Sketch Dump: The Asia Notebook 16: Imagine FX

The first drawing here is bittersweet.  It's Pernille Orum cover from Imagine FX.  I feel bad I didn't buy it, especially since it included a poster of it, but I just couldn't justify paying the price.  Frankly, this is one of my best drawings, and I attribute that to the source material.  Unfortunately, as I look at this a few months later, the head looks a little out of proportion with the body, thus ruining all of my good feelings about it. 

The rest of these sketches are from the issue of Imagine FX that I did buy, which was ironically more expensive.  (But had plenty of content that I was interested in drawing, while the other one just had basically that one painting.)  This image was a succubus, but I changed it to be Red Sonja.  Yeah, maybe I should have put her in the chainmail bikini, but I didn't think of it before I colored it black.

 

This waitress character was really cute and inspiring.  Oddly, the pencil sketch is of a full color painting, and the color sketch is of a black and white sketch.  The pencil sketch turned out nice; I was afraid to ink it.

Lastly, here's a skater girl.  The legs are out of proportion, which is too bad, because the rest of it is nice.

 

Sketch Dump: The Asia Notebook 15: Actresses

If you've seen the Mexican teen comedy show,  La CQ, you know who Fernanda Urdapilleta is.  She's Jenny the Cheerleader and the main reason you're being a pervert and watching the show.  At least she's legal now.  On the right is British scientist, Alice Roberts.  It's a terrible sketch.

This one of Fernanda on the left worked out better than the first one.  Next to her is a former co-worker, Marissa.  The less said here, the better.

Macarena Garcia was on the Mexican teen novella, Like: La Leyenda.  It featured her extremely hot self wearing fetish-inducing private schoolgirl outfits (complete with a Hogwarts-esqe cape).  This is a terrible figure drawing.  Macarena and Fernanda were in a novella together as lovers.  OMG!  This thing I didn't know I needed to complete my life actually exists.  Yes, but . . . Macarena's character is transitioning into a guy.  It's unconvincing, but the show did the impossible and make her look awful.  It's all a terrible tease, but Fernanda does play a cheerleader again, who could certainly rate a much better boyfriend.       

   

These all kind of suck.  I've made it a daily ritual to draw something.  Sometimes the daily takes the form of a low-effort pencil sketch.  (The above sketch is bad, but not from lack of effort.)  Starting from the left, it's ASMR streamer Lauren Frivvy Fox, The Hills actress Lauren Conrad, and chess streamer Alexandra Botez.

This figure drawing turned out better (and definitely took some effort).  This is Madelaine Petsch, who plays Cheryl Blossom on Riverdale.  I don't know how I ended up on her Youtube channel, but she's rather charming in the videos I've seen.   

Sketch Dump: The Asia Notebook 14: Streamers

The redhead on the left is Erin or ASMR artist Goodnight Moon.  She was in a top hat in the video, not a bowler.  That's Gibi in a wig on the right.  She was dressed as a Slytherin in a video.  She's never been hotter.

 

DJ Pyka.  Apparently, I liked this one enough that I was too afraid to ink and color it.

Streamer Shelby Grace.  Unfortunately, she's changed sexual preferences (to asexual) kind of de-glammed at this point.  It's not prefect, but this is definitely one of my better drawings ever.  My dad liked this one when I showed him my sketchbook.

        

The main reason I started watching Chicago P.D. when it went into syndication was to see Sophia Bush.  For such a good-looking woman, there is an absolute paucity of good pictures of her on the Internet, otherwise I'd have a lot more sketches of her.  On the right is Twitch streamer, Seum (Sam).  She's very likable, but I did have political falling out with her and stopped watching.

That's Twitch streamer Waffles, who plays piano.  I've had a political falling out with her, too, but haven't stopped watching.  On the right is Anna Prosser.  She's a former beauty contest winner, who streams D&D and other RPG's.  Where do you meet these kind of girls?  

   

Comics Review: Wonder Girl, Batman, and Frosty

[It took so long to finish those comic posts from my last visit that I'd bought more in the meantime.]  OMG!  I’m doing a Comics Review and it’s just new comics fresh off the rack.  No reviews of obscure, non-superhero 80’s titles this time.  I’m selling out and going mainstream with this one . . . err . . . except for the Frosty one. 

Wonder Girl #4

I never thought I’d be able to fall in love again at my age . . . with a comic book.  This was the third time I’d gone to Zia Comics looking for this issue, so you know it’s serious.  (Actually, it’s probably my fault for not double checking the release date.) 

 

Joelle Jones’ artwork is again, breathtaking.  I kind of question some of the sepia-toned pictures used for a couple of montages and the green-hued flashbacks, but only because the artwork doesn’t quite show up quite as well.  It just speaks for itself.   

As for Jones’ story, I don’t quite know what’s going on, but here’s what I understand.  Hera has brought Yara to Mount Olympus to have her trained as her champion.  There’s some kind of power play going on.  The Themyscira Amazons, with Artemis and the Cassie Sandsmark Wonder Girl, are opposed to this.  There are other tribes of Amazons, including a Brazilian one where Yara was raised.  And, she’s the child of an unknown god.  If I’d started this with Issue #1, I wouldn’t be surprised if I was still lost, but the story does seem to be going somewhere specific.     

I took this issue with me to dad’s apartment, along with my sketch pad.  I did my daily drawing there from it, while watching a NASCAR race.  When I showed the comic to dad, he grabbed it and started reading it.  He’d apparently enjoyed reading Issue #3 and Future State #2.  (I still don’t know what the relationship is exactly between these titles.)  If my endorsement is too fanboyish, surely my dad’s carries more weight.

  

Batman: The Long Halloween Special

I read this on Halloween night, just to make sure I was in the right mood.  However, there wasn’t much scary about it, apart from the $8 cover price.  It is a 48-page prestige format book with no ads.  It is a small graphic novel. 

I have a confession to make: I’ve never read The Long Halloween.  That book and Batman: Hush are two stories that I’ve always wanted to read, since they’re comic book classics.  I’ve likely picked them up on several occasions.  (They’re continuously in print.)  Usually the price forces me to put them down.  One of these days . . . 

 

This special is something of a prequel.  It makes many clear allusions to the main story from a hindsight view.  So, given my ignorance of the source material, I can’t really tell you how well it ties in or if it adds anything to the story.  There is the irony that the only reason I picked this up was because of its title.  I can only review this story as it is, not what it is a part of. 

 

Just as a standalone, it’s good.  Jeph Loeb has put a Batman story to the tune of a psychological character study.  Calendar Man and Two-Face (Harvey Dent) carry most of the tale with a calculating Batman trying to foil them.  I love the little subplot interlude with young Dick Grayson and Barbara Gordon Trick-or-Treating.  I’ve read several books with Tim Sale’s artwork.  He has a very idiosyncratic style, but is a master of telling a story with pictures.

 

Was it worth $8, though?  That’s the question.  Certainly, regular comics aren’t worth $4.  (I’m making an exception for Wonder Girl, but that’s because it’s beautiful, and I can get additional use out of it as an art book to draw from.)  If you haven’t read The Long Halloween, I’d say save your money.  That said, I don’t regret the purchase at all.  Maybe someday I’ll bite the bullet and get the whole story.  I’m going to make the assumption that this story adds to the original, since the original creators are involved.  If you’ve read it, you’ll probably want this.  If you’re a big Batman fan, I’d assume you’ve read The Long Halloween, but if not, you’d still probably want this.     

     

Stanley the Snowman

Wait.  In spite of an overwhelming similarity to the classic Christmas character of Frosty the Snowman, this actually isn’t Frosty.  It was $2 on the rack, though.  Lacking any Archie comics, it seemed like a harmless purchase.  (I was in a good mood, because I’d finally got my Wonder Girl.)  The cover was appealing enough.  

    

I certainly got plenty for my $2.  It’s bright and colorful on slick paper.  There’s just a couple of house ads in the back, so it’s basically all content.  The art style is American manga, that is to say, sort of an amateur version of good Japanese manga.  That’s not really fair.  The artwork is good.  It’s not exactly in the Japanese style, because meant to be printed in color and in a floppy format.      

As for the story, our main character, Jenny, is a pleasant girl who has some inherited ability to bring snowmen to life.  That’s an oddly specific magical girl power.  I’d say it was almost a bit sinister, but it’s all so innocent.  This is supposed to be a kid’s comic, so I don’t suspect a dark twist to the story.  Unfortunately, this issue is basically a preview for a graphic novel.  It just sets up the larger story. 

 

Other than putting this up as something of a Christmas decoration in my apartment, I’m not sure what else to do with it.  This might be good for a kid, as long as you were prepared to buy the graphic novel if they liked it.    Like I said, the production values are good, especially at this price.  The publisher, Scout Comics, also makes comics for an older audience.  I may need to check out their other fare.   

Comics and Movie Review: Superheroes and Knights Part 2

Part 1 

Finally getting back to this a few years later.

Knights of the Dinner Table #244

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

 

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

 

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

           

Future State: Wonder Woman #2

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

Justice League: Crisis on Two Earths Special Edition

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

  

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

 

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

 

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

NM State Aggies vs Utah Valley Wolverines Volleyball 11-6-21 Part 2

 

Continued from Part 1

 

Set 2: Wolverines 1, Aggies 0

There were no player stats on the board to this point.  The Utah Valley family I’d seen coming in were swaying along to Sweet Caroline between sets.  Back to the action.  1-0 Lia Mosher and Cat Kelly combined on a block.  I should mention that Cat and Darian Markham both still have heavily bandaged hips.  3-3 the UV coach, Sam Atoa, challenged a touch call.  The crowd groaned.  Some got up to go get concessions or went to the bathroom.  I think we’ve all had enough of the challenge system.  The call was upheld for an Aggie point.

 

4-5 UV served in an ace, but followed it up with an out serve.  6-6 Shaney Lipscomb faked a slam, but got a tip for a kill.  I think the team came prepared for tough blocking.  7-6 the Aggies took the point after a long rally.  UV thought they’d had the winning shot and began to celebrate, but it was saved and the point continued.  Coach Atoa gave them an earful from the sidelines.

 

9-7 Mari Sharp powered one through the blocking.  9-9 Shaney was blocked.  The indefatigable UV reserves let off a roar.  That’s when you know the opposition has keyed on you.  10-9 Mari had a tip kill off a bad set.  11-9 Katie Birtcil took flight again for a kill.  A Wolverine was apparently hurt on the play, perhaps from colliding with another player.  She left the court to a round of applause.  12-9 the Aggies went up by 3.  Mari had a great dig on the point.  Timeout UV.  The Aggie assistant coaches talked to most of the team, while Coach Jordan just talked to Carly Aigner-Swesey and Shaney. 

 

12-12 the Wolverines came back after a couple of Aggie fouls and an out shot by Shaney.  Timeout Aggies.  UV came back with a net serve to side out.  14-13 Katie with a flying kill.  15-14 the Aggies challenged a shot by Lia that might have been touched.  Call reversed, 16-14.  17-15 Katie painted the line for kill.  Meanwhile, the entire building thundered.  No, it wasn’t that hard a hit.  The Aggie Football game was about to start and included a jet flyover.  Credit to the concentration of the girls on both teams.  They played right through it. 

 

19-17 Katie buried one into the middle of the court.  20-17 Shaney seemed to get a kill on a touch.  The refs were conflicted on the call.  (Shouldn’t that have necessitated a replay of the point?)  When they settled it, Coach Atoa, who looked quite natty in his white team track suit by the way, challenged it.  The crowd and the UV reserves spontaneously started a cheering contest.  It was about even.  Yes, there were hundreds more in the crowd, but we were muffled with masks.  They weren’t.  The call stood.  We won that one.

 

21-19 Cat made a kill for a three-point lead.  Timeout UV.  The refs had a chat amongst themselves, probably about the contested point.  23-19 Shaney and Cat combined on a block.  24-19 Cat got a kill on a touch.  25-19 Katie shut the door for Set 2.  Cat had a great save on the point and Mari had a tremendous four-serve run to close it out.

 

Set 3: Aggies 1, Wolverines 1

The ball girl by the up official was joined by what seemed to her best friend.  They happily danced to Jump in the Line between sets.  A woman behind me, who I think was doing some technical volleyball talk with the people she was with, asked me to confirm the set score.  She figured I’d written it down.  I must look like a nut taking notes during a game.

 

0-1 this point wasn’t a good start for the refs.  They had some confusion before calling a ball out.  1-3 Kendra Nock for UV had a thunderous kill that bounced into the stands.  4-4 Mari made an impossible shot that went crosscourt and hit the far corner.  Everyone stood and watched it, assuming it had to go out at that angle.  5-4 Mari made a conventional kill.  6-4 Shaney with a kill down the line, keep your body in time.  (Just listen to the song above.) 

 

7-4 Katie served up an ace.  8-4 Katie served up another ace.  Timeout UV.  The refs had another discussion.  The ball girls were goofing around to the music.  They were entertaining.  9-4 Shaney continued the run with a kill, but Katie served out afterward to end it.  9-8 the Wolverines came back quick.  Timeout Aggies.  10-9 on a completely broken point, the Aggies hung with it, and Shaney finished it with an awkward kill. 

 

11-9 UV took the point after a long rally.  Carly had a tremendous dump shot on the point and actually walked away after doing it, like an action hero walking away from an explosion.  It was premature.  They made a great save on the shot.  12-9 Cat with a tip.  12-10 UV tipped right back.  13-11 Mari made a great save on this point.  Cat reared back for a huge swing that was blocked out.  She grinned afterward.  Cat was having a great time. 

 

15-11 Katie fired a cannonball that forced a UV timeout.  The ball girls were dancing again.  They were just too cute.  I want to cast them for a Disney or Teen Nick show.  We’ll call it, BFF’s.  I’m smelling a hit here.  16-11 Darian made two great saves on this point.  I nearly came out of my seat going for the ball myself.  I was getting way too into it.  Cat hammered it to end the point.  18-11 Lia with the bearpaw.  19-11 Carly with the ace.  She had good downward action on her serves.  20-13 Katie fired one that bounced into the stands and into the UV family.  That wasn’t nice. 

 

21-14 Mari with the kill.  22-14 Katie and Shaney on the block.  23-14 Darian with an ace.  Keke Holloway came in to serve on the first set point.  25-18 on the second set point, UV made a couple of great saves, but Shaney finished it.  Hey, player stats are up on the scoreboard.  Cat and Shaney had 10 kills each.  Katie’s stats weren’t up.  Kazna Tanuvasa had 13 kills for the Wolverines.

 

Set 4: Aggies 2, Wolverines 1

A group of young men in big cowboy hats were seated down by the court on the north end.  They were a somewhat incongruous sight.  I wondered why they weren’t at the football game.  Are they boyfriends of some of the players?  Do they want to be?  (Who could blame them?)  It’s a mystery.  Kazna, presumably the UV captain, had a chat with the up official before play.  That conversation is also a mystery.

 

1-2 Lia was denied on her first swing on the point, but not the second.  2-3 Mari had a kill that bounced off of Caleigh Vagana and Bryton Bishop.  I’d noticed Caleigh before.  She was very pretty with long, dark hair.  5-3 Whoa!  Shaney slapped an overpass all the way to the UV backline.  6-7 Coach Jordan argued for a touch on a kill.  Yet, another challenge.  During the downtime, I noticed that my left finger was black with ink from writing.  Call reversed, 7-6 Aggies.  Coach Atoa gave the down official an earful.  I don’t like these challenges, but today, they were all going the Aggies’ way. 

 

8-6 Shaney got the kill with a touch.  9-8 Caleigh slapped one into the crowd for a UV point.  10-8 Cat with a kill.  11-8 Shaney served up an ace.  Before that, the coach had called for Alana Embry to come in and serve, but then waved her off.  Alana usually comes with Lindsay Blakey, so she’d been shelved too with her absence.  Then Shaney served into the net.  So, the decision at the time was neutral, but may have paid off later. 

 

12-9 Katie muscled one.  12-10 UV point and the Aggies almost lost Katie.  She dove headfirst for the ball nearly into the scorer’s table.  13-11 Katie got a tip kill.  Good thing we didn’t lose her.  Lauryn Taylor came in to serve, but fired it out, 13-12.  My arm’s getting tired just writing this (and later typing it).  16-17 the Aggies were outplayed on a couple of points.  Timeout Aggies. 

 

17-17 Cat powers one.  18-17 Cat with a tip.  19-17 Cat on a touch.  It is the Cat Show!  Timeout UV.  The ballgirls started doing the Macarena instantly within the first couple of notes during the break.  21-17 the Aggies got a points on UV fouls.  Timeout UV.  22-17 Cat again!  23-17 Aggies with block.  The Aggies closed it out, 25-17 and 3-1 for the match.   

 

I started doing a countback.  That was nine points in a row to finish it!  I’d noticed that Shaney was serving about halfway through.  Her first couple of serves were even risky ones that painted the sideline.  She uses a simple standstill motion, so her mechanics helped her be consistent.  As the run went on, Shaney became very deliberate with each toss.  I wonder if that net serve earlier helped to focus her.  The sketch here is from the day before.  I was looking forward to the game.  It’s a slightly better likeness than three previous attempts.  What I’d really like to try is an action shot, if I had a good picture.

 

Katie led the way with 19 kills.  Cat had 15 kills, Shaney and Mari had 12, and Lia had 8.  Kazna Tanuvasa led Utah Valley with 16.  I’ll pick the team stat of the match as kills, where the Aggies led 67 to 48.  The Aggies did a pretty good job on addressing two of their main deficiencies in this match, serving and receiving. 

 

Can I give the gameball to all of the starters?  Yeah, this time.  Most of those kills didn’t happen without Carly Aigner-Shwayzee (as the PA kept calling her) . . . err . . . Swesey setting them.  Lia Moooooosher was the force in the middle.  Darian Marham was keeping the floor clean with digs.  Katie Birtcil was unstoppable.  Special notice goes to Cat Kelly for stepping up on offense and to Mari Sharp for being everywhere on the court.  Lastly, Shaney Lipscomb really set the tone.  She was the vocal leader at the beginning of the match and set the example at the end.

 

The good news is that this group really functioned well as a unit.  The bad news is that they must have been exhausted afterward.  Coach Jordan usually uses all the subs he can during a match, at least partially to keep his players fresh.  I don’t know if Lindsay Blakey will be back by Wednesday. 

 

I wonder how the coach will play that UTEP game in the middle of next week.  It’s not a conference game (until 2023), but it’s the only home game this season against a rival.  Wanting to rest his players to finish the conference season is more important theoretically, but that rivalry game is more important to program for the boosters.  On the other hand, this may be the last time Las Cruces is going to host a conference volleyball tournament for a long time.  I’m glad I don’t have to make these decisions.            

 

Ron and I had dinner at Long John Silvers because neither of us had been there in a long time.  It was pretty good up to the point where we got overstuffed.  We’re good for probably another six months before going back.  Over the meal, Ron said he’d just about figured out the signs the coach was sending in.  He also said he missed the Cheerleaders.  Embarrassingly, I hadn’t even noticed, since the crowd did a decent job by themselves.  (Since the coach had requested more cheering when the team was down, I obliged.)  The Cheerleaders were all at the football game.  On that account, the team went down to the Utah State Aggies 35-13.  They’d kept it close in the first half, but couldn’t get the defensive stops in the second.     

 

I plan on being back for the UTEP game and the season ender against Chicago State next Saturday.  Go Aggies! 

 

Edit: Or right before I posted this, Ron sent me an e-mail that he was sick and tested positive.  I may be infected, too.  So much for going to any more games, including the WAC Tournament.  I’ll still be rooting for you ladies.

 

NM State Aggies vs Utah Valley Wolverines Volleyball 11-6-21 Part 1

 

Big news in Aggie Land this week, NMSU will join Conference-USA in 2023.  I’d mentioned this possibility a couple of weeks ago (10-23-21).  They’d gone from 14 members to five members in a week.  By this week, they were down to three and couldn’t be choosey.  The good news is that the football program will finally have a home.  The bad news is that most of the other teams in the conference are in the Eastern Time zone.  UTEP, the only western team in the conference, can attest to the difficulty of playing back East; they’re winless in football in over 20 attempts and their basketball program hasn’t mattered since the move.

 

This brings up another issue.  For whatever reason, UTEP does not seem to want to be in the same conference with NMSU.  Both programs have wanted to get into the Mountain West Conference.  UTEP had begged them for membership when the C-USA exodus started.  UTEP’s football team has had enough of a resurgence this season that they’re probably hoping to convince them to change their minds.  UTEP might appreciate having an opponent in the same time zone, but will more likely try to leave before 2023.  (At least, John Tischer, calling UTEP Football that night, was excited about it.  He suggested their annual conference game be set for Thanksgiving week every year.  It’d be nice for the teams to not have to travel over the holiday.) 

 

I’m questioning the viability of the conference altogether.  Their TV and bowl deals may go down the drain with their new membership.  NMSU is glad to not have to scramble for football opponents now, but they had to leave the WAC in all sports to make the deal.  I know they didn’t like being in two conferences before (the WAC and the Sunbelt, and who would have figured them as a winner in all these conference musical chairs?), but now the crown jewel of the Men’s Basketball program is going to have to figure out a new conference.  The other new members might not be that great, so the Aggies could be very competitive, but there’s that time zone difference thing again.  The Miners haven’t really been competitive in basketball since they joined the conference.  Regardless, this was an opportunity NMSU couldn’t pass on.

 

For here and now, Aggie Football was cross-scheduled at home with the Volleyball which me and Ron were coming for.  I thought for sure that volleyball would be rescheduled to earlier in the morning, but I’m not in charge.  I’m not actually sure how much crossover there is between the fans of the sports.  I don’t know about football attendance, but volleyball was about normal.  The Aggie Pride Band and the Flag Corps were practicing outside of the Pan-Am Center when we got there.

 

The Volleyball team went one-and-three on their long road trip.  They won at home on Thursday against Dixie State in straight sets.  I wasn’t able to listen to all of the game, but I noticed Cat Kelly did well and played a lot.  I didn’t realize, until Ron told me, that one of the regular starter girls was out for testing positive.  That turned out to be Lindsay Blakey.  Later that night, Cal Baptist lost to Chicago State, who are not a joke this year, so that helped the Aggies in the standings.  (They may be tied with GCU for the division lead.) 

 

(One quick other recap notice, Aggie Soccer’s season came to an end in the first round of the WAC Tournament.  They heartbreakingly lost to Lamar 1-0.  From the account, the Aggies peppered the Lamar goalie with twice the number of shots as theirs, but couldn’t get any of them into the net.  It was still an encouraging season.  Surprisingly, the games were being played in Abilene, and not at GCU in Phoenix.)

 

When I bought my ticket, a large, nice-looking family came in after me.  They were apparently with Utah Valley.  (Tickets were $5.  I cannot figure out why the price keeps going up and down on conference games.)  They sat behind the team across the court from us.  They didn’t wear the mandatory masks as demanded by our beloved governor.  The Aggie fans around them also discarded them.  The rest of us compliant dummies kept them on, regardless of how unscientific they are.  Pan-Am staff was short-handed because of the football game going on, so there weren’t any attendants walking up and down the aisles with mask signs. 

 

Out on court, Shaney Lipscomb wasn’t warming up with the team.  She was working out on an exercise bike with a jacket on and her left knee bandaged, but she looked like she’d be playing.  Lia Mosher was stretching on the floor and not working out with the team.  I was a bit concerned, since the Aggie bench was short.  The two girls did play a little one-on-one basketball with a volleyball against each other before the match, so they were okay to play.  Ron watched the Wolverines and scouted the team.  He thought they were pretty tall.  They also danced around to I Love It by Icona Pop over the PA.   

 

The crowd was pretty good.  A couple of middle school girl volleyball teams came in to watch.  The video board showed a couple of commercials for Jersey Mike’s subs.  Neither Ron nor I knew there was a Jersey Mike’s in town.  A quick search on Ron’s phone though, showed there wasn’t.  What a tease!  The subs looked so good, we were making lunch plans. 

 

There was some crowd singing along with the Anthem.  It was a bit of a poor chorus, but patriotic.  I don’t know if people wearing masks encouraged the singing (since you couldn’t see who was singing) or muffled it.  The Utah Valley team (hereafter designated UV) was their own cheering section and they were loud.  During player introductions, they jauntily waved to the crowd, like they forgot where they were.  There was another new team video.  It was okay.  Regular PA, Ed Carnathan, was at the football game, but his replacement (whose name I haven’t been able to catch), did an impersonation of him calling out Lia “Mooooosher’s” name.  The up official had a friendly chat with one of the ball girls on the sidelines for a moment.  And with that, we were underway.

 

Set 1

Shaney started off the match on the bench.  After a long rally on the first point, Lia Mosher (without the vowel emphasis, it’s not as impressive) started the set off with a whiff at the net.  It was an inauspicious beginning.  This was followed by Cat getting blocked, Katie Birtcil getting blocked, and pair of overpass kills by UV.  Just like that, it was 0-5 Wolverines.  Umm . . . Timeout Aggies. 

 

I was watching from across the court with his back turned, but Coach Jordan seemed fairly calm talking to the girls.  However, it was Shaney who seemed to do all the yelling when her teammates went back out on court, “Come on!  Get your heads in the game!  Let’s go!”  Okay, this is something I’ve wanted to see with this team, player leadership.  It doesn’t have to take the form of yelling and screaming, but somebody on the team needs to set the example and motivate her teammates.  It’s a little thing, but it’s what makes a talented team great.

 

Coach Jordan might have offered up something more practical, though, in his talk.  Katie dropped in a tip shot for the first Aggie point, instead of trying to get past the blocking.  2-6 Lia dunked one and Shaney came in.  I didn’t realize at the time that the seven starting players were going to be pretty much all of the rotation for the match.  3-7 Katie got a conventional kill.  4-8 Shaney got her first kill getting a touch on a crosscourt shot.  5-8 Cat kept the UV blockers honest with another tip.  6-8 Katie came flying in from the backcourt with a kill.  That’s becoming her signature shot. 

 

7-8 Shaney powered one down the line.  8-9 Cat came up with a kill.  She was all smiles afterward.  I think she was glad to getting more playing time.  9-10 Lia made her move with what I call, the Bearpaw.  10-10 Katie and Lia come up with a block to tie it.  The Aggies took the lead on the next point with an ace by setter, Carly Aigner-Swesey.  The PA kept pronouncing it, “Shwayzee.”  Hopefully, she wasn’t offended.  12-11 Cat painted the corner.  13-13 Lia with a slap kill.  14-13 Shaney on a block.  This is turning into a dogfight as the teams traded points.

 

16-16 Shaney pounded one into the pretty, small-looking blonde Wolverine libero, Bryton Bishop.  17-17 Carly improvised a dump shot on an overpass by Aggie libero, Darian Markham.  However, UV got out to a 17-20 lead on an ace.  Timeout Aggies.  At point, let me offer a small apology.  The action in this match was mostly furious enough that I had enough trouble just noting good Aggie plays.  Obviously, I’m pretty biased here in any case.  The Wolverines played well in the match, but I wasn’t able to note their most of their good plays. 

 

18-20 Katie came flying in from the backcourt, but tipped it for the kill.  19-20 a rare long rally in the match was terminated by Cat with a kill.  21-21 now the coach was screaming.  He was apparently trying to get a sub in to serve, but wasn’t allowed by the officials.  While the argument was going on, Cat went ahead and served and the Aggies took the point.  Lauryn Taylor then came in to serve.  22-21 Katie with another kill.  Timeout UV.  23-22 the Wolverines and Aggies kept trading points.  Katie got another kill here.  24-24 Mari Sharp saved a set point with a kill.  Finally though, Shaney was denied on a shot and the Wolverines took Set 1 in extra points, 24-26.

 

I went long in describing the conference situation.  Continued in Part 2