The Elvis Collection: Army Scrapbook 14

 Elvis takes a screen test.

Article pictures of Elvis' love life up to that point.  Obviously, this was early in his career.

One more article.  This was promoting Elvis as being more mature now that he was getting into acting. 

This scrapbook finishes with a few pictures along with his song titles.  I've got more to come.  The next scrapbook is from the 70's.

The Elvis Collection: Army Scrapbook 13

 More pics of Elvis' Army induction.

Winner of the worst Elvis headline.

The Elvis Collection: Army Scrapbook 12

At the start of this article, Elvis laments how hard it is for him to date regular girls.  I feel so bad for him.  So bad.  So, so bad.  

Then it gets juicy.  Some of Elvis' previous girlfriends, like Natalie Wood, start dishing.

This is the back of that page I guess.  It's not part of the article, but an interesting story about Clark Gable.

Apparently, Elvis isn't really a great date.  One girl thought the Army would be good for him.

An article on Elvis' early Army life.  

The Elvis Collection: Army Scrapbook 11

"Aching with a desperate need for love," exclaims this article about Elvis.  

According to this article, Elvis' tour-related weight problems started early in his career.  Though in this case, he was losing too many pounds performing.

Nice picture in the turtleneck.

The Elvis Collection: Army Scrapbook 10

 Here are three articles more-or-less in defense of Elvis.  The first is written by Elvis himself.

"Is Rock-and-Roll" bad of Teen-agers?"  Just wait a couple of decades.

NM State Aggies vs Northern Colorado Bears Baseball 3-20-21 Game 2

 
Game 1

Game 2

Ron wasn’t entirely happy with my dinner choice because there was a long line at the Chik-fil-a drive through, but I was adamant.  I was also sure my decision was going to be looking good after we started eating.  We did run late though.  As we came in, the first out was made on the first Bears batter.  Although fans were encouraged to bring in their own food and drinks for the game since the concessions were closed, I knew this would also run afoul of their mask mandate.  So, I was lightly scolded while eating.  There is no sense behind these rules; they’re just meant to make thinking people crazy and dumb people feel virtuous.  I’m not going to say this ruined my experience, but I don’t think I’m going to want to go to the ballpark like this passed this season.

 

The Bears were glad to see the last of Chris Jefferson.  They promptly scored two runs off of Aggie starter, Josh Laukkanen, in the first.  The Aggies didn’t stop hitting either.  Zerek Saenz started off with a triple.  Brandon Dieter drove him in with a double.  Kevin Jimenez was hit by a pitch.  The Aggies on base then executed a double steal, which resulted in an errant throw by the catcher and another run scoring.  A double by Austin Duffy and a single by Britt Graham brought in two more runs to make it 4-2 Aggies.  The Aggies had their own run-scoring error in the second.  A bad throw by Graham on a steal attempt of third after a strikeout brought in the Bears’ third run.  The Aggies came right back in the bottom, as Saenz collected another hit and KJ drove him in.  5-3 Aggies.

 

In the bottom of the third, I can say for sure that the Aggies scored two more runs to make it 7-3.  Saenz got another hit and drove in one of those runs.  The scoring on the other run is a bit of a mystery.  Adam Young on the radio had to wait for an official scoring and I’m not sure he understood it either.  Tommy Tabak tripled and Duffy walked to put runners on the corners to start the inning.  Graham bunted to the third base side.  Just inserted Bear pitcher, Ian Torpey, came off the mound to field the ball.  Tabak danced off third baiting a throw.  Torpey hesitated and then made a bad throw to first.  Graham was safe and Tabak scampered home on the overthrow.  I had that scored as an easy error, but officially it was somehow a sacrifice or a hit and an RBI.  There was an attempted double steal right after, but since one of the runners was caught, the other steal didn’t count.  I am lost.  I found out that there’s unsecured Wi-Fi at the ballpark.  I may start bringing my iPad to double check my scoring on the spot and to get further explanation. 

 

Anyway to the fourth, Ben Des Rosiers came on in relief for the Aggies after Laukkanen gave up a home run and a single.  The scouts in attendance got out their radar guns.  I think he’s a prospect.  Des Rosiers induced a double play ground ball and then got a strikeout to end the frame.  The Aggies didn’t stop scoring either.  Duffy tripled in two runs to make it 9-4 Aggies.  It was a fly ball, but as soon as Matt Burkart in right field got turned around twice, it was trouble.  There was a swirling wind blowing over the stadium that was causing the fielders fits on balls in the air.

 

Saenz came up to start the fifth.  This time, the infield overloaded to the left.  Dramatic shifts do not normally happen in college ball.  Saenz promptly slapped one to the right.  The Aggie dugout and the fans loved it.  That kicked off a 4-run inning.  KJ singled in Saenz, Tabak hit the fourth Aggie triple of the game to drive in two, and Duffy doubled in a run.  13-4 Aggies.  I made notes this inning on Ethan Mann and Graham having great walk-up music.  I appreciate enjoying at least some of the players’ musical tastes.  I mention this mostly because I almost left in the sixth when the PA played Baby Shark between innings.  Saenz singled in the inning to go 5-for-5.  This is ridiculous.  He scored on a dropped popup to short.  It was that tricky wind again.  14-4 Aggies.

 

Adam was mentioning the run rule coming into play at this point and, of course, jinxed it.  Ben McKay, who had just dropped that ball at short, led off the seventh with a home run off of just entered reliever, Joey Arellano, to spoil it.  Another run was doubled in.  Tabak made an effort to get those runs back by leading off with an Aggie homer in the bottom.  There was a t-shirt toss into the crowd for it.  But, there was to be no run rule today.  Burkart hit his second homer in the eighth to make it 15-7.  Graham certainly wished the game had ended early as he took a foul to his “lower area” in the eighth.  The bottom of the eighth was scoreless for the Aggies.  This broke an 11-inning scoring streak going back to the previous game.  Saenz also flied out.  I think he did that on purpose to not expose his mutant superpower to hit.  Sam Leach, Game 1 starter, tripled in the ninth and was driven in for the last run of the game.  Tristan Stacy did make a great foul catch in right fighting the wind.  15-8 Aggies final.  The game went three hours and, thanks to Daylight Savings Time, the sun was still up by the end.

 

Gameballs.  Ben Des Rosiers got the win for throwing three scoreless innings of relief.  Derek Saenz went 5-for-6 with 4 runs and an RBI.  Tommy Tabak went 4-for-5 including 2 triples, a home run, and 3 RBI’s.  Austin Duffy was 3-for-4 with 4 RBI’s and came within a single of hitting for the cycle.  For the Bears, I’ll note Matt Burkart for clubbing 2 home runs. 

 The scouts were discussing the NCAA tournament and following GCU’s loss.  They seemed pleased with the final score of this game.  I think these guys bet on everything.  Megan Hart was not up front this time.  Her friend and former teammate was there.  I don’t think she’s on the team anymore.  She’s apparently dating a player, as she waited in the Kiss-n-Cry for the team to come out and was wearing an Aggie Baseball shirt.  Oh my goodness, Hitting Man himself, Derek Saenz was standing in front of me while I was waiting on Ron in the bathroom.  Saenz is from here and his family was there to meet him.  I should have said something, since other fans were congratulating him.  Apparently, I’m not very social with strangers while wearing a mask.  (He won the Player of the Week award Monday.  Congrats!)  Admittedly, I was maybe a little more excited by a little wiener dog that somebody was walking into the area.

 

Ron and I went to Caliches after I took my truck home.  Ice cream is for winners and I still have a couple of two-for-one coupons left.  Current Aggie tickets don’t have any coupons on them.  As happy as Ron was with seeing baseball and a couple of wins, I think he was happier with Caliches’ seasonal Key Lime flavored frozen custard.  I shouldn’t have listened to his weather forecast for Sunday.  He said there were going to high winds, but they actually held off until the very end of the game.  I had cancelled going when he told me and listened to the game over the radio.  The Aggies completed the sweep, 7-4.  The Bears’ home run hitting kept them in the game.  Zerek Saenz continued to hit.  He went 15 for 19 in the series.  He’s unsurprisingly leading the conference hitting over .500.  Catcher Jason Bush got hit on a backswing and almost ended up in a fight.  He’d taken enough abuse this series. 

 

Sorry this recap is poor even by my standards.  I’m out of practice and disheartened, but it was good to get out to the ballpark and see a couple of wins.  I’m planning on going to some more Aggie Sports for the rest of the spring.      

NM State Aggies vs Northern Colorado Bears Baseball 3-20-21 Game 1

So I’m back writing about live sports again at least for the moment.  I can only hope this is the beginning of a return to normal fandom for sports, but I’m not really hopeful.  My last live event was just over a year ago (3-1-20).  It was a swell game.  I feel like I was a bit blasé last year about going to games and didn’t make a concentrated effort like I had in past years. 

 

I maybe needed a break from sports writing, or at least the grind and schedule of having to pump out reports.  Was it really all that important anyway?  Sports, in general since last year, have proven to be a pretty much complete betrayal to my sensibilities.  With that perspective, I had some trepidation about returning to the ballpark.  I love the games, but not the people running sports.  I never really did, but now I know it’s totally mutual; they hate the fans right back.  As for the players, the professionals are no different.  The college athletes are likely mostly indifferent.  I like some the players and have crushes on some of the girls, but I know it’s probably only because I don’t actually know them, just what I’ve seen of them playing or from some limited interaction. 

 

Whoa!  Sorry.  This is supposed to be a sports report.  Let’s put on a happy face and talk about actual sports for most of the rest of this and not existential angst.  Aggie Baseball has had a rough start to their 2021 season on field.  Because they weren’t allowed to play in New Mexico, they’ve gotten to experience what their northeastern pre-conference opponents have experiencing for years; going on the road and playing against good teams and getting beat.  Yeah, there’s been no building up any gaudy player stats and team records this season.

 

During an Aggie Men’s Basketball game at the WAC tournament this month, Athletic Director Mario Moccia announced that Aggie Baseball was finally able to play at home that Friday to start their conference schedule.  With that, New Mexico State would be the last NCAA Division I school to finally get a home game since last year (outside of the Ivy League, which I guess isn’t playing at all right now).  (The New Mexico Lobos had played a home softball game earlier in the week.)  I’m biting down a lot of comments about our state government and government in general.  Men’s and Women’s Basketball never got a home game this season.  In Las Vegas at the tournament, the Men actually saluted the Aggie fans there after their first game.  (Boy, did the guys have a rough season, but still made it to the conference finals.) 

 

Just to make an indulgent digression here, Volleyball finally got to play in the Pan-Am Center for their last two home games, but no fans were allowed.  Given their Monday/Tuesday schedule, I might have been able to have seen the Tuesday games, if they played them at noon.  I’ve been able to see a few of their games on the WAC Digital Network.  So far, near the end of this season, they’ve only lost one match.  Unfortunately, I saw that one.  They were up two sets on Utah Valley, but couldn’t finish them off.  Other than their only pre-conference match against Arizona, that was probably the only other time they’ve been really tested this season.  Other than that, it’s been all positives.  Savannah Davison was been WAC Player of the Week two weeks in a row.  I watched newcomer Victoria Barrett basically finish off a match with an unbelievable five aces on serve in a row.  Then there’s transfer Shaney Lipscomb.  She set a three-set school record by going 14-for-14 in swings for a match.  That’s 14 kills on 14 swings!  Impossible!  The team as a whole hit over .500 that day.  Coach Jordan was literally speechless afterward when interviewed.  He had nothing to criticize.  The Aggies though have already lost the WAC tournament in terms of location.  It’s been moved from Las Cruces to Utah Valley.              

 

Back to baseball, the Aggies were so happy to be back home for their first game that they took it out on Dixie State, 17-3.  I got to watch a little of that.  A Dixie outfielder went over the wall to bring back a home run to end an Aggie 12-run inning.  The Aggie fans in attendance actually cheered for him.  The weather over the weekend for the rest of the series was a windy nightmare in cold, gusty conditions.  My friend Ron was so desperate for live sports; he sat out in it for more three games.  He got to see the Aggies win 14-3 and 19-2 and then lose 19-13.  That inexplicable final score was apparently not even that close.  (The WAC is playing four-game series this season so that the teams can get in some more games.)  In spite of the conditions, I’m not sure I’d ever heard Ron so happy after seeing the games.  I did not regret not going.  Ron also went to a mid-week game against Benedictine Mesa, which the Aggies won 7-3.  On Friday, the Aggies started their series with the Northern Colorado Bears with a 13-7 win.  The Aggies had to battle from behind twice to win the game.  The Bears’ starter was ejected for taunting and spitting at the Aggie dugout. 

 

That brings us up to Saturday.  The weather was forecast to be beautiful and it was sunny with a light breeze.  Capacity at the ballpark was limited to 25% masked and distanced.  There were no concessions, so you could bring your own drinks and food.  (I really wanted some popcorn.)  Tickets only went on sale an hour before the game at the ticket office.  Ron was sure that Friday’s game had sold out.  Since he wasn’t going to be able to get there when the office opened, he told me to get there a half-hour before tickets went on sale.  I’m so glad I showed up an hour-and-a-half early for the game.  I just got in line behind 248 other people and barely got the last two tickets.  Or, there was no one there in line and I had no problem getting tickets.  You can guess for yourself which one happened.  Ron came by shortly thereafter and at least the time passed quickly.

 

I did run into the Assistant Athletic Director, Herb Taylor and we said, “Hi.”  Ron chatted up a pretty ticket taker he’d befriended in the foul weather last weekend.  Inside, one of the regulars at the ballpark recognized me, even in the mask, and wondered where I’d been.  It’s nice to be missed.  I’d worn my Aggie Volleyball shirt to the game on the off chance somebody from the volleyball team would be there so I could congratulate them on their season, but I didn’t see anyone at the time.  At our seats, I could hear the scouts in attendance betting on the over/under on today’s scores.  On field, I was startled by what looked like a 7ft tall ump.  Dominic Toledo would be calling the balls and strikes.  He called a high, but consistent strike zone.  There wasn’t much argument, though I’m not sure the players he towered over were not inclined to argue with him anyway.  Today’s double header was scheduled as a 7-inning game followed by a 9-inning game.       

Game 1

I was glad I had no trouble remembering how to keep a scorecard.  I did so badly and things didn’t add up, so everything was back to normal.  (Then there was weirdness in Game 2 that had me scratching my head, even with Adam Young on the radio call helping.)  The first two innings were simple enough as the Aggies and Bears mirrored each other’s performances.  I was a bit confused as the Bears’ pitcher, Sam Leach, batted for himself.  New Stanford transfer, Brandon Dieter, helped turn a double play in the second.  He was a big time recruit and has the big time shoes to fill taking Nick Gonzales’ place at short.  The highlights of these innings were a t-shirt toss by a new pretty intern and a guy carrying in an adorable little pug dog.  I also learned wearing a mask out in the sun makes your face sweat.

 I needed Adam on the radio to score the final out of the top of third.  Aggie pitcher Chris Jefferson made a rushed throw on a comebacker and Mark McNelly dropped it at first.  The runner was still called out for interfering with the catch.  That wasn’t immediately obvious watching from the stands.  In the bottom of the third, Tristan Stacy started a rally with a double and was driven in by Zerek Saenz to make it 1-0 Aggies.  The last out of the inning gets a star for the Bears’ pitcher.  A comebacker from Kevin Jimenez knocked Leach’s glove off.  The two-way player still managed to pick up the ball and throw out KJ.

 

In the fourth, Ethan Mann got on via an error and was moved over by a balk.  Austin Duffy moved him to third with a perfect bunt that turned into a hit.  Catcher Jason Bush sacrificed Mann in to make to 2-0 Aggies.  Friday night, Bush took a heck of a beating behind the plate.  I guess it was better he started the earlier game though, since it was scheduled for just seven innings.  In the fifth, Saenz and Dieter hit their way on and were sacrificed in by KJ and Mann to make it 4-0 Aggies.  Nice small ball there.  The only fan contest for the game was a quick “What’s in your pocket?”  There was a little girl in a yellow sundress wearing a surgical boot and using a scooter at the game.  Like a bit of a daredevil, she’d make high-speed passes in front of the stands going back and forth.  Another fan had a very cool Albuquerque Dukes hat on.    

 

Ron had wandered off and came back with a foul ball.  He said he’d gotten three and given two away to kids.  The PA was asking for balls before the game, but Ron is ignoring their pleas.  Ron also had a story about a pidgin Friday night.  The bird kept dodging foul balls trying to watch the game.  Bush led off the sixth with about a 10-pitch battle and won it with a double.  The Aggie dugout went nuts over the effort.  McNelly drove him in and, after a Saenz double, KJ brought in McNelly with another sacrifice.  6-0 Aggies.  At 106 pitches, Leach finally came out, one out short of finishing the game.  He was still batting in the seventh though when the game finished with the Aggies winning 6-0.  I finished my scorecard with a mis-add on the hits and an unknown error.  Annoying.

 

I can tell why there wasn’t much to talk about for this game; Chris Jefferson threw a complete game shutout.  He finished the seven innings in under 90 pitches and only gave up 3 hits with no walks and 8 strikeouts.  Needless to say, it was a great performance.  He also had a little silver insignias on his shoes that glittered in the sunlight.  I’ll toss a couple other gameballs to Zerek Saenz for going 3 for 4 with a run an RBI, and to Kevin Jimenez for driving in two runs with sacrifice flies.  That’s unselfish fundamentals right there.  The game clocked in under two hours.  That worked out well for the front end of a double header.       

 

There was only a 30-minute break between games.  (The players didn’t even change uniforms.)  That was a good thing if you were waiting around, but lousy if you were going to Chik-fil-a to finally use a Christmas gift card for dinner.  As Ron and I rushed out of the stadium, Ron gave his other foul ball to a little boy wearing a Bears t-shirt and made his day.  I was momentarily mesmerized by beautiful Megan Hart from the Volleyball team standing by the gates.  Here I’d worn my Volleyball t-shirt just for this possibility.  However, she was chatting with about six friends there and I wasn’t going to intrude, not when I was in a hurry for food. 

Game 2

The Elvis Collection: Army Scrapbook 9

 Here's a long (and very irritating to photograph) article about Elvis' career.