Bob CollinsBacklash from the ballpark, was your Yahoo password stolen, group hug in Fergus Falls, the way we really are and that Goyte song, and sunset in Laporte.
1) THE BACKLASH FROM THE BALLPARKS
Don’t criticize the local folks.
That much is the lesson Robert Williams at the East Ottertail Focus must be walking away from, given what sounds like a strident response to his article and reworked article in his paper (mentioned in this space this week) that took amateur ballplayers to task for bad behavior. That’s a column that took a lot of guts to write.
There’s a load of risk taking individuals to task in a small community and Williams, apparently, heard the backlash, removing the first article, rewriting it, and then removing that version, too.
In his latest article, Williams acknowledges there’s more good sportsmanship than bad, credits a team from Perham, and then responds to the people who’ve been jamming his phone line since the original article:
I am not here to belittle people and I believe my work speaks for itself in how I do my best to relate what happens at sporting events in a positive fashion.
What should I do when what happens on the field is not positive?
Just sit there and pretend it isn’t happening? Keep my mouth shut.
This topic is not some new fad. It was something I heard about all weekend.
It isn’t just me bringing it up.
But I am not going to mention any names of people I’ve discussed the topic of sportsmanship with for fear of having to field phone calls from them.
People don’t like being called out. People want the truth but find it hard to swallow when it is about them.
I saw offended people this weekend – people who were trying their best and giving of their time to assist in putting on a display of sporting entertainment at multiple events.
One tournament was created to raise awareness of teen suicide. It wasn’t even about baseball.
Teen suicide is a far more heinous topic than poor sportsmanship.
To display such bad attitudes in the realm of a tournament built around philanthropy to prevent such acts and create empathy for those who have lost young relatives to self-inflicted deaths is embarrassing.
There is no excuse for it. I don’t care how old you are. I don’t care where you’re from and I don’t care who you are.
There’s no tougher assignment for a reporter than covering a small, close community.
2) WAS YOUR PASSWORD HACKED?
PBS NewsHour’s website has posted such a simple tool for answering the obvious question that it’s a wonder other websites carrying details of the stealing of Yahoo passwords haven’t done the same thing.
Enter your Yahoo! username, get the answer.
3) GROUP HUG IN FERGUS FALLS
Fans of an historic building slated for demolition in Fergus Falls will call attention to the value of the doomed structure tomorrow. They’ll hug it. The Kirkbride building was a treatment facility for the mentally ill — although it was known at the time as “an insane asylum.” It reflected the treatment theory of the time — located away from urban centers, farms to work on, and a natural setting.
Tomorrow, the building’s supporters are organizing a “flash mob” to circle, then hug, the building. They’re hoping a video of the event will galvanize support for keeping it.
4) THE WAY WE ARE AND THAT GOTYE SONG
A little lesson in human behavior, courtesy of NPR’s excellent “Monkey See” blog…
“I’m not suggesting that the primary way to absorb this video is as a lesson in anything, but I am suggesting that this is a real thing that real people really do,” Linda Holmes writes today.
“A lot of people have a public cultural identity that endorses only (1) things that they think are beneficial to society according to a sort of cultural code of ethics and (2) things that are consistent with the way they want other people to believe (sometimes truthfully, sometimes not) that they relate to culture. But then they also have a private cultural identity that consists of what they actually like and respond to and enjoy.”
5) MINNESOTA MOMENTS: THE SUNSET
Laporte, Minnesota puts its best foot forward
A Summer Sunset from rideMN on Vimeo.
TODAY’S QUESTION
Minneapolis has a rate of unsolved homicides that is higher than those in comparable cities. Police say potential witnesses don’t come forward, because of a lack of trust or for other reasons. Today’s Question: If you had witnessed a crime, would you feel comfortable cooperating with police?
WHAT WE’RE DOING
Daily Circuit (9-12 p.m.) – First hour: International adoption.
Second hour: Family road trips.
Third hour: The two-year anniversary of the BP oil spill.
MPR News Presents (12-1 pm): The TED Radio Hour: The future of cities. For the first time in history, more than half the world’s people live in cities.
Science Friday (1-2 p.m.) – How does cancer evade treatment?
All Things Considered (3-6:30 p.m.) – The Mormon community has a reputation for conservative politics. But a controversial topic in the southwest, has revealed a political rift. An immigration debate is underway among the conservative faithful in Arizona, where Latino Mormon communities are growing. NPR will report Mormons and immigration in Arizona.
