Sports Journal September 2019

I have sort of grab bag of sports events that I randomly wrote about this month.

9-17-19

The Triple-A Championship game was broadcast on KROD tonight.  Given that the Chihuahuas weren’t involved, it wasn’t that interesting for most of the El Paso/Las Cruces-area audience.  However, on the IL’s Columbus Clippers was recent Aggie star, Daniel Johnson.  It was pretty cool getting to hear him play.  Hopefully, he’ll be in the big leagues next year. 

9-24-19

I got to watch a great baseball game tonight: Nationals versus Phillies.  Most of the time I have a game on, I don’t get to watch most of it.  Today, for whatever reason, I was able to watch most of this game.  It had some importance as the Nat’s magic number was 2 to clinch a Wild Card spot.  As they were playing, their competition to get in, the Cubs, were playing the Pirates.

The Nationals trailed for most of the game.  Trea Turner put them up dramatically with a grand slam.  Later in the game, Bryce Harper came up getting boo’d by Washington crowd.  He was facing Hunter Strickland, who’d famously plunked him last year when he was pitching for the Giants.  What a change.  Last the time, it’d been the Washington crowd booing Strickland for hitting Harper.  All they did was change shirts!  Jerry Seinfeld might say.  Bryce hit a home run this time to get the score within one and some revenge.

However, the Nationals did prevail.  As the Nats went out on field to congratulate each other, the video screen in the outfield immediately cut to the Cubs versus Pirates.  The team stayed on the field to watch, as it was in the ninth there with two outs.  With the Pirate victory, the Nationals celebrated getting the Wild Card berth.  This game had a bit of everything.  That was fun.  This ended up being the last regular season baseball game I really watched this season.

Aggie Lia Mosher

My goodness she's attractive

9-26-19

I went to work a bit early and immediately brought up Aggie Soccer’s match in South Dakota on the WAC Digital Network.  They were already down 5-1 halfway through the second half.  They’d lose 5-2.  Keeper Dmitri Fong played the first half and gave up 3 goals.  Mia Montano played the second and gave up 2.  Both had 5 saves each.  I hope Dmitri isn’t hurt again and the coach just took her out because she was having a bad game.  Hannah Leitner and Alexa Barrera each had goals.  That was Hannah’s first college goal.

A little while later, Aggie Volleyball took on Utah Valley on the road, also on the digital network.  The Wolverines were 3-9, but they were the WAC Championship runner-ups last year.  From the UV pregame, I learned they’re down a critical player.  After the player introductions, the Wolverines tossed t-shirts into the crowd.  For the Aggies, Analyssa Acosta was still in at libero.  The UV announcers liked her and highlighted her play in the match.  They were impressed with her.

Set 1 was close to start.  The Wolverines had Megan Hart blocked at the net, triple-teaming her at times.  She did have a highlight of hitting one through three blockers.  UV took a brief lead, but then Natalie Mikels went on a six-point run on serve, only broken up by a timeout.  Krysten Garrison, who’d had serving problems last week, also had a serving run.  The Aggies took it up to an 8-point lead and won 25-19.  The Aggies took a commanding lead in Set 2 and didn’t look back.  Savannah Davison, who’d also had serving problems last week, had a run here.  Cat Kelly got her tenth kill of the match.  The Aggies took it, 25-17.

Set 3, the Aggies again had an early lead.  The announcers marveled at the Aggies proficiency in sideouts this match, which jinxed them.  The Wolverines came back to tie and take the lead.  At this point, I had personal problems trying watch on an iPad and missed the rest of the set.  The Wolverines went up by 7 won it 25-16.  For Set 4, the Aggies took a 6-point lead.  But after a ninth service error, the Wolverines came back within 2.  Halle Razo then aced to put the Aggie back up by 6.  The Aggies would go up 10 on her run and would win 25-14 and 3-1. 

For the match, Cat Kelly led with 17 kills, and Savannah Davison followed with 14.  Megan Hart had 5 on a rough night for her with 6 errors.  She still had 6 blocks.  There were 9 service errors, but 5 aces.  Coach Jordan might find that acceptable. 

I may have put my finger on the Aggies’ inconsistencies this season.  I think Coach Jordan is missing his former assistant Ben Wallis.  He was like having a second head coach on the team.  Of course that meant he’d have to leave someday to take on his own team.  Coach Wallis was interviewed on KROD the day before.  Steve Kaplowitz seems to be making an effort to promote volleyball at UTEP, since the station got Miner Football and Men’s Basketball back.  The program is doing well under Wallis’ leadership.  He said that their match against the Aggies made the Aggies better.  I’m going to have disagree there.  It seemed wreck their confidence actually. 

9-28-19

After a short stint at Aggie Softball this morning and a busy afternoon, I had a busy night too.  The evening was a full on ADD episode with everything on at the same time.  There were three movies on TV I was interested in.  The Cardinals and Cubs were on TV and the Brewers and Rockies were on the radio.  The Cardinals and Brewers were fighting for the Central Division.  (They both lost.)  The Rangers were playing Yankees on another radio station.  I think the Rangers won.  There was some poor reception on that.  This was the next to last game at the Ballpark at Arlington.

Aggie Roy Lopez

And, the Aggie Football team was playing on radio and TV.  They lost 30-17 vs Bulldawgs.  It was a shocking loss to Las Cruces High School.  Oh, wait.  They were playing the Fresno State Bulldogs.  I was confused by their very similar mascots.  During the halftime show on the radio, they mentioned the other Aggie sports, who were on the road.   Aggie Soccer had lost at South Dakota State by 4-0.  That’s not good.  Aggie Volleyball won in straight sets at Seattle U.  I’d thought this was going to be an off weekend, but I ended up being pretty busy. 

9-29-19

Finally, NBC decided to show a NASCAR race over-the-air.  I don’t know why they didn’t show their summer races here instead of on cable when there wasn’t much competition on TV.  Now, there’s plenty on.  During Clint Bowyer’s prerace interview, he stopped at one point, looked off to the side at a TV on his RV, and said, “I think the Chiefs just scored.”  Even the drivers are watching the NFL instead.  (If they could watch in their cars, they might do it.) 

NASCAR was now in their “playoffs.”  They were in Charlotte this week with the track in its “Roval” configuration.  This was a fascinating experiment last year: putting a road course in the playoffs.  I was really excited for it.  Too bad I didn’t see it, since it was on cable.  Apparently there was a dramatic twin wreck at the end with Martin Truex Jr. and Jimmie Johnson.  They took each other out coming out of the final chicane right in front of the finish line. 

Regrettably, I have no idea how the current playoff system works.  They’ve changed it too many times and keep making it more complex and I’m not able to watch every week.  It gives the announcers plenty to talk about during the race, but I can’t follow it.  I suspect I’m not the only one.  The pity here is that the racing on this track is actually excellent.  It’s quite challenging for the drivers.  While open-wheel cars on road and street courses tend to be boring races, stock cars are actually much more entertaining there in general.  They can take some damage from the close quarters contact and keep going.    

I did fully mean to recap the race.  Unfortunately, the race had significant competition on other channels that kept distracting me.  The Overwatch championship was on ABC.  That Sinatraa guy is good.  On Fox, after football, they showed a WWE Wrestlemania documentary.  I’ve never seen a Wrestlemania.  Wow!  Those are quite the spectacle.  I was really impressed.  Of course, the constant commercial interruptions during the race also just begged me to change channels.  When they went side-by-side with the coverage, all that did was add extra commercials.

What I did see was lots of fun.  In the third stage, race leader Chase Elliot plowed right into the barrier at Heartburn Corner on a restart.  There was another big tie-up.  Then there was a red flag.  I missed whatever caused that.  There was impending rain at the track with 7 laps left.  A lot of the race commentary centered back in the pack to see who was going to get bumped out from the next round.  Improbably, Chase passed everyone over the course of the final stage to retake the lead and win it.  Interviewed on track, he turned to the crowd and said, “Y’all like that?”  I gave him a round of applause myself.  I hope I can watch some more racing before the end of the season.

New Comics Review: Rolled & Told #7 March 2019 and Adventure Finders-The Edge of Empire #1

I haven’t been a total snob only buying old comics (here and here).  I did pick up a couple of new comics.

Rolled & Told #7 March 2019

This is a bit of a cheat; it’s not a comic book.  Actually, this was first (and only) thing I bought when I went to the new Zia Comics.  Rolled & Told is a 5e D&D magazine in a comic book format.  It’s twice the price of a typical comic ($8), but it is 64 pages (but there’s some blank filler pages in the back).  It has a thick cover on it, so it can be abused at the gametable.    

They sold the issues bagged, so I couldn’t look at it until I bought it.  Inside, I was pleased with the cheery artwork featuring their iconic characters.  The art was spread throughout and well done.  There were two adventures inside.  Each featured comic pages to go with them.  There were also three general gaming articles. 

Unfortunately, here’s where I have to be honest.  Actually reading the issue was a disappointment.  The adventures were little delves and not that great.  They left me really wanting.  Expanding them yourself might be difficult, because they are pretty self-contained.  Given the size format, they’d have to devote the entire issue to a Dungeon Magazine-sized adventure, so it’s an editorial choice.  Some new monsters and magic items were included.  The articles were of little interest.  You can go to their website and get copies of their maps and see some articles for yourself. 

(That said, the reason I actually went back to the store after my first visit, when I had declared I was done with them, was because I was looking for another issue of this.  They didn’t have the one I was looking for and that’s how ended up buying some comic books instead.)

Adventure Finders-The Edge of Empire #1

One thing that surprised me on the comic book shelves was how many were fantasy-inspired.  There was Conan, Red Sonja, some licensed D&D and Pathfinder comics, and a Critical Role comic.  There were a couple of independent titles as well.  This one caught my eye immediately.  Of course, I was only judging by the cover, since it was bagged. 

I was delighted that the artwork inside was even better.  It could perhaps be described as a manga that was Euro-comics inspired.  It doesn’t look like Nausiccaa, but it reminded me of it in style.  Pretty panographic pictures fill the issue.  It’s a good thing visually, but story-wise that makes this very decompressed.  Not a whole lot happens towards advancing the story.  On the other hand, this $4 comic had a recap page and a roster of characters page at the end and everything in between was story.  Marvel and DC will not give you this many pages of story in a 32 page comic.

I can’t tell you much about the characters or the story, because I couldn’t really figure out much of what was going on.  The recap was no help.  The little bit of story just gave a hint of the characters and set the stage of very large caravan moving out.  There was quite a bit of action at the end though.  The slightly disturbing image of a naked Gnoll, who shows up to help defend the caravan, seemed a bit unnecessary.  No naughty bits were shown, but either give him a loincloth or a bunch of thick fur down there.  (No, I’m not posting a picture of that.)   

So, I kind of liked it.  Given that it’s an independent one-man comic production, who knows when the next issue comes out.  I’m not holding my breath, but I’ll keep an eye out for it.

Marvel Facsimile Comics Review: Howard the Duck #1, Uncanny X-Men #137, and True Believers Edition Eternals

Facsimile Howard the Duck #1

This was the first facsimile I bought.  The moment I saw it on the shelf, I jumped on it.  I’d only ever read a couple of issues of the original series.  Howard was quite the comics icon in the 70’s.  Unfortunately, when I showed this book to a co-worker, all he remembered about the character was the George Lucas produced movie from the 80’s, widely regarded as one of the worst movies ever.  His cameos in the Guardians of the Galaxy movies might be some rehabilitation. 

Another co-worker assumed Howard was related to Disney’s Donald Duck and Uncle Scrooge.  He’s more accurately a parody of them.  Disney actually sued Marvel at one point over the character.  Given that Disney owns Marvel, why hasn’t this natural crossover happened yet?  (Disney’s “funny animals” have interacted with regular humans before.  There was a Mickey Mouse spy story where all of the characters were human.  It did look a little odd.  No, I wasn’t on LSD at the time I read it.)  

Howard’s had an interesting existence.  This is not the first appearance of the character.  He debuted in the Man-Thing horror comic of all places.  With little in the way introduction, this comic starts off with Howard trying to kill himself.  Not exactly a heroic entrance.  

Soon enough, he’s introduced to a babe and a funky villain.

Then he’s suddenly transported to a fantasy world.

Then, Howard crosses over with Spider-Man, a rite of passage for any new Marvel character through the 70’s and 80’s.  For an encore, he accidentally sets fire to the a river outside of Cleveland.  (I guess the real-life lake fire had burned itself out.  Yes, that really happened.)

You can see the quality of the artwork for yourself.  Howard’s original run was blessed with some top notch talent.  Steve Gerber, the creator and writer, saw Howard as an instrument of social satire and personal expression.  Unlike modern comic book writers, Gerber never let that get in the way of producing an entertaining comic book.  The subtext probably went safely over the head of any kids reading.

I’m really wishing I had this book, and the preceding one, Origins of Marvel Comics.  The Bicentennial calendar was part of the pervasive year-long merchandising in 1976 for the country’s 200-th birthday.  It was everywhere at the time.

I actually got the Evel Knievel Stunt Cycle for that Christmas.  It worked pretty impressively doing jumps.  I never saw the rest of the advertised toy line for it.

Facsimile Uncanny X-Men #137

It’s the Death of Phoenix story.  This classic needs no introduction.  If you want to consider any comic book important, this has to be on the required reading list.  I’d read this issue in the trade paperback version.  I don’t know why I got rid of it.  (What was I thinking?)  I also read the original version of the story that was printed years later (The Untold Story of . . .  was something like the title).  Jean Grey was meant to survive, just minus her Phoenix powers.  She was even going to marry Scott Summers in the next issue.   

I remember Editor-in-Chief Jim Shooter read the original and didn’t think the story resolved appropriately given that she’d blown up a planet.  He sent the guys back to change the ending.  These two pages were where the stories diverged.  Instead of the X-Men being defeated and Jean being depowered, the Phoenix force returned and everyone was in danger.  Rereading the comic, I forgot how dramatic it got. 

After this, you know the rest (or should).  The ending was pretty hardcore, if a little rushed.  They probably would have set things up better if they’d known ahead of time what ending they were going to use.  Regardless, the death of a major long-standing character like Jean Grey was nearly unprecedented.  It must have been an incredible shock to the readers at the time. 

Amazingly for a superhero, Jean stayed dead for years.  Unfortunately, she was brought back under questionable circumstances.  The Phoenix force certainly should have come back, as per the proverbial name, but there was no reason to bring Jean back.  It ruined one of the most poignant moments in Marvel’s history, which had continuous repercussions for the X-Men.  Bringing Jean back to life actually robbed her of her potential literary immortality.     

Unlike Phoenix, Captain Marvel is one of the few superheroes who has stayed dead (though there have been recent rumors).  I’m sure this thoroughly canonical short episode was one of the Captain’s greatest triumphs.  If only they’d kill off the Carol Danvers (Brie Larson) Captain Marvel in the movies, so we could all lament her passing too.  

Did anyone ever order these playsets/games?  I admit they excited my imagination in my youth, but I never sent off for them.  I had a friend who ordered that footlocker of toy soldiers that was advertised all through the 70’s.  They were 2-d flats and disappointing.

Ruining the cover of this issue is that hyperbolic proclamation that, “This comic could be worth $2500 to you!”  The details inside announced an essay-writing contest.  By virtue of all the small print, the real challenge would be following the rules.  

You can tell a newsstand comic of the time by the inclusion of an ad for novelty gags and pranks.  I think that same friend above ordered a few of these things too.

True Believers Edition: Eternals

This reprint was another in the Jack Kirby tribute series.  I remembered picking up the first issue of the Eternals limited series in the 80’s.  I can’t remember any of it, so it made no impression on me.  Later, I think it was compared to a “Poor man’s New Gods,” which Kirby had created for DC earlier.  This one, though, was more inspired by the Chariots of the Gods phenomenon of the time, which is still going on, thanks to Ancient Aliens on cable (one of my favorite shows).  Continuing on with cosmic, mythological themes, Kirby also did a 2001: A Space Odyssey continuing series.

I admit to not being the biggest Kirby fan, mostly because I was put off by his blocky, heavily shaded art style.  Then I saw these pages and immediately reconsidered my bias.  This is some really impressive stuff.  The story inside was bursting with ideas.  It was at least an interesting start, but it didn’t last long. 

There were several pages of interesting text about the Eternals in the back.  Neil Gaiman called the original concept flawed when he did a rewrite of the concept in 2006.  Part of that was that the Eternals weren’t originally part of the Marvel Universe.  It was meant to stand alone, but was shoehorned in against Kirby’s wishes.  If it had been created to fit, it probably should have included the mutants and the Inhumans as part of their origin.  (Some of that was done retroactively.)    

The Eternals will be in an upcoming MCU movie, probably based on Gaiman’s version.  Conceptually, they’re already in the movies.  The Celestials have been introduced and Thanos was an Eternal.   

Marvel Facsimile Comics Review-TB Thor and Giant Sized X-Men #1

I swore I’d never return, but they dragged me back.  I’m talking about the comic book store, of course.  Why?  Why God, why?  I don’t know.  The only local comic book store in town is within walking distance of my workplace (along with a great used bookstore and a great hamburger place and a great pizza place).  I’ve gone to work early a few times, so I could walk over to the downtown mall for a late lunch before clocking in.  Passing by the new Zia Comics location, I went in to give them a shot.  I don’t even really remember why, but now I’m checking their weekly releases online.

Seeing what’s coming out each week has reminded me why I gave up on comics: they don’t want mine (or even maybe anybody’s) business.  New comics are crap.  I just want a fun little superhero story, not a lesson in feminism and other such nonsense.  I also want no part of some enormous, pointless mega-crossover epic that needs 30 issues to play out in an unsatisfactory way.  “But,” complain the comic book companies, “How else can we make comic books?  There’s no other way to do it.” 

Yes, there’s no one capable of making a good comic at Marvel or DC anymore.  What to do?  At this point, some enterprising person in the marketing department discovered this thing called a “reprint.”  Back in olden days, people made entertaining comic books.  Why not reprint them, at modern prices, and sell them to desperate comic book fanboy suckers?  That’s where I came into the picture.  I’m the sucker.  So, I’ve picked up a few of these over the summer (and a couple of new comics).  In order to get something out of the money I’ve misspent, I’ll go ahead and review them.  Let’s start with, frankly, the two worst ones I’ve gotten.   

     

True Believers Edition Thor

This was at least only a dollar, not the typical $4 or $5 modern comic.  If Zia Comics has a fault, it’s that they don’t have a Dollar Comic box like every other comic book store I’ve ever been to.  Even the nearby used bookstore has a bin with some old comics, though not all at a dollar. 

The downside of this particular issue is that it’s a goofy old comic book from the 60’s.  It has the origin of a classic superhero character, Thor, and a backup story featuring the first appearance of Loki.  It also features Thor fighting rock-men from Saturn.  No, really.  It’s as silly as you’d think. 

I actually bought this for the husband of my department head (actually I’m not sure what her title or relationship is to the department, but its close enough).  Her new husband is a doctor.  He’d had a motorcycle accident and broke his hip right before the wedding.  She’d told me recently he’d recovered to where he was now walking with a cane.  I immediately said, “Oh, a doctor with a cane, like Thor.” 

She had no idea what I was talking about.  She was a big fan of the Thor movies, but that was all she knew about the character.  I had to explain the whole Don Blake thing and find some online proof.  It never really occurred to me that not everybody knew this.  (I’m such a fanboy.)  When I found this issue on the Zia Comics spinner rack (indeed an actual spinner rack, but just for the $1 comics), I had to get it to pass it along.  At least it went over well as a gift.

There’s a bunch of these True Believer comics, but this one is part of a Jack Kirby series.  I’m sure some comic book historian will bridle at the hypocrisy of Marvel celebrating one of the creators they screwed over.  (Or was it another one?  Or all of them?  I’m not a comic book historian.)  I picked up the Eternals one and I’ll post a review of that.  I might pick up some of the others later.  I remember having a Devil Dinosaur comic as a kid.  It was basically Godzilla with a hirsute kid sidekick versus aliens.  It was funky.

Facsimile Giant Sized X-Men #1 

I bought this for a co-worker who likes Wolverine, since I couldn’t find the Hulk versus Wolverine first appearance reprint issue from earlier this year.  (I’ve never seen the story.  I was anxious to read it too.)  His dad owned a local comic book store I used to go to.  This issue is the first appearance of Wolverine with the X-Men.

I knew this story had a reputation of being kind of dumb, but this is an important issue in X-Men history, as it relaunched the group after the comic book had been canceled.  Difficult to believe in the 80’s and 90’s, but the X-Men have not always been popular.  This isn’t so difficult to believe nowadays, as Marvel has run the franchise into the ground because they didn’t own the film rights to them.  Now they do.  Ooops.  Maybe they can un-run them into the ground.  (Not a chance, and I have a bad feeling about Marvel’s upcoming movies about them too.)    

Here’s your first appearance of Storm . . . topless.  Ah, 1975.  

Frankly this wasn’t a dumb comic, it was a terrible comic!  It made me reconsider buying anymore facsimile editions.  It’s worse than invading rock-men from Saturn.  Here’s your villain, a living island that absorbs mutant energies.

Here’s how they defeat the living island.  The writer was obviously an expert in physics.    

At least here’s a nice pin-up of Marvel Girl.  The end of the issued featured some reprints of explanations of the original X-Men’s powers. 

I found the ads in the comic interesting.  Yes, it’s true simulacrum of the original with the ads.  Obviously, the Mego superhero dolls were cool.  I had a Batman doll, but the Spider-Man one was the one to have.  Ironman was interesting.  I had a friend that had the Spider-Man diorama.

Check out some of the other characters featured in the merchandising: Daredevil (above with the superhero statues), Powerman (Luke Cage), Conan, Shang-Chi Master of Kung Fu, and Dracula.

NM State Aggies vs NAU Lumberjacks Soccer 9-22-19

Aggie Goalie Extraordinaire Dmitri Fong

I felt sick the night before this game.  Dad had called me Saturday evening and asked how the Aggie/Lobo Football game went.  I cringed.  I’d completely forgotten about it.  Since I’d gotten up early to listen to Aggie Volleyball, I’d probably mentally misplaced listening to another game on the radio afterward.  I watched the late news to see the outcome.  Oh crap, did I miss one!  The final was 55-52 Lobos!  What a game!  While a disappointing (to say the least) loss for the 0-4 Aggies, it’s very encouraging to see their offense finally bust out.  Coach Martin had said they were a high-powered air-raid team. 

So much for my Aggie fan credentials.  Suitability chastened, I went out to today’s Aggie Soccer match against the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks.  The weather was lovely, being warm and sunny with a breeze.  (And I wasn’t wearing a hat and somehow manage to sunburn my unprotected forehead even with very limited exposure.)  There was free Caliches ice cream outside.  That was a bonus.

Surprisingly, Aggie Softball was playing next door.  Ah, I’d been checking their Twitter every week to see if they were playing any exhibition games here.  There I was at home this morning watching an old Godzilla movie.  If I’d known, I’d have come early.  Inside, I asked an attendant, who told me Softball was playing El Paso Community College, (ahem) my alma mater.  Danny was sitting in his usual spot.  He’d asked some Softball players working at a volleyball game about exhibition games and they didn’t know.  They didn’t even tell perennial Aggie fan, Tom, they were playing today.  He was disappointed.  I am too.  (They did post a fall schedule right after the last time I’d checked.) 

After a great crowd for the Lobo game, it was back to another light crowd today.  I might blame the Cowboys game going on at the same time.  At least there were still more Aggie fans than NAU fans there.  Xitlaly Hernandez was not in the lineup.  She’s still injured.  I wonder if she’ll be back.  Strangely, team captain, Kelly Burton didn’t start.      

First Half

The Aggies started off on offense.  43’ left in the half, they were on the attack, but didn’t get a shot on goal.  NAU came right back at 42’.  (I was having trouble getting into taking notes at the start of the match.)  41’ defender Lece Aviles got pushed down.  Coach Baarts had singled her out for playing the entire double overtime match against UTEP in the postgame interview. 

Sitting at the south end of the stands, I could clearly hear goalie Dmitri Fong shouting out instructions to the defenders and telling the others to, “Get up!”  40’ NAU keeper Taryn Benham pushed out a shot.  37’ forward Shea O’Connor made a solo attack and had a roller that just went wide.  This was already more offense than I’d seen in the last game.  37’ Hannah Rivera, who I don’t think had started before, blocked out a shot in the Aggie box to break up an attack.  35’ Emma Smith took a shot from the wing.  Taryn stopped it on the ground.  The Aggies then had a corner, but didn’t make a shot on it.        

Yikes!  Am I seeing Aggie Volleyball players Megan Hart (beautiful as always) and Kiley Tonge (also nice-looking) spread out on a blanket on the grassy hill behind the north goal?  I think so, but they were at the other end of the field.  (Or now I’m hallucinating and seeing Megan everywhere.)  They were dressed to work on their tans.  (That is to say, showing some skin.)  They had a dog with them and another girl joined them, but I couldn’t identify her as a teammate.  I hate to tell them, but if they were trying to attract guys, the baseball team wasn’t there and wasn’t coming.  By the half, they’d figured that out (or needed to get to practice) and left.  Fair-skinned Canadian Megan is going to need more time in the sun to get that tan going.

It was an effort to keep watching the game on the field with that distraction.  30’ Hannah Leitner got taken down hard in the ‘Jacks’ box.  She was slow to get up.  29’ Dmitri caught a shot.  28’ Dmitri caught another.  She was getting peppered.  24’ NAU got a free kick after knocking down Corey Kizer.  At least that’s the way me and the crowd saw it.  The shot went high and wide. 

22’ Dmitri stopped a bouncer.  19’ Lece harassed a ‘Jack at the top of the Aggie box and got a turnover.  But, NAU got it right back and Whitney Winans made a good chip shot that just went high.  18’ there were mass Aggie subs, including Kelly.  14’ more Aggie subs came in.  I don’t quite understand this strategy.  13’ an NAU player tried to trip Jody Hernandez and came up limping.  12’ an NAU corner, Dmitri made a catch on the follow-up shot.  11’ Dmitri stopped a roller.  Man, it’s tiring just writing about all of her stops.

8’ the Aggies got a corner kick.  Eli Gonzalez made a header pass and Taryn stopped a close shot.  5’ Dmitri slapped an attack away and caught the follow-up in her gut.  That was easily her best stop of the day.  Brilliant!  4’ here she was pressured on a back pass and had to quickly kick it out-of-bounds.  (God, do I cringe every time a player kicks back to the goalie.  It’s an accident waiting to happen.)  2’ senior Amy Gluczynski, who I haven’t seen much of, was literally dragged down.  The ball went to NAU.  Me and most of the rest of the crowd boo’d.  1’ Lece did a good job keeping the ball away on defense from an attacker.  Time’s up.  Nil-nil.

Halftime

Even with the increased Aggie offensive pressure, the Lumberjacks still had 6 shots on goal, while the Aggies had none.  A Sports Marketing girl had had to comb the stands twice to find a couple of guys to do the “horse-riding” contest.  They made it a bit harder than the last game.  I walked out to use the bathroom and found out Softball had just ended.  So much for any bonus coverage.  I’m curious to see the team after losing some seniors and having a couple of defections.           

During the first half, Danny had mentioned a friend of his who used to come out and watch Women’s sports for the, “Wrong reasons.”  “What are those?” I asked.  Danny said his friend was just ogling the girls.  “Well, I enjoy the competition, but I am girl-watching here too, you know,” I said.  Danny knows that I am seriously watching the sports on some level.  The note-taking sort of gives me away.   

Apparently, this guy though was only here for the ogling, which made it sort of unacceptable.  No offense, but I’d say there are better options that don’t involve sitting in the sun or leaving your house just to look at girls.  Try Twitch for example.  I gave Danny my stock answer for noticing female athletes’ looks: I’ll stop looking as soon as women stop throwing themselves at male athletes.  I suppose the main difference is that fangirls might actually have some chance of sleeping with their favorite male players if they can position themselves the right place with them.  Am I being overly cynical?  Meh. 

Second half

Before I returned to my seat, I picked up and threw away a water bottle that had been sitting in front row of the stands that had been there for three games.  It had some kind of brown fluid inside that I did not examine.   On that sour note, we resume play.

The Aggies came out with one of their set plays.  44’ Hannah Leitner received a good centering pass and took a shot that just missed.  43’ NAU took a hook kick at the Aggie goal that missed out.  42’ Dmitri had to dive to stop a shot in the box.  40’ Dmitri caught a close shot.  38’ I heard a comment behind me after the next play, “That was a joke.”  Emma had the goalie out and beat, but missed the shot.  She grabbed her shirt collar and pulled it up and over her face.  The Aggies still had a corner.  Katie Martinez took a header shot that was caught.  Taryn was earning it in the NAU goal.

36’ Dmitri had to make a couple of grabs at a ball on the ground to get it away from an attacker.  The near misses kept getting closer.  33’ Corey took a header off a free kick that missed.  32’ Dmitri caught a hard shot from a corner.  30’ a couple of hard NAU fouls advanced the ball up-field for the Aggies.  Jess took a free kick outside the ‘Jack box that Taryn caught. 

29’ “This is it!” commented whoever was behind me as Dmitri looked beat on a close shot, but it went wide.  28’ off an NAU corner, for a couple of agonizing seconds, the ball pinballed in right in front of the net.  Lece kicked it out.  Another corner followed, and Dmitri caught it.  25’ she came under pressure on another ball rolling back to her.  25’ Jess made a partial block that allowed Dmitri to make a catch.

22’ Eli to Shea in the NAU box.  Her kick was blocked out and led to an Aggie corner.  They didn’t get a shot off it.  21’ Madison Montgomery tripped Hannah, who was determined to get to the net with the ball just outside the NAU box.  It set up a free kick, but no damage.  19’ a crossing pass to Hannah went out, but set up an Aggie corner.  Shea took a pass for a header shot that missed high.  16’ Shea and Taryn collided in mid-air in front of the NAU goal going for the ball.

15’ off an NAU corner, Dmitri punched out one shot.  Kiana Miyazato came in with a follow-up shot that finally went in.  It was just one-too-many shots, and Dmitri could not be everywhere at once.  My heart broke for her.  She was playing so well.  1-0 Lumberjacks.

14’ the ‘Jacks kept up the pressure and made a crossing shot that just missed.  12’ Dmitri kept her head in the game and caught a long bouncer from outside the box.  11’ Emma, on an onsides breakaway, was tripped in the box and went down.  No call.  9’ Alexa, who just came in, took a close shot that was just caught.  8’ Jess took a free kick from way outside the box that Taryn had to field.  7’ Alexa was taken out.  I really don’t understand this strategy, unless she really wasn’t good to play today at all. 

A middle-aged couple by the main grandstands cheered for Shea.  I’m guessing they were her parents.  Her mom is nice-looking.  Hey, I’m staring another defeat in the face here.  I have to salvage this experience somehow.  5’ NAU corner, Dmitri caught a hard, close shot.  3’ she caught a free kick.  1’ Shea was tripped going at the NAU goal.  Finally, Annalise Pacheco took a last second shot from way out of range for the Aggies.  1-0 Lumberjacks final.

Stacey’s mom has got it going on!  Stacey, can’tyou see, you’re just not the girl for me. I wanna be with Stacey’s mom!

Yes, I’m cracking up after another Aggie loss.  I’m not doing any more Women of Aggie Sports erotic fanfiction as punishment though.  (Just a joke.)  Here’s your stats: shots on goal were 9 to 6 for NAU, with the Aggies going 6 to 5 on corners.  This is an offensive improvement.  But, I keep seeing opposing teams with multiple players attacking in concert, and the Aggies with only one or two with little coordination between them. 

NAU basically has about the same record as the Aggies, and they’ve allowed a lot more goals.  This doesn’t bode well for upcoming conference play.  About the only thing I can say for sure is that, without Dmitri Fong in goal, these last two matches would have been 5-0.  (No offense to Mia Montano.)  I hope Dmitri’s not taking all of this personally and is enjoying life outside of the games (unlike me).  Honestly, I thought the Aggies could score and tie it up, but I doubted they’d be able to score again, and I didn’t want to sit through another double overtime loss.     

Leaving the grandstand, a couple of little girls there with their dads, saw each other, and ran into each other’s arms and hugged.  True friends.  How adorable.  There are more important things in life than sports.  (I can write about nice things too.)  Driving out of the parking lot, I suddenly noticed that the park next to the baseball field has big light posts there.  So, the park has lighting, but the soccer field doesn’t?  I hope Coach Baarts doesn’t find out about this and raise a fuss. 

Nothing like a meal at Raising Canes to make oneself feel better after an Aggie loss.  I noticed the place is done up with a lot of Aggie sponsorship now.  I think they took down the high school stuff (unless I’m mis-remembering).  I went over to Sonic next door for a Blast.  Even the small size was actually way more ice cream than I wanted.  (I can’t believe I’m writing those words.)  Aggie Soccer and Volleyball are out-of-town this weekend, but Softball has an exhibition scheduled.  I check that out.  I’m remember to check Aggie Football for sure.