I was happy to find this at Barnes & Noble while I was
picking up a baseball season preview magazine a couple of weeks ago. The store doesn’t always carry Archie digests beyond the four regular
titles. I wish they’d carry the Showcase series, along with the Milestones series. (These two series feature only reprint
material.) Hey! I just noticed this thing cost $10, a $1 more
than the last time I bought a digest. Oh well, I would have bought it anyway.
A few years ago, I bought the Bronze Age Archie Collections on DVD. The Archie
disc featured Harry Lucey’s great
figure work. The Betty & Veronica disc featured Dan DeCarlo’s eternal versions of the girls. I hastily devoured those. The Jughead
disc featured Samm Swartz’s spare
drawings that didn’t have the same visual appeal, and I saved it for last. Not to mention, Jughead by himself didn’t
seem like he could carry a solo title. He
was just a supporting character.
I was wrong. Of the
three 70’s collections, the Jughead one was definitely the best read. The artwork also grows on you as Swartz may
have been the best at portraying physical comedy. I’m at a loss for words to describe the
character’s appeal. (Literally, I’ve overly
pontificated in previous drafts and then came to the revelation that I was
writing about an Archie comic, not War
and Peace.) Jughead basically only
wants to eat and sleep, but adventures and complications keep finding him. Not to mention, as an observer to the Archie
gang, he creates his own problems at times.
The guy can even join the Time Police and it makes sense.
This volume mostly features two of Jughead’s main artists,
Swartz and Rex Lindsey. Lindsey is probably current day Arche’s best
artist. In contrast to Swartz, he has an
eye for detailed backgrounds and wardrobe details.
One of Jughead’s other defining characteristics is that,
unlike his pal Archie and every other teenage boy, he has no interest in dating
(that’s something of a euphemism).
Perhaps it’s the exuberant interest and unattractiveness of his stalker,
Big Ethel. Given his needle nose and
proclivities, Jughead’s probably lucky to even have one girl after him. Strangely, there’s quite a few stories about
Jug’s love life in this volume.
(Ethel has made a comeback as a Webtoon. This character doesn’t look anything like the
traditional character. I’ve personally
seen a tall awkward girl in school turn into a beautiful model, but this girl
doesn’t quite fit that bill. The strip
managed to offend me in the first entry, so I didn’t continue with it.)
Somewhere in the 80’s (90’s?), Jughead picked up not one,
but two girlfriends. I’d seen this story
before. It’s meta, but fun.
Here’s the other girlfriend, and here’s Jughead macking on
Ethel behind that girl’s back. What the
heck?
The centerpiece of the book is this fairly modern story, The Jughead List. It’s a full floppy issue story where Jughead
and Archie are dared to complete each other’s bucket lists (called a “Check-out
list” here). It’s suitably epic
(?). You can imagine what happens to
Archie in the end given Jughead’s list.
****Spoiler punchline page***
Occasionally, Jughead becomes trendy in his fashion. In this case, he grows a mullet. Yikes!
****Spoiler punchline page***
At the back of the book are a
couple of cute Little Jughead stories.
The volume finishes with Samm Was
Here, Lindsey does a warm tribute to Swartz. It’s a fine way to end.
I’m not going to say it’s the best Jughead material or a good retrospective on the character. The stories don’t even really fit the title, Guide to Life. However, any slice of Jughead is going to be entertaining anyway. Of course, I recommend this.
Opening Day for Aggie
Baseball was a lose/lose proposition for me on Friday. I was scheduled to take the day off for the
night game, but when Ron called I stepped outside and five seconds out in the
cold wind was enough for me to cancel. I
went into work to continue to chip away at a punishing backlog while listening
to the game on the radio. Then the team
lost badly on top of it.
It was a 7-2
loss to Bellarmine, a team still
transitioning to D1, and the score wasn't that close. The two Aggie runs were unearned. Aggie pitching gave up four runs and Aggie
hitting had 16 strikeouts. On the plus
side, in spite of the cold, there was a full house out for the game (including
a bunch of Knight fans that I could
hear cheering over the radio). The game
also only took two and-a-half hours. I
don't know if it was the cold or some new pace-of-play rules. A penalty Ball was called for a team not
being ready to play out of an inning break.
Also, Coach Kill threw out
the first pitch. Him and the Football staff were there watching the
game.
The Saturday game was much more amenable to in-person viewing. The afternoon game was 40-something degrees
and partly cloudy with a cool breeze, but it wasn't that bad. I was bundled up when Ron picked me up. He had on a couple of layers. When we got there, a bunch of people were
wearing t-shirts. Some girls were in
shorts. Speaking of that, it was
sorority day at the park and they were mostly very good-looking. I assume the girls were there to pick out
their future boyfriends from the team.
The girls were also there with their parents, which made it convenient
if you wanted to ask permission for a girl's hand in marriage. So impulsive!
We ran into a giddy Adam
Young in the parking lot. He asked
if we were going to Women's Basketball
as well. He'd be calling that game,
which would be overlapping with baseball.
Broadcasting legend, Jack Nixon,
would be calling the ballgame. I'm not
sure how long it had been since he called baseball, but he didn't have anything
better to do with Men's
Basketball canceled.
The two of them were inside chatting by the concessions trailer. I kind of wanted to say, “Hi,” to Jack, since
I'd never met him before, but I was way too intimidated. (I'm sure he would have been gracious.)
Inside the stadium, the bunting was out. The outfield wall had added signs for the 2022 WAC Championship and for “71 Draft
Picks.” Portraits of Kyle Bradish and Joey Ortiz were added to the batting facility. The hot marketing girl was here in very tight
yoga pants. I guess she was in the
sorority, too. She was with her
dad. I could have asked him . . .
Ron and I chatted with fan Michael. He often has inside information on Aggie
sports, but not this time concerning Basketball. Also in the crowd were some other interesting
fans. There was a young man in a pale
blue suit and sneakers. (And I thought I
was over-dressed.) There was a lady
wearing a Cleveland Indians Spring
Training hat. Go Tribe! F the imposters! Lastly, there was a guy wearing a “Pistol
Peake” t-shirt with a gunsight on it.
Points for cleverness, but could an Aggie fan wear a shirt in poorer
taste? Somebody actually died over this,
dude.
It took two tries to get some Corn-in-cup. They weren't ready. They didn't even have the hot dogs
ready. (The corn was still delicious.) One of the sorority girls tossed out the
first pitch. Jack had a co-host on the
radio, Jon Opilea. I think he works for Aggie Sports, but this
was his first time on the air. He did a
good job and was necessary to help shepherd Jack along. I don't think Jack pronounced “Bellarmine”
correctly once, but of course he still did a great job. The loudspeakers kind of drowned out most of
the pregame. At some point there was a
quick discussion of WAC
“Football?” (Don't get excited. It wouldn't be FBS level college football.)
There's no sugar-coating it. This game was worse for the Aggies than
Friday night's game. It was a good thing
that Jack was there to tell some stories.
A bad baseball game can still be entertaining with the right
broadcaster.
Tyler Hoeft
started the game for the Aggies with a strikeout. Unfortunately, Gunner Antillon at short made an error to give the Knights their
first baserunner. Hoeft had another
strikeout and a walk and gave up an RBI single, which gave the Knights a 1-0
lead. Bellarmine was wearing crimson
tops. (The Aggies were in black.) Knight starting pitcher, Drew Buhr was wielding a bright blue glove. (Fashion faux
pas.) The Aggies trotted out a
different lineup than Friday. Logan Galina singled and unexpectedly
stole second, but was left stranded.
Fans were on the ump immediately from both sides early,
though I think his play calling was better for the rest of the game. Jack couldn't see the scoreboard in the
outfield. Nobody can when the sun is on
it. Football is getting a new
scoreboard. Could they bring the old one
over to baseball?
The Knights followed up with a two-run homer to right in
the second. 3-0 Knights. The Aggies did make an appeal throw to home,
but the ump ruled the runner had touched the plate. Gunner again looked a little shaky on a throw
to first. Jack told the story about the
Aggie grounds crew stealing a bunch of pine trees meant for the university
president, but were instead planted beyond the baseball stadium outfield. Jack also chatted about Presley Askew, whom the stadium is named after. Jack said he was a nice guy, in addition to coaching
Aggie Basketball into the NCAA tournament and coaching the baseball
team.
In the bottom of the second, Bianca Perez and a couple of Volleyball
players I'm not sure I recognized off hand came in. Rachel
Phillips also came in from the El Paso ABC
station to shoot some footage. You
couldn't miss her. She was wearing lime
green pants and a green plaid blazer.
You also knew who was coming up by the music. Nolan
Funke took his first at bat the disco standard, Funky Town. Damone Hale singled and stole second,
but was left stranded. During the
inning, a penalty Ball was called for the pitcher taking too much time.
In the top of the third, there was a near collision on
field between Gunner and Nolan on a grounder, but Gunner made the play. Between innings, there was a quick trivia
giveaway of a Football lunchbox by the hot marketing girl. I knew the answer. I could have impressed her. In the bottom, the Aggies got two on and
there was another stolen base. Nothing
came of it. There was a hat toss to the
crowd. That was it for the
giveaways.
In Louisville, Kentucky, home of Bellermine, it was
27-degrees, so it was relatively pleasant in Las Cruces by comparison. Jack also mentioned that college started in
the 50's and when they started, they didn't have a front door for their building. (He didn't entirely believe that story. He found it on the Internet.) The Knights got two on in the fourth, but
didn't bring them in. In the bottom was
the biggest controversy of the game.
Funke singled to right center.
The fielder appeared to misplay the ball and it went to the wall. Funke went to third on the two-base error,
except it was scored a triple. I even
rewatched the play a couple of times on Twitter. I don't know what the official scorekeeper
saw. Nolan was left stranded anyway.
To the fifth, Funke and Gunner again had some confusion
and let an infield fly drop between them.
The next batter was hit on the face.
He washed his mouth out and stayed in.
Hoeft came out, though, and Pablo
Cortes came in. Cortes got a
strikeout, but gave up an RBI single.
4-0 Knights. That runner got
picked off after attempting a steal on a ball in the dirt. In the bottom, Galina was hit by a pitch and
thrown out trying to steal second.
Cortes had more problems in the sixth. He gave up two singles before giving up a
booming three-run homer to right center.
Kevin Jimenez ended the
inning by catching a liner at second and doubling off a runner at first. 7-0 Knights.
In the bottom, Cal Villareal came
in to pinch hit off of a new Knight reliever.
Legged out an infield hit, but collided with the Knight first baseman,
who took most of the damage. It was a
nice try on the play by Peyton Back
at second. Hale drew a walk, but Nolan
struck out looking to end the inning.
He'd gotten a penalty Strike during the at bat for not being ready and
argued with the ump briefly after the inning.
By this point, much of crowd had wandered off, as it was getting a bit
cooler. (I was suddenly feeling smart in
my heavy coat.)
Jack may have gone to the bathroom between innings and Jon
took over the play call. There's not
enough time to get to the bathroom and back between innings without
running. Gunner made a good running play
on the first Knight batter, but the next batter grounded one into his chest for
an infield hit. He was driven in on a
single. 8-0 Knights. The Aggies brought in Aaron Treloar to finish the inning.
Galina worked a walk in the bottom, but was left on base.
After a leadoff single, Gunner started a nice double play
with KJ in the eighth. Hale singled in
the bottom, but did not advance. On an
odd note, there were bubbles briefly floating over the Aggie dugout. I don't know where they came from or
why.
In the top of the ninth, Jack mentioned in conversation
that most Western towns were 60 miles apart, since that was as far as old
trains could go without having their water replenished. I'm learning things. A strikeout/throw out double play ended the
top of the frame. Finally in the bottom,
Gunner homered to center to avoid a humiliating home shutout. 8-1
Knights, which was the final. It was
announced at the beginning of the game that there would be a t-shirt toss for
home runs. A guy behind me started
yelling for a t-shirt, but the hot marketing girl was already off duty. Ron had given me a giveaway t-shirt he'd
gotten for turning in a couple of balls, but it was too big for me. I considered giving it to the loudmouth, but
came to my senses.
That was three somewhat depressing hours to start baseball
season for me. Let's toss out those Gameballs. (I'm writing that with no enthusiasm.) Knight catcher Gabe Bratetic went 3 for 4 with 4 RBI's, including a two-run
homer. Winning starter, Drew Buhr, threw 5 innings, scattering
4 hits, no runs, with 9 strikeouts. (The
Aggies had 13 K's, the Knights 10.) As
for the Aggies, sigh. I was impressed with Logan Galina showing some patience and working two walks. Gunner
Antillon had a sometimes rough, sometimes great, day fielding at second and
accounted for the Aggies' only run. Your
stat of the day is that the Aggies left 10 runners on base. They had their chances.
Bonus Coverage: NM State Aggies vs CBU Lancers Women's
Basketball
The Women's game had started during the Baseball game. When the game let out, the halftime score showed the game was close, so we decided to go. We parked in the back and went in through the rear entrance to the Pan-Am Center. By the back door, there were reserved parking spots for Volleyball Coach Jordan and Women's Coach Adams. There was also a spot with an empty pole. We can guess who used to park there. I was still wearing my heavy coat inside. It wasn't necessary, though I'd heard in El Paso earlier this week that they were warning people going to the Miner game to bring a coat. The facility furnace was out.
Ron and I arrived about 5 minutes into the third quarter. It was 38-41 CBU. Right after we sat down there were back-to-back timeouts that took 10 minutes. At least I had time to finish filling out my scorecards. There were some Brownies (little Girl Scouts) sitting at the courtside seats. Behind us were the loudest and most enthusiastic Aggie fans in the building. It was also “Pride Day.” Every break, there was a teeth-gritting announcement about it. Those little girls aren't going to groom themselves.
I remembered a pretty player on the Lancers, Georgia Kehoe. I scanned the visitors on the floor and then
their bench, before I found her there.
She was apparently injured.
Georgia's from Australia and has a teammate from there as well. Of course, Ashlee Strawbridge on the Aggies is also an Aussie. I looked for Rachel Phillips, but she wasn't
there. I'm sure she would have loved to
meet so many fellow countrywomen. Also
of note on the Lancers is Trinity San
Antonio. What a name!
I took some notes, but I don't feel like writing them out
for a quarter and-a-half of coverage.
CBU was shooting 3's like crazy and took a 42-53 lead into the fourth
quarter. Moe Shida had a steal to start.
She'd had a great game with steals and points on Thursday. The Aggies wouldn't let the Lancers pull
away. Taylelin Grays made back-to-back 3's to make it 59-61 with 2
minutes left. Unfortunately, she missed
her next two attempts and the Aggies never recovered. 65-73
Lancers final. That was extra
disappointment for the day.
Extra Bonus Coverage: It was cold and rainy on Sunday for
the final game between the Knights and
the Aggies. I decided to watch the Daytona 500 instead. Brought
to you by P-fizer with three separate commercials. (One, general propaganda and self-promotion; two,
telling you to get a booster, since your shots are fading; and three, when you
catch the cold anyway because their shot didn’t work, taking their magic pill
for it.)
Frankly, the race only became interesting at the end,
while the baseball game was great throughout and both finished at the same
time. The NASCAR race went two overtimes after a couple of big wrecks. A wreck on the final lap gave Ricky Stenhouse Jr. the win. When the crew told him to do a burnout, he
responded that he was out of fuel. (Danica Patrick was no doubt kicking
herself that they broke up. She would
have gotten so much camera time if she was still girlfriend.)
The ballgame went back and forth. The Aggies tied it with a clutch run in the
ninth. They finally lost it in the 11-th,
10-9. Ron did brave the cold and wet for nearly four
hours to watch the game in person. He
questioned the official attendance of over 500.
He said not even all of the Bellarmine fans were there from the last two
days.
Ron blamed three Aggie infield errors for the loss. Adam Young on the broadcast also said the Aggies had, “Trouble with the left side of the diamond.” The hitting at least was there. Logan Galina, Kevin Jimenez, and Romeo Ballesteros had 3 hits and 2 RBI’s each. Unfortunately, Aggie pitching gave up four home runs. This season is going to be a work in progress.
Yes, this is how we all foresaw the Aggie Men’s Basketball season ending: a press conference with Chancellor Dan Arvizu and Athletic Director Mario Moccia announcing that Coach Greg Heiar had been fired in disgrace. Who could believe that this all started with
a fight between students at an Aggie/Lobo
Football game last year? This
somehow escalated to a shooting between a team member
and some UNM students in
Albuquerque. Then we found out that the
team’s troubles actually started when this team came together to start practice
last summer, but that scandal didn’t come out until last week.
When Ron and I drove away from the Softball stadium Saturday
evening, there were two local news crews at the Pan-Am Center shooting footage.
That was a bad sign. The story
about the Aggie Men's
Basketball team “hazing” scandal was getting bigger. A player was getting molested in the showers
by a gang of other players. He was
“touched inappropriately” in his privates.
This had been going on from the team’s first practices up until last
Monday, so it was ongoing harassment and finally led to a report being filed with
the campus police.
Dad called me and
said it made the national newscast that evening. It was also the main story on ESPN.
The university canceled the team’s Saturday night game. They were out in California ready to play and
got called home. The team and all of the
coaches were suspended. I talked to my
Aunt Judy in Missouri after the Superbowl
on Sunday (to congratulate her). She had
heard about our scandal on the national news and didn’t realize it was
referring to us, until I connected it.
Superbowl Sunday
afternoon, I was going over to watch with dad and we decided to get a pizza
beforehand. Roadrunner Pizza was busy as expected and I had to cool my heels
for about 10 minutes. I noticed a guy in
the shop waiting that looked familiar.
He was also wearing an Aggie Men's Basketball hoodie. I asked if he was one of the coaches and he
was. It was Darian Graham, Director of Player Development.
It was kind of loud
and hard to hear while we were both waiting, but with the merest prompting, Mr.
Graham gushed. He was nearly
inconsolable while trying to explain how they couldn't prevent what had
happened. They did what they could to
keep curfew, but the player willfully violated it. Mike Peake
did apologize to the team later. He
didn’t mean to put the whole program in jeopardy, but what you do reflects on
the team. Graham more or less said, “We
have them from 7 am to 7 pm, but not the rest of the time. Are we supposed to follow them around 24
hours a day? Is everyone, players and
coaches, going to have to live in the same dorm?”
He felt the hazing
incident was being overblown, as well.
That’s a possibility. I’m willing
to believe the story because I’ve seen how the team didn’t come together. I thought the team may have factionalized
over the shooting, since some of the players were directly involved. This hazing incident would actually explain
it a little better. Further, to be
honest, there isn’t a woman involved.
I’m not saying there couldn’t be a personal agenda being acted on, but I
can see where a guy might be putting up with this kind of behavior longer out
of shame.
Darian described
himself as a “hard-ass” coach. He wanted
his guys to graduate and do well in life.
He felt bad for the fans and the community. He likes Las Cruces and wanted to stay here. “I went from here (holding hand up high)
getting a championship ring last year to here (holding hand by the floor).” I really felt for Darian. He seemed very sincere and in shock. I did ask about Coach Heiar. He was not going to say anything critical
about him, at least not at this point.
I’m worried about a
couple other assistant coaches. I found
out that they are all on a one-year contract that comes up in April. Dominque
Taylor, who I’ve met and was a really nice guy, was involved in the
shooting cover up. He’s gone and it’s
too bad, because he likely on a fast-track to becoming a head coach
somewhere. Then there’s local hero Johnny McCants. He just got married and had a kid. I think he wanted to set some roots
here. I do feel really bad for the player
who was getting molested. There’s
justification for that. I’m not worried
about the other players, frankly. They
can all go. For whatever talent it
looked like they had, it didn’t materialize into wins. And unfortunately, so much for seeing more of
red-shirt local player, Deuce Benjamin.
At work on Monday,
I got more details. The reporting player
was getting his nuts grabbed in the shower and along with being held down. This harassment had gone on from last summer
to last Monday. This wasn’t hazing. The offending players were trying to force
him to quit. Apparently, he wasn’t in a
position to do so easily. This scandal
could get even worse if this involves the players I think it involves. (I’ll avoid that speculation in print.) For now, it looks like this clip might be
appropriate to describe the offenders.
This might explain why they’re calling it “hazing,” because otherwise
it’s a bunch a gay men sexually assaulting another guy in a shower. (And again, this really could get worse than
this.)
Moreover, the other
players reportedly just stood and watched.
Surely, some of the coaches had to have at least heard what was going on
in the shower at some point. It’s going
to be a total house-cleaning for the program.
Everyone is going to be gone. I
hope the NCAA doesn’t get involved
and this fumigation may be the only way to do it. Given how bad the season has been and that
they’re likely going into a new conference with a completely new team and
staff, what more need to done to the school?
Vacate their pathetic number of wins this season?
Three players have
already declared for the portal and without any kind words for NMSU. A four-star recruit has also asked to be
released from his commitment. (In all
honesty, he was probably going to do that anyway without the scandal given the
team’s record.) The WAC and the Orleans Arena
in Las Vegas must be furious. Aggie fans
have to be like half the attendance for the tournament, which the team probably
wasn’t going to make anyway. Those
people who bought those new $1,000 a seat suite tickets along with the season
ticket holders can’t be happy. They’re
missing out on three games with no chance of making them up.
The best I can say
is that this season has been a blip in Aggie Men’s Basketball, I don’t think that
the fans will have a problem forgiving it.
The team has had so much success with very little off-court drama for
the last 20 years. (That was an academic
scandal under Coach Neil McCarthy,
which seems positively quaint by comparison.)
It was a new coach, new to being a head coach at D1, with a mostly new
team. I don’t think Heiar had had any
scandal before coming here, but he’s committed the worst sin of any college
coach: disgracing the college without actually winning anything.
I was going to tack
this on to my last Softball post, but I kept writing about it. (And I’m sorry this post is going all over the
place. I don’t have an editor and I want
to get this out now.) I’m glad I held
off. The press conference about the
firing came up Monday morning. I took
away two salient points. One, the other Aggie
Sports programs were said to be okay.
(I’m not surprised.) Two, Coach Heiar
was fired with cause and there was no settlement of his
contract. (That’s probably going to
court, but still cheaper than paying him off.)
So, Heiar likely
knew about the hazing and covered it up.
He probably lied to Mario at some point, which may have actually saved
Mario’s job. I could sense a shift in
Mario’s attitude towards the program in listening to his pregame talks. He went from excuses to irritation. I don’t think he knew what was going on, but
he knew something was going on.
I’m glad Athletic
Director Mario Moccia didn’t get fired.
He’s very earnest and has done a remarkable job with Aggie Sports in
general. It might just be that the
university didn’t want to have to hire a new AD along with a new basketball
coach. (They might be waiting for the
next Chancellor to come in to really make a decision about Mario.) Heiar was a good hire at the time. Mario had no ability to fire him after the
shooting or after poor team performance.
(The university couldn’t afford to buy out his contract.) Heiar probably should have resigned before
this hazing scandal came out just over the team’s performance.
I hate to say it, but the media people who were
questioning restarting the program after the shooting may have been right. Nothing good came after. There was a good question from a reporter
wondering why wasn’t Heiar fired after the shooting? There wasn’t a great answer, but it was
probably because the team had done diligence in monitoring players. However, the team did seem to be trying to
cover up the incident to the police immediately afterward. Honestly, I don’t think the administration
could blame Heiar without indicting themselves, since they were the ones who Okayed
the team continuing to play without resolution of the issue. (Now Heiar is no longer cooperating with
university on the shooting investigation.)
The best case scenario is that this is basically over (at least for the university, but probably not some of the players). NM State then cleans house and brings in an experienced coach to restart the program with a new team. The fans will be fine and will likely not have a lot of expectations, especially going into a new conference. (It was asked if Conference-USA would still want us. They’re losing six teams after this school year. Oh yeah, we’re still in.) The Media will blather from their high horse and then lose interest. That’s the best case. Let’s hope for it.
