NM State Aggies vs CBU Lancers Volleyball 11-10-18

11:00am Saturday is a little early for a volleyball game.  During the pregame, at least I found out the reason for some of the inconvenient timing for some Aggie sports.  Coach Jordan related that they will accommodate visiting teams’ desires, in return for the same when the Aggies visit.  Mystery solved.  I also learned in the pregame that Cat Kelly was not injured; she had a viral infection.  It’s kept her out of four games, so it must be pretty bad.  I question why she was sitting on the bench today.  Maybe that means she’s not contagious. 

Ron picked me up for the game, which was a good thing, because I wasn’t entirely awake.  At the Pan-Am Center, we were greeted by AD Mario Moccia.  I asked him about his trip to Phoenix to watch the volleyball girls, but didn’t ask if he played a round of golf at the GCU resort.  He was there on Thursday, back on Friday for Men’s Basketball, here for volleyball this morning, and would be going to his daughter’s softball game today.  Mario’s a busy man.

On the courtesy table, I was able to pickup the replica program from 1968 from last night’s basketball.  It was a reproduction of the program for the first game played at the Pan-Am Center.  I was hoping there would be leftovers this morning because I wanted one.

From the pregame, I also got the scouting report on the Cal-Baptist Lancers.  I saw them lose in five sets to UTRGV on Thursday.  While they’d started off well in conference, they were now on a four-game losing streak.  Their star player, whose name I didn’t get, was injured.  She was still playing, but not at 100%.  CBU also isn’t eligible for the postseason as they’ve just transferred to Division I.  This was their final conference match. 

The Lancers were a generally good-looking team.  (Of course that’s important.)  #18 Hana Okuhara caught my eye as a cute Asian girl.  (Yes, that matters, too.)  I liked the red hair on #12 Elizabeth Gilley.  However, probably the best-looking woman in the arena today was one of their assistant coaches.  From the program, I’ll take a guess that her name is Michelle Wright [which is correct].  Me and Ron both noticed her immediately out on court as she was warming up the team.  Wow, she’s a tall, glamorous blonde, certainly a former player.  I want a copy of one of her schedule posters from her playing days.      

During player introductions, CBU’s fans piped up.  There weren’t a lot, but they were loud.  The total crowd looked about usual for a Saturday match, even with the early start.  Brigette Lowe was starting again for the Aggies.  She looked like the happiest person to be on court.  Beautiful Megan Hart got the biggest cheer from the crowd, probably more for her playing than her looks though. 

Set 1

I was expecting a tough match as the Aggies had lost to the Lancers earlier this season (9-20-18).  Point #1 of the match was an epic rally.  It was like the whole match depended on it.  Briana Ainsworth had a great save.  Libero Halle Razo made an off-the-court save to keep the point going.  The Aggies finally took the point on a kill.  3-2 Aggies, Julianna Salanoa, who’d had such a great game on Thursday, got a soft kill here.  5-3 another epic point.  CBU would take this point, which included getting a save off the net.  7-3 Natalie Mikels made an off-court save by the courtside tables, and Savannah Davison got the kill for the point.

8-4 Jules got a crushing kill that deflected off a player and into the hands of CBU’s coach on the sidelines.  8-6 CBU won the point, but Tatyana Battle got an impossible save off the floor for a dig.  To this point, I noticed Coach Jordan was cycling in lots of players, mixing and matching about 9 girls.  11-8 Bri came in to serve and put in an ace.  12-8 she did it again.  12-9 CBU sided out, but Bri made a tremendous dive for a save during the point.  13-9 yet another long rally.  CBU took this one.  It was like the girls were playing for their lives.  15-11 Brigette got a kill, which took us to a media timeout.

Whew.  That was intense and we were just halfway through Set 1.  I wasn’t sure we’d all make it to the end with this much pressure.  The Aggie Cheerleaders came out on court.  I think a different group of cheerleaders were working this match than I’d seen before this season.  Just to flat out say it, this was a better-looking group.  (More talented, meh, but who cares?) 

Back to the action, 16-11 Sav got the kill.  One of the Lancers nearly took a header into the stands trying to save the ball.  I think some of the applause for the point may have been for that effort.  19-11 Nat dropped in an untouched ace on serve.  20-13 CBU’s setter got in a sneaky dump shot for a kill. 

23-14 freshman treetop Lindsay Blakey came in with the set basically in-hand.  Most of the swings she took were tips.  Maybe she was getting awkward sets or was just a bit tentative.  24-16 freshman Krysten Garrison came in for some experience.  This was another epic point with lots of tip shots.  Sav won it on a tip.  She’d have six kills for the set.  The Aggies took Set 1, 25-16.              

Set 2: Aggies 1, Lancers 0

This was Veteran’s Day weekend.  PA Ed asked all of the active duty military members in the crowd to stand and be recognized.  Several stood and received a round of applause.  It was a nice moment. 

1-1 Savannah put down an overpass kill.  2-3 Lancers, Briana got called for her third double touch error.  2-4 then she was called for getting into the net.  3-5 Sav crushed a kill to break up the CBU run.  5-6 Bri cycled out and talked to Coach Jordan and Coach Rubio.  I didn’t see any yelling at her though.  Who could yell at such a sweetheart?  

7-11 Lancers took yet another epic rally point.  Timeout Aggies, so everyone could catch their breath.  9-16 the Lancers started to pull away.  On this point, the down official reversed an out call with a touch.  The crowd let the ref have it.  10-18 I’m almost getting tired of saying “epic point,” but I don’t get tired of watching them.  This one ended on a net violation that gave the point to CBU.  Coach Jordan sent Bri over to argue the point with the up official.  (I thought that was Tatyana’s job.  Perhaps the coach changed to Briana, hoping she’d be more charming.) 

10-19 Taty made a heroic save on the point and another quick dig right after, but the point went to CBU anyway.  It was that kind of set.  She came out and Lindsay and Jordan Pleasants came in.  The Coach kind of emptied the bench again since the set was seemingly out-of-reach.  The Lancers took it 11-25.         

Set 3: Aggies 1, Lancers 1

The Shout party scene from Animal House played on the video screens during the break.  2-0 Aggies Savannah served for herself for most of the match.  Here she was using her running jump serve.  3-0 Taty got a monster kill.  4-0 another Taty kill.  Here Sav used her pooch serve that just cleared the net.  5-0 Sav used her standing jump serve.  In other words, she’s got a bag of tricks to unpack at the service line.  Timeout Lancers.

The Junior Aggie Club joined the Cheerleaders for a t-shirt toss into the crowd.  It was cute.  Out of the break, 6-0 and another Tatyana kill.  On the point, the CBU libero almost got punched in the mouth by a teammate trying to dig the ball.  She was laughing afterward though.  8-1 Taty painted the line on a kill.  9-1 she did it again.  That’s 10 kills for Tatyana!  Timeout Lancers.   

One of the Cheerleaders fell on a group lift.  Like I said, they look good, but might be a bit shaky.  Like a real Cheerleader, the girl got up, smiled, and finished the routine.  That’s the way to do it.  12-2 CBU finally sides out.  18-4 Kiley Tonge came in to serve.  Good to see her getting some action.  20-5 Natalie got an ace hitting the sideline.  21-5 she did it again. 

22-5 Lancer Megan Sester was the receiver on the last two serves.  On this point, she seemingly wasn’t paying attention and got hit by a pass.  And I thought Bri was having a hard match.  Sester was leading the Lancers in scoring through the first two sets.  (She’s also another very attractive player on the team.)  23-5 Nat got another ace.  Sweet Analyssa Acosta subbed for Tatyana, who got a roar from the crowd as she came out.  Analyssa would get a couple of digs on the next few points to finally have something on her stat line (which was all zeros on the program).  I’m happy for her.  The Aggies took Set 3, 25-8.  Well, that was dominating.

Set 4: Aggies 2, Lancers 1

Okay, I had no predictions for this set.  “What’s going to happen next?” I said.  Okay, what happened was CBU went up 0-4 to start the set.  Coach Jordan was furious, yelling at the officials, taking a timeout, and then starting in on his girls.  I would not have wanted to have been in that huddle.  At this point, I’m mentally developing the theory that the team holding the north end of the court had some sort of advantage, as the teams had been changing sides.  I’m not seeing this from the court-level angle, but I don’t think any real difference between either end.  Maybe it’s magic?

3-7 Megan was back in and pounded a kill to start a comeback.  The Lancers did get a save on the point off the net.  4-7 Halle served up an ace.  6-9 Meg slapped a kill.  8-9 Taty ace.  9-9 another Taty ace.  Timeout CBU.  10-9 Taty put in a third ace in-a-row; the timeout didn’t help.  11-10 Aggies, Megan slapped in another kill.

11-12 Lancers, another DT on Bri.  The Coach was upset and insinuated that she was being singled out by the up official.  Maybe the ref didn’t like how she passed the ball, but past officials weren’t calling double touches on just Bri.  13-13 Julianna pounded a kill.  The deflection almost hit Adam Young doing the radio commentary on press row.  That could have been tragic to my listening. 

14-14 Taty got an overpass kill.  Her swing seemed to come out of anywhere with blinding speed.  17-14 Aggies, CBU made three straight errors.  Timeout Lancers.  19-16 Taty put a tip into the campfire among four defenders.  20-16 Brigette was back in and got a huge solo block.  21-18 Kiley was back in to serve.  The Aggies had all the momentum at this point and rolled to a 25-20 set win and 3-1 match victory.

Savannah Davison was the top Aggies scorer with 14 kills and got 12 digs.  She was a steady force in the match.  Tatyana Battle got 13 kills with 20 digs and absolutely owned that third set.  Megan Hart got 10 kills and broke the Lancers’ back in the final set.  Your stat of the match: the Aggies had 10 aces with only 3 service errors.  Remarkable.  (And the Lancers might want to work on their return of service digging.)

This was a strange match.  Set 1 wasn’t close in score for the Aggies, but it was fought like it was.  Set 2 was a Lancers’ wipeout with the Aggies putting in their reserves at the end.  Set 3 was an Aggies’ wipeout with Aggies again putting in their reserves at the end.  It’s good that those bench bunnies were getting some work.  Who knows when you might need them?  Set 4 looked like another Lancers’ blowout, but ended with the Aggies crushing them at the end. 

This season’s injuries have at least had the benefit of getting several girls lots of play time.  When Cat Kelly gets back in, the Aggies are going to have a team full of players who are very capable of getting kills and blocks.  Coach Jordan will be able to cycle players in and out to keep them fresh without losing team effectiveness.  I wouldn’t expect another 10-ace match, but the Aggies have several servers who are capable of getting aces and going on long runs.  The Vaqueros are going to have to stumble for the Aggies to have a chance at a share of the regular season title.  Several teams will be able to make a good case for winning the conference tournament.  For most teams, it’s their star play.  For the Aggies, it may be their depth.  

Ron and I left the arena in good spirits.  We saw a ROTC cadet pulling the football field cannon behind a truck.  We both had the same thoughts about how cool it would be to “borrow” it.  Lunch was down the street at Zefferio’s Pizza.  They were out of ice for their drinks, but thankfully not out of pizza dough for a great meal.  For dessert, we had pumpkin pie flavored custard at Caliches, which you might want to avoid (probably needed whipped cream on it).  Okay, two games left for in-person viewing this season next week.  I can’t wait.      

Sports Journal November 6-9, 2018

11-6-18

Aggie Basketball started their season tonight with a Women and Men’s double header.  I’m not sure how that worked with the tickets.  There didn’t seem like enough time to clear the Pan-Am between games, not to mention, there’s surely plenty of overlap with fans.  Did you have to buy a Men’s ticket and you got the Women’s game free if you wanted it?  How would this have worked with my Aggie Country Pass?  I decided not to take the night off because I wasn’t sure.

The ladies were up first.  Unfortunately, there was no coverage of the game except for Statcast.  They were playing Texas-Permian Basin and made quick work of them, 70-38.  Since I didn’t see or hear the game, I can only relate a few stats.  Brooke Salas led with 22 points.  There was a very nice Las Cruces Sun-News article about her at practice and developing her leadership skills.  That’s the only thing she’s ever been missing from her game. 

Gia Pack looked good with 17 points.  Aaliyah Prince had 9.  I’m thinking she’ll have an increased role this year, perhaps even a breakout year.  Newcomer Rodrea Echols had 9.  I know nothing about her, not even how to pronounce her first name.  Both Mills sisters played, but only Dominique scored with 4 points.

The Men played North Dakota State and won 73-56.  The big news, at least for me, was that the game was streamed live on Twitch.  Yes, really.  The 300-some-odd other people watching seemed a bit incredulous too.  Since it was Twitch, there was a chat room and fans of both teams piped up in there.  One fan of the Bison said he’d been here to Las Cruces and loved the Mexican food.  Another said that their FCS football team would total our football team.  Hmm.  No comment.

This was the team’s first game in front of an audience and a bunch of bench players got into the game, so the team looked a bit shaky at times.  AJ Harris was the only starter returning from last year.  High-scorer of the night was newcomer Jojo Zamora at 16.  Another new face, Terrell Brown, was second at 13.  The crowd was a bit light.  There looked like a decent student section.  After the game, the camera focused on lovely volleyball girls, Tatyana Battle and Megan Hart, who were there for the team.

11-8-18

Aggie Volleyball travelled to Phoenix to face the GCU Lopes tonight.  AD Mario Moccia made the trip with them for some reason and tweeted out updates from the court.  I was able to watch on the WAC Digital Network, but not all of it, owing to work obligations.  This match started early Arizona time.  If I’m picking out the student section at the arena correctly, they had good representation there.  Brigette Lowe started for the Aggies.  I didn’t see Cat Kelly on the Aggie bench, so she must be injured pretty bad.

Set 1 went to the Aggies 25-20.  The GCU announcers were a lively pair and were very impressed the visitors.  There were a couple of interesting plays in the set.  Kiley Tonge came in to serve for Savannah Davison.  The announcers were flummoxed by this strategy, as Sav is a starter and otherwise always on court.  I don’t really understand it either.  Point 20-15, GCU won the point, but the Aggies made a tremendous effort in keeping the point going, even saving a ball off the net.  Brig had 3 kills for the set and 1.00 hitting percentage.  Julianna Salanoa and Ashley Anselmo each had 4.

There were a couple of interesting spots I saw during the breaks.  GCU has a golf resort on campus that is staffed by the students.  It looks very nice.  (I wonder if Mario got in a round while he was there.)  For the volleyball team, there was a segment where the girls tried to identify a teammate from a picture when she was a little girl.  They mostly failed to the irritation of the girl in question.    

I missed Set 2 entirely, but the Aggies won that one 25-21.  Set 3 I got to watch a bit of.  The Aggies trailed for much of the set.  They tied it at 24 and fought off a couple of set points, but lost 27-25.  The Aggies looked back to form in Set 4 and won 25-20 and 3-1.  It was Senior Day for the Lopes.  They came out on court in a line and smiled and waved to the crowd afterward.   

“Megan Hart is a huge force in the game,” exclaimed one of the GCU announcers.  He forgot to add, “Beautiful,” as I always do.  She was huge with 14 kills and 6 blocks to lead the team in both categories.  Jules came up with 13 kills and 5 blocks.  She’s definitely coming along well.  [Edit: Very well.  She set an Aggie record with a .722 hitting percentage with 13 kills in 18 attempts.]  Sav looked back on track with 13 kills, 7 digs, and 2 blocks.  Captain Tatyana Battle had 11 kills and led the team in digs with 12.  Overall, the team cut down on errors, which certainly helped tonight.  Brig and Ash were a bit quiet after that first set outburst, but the team is going to need them more in the future.

As long as I had the WAC page up, I decided to check in on a couple of other conference opponents.  I came in on Cal-Baptist playing at UTRGV just as they started the fifth set.  CBU led early, but the Vaqueros came back and took it and won the match.  Frankly, both teams looked excellent on court.  I also watched the end of UMKC beating Utah Valley in four sets.  The Roo girls also came out on court to wave to their fans. 

What have we learned here?  Utah Valley beat the Aggies last week, but the Roo’s beat them tonight, but the Aggies beat the Roos in straight sets earlier in the season.  CBU beat the Aggies earlier, but a so-so Lopes team beat CBU in straight sets their last game.  (I had to look that one up, but that is correct.)  The Aggies have beaten UTRGV once on the road, but lost at home to them.  The Vaqueros are close to clinching the regular season.  So, we’ve got a very competitive conference here that is going to be hard to call ahead of time going into the tournament.  UTRGV looks dominate right now, but I wouldn’t count out four other teams in any single match with them.

11-9-18

Tonight was a Friday rivalry matchup between the Aggies and Miners in Men’s Basketball.  The lower bowl was full at the Pan-Am and the Aggies were wearing throwback uniforms.  Both teams have played a game this season, but they’re both still trying to find out who they are.  The Miners have a new coach and a mostly new team.  Some of their guys have funky names for a radio broadcast, which was what I was listening to.  The Aggies have Coach Jans for his second year, but most of his team is new as well.

The Miners came out firing early in the first half, shooting three’s like crazy.  They doubled up the Aggies, 18-9, by the first timeout.  But the Aggies kept fighting and tightened up their defense.  Aggie Clayton Henry hit a three-pointer with about 2:00 minutes left in the half and got it to within one point.  This finally got the crowd into it.  Keyon Jones scored another three right after to tie it at 33.  From here, the Aggies started taking over and it was 43-39 Aggies at the half.

The stats showed the Miners beating the Aggies in the stats, except in turnovers and shots taken.  Jack Nixon said he was going to have an interview with umpire, Tony Randazzo during halftime, but I never heard one.  I think I heard him this summer promoting his new book during a Flying Squirrels game.  If he was selling books there at the Pan-Am, I’m sorry I missed it. 

The second half started well for the fans as a Miner player missed two free throws early on.  The activated the free Chik-fil-a deal.  The Aggies were called for four fouls early on, but kept scoring and kept up their defense.  It was 54-42 Aggies with 14 minutes left.  Late in the game, the Miners fouled out a player and had another in foul trouble.  The Aggies went up by 17 with five minutes left.  On the last Aggie possession, the crowd gave them a big cheer.  91-66 Aggies was our final.

The Aggies had five players in double figures.  Clayton Henry led the way with 14.  The team got scoring from 11 of 13 guys played.  The strategy from the team this season may be playing lots of guys and trying to wear down opponents.  They did that to the Miners, who only used 8 players.  The Aggie defense also created a 12 to 6 advantage in turnovers.  Okay, they’re looking good so far, but they’ve got a big test coming up next week.

Sports Journal November 2-4, 2018

11-2-18

Okay, no more baseball until my Hot Stove special, which is coming whenever the major wheeling-and-dealing finish for the offseason.  (Actually, I really wonder about keeping a daily log of baseball games next year.)  But, we still have plenty of sports, including Aggie Volleyball.  The girls were on the road playing the Seattle U Redhawks on the WAC Digital Network.

I basically missed the first two sets, since I was at work.  The Aggies took them 25-23 and 25-19.  The third set I got to watch during my dinner.  The Aggies trailed for a good deal of the set and fought off a set point, before coming back and winning 26-24 and 3-0. 

Beautiful Megan Hart was our star of the game as she led with 16 kills.  Savannah Davison had a good bounce back game with 9 kills.  Julianna Salanoa had 8.  Captain Tatyana Battle had a quiet game with 7.  The Aggies had fewer blocks, though on one point in the third set, they had three blocks.  Where the team shined was on service with 9 aces.  I noticed Brigette Lowe was in for much of the match.  I didn’t realize at the time that it was because Cat Kelly was out with an injury.  The Aggies took care of business here, but Cat is a bad loss.    

11-3-18

Today was Aggie Football’s final home game of the season.  They’ve been eliminated from bowl eligibility this season.  But, it was a beautiful fall day here in Las Cruces and they were playing an FCS school in Alcorn State.  They’re a very good team at 7-2 and competing for a conference championship.  They were even resting some of their defensive players, as this game didn’t mean anything to their season.  So, this was certainly a winnable game against a lower level school. 

I wanted to go, but didn’t have anyone to go with me today.  While I went to the South Alabama game (12-2-17) by myself, I didn’t want to do that again, unless there was a good reason.  The game was on TV, so I was able to watch.  There was also not much in the way of distractions this afternoon, thus it had my, mostly, undivided attention. 

The crowd on the fan side wasn’t bad for Senior Day, but the student side was nearly deserted.  Hell, if the Volleyball team had been in town, you might have doubled student attendance.  (Other student-athletes comprise much of Aggie sports student attendance.)  There might have been about the same number of visiting fans for the Braves.  I realize the students get into the games for free and might not be a big contributor to the bottom line, but they are imperative to your very important attendance figures, which can cost you your FBS status (as UTEP has recently gotten worried about too).    

You can only tap so many local businesses and individuals for “Stuffing” and “Packing.”  The student population can save your program.  This is an under-marketed group.  I don’t know how to bring them in from the tailgate (which the students attend) to the stadium, even if just to be counted and then leave at halftime, but you’ve got to figure it out.  (Extra credit, maybe?  Probably some sort of violation there.  I don’t know.)       

The Aggies started off the game very well.  13 seconds in, Jason Huntley ran back the kickoff for an immediate touchdown.  The Aggies scored on their next possession thanks to a Christian Gibson 34-yard run, a four-and-one conversion inside the Brave five-yard line, and a touchdown pass to Royce Caldwell.  14-0 Aggies in short order.  Alcorn State rushed their next possession downfield for an answering touchdown, 14-7.  The Aggie defense just cannot stop a good running attack. 

In the second quarter, Peyton Theisler used his rugby-style kick to pin the Braves inside their own 5, but the defense couldn’t keep them down.  Luckily, they fumbled on their own 45, which led to Josh Adkins hitting Jonathan Boone for a TD, 21-7.  Up to that point, Adkins may have passed for 50 yards sideways.  This was his first pass downfield.  A couple more great passes on their next possession, led to a rushing TD by Huntley and a 28-7 lead.

The offensive looked really sharp on their next drive, mixing runs and passes.  Boone caught another touchdown.  He was so wide open at the goal line, he nearly fell down before breaking the plane.  35-7 Aggies.  Inside of two minutes in the half, the defense gave up a bomb play, which resulted in a touchdown, 35-14.  Dylan Brown missed a 52-yard field goal to end the half.

I listened to halftime on the radio.  They reported that Aggie Volleyball lost in five sets at Utah Valley.  They’d won the first two sets, but there was a comment about injuries, which was not detailed and could explain a three-set collapse.  Without any further information, I can only be very concerned.  I’d also heard the radio pregame.  Jack Nixon interviewed Women’s Basketball Coach Brooke Atkinson.  She’s brought in some junior college transfers and a grad student.  It may be a different-looking team from last year, except for Brooke Salas and Gia Pack.  I’m curious, in a good sort way, to see the team play.    

The Braves dominated the third quarter with a very long drive for a touchdown to make it 35-21.  Adkins fumbled and ended one drive.  The Aggies would mount another long drive that would end with a Dylan Brown field goal, 38-21.

The fourth quarter got interesting, way too interesting.  The Aggies were pinned inside their own 5 on a punt and couldn’t advance the ball.  Theisler punted from the endzone to about the 50.  A broken tackle on a swing pass gave Alcorn State another touchdown, 38-28. 

Next was almost the pivotal play of the game.  Adkins was hit as he was throwing the ball.  After a very lengthy review, the referees incorrectly called it a fumble.  It sure didn’t look like it, but, hey, it’s football.  What is a fumble?  What is a catch?  Every time the ref’s overly insert themselves into the game, I am reminded of why I’m not a big football fan, and I am reminded frequently.  The Braves scored to make it 38-35.  I seem to recall the score was 35-7 in the first half. 

Time to put the hammer down, namely Jason Huntley.  With him doing most of the catching and rushing in the next series, he put up a rushing TD, 45-35.  Next series, he had a 60-yard catch-and-run play to make it 52-35.  Alcorn St tacked on another touchdown with under a minute left, but the final was 52-42 Aggies. 

The fans certainly got an exciting and high-scoring game today.  Perhaps a little too exciting, and we’re back to being concerned about the defense for their last two games, but it’s all good today.  (Alcorn St had 650 yards of offense, 100 more than the Aggies.)  Let’s hear it for Jason Huntley and his four touchdowns, rushing and receiving.  The rest of the offense had a good day too.  I think I saw Kelsey Horton and the Softball team walking behind Coach Martin during his on-field interview.  There was your student section.  We’ll hope for more turnout next year.

Late Saturday night, I suddenly remembered that co-worker Mike and his boxing-loving girlfriend were going to bout in El Paso tonight.  I flipped around to see if it was on a Mexican station and came right on it during the fighter introductions.  Timing is everything. 

Unfortunately, I was watching Space:1999 on another channel at the time.  I would have skipped it, but it was literally the only episode I ever remembered seeing as a kid and I couldn’t stop watching.  I took no notes on the fight (didn’t even write down the fighters’ names), since I wasn’t giving it much of my attention.  I did see Mike in the crowd in a good seat by the ring, but I question his fashion choices, as he was wearing a gold luchadore mask.  Wait, I think that’s him.  It’s hard to tell with mask.  I’ll ask him later.  (Actually, the fight ended at 12:30am.  I didn’t dare call him afterward in case the bout was on an hour delay.)

This was a championship fight in a lightweight division.  It was on ESPN Internet and not Showtime, but it was a big deal.  I’d heard an interview with long-time promoter Bob Arum on El Paso Sportstalk on Friday.  He talked about the fight for about two minutes and spent the rest of the hour talking about politics in the 60’s for some reason.   The bout featured two Mexican fighters.  The defending champion, Miguel Berchelt, was the favorite, but the challenger, Mickey Roman, from nearby Juarez was the crowd favorite.  Mickey had said before the match that he was prepared to “die” in the ring if necessary.  There were 5,400 fans at the Don Haskins Center to watch.

Roman nearly didn’t make it out of the third round.  He was clearly dazed and ready to drop, but he held on.  I didn’t think he’d last much longer, but Mickey kept fighting, and even made a comeback in later rounds.  By the ninth, Berchelt finally worn him out.  Roman was getting pummeled, but stayed on his feet.  Finally, Berchelt got him against the ropes and started using Mickey’s head as a speed bag, before the ref finally jumped between them and called it.  That was a pretty good fight and actually had a definitive winner.  What a refreshing change-of-pace in a boxing match. 

11-4-18

Hey, did you know there was a time-change this weekend?  I sure didn’t.  Oops.  I was wondering why the TV schedule was off.  I was irritated that my sports ASMR/Women’s College Soccer match wasn’t on at the right time, but did come on an hour later.  It was the Patriot League championship between the Boston U Terriers (I’ve seen their Softball team 2-18-18) versus the Lehigh Mountain Hawks (who I’d seen previously on 10-17-18).  

Another thing that was irritating me was that I’d committed to going to the Renaissance Faire today.  I hate the Ren Faire.  I’ve gone several times.  I was even a volunteer for a couple of years and went in costume once.  The last time, last year, it was a $7 admission and they were announcing that they had no change at the ticket stall.  I didn’t have exactly $7 and I wasn’t giving them $10, so I left and swore I’d never be back.  So much for that.  No problem with change this year; admission was now $10.

This relates to the soccer in that I knew I wasn’t going to be able watch the whole match.  From here, it gets more aggravating.  I got a call right before the match from Ron (who did want to go) saying he would be by at the top of the hour.  I turned off the TV, mad.  If only the match had come on at the scheduled time, I could have at least watched half of it, I thought, not yet knowing it was Daylight Savings Time.  An hour of waiting by the window later, I finally called Ron.  My mood could best be described as “precious.”  He said he was on his way, this time for sure.

Well, if he was just leaving, it was going to take him at least 20 minutes.  I decided to turn the TV back on and watch.  The score was a surprising nil-nil at the half.  BU was undefeated in conference this year and hadn’t lost at home in conference in like 49 matches.  Lehigh was 8-11 in conference and snuck into the tournament.  And I just missed Morgan Uber and her halftime report, darn it.

I got to watch over 30 minutes of the second half.  BU was winning in the shots on goal category and had lots of chances.  Finally in the 73’, Anna Heilferty converted on a chance in front of the Lehigh goal to give BU a 1-0 lead.  Lehigh stepped up their attack.  Amanda Fay in goal for the Terriers was pretty cute and a bit of an actress, as she flopped on contact in the box. 

At this point, Ron arrived.  I was tempted to ask him to come in and wait about 15 minutes, so I could watch the end (and see Morgan Uber present the trophy).  However, there was a decent possibility of this going to overtime and even penalty kicks, which might have been interesting, but would have taken a while.  Also, I thought we were only a half hour away from a play starting at the Ren Faire, which was the only reason I had consented to go.  

Ron paid the admission for both of us, so my opinion of the Faire improved dramatically.  (After viewing the crowd, he had the epiphany later that the high admission was to keep out the riff-raff, namely gang members and other such malcontents.)  A bit later, I was able to look up the game score and the final was 1-0 Boston U.  What I saw of the match was pretty intense even with the low score.  I’m sorry I wasn’t able to see the whole thing.  In looking up the score on Ron’s phone, I finally found out what time it actually was.  I felt so smart. 

We were there in plenty of time for the musical play The Wives of Henry VIII on the outdoor stage.  It was a funny historical romp.  Somehow Aggie quarterback Josh Adkins got worked into one of the songs (which therefore makes this a sports story).  I hope that gets back to him.  Ron really enjoyed the play and thanked me for recommending it. 

We passed by Anne Boleyn afterward.  I tipped my hat and said, “Nice job, Anne.”  For a beautiful young woman, who was singing, dancing, acting, and playing the flute on stage, she was so unbelievably shy, it was endearing.  Okay, I admit, I had a good time at this Ren Faire.  I got a great bag of kettle corn and a vanilla cream soda.  The only bad thing (other than not buying some art for myself or some kind of a Christmas gift) was that I saw the attractive blonde NMSU ticket girl that I’d asked out earlier in the year there.  I could have gone over and said, “Hi,” but figured she probably didn’t want to see me, so I ducked her.  I’ll probably run into her at the university at some point anyway.

Some quick very late movie reviews.  I saw a couple of Marvel movies this weekend.  Thor: Ragnork was really fun and funny.  The whole purpose of the movie was to show Thor fighting over Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song, which was a completely great idea.  Avengers: Infinity War was a masterpiece of the genre.  It was just unbelievable how well the story juggled so many strong characters.  The scenes with Thor and the Guardians were priceless.  This was the movie I’d asked the ticket girl out to.  I felt a bit sad not having been able to see such as great film with her.    

Sports Journal October 27-28, 2018

10-27-18

While I was at Aggie Soccer with Ron, we were both listening to Aggie Football over the radio.  They were on the road against the Texas State Bobcats.  I don’t know where that university is.  I have some vague idea of where UTRGV is, as they were Aggie Soccer and Volleyball’s opponent today.  After the disappointing results of the match, I got home and started watching the World Series.  I intermittently tuned back in to the football to listen to the end. 

Honestly, it didn’t seem like NMSU’s day after tough losses in soccer and volleyball.  I didn’t have much hope for football, though they were playing what should have been a beatable opponent.  I took some indifferent notes of the game, in between soccer match plays and gave up altogether after I got back home. 

I can only recap the first half and probably not all of it.  The Bobcats went up 7-0 quick after the game started.  The Aggies came down and missed a field goal.  The Bobcats got a touchdown off an interception, but missed the PAT to go up 13-0.  The Aggies would then get a field goal.  Jason Huntley later broke off a big run for a touchdown.  It got partly called back, but the Aggies would go ahead and get the touchdown a couple plays later to make it 13-10. 

And that’s where the soccer match and my notes ended.  The Bobcats would win 27-20.  The Aggies had a chance late, but couldn’t get the score.  Turnovers hurt the Aggies today.  That’s all the analysis I got.  The defense held up a bit better today, but the offense had problems.

There was no scoring in the World Series Game 4 through five innings.  This was surprising given that at least Red Sox pitching was exhausted from last night.  They’d already blown out today’s scheduled starter.  Dodger pitching wasn’t in much better shape.  Apparently, the bats were more tired than the arms.

Little wonder I found myself watching a Mountain West Volleyball match on Stadium.  (Again, I wasn’t rooting for either team in the World Series.)  It was another Utah State Aggies home game (10-16-18 was the last time), this time against the Nevada Wolfpack.  There was a light crowd at the gym there in Logan.  I didn’t notice before, but they do have a video board there.  The girls tossed little balls into the stands while they were introduced.  I got to see Tasia Taylor and her glamorous curls and tall and beautiful Corrinne Larsen on the Aggies again.  I loved the name for one of the Wolfpack players, Shiloh Peleras (pronounced “Polaris”).

I got little in the way of notes for the match.  I was probably not high on volleyball after today’s NMSU Aggie loss.  The US Aggies would win in straight sets.  The announcers also rubbed it in that their football team won today as well.  During the match, there was a double touch call.  The match analyst said that some officiating crews call those tighter than others.  No kidding.  I had to endure about 10 of those earlier.

Back in Los Angeles, the Dodgers broke through in the sixth.  After loading the bases, they scored on an error.  Yasiel Puig then came up with a three-run homer.  He did a monster bat flip as Red Sox pitcher, Eduardo Rodriguez, threw his mitt down on the mound like a Little Leaguer.  4-0 Dodgers. 

Rich Hill was pitching a great game for the Dodgers to this point, like a one-hitter.  He was pulled in the seventh.  There’s been some small amount of controversy over this move.  Did the analytics mandate this?  Did Manager Dave Roberts mistake some indigestion for a “gut” move?  Did Hill tap out?  Did Trump have to troll the Dodgers on Twitter after they lost the game because of this move?   

Yeah, right after that, Mitch Moreland hit a three-run homer.  In the eighth, Steve Pearce then homered off of Kenley Jansen to tie it at 4.  By the ninth, the Red Sox bats were wide awake.  Rafael Devers got a pinch hit RBI for the lead.  Pearce then hit a bases loaded double to clear the bases and then another run was tacked on for a 9-4 lead.  Craig Kimbrel gave up a two-run homer to start the bottom of the ninth, but the Sox won it, 9-6, and took a 3-1 series lead. 

10-28-18

I may not have been into volleyball by Sunday either.  I watched a Patriot League match on Stadium between the Loyola Greyhounds and the Navy Midshipmen, but wasn’t entirely into it.  It was the Senior Day game for Loyola.  The girls were all smiles and hugging before the match.  However, they might have been tired from playing a five-set match against undefeated in conference (12-0), American, last night.  There was also a very light crowd there.

What was entertaining me during the match was the Loyola announcer, Kyle Rey.  In the first set, he exclaimed, “That was a huge deposit for Cash!”  He was referring to Alyssa Cash on the team after a kill.  The lead went back-and-forth, but Navy took it, 25-23.

Point 3-3 in Set 2 featured an absurd rally.  Navy bounced the ball off the net a couple of times to keep the point going.  The ball went straight up vertical after one hit.  I was sure there were four touches during one of those fire drills, but the ref’s can count better than me as Navy took that point.  Kyle got a ball in his lap a couple points later.  Those announcers are close to the action too. 

The Mr. Greyhound (I don’t know his actual name) mascot worked the crowd.  He was kind of terrifying.  He looked bulked up on ‘roids and had this huge ferocious head.  Not much kid-friendly marketing there.  Loyola was up in this set, but Navy came back and took it 25-23.  Unlike their last match that I saw (10-14-18), the Loyola coach was more active and out on court, talking to the players between points.

“She’ll fix the kitchen sink later,” said Kyle about Abby Hamilton on the Greyhounds.  She was at least having a good game.  Navy went up early in Set 3.  At 12-9 Navy, Kyle took a ball to the face.  They don’t warn you about these things in media classes.  20-16 Navy “Putty pounds it home,” Kyle recovered well and had no trouble calling a Hayley Putty kill. 

20-18 Navy “Call it a comeback,” said Kyle as the Greyhounds were making a game of it.  23-20 timeout.  All four had been used in the set, “The coaches don’t want to take them home with them.”  Loyola fell short though, 25-22 Navy and 3-0 for the match.

Game 5 of the World Series between the Red Sox and Dodgers was later in the evening.  Functionally, the game ended early in the first inning as Steve Pearce hit a two-run homer off Clayton Kershaw.  David Freese briefly gave the Dodgers some hope in the bottom with a leadoff homer against David Price.  Price was working in his fourth game of the Series (including warming up in one game) and surely he would regress to his mean of playoff failure. 

Hey, is that Megan Fox behind home plate?  I guess not.  Nice, whoever she is.  Freese made two more good plays.  In the third, he tripled as JD Martinez lost the ball in the dark twilight sky.  It actually looked like rain there in LA.  In the fifth, he made great play at first.  And that’s your final Dodger highlight for the night.

From here, it was all Red Sox.  In the sixth, Mookie Betts hit a solo homer, 3-1.  He’d been 0 for 13 in the series to that point.  In the seventh, JD homered to dead center as the ball just seemed to carry out, 4-1.  Kershaw came out eighth.  His replacement gave up another homer to Steve Pearce, 5-1.

Price came out in the eighth, after giving up a leadoff walk and getting 14 straight outs.  Joe Kelly struck out three straight pinch hitters.  It was at this point I figured out that there’s not going to be a pitch clock in MLB baseball.  FOX was running micro ads in between every pitch.  The networks may start mandating that pitchers work slower. 

In the ninth, Chris Sale came in.  His teammates in the bullpen applauded him as he took the field.  He closed it out for a 5-1 final in a (shocker) three-hour game.  The Red Sox are your MLB champions 4 games to 1.  Steve Pearce was the MVP for going 4 for 12 with three homers.  David Price could have deserved it too with three appearances and having warmed in another game.  He truly does have a rubber arm, and unfortunately, a truly thin skin.  His postgame, “I hold the trump card,” press conference was almost a cry for help.

Well, what have we learned?  Lots of money poured into free agents and your player development system can win you a championship, probably every time from now on too.  The Red Sox analytics department beat the Dodgers’ analytics department.  There were lots of Red Sox fans were there in LA at the game.  And network execs were furious that the game didn’t go another hour as usual; they still had 1,500 more commercials to run. 

Here’s a few of throw-ins I learned about later.  From the 70’s show Space:1999, that I saw Saturday night on Comet, in 1998 the Red Sox beat the Cardinals in the last World Series before organized sports were outlawed.  The tweet of the night came via the Texas Rangers to the Dodgers: “Welcome to the two World Series losses in a row club.  We meet every Tuesday.”   

And Game 3 of this series alone took longer, at seven hours, 20 minutes, than the entire 1939 World Series.  That factoid came courtesy of the Cespedes Family BBQ podcast guys.  MLB had them on a live commentary simul-cast during Game 3.  I’m sure they thought it would be a fun little four-hour broadcast having no idea they’d be completely insane by the end of it.

Sports Journal October 19-26, 2018

10-19-18

Owing to just getting back to work from vacation, I wasn’t able to really watch or listen to tonight’s NLCS game.  The Brewers beat Dodgers 7-2 in Milwaukee.  Cardinal World Series hero, David Freese, drove in both Dodger runs.  The game only took three-and-half hours.  On to Game 7.

I noticed that Aggie Soccer was playing a late game against GCU in Phoenix.  I caught the end of the match over the Internet.  The Aggies lost 1-0, which was heartbreaking, though somewhat encouraging that they were at least competitive.  Shots on goal were 9 to 8 in favor of the Lopes, so the Aggies had their chances, but weren’t able to convert.  The Lopes also had four players carded, so they won the fights. 

When they showed the highlights afterward, I saw that Ashley Martin stopped a GCU PK.  Well done, Ash!  There was a shot of the stands clearing out.  GCU has an actual stadium with seats for soccer, in addition to having lights for the field.  However, their attendance there was about the same as the Aggies at home.

10-20-18

As it turned out, the NLCS Game 7 was on Mexican TV and the radio, so I could have watched.  However, I was at a departmental “business” meeting at Top Golf.  I think the boss was trying to get in some practice before a bank-sponsored golf tournament.  It was initially mandatory, but then changed to voluntary for me, because I’m not on salary. 

Since I wasn’t able to go to see Aggie Football after seeing volleyball in morning, my afternoon became free.  It was reasonably fun there and a nice meal.  $1,200 worth of fun and nice, I’m not so sure, at least not without a lap dance included.  (Don’t ask me where the money for the trip came from or how this expense was going to be justified.)      

            

I caught a little glimpse of the game at the bar.  A co-worker said he’d seen a bit of last night’s game and had been mesmerized by an attractive, well-endowed woman behind home plate.  I named her for him; that was Front Row Amy.  When I got home, I was able watch the end of the game. 

Amy was there, along with the Marlins Man.  Joining them was the guy who often sits behind home plate at White Sox games wearing the Kyle Busch M&M’s jacket.  And a Yankees fan was beside him.  All we needed were those guys who dressed as umps, the guy in the Katy Perry shark dancer suit, the Marilyn Monroe impersonator, and a dude on a cellphone waving to the camera to complete the picture of famous home plate seat fans. 

The game seemed almost irrelevant by comparison.  The Dodgers won 5-1 over the Brewers.  All the runs came off of homers.  I’m disappointed, but at least we can all see the best World Series that money can buy between the Dodger$ and the Red $ox.

Oh, I did ask my co-worker friend for an update on the Aggies versus Georgia Southern football game.  For the first update, the score was 24-17 GS.  Okay, that didn’t sound too bad.  The next time I asked, it was 45-24 and there was still a quarter left.  My dad didn’t listen to the game.  The batteries on his radio died and mom won’t let him plug it in.  However, the paper had the final at 48-31 Georgia Southern.  Clearly, the defense is still having problems.  They’re missing a couple of guys, who were apparently the lynchpins.  I am really heartened by the offense though.  Maybe this team will have a chance next year.

10-21-18

I had some intention of watching NASCAR this morning, but the station wasn’t coming in.  Not wanting to mess with the antenna for longer than 30 seconds, I instead flipped over to the F1 race from Austin.  Kimi Raikkonen made a power move at the start of race and won for the first time in several years.  Yep, same old F1.  You only need to watch the start.  A few hours later, I finally adjusted the antenna and NBC came right in.  They were doing the post race discussing Chase Elliot winning.  That’s what I get for not putting in a little more effort in at reception.

Over on Stadium, they were showing Women’s College Soccer.  In San Diego, the SDSU Aztecs were taking on the Air Force Falcons.  I’ve seen the facility there on TV a couple of times.  “The Sports Deck” as it is called is pretty nice.  The Aggie girls played there to start their season. 

This season neither team is very good.  Both are having trouble scoring.  Air Force has a good goalie in Jennifer Hiddnick.  She took all the free kicks on the Air Force side of the field as well.  Gabby English, one of my favorite player names, was not in net for the Aztecs for unspecified reasons.  They put in freshman Kate Hart today.  As usual, I focused on the tallest blonde on the field, in this case Lauren Dicus, a SDSU defender.  Air Force had a couple girls with nice hair.  One was a bright natural redhead and another had shining silver hair.  I didn’t get their names.

Though most of the action of the first half took place on the Air Force side, I got to see plenty of Lauren in match.  Her and a fellow defender passed the ball between each other about 20 times.  It was an odd strategy since they weren’t moving the ball up the field.  The Falcons have a freshman playing for them from San Diego (whose name I also didn’t get).  She got the biggest cheer of the match when she came in.  (AF actually had some vocal fans there too.) 

By the time the Falcons got their first shot on goal 26’ in, the Aztecs already had 7.  Jennifer had been getting a workout.  Still, nobody scored until the 41’ (see, I’m using proper soccer timing), when Cloe Frisch made a great pass in front of the net to Darcy Weiser, who finally put it in.  1-0 Aztecs.

What did I say about soccer being “sports ASMR?”  After a mostly lopsided, but nearly non-scoring, first half, I started nodding off in the second.  I was awakened in the 61’ as Phoebe Leitch chipped in a shot over Jennifer to make it 2-0 Aztecs.  That was her third goal of the season, which made her the highest scoring player on the field for either team.  (And I thought the Aggies were having scoring issues.) 

From here, it started raining goals.  67’ Laura Fuentes scored, which made this the Aztecs’ highest scoring game of the season at 3-0.  Lauren, tired of passing the ball back-and-forth, took the ball up field on a rush and found Dorothy on a pass (she’d had plenty of practice passing).  74’ Dorothy got her second goal to make it 4-0. 

75’ Air Force had their best chance to score on a turnover near the SDSU box.  Kate was in a one-on-one, but managed to deflect the shot wide.  80’ Air Force put in a new goalie, Danielle Katz.  As often happens, she was tested immediately.  There was a sniper shot by Malia Kaleiohi outside the box.  Danielle made a flying dive at it, but it went just out-of-reach for a 5-0 Aztec lead and the win.  Okay, not the greatest game to watch.  I feel like I should have been rooting on a lower score, so that I could have fallen completely asleep.

10-23-18

I basically missed Game 1 of the World Series between the Red Sox and Dodgers.  This is what happens when I don’t really care about the outcome.  The Red Sox won 8-4.  I did see the pivotal play of the game as Eduardo Nunez hit a pinch hit three-run homer in the seventh to ice the game.  The pitch wasn’t even a strike.

10-24-18

I missed most of this game too.  The Red Sox beat the Dodgers 4-2 to go up 2-0 in the World Series.  David Price actually did well again pitching.  Seems like he may have overcome a mental barrier in pitching in the playoffs.   

The main noteworthy action that I saw was in fifth.  The Sox loaded bases with two outs.  A run was walked in and then JD Martinez singled to bring in two more.  Not bad for a guy with a twisted ankle.  This team’s ability to score with two outs this postseason has been prodigious.

The Boston crowd broke out a “Beat LA” chant.  The radio broadcast mentioned the origin of the phrase.  It was from an NBA game, but not between the Celtics and the Lakers.  The Celtics were about to lose to the 76’ers and they would go on to face the Lakers in the finals.  The Boston fans were encouraging the 76’ers to beat LA.  I also heard a completely out-of-place “Yankees Suck” chant.  That’s okay.  They always suck.  Also noted and annoying were the micro commercials inserted into every pause in the action, especially in the later innings.  In spite of the extended commercial breaks, the game finished in a reasonable three-and-a-half hours.

10-26-18

In the first inning, the Red Sox faced Walker Buehler on the mound for the Dodgers.  The first three Red Sox batters worked a lot of pitches, but went down for a 1-2-3 inning.  “That’s a win for the Red Sox,” proclaimed the announcers, twice even, saying that they’d gotten his pitch count up.  Buehler only went seven scoreless innings tonight, but it was a “win.”

Once again I was at work and wasn’t able to watch much of the Game 3.  I little realized at the time that this would become an all-time classic World Series game . . . that few other people probably saw either.  Essentially, the game was tied at 1 after nine innings.  The game might have been four hours old by that point. 

                 

The Red Sox finally scored a run in the thirteenth, but the Dodgers did the same in the bottom.  Both runs scored thanks to an error and Eduardo Nunez of the Sox figured into both scores.  On into the night we went.  Most of what I got of the game was over the radio.  Play-by-play man, Dan Shulman, actually starting getting horse. 

By the time I’d finished work, I watched the game on TV a bit, but finally decided I was going to have to go home.  Once there, I scanned around until I found a static-y radio broadcast.  I could have turned on my TV, but I didn’t think it would go that long.  Maybe less than a half-hour later in the eighteenth inning, Max Muncy homered to mercifully end it 3-2 Dodgers.  He’d almost done it a couple of innings before on a massive foul ball.  It was about 1:30am MST.

At seven hours 20 minutes, the game became the second longest MLB game ever by time.  All sorts of records were brought up during the game.  Curiously, the previous World Series record for innings was held by three games at 14 innings, including a game from the 1916 matchup between these two franchises.  That game went a gaudy two-and-a-half hours.