Bear Hunting - Alaska style

The Pope took a couple of days off to visit the rugged mountains of Alaska for some sightseeing. He was cruising along the campground in the Pope Mobile when there was a frantic commotion just at the edge of the woods. A helpless Democrat, wearing sandals, shorts, a 'Vote for Obama' hat and a 'Save the Trees' t-shirt, was screaming while struggling frantically and thrashing around trying to free himself from the grasp of a 10-foot grizzly.

As the Pope watched in horror, a group of Republican loggers with 'Go Sarah' t-Shirts came racing up. One quickly fired a 44 magnum into the bear's chest. The other two reached up and pulled the bleeding, semiconscious Democrat from the bear's grasp. Then using long clubs, the three loggers finished off the bear and two of them threw it onto the bed of their truck while the other tenderly placed the injured Democrat in the back seat.

As they prepared to leave, the Pope summoned them to come over. 'I give you my blessing for your brave actions!' he told them. 'I heard there was a bitter hatred between Republican loggers and Democratic environmental activists, but now I've seen with my own eyes that this is not true.'

As the Pope drove off, one logger asked his buddies 'Who was that guy?'

'It was the Pope,' another replied. 'He's in direct contact with Heaven and has access to all wisdom.'

'Well,' the logger said, 'he may have access to all wisdom, but he doesn't know squat about bear hunting! By the way, is the bait still alive, or do we need to go back to Massachusetts and get another one?

Memorial Day

Today is Memorial Day in the United States. For many of us, it's a day off work, the unofficial start of the summer season. And while it's nice to have the day off and I'm definitely ready for summer, we need to insure that the true meaning of the day isn't lost in the rush to enjoy warm weather and a barbeque.

Originally called "Decoration Day", today is a day to remember the men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for their country and for those of us who remain behind. It was first celebrated shortly after the end of the U.S. Civil War and was originally a way to remember those Union soldiers killed during that conflict. Since the end of World War I, it's been a day to remember casualties of all U.S. wars and military actions.

Whether you attend a memorial service at your local cemetery, watch a parade or just spend some time in quiet reflection, I hope that you'll take time to honor the thousands of men and women who have made the freedom you enjoy possible. And when you see a veteran who has returned home, please take a moment to let them know you are grateful they sacrificed their time and put their life on the line.

It's especially important that we tell our veterans now how we feel. Many of the remaining veterans of World War II and Korea are in their 80's and countless Vietnam vets are getting ready to collect their pensions because they're turning 65.

Better still, if you get a chance to have an in depth visit with a veteran, listen to what he or she will tell you about his or her experience. I know there are many experiences which are just too horrible to relate, but there are valuable lessons to be learned from those who have seen the horrors of war. May we learn those lessons and use them to avoid the horrors in the future!

New Blog!

I've decided to expand my reach into the blogosphere with a new blog aimed at a fairly narrow audience. Having grown up in northeast Montana and covered sports in that part of the world for a number of years, I've returned to my roots with the MonDak Sports Blog.

The first couple of stories have been posted. There's news from the Northern B Divisional Track Meet this past weekend in Glasgow and the upcoming Bump N Run Racing season in eastern Montana. I plan to include coverage this summer of American Legion baseball in the region as well as some rodeo results and anything else that comes up regarding sports. If you have any suggestions or maybe are planning to attend an event and take along a digital camera, let me know. I'd love to hear from you and share the photos and results.

Thanks.

Dave

Sports Rivalry Renewed?

Cat-Griz, Aggie-Longhorns, Alabama-Auburn, all are famous college sports rivalries which have existed for years, some even going back to the 19th century. One rivalry which hasn't been played out on the field for several years is the Sioux-Bison rivalry in North Dakota.

When the NDSU Bison made the move to NCAA D1 a few years back, they dropped the UND Sioux from their schedule. This pissed off more than a few fans and even got some notice in the North Dakota legislature, which in the last session wasted some time debating the merits of renewing the football series. Now, according to the Associated Press, the athletics directors at the schools in Fargo and Grand Forks are talking, something they hadn't done for years.

It's a little too soon to start staking out your tailgating position at the Alerus Center or the FargoDome, but it's about damn time! Having the two largest universities in a state turn their backs on a rivalry that dates back a century is just plain stupid. Add in the fact that these schools are only an hour apart on I-29 and you have another good reason to resume the series.

Now if we could only get the Big Sky Conference to drop the California schools and add UND and NDSU to give the Cats & Griz another natural conference rivalry.

God grant me the courage...

This picture made me stop to think about how often I complain about things I have no control over while ignoring the obvious changes I can make in how I live my life.

Where are they now!

The Missoulian newspaper had the following article in today's edition. I'm reposting it despite the fact it makes me feel old. I've known Dan Moe for 31 years, since he first moved to Plentywood as a teacher and coach and I was a high school sophomore.

LINK TO STORY

One of my favorite memories of Coach Moe is visiting with him on the sidelines of a Baker - Plentywood basketball game back in the mid 1980's. I had noticed that one of Plentywood's early non-conference games was against the high school in Estevan, Saskatchewan, not a place known for producing top caliber basketball teams. I asked him why he'd allowed them on the schedule and he said he "wanted to play a physical team of hockey player types to get ready for playing Baker".

The Spartans basketball team, then as now, is made up of some very big boys who ruled on the football field and were very good on the basketball court too. I didn't have the heart to tell him that in addition to football skills, at least one of the Spartans was a stand out rodeo cowboy. Dean Wang was on the court at the time and he had been to the National High School Finals Rodeo as a Steer Wrestler. He later qualified for the NFR in Las Vegas as a member of the PRCA. Imagine having to block him out in the lane!

College Requirements

When I headed off to college in 1981, I loaded up my 1979 Chrysler Cordoba with my stereo system, album collection, a portable electric typewriter and my clothes. That's what was necessary. The college bookstore was where I shopped for my textbooks and they were pricey...I remember spending about $30 for an "Intro to Sociology" text that for some reason the professors insisted needed to be changed every fall, so you couldn't just buy a used text from someone who took the class the year before.

Today's new collegians still need to load up their clothes, but their music is probably on a mp3 player about the size of a pack of gum. Text books are getting more expensive and some professors still insist on a new textbook each year. But probably the biggest change has been in the requirements for personal electronic equipment.

At the University of Mary in Bismarck, ND, where I attended in the early 80's, there was a computer lab equipped with the state of the art at the time in personal computing. There were some Apple II's, Tandy TRS-80's, some KayPro10's and for those in programming classes, an old IBM Mainframe. Most of the teachers on campus though didn't want to see assignments turned in that had been typed using a word processor because the printer technology back in those days was "dot matrix" and they didn't want to play "connect the dots" with your paper for English 101.

I was just reading that the Missouri University Journalism School, one of the premiere schools of its kind in the country, is now going to require its students to purchase an iPod touch or iPhone.

The reasoning being that lectures alone are a poor way for students to learn. If they listen to a lecture a second or third time they'll be able to retain much more. As a result, classes will be recorded and podcasts of the lectures will be available for the students to download. And by making the devices a requirement, students will be able to include them in their financial aid applications.

Now this makes a lot of sense to me. I would like to applaud the forward thinking faculty at Mizzou for making sure their students stay on top of the learning curve in any way possible. And there's no sarcasm in that statement at all. The only criticism I would have is that one brand was singled out over all others. Is the retirement fund at MU vested in Apple stock?

It would have been easy enough to write the requirements to state students need a device able to store and play back audio of certain formats and up to a certain size. Keep the whole process as open source as possible.

One thing, if Johnny flunks out of J-School, he'll have something he can listen to as he mops floors at the local fast food joint.