NM State Aggies vs UNM Lobos Women’s Basketball 12-8-24 Part 1

 

Let’s catch up a bit on Aggie Sports in general.  Aggie Volleyball went into the C-USA tournament in El Paso as the #3 seed, but really it was UTEP and Western Kentucky and then everyone else.  The Aggies beat Sam Houston 3-1 in the first round to face the Miners in the semifinals.  Though this was a mismatch on paper, it turned into a heavyweight bout.  The Aggies prevailed 3-2 and went on to the championship round against WKU.  Inspired, the Aggies took the first set, which was first set they’d taken off the Hilltoppers after five straight-set losses.  However, WKU regrouped and overpowered the Aggies for a 3-1 championship win.

 

The Aggies making it to the championship game was a triumph in itself after getting past a 16-2 in conference UTEP team.  The seniors really took up Coach Jordan’s challenge. Mari Sharp in particular went crazy with over 40 kills over the first two matches and an All-Tournament selection.  Way to go, ladies.

 

UTEP was the big winner in hosting the tournament.   Having Memorial Gym available as an exclusively volleyball forum helped, though they don’t have a Taraflex floor like the Pan Am Center.  (I’ve also heard it called, “Club Memorial.”  Hmm.  Let’s stick with the classics, guys.)  Over the three Aggie matches, they listed crowds of 1,500, 1,6000 (vs UTEP), and 1,500 for the final.  The cherry on top was that UTEP won an at-large bid to the NCAA tournament, their first, and they deserved it.  Congratulations to Coach Wallace.  Also slightly humiliating to Aggie fans, lowly Chicago State will be making their first NCAA this year.  (I said they looked good under their new coach, 10-30-23.)

 

In Las Cruces, it was time for the I-10 Rivalry in Football.  The Aggies convincingly beat Middle Tennessee, 36-21, a couple of weeks ago.  UTEP, meanwhile, was coming off a 56-0 thrashing by Tennessee.  It was looking good for the Aggies in the first half as they went up 24-7, but that lead came at a cost.  They lost their star kicker, Abraham Montano, who may have pulled something kicking a 59-yard field goal for a school record.  (He’s kicked several 50+ yard field goals this season.)  They also lost their star running back, Seth McGowan, to injury. 

 

UTEP made the most of some sudden scoring.  They had two fumble recoveries for touchdowns and ran back a punt for a touchdown.  The Miners also put together some good scoring drives.  The Aggies floundered, even with some dumb UTEP penalties helping them.  Quarterback, Parker Awad, was finally putting the ball on target, but the receivers were dropping them.  (There were like three drops in a row on one drive.)  The Aggies lost, 42-35.    

 

Honestly, that was a truly crushing defeat to listen to.  I’d gone into the game with some optimism and was feeling good in the first half.  From there, it hurt.  I was seriously depressed for the rest of the day.  This was also Jack Nixon’s final call of an Aggie Football game.  He was pretty upbeat like me at the beginning, but was sour and salty by the end.  What a way to end 45 years of broadcasting the team.  At least Jack has finally been relieved of his burden.  (By the way, AD Moccia didn’t sound confident about scheduling UTEP for football after they move to the Mountain West conference in 2026.  Conflicting commitments might preempt it for a couple of years.) 

          

Continuing the bad news, Aggie Men’s Basketball appeared to be in a death spiral.  They’d lost five in a row, including a loss at home.  That home loss was to Abilene Christian and featured Coach Hooten getting ejected.  The Women’s Basketball team has done a bit better.  They’ve gone 2-2, since the last time I saw them.  That includes a 40-point loss to #4 Texas.       

 

Friday night, the ladies played the Lobos in the Pit in the Albuquerque.  I’d noted that the game was going to be broadcast for free over the Internet the day before and had planned on watching while at work.  Unfortunately, I’d nearly forgotten about it and had tuned in at the very end of the game.  I was somewhat shocked to the see that Aggies were about to win easily, 81-71.  By and large, the Lobos have owned this series, until Coach Adams’ first meeting with UNM (11-15-22).

 

Molly Kaiser, of course, led the Aggies with 25 points.  Loes Rozing had 17.  Fanta Gassama had 9 points, 9 assists, and 13 rebounds.  And let’s hear it for the cute freshman, Madi Gewirtz had 11 points.  The Aggies were shooting 56% and shooting 3’s at 42%.  The crowd looked small on the video, which surprised me, because the Lobo Women draw well.  Their attendance was 4,800.  Maybe a bunch left before the end.  The Lobo girls did go around the court to greet their fans, like the Aggies do.

 

Saturday night, the Aggie Men took their trip to the Pit.  This would be the Men’s teams’ only meeting this season.  For now, they’ve decided to alternate a single game between the schools each season.  The Lobos are by record and by revenue a much better team.  Just to highlight a disparity, one player on the Lobos makes more in NIL money than the entire Aggie team. 

 

The Aggies went down by 14 early in the first half, but then surged back and took the lead on the back of some hot 3-point shooting.  They had a 9-point lead at the half and it was as large as 13 at the beginning in the second half.  The Aggies then started turning the ball over and it was mostly self-inflicted.  The Lobos took most of the rest of regulation to do it, but they tied it briefly.  With a one-point Aggie lead, Christian Cook made two free throws with seconds left to give the Aggies a three-point lead. 

 

The Lobos took a last second 3-point shot, which was an air ball . . .  which was ruled a goal tend after about five minutes of deliberation.  I should also mention that at one point in the game, the Aggies were called for 19 fouls to the Lobos’ 2.  Ahem.  No problem.  The Aggies routed the Lobos in overtime, 89-83.        

 

This was likely the final time Jack Nixon would be calling a game in the Pit.  The PA there actually honored him and got Jack to wave to the large crowd of over 15,000.  After the game, he was a bit choked up.  Coach Hooten went over to Jack immediately and said they won it for him.  Cook finished with 27 points, Dionte Bostick had 17, and handsome Robert Carpenter had 20 with 6 3’s.  The Aggies shot 52% to 36% for the Lobos and were shooting 45% beyond the arc.  The Aggies unfortunately led in turnovers, 17 to 6.

 

That brings us to Sunday afternoon.  It was a cloudless, sunny day, but with a cold wind blowing.  I left for the game an hour early.  Jack had reminded me last night that there was a Wave the Wonder Dog hat giveaway.  The last thing I needed was another hat, but . . . it’s Wave.  I was concerned that a couple of busloads of Lobo fans might show up for today’s Women’s game between the Aggies and Lobos and I might get shutout.  There were no busses out in front of the Pan-Am Center, but there was a large crane working over at the football stadium.  Along the sidewalk, a bunch of luminarias had been set out.  (The northern end of the state refers to them as farolitos” for some reason.) 

 

Though early, a crowd was already there.  A few Cheerleaders and band members were hustling inside.  Inside, I received a Wave hat.  No less than Wave himself was there handing them out.  (Okay, he wasn’t handing them out, but he was there.)  I got to say hello to him and his owner.  The dog is so handsome.  No wonder they used him on the football poster. 

 

There was a decent number of Lobo fans behind their bench, but Aggie fans easily outnumbered them.  There was one obnoxious Lobo fan behind me that didn’t get the memo on where to sit.  He was loudly mocking Aggie traditions and shouting, “Miss!” on Aggie free throw attempts.  Only a couple of them were wearing Wave hats.  One Lobo fan was wearing a sparkly red jacket.  He was hard to miss.  I think I saw some of the Aggie Men come in and sit next to the Lobo section.  I didn’t see any problems arise from that. 

 

Attendance was officially 547, but I’m sure there were well more than that.  Five of the seven suites were even occupied.  Adam Young was not calling the game on TV, but Duke Keith was there.  During warmups, Duke and the color commentator coach (whose name I don’t know) called Anna Csenyi over for a chat some reason.  PA Ed was surprisingly not announcing, but his replacement did a good job.         

 

The Aggie girls were loose and dancing to the Roadrunner Revue playing Best of my Love.  Molly and Loes were the last players to leave the court to change.  Molly was taking free throw practice.  (That would pay off later.)  A C-USA promo ran on the video screen and showed all the schools.  The Band cheered for NM State and booed UTEP.  A troop of girls of varying ages marched in front of me at one point, all wearing their Wave hats backwards.  Given the different ages, I don’t know what kind of group they could have all been in together.   

 

Pistol Pete was in a festive mood.  He wore a wreath on his cowboy hat, Christmas lights around his neck, and had big candy canes in his holsters.  While the Lobos were out warming up (and for some reason their shoes were really squeaky), the video board was playing highlights of the Aggies beating them on Friday.  I took a bathroom break before the intros.  I ran into a dad and his little girl in the bathroom.  I had to hold it for a minute and wait for them to leave.             

 

This went too long.  I’ll have to recap the game itself in Part2.

Comics Review: Halloween Archie Part 1

I had reasons for buying more Archie last time, but this time it was a bit more questionable.  They offered a Choose-Your-Own-Bundle with a Halloween theme.  It was six titles for $19.99.  That pricing would turn out to be significant.  The selections featured a few trades, some digests, and several Horror and Superhero comics.  It was an odd mix and not all Halloween-related. 

 

Still, there were a couple of titles I was interested in and a few others that I had some interest in to make up a bundle.  It was a good deal.  On the day I ordered, they were offering free shipping, but the small print specified at least $20 orders.  Shipping on my order would have been $6. 

 

Archie has suddenly started offering pre-orders on new digests for $5 and just released new digests for $6.  This is a significant undercut of the $9.99 retail price.  One of them was a Jughead title that I was actually planning on looking for at the store the next day.  I added that to my cart and got the free shipping.  Everybody wins.  (This is an interesting sales development, though.  The pre-order offers are only up for a couple of days, so you have to jump on them.)    

 

There was also a Christmas bundle.  (They always skip over Thanksgiving to go straight to Christmas.)  It was more expensive for fewer titles with less selection.  And I already had some of them.  I made a list of all of the Christmas digests I already own and I’ll be looking for a better deal over the next two months.  There’s a couple of items I’m interested in, if I can get them at a discount.  Sure I’ve got plenty of holiday comics, but a few more wouldn’t hurt. 

 

Archie Showcase Digest #18: Archie Halfway to Halloween

As Archie goes all-out for Christmas, they also do so for Halloween.  And also like their Christmas in July Showcase issues, they also double-dip with this six-month early Halloween Showcase.  For your Halloween reading, this is great.  In June, I’m not so sure, but it’s still fun.

 

Most of this issue is comprised of reprints of Archie’s Weird Mysteries and two multi-issue Halloween stories.  It includes what I think is the first issue of Weird Mysteries, which I reviewed earlier (3-4-21).  This is the story with a KISS knock-off band playing at Riverdale High.  The other issues are enthusiastically drawn by Fernando Ruiz.  I like the artwork, though the stories aren’t that great.  

 

The centerpiece of the volume is a three-part story called, “The House of Riverdale.”  This ran through issues of Archie, and Jughead.  It is a surprisingly spooky story for an Archie comic.  It includes a cameo from Sabrina, as this is right up her alley. 

 

The other story also runs in three parts.  We’ll call it The Tale of the Cursed Jewels.  It ran through an issue of Archie and two issues of Betty & Veronica.  It’s more mischief than scary.  Sabrina again makes an appearance.  The artwork by the Kennedy Brothers and Dan Parent shines.  

 

 

Shuffled among these stories are older stories from probably the 60’s that are classically illustrated.  There is an interesting Little Archie story that is sort of a retelling of original The Mummy movie.  This story might have made more sense with the regular Archie high school gang.          

 

 

The Josie and the Pussycats meeting a vampire story is from the 80’s.  I had the original comic it was published in, so I got some nostalgia from this one.

 

Overall, this is a really good seasonal comic, especially for that House of Riverdale story. 

 

The Complete Cosmo the Merry Martian

I was sort of interested in this as part of Archie’s Halloween bundle at a 50% discount.  I didn’t know anything about the character other than he came from the 50’s and there’d been a more recent revival by Archie, possibly to keep the character out of public domain.

 

The classic 50’s stories are cute and well-drawn.  They feature Cosmo as a Martian exploring the Solar System with his friends.  The stories are, let’s say, “science-light.”  There is some fun with Cosmo’s crew trying to figure out baffling earth customs.  In addition, there are trips to the Moon, Venus, and Saturn.  

 

This story with the Vegetable people reminds of that infamous Lost in Space episode and predates it by about a decade.

 

Jarringly, we skip from the 50’s to the far future, 2014.  Cosmo is revived in this Archie parody entitled, The Good Guys of the Galaxy.  It features a very odd mix characters that are presumably also old Archie characters.  This send up of the MCU is done by Fernando Ruiz and his energetic art and Tom DeFalco’s excellent story.  It’s funny, adventurous, and full of imagination.  It’s not just the highlight of the volume, or even the whole Halloween bundle, it’s an all-time Archie classic.  Oh, how I wish they’d continue this as its own series.  Unfortunately, it’s not the 80’s, where Archie would casually spin off goofy titles all the time.          

 

Following this, there are three short Archie stories where Cosmo makes an appearance.  He’s a guest in one, but just a little cameo in the other two.  (Ruiz would often sneak little shots of Cosmo into his stories.) 

 

Finally in 2018, Archie did a full revival of Cosmo in a new series.  This book includes the first issue of that.  This followed Archie losing their license to Sonic the Hedgehog.  Cosmo and his crew were redesigned to look a bit more video game-like, so this was sort of meant to take Sonic’s place.  It kind of follows the original series in some ways, while updating the characters.  Not having read any of the other issues, it’s hard to say how well this revival went.  It wasn’t a bad idea and the artwork is good. 

 

I've got a bunch more Archies to review, but I'm still reading them.