NM State Aggies vs Creighton Bluejays Softball 2-8-19

It was a bright, clear sunny day here in the Mesilla Valley.  Regrettably, the ambient temperature was in the 50’s with a light breeze.  It felt somewhere in the 40’s.  I’d gone outside earlier and shivered.  I was doubting my sanity going out for today’s season opener for Aggie Softball, but I’m a fan and had the day off for this, so off I went.  Coach Rodolph, in an interview earlier in the week, said that opponent Creighton was picked to win their Big East Conference.  The school is better known for their Men’s Basketball team. 

The parking lot outside the stadium was full, which was my first indicator of a good crowd.  Inside, a very pretty girl was handing out Aggie hats to everyone.  I declined since I already had one of that kind.  A nice young man helped me with a program.  Aggie Sports Marketing is on the ball.  I picked up a soda and popcorn at the concessions.  I shouldn’t have done that, since it ruined my appetite for dinner afterward. 

It was a full-ish house in the stands with Lobo and Miner fans watching the game between their teams.  I had arrived in the seventh.  The Lobos won 15-6.  I did see a Miner player hit a homer in the seventh.  The Miners are wearing new colors.  I saw one of their players outside later and she came back in to watch this game.  She was very pretty with sparkling eyes.  I’ll see if I can figure out who she is tomorrow.  [I didn’t see her again.  Nor did I see the mythic WAC girl (WAC game 8), who I’d noticed with the team during the fall.]  A pretty Lobo player, #32 Lauren Wilmert, came in the stands afterward and chatted with a couple of Aggie fans.  She was heckled lightly by the guy sitting in front of me.    

A good crowd of Aggie and Creighton fans came in after that game.  Danny came in and I chatted with him.  He’d been here watching the other games today.  He gave me a scouting report, but I couldn’t hear him over the crowd noise.  I filled him in on last night’s dramatic win by Aggie Men’s Basketball.  Creighton brought quite a few fans, including a guy in facepaint and a spiky blue wig, like it was a basketball game and he was trying to get on camera.  Nobody was shirtless with a letter painted on their chest.  Perhaps it needs to be snowing for that to happen. 

Other Aggie sports were well-represented.  First, I saw Coach Baarts and the Soccer team enter.  My heart fluttered a bit seeing Dmitri Fong.  Football, perhaps some Men’s Basketball, Women’s Basketball (including a freezing Brooke Salas), and Volleyball (little Zoe Abeyta was wearing shorts and a windbreaker) were all represented.  The girls all filled up a section. 

I kind of hate to mention this, but later in the game, my dear Aileen Galicia from the Soccer team came in.  I’m still ashamed that I didn’t go see her after the game on Senior Day (10-27-18), though I understand why I didn’t at the time.  I think I took a couple of Aggie losses too hard that day and lost all my confidence.  She looked beautiful now, but somehow changed in personality, more mature maybe.  Aileen didn’t sit with the team, who’d left by that time. 

Even though she walked right past me, I didn’t say anything since she’d brought two guys in with her.  I kind of doubt I’ll have another opportunity to speak to her.  (I want to ask her about the team, but away from the team, since I want her frank opinion.)  Cristina Bertoldo, her graduated teammate from last year, came in afterward and also walked by me to sit with her.  This was my second blown opportunity to say “Hello” to her.  My relations with Aggie Soccer are going downhill.  

The man himself, Pistol Pete, threw out the first pitch.  The heckler guy shouted that Pete doesn’t have real guns.  (This guy should be grateful for that.)  Pete brought along a few Cheerleaders, who threw out some t-shirts.  In the background during the game, I could see the Baseball team working out in their stadium.  Surprisingly, the Aggie Softball team was the visiting team for this game, but did get to use their usual dugout.  (I usually get overly confused with my scoring when this happens.)  Both teams made some noise during the game, but seemed relatively quiet.  I’m sure they were all cold too.           

  

I was sort of surprised to see masher Kelsey Horton leading off the game.  She may have been surprised to find herself there too.  In a preseason interview, Kelsey was anticipating teammates getting on in front of her.  Coach Rodolph would rather Kelsey get as many at-bats as possible from that leadoff position, I guess.  Nikki Butler got a hit in the top of the first and advanced on an error, but the Aggies went down without scoring.

I’d noticed an Aggie Sports Marketing lady handing out shirts to the Aggie Sports girls in their section.  Between innings, their teams were recognized and then they bombarded the fans with t-shirts.  In the bottom, Kelsey was back at her natural first base position.  Jeanelle Medina was moved to second and two new freshmen were on the other side of the infield.  Jeanelle started a slick double play to end the inning, with starter Kayla Green getting strikeout as the other out.

Ariana Grande’s Thank You, Next played between innings.  I was mentally cringing as I waited for the profanity-using chorus, but they played the clean version skipping the bad words.  Ari, it’s a great song, but really, did anybody not think that out?  The Aggies went down in order in the top of the second.  I missed the first out, as there was a small emergency down in front.  Coach Baart’s small son fell down and hit his head.  The heckler guy was impressed that the kid wasn’t crying.  The coach said, “Give it minute.”  Kayla Bowen at short, dropped a ball hit to her, but did a good job of staying with it to get the out.  Victoria Castro almost made a great diving catch in center, but that single was the only hit of the inning.

Local girl and fan favorite, Brandy Hernandez, got the crowd going with a double down the third base line to start the third.  She hustled it into a double.  Kelsey came up for her second AB and promptly jacked it to right center.  2-0 Aggies.  Tori was up next and hit one to the scoreboard.  3-0 Aggies.  Needless to say, the crowd was in a frenzy by that point.  When Nikki came up to bat next, the football players behind me and the heckler in front really started giving it to Bluejay’s pitcher, Logan Black.  Her first pitch went straight to the backstop.  Nikki walked, but a DP started by Black ended the inning.

Kayla gave up a leadoff double.  Kelsey got the next out unassisted, but the runner made it to third.  Kayla Bowen (let’s go with KB from here on to avoid some confusion) threw home on a grounder, but wasn’t close to getting the out, 3-1.  “Don’t play with her, K!” a football player encouraged Kayla on the next batter, who hit a grounder that should have started a double play.  KB was uncertain for a moment about running to second or throwing it and the runner there was ruled safe (questionable).  There was a conference in the circle.  It ended with Kelsey saying something to Kayla that got a smile out of her. 

KB did get the next out on a popup, but on the next batter, Caity in right field misplayed a ball and two more runs scored, 3-3.  The next batter singled in another run to make it 4-3 Bluejays.  Kayla came out after giving up another hit.  I have her giving up 4 runs, but only 1 earned.  Analise de la Roca relieved her.  The next batter singled to center, but Tori made a great throw to the plate to get the runner and end the inning.  Nikki flipped the ball into the circle immediately after making the catch as she ran off the field.  It’s the defensive version of a bat-flip.

Mya Felder singled past first baseman, Sam Alm, to start the fourth.  “Ole!” shouted the heckler as Alm fanned on the ball rolling right by her.  Keala Brown came in to run for her.  She’d would motor all the way around on a hit by Caity to make it 4-4.  Kennedy Johnson, in her preseason interview, was expecting to have a good season this year.  She got started off on the right foot, as she greeted a Bluejay reliever with a two-run homer to right center (the wind seemed to be blowing out that way).  6-4 Aggies. 

Brandy singled again and Jeanelle followed her with another.  They both got moved up on a wild pitch.  Nikki drove in Brandy on a fielder’s choice that didn’t get anyone out.  Jeanelle would then score on a wild pitch to make it 8-4.  Alm made a good play on a liner to end the top of the inning. 

Danny and a lot of crowd had left by this point, apparently either secure in eventual victory and/or freezing beyond endurance.  KB started the bottom of the fifth with a great jump catch.  The next batter managed to hit the right field light pole with a foul.  I’d never seen that before.  Analise issued a walk, but the next batter was out on some kind of interference or some other funky softball rule, whatever gets the game over quicker.     

      

I missed the first Aggie batter of the fifth.  I couldn’t hold that Mountain Dew I’d finished in this kind of cold weather and peed for a couple minutes straight.  The next two batters were hit and then the next walked to load the bases.  Black came back in and faced pinch hitter, Kennedi Sorensen, who drove in two runs on a single.  10-4 Aggies.  I was briefly encouraged at the thought of a run-ruled game ending this immediately, but the top of the order popped out.  The Bluejays went down in the bottom with a single hit.

By the sixth inning, I was no longer taking notes, but I was pretty grateful that the wind died down.  Before this, I’d gotten to the point that I was having to stop myself from shaking in order to write.  I noticed AD Mario Moccia came in at this point.  He must have looked around the near empty stands and thought no one came tonight.  Also, I made the acquaintance of a Creighton fan.  He came over and asked if #2 Jayci Foster, his daughter, had been taken out.  (This is what happens when you’re sitting in ballpark keeping a scorecard.  People assume you’re paying attention.)  He was a real nice fellow and some conversation will help to warm me up a bit. 

Creighton is in Omaha, Nebraska, which I didn’t know.  People there hadn’t been able to go outside for two weeks because of the polar vortex.  That said, their fans still thought it was cold here in Las Cruces right now.  This fellow complimented our facility here.  (If we’re able to get the planned upgrades someday, I’ll be impressed too.)  He was a former umpire and he knew who Kelsey Horton was.  Wow, their fans are serious; they even scouted our team.  Hopefully, we’ll meet again on Sunday morning.  [We just waved to each other on Sunday.]

As for the last two innings, they went fairly quick, thank goodness.  Even Canadian, Megan Hart, finally left with the last of the volleyball team.  Analise locked down two more innings.  In the sixth, KB singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch, advanced to third on a passed ball (I’m sure this disagrees with the official scorer, in any case, she advanced two bases), and Caity drove her in with a single for the final score of the game.  Some reserve players got at bats in the top of the seventh.  Aggies would win 11-4.  I would have clapped harder for the win, but I was afraid I might shatter my hands.

The Aggie offense looked good.  I’ll single out Victoria Castro going 2 for 4 with a home run and an RBI, Brandy Hernandez going 2 for 3 with 2 runs scored, and Caity Szczesny, who went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI’s.  Aggie pitching was good, but the defense let Kayla Green down a bit.  A couple of bad plays behind her cut her outing short.  Analise de la Roca did a great job in relief.     

I must have wanted to see this game, this team, and watch the outcome real bad.  This is about as cold as I’ve ever been outside.  All of the girls were shuffling in place at their positions, but held up well.  I’m simultaneously looking forward to seeing more of the team over the weekend and dreading being out in the cold.  

NM State Aggies vs CSUB Roadrunners Women’s Basketball 2-7-19

Umm . . . This is a basketball post, but I’m doubting the occasion will occur where I’ll be doing an Aggie Track and Field post.  They look nice though.  They’re pretty tall too.  Put a bit more meat on them and work on their shot and maybe they could play basketball.  There were some other new posters up front at tonight’s Aggie Women’s Basketball game against CSU-Bakersfield.  I will have an occasion to post the new Softball and Baseball posters here shortly.    

I was with Ron this Thursday evening as I’d taken the day off.  We went to the new Freddie’s restaurant before the game.  I thought it was okay.  The burger and fries were different, but not especially great.  I was interested in going primarily for the frozen custard there.  Even then, the sundae I had wasn’t as good as other places in town.  Ron liked it a lot, so everything is to taste.  I don’t think Raising Canes next door, with their great food, is going to suffer too much business loss beyond the near future.

We got to the Pan-Am Center way early when it was nearly empty.  Thankfully, a decent crowd would show up later.  It took me a minute to recognize it, but the Roadrunner Review Band was playing Prince’s Let’s Go Crazy during the warm up.  There was even a sax solo.  Much more quickly recognizable was their playing of Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody.  The Mills sisters were all smiles playing a little one-on-one against each other after the shoot around. 

For the Anthem, a pretty, but serious-looking blonde came out with a violin.  She played an excellent, stirring rendition.  It was part classical violin, part fiddle.  She was able to make the instrument sound like someone was accompanying her.  It was amazing.  After the game started, I saw her seated by herself behind the scoring table across the court.  She seemed attentive, but not interested, just downright winsome.  She was there for most of game, but left late in the fourth, when the game was well in hand.  I kind of wished I’d run into her before leaving so I could have congratulated her on her playing.        

First Quarter

The scorecard didn’t quite add up for me, but let’s just pretend it did.  The Roadrunners scored on their first possession, so we were not standing for long, unlike the last game (1-26-19).  I remember Bakersfield’s coach, Greg McCall, from previous visits.  He’s a very tall, well-dressed fellow.  Between his and Coach Atkinson’s passionate antics on the sidelines, I wasn’t sure if either would make it to end.

“Damn!” a Roadrunner player missed a wide-open jumper.  I don’t think she said it that loud, but everyone was too quiet after she missed that easy shot.  Brooke Salas came out tenacious on defense with a block on #54 Vanessa Austin, who had four inches and at least 15 pounds on her.  Monique Mills got a block on the next trip down.  It was a low-scoring, 4-5 Bakersfield, at the first timeout.

         

Jasmine Cooper, from last years’ team, walked by in front of us.  It took me a minute to remember her name, though I recognized her immediately.  (I saw her at the grocery store a few months ago and didn’t recognize her until later.)  She was there with friends, including one really hot one.  Wow.  (Unsurprisingly, she was there with a boyfriend.)  On court, a pair of professors were honored.  PA Ed had a bit of a time with one of them having a very Eastern European last name.  Ed also mentioned someone in the crowd and wished them, “Happy Birthday.”  The band started to play the fight song, but then switched to Happy Birthday without missing a beat.

Stabresa McDaniel, who we haven’t seen for a couple of games, came in after the break.  She was wearing a serious knee-brace, but she could play.  Gia Pack ran the point for a few possessions.  She was really harassed, but did some impressive dribbling to get the ball down court.  Aaliyah Prince got a steal and got it to Kalei Atkinson who was fouled and converted a free throw.  Brooke got her first points on a banked three off a great screen by Bre.  8-10 Roadrunners after 10 minutes.

Second Quarter

I’d noticed the Softball team was in attendance.  They were honored on court during the break and handed out hats to the crowd.  Some fans teased that they weren’t throwing them.  I was pleased to see my favorite player name, Caity Szczesny, was out there with them.  I hadn’t seen her at all during their fall games.  And my pen came apart while I was writing this in my notes.  This is why I always have two writing instruments on hand at games.

Brooke was left wide-open for a three at the start of the quarter.  Did the Roadrunners not scout this Aggie team?  She then got a steal in their inbounds and made a layup for the first Aggie lead.  Timeout.  The Band rocked out to Taylor Swift’s Trouble, a song from back when Tay wasn’t a sellout.  Brooke came out firing another three off a Pam Wilmore screen. 

The Mills sisters got involved.  Dominique Mills got a steal and a layup.  Mo hit a three.  There was some good team passing to find her open.  Ooh, Pam got her pocket picked clean for an easy layup.  Right before that happened, I noticed the entire Roadrunner lineup that was in had zero cumulative points.  I guess they were in for their defense.  The Aggies had a 28-27 lead at the half.

Third Quarter

A kid’s hip hop dance group performed at the half.  This was one of the few times I didn’t need to go to the bathroom at the half, since I went right before the game started.  I should do that more often.      

More sister act to start the third.  Mo got a steal and D got a layup off it.  Brooke then went coast-to-coast for a layup.  She got another block on Vanessa Austin.  The Aggies were turning up the defense and started hitting shots to make it 38-32.  Timeout. 

The mostly rather attractive Women’s Golf team was honored on court.  I would have picked up their schedule poster up front, if it had featured more of them.  It was Women in Sports day.  They threw out Aggie-the-Riveter “Guns up” shirts to the crowd.  It’s Rosie-the-Riveter flexing in Aggie colors.  They’re cool, but really seem like something a guy shouldn’t wear.  The girls happily accepted some promo shirts for their own afterward.  The Swim and Dive team is advertising handing them out at their Saturday meet.  I mentioned this to Ron, but he wasn’t tempted like I am.  (They will not have a shirt in his size.) 

#23 Miracle Saxon came out of the break with a bucket for the Roadrunners.  I’m just mentioning that because I liked the name “Miracle.”  Play was getting rough with girls hitting the deck.  Brooke picked up her first foul late.  I don’t know if she was being more careful on defense or if the refs were just letting the girls play.   The Aggies continued to add on to make it 47-36 after three quarters.

Fourth Quarter

Dino Dash!  Seriously, I think they moved this event to later in the game to keep more of the crowd around.  A pair of girls were the contestants.  One of them managed to get down and shake her inflated tail booty when introduced.  An extended cat fight ensued during the competition.  Their fight spilled over into the Aggie bench and disrupted their meeting.  It was like Peter versus the Chicken from Family Guy.  Don’t worry.  They were still friends afterward.  It was all in good fun.

Brooke started the quarter sitting out, probably more to catch her breath than because of foul trouble.  No problem.  Bre hit a three to increase the lead to 50-36.  Timeout.  Oh, I’m glad I came for what happened next.  I had some trepidation when I saw this developing on court.  Pistol Pete had joined the Cheerleaders.  Four guys lifted him up by his boots over their heads, while other guys were lifting girls beside him.  The entire group made a human pyramid and then rotated counterclockwise to display this spectacle.  Epic.

Also epic was Bre getting a monster block and a layup.  Things got a bit sloppy at the end.  The crowd actually groaned at one point after multiple turnovers at midcourt by both teams.  It was not in doubt at this point as the Aggies closed out a good 61-48 win.  The team did not panic when the shots weren’t going in and made the most of their defense. 

For the Roadrunners, #12 Alexxus Gilbert had a tremendous game with 20 points, including 7 free throw points.  #15 Malayasia McHenry got 10 points and was wearing a smart-looking pair of yellow shoes to match her school colors.  For the Aggies, Brooke Salas had 21 points.  Typical greatness.  She also had 12 rebounds for another double-double.  Gia Pack had 12 points and a bunch of other players chipped in.  Stabresa McDaniel had a great game back from injury.

I was nearly knocked out by the third quarter of this game.  While last night at work was very light on duties, the preceding days I was stressed out to the point of nightmares.  I think I’m still recovering.  I felt bad that I wasn’t being as responsive as Ron.  He started loudly cheering the team on in that quarter to help rally them.  Ron does not usually pipe up that much and was nearly losing his voice by the end.  He was completely jacked up after this win.  I was feeling exhausted, but was happy as well.  I thought my excitement for the evening was over, but then I caught the Aggie Men’s game on the radio when I got home.  I’ll cover that elsewhere.      

Sports Journal February 2019

2-2-19

I had vague plans to hang out with Ron today, but I wasn’t sure when or where.  While I was sort of in flux, I decided to listen to the UTEP Miner Women versus the Western Kentucky Lady-Toppers (or Lady Hilltoppers?).  I wasn’t going to take any notes on this unless it got interesting, which it did.  It didn’t look good for the Miners even before the game.  They only had seven players available, but it was more like six-and-a-half with one of the girls coming back from injury.   

The Toppers are a good team in C-USA and showed it at the start of the first quarter as they went up 12-2.  But, the Miners came back.  By the start of the second they’d tied it up and took the lead.  They were even up by 12 at one point, but finished up 36-30 at the half. 

By the third, another Miner player was injured just as Toppers tied the score.  Still, the Miners were up by six going into the fourth.  The Lady-Toppers tied it up again, but the score remained close.  As the game became more dramatic, the good-sounding crowd got even more into it.  There was some fan by the microphone screaming his head off at the refs.    

The Miners regained a slim lead late, but were fouling too much.  Zuzanna Puc fouled out.  They might have only had five players available at that point.  Zuzy shook hands with the ref as she left the court.  The Toppers took the lead on free throws.  By this point, the Aggie Men’s basketball pregame was on that I really wanted to listen to, so I was flipping back and forth.

There was lots of contention on the final plays, but the Miners lost 64-61.  The announcers were happy with the competitive effort.  Even Coach Baker was pleased with his girls afterward against a much better team.  For some reason, the girls went into stands afterward to thank the fans.  Damn, why wasn’t I there so I could finally meet Katerina Zec!  I’d be there in an Aggie shirt telling her, “I still root for you, Kat!  I can’t help it!”

Meanwhile, the Aggie Men were playing an odd mid-afternoon game to accommodate some national TV coverage against versus Chicago State.  The Aggies are leading the WAC at 7-1, while the Cougars are winless in conference.  In truth, I was more interested in the pregame than the game.    

Former Aggie Coach Reggie Theus was back in town for an on-court ceremony.  The women in Las Cruces were all now suddenly basketball fans again.  Justin Hawkins, one of his former players and the color commentator, recollected a 2007 New Year’s Day game with Chicago State.  Coach Theus and actress Tara Reid were both throwing parties at team’s hotel in Chicago the night before.  There like 40 people at game the next day and the Aggies nearly lost.

“He walks among us,” said Jack Nixon as Reggie came over to chat.  Again, I was flipping back-and-forth on the radio.  (This was the worst possible timing for me.)  Hawk was in awe.  Jack was a bit more skeptical, but happy to see him.  Reggie said he would “school” his players out on court in practice, playing for money, just to prove his abilities.  Reggie said he wasn’t necessarily “the smartest guy in the room,” but he always tried to know what his players were capable of and would then put them in a position to where they could succeed.  His former players still call him, even a kid he’d kicked off the team and took away his scholarship (he came back as a walk-on).     

Here’s where I’d like to recap the game, but I can’t do it with any honesty.  Ron came by about ten minutes into the first half to watch some TV shows he’d downloaded, and he brought food (that was very nice of him).  The reason I was willing to turn off the game so easily was because it wasn’t much of a game even early on. 

It sounded like a good, happy crowd.  (No doubt there were a bunch of women there standing in line wanting to talk to Reggie.)  Clayton Henry was popping three’s early.  According to the newspaper account, the team did well with 15 made-three’s for the game.  83-39 Aggies was the final.  Terrell Brown led the team with 19 points.  I’m assuming the bench got in a lot of work today. 

The Aggie Women were also playing Chicago State today on the road.  I’m going to assume it was still cold there with aftereffects of the polar vortex.  There wasn’t any live coverage of the game, but when Ron called me, he told me that they’d won big from the final posted on the team Twitter.  The final was 87-66 Aggies and was announced during the Men’s game coverage.   

From the paper, I got more details.  Gia Pack was still playing thankfully, so her injury in the last game wasn’t enough to take her out.  She had 11 points and scored her 1,000-th point.  Brooke Salas led with 28 points.  Monique and Dominique Mills both scored in double digits.  That is awesome.  Usually it’s only one sister or the other doing the scoring in a game.  I wouldn’t count on all four of these young women scoring that much in a game against the other teams in the conference, but it’s good to know they’re capable of it.  I forgot to mention last time, but this Aggie team is also in first place in the WAC.

2-3-19

I thought I would be doing extensive Superbowl coverage today.  I had planned on watching all eight hours of pregame coverage.  Somehow, that didn’t work out, but I was sure I would be watching the game itself.  But then, I noticed TBD was doing a marathon of Wil Wheaton’s Tabletop show and I had to watch that instead. 

I started flipping around during the commercials, but I just couldn’t find the game.  I don’t know where it was.  The closest I could find was an MLS match between the New England Revolution and the LA Galaxy.  The Revolution went up 3-nil at halftime, but the Galaxy made a great comeback and tied it 3-3 with 15 minutes left in the match.  This must have been the most exciting and highest-scoring soccer match of all time.  I missed the end though, since it was soccer and I don’t care, unless Alex Morgan is playing.  It probably just ended in a tie anyway.  Typical soccer. 

Okay, enough jokes at the NFL’s expense.  BECAUSE I HAD $10,000 ON THE OVER AND NOW I HAVE TO GO BACK TO PROSTITUTION IN MY SPARE TIME INSTEAD OF WRITING!  I wasn’t really rooting for the Patriots, but congratulations to Tom Brady for making all of those sports “experts,” who have been throwing dirt on the Patriots’ grave all season, puke all over themselves with yet another Superbowl victory. 

I really only watched the end of the game.  I did watch the postgame on TV Azteca so I could see the annual ritual of Ines Saenz charging on to the field to interview random players with her heavy accent.  At least the Mexican network has the good sense to have a glamorous blonde doing this, certainly the most likely candidate to engage the players whether they could understand her or not. 

So much for football this season.  I hope we can get back what the NFL does best next season: head injuries, domestic abuse, and social justice.  I do think the league broke some new ground with poor officiating this year though.  They can build on that.    

Sports Journal January 31, 2019

1-31-19

Funny that I started this month off talking about not getting a Big Tex sandwich at Church’s for a month end meal.  This month end, I went to Church’s and still didn’t get my sandwich.  They got my order wrong and gave me their usual chicken sandwich, which sucks.  At least they didn’t charge me more for the wrong item. 

I’m only posting here because of the tyranny of the calendar.  If I’d thought it through, I’d likely have held back that last post until after tonight’s games.  More or less to pad this out, I’m posting a flyer I found at work for the Aggie Tip-Off Dinner.  I don’t know how one gets into that dinner.  I’m thinking its more than just buying season tickets.  My workplace must have bought a table there.

On the flyer, I noticed the coach’s wife, Sheri Jans, is prominently mentioned.  She ran a recent clinic on basketball for women, which sold out in attendance.  A couple people said on the Aggie Coach’s Show that Sheri was the best reason to bring Chris Jans here and was his much better half.

The other reason I’m padding this is because I was too busy to really watch or listen to both of tonight’s games.  Sorry.  I’m probably going to reevaluate my sports coverage after this season.  In any case, the Aggie Women played first on the road in Kansas City versus UMKC.  When the team arrived yesterday, they tweeted out snowflake emoji’s.  Nothing like stepping off a plane into a polar vortex.  Even the girls who grew up in cold weather were probably not used to temperatures that negative.

The WAC Digital Network was carrying the game, but unfortunately there wasn’t any sound for the first half.  Brooke Salas was also not scoring for the first half.  I think she had zero points after 20 minutes.  I had to look to make sure she was actually playing.  Perhaps she’d been flash frozen.  I wish I’d been able to watch more and that there’d been sound.  I’m thinking the Roos must have triple-teamed her whenever she had the ball.
   

That probably might have worked if they hadn’t been leaving Gia Pack and Monique Mills open.  Gia finished with 32 points!  Mo came up with 17.  It’s good to see the other Mills sister stepping up.  They probably were leaving her wide open.  Aaliyah Prince and Stabresa McDaniel both came up big with 12 points.  Brooke finished just shy of a double double with 8 points and 12 rebounds. 

The Aggies won a close one, 90-86.  The bad news was that Gia was injured on the last play on court.  She was trying to block a three, which wouldn’t have mattered at that point.  Gia fouled the Roo player, who took three foul shots after, and came up limping with a bad knee.  She couldn’t put any weight on it, so it didn’t look good.  The only other thing I noticed with the coverage was that they held a high school or middle school girls game during halftime.  They were pretty enthusiastic. 

The Aggie Men started their game here in Las Cruces shortly afterward.  Ivan Aurrecoechea was in street clothes on the bench.  They weren’t giving a time table for his return, but at least nothing was broken so he may be back before the end of the season.  The Aggies started off the game well and had the UMKC Roos nearly down by double digits right off the bat.  The Roos would make a comeback, but the Aggies were up by eight at the half. 

Somewhere during this I went across the street to get my disappointing sandwich.  When I got back, the Aggies had the game well in hand.  I found myself watching Dizzykitten chatting instead.  (It was interesting and she looked so pretty.)  I did eventually go back to the game.  A Roo player missed two free throws which activated the free Chik-fil-a sandwich promotion for the crowd.  This made me feel even worse about my own crummy chicken sandwich.  (It upset my stomach mildly too.  I was expecting that if I’d gotten the Big Tex that I’d wanted, but at least it would have tasted better.)

The Aggies won 70-54.  A lot of the bench saw action later in the game.  Terrell Brown led the team with 15 points.  Your stat of the match was 43-17, that was the Aggies’ rebounding advantage tonight. 

I enjoyed what I heard of Jack Nixon and Justin Hawkin’s commentary.  Early on, Jack questioned a foul, “Refs aren’t seeing things the same way I am.”  Later, with the game basically decided, Jack and Hawk were commenting on a player’s sharp-looking shoes.  Promoting the Saturday game, former coach Reggie Theus was announced to be coming back to town for a ceremony.  Jack said the women in town were getting their hair done for game, Reggie being well known as a “ladies man.”  Jack asked Hawk if his wife is getting her hair done.  Hawk: “I’m getting my hair done.”

NM State Aggies vs UTRGV Vaqueros Women’s Basketball 1-26-19

 

Ooh, aren’t they glamorous?  Today’s game was “Twins Day” to celebrate the senior Mills twins, Dominique and Monique.  Twins would get free admission for the game.  I doubt the university took a bath on gate revenue.  PA Ed gave out several twins facts during the game.  I had the radio call in my ear, so I never clearly heard any of them.   

“Taste this and see if it’s okay.”  These are not the words you want to hear from a concession vendor, but at least they were thoughtful.  Thankfully, my raspberry tea was fine.  Before the game, I was watching a Women’s Basketball game in the Patriot League on Stadium.  There was a crowd shot of a group of tweener girls in the bleachers sharing a full pizza out of a box.  I got jealous.  “Why can’t we have that?"  Ron, who was with me, chuckled when I told him about it.  

At least I looked good in my new crimson and white sweater.  I’d gotten it for Christmas and I’d been saving it for game wear.  I had my Aggie button on it to make it official.  On court, the first thing I noticed was a UTRGV player with blue hair, #23 Makaela Mosley.  #15 Nichele Hyman also stood out being black, but with spectacular blonde hair.  As usual, the opponents also had a good-looking blonde assistant coach.  Is there any way of meeting anybody on visiting teams (especially certain Brazilian volleyball players or certain softball catchers [Actually, I did sort of meet Basia Query.  I should have taken better advantage of that.])? 

On the Aggie side, Stabresa McDaniel was again not in the game.  Assistant Coach McAdams (very well-spoken I might add) didn’t mention her at all on the Aggie Coaches Show this week.  He did ask host Adam Young if he had any ideas on how to keep Brooke Salas out of foul trouble.  They’ve tried to impress upon her that she adds no value to the team sitting on the bench.  Adenike Aderinto was back for today’s game and saw some limited action.  Kaeli Atkinson was a surprise starter. 

It could be worse with injuries.  I missed a Lady Miners game this week that was played at 9:00am.  They talked about the game later on Sportstalk.  The team only had six players who were able to play.  The rest of them overslept.  (Just kidding.)  Needless to say, they lost. 

It was a good crowd today.  It had some energy to it.  There were plenty of kids, some were girls on various high school and middle school basketball teams.  There was an Aggie Women’s team in attendance for the first half, but neither Ron nor myself could identify which team.  Swim and Dive?  Some of the Volleyball girls were present.  They got put on camera once and they started laughing at the attention.  The Roadrunner Review Band was playing a recent pop song when I came in, but I couldn’t identify before it ended. 

First Quarter

I was off by one point in my original scoring.  This game was intense enough to where I was definitely questioning why I was scoring and note taking.  In the third quarter, I was ready to give up so I could watch and enjoy the game and not miss anything.  Certainly it was hard to cheer along with writing and watching.  I didn’t even talk to Ron for most of the game. 

[I’m writing this under some extreme duress, by the way.  Some guy outside is working on his car and playing his radio full blast outside my window.  Gangster rap?  No.  It’s an oldies station.  I’m hearing, “IF YOU LIKE PINA COLOTAS!  AND GETTING CAUGHT IN THE RAIN!”  I want to go outside and confront this guy.  “Sir, perhaps you’d like to examine your life choices that brought you to this very embarrassing moment.”]    

This game could not have started off better for the Aggies.  Usually, you get singular good plays to note.  The first quarter started off with a string of them, thus causing me to scramble.  I’ll try to recount it here.  Brooke began the game with a steal.  Kalei got fouled on the fast break and converted a free throw.  There was another Aggie steal, which resulted in Dominique getting a layup.  Brooke got another steal and a layup.  At 5-0 Aggies, UTRGV took a timeout.

Right out of the break, Brooke got another steal.  No points came of it, but she did pick up a foul.  Next exchange, Monique got a steal.  Gia Pack would be fouled and convert on the shots.  The Mills sisters ganged up on a Vaquero player at halfcourt and forced a turnover.  Brooke got another steal.  D took a header in the goal padding after a collision with a Vaquero trying to stop the fast break.  Dominique was okay, though her tightly pulled red hair let loose a strand that gave her this messy, sexy look for the rest of the game. 

Next, UTRGV turned it over on a travel.  (There were a bunch of those calls in the game.  They’re like double touches in volleyball.  Some refs call it more than others.)  Next time down, the Vaqueros lost the ball on a pass under the basket.  By this point, the Aggies were putting their subs in.  Tayelin Grays would hit a three.  With three minutes left in the quarter, #34 Megan Johnson hit a basket for UTRGV’s first points.  It was 12-2 Aggies.

“Finally!” murmured one of the Cheerleaders as she stormed by in front of us.  The Cheerleaders had been standing in aisles for about 15 minutes waiting for the opposing team to score.  Most of the crowd had sat down during the timeout.  Me and a couple of other guys were still standing.  (Yes, that made it harder to take notes.)  I’ll be honest.  Perhaps this is a tradition that needs to be rethought. 

That was seven minutes of awesome defense.  From here, the game proceeded a bit more normally.  Mo got in a collision at halfcourt going for a steal.  She was knocked to the floor, but was okay afterward.  Gia and Brooke went out before the end of the quarter.  Of note for the Vaqueros, #4 Idil Turk hit a pair of three’s to get them back into the game.  It was 16-8 Aggies after ten minutes.

Second Quarter

Brooke picked up her second foul early and stayed out for the rest of the half.  Other Aggies picked up the slack.  Mo got a steal.  Gia went on a run with two threes and another basket.  “Gia for three-a!”  Okay, there’s a call that needs to be squashed immediately.  You know who you are.  Timeout UTRGV at 26-11 Aggies. 

However, the Aggies were fouling at a prodigious rate.  With six minutes left, the Vaqueros were already in the bonus.  The Band started doing a new tomahawk chop yell during opposing free throws and got plenty of practice.  The Vaqueros had whittled it down from a 15-point lead to an eight-point one.  D finally got a basket to end a three-minute scoring drought.  It was 34-26 Aggies at the half.

Halftime

The Cheerleaders rolled out some mats on the floor.  Two little girls gymnastics teams performed.  I think they were winners from the cheer competition last week.  Before halftime, Pistol Pete came around and interacted with some kids.  It was cute.  A father and his little daughter sat in front of us for a bit right before the buzzer.  They were really into the game.  That was also cute.

Third Quarter

Hold on to your hollycocks here.  It’s about to get real.  Gia had her pocket picked, which led to a layup and the lead was down to six.  Kalei picked up her fourth foul.  Gia was called for a charge, which was her third foul.  The lead was down to three.  The UTRGV bench was fully into it.  Five minutes in and the Aggies had already put them in the bonus.  Timeout. 

For Twin Day, there was a three-legged race during the break.  It was two band guys versus two middle school girl basketball players.  The guys tripped and fell.  One tried to drag the other along anyway.  The girls won easy.  The guys seemed okay with it.

The Vaqueros were fouling a bunch too.  The Aggies got into the bonus a minute later.  Brooke collided with a bigger player in the lane.  They had a staredown for a moment and I thought there was about to be fight.  Tayelin got a layup after a steal.  D got a full court layup and a foul shot.  The lead, which had been down to two, went back up to six.

Brooke was called for her third foul.  I admit I didn’t see it, but the rest of the crowd was up in arms.  Ron said it shouldn’t have been called.  Adam on the radio had also questioned a call earlier.  This crew may have been a bit shaky, though there were so many fouls in this quarter, it must have been hard to call.  Brooke stayed in.  Pam Wilmore got a steal under the basket and an assist to Brooke, who finished the play with a layup.  49-44 Aggies.  I was winded and I was just watching and writing.

Fourth Quarter

Dino Dash!  I was afraid they’d canceled the event, but they’d just moved it to later in the game to keep the crowd around longer.  (Actually, I have no idea why.)  Ah, watching people in dinosaur suits tripping and shoving each other never gets old.  In spite of a fairly static format, the conflict always seems to result in a unique combat performance.

The fouling continued.  D went right to the nail and hit a free throw for her sixteenth point.  A lone voice on the UTRGV bench started yelling, “Miss it!” during Aggie free throws.  It was somewhat obnoxious.  I never identified the player.  I noticed she wasn’t doing it during Brooke’s free throws.

Gia was back in and firing.  She had a pair of three’s and with five minutes left, and the lead was back to ten.  Brooke then hit a pull up three from downtown to make it 62-49.  The crowd roared.  Unfortunately, she then picked up her fourth foul with four minutes left.  Idil Turk, not a big player, had driven the lane and went right at her.  It was a heady play.  Brooke wasn’t able to be aggressive defense after this. 

#5 Jameka Dowell fouled out on a Gia basket, which gave her a three-point play.  The Mills sisters ran square into each other on court.  It was a bit an indicator that both teams were exhausted from the furious play.  Nichele Hyman had run in a couple of layups.  Turk was feeling it again with another three and a steal and a layup. 

It was a six-point lead with 40 seconds left.  UTRGV started intentionally fouling.  The Aggies weren’t making all of them, but made enough to increase the lead.  Dominique finished the game with a steal.  She just missed a layup at the buzzer, but was all smiles afterward.  71-63 Aggies is your final.

Sharpshooter Idil Turk was as advertised to lead UTRGV with 19 points and four three-pointers.  Madison Northcutt had 12.  Nichele Hyman was also clutch for them with 10 points, six in the fourth quarter.  Gia Pack, today’s high-scorer with 22, ran into the crowd after to see her parents, who were at the game.  I’m sure they were proud.  Her parents also got pictures and hugs with the Mills sisters as they went by.  (I’m available for hugs too ladies.)  Dominique Mills had a career-high game with 19 points.  Brooke Salas had her usual greatness with a double-double, 19 points and 11 rebounds. 

I’m not sure how many steals the Aggies ended up with, but UTRGV had 25 turnovers, way more than their average.  They did however beat the Aggies in rebounds going +11.  I think our take-away from the game is that with Brooke, Gia, and D on the court, this team pretty good.  Foul trouble may be the only thing holding them back.

After the game and dinner, Ron and I went back to my apartment to watch a movie.  I’d told Ron last weekend that, while I’d seen the entire Stargate SG-1 and Atlantis series, I’d never seen the original movie.  (I did see some of the Universe series, not a fan.)  Ron felt that needed to be corrected immediately.  I enjoyed it, not that you need a review of a 30-year-old movie (or however old it is). 

However, I basically missed the Aggie Men playing the Vaqueros on the road.  I heard about the last five minutes (game time) on the radio.  It was a very exciting part to listen to though.  The Aggies had a three-point lead with 38 seconds left.  Ivan Aurrecoechea got a dunk, but was injured on the play and had to come out.  His status was unresolved after the game.  It doesn’t look good. 

AJ Harris hit a free throw to make it a four-point lead.  The Vaqueros answered with a three to make it a one-point game with 20 seconds left.  Jabari Rice was fouled and hit one free throw, but UTRGV immediately tied the game on a layup.  Eli Chuha came right back with a layup to give the Aggies back the lead.  There was time for a last second shot, but Shunn Buchanan stole the ball to end it.  63-61 Aggies and a sweep over UTRGV today.

Sports Journal January 19-20, 2019

1-19-19

After watching a successful Aggie Women’s Basketball game this afternoon, I listened to the Aggie Men playing Utah Valley on the road in the evening.  Jack Nixon reported that everyone was over the flu.  They’d certainly need everyone tonight, as they were playing a team with the second-longest home winning streak in the country.

First Half

On the Aggies’ first possession, Johnny McCants went for a three.  The shot missed, but he got the rebound and laid it in.  On the second possession, Terrell Brown missed the shot, but again grabbed the rebound and got the bucket.  However, the Wolverines went on a 14-point run for a 10-22 lead.  Timeout Aggies.  I’m not sure I understand what happened next.  Somehow a production equipment wire got caught in one of the goals?  Mohamed Thiam dislodged it.  Jack credited him with an assist.

This clearly sparked the Aggies as they went on an 8-point run.  Trevelin Queen (I love the alliteration on that name) hit a three to get it to 23-26.  With five minutes left, the Aggies got it within one, but then they gave up a three and a layup.  It was 33-39 Utah Valley at the half.

Second Half

The Aggies again got it within one on a couple of three’s.  They’d take the lead on an AJ Harris’ three.  With 10 minutes left in the game, the lead started going back-and-forth on alternating possessions.  Eli Chuha already had a double double with 7 minutes left.  The Aggies got into the double bonus with 5 minutes left.  There were lots of fouls in this game.  The Wolverines had several players with four fouls, though none fouled out.     

The Aggies got out to a 3-point lead and took a timeout with 3 minutes left.  AJ came out and hit a three to make it a 6-point lead.  Jojo Zamora then hit a three to make it 77-70 Aggies with one minute left.  All those fouls would come back and haunt the Wolverines at the end.  AJ and Terrell hit 6-straight free throws at the end to ice the game.  83-78 Aggies win! 

Well, the Wolverines had broken the Aggies’ home winning streak last year, so this was just returning the favor.  Coach Jans was happy in the postgame to give you an idea of what he thought of the team’s performance.  Eli Chuha had 20 points with 14 rebounds.  AJ Harris and Terrell Brown each had 19.  Jojo Zamora had 13.  Here’s your stat of the game: the Aggies were 83% on free throws and +11 over the Wolverines in making them.

  

At this point, I should have started writing up the Women’s game, but I couldn’t quite turn off the TV that I’d left on during the Men’s game.  Groan.  Alright let’s get to it.  Later that night, Manny Pacquaio fought Adrien Broner in a boxing match.  Actually, if they’d played Bridge or something that would have been a tremendous surprise and perhaps more interesting.  I had hoped I’d missed this last week, but apparently the commercial that I’d seen was advertising it for this week.  I couldn’t be less enthusiastic, but since I already had the TV on, I thought I’d watch.  Two undercard matches that went the distance later, I was ready to bail, but the main event finally came on at 11:30pm two hours later.

No, I’m not even doing round-by-round scoring.  I wasn’t even going to take any notes unless something interesting happened.  In the third round, I swear Broner tried to escape the ring by ducking through the ropes.  This was probably the point where he finally fully realized that he was badly overmatched.  In the seventh, I was momentarily thrilled that the fight might end early on a TKO.  Manny had Broner on the ropes twice.  Broner could only clutch to stop the onslaught.  The ref would not stop the fight though, and Broner was saved by the bell.

Broner got his second wind and continued the fight.  He was momentarily knocked off his feet in the ninth, which got the crowd on theirs.  By the eleventh, Broner was running for his life around the ring.  The crowd did not appreciate his sprinting skill and let him hear it.  At the end of the match, Broner jumped up into a corner of the ring and held up his arms in moral victory! 

The judges disregarded his display and unanimously awarded the match to Pacquaio.  Credit to the ref for not stopping the fight prematurely, even though Broner was being used as a punching bag there in the seventh.  I think I had more fun writing this than watching it.  Oh crap, now its 12:30.  Forget writing up the Women’s game tonight.  I’m done.    

1-20-19

I guess there’s a couple of big NFL games on today, so what a great time to talk about hockey.  (Rush Limbaugh has kissed and made up with the NFL.  He’ll regret it.)  Getting back from seeing my parents, I didn’t make it back in time for the beginning of the Washington Capitals versus the Chicago Blackhawks game.  I just missed the first Blackhawk goal by seconds.  They were still showing replays of it when I turned the TV on.  That’s okay, I saw their next goal a few seconds later while changing into more comfortable clothes.  2-0 Blackhawks early in the first period.

I decided to exercise rather than sitting down to watch and take real notes.  I might have been figuring that the game wouldn’t get much more exciting.  Well, the Caps scored a goal.  The Blackhawks got another goal off of an own goal by the Caps, as a player deflected it off his hand trying to knock it away in the air.  (I thought you couldn’t get a goal on a hand pass?)  They nearly scored again, but it was waved off as the puck was actually pushed under the net.  3-1 Blackhawks.

There was a player on one of the teams named “Kookoo,” (I’m sure I’m not spelling that right).  Mike Emrick tried to explain the spelling and entomology, but it was eliciting giggles from me whenever I heard it.  There was a little segment on the horn at the United Center.  It was brought over from the old stadium.  It’s operated like an ICBM; you have to turn a key before hitting the big red button.  And, the operator’s name is Michael Horn.      

Early in the second, the Blackhawks scored again to make it 4-1.  I was calling for a goalie change and the Cap’s coach heard me.  Next up was a mass fist fight.  Then there was another fight between Alex Ovechkin and Patrick Kane.  This resulted in a 4 on 4, but then there was another penalty and another fight.  At one point, I saw four Blackhawks in the penalty box.  The refs had some confusion and everyone else shared in it.  The TV graphics displayed that it was a 4 on 3, then a 4 on 4, and then finally full strength before play actually restarted.  (I think, it was very confusing.) 

The Blackhawk goalie (whose name I didn’t quite get) made three saves in one five-second sequence.  At one point, he was sideways and airborne making a stop.  The crowd was on its feet after the play.  About a minute later, a fluky goal got right past him to make it 4-2.  That’s the way it goes sometimes. 

I had to turn away for a minute to see something at noon.  College Wrestling was on the schedule on Stadium.  There it was.  Navy was taking on Lehigh and they’d be taking on Duke afterward.  I couldn’t believe this was on over-the-air TV.  A decent crowd was there for the event.  I didn’t quite get all the rules, but I got the gist.  What I saw was interesting, but not as interesting as the hockey.

At the start of the third period, the Caps scored to get within 4-3.  Kane answered 30 seconds later on a power play to make it 5-3.  The Blackhawks made it 6-3 with Jonathan Toews scoring on a two on one breakaway.  Emrick told a story about an organist controversy at an All-Star Game in the 70’s, as the ASG is coming next week.  The United Center organist was shown on camera and happily waved to the TV audience. 

The Capitals scored two more goals and then it was 6-5.  By this point, I was actually glad I wasn’t keeping detailed notes on the scoring.  Toews got a hat trick with his third goal to make it 7-5.  Finally, there was an empty-netter to finish the game 8-5 Blackhawks.  The crowd and myself were standing and the applauding the effort by both teams today.

After the game, I flipped back over to the wrestling.  To my surprise, they were showing a couple of little kids out on the mat.  I was confused until the announcer explained that it was halftime.  Yes, they have quarters and halftime in wrestling.  Flipping around, I found on a Mexican station showing bullfighting.  I’ve run into this a couple of times on the weekends.  I think it’s a weekly recap show: This Week in Bullfighting or something like that.  The video was dramatic with the bullfight going on in a downpour.  Okay, I’m not breaking down bullfighting or wrestling today.  That’s enough of that.