12-8-18
Babylon
5
was way too interesting, so I missed the first half of the Wyoming Cowgirls versus the Idaho
Vandals in Women’s College
Basketball on Stadium. I was interested in seeing the game there in
Laramie, since the Aggie girls had played there at the end of last season (3-15-18). Wyoming plays in the so-called “Dome of Doom.” From an outside shot, it is an impressive
facility. Inside, the seats on the
sidelines were set at an odd fanning arc.
The arena is probably also used for rodeos.
There was a pretty good crowd there and they saw a good
game. Wyoming would win 64-61.
Idaho missed a last second three to tie it. The Vandals have a couple of girls known for
their three-point shooting, nicknamed “The Splash Sisters.” One WY girl scored her 1,000-th point. Play was stopped after that score, but only
to bandage up her hand, as she was injured on the play. I didn’t like their band when I heard them
last year. Here, I only heard them once,
but they were pretty good. Practice
makes perfect. And we have a
controversy. I noticed Wyoming’s
costumed cartoon cowboy mascot on the sidelines. Their announcer identified him as “Pistol Pete.”
Gasp. How dare they! Pete is ours, you miserable piles of
cow-crap! Well, I never.
I didn’t compose myself until hours later (after a few
martinis and a long bubble bath). This
was just in time to hear the Aggie Men
take on the, #2 in the nation, Kansas
Jayhawks. Tellingly, Coach Jans didn’t want to talk about
this game right after his victory over the Lobos
earlier this week (12-4-18). He
wanted to enjoy that moment. The Aggies
were already winners just by showing up, to the tune of $90,000. AD
Mario Moccia does not like scheduling these guarantee games, but they keep
the athletics department floating.
First Half
The Aggies came out a bit nervous. KU took an early lead, but the Aggies started
catching up to 14-10 at the first timeout thanks to a Jojo Zamora three. Jojo hit
another three to get it to 21-20.
Timeout KU. The Aggies then took
the lead on an Ivan Aurrecoechea layup. Later, there would be a shot clock violation
on the Aggies, as they inbounded the ball with two seconds on the shot clock
and didn’t get a shot off. Jack Nixon said he could hear Coach
Jans through his headphones. “What were
you doing!” Johnny McCants got it going late in the half. He tied it at 24 on a jumper. He tied it again on a one-handed jam at
26. Even the large Jayhawks crowd there
had a reaction. McCants then had another
jam to finish the half and give the Aggies the lead, 28-26.
Second Half
Dad called me during halftime. I think we were all pretty excited at this
point. The Aggies came out hot for the
second half. Jojo had another
three. AJ Harris added one of his own for a 40-33 lead and a KU
timeout. It was nearly a full house for
the game (about 18,000), but they didn’t start getting loud until the Jayhawks
closed it to 41-37. Shunn Buchanan hit a three to quiet them temporarily, but a steal
and a jam got the fans right back into it at 46-42.
Jojo added another three to make it 51-44 with about ten
minutes left in the game. The Jayhawks
mounted a comeback to 51-49. Timeout
Aggies as the crowd was going wild. KU
tied it at 53 with five minutes left. Aggies
went down three with just under a minute left.
It was 62-60 after a free throw, but with seconds left, the Aggies had to
begin intentionally fouling. The
Jayhawks converted on one free throw, but that was enough. 63-60
KU was the final. Much like the
earlier Women’s game, the Aggies missed two three’s before the buzzer. I guess I got some foreshadowing there.
Apart from points off turnovers and perhaps an
overreliance on three’s, free throws were another downfall. Both teams were atrocious, but the Aggies
missed too many that could have kept them in the lead. Jojo
Zamora and Ivan Aurrecoechea were the Aggies’ top
scorers. Johnny McCants had 12 points as a career best. Afterward, the coach was filled with
disappointed mixed feelings, much like the team and Aggie fans. He was proud of their effort against a very
good team, but coming this close to winning a game of this magnitude was an
opportunity that won’t come again this season, unless they make it to the NCAA Tournament. It’s good to know that this team can maybe
compete with anybody, but a win would have made that feeling more certain.
12-9-18
There were two Women’s
College Basketball games on today.
Unfortunately, they were both on at the same time. First up on Stadium was a matchup between the Colorado State Rams versus the Arizona
State Sun Devils. (It was first,
because I forgot about the other game.)
The game was in Fort Collins. The
on-court graphics were really good-looking with a pair of large ram horns on
each side. It sounded like a good crowd
there, who were pretty vocal.
ASU came into town shorthanded with only eight
players. That didn’t hamper them at all
as they shot the lights out. They
basically doubled up the CSU score after every quarter. I noticed the ASU players were cycled in four
at a time, I guess to keep them fresh as a group. On the bench, when their team had a free
throw, the girls would cross their legs and then cross them the other way on
the next throw in unison. It was funny
to watch on TV.
The final was 70-39
ASU. The game took a tidy
hour-and-a-half. The CSU announcer took
it in stride and said the Sun Devils out-played the Rams in every aspect of the
game. He also said that this was
probably the hardest game on the Ram’s schedule. I think they’re pretty good in the Mountain West, so they weren’t concerned
about dropping this out-of-conference game.
A couple of the Rams girls were tall and cute, but I wasn’t listening
enough to identify them, because . . .
About halfway through the first quarter, I remembered
that the UTEP Miner ladies were
playing the Portland State Vikings. I turned down the TV sound and turned on the
radio. It was already 30-19 Vikings at
that point. It didn’t get any better for
Miners as the game went on. UTEP star, Zuzanna Puc, came out of the game in
the third quarter for unspecified reasons.
My girl Katerina Zec had a
couple of highlights in the game, but that was about it. 89-61
Vikings was the final.
After the game, Coach
Baker apologized to the fans there and said they should get a refund. The
team is now 2-7. There was no update on Zuzy from him. He either didn’t know or didn’t want to
say. There was a very nice interlude at
halftime when young singer, Isis Gonzalez,
sang a cappella to the crowd. It was lovely. Brandon
Cohn stopped his halftime show a couple of times to let everyone hear her.
Flipping around on TV afterward, I stopped cold on CBS.
It was a Gamers’ Choice Awards
show for video games. There was that Ninja guy and some other gamers that
I’m now somehow recognizing. Pokimane won some award. I’ve watched her a couple of times. It was set in a large lounge with a DJ. There were a couple of professional hosts for
it, who were fairly funny.
Now what’s odd is that this is the second video games award show I’ve seen this week. Thursday on Twitch, they hosted an awards show in a facility that would rival the
Oscars. My girl Dizzykitten (I apparently have a lot of “my girls”) simulcasted
the event, while doing commentary. The
amphitheater was huge and full. There
was an orchestra and a chorus. The main
difference was that nobody there was wearing a suit or a dress. Indeed, the gamer-of-the-year was some kid
who was a furry . . . in costume at the awards show . . . and he made some
jerkoff political comment during his speech.
It was not Twitch’s finest moment.
(“Furry,” the geek “F” word. It’s
just embarrassing for everyone involved.)
Meanwhile, I noticed there was a Stadium2 stream by the Stadium
network. They were showing a couple of
guys running a video game stream and e-sports commentary. I even noticed Cheddar Sports, who I thought was a sports betting operation, has
a stream that’s doing a nightly e-sports news and analysis show. It’s taking over.
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