Retro Comic Review: Spider-Man 2099 #1 Part 1

 

This is not only a review of an old 90’s comic, it was also a Christmas gift, so I’m late in writing this review on top of that.  I actually forgot about it after reading it and tossed it in a stack of comics.  When I found it later, I decided to review it.  This was a thoughtful gift from my co-worker, Taylor.  This might have been out of his collection.  I did not have the heart to tell him that I bought this when it came out, though I sold it with most of my collection later. 

 

The Marvel 2099 universe was yet another attempt by the company to use their well-liked characters in another setting.  Other than a couple of issues of this Spider-Man, I didn’t get into it.  Most other readers did the same and it eventually became a failed universe to add to the pile after the 90’s ended. 

 

It was also yet another knockoff Spider-Man.  Marvel really should have stopped after Spider-Woman and maybe Peter Porker, the Spectacular Spider-Ham.  (I had the original comic book of that.)  The 2099 version is sort of a more ethnic take with its hero, Miguel O’Hara, but it’s a throwaway marketing reference.  I prefer, in terms of alternate universe Spider-Men, the MC2 version, Spider-Girl.  That universe featured descendant characters of the originals.  Honestly, it was a good take.  I’m sorry it’s gone.  Spider-Girl really worked. 

 

Bluraugh!  I just puked from remembering all the other Spider-verse carbon copies.  Not to mention the whole Spider-Clone thing.  Urggggg!  Another brown wave.  The best I can say is that Spider-Gwen makes a nice pinup.  That’s all she’s good for.

As for the comic itself, it has a thick, cardstock cover with shiny red foil.  (Definitely from the 90’s.)  The cover price was elevated, but the inside pages are regular old newsprint (and turning yellow) with a normal number of story pages.  The artwork is dynamic, if a bit messy.  I question the inking and the yellow, orange, and green color palette, but overall, it’s good.             

 

The setting is high-tech, though nobody has a cellphone.  (In spite of Star Trek Communicators from the 60’s, nobody saw cellphones coming.)  There is a corporate surveillance state, which is too easy to relate to these days.  This does strain the credibility of an independent superhero trying to stay under the radar.  I read at least one other issue of this series.  Miguel had to go to elaborate measures to avoid being tracked.  

Our hero works for future P-fizer as their star researcher.  When Miguel tries to quit over ethical concerns, (“This shot is neither ‘safe’ nor ‘effective!’), his boss surreptitiously slips him a highly addictive drug (legally made by the company, of course) to force Miguel to continue to work for them in order to be supplied with the drug.  (Actually, they were trying to recreate Spider-Man’s powers in test subjects.  It’s the thin thread that connects this title to Spider-Man.)  Miguel tries to use an experimental gene sequencer to reset his metabolism, but is sabotaged by his jealous assistant.  He emerges from the machine a monster.       

 

The premise, at least from the first issue, is that Miguel would be fighting his evil corporate overlords at Big Pharma, along with some body horror.  The little backward claws on his fingers make him unsuitable for saving people.  In the next issue, he rips up a falling guy’s arms trying to grab him.  He’s a bit too bad ass 90’s to be a hero, frankly.  (How does he make a fist without cutting himself?)

 

So, this comic had problems from its inception, but it hung around for a while.  It had Spider-Man in the title and a very cool costume.  Unfortunately, this may have convinced Marvel that they could sell any comic that they called “Spider-Man,” regardless of what was in it.  The bottom line, however, is that this is okay for a comic book.  It’s harmless fun.

 

The story itself wasn’t the main thing I noticed in this issue, though.  That’s why this review is going to a Part 2.

RPG Opinion: Tactical Retreat

Epic video located here.

So I posted about the D&D OGL situation last Thursday.  On Friday, WOTC completely capitulated.  They stated that they will make no changes to the OGL and to show their good faith, they rereleased the 5.1 SRD as a Creative Commons document.  That act put much of the 5e rules set, spells, and monsters into perpetual and irrevocable free and open usage for the D&D community.

 

You’re welcome.

 

Actually, I’m embarrassed by my post.  It was badly written, poorly thought out, and unnecessary given all the other much-more educated commentary.  I still basically stand behind what I said, just not how I pushed it out.  Let me offer an excuse: I was sick when I wrote it.  I was stuck at home waiting to recover and wrote my last two posts. 

 

(I felt like a dummy when I realized that there was a 5.1 SRD.  I didn’t know.  I was still using the 3.5 SRD when I wrote up my Robomeck game.  If I’d known, I might have done things differently.  Then I felt even dumber when I found out I’d actually downloaded that SRD years ago and remembered looking it over!  I can’t blame the flu on that oversight.) 

 

Really, it was a confluence of events that forced WOTC’s hand.  The fans were in an uproar.  Every D&D player and DM with a Youtube channel and a Twitter account was howling.  There were no exceptions in the outrage.  There were a rumored 40,000 people cancelling their D&D Beyond subscriptions, even with the website crashing and then hiding the “cancelation” button.  WOTC finally ran a fan poll about their new OGL that was cut off early after overwhelmingly critical results. 

 

Nearly all of D&D’s competitors had banded together.  Paizo had rallied other companies around a new OGL, called ORC.  WOTC’s biggest RPG competitor also announced that they’d sold out of all eight months’ worth of their Core Rulebook backstock in two weeks.  Kobold Press, 5e’s premier third party publisher, has announced Black Flag, a new open RPG.  (Whoa!  Sudden flashback of 4e/Pathfinder, dude!)  Critical Role, D&D’s biggest promoter, issued a cryptic statement, owing to their contractual obligations to WOTC, reminding everyone that they own their RPG publishing company.

 

Hasbro, WOTC’s owner, has a big budget D&D movie coming in a couple of months that was being prematurely boycotted.  (Hey, now I can go see the movie.)  Hasbro’s stock had plunged based on holiday sales and were getting ready for a 15% staff layoff.  Their biggest shareholder, an investment group, openly chastised the company for kneecapping their most profitable property.  Finally, with the leak of their draft of the updated OGL, interested lawyers were seriously questioning if WOTC had a leg to stand on in revoking the “perpetual” license.      

 

Little wonder WOTC decided to not only back off, but give in.  There may be more concessions to come even.  It really all was just a greedy corporate screw up.  There wasn’t a master plan.  I’m kind of shocked. 

 

What does all this mean?  We’ll find out when WOTC releases One D&D.  It looks like with this move that they are abandoning physical tabletop gaming.  They’re going to focus on the online version of the game and cultivate a new audience.  If Paizo and other companies take over the physical space, WOTC doesn’t care.  In all honesty, the tabletop market is small and perhaps tapped out compared to the nearly unlimited potential of a really good online RPG experience.  There are features and possibilities in convenience of play that will make the tabletop look Stone Age by comparison.  (Think of waiting by a land line telephone for a call versus having a cell phone.)

 

Will it still be the same D&D as our ancestors have played?  (Oh, wait.  That’s me!)  That’s a good question.  Does the hobby still have a bunch of “social” problems?  Oh yeah.  (Hopefully, the Woke all go play online and cancel each other.)  In the meantime, thank you, Ryan Dancey, for creating the OGL and foreseeing this day when Dungeons & Dragons had to be kept safe from its owners and retained for the players.  Forever.    

 

Aggie Football Bowl Rally 2023

My face is sunburned, my hands are bruised, and I have a cold.  But, I’m still happy went to the rally.  (Disclaimer: it was 50-degrees out, but I was facing the sun the whole time.  I bruised my hand probably Friday, not sure how.  It wasn’t from clapping at the rally, but there was certainly enough opportunity.  That’s how I found out I had the bruise.  The cold started Friday night from a co-worker, who had showed up sick to work all week.  Being outside in the cold on Saturday probably wasn’t a good idea.) 

 

I hadn’t gone to the Downtown celebration the last time the Aggie Football team had won a bowl game in 2017.   I’d always felt bad about that.  Ron was game to go.  There weren’t any home games this weekend and nothing else going on.  He wanted to go well early so that we could walk down the Farmer’s Market, which is there every Saturday morning.

 

That stroll did take over an hour.  There are a lot of exhibitors and there were a lot people.  I kept trying to get Ron to pick up something that I could get for him, since I never figured out what to get him for Christmas.  He declined, but looked over everything.  I picked up a jar of local honey and tipped a couple of street violinists.      

 

Walking around, I did notice some members of the Volleyball team (Morgan Stewart, Molly Johnson, Kacia Brown, Bianca Perez, Rilen Garcia) and a member of the Softball team (Kayla Bowen) strolling around.  They were also there at the rally, of course. 

 

I think Volleyball girls at least happened to be friends (or better) of the Football team.  This paid off for Ron, at least.  He was staring at Morgan the whole time, completely in love with her.  I would have liked to have talked to the other girls about the season, especially Rilen, but I couldn’t remember her name at the time.  (And I was too embarrassed to go talk to the girls in public.  I’m still unhappy they didn’t have an autograph day this season.)  I think Kayla was working at the event for her degree.  I’d heard an interview with her earlier in the week.  She sounds really sweet.  (Wave the Wonder Dog was also there.  Him, I wanted to pet, but didn’t get the opportunity.)   

These two newspaper clips are from the Las Cruces Bulletin 1/26/23

Me and Ron are in the picture.  My head is cropped by the bottom of the "I" and Ron is to my left.

Here's my pic of the big helmet

They set up the team entry helmet at the edge of the plaza.  There was also the Sports Accessories merchandise tent there.  They had all their Bowl game shirts there at the 25% discount.  I was tempted to get one of the shirts.  I’d noticed it earlier, before I bought the one that I did.  Unfortunately, I didn’t notice it until near the end the rally when I was in line for autographs. 

My shot of the crowd

It was a good crowd for the rally.  There was some synergy between the Market and the Rally.  The Pride Band played their way into plaza, having walked from City Hall, along with the Cheerleaders, and the Sundancers.  The players came in behind and went through a tunnel of fans applauding them.  Coach Kill came up last and shook hands with people in the crowd (including myself).   

 

PA Ed Carnathan was the MC here.  Mayor Miyagishima, University Chancellor Arvizu, and Athletic Director Mario Moccia spoke, along with a representative from the Quick Lane Bowl.  The highlight of the ceremony was the exchange of ponchos between the rep and Coach Kill.  The Coach had made quite the fashion statement wearing one, which was made by a fan, arriving at the bowl. 

 

Mario’s speech, where he read off some stats about the team, probably got the biggest applause when he talked about the defense.  They went from 125-th out of 130 teams to 30-th in the nation.  To liven up the speeches, items were tossed to the crowd, including scarves, t-shirts, and those cool black and white Baseball hats.  I was way back from the crowd (getting sunburned) and had no chance of getting this stuff. 

      

Coach Kill was the last speaker.  Much like the previous coach, Doug Martin, definitely one aspect of being a college football coach is the ability to make an inspirational speech.  Even better, he took his message about the team and made it more broadly about the country in general.  I was a bit disappointed that nobody on the team was invited to speak, but the Coach did have the team singing the Aggie fight song, like they did after every victory. 

 

I had Ron drop me off at Dad’s apartment to watch the Chief’s game afterward.  When I was telling dad about the rally, he went off on Coach Kill.  He doesn’t like him at all for some reason.  All he’s done is get the Aggies a bowl game win, possibly the most unexpected result of his first year as coach.  He donated a bunch of money to the university to upgrade the substandard football facilities and, up until when he left for the bowl game, Kill was actually working without a contract.    

 

There were a bunch of people lined up to get autographs.  There also weren’t enough tables to seat all of the players, so some of them hung around in groups around the plaza.  I had some trepidation, but I definitely wanted that poster.  I went to what I thought was the back of the line to the table, but it was actually the back of the line to see hero quarterback, Diego Pavia.  While I was there, a player came around handing out posters and that’s where I got one. 

 

I watched Diego interact with all sorts of fans.  He was very humble and polite.  I was glad I got to tell him that he willed the win in the bowl game and that he broke Coach Kill’s bowl winless streak.  I also got an autograph from Shiyazh Pete.  He was standing by himself in the crowd, but hard to miss at 6’8”.  He was something of the face of the team in team pictures with his fierce face-paint, but he was very friendly-looking in person.  [Edit: That's actually JJ Jones III in the face-paint in the pictures.  It was the face-paint that confused me.]  He’s a Navajo from Shiprock and was very friendly.

 

Eventually, I made it to the signing table.  I got Trevor Brohard’s and Gavin Frakes’ signatures.  I went to one of the groups of players around.  Sone Aupiu asked for my name and put that with his signature.  I wanted to talk to Chris Ojoh.  He’s one of the stars of the team, but mostly I wanted to talk to him because he personally talked me into going to game (9-25-22 a win against Hawaii).  I shouldn’t have been so shy and just asked somebody to point him out.  (No, I couldn’t pick him out in the crowd.  I wasn’t that familiar with his looks.  I wasn’t even sure if he was there.)    

 

By this time, I had cold hands.  Ron and I went over to Day’s Hamburgers for lunch.  So had a bunch of other people, but their burgers were worth the wait.  I had a thought for punter, Josh Carlson.  He’d left the team for another in the transfer portal right before the bowl.  I wondered if he’d wished he’d hung around a little longer.

Lastly, this fun image came up on the Aggie Sports website.  As I’m unlikely to do any track posts this season, I thought I’d post it here.  Is it an intentional or unintentional Maxwell Smart homage?  

RPG Opinion: Let It Burn

 

I’m not going to bother going over the particulars of D&D’s OGL debacle.  I’ve watched plenty of videos about this, which you can hardly avoid if you’re an RPG fan.  (This one by the RPG Pundit is one of the best I’ve seen.)  Essentially, WOTC, who owns D&D, is revoking the Open Game License, which allows other creators to use D&D rules and IP royalty-free.  People are mad about this because the language of the OGL states it is “perpetual.”  Paizo started their very successful business off of it.  Other companies use it, along with a legion of small individual creators.  I used it and I wasn’t even selling anything.   

 

I don’t think WOTC really realized the depth of anger they were provoking.  It was instant and unanimous.  This has united factions of the hobby that hate each other.  However, WOTC has gotten what they wanted.  They wanted everyone to stop using the OGL.  Paizo has already capitalized on this and started their own version of the OGL (ORC) and have gotten a bunch of signers on it. 

 

WOTC must have underestimated how many people would care about this.  They’ve acquired a bunch of new players over the last five years, who only create characters for their games.  If 95% of D&D’s fanbase are players who don’t care about the OGL, the other 5% are the DM’s who make up all of the adventures and settings and do care.  And they all seem to have their own Youtube channels, where they’re screaming about this.  

 

Critical Role, who is responsible for much of D&D’s current popularity, seems to be one of the entities specifically targeted by the new OGL’s royalty scheme.  Given that CR is about to release Season 2 of their Vox Machina animated series, I’m sure Matt Mercer appreciates this great publicity.  CR started off using Paizo’s Pathfinder and they currently use a modified version of 5e.  Mercer is fully capable of making his own RPG to play on show and has been weeding out D&D’s IP from his game.  Mercer hasn’t really said anything and can’t, but as soon as his arrangement with 5e ends, I suspect he’ll have something to say.  Boy, does WOTC know how to make enemies.

 

The purpose of this self-immolating behavior seems two-fold (to me).  They’re setting up One D&D, the upcoming next version of D&D, to be an online game, where they will fully monetize every transaction.  If you can’t find a DM, a common problem today, no problem, WOTC will provide AI DM’s.  If you can’t find a group, you can play pick up with a group of random players worldwide.  There’s clauses in their new OGL that will ensure no competition in the digital realm.  (Why not just play Dark and Darker?)    

 

The other reason is that WOTC wants to like Games Workshop, who produce Warhammer 40k.  GW has a very successful business selling rules, little models, novels, and all sorts of other merchandise to an obsessed fanbase.  They are the only providers.  Likewise, WOTC no longer wants third party providers for D&D.  They make no money directly off those products and don’t have control over them.  Since this new version is supposed to be backward compatible with the current 5e, they can’t have “knock-off” real world versions of their online game floating around.    

 

After my own anger subsided a bit, I became more amused by the situation.  WOTC is totally compromised with wokeness.  They had groomed and served their large new liberal audience and they just calculatedly stabbed them all in the back.  I was listening to an incredibly informative commentary about the OGL, which was stopped cold by the guest correcting the host about somebody’s gender pronouns (and then apologizing himself for using the wrong pronouns). 

 

Somebody posted that the new morality clause in the updated OGL might eliminate gays from any aspect of the game.  I can assure you, there’s no chance WOTC will do that, not when they take orders from Woke Twitter.  It’s more likely it’ll go the other way with minimum diversity quotas.       

 

However this goes, the hobby is likely ruined.  It’s certainly united against WOTC, but hopelessly fractured regardless and filled with people who fundamentally hate each other because the hobby became political.  Worse, the people they’re bowing to are people who are going to eventually cancel one another.  Nobody left will want to play with each other.  Thank goodness for the AI DM’s.     

 

Don’t look for much help elsewhere.  Paizo eliminated the term “race” from the game before WOTC did.  (“Race” in D&D means stuff like elves, dwarves, and humans and such.  Nothing to do with skin color.)  And the company was always woke.  I know, because I was on their message boards when they started.  I hand Troll Lord Games (makers of Castles & Crusades) credit here.  When one of their writers made a political comment, management immediately disavowed it and basically said, “We sell to everybody.” 

 

Like comic books and fantasy, sci-fi, and superhero TV and movies, tabletop RPG’s were just another front in a culture war.  D&D was just something else to be infiltrated and ruined for everyone eventually.  The new players of the game were looking forward to excluding everyone who didn’t agree with them on all issues.  Now they’re locking arms with the Old School players against the company who just betrayed them all. 

 

Players are canceling their D&D Beyond subscriptions in enough numbers to make WOTC put out another OGL draft with slightly better terms.  Most of D&D’s competitors are joining forces on some level.  During the 4e era of D&D, Pathfinder did become the number one RPG, which prompted the creation of 5e.  WOTC may be happy to cede the physical tabletop market, as long as they own all of the online one.  This will definitively bifurcate the hobby between online players and tabletop players.  Or should I say, between knockoff WoW addicts and some grognards, whom mainstream journalists have already deemed to be r@cist$ because they’re not playing the official, current version of the game.  

 

None of this is settled, but none of it matters to me if the hobby doesn’t return to just playing the game and not pushing Agenda messages.  It will collapse and shrink just like comic books and so on.  As much as people worry about WOTC crushing all resistance eventually, that won’t be what crushes the hobby.  Thankfully, we have the books, especially all those produced under the OGL, to fall back on.   

Baby Talk 5: Correspondence

 Lastly, here are some letters that were in the package.  First is a letter from the military on newborn care.  This might have been from a relative, since dad wasn't in the Army at the time I was born.

The next two letters are from the state of Missouri Health Department to my mom with advice.  "When you have the symptoms of true labor, notify your physician and housekeeper." 

   

Dad used to work for Public Finance.  Maybe this was from the company, but given the sloppy typing, probably not.

Lastly, these are instructions from the doctor about childbirth and maternity.  Check out the prices for services from 1969.

Baby Talk 4: Pamphlets Part 2

Here's a booklet from the hospital where I was born in Rolla, Missouri.   

Here's what they charged for hospital care in 1969.

Here's childcare pamphlet produced by the Children's Bureau (?).  

Here's their old-fashion views on determining the baby's sex.  Chromanones and such, pshaw.  "There is as yet no reliable method of predicting the sex of an unborn child."  Funny how technology changed that and now, we're back to not knowing.   

This is a newsletter from a breastfeeding support group.  I looked these people up.  They're still in operation.  I can just about guarantee that mom didn't know that "Leche" is Spanish for "Milk."

Baby Talk 3: Pamphlets Part 1

 Here are some more new parent pamphlet, though the first one is about birth control methods.

  

Here's a couple about childrearing.  

Look at these antiquated views on boys and girls.  Ha, ha.  We're so much smarter nowadays.

Here's a classic period ad for Similac that was in one of the booklets.  Hey, did we ever get any more baby formula?  Everybody ran out.  They didn't have any problems with that in the 60's.

NM State Aggies vs UTA Mavericks Men’s Basketball 1-14-23 Part 2

Part 1

 

Halftime

Here was the main attraction of the night, apart from the game itself, Mascot Madness.  Yes, it was a basketball game featuring local mascots.  We had a bear, a calculator, a turtle, a toy-like construction worker, a masked fireman, two Dino-Dash T-Rex’s, a roadrunner (the previous Women’s mascot), and Pistol Pete.  Pete was fired up, as always.  The Sundancers took stations at the courtside to assist.

 

The Dinos were ferocious, of course, but the bear wasn’t having it and blocked one of their shots.  The unknown fireman hit a wide open 3.  (Not so unknown, Jack identified him a former player now working for the university fire department.)  The bear ran with the ball like a running back down court.  Turtle took a shot, but missed.  Pete was taking shots, but was continually hampered by trying to keep his hat on.

 

Calculator popped a jumper.  It was 3-2, but it wasn’t enough and the Fireman team (?) won.  Whew!  What an amazing 5 minutes of basketball.  The Dinos fell to their knees and pounded the hardwood in frustration.  They briefly fought with the bear as emotions ran out-of-control.  (The refs were nowhere to be found.) 

 

I tried to talk Ron into leaving.  Nothing was going to top this spectacle.  For some reason he wanted to stay.  He also has the car keys, so that was that.  The only other event of halftime was the little girl in front of me.  I noticed her ponytail was standing straight up.  I was confused by the physics, until I noticed the really fuzzy sweater she was wearing and remembered the principles of static electricity.  She also had a day planner with her that she kept happily flipping through.  Most kids keep a stuffed animal for comfort.  I find my day planner to be a source of dread.      

Second Half

I’m tempted to stop this recap right here.  Later in the evening back at home, I watched the local news recap of this game between the Aggies and the UTA Mavericks.  Newscaster Rachel Phillips had been here for end of the Women’s game and until halftime of the Men’s game.  She’d left Las Cruces with the score 33-26 for the Aggies.  By the time she’d gotten back to the station in El Paso, the game had totally flipped. 

 

Maverick Chendall Weaver scored first on an alley oop.  The Aggies traveled and turned the ball over.  UTA made a layup to make it 33-30 Aggies.  Just a minute in, Coach Heiar called a timeout.  I could see AD Mario Moccia looking on nervously from the sidelines during the break.  Issa Muhammad, who’d sat out most of the first half, came in.  

 

Immediately, UTA had a steal and Weaver hit a jumper to put the Mavericks in the lead.  The Aggies were called for a charge.  Anita Skipper with the color commentary was up in arms.  Again, she singled out one of the officials, “He only calls offensive fouls.”  Indeed, UTA was called for an offensive foul right after.  The Aggies were trying to feed Issa, but he missed his first two shots.  UTA popped a 3 to make it 33-35 and just three minutes in, Coach Heiar called his second timeout.

 

Issa came out.  Shakiru Odunewu came in.  Chi Chi Avery finally got the Aggies on the board with a jam coming from the sidelines.  During a Media timeout, there was a fan half-court shot attempt for $5K.  The frat-boy-looking young man hit the backboard.  He pulled his hood over his head and played up the shame. 

 

Back to play, UTA hit another 3 and had a block.  Issa was called for his third foul.  Weaver hit a 3.  35-43 UTA with 13 minutes left and suddenly it was turning into rout.  Doctor Bradley slammed one going into a timeout for the Aggies’ second basket of the half.  Issa would poke out a turnover, but no points resulted.  Anthony Roy fell and caused a turnover.  After another UTA 3, Coach Heiar called his final timeout down 37-50 with 10 minutes left. 

 

It didn’t help.  Deshawndre Washington had a turnover and Xavier Pinson took a foul right after.  The crowd groaned.  The UTA started using all of their shot clock.  The Aggie defense held, but turned it over again on their next possession.  Elements of the crowd were now booing.  (Never boo your own team, guys.  Come on.)  More telling, even the Cheerleaders were quiet.  (They’d had a long day cheering for back-to-back games.  They weren’t putting up with this crap either.)

 

Shak got put on the line and made one of two.  That’s 5 team points in 12 minutes of play.  In the Media timeout, a lady chugged a Twisted Tea on camera for a promo, a section won free Raising Canes, but the crowd only really got going for a hat giveaway tossed by the Cheerleaders. 

 

After two more empty Aggie possessions, I turned to Ron, “Put the Mascots back in.”  At least, this tragedy would have become a comedy.  Xavier hit a 3 to finally get the crowd cheering.  After Kyle Feit made a pair of free throws, the Aggies had finally scored 10 points in the half.  Unfortunately, UTA got two offensive rebounds on their next possession and hit a 3 finish it.  Media timeout.

 

At 43-57 with three minutes left, much of the crowd started deserting.  We stuck around and watched a hot chick play the Whataburger Fry game on court.  By the Aggie bench, I could see Analyst Johnny McCants demonstrating a move to players on the bench.  Okay, not to disparage the effort on the court, but the rest of the game was garbage time.  Anita was still complaining about the officiating, but I’m not blaming them for the loss.  55-66 UTA was the final.

 

Chendall Weaver led all scorers with 16 points and two other Mavericks were in double digits.  Xavier Pinson led the Aggies with 12 points.  Kyle Feit had 11 points off of 3 3-pointers.  Shooting was 43% to 31% for UTA.  They were also 7 of 18 on 3’s, while the Aggies were 6 of 24.  The Aggies were out-rebounded 29 to 35.  

 

“I told you we should have left at halftime,” I said to Ron on the way out.  It was pretty depressing.  The only highlight of the evening was that I got to hold the door open for the pretty Anthem singer going outside.  With the Aggies 0-6 in conference, Coach Heiar was speechless in the postgame.  He’d never had this kind of experience coaching.  Aggie Basketball fans haven’t had this kind of experience either.  There’s two more double headers on schedule, but prices go back to normal for Men’s Basketball, so this probably my final live report on them for the season.     

NM State Aggies vs UTA Mavericks Men’s Basketball 1-14-23 Part 1

 

After the defeat of the Aggie Women in their game, Ron and I retreated to his car in the parking lot.  In spite of my insistence that I could get him something at the Concessions, Ron wanted to eat an apple that he’d brought.  We listened to some of the Men’s game pregame.  Coach Adams was on to discuss her team’s game.  She took the blame for their loss for not putting out the best game plan at the end of the game.  She didn’t want her team to blame themselves for the close loss.

 

For tonight’s game against UT-Arlington Mavericks, Jack Nixon pointed out that his color analyst, Anita Skipper, was a graduate of both schools.  However, she had no mixed loyalties.  Anita was Aggie all the way.  Her comment about the game was that, "We need more Chi,” Chi Chi Avery that is.  What was not said about the game, or I missed it, was that both teams were 0-5 in conference.  This was a must-win game for both teams.  From the trivia question, we learned that UTA had changed their name to “Mavericks” from “Rebels.”  Much like the Women’s opponent, Utah Tech used to be Dixie State, until this year.  What a bunch of ____ ______.   (Fill in the epithet however you want.)

 

Back inside, Ron helped me find the Concessions stall that was selling the pizza that I couldn’t find last time.  However, after the Whataburger I’d had for lunch, I didn’t really want a pizza.  I’d made such a fuss last week, Ron basically pushed me to the register.  It was a personal Papa John’s pizza.  They’re baked offsite and brought to the arena.  Mine was cold and $8.  That said, it was fine. 

 

I was wrong about where our seats were.  I thought they were near the suites, but they were on the opposite end next to the Student Section.  (I was looking at the seating map upside down.)  Some students were there in the section, but not the usual Greeks.  The crowd was a bit less than last week (attendance 4800), but it was still fairly full.  The new suites were full again.          

 

The NMSU Fire Brigade Honor Guard came out for the Anthem.  One of the guys carried a big shiny silver axe.  A beautiful young woman came out and sang the Anthem and did a beautiful job.  She hung out below us at courtside for the game, along with AD Mario Moccia and a couple of attractive Pan-Am staff members. 

 

In his segment on the pregame, Mario had complained about having to make a schedule change two weeks from now for the Men’s team.  He also complained about the schedule in general, since NM State was leaving the WAC after this season.  On the sidelines, the Aggie coaching staff was looking sharp.  They were in long sleeve white shirts with crimson at the bottom.  I wonder if they sell those. 

 

First Half

UTA got the scoring started with a layup and a foul shot.  Issa Muhammad stole an inbounds pass, but Xavier Pinson threw the ball away after a pass.  Next possession, Pinson made a great feed Issa, but was called for a charge.  UTA went up 0-8 with 17 minutes left. 

 

Deshawndre Washington made a free throw for the Aggies’ first point.  A Chi Chi 3 and a Xavier fast break layup closed the score to 6-8 with 14 minutes left.  Kyle Feit came in after a timeout wearing neon pastel green shoes.  He hit a 3 to give the Aggies an 11-10 lead.  It’s gotta be the shoes!  Issa was out of the game and getting looked at by the staff on the sidelines.  He also had a pair fouls.  UTA got two offensive rebounds on a possession, but failed to score and the Aggies got the ball back.

 

During a timeout, the “Big” of the year for Big Brothers/Big Sisters was honored on court.  She happened to walk by me in the aisle going back to her seat.  I gave her a round of applause.  She was embarrassed, but accepted it.  Volleyball Coach Jordan was still here after watching the Women’s game.  He’s a real Aggie fan.

 

There was a charge call that got the crowd riled up.  Then there was a traveling call.  This wasn’t the same bunch of refs as the Women’s game.  Anita commented on this as “DTM.  Doin’ too much.”  James Beck got an offensive rebound and a put-back to increase the Aggie lead.  UTA also got a travel call and this got a snicker out of Anita.  There was a loose ball and several players flopped for it.  “They’re going after it like it’s a Moneyball.”  I’m really enjoying Anita’s commentary.

 

Anthony Roy came up with a jam, but Chenall Weaver on the Mavericks came up with a pair of layups.  Weaver was hard to miss on court.  He’s the whitest black guy I’ve ever seen.  He’s Irish white.  He’s also short and quick.  Deshawndre got a layup to make it 17-16 with 7 minutes left going into a timeout. 

 

I noticed several people in the crowd wearing Quick Lane Bowl Football gear, including myself.  Good for Sports Accessories.  Pistol Pete came up to the landing of my section.  A couple of little boys went over to him to get a picture.  About 20 more kids ran down to him to do the same.  Of course he was great with the kids. 

 

There was another travel call and Anita was “offended.”  She told the refs to go back and watch the tape and review the rule and learn what a “pivot foot” is.  You tell ‘em, Anita.  Jack wasn’t left speechless and remarked, “The Aggies run the field like gazelles.”  More fouls were called.  UTA couldn’t hit their throws, but Xavier and Quaye Gordon could.  It was 23-18 with 4 minutes left.

 

The Cheerleaders went up in the stands to giveaway Lorenzo’s pizza.  No thanks, I’m full.  The rest of the crowd went crazy.  Several people brought signs for the pizza.  They’d been here before.  A little girl who got a box, offered pieces to some fans sitting courtside.  That was nice. 

 

The relevant stat of the half was that UTA was 1 of 7 in free throws.  Anita called out one specific ref for making “phantom calls.”  Meanwhile, Shakiru Odunewu, our biggest Aggie at 6’10”, knocked down two of three free throws.  Unlike Shaq, our Shak didn’t let his 30% free throw shooting get him down.  Feit and his magic shoes nailed a pair of 3’s to the roar of the crowd and gave the Aggies a 33-26 lead at the half.        

 

It was looking good to this point for the Aggies’ first conference win.

 

Part 2