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The long neglected Politician's Diary
is making a brief return as the 
Hockey Saga Diary

The first paragraph of each day's entry follows the dated link to the full text. 

Julio Calls Thursday, April 24, 2003 - Dear Hockey Saga Diary,  "It always seems to start with a call late at night..."

Shock Friday, April 25, 2003 - Dear Hockey Saga Diary,  "I woke up to discover that four emails from Mr. Randolph's hockey players were waiting for me..."

Onslaught Saturday, April 26, 2003 - Dear Hockey Saga Diary,  "I told Julio today that however merited the decision to remove Randolph was it was the worst political decision he could possibly have made..."

100 Businessmen   Sunday, April 27, 2003  - "Dear Hockey Saga Diary  The tone of the email that I've been receiving has started to mutate..."

Legal Inquiry Monday, April 28, 2003  Dear Hockey Saga Diary,  "My big responsibility today was a 1:00 meeting at the CAB with Bob Mars and his committee to discuss what to do to replace Mary Kearny, who is leaving her job as Human Resources Director..."

Deep Throat  Tuesday, April 29, 2003 - Dear Hockey Saga Diary,  There were two more stories about Mike in the Sports section of the Tribune today. A local columnist, named Mark Emmert, asked some good questions, He wrote that " Suspicion grows where silence reigns." Amen! 

Hurricane   Wednesday, April 30, 2003 - Dear Hockey Saga Diary, The more I though about "Deep Throat's" anonymous contribution to information sharing the more it occurred to me that the Hurricane had just shifted blowing in the opposite direction. It was a gut feeling.

Pie in the Face   Friday, May 2, 2003  Dear Hockey Saga Diary,  I had three school related activities today to keep my mind off the hockey saga.

Go for the Geld  Saturday, April 3, 2003  Dear Hockey Saga Diary,  What a lovely, sunny day to leave the Hockey controversy behind.

Mike's Call  Sunday, May 4, 2003    The basses in the church choir all seemed to have an opinion about the Randolph issue.

Two Principals and a Threat  Monday, May 5, 2003 Dear Hockey Saga Diary, Email and phone calls are still coming in.

The Agenda  Tuesday, May 6, 2003 Dear Hockey Saga Diary,  Mike has got his non renewal on the agenda. 

The Last Person to Talk to Me Wednesday, May 7, 2003   "For the past several years one of my greatest fans and supporters has been sending me email asking me to explain the excesses of the Duluth East Hockey team. I've always been in the position of sticking up for it. Today my fan wrote and asked me how our Administration could treat Mike Randolph so shabbily.  Et Tu? I asked in my return email. . ."

Friday , May 30, 2003  Horse Hockey  Dear Hockey Saga Diary,  My last diary entry was as good a place to run out of steam as any. (My house guest from the Congo suffered from Malaria that week and the effort to write daily entries just didn't seem that important)  Besides, since I stopped writing regularly only 38 people have read it.

Well, I obviously gave up trying to keep my diary of the saga going about seven weeks before the controversy blew over. There was only one good news story recapping this cataclysmic event. It was published in the Minneapolis Tribune. Of course, I wrote about it as well in the Northland Reader a couple times in a vain attempt to put high school hockey in perspective.

Here's how the Randolph Saga ended as of April 20, 2004. He was reinstated. The results of last Fall's election probably made this inevitable. Mike's one year replacement Todd Wentworth took the East team to state and the team took third place. If nothing else it demonstrated that Randolph was not a magic talisman for success. 

I wrote several columns about this controversy in the Northland Reader before we voted not to renew Randolph's contract:

Mr. Randolph Wants to Know   Published April 30, 2003  "Crusades can suck all the oxygen out of a fire and leave it smoldering. That seems to have happened in Duluth over Mike Randolph. . ."

Coach on the Bubble Published May 13, 2003  "The Duluth School District will lay off 72 teachers this year. We may lay off a similar number next year. School Board members are arguing about whether a high school will close after next year or in three years. Our secondary schools will only offer . . ."

HW4SB Published July 11, 2003    "As I was painting the railing along 21st Avenue East the day after our last school board meeting, a fellow in a pickup zipped past and yelled, “You’re a spineless bastard Welty. . .”

Read the only news story which explains what the heck happened with the East Hockey Coach. You didn't read it in the Duluth News Tribune

I set up a page devoted to my half hearted candidacy for reelection to the school board. There were other issues besides coaching assignments.

When the word got out that the new school board was about to rehire Randolph I wrote the following letter -to-the-editor to the Tribune.

Here is a Tribune story about the vote

Here 's the Tribune's analysis of why the vote went as it did

The weekend before the vote the Budgeteer's Tom West wrote a column expressing hope that Randolph would be reinstated. 

I sent a letter to that publication as well. 

 

 

 

Please Note, the men working icon indicates that I have put an outline or rough draft of an entry into the site.