NM State Aggies vs UNLV Rebels Soccer 9-7-23

Mya Hammack poster that is currently on my refrigerator.

I’m still not caught up at work from being gone on Friday.  Taking another day off this week wasn’t a good idea.  This Friday I’m going to be very busy at work.  However, after missing the last two soccer matches, I wanted to see the Soccer girls.  Those missed games have been a nil-nil tie and a 3-1 win respectively. 

 

Today, I only managed to go to Legend Burger (so much for the diet, but it was worth it) and I watched the D&D movie finally.  It had its moments.  There were a bunch of Easter Eggs for the long-time game fans.  (I’m assuming the kids from the 80’s D&D Cartoon escaped the trap they were caught in somehow.)  Hugh Grant and Chris Pine were great. 

 

Otherwise, it wasn’t worthwhile.  I wasn’t thrilled over the rest of the casting and the story was questionable in how the heist was set up.  They made sure to give all the characters motivations and yet, they still felt poorly motivated.  I’m glad I didn’t pay to see it.  I was still pissed off over the OGL thing at the time.  The movie is worth watching once (for free).  If only they’d done a live action movie about the 80’s cartoon.

Mya Hammack and Brooke Schultz looking charming for their interview.

I also listened to a local podcast featuring Mya Hammack (my favorite) and Brooke Schultz.  They talked about their careers and how they got on the team.  They are from the Pacific Northwest and played together up there on a club team in this offseason.  Mya mentioned she’d been converted to defense this year.  I thought I remembered she was an offensive player last year.  She’s also played every minute this season.  Coach Baarts must like her, too.          

 

It was at least a nice night for a game.  It was warm, maybe a little muggy, but there was a cool breeze blowing across the field.  There were some dark, scattered clouds.  It looked like it might have been raining outside of town, but there wasn’t a threat of rain in town.  I went wearing my new Aggie bucket hat.  (I probably looked like an idiot.)  I picked up a tea and popcorn, which would be my dinner after that heavy burger.  The ref waved to me when I came in.  I smiled and nodded.  It was the same ref I’d said I told to have a “good game” at an earlier game.                

 

A good crowd turned out (over 600).  I was worried the NFL Kickoff would take away from it, but even some of the Aggie Football team came.  The UNLV Rebels (I guess they dropped the “Runnin’” part) brought a few fans, including one beautiful blonde that might have been a player’s sister.  She sat somewhere behind me, so she wasn’t a distraction, however another beautiful girl sat in front of me that was a spitting image of KerolSmile, one of my favorite Twitch streamers.  A friend of hers came in and sat next to her, so I didn’t get to meet her, which was probably a good thing.

 

The warmup music was horrible, as usual.  The worst was a sampling/remix of House of Pain’s classic Jump Around.  It was bad and remaking sampled songs is distasteful in and of itself.  Valerie Guha was back starting in goal for the Aggies.  It was strange that she came in as a sub late in the previous game.  Brooke also started the game.  She’d been out with injury this season.  Two of the Rebels were kneelers during the Anthem.  That’s way more embarrassing than my floppy hat.

 

First Half

The Rebels got an early corner, but nothing came of it.  Both teams seemed to be feeling each other out for the first 10 minutes.  38’ left in the half, a hard kicked ball went straight into the stands.  It missed an older woman across the aisle.  Worried it would hit someone behind me, I reached out to deflect the ball, which I did.  It went to the bottom of the stands, where another fan put it back in play.  Ow!  Those balls are hard and that was a hard kick.  I was fine for the rest of the game, though I’m typing this with sore fingers now.  (And they’re still sore the next day, I already had a high degree of appreciation for goalies and that’s only increased now.)

 

36’ Sydnee Johnson made the first real Aggie attack on a rush, which the Rebels’ goalie, Lucia Guemes, fell on.  35’ Mya H. made a nice breakup of an attack and a rear-facing kick.  34’ Ariana Leamons took a high shot on the Rebel’s goal.  Then, disaster!  Right after that shot, a high bouncing goalie kick came down to the Aggies’ end to a Rebel player.  Two defenders were chasing it and Valerie came out to get it, but all they could do was watch helplessly as the ball was chipped into the goal.  Cassie Villanueva was credited with this very soft goal.  1-0 UNLV.

 

The Aggies redoubled on offense.  31’ Jena Johannes took a long shot from the wing.  29’ the Aggies made some good passing on an attack.  Gia Valenti took a shot that went high and wide.  25’ here we go.  Bianca Chacon made a rolling free kick on the outside wing of the Rebels’ box to Gia, who rolled it right past Guemes, 1-1 tied.  I was glad that the Aggies at least wouldn’t be losing because of that first goal. 

 

23’ Villanueva made a blatant grab on Ari’s jersey.  That was an easy yellow card call.  21’ the Rebels took a shot on the wing.  It went high, very high.  I think the wind caught it, as the ball flew into the excavation pit behind the south goal.  19’ there are mass subs for both teams. 

 

17’ Rebel corner kick, Valerie made a good save on the follow up shot that was right in front of the goal that might have been kicked with a knee.  16’ off an Aggie corner, there was a foul in the Rebel box.  I didn’t see the foul, but there was no argument as Bianca was given a penalty kick.  (It was a handball.)  She buried it with anger.  2-1 Aggies. 

 

13’ Tati Jerman and a Rebel player had each other in headlock on the far side of the field.  The ref broke them up.  12’ Aggie corner.  Guemes made two nice saves.  9’ good Aggie passing caught the Rebels off guard.  Shila Rasoul had a nearly open shot on goal.  Guemes managed to cutoff her angle to stop the shot. 

 

4’ a well set up Aggie attack was spoiled by a slip on the turf in the Rebels’ box.  3’ a very hard liner shot on the Aggie goal.  Val caught it, no problem, though I think I felt it from the stands.  1’ Rebel counter against one defender.  The shot went wide across the goal. 

 

Disaster struck again!  With under a minute left, a Rebel free kick at midfield ended up by the Aggie goal.  Two Rebels were right there.  Where were the Aggies?  Heading to the locker room?  Michelle Madrid made a great pass and Marley Salveter headed the ball right in.  Halftime and we were suddenly tied at 2.  Shots on Goal were even at 3 and Corners at 2.  

 

Halftime

I’m glad I wasn’t in the Aggie locker room.  Coach Baarts was probably already planning on letting the team have it for that first goal.  He must have been apoplectic after the second.  Both goalies were warming up during the half, likely glad to be out of earshot of their coaches. 

 

[Annoying Monday Edit: Okay, I was pretty sure I saw that I saw the backup goalies warming up at halftime, which would make sense given the game situation.  However, it’s hard to get the goalie’s number in play, which is why I write it down at the beginning of the match.  They didn’t post the official stats that night, when I wrote out this out, nor the next day.  I went with what stats were posted, which didn’t mention the goalie change, even though I was pretty sure it had happened.  I’ve since edited the post.]

 

The Outlaws Pep Band and the Drum Line performed enthusiastically and . . .  oh my goodness . . .  the Hot Pan Am Girl was there putting the performance on Aggie Social Media.  Be still my heart.  Between her, the two hot girls in the stands, and Mya (and some other girls on the team), I don’t know how I concentrated to take notes.  (I didn’t.  I missed naming all of the goal scorers.  If I got some other names on plays wrong that’s just normal for me.)  PAG was in a black tank top and little black shorts.  After the performance, she walked across the field by herself like a dream.  The Band could have played her out with Dreamweaver.

 

Second Half

The Aggie girls returned to the field still holding their red ears.  Karolanne Lafourtune subbed in for the Aggies in goal and Hanne Breur came in for the Rebels.  I don’t know if I’d necessarily blame either first half goalie for the four total goals, but both coaches probably thought it’d be better to make a change.  43’ Mya H. moved up on offense and took a long shot, which sailed over the Rebel’s goal.  40’ a great pass downfield by Mya Gonzales to Bianca and then to Xitlaly Hernandez, but there was no shot taken.

 

39’ a Rebel attack in the Aggie box was foiled and a corner after.  38’ Shila made a rush into the Rebel box, but was blown offside.  37’ near disaster.  Karol punched away an accidental own goal attempt by Jena and then fell on another shot.  Jena seized up in front of the net after nearly giving the Rebels the lead.  36’ Karol made another point blank save. 

 

The action going up and down the field at this point was furious enough that I couldn’t keep up.  34’ Karol made another stop from a shot on the wing and caught the corner kick that came after.  33’ Loma McNeese did some fancy dribbling front of the stands to the delight of the crowd and passed to Bianca, who passed to Shila for a shot.  Breur fell on it. 

 

It’s a disaster movie!  29’ another high bouncer from the other side of the field (apparently off an Aggie header) went past Mya H. and over Karol.  Villanueva was right there behind them to shepherd the ball in with a nudge for her second goal.  3-2 Rebels.  (Up to this point, I was going to say Karolanne probably won the starting goalie job.  Afterward, I wasn’t so sure.)

 

26’ Xitlaly got hurt away from the ball.  There was a stoppage as she limped off field, though she’d return later.  25’ Loma turned and took a quick kick off a corner.  It went just high.  24’ Bianca took two shots.  One was blocked by a defender.  The goalie fell on the other.  21’ with some good passing, the Rebels got into the Aggie box and took a shot across the goal.  They got a pair corners with the attack, but nothing came of them.

 

18’ Ari took a long shot that was caught.  17’ a shot off an Aggie corner was caught.  14’ Loma took a desperate-looking long shot that went way off.  13’ Karol scooped up a rolling shot.  10’ Meredith Scott was knocked down by the Rebel box making a charge.  No call.  Right after, she took a long shot that was caught.  Meredith was really hustling all over the field in the second half. 

 

8’ the Band took a direct hit.  Thankfully, the music didn’t stop.  7’ Mya H. made a long shot that was caught.  Mya had moved up into an offensive role by this point.  6’ a yellow was given for a delay by UNLV.  4’ Shila had an open shot and hit the side of the net.  2’ Mya H. took another shot that just missed.  With under a minute, the ball took a bounce over the north auxiliary stands.  It wasn’t recovered until there were 10 seconds left.  I doubt it mattered.  Time expired.  Aggies 2, UNLV/Aggie Misplays 3.

 

That was disappointing.  Like the ASU game, I think the Aggies beat themselves more than were beaten.  Actually, tonight, I’m sure of it.  Credit to UNLV for capitalizing on all of the Aggies’ mistakes.  They also did a good job of neutralizing Loma, Sydnee, and Xitlaly.  I thought the Aggies did a really good job of getting the ball into position to take a shot several times, but didn’t finish.  Apart from their lapses, the defense and goalkeeping were very good.  UNLV finished up 7-5 in shots on goal and 6-2 in corners. 

 

Now, all I have to look forward to is a bunch of work on Friday and sore fingers.  At least, I have the weekend off from Aggie sports reporting.  I need to recover after a couple of bad losses.  

 

A Ref, Valeria Guha, Mya Hammack, Ariana Leamons, and Bianca Chacon all standing for the Anthem, unlike UNLV.

Comics and Movie Review: Superheroes and Knights Part 2

Part 1 

Finally getting back to this a few years later.

Knights of the Dinner Table #244

I like the cover, though it has nothing to do with the contents.  I like the Knights of the Dinner Table comic, but I do find the artwork a bit grating.  The characters are drawn in a very idiosyncratic manner, and the rest of the artwork can only be described as “serviceable” for the story.  Still, the stories and the personalities shine.  From the humble origins of this comic featuring players sitting around a table, the plot in this one is incredibly outlandish with plenty of callbacks to the comic’s continuity.  It’s impressive.

 

However, the rest of this 64-page newsprint comic/magazine are not as admirable.  The gaming articles are of little use, probably even if you play Hackmaster or Aces & Eights.  The articles may have a bit of value.  The retrospective on the live-action game, Killer, would be more interesting, except it constantly says that no one should ever play this game again nowadays.  There’s a couple of interesting book reviews and an article on RPG podcasts. 

 

At $2 used, this is okay.  For the $6 cover price, forget it.  I remembered later that I have another issue.  It’s #150.  This one was a double-sized 144-page magazine.  There were quite a few strips in it, but they all non-main storyline, gag comics (but still funny).  This one included a full mini-RPG (Dawg, as in role-playing a dog) and a full Hackmaster adventure.  It’s hard to judge #244 as worthwhile by comparison.

           

Future State: Wonder Woman #2

I bought this in lieu of the new Wonder Girl that wasn’t on the rack when I noticed Joelle Jones was doing the art.  That was the main reason I wanted the Wonder Girl anyway.  I was leery of buying any of these Future State issues, where the only purpose is to replace all of the DC heroes with “alternatives.”  Ahem.  It’s like there’s an Agenda at work.

 

I have to go back to that Wonder Girl #3 that I liked so much.  Apparently, the other girl featured in the issue, Yara, is the replacement for Diana Prince as Wonder Woman.  I didn’t even suspect that.  I get the vague impression she’s Brazilian, but I could be totally mistaken. 

 

I can see how this idea was sold.  “Let’s replace Diana Prince with a girl with darker skin, who’s younger.”  Some marketing exec said, “Run with that!”  What they didn’t realize was that Joelle would also make Yara beautiful, brave, charming, and even heterosexual.  Hopefully, nobody in DC management ever reads this comic.  They will put a stop to this effrontery to all that is woke immediately.  “You may as well have made Wonder Woman a white male!  And not even a transgendered one!”

 

I’m not overreacting given the Nubia preview in the back of this comic.  I’ll get to that, but first let me gush over the rest of the issue.  It’s stunningly beautiful in artwork, of course.  I was also a bit surprised that the story was so good.  I say this mostly because I was coming into the middle of it with explanation.  I don’t even know why Diana isn’t still Wonder Woman.  I’m not endorsing her being replaced in the role for any reason, but I’m totally good with seeing more of Yara. 

 

After being so delighted, there was then this wonderful comedic self-satire piece.  Oh, I had such a good laugh at it.  It was like a sweet dessert after a savory meal.

“Can you be a hero . . . if society doesn’t see you as a person?” 

 

So begins this mighty work of defiance.  It’s a preview of Nubia.  I’ve heard of this character, but only because she’s been called, “the first BLACK woman superhero in comics!”  This is as per the interview afterward, which also states that, “She’s always been Diana’s equal or BETTER!”  This character isn’t in my DC Encyclopedia, which is full of super obscure characters.  Then again, the Gay Ghost isn’t in it, and certainly that’s a much more significant character.

 

You can tell just by the artwork that the artist is a very talented grade schooler.  Her parents should certainly encourage her to draw more, but not to neglect her other studies.  I’ve finally found a comic book artist that makes me feel better about my own artwork.       

 

The whole interview is comedy gold, but I really wanted to share this stunning statement: “I wanted to depict the cost of this strength and fortitude the world admires BLACK women for, then punishes us for having in the next breath.”  You mean like Nicki Minaj?”  (I never thought I’d be a fan of hers, but there have been stranger alliances.  I’m even rooting for some NBA players.) 

 

The interview and this comic excerpt are one long scream for help by an obviously psychologically tortured and woke brainwashed author.  It’s amazing we live in a country where even a no-talent, brain-damaged person can still make a good living and complain about the inherent unfair circumstances of her life.  I agree, it is unfair . . . to the rest of us.

 

I had this issue with me when I visited my dad.  I’d brought my sketchbook and was drawing from the comic.  I handed it to him and told him it was good.  He sat down and gave it a careful read.  He may have grunted, which might signal approval or indigestion.  I made sure he read the stuff in the back.  He just shook his head afterward.

 

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths Special Edition

I haven’t bought a DVD in a while.  I gave my dedicated DVD player to my dad.  I have to watch discs on my computer now, which isn’t optimal.  I usually have trouble sitting down for movies or binge-watching TV series.  I also have trouble finding sufficient blocks of time to sit down and watch.  It takes something really interesting to get my attention.  This got my attention when I saw it on the spinner rack at the used bookstore.   

  

I think I saw this once (probably on a Mexican channel) and enjoyed it.  Basically, it’s the JLA versus the old back-in-the-day Earth-3 Crime Syndicate, their evil twins.  I’ve often maintained that the current Superman is actually the evil Utraman, because he doesn’t wear his underwear on the outside.  Nevertheless, this video is great.  It’s witty in dialogue and smart in plot.  There’s plenty of semi-obscure characters in this to try and name for fun.  James Woods as the evil Batman, Owlman, steals the show.  He’s Batman as a nihilistic, psychopathic genius. 

 

My main complaint is that it’s so short (75 minutes).  The story is rather rushed.  To somewhat make up for it, there is a short featuring the Spectre.  I unexpectedly enjoyed the heck out of this.  It was pure 70’s noir.  The video was even scuffed in a way to make it look like an old movie film. 

 

The two-disc set also includes several interview/previews of other DCU animated movies.  These are fairly interesting.  What wasn’t as interesting was a long preview for the Identity Crisis/Infinite Crisis/Final Crisis comic book series.  The creators spent 30 minutes not giving any worthwhile details about these series.  It was a complete waste of time.  Also included are four episodes of Justice League which deal with two different alternate earth storylines.  This DVD was lots of fun.  Glad I got it and made time to watch it.   

Memorial Day Weekend Monday, 5-27-19

Continued from Sunday.

I skipped trying to watch the French Open to have lunch with my parents.  That was probably more unpleasant than listening to players grunting.  Maybe.  At least I got fed.  I may give tennis another shot next weekend.  I used to be a big tennis fan, but things change.  I had other plans for the afternoon.  After 22 films (?), I finally saw a Marvel film in a theater, Avengers: Endgame.  Thankfully, I’d mostly seen enough of the other films on TV and video to not be lost. 

There’s no point in reviewing a film that I think everyone else has seen.  I’ll just forward on that it was a magnificent achievement and fun to watch.  It had tremendous action, a great sense of humor (Thor stole the show), and I got genuinely choked up during Thor’s talk with his mom and during Stark’s goodbye speech.  For over three hours I was entranced to the point that I didn’t need to go to the bathroom over that time.  Also, I’d declined to purchase a $4 small soda and $3.75 small popcorn.  I felt a bit bad that I’d gotten in free with a pass, but not that bad.  Not to mention, I’d worked up a sweat walking over to the mall in the heat and wind.  I may have actually been dehydrated. 

I do understand why some reviewers have said that they loved it, but that they’re done with the series.  This is going to be very hard to top and given what Marvel seems to have queued up, it might not be to my taste.  Introducing time travel may also be problematic in the future stories.  Whatever comes, we will always have this moment.  (Until George Lucas changes it.  Oh wait, that’s Star Wars.  If only those Disney dummies knew how to make a great film like the Marvel team.  Hopefully, Disney doesn’t take over Marvel and ruin their films.)  [Yes, I’m making a joke.]

I can’t say the same for the trailers before the film.  I felt my IQ dropping seeing glimpses of these movies where things and stuff explode while big stars do cool things around the explosions and stuff.  Awesome.  The Fatzilla movie (him and Thor should maybe mix in a salad) looked cool when it showed the giant monsters.  It looked really dumb whenever the humans on screen.  They said and did nothing but dumb things.  I may be seeing this in the near future anyway.  I am a bit worried, but I still have movie passes, so at least I won’t pay for the potential mistake.

       

After the movie, I’d noticed the stiff wind had picked up and I wasn’t wearing a jacket.  I dallied in the mall.  B&N did not have the Time cover with Alex Morgan on it.  (I hope there’s no fat chicks in bikinis inside like her SI magazine this month.)  I was tempted to get dinner from Auntie Anne’s, but they didn’t have any pepperoni pretzels ready to go.  I blew home and was amazingly just in time to watch The Rally on Stadium.  I don’t usually watch their evening sports night preview show, but I did want to see cutie Kristen Balboni.  I did enjoy watching the baseball highlights, especially Kevin Kiermaier’s catch off the wall.  I did not enjoy the peanut butter and jelly sandwich on stale bread I was eating while watching, but not every meal can be gourmet.

The Chihuahuas’ game started early this evening as it was going to be a double header with yesterday’s rainout.  They were in Fresno playing the Grizzlies in a pair of seven-inning games.  As the crowd slowly built up over the course of the game, they didn’t miss much.  Both teams weren’t swinging it well as pitching dominated.  Tim Hagerty, on the radio call, was talking about the Padres early in Game 1.  The parent club was playing in Yankee Stadium, the last team finally visit the new park.  Reliever Phil Maton, in the last series against the Blue Jays, became the first NL pitcher to get his first hit in an AL park.  (They’d lost their DH in the game and had to bat him.)

In the first, an obvious Griz foul ball was called a home run.  The umps gathered and immediately corrected the call.  The batter was rounding the bases smiling, knowing it wasn’t going to stand anyway.  In the fifth, pups catcher, Francisco Mejia, tried to walk off field after the second out and got jazzed by the fans there.  In the sixth (remember this was scheduled for seven innings), the Chihuahuas got their first hit.  Tim had been worried they were about the Chihuahuas getting no-hit for the first time.  They did have two base runners on early via errors. 

The park was also taking donations for opposing player walkup songs.  Somebody had Old Town Road, which I’m assuming the player or wife paid for.  Others were not so fortunate with It’s a Barbie World and Baby Shark.  Jacob Scavuzzo came up to bat in the seventh with Toto’s Africa playing with two on.  He got a hit to drive in the first run of the game.  1-0 Chihuahuas.  The Grizzlies’ starter came out at the same time as the pups’ starter, Dillon Overton, was pinch hit for. 

Unfortunately, the Griz tied it in the bottom to send it to extras.  In the eighth, the Chihuahuas got the rule wrong on the automatic runner and lost their pitcher.  Tim caught it immediately.  Mejia sac’d in a run to make it 2-1, but a pair of Grizz sacrifices drove in another tying run in the bottom.  Scavuzzo led off the ninth with a hit to drive in the automatic runner to the make 3-2.  The Griz got two on with two out in the bottom, but the pups hung on to win it.

During Game 1 of the baseball game, the big sports event of the day started with the Blues playing the Bruins for the Stanley Cup.  I was looking forward to the game, but I ended up breaking my rule about watching hockey: if you’re going to watch hockey, you have to concentrate to get anything out of it.  But . . . those little party girls on Chic Music are sooooo cute.  So, I’m listening to baseball and flipping channels during the match.  My dad seemed interested the Blues doing well (being from Missouri) and so was I, so I have a favorite hockey team for the moment. 

The Blues got it started about halfway through the first period with a goal off the crossbar.  The teams were a bit tight to start as both actually tried passing the puck to a referee.  The Bruins got a power play late after a tripping call.  They hit the post on one shot and had a good look on another.  They got another power play right after on a hooking call.  There was a wide open net for one shot, but the player couldn’t handle the pass.  (Yeah, I’m not naming players like a bad sports report.  It’s amazing I got down any notes.)

The Blues scored early in the second period and I missed it.  The Bruins came back to make it 2-1 and then tied it.  About five minutes left in the period, there was a dogpile at the Blues’ net and two players were put in the box for fighting.  In the third, the Bruins poked one in to make it 3-2.  The game got chippie.  A Bruin player got his helmet pulled off in a virtual noogie.  He came back and made a flying check on the offending Blues player.  Sticks were breaking.  Running fist fights were going up and down the ice.  It was hockey at its finest.  The Bruins got an empty-netter with under two minutes left.  4-2 Bruins was the Game 1 final, though there was a scrum at their net at 0.00 on the clock.

I missed the Rangers playing the Mariners on the radio.  I couldn’t get it to come in during the break between the double header games.  The Rangers lost 6-2 anyway.  For Game 2 of the Chihuahuas’ double header, the Grizzlies came out wearing red pants.  I’m sure that looked great.  Matthew Batten homered in the second for the pups.  Jason Vosler also drove in a run and Boog Powell bunted in a run to make it 3-0. 

In the sixth, three Chihuahuas walked, but an infield popup ended the inning.  There were train noises going on all through the game.  In this inning, there was also what sounded like a car drag race going on outside the stadium.  The Griz got a solo homer to make it 3-1 in the bottom.  The pups added on with a sacrifice to make it 4-1 in the seventh.  There was then a near inside-the-park home run, but it was ruled a ground rule double as the ball got lodged under the outfield wall.  Vosler got a two-run homer to drive in the run anyway.  The Chihuahuas won 6-1 to sweep the DH.  Hey, somebody I was rooting for won this weekend!    

Lastly, I saw some of The Red Pill documentary by Cassie Jaye on TBD.  It was interesting, though I don’t entirely feel the need for a Men’s rights organization.  The documentary did make good points for equality on certain issues.   I doubt women want equality, because that would be a step down for their gender’s superior status in society. 

My favorite moment of this sports celebration weekend?  I’m going to have to be heretical here and say it was Avengers: Endgame.  Indy was great at the end, but Avengers actually made me tear up.  Beyond that, well crap, Aggie Baseball got eliminated from the WAC Tournament, and just about every other team I was rooting for lost.  I kind of wish I’d just focused on a few select events, instead trying to watch or listen to everything.  This is actually the first time I’ve felt like this, since I mostly enjoy the chaos.

With this, I am going on hiatus for writing sports for a bit.  I’m burned out from all the Aggie sports writing and doing other sports at the same time.  I’ve been staying late at work to write and the quality of my writing just keeps going down.  I do plan on picking it up again in the near future (perhaps sooner than I think), but I need to rethink how I do this.  I’ve got a stack of stuff to read that I haven’t touched in months.  Also, I’ve been working on an RPG project since the beginning of last year.  It’s been hard, but I’m almost done.  It’s been incredibly frustrating to be so close finishing, but only having a day or so to work on it between sports writing and then being mentally exhausted when I’ve been doing it.  I will hopefully be posting this project soon.

Memorial Day Weekend Sunday, 5-26-19

Continued from Saturday.

90% chance of rain in Indianapolis today.  That had been the forecast all week and even when I tuned in to the coverage for the prerace Sunday morning.  The sky was indeed overcast over IMS.  By the time the race was over, nary a drop had fallen and there were blue skies overhead.  This years’ race was NBC’s first crack at the Indy 500, since acquiring the rights from ABC/ESPN.  In spite of my general hatred for ESPN, I had to admit that they did really good job on their last race (5-27-18).  It actually kills me to admit to that, so you know I mean it. 

NBC had a lot to live up to given their competitor’s history.  You could best sum up their attempt with one word: cringy.  Here’s a few more: smiley, happy, no depth, embarrassing.  Here’s the biggest race of the year and the prerace is like an hour of the Today Show.  I guess you’re trying to appeal to the normies, but they don’t watch the race.  The fans do.  When I tuned into qualifying last week, they did a great job of setting the storylines for the day.  If it hadn’t been rained out, I would have watched.  So, they could have done a better job of setting the stage for the race, but instead did a segment on milking cows for the Victory Lane milk. 

Our expert commentary for the prerace was provided by Danica Patrick.  Once again, it was the Danica Show.  I should have known better than to think that we were rid of her.  Like much of the prerace, what was frustrating was that she was insightful during the race, once she stopped talking about herself, which took a while.  Also present was a damn-glad-to-be-there, Dale Earnhardt Jr.  Who is this guy?  Was he ever this happy racing?  He also drove the pace car, still smiling, and was surprisingly cogent talking about the race.  Also present was my favorite pit reporter, adorable Kelli Stavast.  The dulcet British tones of Leigh Diffey provided the play-by-play.  It was odd hearing him doing an American open wheel race, instead of F1, but I got used to it.

But, the important thing here is lunch.  McAlisters was featuring a new sandwich on their website, which I scouted before I decided to go there for lunch, the Chicken Avocado BLT.  It was a good-sized meal and very tasty.  It did fall apart a bit as I was eating it.  The Avocado didn’t quite hold it all together.  It was served on two oversized slices of white bread.  The bacon was good.  I was worried the chicken might be poor, but it was fine.  I’m trepidatious about any fast food chicken except for Chik-fil-a, Raising Canes, and What-a-burger (their Honey Barbeque Chicken Strip Sandwich exclusively).  Every place else and every other chicken item is on probation with me, because they’re not only not as good, they’re usually just bad. 

Of course I had the M-F’ing tea.  (That meme is probably dead by now.)  I was offered a cookie or a brownie, which I wish I’d gone ahead and bought, but I didn’t know what the price was.  Instead, I went back out about an hour later to Orange Leaf for froyo.  I got cookie dough with peanut butter cups added in.  I also tossed on some Twix, but those don’t work with ice cream, because the caramel goes hard instantly in the cold.  That pretty girl was back working there.  I’ve seen her several times.  I don’t know what to say to her to chat, even when we’re there alone.                                 

Back to the race, pit lane mishaps were the story.  Colton Herta had electrical issues, I think, and came to a halt on pit lane.  Helio Castroneves had contact on pit lane with another car.  Last years’ winner, Will Power, missed his spot in the pit box.  Another driver hit one of his pit crew.  Kyle Kaiser, the last driver to make the field who bumped Fernando Alonso, lost his car coming out of pit lane. 

Alexander Rossi, who won in 2016, had a fueling problem on one of his pit stops.  He was completely infuriated, banging on his steering wheel, while the crew worked on it.  I’m told he’s never normally that angry.  Well, Rossi went on a rampage trying to get his lost positions back.  He nearly ran over a lap-down Oriol Servia, who was holding him up.  They exchanged hand signs at over 200mph as they passed one another.  Rossi, passing like a madman, made it back up front.

The Big One happened on Lap 178.  There had only been three retirements beforehand.  There were five more with this wreck.  Graham Rahal chewed out Sebastien Bourdais on track while Bourdais was still sitting in his wrecked car.  (How humiliating for a four-time Champ Car champion.)  Rossi had just passed polesitter and Indy GP winner Simon Pagenaud for the lead as the race was red flagged.

The race was restarted with 13 laps left.  Pagenaud immediately passed for lead, but Rossi was back in the lead by the next lap.  They would end up trading positions five times before the end.  Takuma Sato, the 2017 Indy winner, came back from a lap down to third place with 10 to go and pressed the both of them.  Rossi had the lead with three to go.  Pagenaud passed on the outside with one lap left.  There was lots of swerving on that last lap, but Pagenaud held it and won.

Pagenaud gave Penske another trophy and got to keep his seat.  Simon stopped in front of the grandstand to salute the fans and he also thanked them again after splashing himself with milk in Victory Lane.  (I hate the milk drinking bit here, because I love milk and these guys nearly always waste it.)  What a month at Indy for Simon: GP win, pole, led the most laps, and won the big race.  Regardless of the prerace, as long as you’re showing the race, you really can’t screw up the coverage.  It will make its own drama, regardless of attempts to enhance it.  The story is always the same: triumph for one driver, tragedy for 32. 
           

Two other events started before Indy finished.  On a Mexican station, the Dodgers and Pirates were on.  During yesterday’s MLB game, they’d promoted that they were going to be broadcasting another game today.  I’d checked back repeatedly at the advertised time, but it wasn’t on that I could see.  I joined the game in the fifth with the Dodgers up 4-2.  The Pirates were in their horrible 70’s throwbacks.  I like several teams’ retro uniforms, but this one is way too gaudy.   

Wow, I wish I hadn’t scrambled my notes together from four different events.  Let me untangle this.  I saw Joc Pederson homer to make it 5-3.  By the time I’d tuned back, it was 9-3 in the sixth, but the Pirates did make a comeback to make it 10-6.  The Dodgers scored again in the seventh on a missed catch.  This broadcast was the Dodgers’ video feed.  They showed fans already leaving over the Roberto Clemento Bridge.  The Bucs scored in the ninth, but lost 11-7.  I’m sorry there was so much going on.  This would have been an entertaining game to have watched instead of just peeking in on.

Meanwhile, the F1 Monaco race had started on ABC.  This was on delay, but “Thank you,” NBC for not spoiling the race during your Indy broadcast.  Last year, ABC had shown the F1 race right after Indy without any prerace.  There was one this time and they announced that there was a 90% chance of rain there in Monte Carlo.  For an F1 race, impending rain is good news, since that often makes the race more interesting.  I had to miss the most of the prerace to see the end of Indy, but I did make sure to watch the start of the race and the hard right-hander into Sainte Devote.  Having seen this race before, I know that that first corner is functionally the whole race. 

No rain fell in the principality either today during the race.  Here in the Las Cruces, there was a 5% chance of rain today.  Suddenly, I’m hearing thunder.  The wind had kicked up hard outside and it was overcast.  It would eventually start raining a bit for a short while.  This is the way I would have wanted it, rain here instead of at Indianapolis.  It would have been ironic though if the lightning had gotten bad enough that I’d had to turn off the TV before Indy finished. 

I flipped between the F1 race and the ballgame.  The coverage featured some hysterical Sky Sports announcers.  Not hysterically funny, just hysterical like a panicked woman.  I’m missing the BBC guys.  ABC also inserted random commercials into the race, since the original broadcast didn’t have any breaks.  There was a woman with ESPN, who came on and assured viewers that they wouldn’t miss any of the race.  Well, that’s nice at least. 

So, Lewis Hamilton started on pole, led coming out of the first turn, and won the race.  How does Monaco keep delivering these surprises?  Actually, Lewis and Max Verstappen did touch in the closing laps, but didn’t crash and maintained their positions.  I wish they’d use karts for this race instead of F1 cars.  The drivers might go for it, if it didn’t affect the points standings.  It would be like the most glamorous Mario Kart race ever.       

Sure, let’s check out what’s on the radio too, specifically the Rangers and Angels and the Chihuahuas were scheduled to play.  The pups were not on, which was okay, because I was getting twitchy enough just changing TV stations.  I found out later that they’d been rained out in Fresno.  In LA, it was actually raining lightly there.  Ranger announcer, Eric Nadel, couldn’t remember ever seeing rain at a game there.  The field in Anaheim wasn’t built with good drainage, so a hard shower might end the game.  His partner, Matt Hicks, was worried about the open-air pressbox and all of their electronics.

The rain continued into the eighth, but never affected play.  It didn’t hurt Mike Trout as he homered in the first to make it 1-0 Angels.  The fans were unaffected too.  Matt called a fan in a suite with a mitt making a great catch on a foul.  Shin-Soo Choo homered in the fourth to tie it.  Hunter Pence also homered to give the Rangers a 2-1 lead.  (I was on the phone and missed it.)  It was Hunter again in the sixth driving in a run with Logan Forsythe then driving him in.  The Rangers built up a 5-1 lead.

In the bottom of the sixth, a double play ended the inning, but the Rangers stayed on field, apparently they’d all forgot the number of outs.  I kind of wish I was watching this game.  Ranger starter, Ariel Jurado, came out in the seventh and the Angels tee’d off on the Rangers’ relievers.  Trout doubled in a run.  Shohei Ohtani tied the score on a sacrifice.  Two wild pitches brought in two runs and gave the Angels a 7-5 lead.  After that catastrophe, the Rangers made a comeback in the ninth.  Choo doubled in Ronald Guzman, but was left stranded at third.  7-6 Angels was your disappointing final.

Before getting into the afternoon NASCAR race, I have to mention a movie.  Flipping around, I ran into a 50’s gem on Comet, The Beast of Hollow Mountain.  I was confused when I saw it because it looked like a Western.  It was.  The caption summed it up succulently: A Tyrannosaurs Rex terrorizes a Mexican village.  It’s like the Magnificent Seven, but with a dinosaur.  (Not really.)  It was an exciting seamless blend of stop-motion puppetry and practical effects (namely shots of a guy wearing big T-Rex feet or giant claws fumbling at the actors).  This concept seemed familiar somehow.  It was.  Last year on Comet, I’d seen a 2015 film called Cowboys vs Dinosaurs.  Not quite the same premise, but close enough. 

The Coca-Cola 600 prerace had my full attention.  I was riveted watching Shannon Spake stuffed into a hot, off-the-shoulder dress.  This was my favorite part of the coverage.  Shannon did spoil the end of the Monaco race, which had quite yet finished on the other network.  I’ll forgive her (mostly because the outcome wasn’t in much doubt). 

There was no rain in Charlotte, but it was very hot.  The drivers were concerned.  Another hot Charlotte, WWE wrestler Charlotte Flair, joined Michael Waltrip on the grid walk.  The drivers they met seemed genuinely awestruck by the overwhelming blonde.  I think they were WWE fans.  Charlotte would drive the pace car.

A Marine general gave the command.  He brought his own hype-man, a master sergeant, to introduce him and he did so with a flourish.  The cars went into a three-wide formation on the pace lap.  I was listening to the baseball at the time, so I’m not sure why they did that.  It was good practice for later in the race.

I really meant to sit and watch the race, but the Braves and the Cardinals came on ESPN Radio after the Rangers’ game was over.  I’m not sure what inning the game was in, but I heard Harrison Bader drive in the first run and be driven in to make it 2-0.  The story of the game though was a guy holding a baby, reaching over the rail for a foul ball.  The announcers wet themselves.  Mom immediately came over and took the child away and they all left shortly thereafter.    

We’ll skip to the ninth with the Cardinals up 3-0.  The Braves came up with a run and got two on with nobody out.  Another hit made it 3-2.  Andrew Miller came in.  He gave up the tying hit.  I wanted to start watching NASCAR, but these guys were not cooperating.  In the tenth, the Braves’ go-ahead run was walked in.  They won 4-3, as KROD went on autopilot and I missed all of the bottom of the tenth except for the final out.   

Back at the race, there were 10 cautions through the first two stages.  It seemed like a bunch of blown tires, maybe due to the heat.  Before the race, my dad had pointed out a picture of Jimmie Johnson’s paint scheme in the newspaper.  It looked good there and on track with the desert camo.  If only they still sold little affordable diecasts.

I was watching Stage 4, as two large wrecks messed up the field.  On the final restart with six to go, I finally turned up the sound as the baseball game was in commercial.  The cars were going four-wide and banging off each other in the final laps.  Martin Truex fended off Joey Logano for the win.  And I got to see a little more Shannon Spake.  Yay.  I feel like I cheated myself not watching more of the race. 

My last viewing of the day was a Comic-Con documentary on TBD.  That was pretty interesting.  A guy proposed to his girlfriend at a Kevin Smith panel, which was sweet.  Funny how the comics are almost the least of it there now.  With that, we pack it in until tomorrow.

On to Monday.