NM State Aggies vs Utah Valley Wolverines Women’s Basketball 1-28-17

This was new.  I was standing in line waiting to get a ticket for the game.  There was even a queue to get into the arena.  The parking lot in front of the Pan-Am Center looked fairly full.  Inside, there was a bigger crowd than I had seen the last couple of times.  I’m not sure what official paid attendance was, but there might have been nearly 1,000 people there.  I’m chocking this up to the girls holding a kid’s basketball clinic before the game.  I told a couple people at work about it.  They were interested for their kids, but unable to go.  I admit I would have liked to have seen this clinic from the floor-level and been able to listen to the girls’ instruction.  I’m sure it was 100% adorable. 

The Aggie women are still undefeated in conference play after an OT game on Thursday.  Moriah Mack and Brooke Salas both had career games with 26 points (as per the newspaper coverage).  I missed that game coverage (and the men’s game).  The last game I saw was via the Internet at Grand Canyon University on their Youtube channel.  During a pre-game before a men’s game, Athletic Director Mario Moccia, mentioned being amazed that he could watch the girls play at Bakersfield over the Internet.  I guess this explains why NM State doesn’t offer the same service.  (They may offer it as a pay service.) 

Today’s game was, according to the schedule, being broadcast on ESPN3.  There was a long desk with a shelf on top on the sidelines, which looked new for the game.  The breaks in play certainly ran longer than usual.  I didn’t see anything that said “ESPN” there though, and everything on the monitors I could see said it was WAC network game.  Adam Young wasn’t doing a radio call today, but was across the court, doing TV.  A couple of my co-workers at the men’s game last week, saw me with my earplugs in and taking notes and said I looked, “intense.”  I was probably more so today without the radio helping my scoring and notes.  Another co-worker questioned why I was listening to a radio call of a game I was at.  A good radio call adds to the game experience, and I wasn’t there with a couple of kids like she was.            

(Photo from the Las Cruces Sun-News)

I settled in with my lightly salted pretzel with cheese and a drink and stinging a bit from it all being a bit overpriced.  I saw several of the Aggie girls were now wearing black leggings under their shorts.  The newspaper pictures had warned me.  I assume they help keep their legs warm, because they certainly weren’t a fashion statement.  On that note, assistant coaches Blanche Alverson and Ashley Ford looked cool and elegant.  (I admit they fascinate me.)  I noticed Tamara William on court had undone her braids and looked nice with just her hair tied back.  Jeneva Toilolo I think had some pretty new highlights in.  This is the kind of coverage I don’t do for the men’s team. 

Across the court, I noticed that today’s opponent, the Utah Valley Wolverines, had 14 players on the scorecard.  What a change from Chicago State bringing six players.  Their warm up was interesting as their assistant coaches took part.  There was a young man in jeans, two men in ties with their jackets off, and an attractive woman in heels with a jacket on, out on court passing the ball around to the girls.  It’s a hands-on staff. 

The Roadrunner Review band was sounded good and rev’ed up today.  They were the loudest cheering section for the game.  In addition to the cheerleaders and Pistol Pete, the Sundancers were even present.  As usual, there was little to no interaction between the two spirit squads.  The cheerleaders took the court several times during the game, but the Sundancers only performed by the south basket.  The dancers fell into a couple of good coordinated dancing routines, but mostly shook their pom-poms and looked good, while the cheerleaders did flips and made human pyramids.  (I’m just waiting for a fight to break out.)

                                           

The video board montage was back on for today’s game.  The kids from the clinic were on court for the intros.  The starters ran through a pair of lines of maybe 100 little kids altogether, giving them high-fives along the way.  And with that, we begin.  Last week, I was flipping stations during football and ran into a nationally broadcast college women’s basketball game between Mason and the University of Richmond, both of the A-10 conference.  I was amazed by the score and the time elapsed.  It took nearly five minutes before somebody finally scored.  It wasn’t even the defenses.  Both teams were taking terrible-looking shots.  I was flashing back to that game as this one started badly for both teams.   

They were playing very uptight on offense.  Unlike that other game, it may have been the defenses that were stifling the shooting.  The Wolverines were small, but very quick on defense in the half-court.  The Aggies were using their height advantage and a full-court press.  The Wolverines scored first on a three.  I think I counted five Aggie trips down court before they finally scored.  Moriah Mack (“Mo”) made a steal and a layup for the first Aggie points, four minutes in.  That first quarter score on my scorecard is correct.  It was 7-7 after 10 minutes. 

If ESPN3 was broadcasting this, they couldn’t have been happy.  The quarter also had lots of fits and starts with constant stoppages.  Neither team found a rhythm.  I, on the other hand, had a great quarter.  Pistol Pete came by and liked my custom hat.  Sweet validation!  During the stoppages, I also noticed a much shorter, attractive young woman on the Aggie sidelines with the assistants with very long, pretty hair.  She was dwarfed in the team huddles.  The girl looked familiar and indeed she was.  It was Kaylee Neal from the volleyball team.  A gentleman who spoke to her after the game confirmed it when I asked him.  Craving news of the volleyball team, I would talked to her myself, if I’d had the opportunity.  In any case, I wonder why Kaylee was there working with team.  She didn’t appear to be into being there, so maybe it was class assignment or work experience.

In the second quarter, Brooke made a second bad pass into traffic for a turnover and was then taken out after a bad foul.  She had a brief animated discussion on the sidelines with Coach Trakh.  I bring this up now to preface what will happen later.  After Brooke came out, Brianna Freeman took a beautiful pass under the basket for a bucket.  (Sorry, I didn’t get the player assisting.)  Tamara went coast-to-coast on the next possession, but the run ended quickly.  Utah Valley had picked up their defense and was actively trapping isolated players.  Their tenacious interior defense was stifling any easy passes inside near the basket.  Gia Pack came in off the bench, but didn’t have her shooting touch from the outside. 

Zaire Williams hit a three for a momentary spark late in the quarter, but Mariah Seals of the Wolverines answered it immediately with another three.  Late in the quarter, Mo made a highlight reel, behind-the-back pass to Gia, who hit an open three.  There was a sub-last-second shot by the Aggies that was waved off on review.  22-21 Aggies at the half. 

At halftime, the Aggie equestrian team was announced to have won today versus Texas A&M, the number one team in the nation.  The NMSU equestrian team is the school’s only nationally-ranked sports program.  In other news, they’re also officially being disbanded after this season.  Ah, well.  The halftime show featured a large number of little kids bouncing basketballs.  They are a team called the Pistoleros.  Very cute.  Our halftime stats had the Aggies shooting 35%.  Utah Valley, however, was only shooting 27%.  Both were 25% on threes and in double digits in turnovers.  The Wolverines had the advantage in rebounds, in spite of being generally smaller.      

               

For the third quarter, the Aggies came out motivated.  Tamara beautifully fed Brooke in the lane for points.  Mo made a two so quick, I missed it while scribbling notes.  Tamara got a steal and layup.  The team got three rebounds on one trip, though they came up empty on that possession.  Brianna took great pass down low for a bucket.  I wasn’t sure why, but Brooke got chewed out by the coach after that play. 

The crowd started getting a little unruly as the refs made some unpopular calls.  I had Statler and Waldorf directly behind me, giving a steady stream of commentary.  During a timeout, there was an air guitar contest, and I briefly jammed with Pistol Pete.  He was a one-man cheering section in this quarter, going everywhere, getting the crowd into it.

After two rebounds on a possession, Mo put it away from point blank.  Britta Hall on the Wolverines made the best shot of the game with three from the corner, but the Aggies started pulling away here.  Utah Valley’s Leya Harvey fouled out.  The crowd knew it before the announcement and started serenading her.  She was not happy.  The player was in for much of the game and had accumulated five fouls with zero points.  If this was hockey match, I could tell you why she was out there.  As the quarter ended, the Aggies absolutely shut down the Wolverines on offense, nearly causing a shot clock violation.  48-36 Aggies.

The band played a great version of “I want candy” with a trumpet solo during the break.  The Aggies came back out still focused on defense and forced couple more shot clock violations.  The offense wasn’t lacking either.  Brooke was on fire from outside the arc, hitting threes.  She also got a great assist to Tyler Ellis inside for a basket. 

During a timeout, hats were tossed into the crowd.  I noticed there were a couple of people at the desk who would hold up a finger to let the refs know when they were about to come out of break and when to allow play to resume.  Jeneva picked up her fourth foul and got a quick lecture from the coach.  No doubt he doesn’t want to be like that Wolverine player that fouled out.  Tamara was also in foul trouble and had a quiet game.  She did get a great pass to Moriah Mack for her 1,000 point.  There was a timeout and the crowd gave her a round of applause with the announcement.

    

Even having two more players, the Aggies seemed to have worn out the Wolverines by the fourth.  The Aggies were up by 20 at one point.  Sweetness herself, Brandee Walton came in for the last minute of the game, while across court, Adam Young put on his jacket for the TV post game.  Our final was 63-46 Aggies.  I haven’t named a player of the game in a while for some reason, but today it’s an easy one.  Brooke Salas put in 24 points, including five three-pointers in the second half alone.  She’s only a sophomore.  If Brooke stays healthy, she likely gets even better as she plays more.  Thanks to the Aggie PA announcer for being very diligent today calling the game so that I could keep up.  The girls’ last two weekend games have conflicts with Aggie softball and baseball, but I really hope to at least see the senior day game.   

The new Monster Energy EXXXXtreme NASCAR!

NASCAR is finally changing its rules.  F yeah!  About f-ing time!  Bolt on those machine guns.  Strap on the rocket launchers.  The last man standing is the winner!  Now I can’t wait for the new season.  Thanks to Monster Energy drinks for finally propelling racing into the death sport future we all knew would happen someday.

Okay, I got that from just reading the headline of the news article.  I’d better actually the read the whole thing here.  You know, due diligence and all that.  But I’m sure that . . . Hmm . . . Err . . . Wait, what?  Ties are now possible?  Drivers who hold the lead for seven straight laps score a “Nas-Down” and are awarded 7 points?  Participation trophies in Victory Lane for all the drivers?  There’s now a UFC octagon in pit lane for after race fights?  Drivers are required to slam down a Monster Energy drink every 50 laps?  I don’t know.  This new NASCAR may not be for me.  Oh, what’s this?  Live cut-a-ways to NASCAR driver girlfriend/wife fights in pools of mud, hot oil, or Jello depending on the venue?  Woo Hoo!

Actually, the specifics of this deal are less exciting.  Races will now be divided into three segments with the first two segments awarding points to the top 10 drivers, and the final one awarding points to the winner and the rest of the field.  Further, segment winners and race winners get separate bonus points that apply to the “don’t call a Chase anymore” playoffs.  The “playoff” format is unfortunately unchanged.  There will be a stoppage after each segment for a driver interview.  This is also supposed to increase the green flag race coverage, since there will now planned stops in the race.  I think, much like side-by-side commercials, what will actually happen is that the number of commercials will increase by two breaks and the amount of green flag racing will decrease.

NASCAR is hoping this will cause the drivers to race harder during the early and middle parts of the race, since they will now be racing for something.  So in addition to the extra stoppages, we’ll also have some more wrecks.  I give it one full season at most before either some competitors find a way to game this system and break it (like Kenseth’s championship strategy the year before the Chase), or the race broadcast times go up unacceptably (from planned stoppages and additional wrecks) and they’re forced to dump it.  The scramble for points at places like Daytona and Talladega may even pose unbearable safety risks, like when F1 went to a one set of tires per weekend rule a few of years ago.  (Yes, really.  They tried that.)   

  

This is supposed to make NASCAR more palatable to modern audiences.  “If we created motorsports today, this is exactly how we would have done it,” says Brad Keselowski.  Unfortunately, he’s talking about this format and not Global Rallycross, which was created recently with a much more TV-friendly format of running short heat races.  NASCAR has flirted with such a format on dirt tracks with trucks, but never gone all the way with it on paved ovals.  We can maybe look forward to this possibility in the future, because this format is not going to last.  It involves the same lousy TV coverage and the same death march of an overly long race.  No combination of rotten eggs makes an omelet.

If NASCAR wants to be more like the NFL, it needs to do what the NFL does.  In needs to have more vague in-race rules so it can manipulate the outcome of events and create controversial moments that will have people talking and debating during and after the race.  The drivers need to get into more trouble off the track.  Most importantly, it needs to develop a fun, addictive betting mechanism for the fans and then refocus the sport to service that gambling action. 

NASCAR tried something like this new format last year in a Busch/Nationwide/Xfinity Series race.  I couldn’t figure out what was going on.  I doubt anybody watching got it either.  Needless to say, it didn’t hold my interest.  And that was just for a single race.  They’re going to have to spend the whole season explaining this format to viewers, which is where they’re going wrong.  I mean the infield fly rule only comes up every so often in baseball.  They don’t have to talk about it every game.  NASCAR, don’t put that drawing board away, you’ll be going back to it soon enough.       

NM State Aggies vs UMKC Roos Men’s Basketball 1-21-17

This was ironic.  After my boss, Ron, told me my job was being outsourced, he was fired.  I’ve been assured that I’ll be “repurposed” after the changeover.  One of my co-workers and my dad found this phrasing endlessly amusing.  Our place of business was handing out tickets to this game and Ron was still willing to go.  Unfortunately, he begged off to go to his brother’s birthday party at the last minute.  Though it was likely about freezing with the wind chill outside, I decided to go by myself anyway.  I had some thoughts of trying to give away my two extra tickets (one each for Ron and his brother) outside the arena, but it was too damn cold to even think about loitering around.

   

I needed to go to wear my new shirt anyway.  It’s from Aggie sponsor, Sports Accessories.  I picked up a hot dog, chips, and drink at the concessions.  I later saw a girl with a hamburger and realized I’d made a mistake not checking out the other concession area, which isn’t open for Women’s basketball or volleyball.  I ended up going back anyway after smelling the overpowering scent of hot roasted cinnamon almonds, my favorite thing from going to Aggie football games.  These aren’t available during girls’ games either.    

Ushers stood in the aisles, letting you know that this was a big event.  My seat was behind the north goal, where the students usually sit.  It was a different perspective on the game from where I usually sit.  My seat was also directly occluded by the time clock on top of the goal, so I couldn’t really see what was going on at the south goal.  From where I was, I could at least see nearly the entire large crowd in front of me, though.  Several of my co-workers were in the section around me.  Not surprising since our business bought 200 tickets.  I was able to say “Hi” to a few of them.  Unfortunately, I wasn’t sitting next to any of them to talk to.  The students were across the court from us in a completely packed section.  They were a boisterous bunch.  A couple of guys were even in crimson bodysuits.

Pistol Pete, the cheerleaders, and even the Sundancers were there.  I could see the voice of the Aggies, Jack Nixon.  Adam Young was  there doing the TV broadcast.  The players came out to warm up and, gosh, are these guys big.  Virtually nobody in the crowd would have any illusions about playing with these guys.  Sidy N’Dir was not playing for the Aggies due to injury.  I was disappointed.  He’s one of their better players and has such a great name.  

This was a “Pack the Pan Am” event with reduced ticket prices.  According to a newspaper report, this was done because there was a budget deficit in ticket sales.  This was blamed on “overprojected” football, volleyball, soccer, and Men’s basketball season ticket sales (and individual football ticket sales).  I guess Women’s basketball is doing okay and the spring sports (softball and baseball) aren’t counted at this point.   

The season ticket sales for Men’s basketball and football are down because of a dramatic rise in prices, that I can say almost authoritatively.  However, the basketball team is doing really well and individual ticket sales revenue is up.  Not attendance, but revenue.  By the chart above, the team was averaging 4,700 last year, down over 1,000 from the year before, though both teams were good.  This season’s attendance (as per scorecard figures), looked to be about the same.

              

Tonight’s attendance was 9,893 out of 12,500 seats.  Basically, a couple of sections in the rafters were empty.  It was an intimidating-ly large crowd.  This may bump up the overall average attendance and goose revenue significantly for the season.  If it doesn’t, cuts have been threatened, though the university can’t cut any more team sports without losing their FBS rating.  I don’t know what that means, but I assume it’s a big deal.  (An announcement about the Equestrian team, which was canceled, was teased during the radio pre-game, but not given out at this time.)  It could worse.  Fellow WAC member, Chicago State, has a freshman class this year numbering 86. 

One might ask, “Why not just lower ticket prices all the time to increase attendance?”  For football that might not hurt, but really these kind of promotional prices are done to entice local businesses to buy blocks of tickets.  A handful of them accounted for almost all the extra sales, not individual fans.  You can’t expect that kind of business support all the time.  The hope is that some of the people getting free tickets will have a good time and come back at full price.  Well, that strategy worked on me at least in regards to going to Women’s basketball games.

        

The team entrance was great at the beginning of the game.  They came down the aisle between the band and a rambunctious student section.  A pair of women sang an excellent anthem, while the team stood together with their arms around each other.  I gave up on keeping a scorecard early on since I couldn’t see the other basket well, and the crowd noise was drowning out some of the radio.  Later on, I figured out that I could have watched the scoring on the scoreboard along with video board to keep score.  Live and learn, though I don’t know if I would have actually been watching any of the game live at that point.  As long as I’m there, I should be watching the action, not the scoreboard.      

A potentially relevant pre-game stat: the Aggies haven’t lost to any current conference foe on their home court.  The Aggies took an early lead on a three after the tipoff.  An Aggie steal and dunk forced an early Roo timeout.  They seemed to be playing a bit nervous with pass thrown away and a double dribble on successive possessions.  By the second timeout, it was 15-9 Aggies.  There was a tipped Roo pass that went into the courtside seats.  The Aggie player involved immediate asked a lady there if she was okay.  T-shirts were tossed into the crowd at the next break with the Aggies up 18-9. 

Paul Weir was a very animated coach on the sidelines.  It almost seems like a job requirement.  His counterpart on the other team was the same.  The Roos got a steal, but the Aggies got two steals under their basket right after, unfortunately giving the ball back on a travelling call.  22-13 Aggies.  The Sundancers came out and threw some green things into the crowd.  I didn’t figure out what they were.  They are a really good-looking group of young women.  Both teams played a bit sloppy for a couple of minutes.  In the next timeout, one of the guys in a body suit came out to mid-court for a game of concentration, which he wins in spite of the suit. 

Jack Nixon on the radio observed that the refs seemed to be calling a loose game and letting some calls go.  I’m not complaining, and there were still plenty of fouls and stoppages in play.  35-20 Aggies with about four minutes left.  About every other time there was a whistle, more stuff got tossed into the crowd by the cheerleaders.  Jonathon Wilkins got a tremendous slam to get the otherwise somewhat quiet crowd into it.   With a minute left in the half, the radio call went out.  They started broadcasting canned music.  Having gotten used to having a personal announcer, I was completely confused by events without the radio on.  It didn’t come back on before halftime, 46-33 Aggies.  Ian Baker led with 14 points, Wilkins followed with 10 of his own.  

        

Immediately, there was an announcement about former Aggie player, Shawn Harrington, and a news report video played about his shooting.  Shawn rolled out to mid-court in a wheelchair to a standing ovation.  Even more interesting, the entire crowd was still at their seats during the ceremony.  My place of employment presented him a check towards his recovery and was handling donations.  The Sundancers and cheerleaders were sent into the crowd for donations.  I put in a contribution on my way to the bathroom.  Yikes, the Sundancers are even better-looking up close.  Good thinking sending them up for donations.

I stayed up-wind of the cinnamon nuts this time and resisted looking for the hamburgers, since I was already full.  Back at my seat, I saw a couple of fans wearing, I swear to God, Fresno Tacos hats.  This is the alternate identity of the Triple-A Fresno Grizzlies, an opponent of the El Paso Chihuahuas.  There was also a group of girls wearing crimson and white varsity jackets with an NM logo, but I couldn’t identify their team or their school.  The Aggie Women’s team got a cheer as their win this afternoon at UMKC was announced.  I missed the rest of the halftime show.  It was something involving a pink scooter as a prize, I think.  The relevant halftime stats on the video board had the Aggies shooting 46%, 45% on 3-pointers, and 90% on free throws. 

The radio call was back for the second half.  Thank goodness.  The half started with another blown call as a Roo 3-pointer was scored after the shot clock had expired.  The crowd and Coach Weir were up in arms over it.  There was a couple with a little girl in front of me.  I started noticing that they were taking non-stop selfies during the game.  I would have been annoyed, but they were having such a good time, I couldn’t blame them.  The UMKC Roos had on attractive Golden State Warriors-like uniforms in blue and gold.  I didn’t notice until the second half that some of them shiny, silver highlights on their shoes.  Obviously, the game wasn’t too interesting at this point.

57-42 Aggies at a timeout.  Kiss Cam got a good laugh out of the crowd.  There was another TO almost immediately afterward.  A fan took some shots and won $50 on a free throw.  At 60-24, Ian Baker hit a three to get to 20 points.  Jemerrio Jones had a one-on-one under the basket with a defender.  He faked him out for a layup and was smiling and talking afterward.  Braxton Huggins hit a three to jolt the crowd for his 10^th point.  67-49 with 11:15 left.  At this point, some of the crowd started leaving. 

More shirts were tossed into the crowd.  Being pretty high up, I wasn’t expecting anything, but the couple in front of me put down their smart phones long enough to get one.  Jermaine Haley got a coast-to-coast reverse layup to take it to 77-56, 7:05 left.  Most of the starters began to come out.  At 85-61, a Hooters wing promotion kicked in for the team scoring 85 points or more.  I don’t like wings, so I didn’t get the details.  (“What about the girls there, J?”  “Don’t care.  Food trumps women.”)  Haley made a great pass inside to Jalyn Pennie for a big cheer.  Local boy, Joe Garza came in and scored on a lay up to excite the crowd. 

At 90-67, Jack Nixon pronounced the rest of the game as “Garbage time.”  Our final was 94-71 Aggies.  The team pretty much put on a clinic tonight.  They kept up a full-court press the whole game with good defense and rebounding, not to mention to mention shooting.  Ian Baker was the high-scorer with 20 and three other players were in double digits.  That’s 16 in a row for the team, taking care of business.  For the size of the crowd, it wasn’t very loud or into it for the most part.  Credit the Aggies for playing well enough that they didn’t really even need any extra energy from them and taking the drama out of the event.    

What-A-Burger coupons were being handed out at door, yet another giveaway.  On the back of my three tickets, one had another What-A-Burger coupon, another had a Caliche’s frozen custard coupon, and the other had an expired Scholotzsky’s coupon, which was too bad, because it was a really good one.  Things had not warmed up outside as you might imagine.  What came next was the ordeal I’d been dreading even before I left for the game: getting out of the parking lot.  It took about the length of the post-game show, so about 10-15 minutes.  Given the crowd, that might be as bad as it gets. 

I would like to say I enjoyed this, but I didn’t.  Though I’ve been listening to Men’s games on the radio during the season, I don’t have much of a connection to them.  This game was almost too easy for them for it to be exciting.  The crowd size was impressive and cool, but not a factor, except for the exiting traffic.  I was surrounded by co-workers, but not actually sitting next to any of them, so I was by myself in a crowd.  It just made me lonely.  I wish Ron had been able to come.  The most positive thing I can say is that nothing bad happened, and if I have someone to go with that I wanted to impress, these Men’s games would otherwise be the best Aggie sporting events to attend.  I might go back sometime next season, since I have to try the hamburgers.  

    

NM State Aggies vs Chicago State Cougars Women’s Basketball 1-7-17

My work situation is still up in the air, and I question if I should be spending money unnecessarily, but I went to today’s game in a better mood than last week.  Part of that may have been Thursday’s double win by the Aggies Men’s and Women’s basketball teams against UMKC.  I got to listen to most of both games on the radio at work.  The guys continued their streak.  The girls had a tough game at home, but never let the Roos get too far ahead and were able to eventually overpower them.  Gia Pack followed up her career game versus Western New Mexico last week with another double-digit performance.  So, I was up for today’s game, though a bit nervous about the advertised autograph session afterward.  I get butterflies in such situations, but I’ll take advantage of the opportunity anyway.

The parking lot looked a bit empty as I pulled in.  There was an NFL Wild Card playoff game on.  The weather was colder here than last weekend, but nowhere near as unpleasant as then.  I was wearing the same outfit, though not for luck purposes.  For the autographs, I did want to be wearing my Aggie Women’s basketball “Back to Back Champions” t-shirt.  I picked up a Pete’s Combo again at the concessions.  The hot dog was really good.  I think my main complaint is that the quality of their hot dogs is not consistent from venue to venue.  They were out of Dr. Pepper, so I had the blackberry tea and that was excellent. 

Inside, the crowd did look small.  I sat way down next to the boosters’ section this time.  I think the crowd filled in behind me after I got there, so I didn’t notice them until I got up later.  It might have been around 800 looking at previous attendance figures on the program.  (I’m not sure where I got that 3,000 number for the last game.  That was 860 officially.)  However, the crowd seemed really loud and into the game today. 

On court in our Assistant Coach Watch segment, Ashley Ford was dressed very casually today in a loose blouse and dress slacks.  Casual, but elegant.  She also seemed to be in a good mood, laughing and smiling a lot.  On the other side of the court, I don’t know her name, but “Wow.”  One of the other team’s assistant coaches was extraordinary tall and glamorous and gorgeous.  I would liked to have seen her and the other lovely (and also quite tall) Aggie assistant coach, Blanche Alverson, suit up and play center against each other today.  (I wonder if they saw each other before the game and had the same thought.)            

After last week’s game against a Division II opponent, I was looking forward to seeing this conference game and some stiffer competition.  Then I listened to pre-game show on the radio with Adam Young.  Today’s opponent, Chicago State, was currently winless this season.  Not only that, they’re on a 22-game losing streak dating back to last season.  I could see for myself out on court that they were only had six players.  I thought Western New Mexico was playing short with just eight last week.  Not only all this, but their athletic program is in jeopardy because THEIR ENTIRE UNIVERSITY MAY BE GETTING DISSOLVED.  I had thought I had job stress.  It’s nothing compared to these girls.  However, Adam did emphasize that the Cougar players are good.  They just don’t have the horses to play a whole game well.

The Men were, in unfortunate scheduling, playing at Chicago State during this game.  I say “unfortunate” because I would have liked to have been able to listen to that game in the evening.  They announced that the Aggies were winning there at halftime right before this game started.  I don’t think they were trying to demoralize the girls here.  They usually give out-of-town scores for other Aggie teams during home games.  (Still, I felt bad for them anyway.)  The video board seemed to have a problem during player introductions, so they didn’t play the Aggies’ intro movie. 

The game didn’t start well for the Cougars.  A minute and half into the game, Destiny Harris fell to the court on an injured ankle and had to come out.  For an opposing player, she got a very nice round of applause as she was helped to the sidelines.  I think everyone there could count.  The Cougars were now playing their entire team on court.  Destiny was able to come back in later, though never really figured in the scoring for the rest of the game.

I found myself watching Tamara William in the first quarter.  She had a good touch on a three-pointer early, but seemed reluctant to shoot.  She had a great drive to basket that got waved off on a travelling call (and strangely the Cougars turned it right back over on another travelling call right after).  Gia Pack came in as a sub briefly.  She had a steal and made a great block on a layup.  The Aggie defense was pretty oppressive, but both teams played up tempo.  The biggest event of this quarter was Aggie senior, Brianna Freeman, scoring her 1,000^th point.  There wasn’t a big announcement and play only stopped for a few moments, but the crowd knew and gave her a big round of applause.  27-20 Aggies after 10 minutes.  The Cougars may have been undermanned, but a couple of their girls were really shooting lights out.

The second quarter started with Chicago State committing several fouls.  For the game, they never really got into foul trouble, but it must have been scary for their coach.  Aggie senior, Brandee Walton, came into the game and hit a three.  This set off a big cheer from the crowd.  Brooke Salas, on the sidelines at the time, high-fived everyone on bench.  Adam was effusive in his praise of her on the radio call.  He reported that she was an extremely pleasant young woman.  Play-wise, Chicago State found a hole in the Aggies’ defense that allowed them several “backdoor” trips under the hoop that they converted on.  However at the half, Aggies 58, Cougars 40.

For halftime, a group of girls participated in a trike/layup contest, as they rode a little tricycle up and down the court and had to make a shot.  Pistol Pete got involved in helping push the trikes.  I think the girls were all from a sorority.  Meanwhile, the Aggie Men’s team won their game, 70-62.  Braxton Huggins was the leading scorer.  (I love that name and it allows for so many possible nicknames.)  Both teams were still in the locker rooms during the announcement, so no mind games on the lady Cougars this time.  The halftime stats showed the Aggies up 3-9 in turnovers and 17-7 in rebounds, but both teams were shooting over 60% inside the arc and 40% outside.  Whew!

To start the third quarter, Brianna scored a couple times.  Chicago State came out cold and went about three and half minutes before finally scoring on a free throw.  The Cougars got that “backdoor” play working again, and the Aggies went cold for a couple minutes.  What goes around, comes around.  Brianna would break that streak with an Aggie “backdoor” to her under the basket.  Moriah Mack put in a coast-to-coast layup.  Tamara dropped a three.  At this point, I think Chicago State called a timeout.  The Aggies almost went back out with only four players on the court before one of the players finally noticed. 

Brooke missed an open look for a three at one point.  Later, she took another one that also missed.  The Aggies got the rebound and fed it back to her.  Brooke drove the lane and took it to the rim.  Running back down court, she said something to somebody on the bench.  I would have like to have known what was said there.  At the end of the quarter, the Aggies made a bad transition that turned into a steal and Cougar layup at the buzzer.  I watched the refs puzzle over the replay for a while between quarters.  I think they counted it.  78-55 Aggies after three quarters.

To start the fourth, Blanche was up and animated on the sidelines.  Perhaps Coach Trakh subbed for himself for a few minutes.  Chicago State seemed out of gas by this point and started turning it over.  Tamara was running the point for team for part of the quarter.  Gia Pack came back out and hit a three.  Brooke was cheering her on from the bench.  With the score getting out of hand, the starters started coming out and got a round of applause from the crowd. 

Tonishia Childress took over the point and made a great coast-to-coast layup.  I thought I had seen her in a neck brace coming out at halftime, so I was surprised to see her in the game.  The Roadrunner Review band was really cheering the team on from their corner.  Gia hit another three and then got two on a drive that took the Aggies to 100.  Gotta hand it to Adam Young.  At the beginning of the quarter, he thought they’d hit 100 in this game.  After that bucket, the cheerleaders tossed giveaway hats into the crowd and, El Paso native and walk-on, Sara Lopez entered the game.  With that, everyone suited for the Aggies played today.  The Aggies slowed it down for the last couple of minutes and played out the clock.  They’d scored enough today.  Our final, Aggies 100, Cougars 63.

On court, Brianna got her picture taken with boosters, who’d brought a 1,000 point sign for her.  Coach Trahk in the post-game interview offered sincere praise and sympathy for Chicago State.  Unfortunately, I missed-fiddled with the buttons on my radio and missed the final stats, which was problem, since I’d had issues scoring the game.  I guess the main stat is that the Aggies won by 37 points. 

Six Aggies were in double figures.  Tamara and Gia were devastating from the three-point line.  Tyler Ellis was unstoppable inside.  Add to that some fast break points and good foul shooting and there’s a 100.  For Chicago State (my numbers are off somewhere), Kaylee Allen and Cailin Nix lead all scorers, and Jessica Cerda was great from the outside.  These girls could shoot.  A couple of more fresh legs and gunners like them and this game would have been 100-95, like an NBA game.  It’s hard not to come away with a lot of respect for the Cougars.

It’s hard to get a real grip on how good this team is from what I’ve seen and heard.  They’ve lost close games to good teams and destroyed lesser teams.  At 10-6, it comes down to if they can beat the better teams in the WAC and that will probably mean winning close games.  That win against UMKC was a good one in that respect.  They’re going to need that defense that they showed in the Las Vegas tournament, but they have to make sure that they don’t go ice cold shooting at the same time.  In the paper, Coach Trakh said the starters really worked on shooting during the break after that.  He said something to the effect that playing in a huge, but nearly empty arena there may have depressed their shooting (I think).  I wonder if starting Gia Pack might help.  I think she’s earned it.     

And now, the moment of truth: autograph signing in the concourse.  I wavered for a moment at meeting the girls.  Behind me in line, there was a group of, well if this were the 80’s, I’d call them Valley Girls.  Really obnoxious Valley Girls.  I got annoyed to the point that I almost left, but I wanted those autographs.  Brooke Salas was first up.  Honestly, she was a bit cold.  Don’t know if it was her or me.  I didn’t ask her what she’d said to the bench earlier.  If I’m in this position again next year with her, I’ll make sure to be more charming.  Sara Lopez was next to her.  I made sure to call her by name.  She seemed to appreciate a little recognition. 

I got to tell Gia Pack she had a great game.  (I’m pretty sure she already knew that.)  I congratulated Brianna Freeman.  She was happy.  I noticed Jeneva Toilolo from Hawaii actually had some Islander tats on her arms.  I meant to tell Tyler Ellis that she’d had a great game, but I’m not sure I got it out.  Sorry.  I’m doing it now at least.  I got to Brandee Walton.  "Hi!" she said, "Thank you for coming to our game today!"  and she said it as sweetly and sincerely as you could possibly imagine.  “I heard on the radio that you’re the nicest person on the team.”  She giggled, blushed, and denied it, and thus all but confirmed it.  In 20 seconds of contact with her, she charmed the heck out of me.

Oh, Tamara William.  She’s seriously cute.  I congratulated her on a great game, and she just about dropped me with a killer smile.  I totally forgot to ask her about her red hair earlier in the season.  I asked Tonishia Childress about the neck brace.  She laughed and said that was just a neck warmer.  It was a really big neck warmer.  Lastly, I got to call Moriah Mack, “Mo,” like Adam and her teammates do.  I might have startled her, but she laughed.  Whew, I was emotionally exhausted after all this excitement, but I had my autographed poster.                                   

 

I gotta say, seeing your college Women’s basketball team drop 100 points on somebody really brightens your mood.  That was pretty cool.  Regardless of how this completely doesn’t affect my personal situation, I felt much better about life in general, at least for a little while.  Hopefully, I can make it back for some more later this season.  I’m curious how this team will turn out.   

   

New Mexico State Aggies vs Western NM Mustangs Women’s Basketball 12-31-16

I have to start this with a reconsideration of the previous game I attended.  After writing and posting my blog, I read the newspaper account of the game.  I was struck by Coach Trakh’s generous and effusive comments about the team after the loss.  Was this the same guy I saw screaming on the sidelines?  His quotes, though, did sound pretty genuine.  At that point, I had a thought about the game: maybe Brooke Salas didn’t have a bad game so much as perhaps Arizona might have keyed their defense on her.  It would have made sense for them to have done so.  “Make sure the high-scoring blonde doesn’t get an open look.  If the other girls beat us, so be it.”  I don’t know the game well enough to say if this theory is correct or not.  If I’d thought of this before posting, I would have put it in.  In any case, I feel like I might owe Brooke an apology.  Sorry. 

Okay, back to business.  This was my last Aggie game of the year.  If it wouldn’t be such a pain in the butt to do so, I’d count how many events I’ve been to this year to see if I qualify as a booster.  Let’s just say, I’ve frequented the university frequently over the last 12 months.  I only major team sport I’ve missed is the men’s basketball.  I’d meant to go to a game last week while I was on vacation.  My boss was too sick to go, and I didn’t feel comfortable going by myself at night.  I only missed Santa Claus, Pistol Pete reading Twas the Night Before Christmas to a bunch of kids at half time on court, and a thrilling overtime victory (part of an 11-game winning streak).  So, I didn’t miss much and didn’t feel really stupid afterward.  These things happen and hopefully we learn something from them.

Today was a different matter.  I was at work very late for yearend processing on Friday, during which time my future employment at the business was called into doubt by a pending outsourcing deal.  Saturday was cold and rainy and my boss had again backed out of going.  However, I’d been looking forward to going to this game.  While on vacation, I’d listened to the girls team get beat three times at a tournament in Las Vegas.  Two games were close and the last one was a blowout, and they were all hard to take, even though they lost to some good teams.  I wanted to see a win. 

Further, I wanted to wear my new “Back to Back WAC Champions” women’s basketball t-shirt from Aggie sponsor, Sports Accessories.  The ads worked and I patronized them.  They have nice store for NMSU and local high school gear.  The shirt was actually $1 on the clearance table, but still relevant, and I picked up an Aggie Empire shirt, which I look forward to wearing at another time.  I also wanted wear my new hat, even though this was an indoor event.  It’s a red hunting camo hat with NM State on the front from Beyond Custom (formerly Mr. Hats) at the mall.  I’m embarrassed to mention that this custom embroidered hat actually cost less than the two other Aggie hats I’ve purchased.  Given the cold, I wanted a hat on.  Given the rain, I ended up using an umbrella outside to protect my new hat. 

I picked up a hot chocolate and a churro at the concessions.  The cinnamon and sugar didn’t quite get all over everything, but almost.  I only spilled hot chocolate on my scorecard once and somehow managed to splash it on face too.  At the courtesy table, I picked up another poster, as seen above.  Still no Brooke poster though.  I also picked up a men’s program leftover from Friday night’s win over the UTEP Miners.  If I get to a men’s game, I may have a couple of things to discuss from looking that over.

I was almost terrified that I’d be the only fan there while I was driving over, but thankfully there were plenty of people there for a New Years Eve game, in spite of the weather, holiday, football bowl games, the girls being on a three-game losing streak, and playing a Division II opponent.  (Rats!  I thought maybe the team might come over to thank me personally if I was the only one there.)  Adam Young on the radio call described the crowd as “medium.”  I’ll put it at over 3,000.  The regular fans were likely all there (I’m not putting myself in that group at this point).  They were mostly senior citizens and likely other boosters.  There were maybe a handful of students as the school was on Christmas break.  Western NM (Silver City?) actually had a decent and enthusiastic cheering section for them behind their bench.     

During the warm up, I failed to notice that one of my favorites, Tamara William, wasn’t playing, but certainly noticed when the game started.  Her hair had also gone from red back to dark with highlights.  I missed the pre-game show and never got an explanation in-game as to why she wasn’t playing, other than the coach wanted to rest her.  Ironically during the game, they were using a nice picture of her on the video boards to promote the Aggies’ next game.  Well, at least the Aggie assistant coaches, Ashley Ford and Blanche Alverson, were there and lovely.  Blanche looked really nice, like she had somewhere to go after the game.  As the game went on, I got the impression, everyone involved had somewhere to go right afterward. 

Until I saw the starters on the court, I didn’t realize that Western NM only had 8 players.  Not only were they a Division II school, at 4-7, they weren’t even a good one.  In fact, this game was only an exhibition for their team.  It didn’t even count for their record.  During the Aggies’ starters’ intro, the Mustangs weren’t watching, but were huddled up with their coach on court for final instructions and encouragement.  For NMSU for New Years Eve, apparently there weren’t a lot of scheduling options.  After what was going to be a rough tournament, win or lose, the girls were going to need some light competition to keep warm before starting conference play. 

As I predicted before given the speed of the game, I could either keep a scorecard or keep notes, but not both.  I picked the scorecard, so the notes are going to be sparse, but then again, it wasn’t much of a contest.  The regular Pan-Am announcer was there for the game.  (I really need to get this guy’s name.)  He asked the crowd to remain standing after the tip off until the opposing team scored.  After four minutes off the clock, we were still standing.  Thankfully, that was when the game had its first timeout and everyone took a seat.  The Western NM Mustangs didn’t score their first points until six minutes into the game (that’s game clock time, not actual time, and those points may have been on free throws if I recall).  After ten minutes, the score was 27-6, Aggies.  My first quarter highlight was Pistol Pete coming by and giving by and giving me a high-five. 

The first break between quarters featured a fan on court trying to make a free throw for Harlem Globetrotters tickets.  But wait, he had to make it facing away from the basket!  The guy had the reverse granny shot working and actually made the first one, more or less defeating the drama.  He wasn’t close on any of the other superfluous shots, but that was still very impressive. 

In the second quarter, I actually saw Brooke laugh and smile on court (not during play, of course).  That should give you a good idea of how the game was going.  The Aggies were dominating on shooting, steals, blocks, and rebounds.  They had a full court press going for most of the game on defense, though the game was played up tempo for most of this quarter.  The Aggie subs played much of the quarter.  After a player got a second foul on court, Tonishia Childress jumped up to check in.  She was grabbed by hand by an assistant coach and directed to sit back down.  Help was not needed.  Gia Pack (still loving that name) scored 12 in the half, including two three-pointers.  Moriah Mack (“Mo” as Adam liked to call her) wasn’t far behind with 11.       

Several good shots for the Mustangs just didn’t fall in, making the score look even worse for them.  Not to be patronizing, I’m sure that Western NM practiced as hard as the Aggies, and they certainly played as hard.  This was just a difference in level of play and talent.  WNM has scheduled other Division I teams this season, so they wanted this competition, much like the Aggies at the tournament last week.  43-14 Aggies at the half. 

The one time I didn’t need to go to the bathroom for halftime and all that was going on on court was a disorganized free throw contest with the fans.  During the game, the usual Flex-Cam and Dance-Cam spots were done during breaks, but were very quickly shut down.  I think only reason they were doing them was because they were sponsored.  Overall, the game seemed to be being played at a quickened pace in terms of stoppages.  The refs were not slowing anything down either. 

First half stats went up on the video boards: 4-10 turnovers, 10-1 assists, 27-16 rebounds, all in favor of the Aggies.  While the teams were warming up, Ashley Ford went over to the press table and gave somebody there a knockout smile.  I shivered.  Oh, to be on the receiving end of that. 

For the 3^rd quarter, the starters began the frame, but quickly gave way to the subs.  However, the starters were still totally into it, cheering on their teammates.  Sara Lopez seemed to get a lot of the love, as she scored five points, including a three-pointer.  Sara’s a walk-on player from El Paso, as Adam explained during the game, so she’s the closest thing to a hometown player for the Aggies.  Coach Trakh took her aside to talk to her on court for some instruction during stoppages, so he wanted her to do well.  The refs did miss shot clock reset that got the bench up in arms.  Jade Botelho on the Mustangs probably got the team’s only highlight, as she emphatically slapped a block on an Aggie layup.  64-20 Aggies after three quarters.  

For the all but perfunctory 4^th quarter, the starters came out for another four minutes before coming out.  The coach was still out there coaching.  As one girl came out for a foul, you could hear Coach Trakh over the radio mic talking to her.  “That’s on you, not her.”  The Mustangs went on a bit of run at one point, which got a cheer out of their section, though it seemed like there were more people than that cheering for them.  (I almost felt like cheering for them a little.)  Other than that, the crowd had something of a low energy level for the whole game (probably me included).  Our final, Aggies 85, Mustangs 28.

After the game, Sara Lopez went into the stands and got hugs from what was presumably her family.  Brooke and Tamera were also talking with some people in the stands behind the bench.  There was a group of fans holding up poster signs of the girls during the game.  They may be some sort of boosters.  Tamera was there long after the rest of the team had left the court.  If I’d seen somebody else getting her autograph, I would have run down there myself.  The best fan moment came before the game ended.  A little girl and her parents were leaving.  Before going, she ran over and gave another little girl with her parents a hug, the way kids do.  It was precious.

Gia Pack for the Aggies had a career game with 22 points and four three-pointers.  Mo was next with 15.  Most of the starters had limited time.  All 11 girls who were eligible to play scored.  According to the radio, the Aggies were +15 in rebounds and turnovers, not to mention +57 in scoring.  This was the best outcome for the team in that they not only won a game they should have, they did so definitively.  We hope this means that, while not successful at the tournament, they really learned something there, just in time for conference play. 

For the Mustangs, their point guard Jordan Gutierrez lead the group with 11 points.  She also had a pair of eye-catching yellow shoes, only outdone by teammate Lucy Benning’s, purple shoes.  I’m thinking these girls may have learned something from the Aggies when they get back to their regular opponents too.  They certainly played hard.            

I’d like to say this game win improved my mood, but it didn’t.  (I was psyched later when my scorecard added up correctly.  I don’t know if I could have counted rebounds and turnovers even if there was space on the scorecard for them.)  I almost feel like they should have discounted the tickets for this game, given the level of the opponent.  Outside, the sun was finally out and the clouds cleared away.  I drove out of the parking lot behind a girl wearing a tiara.  I’m thinking it was a cheerleader.  For the moment, work questions have me wondering if I should be spending money on entertainment, but I have a feeling I’ll be back to watch some more.