some of it with amusement until I just couldn't take it anymore. I asked him to stop forwarding.

Morris connection in Idaho
Boise, Idaho, is where our former Morris library director Melissa Yauk lives today. I gave her an emailed heads-up about what the news was saying, and advised her to please be careful. She responded: "We'll get through this. We just have to act responsibly."
America has survived crises in the past. But we must not assume we'll always have the grit to do it. The current situation is incredibly scary. Herman Cain took a cavalier attitude and look how he ended up. Don't you feel scared now? There's nothing "macho" about defying fear. And certainly we must embrace fear or concern on behalf of our kids.
What is it that Superior Industries people think is so darn important about keeping Trump/Pence in power? It's so ludicrous. I am a mere grain of sand with the power I might wish to exercise. I can write and write and write. So what?

Whither our Morris public school?
So, what about our Morris MN school system? Are we on edge like in Idaho? Here's an email I received from a friend on July 31:
 
It looks like Morris Schools will open live with kids – sort of – if things stay the way they are now, even tho not said in so many words by the supt yet. It depends on the percentage of COVID diagnoses per 1000 people or something like that, and Steven County fits under the suggested bar line (as of today). But families will have the option of holding kids out to do remote learning, so will be interesting to see how that plays out if in fact that’s what they do. I heard where Hancock schools are for sure opening up on time, fully kid-present. Nothing has been said about the teachers that don’t want to come in and teach those little super spreaders. It sounds like all fall sports have been suspended around here, and UMM has “postponed” their fall sports schedules, as if they think they might run them in the spring. Silly rabbits. MLB is having trouble already – it wouldn’t surprise me if they canned the season completely. And will pro football even start? I kinda think not, but who knows? And the pro basketball and hockey leagues restarting (continuing) their seasons - it just doesn’t feel right. I do get a kick out of the televised baseball games with the crowd noise artificially piped into the broadcast, and “fake” people in the seats, be they digitally inserted or cardboard cutouts.
 
We must resist undue pressure to "open the doors" and think it's good news if the kids simply stream in. It could be a disastrous thing. Lives could be lost. There are conservative churches in the Morris area that are hopeless for trying to persuade re. Trump. It's "Alice Through the Looking Glass." Forgive them, Lord, for they know not what they do.
 
My podcast entry for August 2: please visit
My "Morris Mojo" podcast for the second day of August reminds of how close we're getting to key decisions. Also, to remind how special this time of year is. I mean, before fall descends on us. So I invite you to click on permalink below:
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/Second-day-of-August-ehjb7n
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com

Curt Flood, Lou Brock and twists of fate in '68

Know one reason why I'm glad I never played sports? I haven't had to spend my adult life cringing as I remember a missed shot or dropped ball or some such thing. I have doubled my pleasure by being a sportswriter. Thus I can comment on these very things from a safe distance! OK, tongue in cheek just a little. Any flippance is intended with levity.
But the facts are clear: kids who choose to play sports do subject themselves to a sometimes-cruel scrutiny. They must accept that when they accept the challenge. I have seen an interview with an old guy who played college football at a place where this activity draws rabid interest - the guy dropped a fateful key pass. Years later he fields questions about it. He may do so with a smile. But what kind of pain might churn underneath?
I remember the son of a Minnesota Twins star of the 1970s. The son played basketball with a Big 10 team and missed pivotal freethrows at the end of an important contest.
In the movies we see the sympathetic character make these shots. Consider the short guy with "Hickory" in "Hoosiers" doing the underhand technique. What if he had missed? In real life such situations don't follow script. Has a movie ever dwelled on a missed shot or dropped ball?
All of which brings us to the subject of the 1968 World Series. The Detroit Tigers played the St. Louis Cardinals. The Cardinals had won it all the year before by beating Boston. The '68 Fall Classic stretched to seven games. Curt Flood roamed the spacious center field territory for the Cards. His prowess in the field was unquestioned: seven Gold Gloves!
Fate intervenes in strange ways, like with the ball getting lost in the shirts of the crowd. Nothing a mortal can do about that. People talk to this day about Flood's failure to catch a drive hit by Detroit's Jim Northrup. Northrup had the nickname "Gray Fox." I have seen the variant "Silver Fox." Can't we all remember a male high school classmate who showed up for a reunion prematurely gray? Here's a shout-out, Ted!
Minnesota Twins broadcaster Larry Calton couldn't mention Northrup's name, it seemed, without the "Gray Fox" moniker. Calton had a transitory presence in Twins baseball and happened to be a jerk. That's irrelevant in connection to the topic here today.
 
Stage is set: two baserunners
The baseball universe was focused on Busch Stadium of St. Louis on October 10 of '68. Northrup was a good if not superstar player. He sure looked like a superstar when hitting grand slams. In the top of the seventh in Game 7, Northrup hit the ball a long way but not over the fence. The game was scoreless.

Two baserunners were on: Norm Cash at second, Willie Horton on first. Premier pitcher Bob Gibson needed one more out to get out of the jam. Gibson could be overpowering at this apex phase of his career, but Northrup "got ahold of one." The ball sailed long toward center. But was it catchable? A player of Flood's caliber might well be expected to chase it down. But he misjudged the ball. Initially he broke in. Upon trying to reverse, he lost his footing as his spikes may have gotten caught in the turf. Maybe he just slipped on a wet, slick spot. The previous day had rain.
Legends have been spun. And Flood was forced to reflect in the aftermath of it all. Northrup too was asked to assess this moment in the years to come: was the ball catchable? Would it have been a hit even with Flood executing smoothly? The questions are asked by people like me, sports journos. The athletes themselves are the truly commendable ones as they assume the risks of just going out and playing ball.
Flood did not fall but his momentum was derailed. He recovered fairly quickly but the ball was hit with such authority, it fell behind Flood, several yards in front of the warning track. The two runners came in. Northrup pulled in at third. The next batter, Bill Freehan, doubled to make the score 3-0. And the Tigers went on to win 4-1 to take Game 7 and the title.
How has history passed judgment? Frankly it's a mixed decision. Painstaking review of the play appears to yield no authoritative conclusion. Maybe Flood could have made the catch, perhaps not.
Flood got the "goat" label by some. Some have observed that the ball landed in a spot where a center fielder, especially one of Flood's skill, could have made the play.
Flood commented later that he did in fact lose the ball in the crowd. His manager was Red Schoendienst who professed that Flood surely could have made the play, had he not come in at first. There's hardly a consensus. A well-known Detroit sportswriter said at the time of Northrup's passing that no one could have caught that drive.
 
Everyone had an opinion
If you want to put stock in what Denny McLain says, the great winner of 31 games in '68 proclaimed that no way could Flood have gathered in the ball. McLain has a checkered background. At present he's doing well on the panel for the "No Filter Sports" podcast. His comment on the subject came in 2011. And yet on another occasion he offered a contradictory take. He noted in his autobiography, "Nobody's Perfect," that Flood "blew it," that he "couldn't find the ball."
The late Flood had his own autobiography called "The Way It Is." The Cardinal of note gives scant attention to the Game 7 play. He admitted he gained "unfavorable attention." He said part of the problem was that he was "bushed." So, tired? Exhausted? There's a biography as well as autobiography of Flood, the former having been written by Stuart Weiss. Weiss tried to dissect the comment that Flood made in his book. Weiss was left feeling puzzled by "bushed." He felt it could not account for Flood's initial misjudgment.
Lost the ball in the shirts? Not sure how any player could overcome this wrinkle - if it's lost, it's lost. Heck, so easy for us sports journos or fans to second-guess a guy who has followed his passion for the game. The passion should be at the forefront of our thoughts. A game is made up of many plays that can affect the outcome. Did you know that a throw from the outfield by Roger Maris in the 1962 World Series may well have won it for the Yankees? The pinpoint execution caused a Giants runner to hold at third base.
Bob Gibson recalled his thoughts: he felt as the ball went skyward that his center fielder would make the play. He had seen Flood make many boffo plays. He bemoaned Flood taking his first fateful step toward the infield. Catcher Tim McCarver saw the moisture or mud as a key impediment. Even Northrup acknowledged the muddy conditions in the outfield.
Northrup never attained the prime stardom of Al Kaline or Willie Horton. His penchant for grand slams came forth in the '68 Series, as he connected with the bases full in Game 6 off Larry Jaster. He had eight RBIs in the seven-game series, seven hits, two home runs and four runs scored.
Maybe Flood got relief because he became famous for something away from the diamond: challenging the unfair power of owners legally. His case set the tone for player inroads later.

A teammate's lapse
Let us note there was another suggested goat for the '68 Series, the great Lou Brock. We're looking at Game 5 and the fifth inning. St. Louis has three runs, Detroit two. Speed merchant Brock was poised at second base. Surely any hit would bring him in.
Julian Javier is batting. The Detroit pitcher is Mickey Lolich who would end up pitching three complete game victories (and be MVP of course). Javier drove the ball to left. Horton patrolled left, not a particularly skilled defensive player. Sometimes he got pulled in the late innings for a defensive replacement. He had bad knees. He charged in and fielded the ball on the hop. His arm wasn't bad. Don Wert might have been the cutoff man but Horton's throw eluded him. It bounced once, then it arrived at Freehan's mitt. The backstop blocked the plate. (Good thing it wasn't Pete Rose barrelling in at him, heh heh.)
Then, a fateful decision: Brock opts not to slide. Not to slide! As with Flood's floundering out in center, this episode went into the annals of turning point plays with a possible "goat." But wait, Brock's judgment should not have been deemed surprising, because all season long the blurry-fast runner had opted not to slide into home. A psychological ploy on his part? A way of dissing opposing teams and their futility to catch a guy as fast as Brock?
So, Brock stood up straight. He couldn't sneak around Bill Freehan. Pete Rose would have chanced killing Bill Freehan! (Remember when Ray Fosse was the victim in the All-Star Game?)
Ump Doug Harvey proclaimed "out!" The Cardinals argued the call but to no avail. The Cardinals wouldn't score again in the game. It ended 5-3 with Detroit winning.
It's foolish to say the one Brock play "took the wind from the Cardinals' sails." That would be the language of sportswriters like me! My satisfaction is that while I can critique sports to no end, I'll never have to review a single play or misstep from my remote past, over and over. The underhand freethrow shooter in "Hoosiers" experienced the ecstasy of victory. Obviously it doesn't always turn out that way! (Speaking of how it turned out, did Gene Hackman really get the girl?) Athletes must accept their lot.
 
Addendum: The 1968 Series made music history when Jose Feliciano did his "edgy" interpretation of the National Anthem. Well, it was edgy by the standards of the time! I wrote a blog post on this for my other blog site, "I Love Morris." I invite you to review that history:
https://ilovemorris73.blogspot.com/2018/09/jose-feliciano-and-national-anthem-1968.html
 
My song about '68 Tigers
I wrote song lyrics inspired by the champion Detroit Tigers, and had them originally appear with my post about pitcher Earl Wilson. I have copied those lyrics to appear here as well. I was 13 years old in 1968.

"Ode to 1968 Tigers"
by Brian Williams

I was just a teenage boy
Back in '68
Baseball was a source of joy
Tigers made it great

There they were on baseball cards
Winning hearts of all
They were primed and playing hard
Answering the call

Yes it was a stressful time
In the USA
War and riots on our mind
So we had to pray

We had baseball to escape
'Cause we needed fun
Tigers were a team first-rate
Runner-up to none

Kaline was a superstar
Up on the marquee
In our city that made cars
He was royalty

Tigers were a Cadillac
In the A.L. race
They displayed their potent bats
And the gloves were great

Mayo Smith was manager
He could hardly miss
Never did a doubting word
Come across his lips

Yes it helped he had a squad
Talented and deep
They would play right into fall
Past the summer heat

Pitching on a pedestal
Garnering such fame
One guy won a bushel-full
Denny was his name

Freehan wore the catcher's mask
Back behind the plate
He was up to ev'ry task
Lifting up his mates

Norman had the first base glove
Tiger to the core
Symbol of a winning club
Breaking down the door

Stanley was in center field
Covered lots of ground
Then he got a whole new deal
Shortstop made him proud

Lolich was a southpaw gem
On the pitching mound
His resolve would never bend
As they sought the crown

Though his weight was tilting high
No one had to care
It would not affect his pride
None the worse for wear

Mister Wert just rode the tide
Playing third with ease
Strasburg P.A. felt its pride
When he took the field

Dick McAuliffe did the dance
In the infield scene
He had quite the batting stance
We could all agree

Horton could bring oohs and aahs
With his boxscore line
Cause his bat was really boss
As the Tigers climbed

Then there was the "Silver Fox"
Northrup was his name
Holding down an outfield spot
In the grand old game

There was Sparma on the hill
For the clinching game
He came through and filled the bill
Tigers never waned

Earl Wilson there to pitch
Did his job just fine
And this guy could really hit
For the Tiger nine

I was just a teenage boy
Back in '68
Baseball was a source of joy
Tigers made it great

When I dream they come alive
From my memory
Like they're still between the lines
For the fans to see

Tigers were my team

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