Troy Cox Classic Softball: #4 OSU vs Nebraska 2-24-23

I’m writing this after watching five games in the last two days.  I’m exhausted and all the games have blurred together.  Still, it’s been great (and occasionally upsetting).  This year’s Troy Cox featured two headliner invitees: Nebraska and #4 in the nation Oklahoma State.  I took Friday off for the two Aggie games in the evening that I was going to with Ron, but I went by myself for the morning game between these two guest teams.  I figured it would be the best game of the weekend.  I was not disappointed.

 

Except that I forgot to take my notebook for the game, but I did remember the scorecards.  I scribbled some notes on the back of them.  Indeed, I’ve taken little in the way of notes all weekend.  That might be a good thing to make sure I can write these recaps more quickly.     

 

The first thing that happened at the game was that I ran into Danny outside the stadium.  I’d only seen him once at Aggie Women’s Basketball this season.  He was here for the first game of the tournament, where OSU beat UNM 12-1.  Danny said even the one run was just a fluke.  The Cowgirls looked real good.

 

There was a great crowd inside with fans and family of the two teams.  They both travel well.  There was just few Aggie fans scattered in the crowd, including myself.  A couple of OSU fans were wearing shirts with their Pistol Pete on it.  We, of course, have the real Pistol Pete at NMSU.  I think both teams had radio announcers at the game.  I could hear one at times in a pavilion at the top of the stands.  On field, an OSU assistant coach was obviously several months pregnant.  That’s dedication to the sport.    

 

Behind me and Danny was the Lobo team.  They were in the stands eating their lunch of Chik-fil-a.  There were also a couple of dogs where we were.  One was friendly little service dog and another was a big happy white dog.  I think they were both owned by NE fans.  One of the Lobos, Emmalyn Brinks, ran down in her socks to pet the big dog when she saw him.  She’s a statuesque beauty with long, dark hair and hard to miss.  I’d see her in action the next day.

  

I have to emphasize that this was a really well-played game.  On one play, there was wild throw from third to first that the first baseman jumped up and caught.  Any other team in the tournament that throw would have went to the parking lot.  Here, even an errant throw almost resulted in an out. 

 

The scoring started in the top of the second.  The Cowgirls rattled off three hits with two outs and scored a run, 1-0 OSU.  The Cowgirls had a pair of singles in the next inning, but left them stranded.  The Cornhuskers got their first runner in the bottom of the third via a hit batter, but a beauty of a double play ended the inning. 

 

In the fourth, AD Mario Moccia came in.  He chatted with the Lobo’s coach in the stands and later had a long talk with an NE fan.  (I wonder what that was about?)  OSU once again put a couple of runners on in the top of the fourth.  They came up empty again.  The PA announced that it was 20-degrees in Lincoln, Nebraska and 36-degrees in Clearwater, Oklahoma.  It was a balmy 60-something in Las Cruces.  I doubt anyone was missing home too much.  Nebraska got their answering score with a line shot home run by Caitlynn Neal to center just under the scoreboard, 1-1. 

 

To the dramatic top of the sixth, the Cornhuskers brought in a reliever, Courtney Wallace.  After giving up a pair of singles, a bunt attempt to third was thrown to second to nip the middle runner.  Another bunt attempt rolled in front of home plate.  Courtney grabbed it and flipped home to get the runner trying to score from third.  The next batter beat out an infield hit to load the bases with two outs, but a groundout ended the inning.  What a Houdini act to get out of that one!

 

That luck would only last into the top of the seventh.  A single and a hit batter put two Cowgirls on and a pair of wild pitches moved them into scoring position.  A single by Katelynn Carwile brought in the go-ahead run for OSU.  That brought out the hook for Wallace.  The OSU bench serenaded her as she left.  Ouch!  Another single brought in another run to make it 3-1 OSU.  That would be the final score.  A double play in the bottom of the seventh ended the game.

 

For Gameballs, I’ll toss out one to Cornhusker Caitlynn Neal for her fourth-inning home run.  For the Cowgirls, I’ll highlight Chyenne Factor for going 3 for 4 with an RBI and their starter Lexi Kilfoyl.  She went 7 innings and only gave up 1 run and 2 hits.  Your stat of the game only came up when I added up the scorecards.  Nebraska pitching scattered 14 hits and only gave up 3 runs.  OSU could have theoretically blown this open at any point, but Nebraska wouldn’t let them.       

 

The Oklahoma State team went to the foot of the stands in front of their fans and spelled out “O-S-U!”  I left the park afterward and returned home for a few hours.  Danny also left for the day before the Aggies played.  He might have been worn out.  When I returned later with Ron, we could see the Cornhuskers warming up.  One of their coaches was giving Wallace a long talk.  It was probably something of a review and a pep talk.  Coaching is really all about managing people more than X’s and O’s.  This game was a great way to start off the tournament.

Sketch Dump: Ilya 2, Drop 12

A couple of Ilya Kuvshinov profile sketches and a Jim Lee sketch of Zealot.

The two color sketches of scantily-clad girls are from a Land That Time Forgot comic.  They turned out pretty well.  (Don't look too closely at the hands.)  The model in the middle was drawn afterward because there was space between.  She had her chin tilted up in the picture.  Unfortunately, this came off as a giraffe-neck in my sketch.   

That's some Internet art on the left.  I used way too many straight lines.  The Black Cat sketch is based on an Andy Lau painting.  I like it, but the fingers are a mess.

Groan.  Another crap page.  At least there's a cute sketch of Twitch streamer, Grace (Crane Writes).  The Arwyn from Sojourn is a bit off, but not too bad.  The bottom is just bad: Artemis and Cassie Wonder Girl from Wonder Woman and a Jim Lee Huntress.  

  

These are Arwyn and Sephie from Crossgen's Sojourn and Meridian respectively.  I have gotten a huge amount of use out of the Crossgen trades I've gotten.  

Sketch Dump: Ilya 2, Drop 11

 

These are three little Ilya Kuvshinov sketches and an image of Zealot by Jim Lee in the lower left.

A couple of more Ilya sketches.

And a couple more.

Another Ilya on the right.  It's got a couple of perspective issues, but I like it.  On the left is Mexican TV host, Aria Ruiz.

This is a sketch of actress Xochitl Gomez (America Chavez) on the left.  I need to do a good one of her.  The one on the right is a sketch of the Goblin Queen from the X-Men.  It's not inked, but it is colored.  I think I drew it at my dad's apartment and forgot my pen.

Comics Review: Archie Milestones #18 Jughead Guide to Life

I was happy to find this at Barnes & Noble while I was picking up a baseball season preview magazine a couple of weeks ago.  The store doesn’t always carry Archie digests beyond the four regular titles.  I wish they’d carry the Showcase series, along with the Milestones series.  (These two series feature only reprint material.)  Hey!  I just noticed this thing cost $10, a $1 more than the last time I bought a digest.  Oh well, I would have bought it anyway. 

A few years ago, I bought the Bronze Age Archie Collections on DVD.  The Archie disc featured Harry Lucey’s great figure work.  The Betty & Veronica disc featured Dan DeCarlo’s eternal versions of the girls.  I hastily devoured those.  The Jughead disc featured Samm Swartz’s spare drawings that didn’t have the same visual appeal, and I saved it for last.  Not to mention, Jughead by himself didn’t seem like he could carry a solo title.  He was just a supporting character. 

I was wrong.  Of the three 70’s collections, the Jughead one was definitely the best read.  The artwork also grows on you as Swartz may have been the best at portraying physical comedy.  I’m at a loss for words to describe the character’s appeal.  (Literally, I’ve overly pontificated in previous drafts and then came to the revelation that I was writing about an Archie comic, not War and Peace.)  Jughead basically only wants to eat and sleep, but adventures and complications keep finding him.  Not to mention, as an observer to the Archie gang, he creates his own problems at times.  The guy can even join the Time Police and it makes sense.

 

This volume mostly features two of Jughead’s main artists, Swartz and Rex Lindsey.  Lindsey is probably current day Arche’s best artist.  In contrast to Swartz, he has an eye for detailed backgrounds and wardrobe details.          

 

One of Jughead’s other defining characteristics is that, unlike his pal Archie and every other teenage boy, he has no interest in dating (that’s something of a euphemism).  Perhaps it’s the exuberant interest and unattractiveness of his stalker, Big Ethel.  Given his needle nose and proclivities, Jughead’s probably lucky to even have one girl after him.  Strangely, there’s quite a few stories about Jug’s love life in this volume.

 

(Ethel has made a comeback as a Webtoon.  This character doesn’t look anything like the traditional character.  I’ve personally seen a tall awkward girl in school turn into a beautiful model, but this girl doesn’t quite fit that bill.  The strip managed to offend me in the first entry, so I didn’t continue with it.)      

 

Somewhere in the 80’s (90’s?), Jughead picked up not one, but two girlfriends.  I’d seen this story before.  It’s meta, but fun. 

Here’s the other girlfriend, and here’s Jughead macking on Ethel behind that girl’s back.  What the heck? 

 

The centerpiece of the book is this fairly modern story, The Jughead List.  It’s a full floppy issue story where Jughead and Archie are dared to complete each other’s bucket lists (called a “Check-out list” here).  It’s suitably epic (?).  You can imagine what happens to Archie in the end given Jughead’s list.

 

****Spoiler punchline page***    

Occasionally, Jughead becomes trendy in his fashion.  In this case, he grows a mullet.  Yikes!

 

****Spoiler punchline page***    

 

 

At the back of the book are a couple of cute Little Jughead stories.  The volume finishes with Samm Was Here, Lindsey does a warm tribute to Swartz.  It’s a fine way to end.

 

I’m not going to say it’s the best Jughead material or a good retrospective on the character.  The stories don’t even really fit the title, Guide to Life.  However, any slice of Jughead is going to be entertaining anyway.  Of course, I recommend this.  

NM State Aggies vs Bellarmine Knights Baseball 2-18-23

Opening Day for Aggie Baseball was a lose/lose proposition for me on Friday.  I was scheduled to take the day off for the night game, but when Ron called I stepped outside and five seconds out in the cold wind was enough for me to cancel.  I went into work to continue to chip away at a punishing backlog while listening to the game on the radio.  Then the team lost badly on top of it.

 

It was a 7-2 loss to Bellarmine, a team still transitioning to D1, and the score wasn't that close.  The two Aggie runs were unearned.  Aggie pitching gave up four runs and Aggie hitting had 16 strikeouts.  On the plus side, in spite of the cold, there was a full house out for the game (including a bunch of Knight fans that I could hear cheering over the radio).  The game also only took two and-a-half hours.  I don't know if it was the cold or some new pace-of-play rules.  A penalty Ball was called for a team not being ready to play out of an inning break.  Also, Coach Kill threw out the first pitch.  Him and the Football staff were there watching the game.

 

The Saturday game was much more amenable to in-person viewing.  The afternoon game was 40-something degrees and partly cloudy with a cool breeze, but it wasn't that bad.  I was bundled up when Ron picked me up.  He had on a couple of layers.  When we got there, a bunch of people were wearing t-shirts.  Some girls were in shorts.  Speaking of that, it was sorority day at the park and they were mostly very good-looking.  I assume the girls were there to pick out their future boyfriends from the team.  The girls were also there with their parents, which made it convenient if you wanted to ask permission for a girl's hand in marriage.  So impulsive!

 

We ran into a giddy Adam Young in the parking lot.  He asked if we were going to Women's Basketball as well.  He'd be calling that game, which would be overlapping with baseball.  Broadcasting legend, Jack Nixon, would be calling the ballgame.  I'm not sure how long it had been since he called baseball, but he didn't have anything better to do with Men's Basketball canceled.  The two of them were inside chatting by the concessions trailer.  I kind of wanted to say, “Hi,” to Jack, since I'd never met him before, but I was way too intimidated.  (I'm sure he would have been gracious.)

 

Inside the stadium, the bunting was out.  The outfield wall had added signs for the 2022 WAC Championship and for “71 Draft Picks.”  Portraits of Kyle Bradish and Joey Ortiz were added to the batting facility.  The hot marketing girl was here in very tight yoga pants.  I guess she was in the sorority, too.  She was with her dad.  I could have asked him . . .  

 

Ron and I chatted with fan Michael.  He often has inside information on Aggie sports, but not this time concerning Basketball.  Also in the crowd were some other interesting fans.  There was a young man in a pale blue suit and sneakers.  (And I thought I was over-dressed.)  There was a lady wearing a Cleveland Indians Spring Training hat.  Go Tribe!  F the imposters!  Lastly, there was a guy wearing a “Pistol Peake” t-shirt with a gunsight on it.  Points for cleverness, but could an Aggie fan wear a shirt in poorer taste?  Somebody actually died over this, dude.

 

It took two tries to get some Corn-in-cup.  They weren't ready.  They didn't even have the hot dogs ready.  (The corn was still delicious.)  One of the sorority girls tossed out the first pitch.  Jack had a co-host on the radio, Jon Opilea.  I think he works for Aggie Sports, but this was his first time on the air.  He did a good job and was necessary to help shepherd Jack along.  I don't think Jack pronounced “Bellarmine” correctly once, but of course he still did a great job.  The loudspeakers kind of drowned out most of the pregame.  At some point there was a quick discussion of WAC “Football?”  (Don't get excited.  It wouldn't be FBS level college football.)

 

There's no sugar-coating it.  This game was worse for the Aggies than Friday night's game.  It was a good thing that Jack was there to tell some stories.  A bad baseball game can still be entertaining with the right broadcaster. 

 

Tyler Hoeft started the game for the Aggies with a strikeout.  Unfortunately, Gunner Antillon at short made an error to give the Knights their first baserunner.  Hoeft had another strikeout and a walk and gave up an RBI single, which gave the Knights a 1-0 lead.  Bellarmine was wearing crimson tops.  (The Aggies were in black.)  Knight starting pitcher, Drew Buhr was wielding a bright blue glove.  (Fashion faux pas.)  The Aggies trotted out a different lineup than Friday.  Logan Galina singled and unexpectedly stole second, but was left stranded.

 

Fans were on the ump immediately from both sides early, though I think his play calling was better for the rest of the game.  Jack couldn't see the scoreboard in the outfield.  Nobody can when the sun is on it.  Football is getting a new scoreboard.  Could they bring the old one over to baseball? 

 

The Knights followed up with a two-run homer to right in the second.  3-0 Knights.  The Aggies did make an appeal throw to home, but the ump ruled the runner had touched the plate.  Gunner again looked a little shaky on a throw to first.  Jack told the story about the Aggie grounds crew stealing a bunch of pine trees meant for the university president, but were instead planted beyond the baseball stadium outfield.  Jack also chatted about Presley Askew, whom the stadium is named after.  Jack said he was a nice guy, in addition to coaching Aggie Basketball into the NCAA tournament and coaching the baseball team.

 

In the bottom of the second, Bianca Perez and a couple of Volleyball players I'm not sure I recognized off hand came in.  Rachel Phillips also came in from the El Paso ABC station to shoot some footage.  You couldn't miss her.  She was wearing lime green pants and a green plaid blazer.  You also knew who was coming up by the music.  Nolan Funke took his first at bat the disco standard, Funky Town.  Damone Hale singled and stole second, but was left stranded.  During the inning, a penalty Ball was called for the pitcher taking too much time. 

 

In the top of the third, there was a near collision on field between Gunner and Nolan on a grounder, but Gunner made the play.  Between innings, there was a quick trivia giveaway of a Football lunchbox by the hot marketing girl.  I knew the answer.  I could have impressed her.  In the bottom, the Aggies got two on and there was another stolen base.  Nothing came of it.  There was a hat toss to the crowd.  That was it for the giveaways. 

 

In Louisville, Kentucky, home of Bellermine, it was 27-degrees, so it was relatively pleasant in Las Cruces by comparison.  Jack also mentioned that college started in the 50's and when they started, they didn't have a front door for their building.  (He didn't entirely believe that story.  He found it on the Internet.)  The Knights got two on in the fourth, but didn't bring them in.  In the bottom was the biggest controversy of the game.  Funke singled to right center.  The fielder appeared to misplay the ball and it went to the wall.  Funke went to third on the two-base error, except it was scored a triple.  I even rewatched the play a couple of times on Twitter.  I don't know what the official scorekeeper saw.  Nolan was left stranded anyway.

 

To the fifth, Funke and Gunner again had some confusion and let an infield fly drop between them.  The next batter was hit on the face.  He washed his mouth out and stayed in.  Hoeft came out, though, and Pablo Cortes came in.  Cortes got a strikeout, but gave up an RBI single.  4-0 Knights.  That runner got picked off after attempting a steal on a ball in the dirt.  In the bottom, Galina was hit by a pitch and thrown out trying to steal second. 

 

Cortes had more problems in the sixth.  He gave up two singles before giving up a booming three-run homer to right center.  Kevin Jimenez ended the inning by catching a liner at second and doubling off a runner at first.  7-0 Knights.  In the bottom, Cal Villareal came in to pinch hit off of a new Knight reliever.  Legged out an infield hit, but collided with the Knight first baseman, who took most of the damage.  It was a nice try on the play by Peyton Back at second.  Hale drew a walk, but Nolan struck out looking to end the inning.  He'd gotten a penalty Strike during the at bat for not being ready and argued with the ump briefly after the inning.  By this point, much of crowd had wandered off, as it was getting a bit cooler.  (I was suddenly feeling smart in my heavy coat.) 

 

Jack may have gone to the bathroom between innings and Jon took over the play call.  There's not enough time to get to the bathroom and back between innings without running.  Gunner made a good running play on the first Knight batter, but the next batter grounded one into his chest for an infield hit.  He was driven in on a single.  8-0 Knights.  The Aggies brought in Aaron Treloar to finish the inning.  Galina worked a walk in the bottom, but was left on base.

 

After a leadoff single, Gunner started a nice double play with KJ in the eighth.  Hale singled in the bottom, but did not advance.  On an odd note, there were bubbles briefly floating over the Aggie dugout.  I don't know where they came from or why. 

 

In the top of the ninth, Jack mentioned in conversation that most Western towns were 60 miles apart, since that was as far as old trains could go without having their water replenished.  I'm learning things.  A strikeout/throw out double play ended the top of the frame.  Finally in the bottom, Gunner homered to center to avoid a humiliating home shutout.  8-1 Knights, which was the final.  It was announced at the beginning of the game that there would be a t-shirt toss for home runs.  A guy behind me started yelling for a t-shirt, but the hot marketing girl was already off duty.  Ron had given me a giveaway t-shirt he'd gotten for turning in a couple of balls, but it was too big for me.  I considered giving it to the loudmouth, but came to my senses. 

 

That was three somewhat depressing hours to start baseball season for me.  Let's toss out those Gameballs.  (I'm writing that with no enthusiasm.)  Knight catcher Gabe Bratetic went 3 for 4 with 4 RBI's, including a two-run homer.  Winning starter, Drew Buhr, threw 5 innings, scattering 4 hits, no runs, with 9 strikeouts.  (The Aggies had 13 K's, the Knights 10.)  As for the Aggies, sigh.  I was impressed with Logan Galina showing some patience and working two walks.  Gunner Antillon had a sometimes rough, sometimes great, day fielding at second and accounted for the Aggies' only run.  Your stat of the day is that the Aggies left 10 runners on base.  They had their chances.

 

Bonus Coverage:  NM State Aggies vs CBU Lancers Women's Basketball

The Women's game had started during the Baseball game.  When the game let out, the halftime score showed the game was close, so we decided to go.  We parked in the back and went in through the rear entrance to the Pan-Am Center.  By the back door, there were reserved parking spots for Volleyball Coach Jordan and Women's Coach Adams.  There was also a spot with an empty pole.  We can guess who used to park there.  I was still wearing my heavy coat inside.  It wasn't necessary, though I'd heard in El Paso earlier this week that they were warning people going to the Miner game to bring a coat.  The facility furnace was out. 

Ron and I arrived about 5 minutes into the third quarter.  It was 38-41 CBU.  Right after we sat down there were back-to-back timeouts that took 10 minutes.  At least I had time to finish filling out my scorecards.  There were some Brownies (little Girl Scouts) sitting at the courtside seats.  Behind us were the loudest and most enthusiastic Aggie fans in the building.  It was also “Pride Day.”  Every break, there was a teeth-gritting announcement about it.  Those little girls aren't going to groom themselves.  

(I didn't really want to go to the game because of this event, but felt sort of obligated to Adam and the team and since it was a close game.  Man, they had a Corgi Race on Thursday that I missed.  Ron showed me a video of it.)

 

I remembered a pretty player on the Lancers, Georgia Kehoe.  I scanned the visitors on the floor and then their bench, before I found her there.  She was apparently injured.  Georgia's from Australia and has a teammate from there as well.  Of course, Ashlee Strawbridge on the Aggies is also an Aussie.  I looked for Rachel Phillips, but she wasn't there.  I'm sure she would have loved to meet so many fellow countrywomen.  Also of note on the Lancers is Trinity San Antonio.  What a name! 

 

I took some notes, but I don't feel like writing them out for a quarter and-a-half of coverage.  CBU was shooting 3's like crazy and took a 42-53 lead into the fourth quarter.  Moe Shida had a steal to start.  She'd had a great game with steals and points on Thursday.  The Aggies wouldn't let the Lancers pull away.  Taylelin Grays made back-to-back 3's to make it 59-61 with 2 minutes left.  Unfortunately, she missed her next two attempts and the Aggies never recovered.  65-73 Lancers final.  That was extra disappointment for the day.   

 

Extra Bonus Coverage: It was cold and rainy on Sunday for the final game between the Knights and the Aggies.  I decided to watch the Daytona 500 instead.  Brought to you by P-fizer with three separate commercials.  (One, general propaganda and self-promotion; two, telling you to get a booster, since your shots are fading; and three, when you catch the cold anyway because their shot didn’t work, taking their magic pill for it.)

 

Frankly, the race only became interesting at the end, while the baseball game was great throughout and both finished at the same time.  The NASCAR race went two overtimes after a couple of big wrecks.  A wreck on the final lap gave Ricky Stenhouse Jr. the win.  When the crew told him to do a burnout, he responded that he was out of fuel.  (Danica Patrick was no doubt kicking herself that they broke up.  She would have gotten so much camera time if she was still girlfriend.)

 

The ballgame went back and forth.  The Aggies tied it with a clutch run in the ninth.  They finally lost it in the 11-th, 10-9.  Ron did brave the cold and wet for nearly four hours to watch the game in person.  He questioned the official attendance of over 500.  He said not even all of the Bellarmine fans were there from the last two days. 

 

Ron blamed three Aggie infield errors for the loss.  Adam Young on the broadcast also said the Aggies had, “Trouble with the left side of the diamond.”  The hitting at least was there.  Logan Galina, Kevin Jimenez, and Romeo Ballesteros had 3 hits and 2 RBI’s each.  Unfortunately, Aggie pitching gave up four home runs.  This season is going to be a work in progress.

Sketch Dump: Ilya 2, Drop 10

A couple of Ilya Kuvshinov sketches that turned out okay.

Sketch of a model from a vintage Pepsi ad.

A couple more Ilya sketches.  The one on the left is terrible, but I actually fit a whole figure on to the page and it was proportional.  I was pleased with that aspect of the drawing.

A bunch of Ilya schoolgirls.  Kind of cute.

On the left is Mexican TV host, Aria Ruiz.  On the right is a sketch of  Vienna fanart.  She's a Twitch Vtuber.  I think she probably has the best character model.
 

Sketch Dump: Ilya 2, Drop 9

 

Sketch of Dizzykitten from Twitch.  Then there's a sketch of some Internet art.  

This is why I'm hating to do this.  Top left, soccer player Christen Press.  Shu Lien from the Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon comic.  Twitch streamer artist KTBop.  Cassie Wonder Girl.  Commentator Brett Cooper.  Lastly, Twitch chess streamer akaNemsko (Qiyu).  

Okay, this was Take Two of Pimp Dizzy in a different pose.  It turned out a little better.  There's also a Jim Lee Wonder Woman and an unidentified character from Gen 13.  (I couldn't figure out who she was.)    

An Ilya Kuvshinov sketch and a sketch of Internet art.  I screwed up the inking bad on that one.  I think the pen bled and ruined the eyes.  I had to white them out and redraw them.

  

This was actually the first drawing in the sketchbook.  It's Twitch DJ Jessu.  It turned out so badly and was such a bad start to a new sketchbook.  I found out she's the younger sister of political commentator Lauren Southern.  I'd never have guessed.   

Sketch Dump: Ilya 2, Drop 8

 

This is a decent sketch of Supergirl and a rather sour-looking pic of Twitch streamer, Dizzykitten.

A somewhat better sketch of Dizzy and an Ilya Kuvshinov sketch.

These are some Joelle Jones-inspired sketches of the Cassie Wonder Girl and Yara Wonder Woman.

A couple more Ilya sketches.

Another Ilya sketch and a sketch of Twitch streamer Galadriex.  She hasn't streamed in a couple of months, but she says she'll be back.

NM State Men’s Basketball Season Wrap Up

Yes, this is how we all foresaw the Aggie Men’s Basketball season ending: a press conference with Chancellor Dan Arvizu and Athletic Director Mario Moccia announcing that Coach Greg Heiar had been fired in disgrace.  Who could believe that this all started with a fight between students at an Aggie/Lobo Football game last year?  This somehow escalated to a shooting between a team member and some UNM students in Albuquerque.  Then we found out that the team’s troubles actually started when this team came together to start practice last summer, but that scandal didn’t come out until last week.

 

When Ron and I drove away from the Softball stadium Saturday evening, there were two local news crews at the Pan-Am Center shooting footage.  That was a bad sign.  The story about the Aggie Men's Basketball team “hazing” scandal was getting bigger.  A player was getting molested in the showers by a gang of other players.  He was “touched inappropriately” in his privates.  This had been going on from the team’s first practices up until last Monday, so it was ongoing harassment and finally led to a report being filed with the campus police.     

 

Dad called me and said it made the national newscast that evening.  It was also the main story on ESPN.  The university canceled the team’s Saturday night game.  They were out in California ready to play and got called home.  The team and all of the coaches were suspended.  I talked to my Aunt Judy in Missouri after the Superbowl on Sunday (to congratulate her).  She had heard about our scandal on the national news and didn’t realize it was referring to us, until I connected it.       

 

Superbowl Sunday afternoon, I was going over to watch with dad and we decided to get a pizza beforehand.  Roadrunner Pizza was busy as expected and I had to cool my heels for about 10 minutes.  I noticed a guy in the shop waiting that looked familiar.  He was also wearing an Aggie Men's Basketball hoodie.  I asked if he was one of the coaches and he was.  It was Darian Graham, Director of Player Development. 

 

It was kind of loud and hard to hear while we were both waiting, but with the merest prompting, Mr. Graham gushed.  He was nearly inconsolable while trying to explain how they couldn't prevent what had happened.  They did what they could to keep curfew, but the player willfully violated it.  Mike Peake did apologize to the team later.  He didn’t mean to put the whole program in jeopardy, but what you do reflects on the team.  Graham more or less said, “We have them from 7 am to 7 pm, but not the rest of the time.  Are we supposed to follow them around 24 hours a day?  Is everyone, players and coaches, going to have to live in the same dorm?” 

 

He felt the hazing incident was being overblown, as well.  That’s a possibility.  I’m willing to believe the story because I’ve seen how the team didn’t come together.  I thought the team may have factionalized over the shooting, since some of the players were directly involved.  This hazing incident would actually explain it a little better.  Further, to be honest, there isn’t a woman involved.  I’m not saying there couldn’t be a personal agenda being acted on, but I can see where a guy might be putting up with this kind of behavior longer out of shame.       

 

Darian described himself as a “hard-ass” coach.  He wanted his guys to graduate and do well in life.  He felt bad for the fans and the community.  He likes Las Cruces and wanted to stay here.  “I went from here (holding hand up high) getting a championship ring last year to here (holding hand by the floor).”  I really felt for Darian.  He seemed very sincere and in shock.  I did ask about Coach Heiar.  He was not going to say anything critical about him, at least not at this point.   

 

I’m worried about a couple other assistant coaches.  I found out that they are all on a one-year contract that comes up in April.  Dominque Taylor, who I’ve met and was a really nice guy, was involved in the shooting cover up.  He’s gone and it’s too bad, because he likely on a fast-track to becoming a head coach somewhere.  Then there’s local hero Johnny McCants.  He just got married and had a kid.  I think he wanted to set some roots here.  I do feel really bad for the player who was getting molested.  There’s justification for that.  I’m not worried about the other players, frankly.  They can all go.  For whatever talent it looked like they had, it didn’t materialize into wins.  And unfortunately, so much for seeing more of red-shirt local player, Deuce Benjamin.

  

At work on Monday, I got more details.  The reporting player was getting his nuts grabbed in the shower and along with being held down.  This harassment had gone on from last summer to last Monday.  This wasn’t hazing.  The offending players were trying to force him to quit.  Apparently, he wasn’t in a position to do so easily.  This scandal could get even worse if this involves the players I think it involves.  (I’ll avoid that speculation in print.)  For now, it looks like this clip might be appropriate to describe the offenders.  This might explain why they’re calling it “hazing,” because otherwise it’s a bunch a gay men sexually assaulting another guy in a shower.  (And again, this really could get worse than this.)      

 

Moreover, the other players reportedly just stood and watched.  Surely, some of the coaches had to have at least heard what was going on in the shower at some point.  It’s going to be a total house-cleaning for the program.  Everyone is going to be gone.  I hope the NCAA doesn’t get involved and this fumigation may be the only way to do it.  Given how bad the season has been and that they’re likely going into a new conference with a completely new team and staff, what more need to done to the school?  Vacate their pathetic number of wins this season?

 

Three players have already declared for the portal and without any kind words for NMSU.  A four-star recruit has also asked to be released from his commitment.  (In all honesty, he was probably going to do that anyway without the scandal given the team’s record.)  The WAC and the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas must be furious.  Aggie fans have to be like half the attendance for the tournament, which the team probably wasn’t going to make anyway.  Those people who bought those new $1,000 a seat suite tickets along with the season ticket holders can’t be happy.  They’re missing out on three games with no chance of making them up. 

 

The best I can say is that this season has been a blip in Aggie Men’s Basketball, I don’t think that the fans will have a problem forgiving it.  The team has had so much success with very little off-court drama for the last 20 years.  (That was an academic scandal under Coach Neil McCarthy, which seems positively quaint by comparison.)  It was a new coach, new to being a head coach at D1, with a mostly new team.  I don’t think Heiar had had any scandal before coming here, but he’s committed the worst sin of any college coach: disgracing the college without actually winning anything. 

 

I was going to tack this on to my last Softball post, but I kept writing about it.  (And I’m sorry this post is going all over the place.  I don’t have an editor and I want to get this out now.)  I’m glad I held off.  The press conference about the firing came up Monday morning.  I took away two salient points.  One, the other Aggie Sports programs were said to be okay.  (I’m not surprised.)  Two, Coach Heiar was fired with cause and there was no settlement of his contract.  (That’s probably going to court, but still cheaper than paying him off.) 

 

So, Heiar likely knew about the hazing and covered it up.  He probably lied to Mario at some point, which may have actually saved Mario’s job.  I could sense a shift in Mario’s attitude towards the program in listening to his pregame talks.  He went from excuses to irritation.  I don’t think he knew what was going on, but he knew something was going on.      

 

I’m glad Athletic Director Mario Moccia didn’t get fired.  He’s very earnest and has done a remarkable job with Aggie Sports in general.  It might just be that the university didn’t want to have to hire a new AD along with a new basketball coach.  (They might be waiting for the next Chancellor to come in to really make a decision about Mario.)  Heiar was a good hire at the time.  Mario had no ability to fire him after the shooting or after poor team performance.  (The university couldn’t afford to buy out his contract.)  Heiar probably should have resigned before this hazing scandal came out just over the team’s performance. 

 

I hate to say it, but the media people who were questioning restarting the program after the shooting may have been right.  Nothing good came after.  There was a good question from a reporter wondering why wasn’t Heiar fired after the shooting?  There wasn’t a great answer, but it was probably because the team had done diligence in monitoring players.  However, the team did seem to be trying to cover up the incident to the police immediately afterward.  Honestly, I don’t think the administration could blame Heiar without indicting themselves, since they were the ones who Okayed the team continuing to play without resolution of the issue.  (Now Heiar is no longer cooperating with university on the shooting investigation.)

 

The best case scenario is that this is basically over (at least for the university, but probably not some of the players).  NM State then cleans house and brings in an experienced coach to restart the program with a new team.  The fans will be fine and will likely not have a lot of expectations, especially going into a new conference.  (It was asked if Conference-USA would still want us.  They’re losing six teams after this school year.  Oh yeah, we’re still in.)  The Media will blather from their high horse and then lose interest.  That’s the best case.  Let’s hope for it.