Oh! Mar: A Feature Story From 1993, about Norms Alum & Former Gopher Omar Douglas

Thursday, Sept. 2, 1993 ]
Oh! Mar
Gopher standout is excelling on and off the football field

By ANTHONY YACULLO
Collegian Sports Writer
Recruiters know it all. They study and they scout. They know every detail, past, present and future, about each of their prospects. They find the blue-chippers and discard the rest. They know it all.

So they must have known something when they passed up on Omar Douglas. Right? They said he was too small and too slow. They didn't want to take a chance on the kid from New Orleans.

Well, at 5-foot-10, he's not a giant. But slow? He runs the 40 in 4.32. He is a member of the Minnesota track and field squad.

Recruiters know . . . almost everything.

Omar Douglas, coming off a season in which he caught a Gopher record 61 passes for 669 yards, is now the key receiver in coach Jim Wacker's wide-open offense.

Too small, eh?

"I've always relied on my speed," Douglas says. "My speed and my mind. I'm a pretty good student in general -- that carries over in everything whether in the classroom or studying game films."

His 4.0 GPA in the winter and his nomination to the Academic All-Big Ten verify his prowess in class. Second-team All-Big Ten confirms his ability on the field.

See, Douglas likes to succeed. In everything. Hates losing. Absolutely abhors it. After Minnesota lost to Wisconsin last year, Douglas was a basket case.

"I didn't want to talk to anyone after that game," he remembers. "I went home, I was just lying around. I was disgusted, I was sick --physically sick -- for two days. I just couldn't believe it."

To Douglas, everything is a challenge. Whether it be playing Sega with his pals or trying to get an 'A' in a particular class, he is always striving for total victory.

"I love to compete," Douglas says earnestly, "with other people and myself. I always try to test myself. I say 'Omar, can you do this today?' And I go out and try to do it."

On Saturday, Omar will have to ask himself if he can handle the Lion secondary. He will tell you it is just another game. That he is ready for the challenge. But Minnesota is coming off their second consecutive 2-9 season. Penn State is the No. 17 team in the nation.

The thing, Douglas says, is that last year was not as bad a 2-9 season as 1991.

"The first season, before Wacker, things were falling apart, there wasn't a lot of togetherness," he says. "It was very difficult to get yourself up for a game."

Under the old regime, Douglas' big play potential was curtailed. He caught only eight balls in limited duty. "I can't do anything without the ball," he explains.

Then came Wacker, the man of infinite optimism. That season Douglas' production multiplied eight-fold. Did Wacker have an impact?

"Wooo," Douglas says with a laugh. "Unbelievably. He has given me a chance to showcase my abilities and find abilities I didn't know I had."

Under the tutelage of Wacker and a new strength coach, the Gophers have a new sense of purpose. They made mistakes, silly ones, like compiling an incredible amount of penalty yards. But they are what Douglas calls correctable mistakes.

Little Hurt Wins State Title, Big Hurt as Coach

Mike "Hurt" Eckert, a Norms Hall of Famer, and MVP of the State Tourney Champion Squad in 1999, coached for the 10-year old travel squad who took the State 10AA Championship trophy home this weekend in Rosemount.

Eckert's son Bobby "Lil Hurt" Eckert was one of the stars on Minnesota's newest state champions and was named to the all-tourney team as a catcher. Not surprising it was a "Lil Hurt" key bunt for a hit in the Championship Game that broke the game open, leading to the tying and winning run against Mendota Heights.

Congratulations to the Eckerts!

Mercifully, The Season Ends, 8-8-2

The thud hear round Eagan, was that 3-run walk-off homer that lifted the surging 6-10 Celts to a 15-13 win over the 8-8-2 Norms.

"That game was a microcosm of our entire season, we started out hot, then cooled off then laid a big fat donkey crap egg on our new cleats to end the season," commented a disgruntled 16-year Norm's veteran named Mookie, "Thunk. Peace Out, I am outta here."

It was the 3rd win in a row for the Celts, a team clearly on the rise.

"I like that team, they are pretty cool, their manager is named Mike (I think) and he told me after the game that it was the first homer they had hit all season, or maybe the first homer for that particular player or something."

The 2006 season for the Norms started with high hopes, signing a mix of World Champion veterans and young players from last year's 8-10 squad. A quick 5-0-1 start to the season proved to be fools gold as the once-proud franchise bogged down the stretch, going 3-8-1 to finish at .500.

"On paper our roster was solid, but paper don't win titles," stated Norms Manager Brent Anderson, "We must have had at least 30 guys shuffle in and out of line-up each week. It was confusing, mind boggling and frustrating, and the team played that way all season."

Headlines and Highlights for this year's team included:
Outfielder Derek Willis signed by the Saints, TJ's Norms Debute and clear Rookie of the Year Award, The Controversial Ump with a Napoleon Complex, MVP: Kelly Knudsen? The Lack of a Consistent Roster, The Complete and All-Out Bail-Out of Any Norm who had Ever won a Previous Title (SANS Mookie), Not Enough Interest/Spirit for a Fall Ball Squad, Smack talk, no back talk to answer for tower buzzes.

Recruiting forcecast for next year

Plain and simple, the Norms are looking for good players, who are willing to commit 1-2 hours a week to win some games. There is a core of players from this year's team who will be begged to return, and many prospects will be contacted from other organizations. This team is no longer a QWEST or West Pub team, it is an open team. There will be a sponsor, there will be monetary committment, and the goal will be to put a team together that can win a simple D League Open title, and maybe qualify for state by placing high at districts.

TJ, Kelly and Nellie have been offered full tenders, and their agents are consdidering the offers. Already under contract are Brent, Donny, Mookie, Jeffy J, Aaron Wright, and Bootie. The rest of the roster is up in the air right now. Donny has some guys who will be invited to camp next spring, and TJ might have some contacts, but he might be back in school, and looking to play some woodbat baseball, so his status is clearly up in the air. Quite frankly, We don't know who, from this year is interested in returning?. For those who think competition is fun, and would like to give it a shot, the first thing to do is let us know:

WANTED SOFTBALL PLAYERS

Beer Drinkers, hell raisers are welcome, but the bottom line, is that you gotta wanna win, and you gotta be willing to play hard.

Fill out the Prospective Norm Application.

Norms Championship Lineage Strikes YET Again!

The Norms struggled down the stretch this year, but 2 of it's minor league affiliates have hit gold in the playoffs. Earlier we noted that the Farmington 10AA squad, coached by Mike Eckert won their state title, now we are learning that teams with other former/current Norms involved are winning little league titles too.

A 13-14 year old travel squad from Lakeville, MN who list Marcus "Mookie" Anderson as one of their assistant coaches and head of communications won the South Metro Baseball League Championship. The squad will appear on the field at the Metrodome in August. From the Lakeville NoSox Website:

"Big win in a contentious championship game where the opposing parents and coaches were hot... One of their players was ejected... and one Inver Grove mom just about got tossed from the field. The NoSox players just seemed to enjoy all the commotion and played better and better.

Inver Grove scored 2 runs on us in the top of the first, and were very aggressive on the bases. Our crowd was quiet and clearly worried as we came off the field, as they could see that the Inver Grove pitcher was throwing smoke. Our guys rose to the challenge and hit him hard including a key triple by Erik and we doubled their runs and came off with a 4-2 lead. We never surrendered that lead, and every time they scored in the top, we scored double in the bottom except for the fourth. Our pitcher-catcher dynamic duo dug deep, with NoSox quality defense behind them, and blanked them in the 5th, 6th, and 7th, while facing the heart of their order in the 6th and 7th. In all, the Hanson battery racked up 9 Ks. In the bottom of the sixth, aggressive base running and a triple by Kyle added two insurance runs which held to beat them 10-5, and the NoSox earned the title of Champions."

Speaking of Inver Grove, Normsofball.com recently heard that Hall of Fame 2B Keith Willaert is coaching both his daughters travelling softball league teams. With a state AAU basketball Championship already under his belt, Keith is now closing in on some girl's fast pitch titles. His youngest daughter Jen, is playing on a team with a good shot of winning the state title in a few weekends, and Brittany's squad recently just fell short of that goal.

If you know of other team or individual athletic success from former Norm's players, pelase contact our alumni@normsoftball.com e-mail.

St. Paul Saint's Derek Willis Rumored to Appear Tonight

It has been reported to Normsoftball.com that former Norm and current St. Paul Saint, Derek Willis, may return to the ball park tonight to visit some of his old teammates in D League softball.

What Derek Has Been Doing Lately for the Saints

Hey Norms, soon we all have to get on Saints bandwagon and go see what our former outfielder, Derek Willis, has been up to this summer. I did a search for the kid on the Saints website, and this is what showed up.

07/05/2006- COMEBACK FALLS SHORT AT SC

06/20/2006- EXTRA INNING MISERY IN ST. JOE

06/13/2006- HEROES APLENTY IN 8-2 WIN

06/12/2006-NOT EVERY CAR IN THAT ERA RAN WELL

Chirpin Pansies Rout Norms

The Team "Not-to-be-Named-in-this-Article-Because-They-Are-Pansies" that beat the Norms (now 5-5-2) 14-2 last Wednesday are quite possibly the worst 9-2-1 team in Class D Softball ever. That doesn't say much about the slumping Norms, a once proud franchise, but it says worse about the state of softball in Governor Tim Pawlenty's state of Minnesota.

"The game has changed a lot over the years. We are now using a yellow ball, a really heavy yellow ball, and teams don't have any balls at all anymore as far as I can see, stated Mookie."

"It's like that 9-2-1 team, what a bunch of pansies. The first time we played them with T-Snide, Kurtie, Knute, TJ, Daughts, and Derek, and they jump out to a 5-0 lead in the first inning. They start talking crap IMMEDIATELY! Then in the bottom of the first, they just shut-up, why? Because we dumped 11 on them, then we dumped 11 more, and so on... did they talk then? NO! They didn't start chirpin again, until they batted around in the 4th Inning of June 21st's game."

And talk they did. Leading 14-1, the "NOT TO BE NAMED TEAM" team goaded Mookie into a smack fest. A veteran pitcher of 15 years, it was very hard to let their disrespect go unnoticed.

"At one point, one the idiots over there, barked out to his batter that he should launch a bomb to end the game (Due to a 15-run mercy rule invoked by the City of Eagan's Parks and Rec Department)," said Mookie, "But I had to remind the little genius, that
1.they had already used the one HR per game alottment, and
2.that it would be fine by us if he launched one because it would be the last out of inning."

That exchange started some jawing, and soon the good natured rips turned into another umpire intervention where both teams were warned about further escalation.

"Ya, I can't shut up when people goad me, that's for sure. I am just not programmed to be anyone's rug. I F'n hate it when we can't retaliate with good softball- myself included in that- it drives me nuts. But those guys on the other team should remember that when we smoked them 25-5, we didn't talk at them at all. We just did it, shut up and let the play talk for itself. That's all I really wanted them to think about. I even asked them straight up, "Why can't you just shut-up and finish the butt kickin?'"

The Norms chances of winning the title this season are virtually nil. They must run the table, and win all 6 games, and hope for 4 losses or ties for 3 other teams ahead of them in the standings.

Norms Sign Two Avoid Forfeit

In a 12th hour like move, Brandon "Booty" Butorac reigned in 2 free agents to help the Norm's avert their first team forfeit in franchise history, signing Chad Nelson and Matt Hoese to 1-Day Contracts with team options for the remainder of the season.

"Booty just earned a stripe for 'chipping in during and off-field crisis,' stated Mookie Anderson, "That's one step closer to someday running the franchise."

According to scouting reports, and not yet confirmed "street cred" information, it is believed that one of the rookie signees plays OF, but is willing to play anywhere, is left handed, played RB for NDSU, and was rumored to be a steriod user. The other signee was a possible 3B canidate who once played for Hopkins, MN HS.

The Norms front office was just happy to get players on the line-up card for tonights game against the first place Gabriel Financial squad. At one point this morning, Head Coach Brent Anderson offered up this critical alert to all Norms Rostered players,

"Things are looking bad for players. Never thought I'd say this with a 20 man roster, but we just may have to forfeit tonight unless we scrounge up enough guys. We have NO players with any experience on the left side of the infield AND we play the team thats in 1st place. Anybody know anyone? If you do, its time to tap your resources. We need confirmations by 1ish or so."

He was immediately sent a note back from Mookie, stating, "No forfeitting, we'll go take it like men, and see what happens. This team has never forfeitted, and will not start now. I don't care if we are spanked red tonight, I will be there and I
will play SS if I have to."

For those who have never experienced a front-office player crisis like this, it may come as a surprise to learn that events like this are not uncommon.

"It think this is just a solid reminder on why it's fun to just be a player, and not have the BS responsibility of putting a team together," Stated Mookie, "It takes work, and trust that the players who sign up will actually show up. You are very lucky, very lucky as a manager if you have the same 10-12 guys showing up for 10-12 games every summer. It's rare, and the work that goes on behind the scenes to just put a roster together from week to week should NEVER go unnoticed."

So thanks to Booty and some front-office scrambling, the Norms should be able to field a healthy squad of 11 tonight.