Area residents should take advantage of their chance to pay their respect to those who have served our country.
The Memorial Day program will be 10 a.m. May 25 at the Dacotah Bank Center. The theme for the event is “All gave some; some gave all.”
The Brookings High School strings, under the direction of Kathy Winghart, will provide music or the event.
VFW Commander Rick Nase will issue the call to attention, and the American Legion Color Guard will advance the colors. Members of the Rolling Thunder chapter will present the POW/MIA flag.
Roger Simmons of the American Legion will deliver the invocation.
Scotty Kwasniewski of Brookings Radio will give opening remarks and Brookings Mayor Oepke “Ope” Niemeyer will give message of welcome.
Doug McFarland, retired South Dakota State University professor, will present Logan’s General Orders.
The address will be delivered by Richard Reid, professor emeritus of the Jerome J. Lohr College of Engineering at SDSU. Reid served as a civil engineer in the U.S. Air Force.
VFW Auxiliary President will recite “In Flanders Field” and memorial wreaths will be laid by members of the VFW Auxiliary, the American Legion Auxiliary, Daughters of the American Revolution and the DAV Auxiliary. McFarland will then perform “Amazing Grace” on the bagpipes. Kwasniewski will give closing remarks and the benediction will be delivered by Simmons.
The ceremony will provide a good way to honor those who gave their lives for our country, and we recommend area residents endeavor to attend and take part in it.
Expanded NFL International schedule here to stay
The NFL schedule makers gave us a surprise with the release of team schedules recently.
The 2026 season will include nine international games on four different continents.
Gone are the days when NFL’s international games were a quirky once-a-year novelty act.
A week-one game in Melbourne, a week-three game in Rio de Janeiro, weeks four- through six-games in London, a week-seven game in Paris, a week-nine game in Madrid, a week-10 game in Munich and a week 11 game in Mexico City are turning the league into a traveling circus of sorts.
League owners recently approved an expansion to 10 international games beyond 2026 and Commissioner Roger Goodell has said that he would like to see a 16-game global slate.
Why?
A league that is swimming in money keeps grabbing for more.
Domestically, the NFL has essentially maxed out its growth. It has supplanted church services as the No. 1 activity on Sunday. It owns the airwaves and dictates the cultural calendar. The NFL routinely accounts for nearly all of the 100 most-watched television broadcasts in America. And it has grown well beyond a Sunday-only spectacle.
There is only one way for the multi-billion dollar industry to continue growing and that is to venture into the futbol-loving world. And it seems to be working. The international games sell out in minutes.
Whether or not international contests are good for the game as whole is debatable.
Teams face a multi-hour flight across several time zones and lose a “home” game environment on a short week, while their rivals stay home. This will likely create a competitive imbalance.
But, love ‘em or hate ’em, international NFL games are here to stay.
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