We were teased with a couple super days in April where the temperature was around 80 degrees, sun was shining, wind was minimal and I was able to bike the whole route east of town. The weather then did a prolonged turnabout.
We crept into June with anticipation, finally, of true summer. But then the pendulum went in the complete other direction.
So, fans of the softball Tigers had to breathe a sigh of relief about the early start time for Saturday's 3AA-North action. The format was double-elimination at this stage. Fans are still getting accustomed to the new softball facility. It's called "Holmberg Field" which was proclaimed as such a seemingly endless number of times by Saturday's radio announcer. No one has an excuse for not knowing the name of the field.
I did not make it out to take a look on Saturday. I assume there was an effort to charge for admission again. That appears not to be an easy task, because fans arrive at the place from a variety of directions. A freeloader could easily pull it off. Maybe now we'll hear a suggestion for a fence to surround the place so there's only one entry point. That would ensure that everyone would pay.
Maybe these games could be free admission? Government entities have poured lots of money into creation of the field. That's money from the people like the $150,000 from the City of Morris. I personally question that.
MACA is done with serious competition at the place now, until when? Next April? And that's if the weather accommodates. I question the whole project but mine is a voice in the wilderness, if that's the appropriate expression. Or as Alex Karras once articulated: "Mongo just pawn in game of life."
Oh, and if additional fencing is done there - money would have to come forth for that - is that the end of it? Oh heavens. We'll probably then hear that the place needs sidewalks.
Was MACA softball so bereft of facilities for its first 40 years? I'm not a conservative curmudgeon. We want good facilities. We must proceed with reason and weigh priorities accordingly. It wasn't necessary for the City of Morris to be distracted or bothered by this project.
Were cars parked all along the shoulders of Prairie Lane, going to the east? Oh, we need a parking lot. "Need, need, need." 'Til hell won't have it. Better yet, we should have just left everything the way it was. Or, develop soccer assets more.
It's bad enough that football is in decline everywhere now. Could our Big Cat Stadium be re-purposed? The best thing that happens there all year is the rehearsal of the Irondale marching band. St. Cloud State erected a new football facility in 2004 and now there is no football program there. How to rationalize the mis-allocation of money? Hey, it's just state money I guess. Once it's spent, once it's gone, we just have to forget about it. Some of us don't want to forget about it.
You know what'll happen here in Morris: Voices will be raised about how a parking lot is absolutely essential, then the wheels of government will have to cough up the money from some level. Maybe it will be the City of Morris again. Why can't people ask more questions about these projects? Why is the local commercial media such a winking partner in the overbearing "sell" job for such things? That's a perfectly apt question.
The media could ask one or two questions that would put promoters on the spot and force them to explain dodgy aspects. Like, if it's a $1.4 million project, how much of the money actually exists and how much only exists in theory? What about the prospect of cost overruns? What about the prospect of additional needs being perceived - an example is sidewalks - that will impose further expenses?
How much of the promotional talk is from people who simply have a vested emotional interest in high school sports? The emotions of such people can absolutely bowl you over. I have personal experience. If you get these people ticked off at you, your business or profession could suffer. Such are the ways of the world.
Weren't the Tigers the No. 1 seed in Section 3AA-North? Well, the new field certainly did not help us live up to that.
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com
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