Many teams deserved state bid

By Joel Myhre (Contact) | The Daily Journal

Published Saturday, March 8, 2008

Congratulations to the Otter girls basketball team for making its first-ever trip to state. It is amazing that they haven’t made it to state. Talking to my in-laws who attended high school here, and remembering my own days as sports editor, we remembered many teams who certainly had the talent to go to state, and many great players go through the system, from Kim Hanson to Carleen Rose to Michelle Hilley to Cara Paulius. But as they say, the ball just didn’t bounce their way.

In other words, Fergus Falls should treasure this year’s run, because, no matter how good the talent or the coaching, another state tournament bid may not come our way for a long time again.

This team reminds me a lot of the Little Falls teams of the 1980s and 1990s, which won multiple state tournaments. Many of those teams, featuring a lot of fast athletes, used a punishing full-court press to force turnovers, get a lot of easy buckets, and generally rattle teams. The huge crowds that turned out for Little Falls girls games added to the intimidation factor for other teams as well (and I don’t just say visiting teams, because the whole town boarded buses and attended away games as well).

By the way, The Journal is also stepping up its coverage, not only in print, but on the web. We’re providing halftime and end-of-game updates that, if you register with our web site, can be sent to your cell phone. (Last weekend, I was on vacation in Oregon, and found out the score on my cell phone and told all my Fergus Falls companions about it.) We also are providing a video highlights package that can be seen a couple hours after the game.

No matter what happens at state, just being there is a lot of fun for the whole town.

Good luck, Otters!

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So following one of my golf trips a couple of years ago, I wrote an article about how I despised going on golf trips.

My friend and person who plans all of the golf trips took offense. No matter how I explained that it wasn’t his planning, but the fact that I couldn’t handle playing so badly on these trips, he has never lived down the fact that I didn’t enjoy going on a golf trip he planned.

Feeling some guilt, I decided to give it one more try. And I can honestly say that I had a good time. Sure, the trip didn’t start out as well as I had hoped. Friday afternoon’s round included one massive, coming-sideways rain that left all of us wondering why we were out there. And in the difficult Saturday morning round, I failed to get within 20 strokes of my handicap, causing much heartache.

But for some reason, I got up Sunday morning and said to myself, “No matter what happens, you are going to enjoy the day today.”

And I did. The weather was beautiful, the views of the Pacific Ocean were incredible, and, while I certainly played better than the first two days, I took bad shots in stride, joked around with my playing partners, and played the game as I really need to play it from now on — with joy.

Here’s hoping my breakthrough will lead to a more relaxed summer on the golf course.

Joel Myhre is the general manager of the daily Journal. He can be reached at joel.myhre@fergusfallsjournal.com.