WHAT'S ON YOUR MIND
By Scott Hennen
Host of “What’s On Your Mind?” Radio Show
heard on the Flag Family Network including KTGO 1090AM in Watford City, Williston and Tioga, North Dakota
On Wednesday, April 9, 110 student athlete champion’s from the storied North Dakota State University Football program experienced something they will remember the rest of their lives. It was a once-in-a-lifetime event that will become part of their family lore and a memory that will forever remind them of their ability to do great things in the face of adversity. They were guests at The White House and the leader of the free world spoke to them as equals, perhaps even as an admirer.
If this seems remarkable to you, it should-because it was. If this seems newsworthy to you, it should-because it was. But chances are you didn’t know about this remarkable event, unless you subscribe to the McKenzie County Farmer, listen to AM 1090 The Flag or have our new Bakken Buzz app.
Despite the rarity of watching any North Dakotan step into the Oval Office to converse with the President of the United States, this momentous day was treated contemptuously by most of our states media. A day that should have resulted in scrapbook-filling news clips, pictures and interview recordings was treated as less meaningful by NDSU’s hometown newspaper than a legislative bill about Fargo city elections.
We may never see another, clearer example of how blind hatred for President Trump is leading to degradation of the quality of media coverage. We’ve reached a point in which NDSU student athletes are told their achievements aren’t worthwhile simply because they have been acknowledged by the “wrong” person. The “news” is no longer driven by what happened-because this did happen-the NDSU National Champion Bison Football team was in the Oval Office-but instead driven by who watched it happen: a President despised by national and local media.
As part of our small contingent that watched the day’s proceedings, I can tell you it did happen. Had the Fargo Forum or any other newsroom been there, they could have heard how important our State is to President Trump and how effective its Congressional delegation and Governor are. But most importantly, they would have heard the words that would have inspired NDSU students past and future and made grandparents and parents proud for a generation. They would have heard the President of the United States of America tell these champions how proud he was of the NDSU football program.
Why deprive a mother of hearing the President say that about a son? It only makes sense through a lens of deranged hatred. The only explanation I can fathom is that they hate President Donald Trump more than they love the NDSU Bison.
Trump gave those young men the respect and accolades unique to the most powerful leader on Earth. NDSU athletes made NDSU, Fargo, and North Dakota itself proud.
It’s possible not all of them support Trump, like much of the media. But regardless of their personal politics, they rose to the moment, they respected him-they applied the very lessons that a University is created to instill in its students-and again demonstrated how NDSU football isn’t about creating greatness on the gridiron: it’s about creating greatness in life.
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