Lately, it takes me three hours to watch a 48-minute NBA game. In this year's postseason, we saw 10 overtime periods, with one game in the Bulls-Celtics series going to triple-OT. Compare that to the playoffs in baseball and football, and it appears that, in basketball, games are far more likely to end regulation in a tie than in other sports.
He's listed as 5-feet-10-inches, but Mike Brownstein played with more stature than his frame suggests. And it's why the Milwaukee Brewers took the former Lobo in the 14th round of the 2009 MLB Draft. Brownstein was one of six UNM players taken in this year's amateur draft.
Don't call it beginner's luck. UNM javelin thrower Anthony Fairbanks has been competing for years. But in his first NCAA appearance, Fairbanks did something that hasn't been accomplished by a men's javelin thrower in more than 30 years. Fairbanks became the first Lobo to earn All-American honors since Frank Burgasser accomplished the feat in 1967.
Two current UNM football players, Byron Bell, 20, and Quintell Solomon, 19, were arrested early Sunday morning in Downtown Albuquerque, according to the Bernalillo County Metropolitan Court Web site. The two were charged with disorderly conduct and participating in a public affray.
Ty Singleton employed a not-so-common agricultural technique to softball this season. The UNM head coach slashed and burned much of the Lobos' roster at the beginning of the year. He knew it had to be done - even if it risked the immediate future of Lobo softball.
Seven fresh faces and four wily veterans for the UNM track and field team will compete in the NCAA Outdoor Championships in Fayetteville, Ark. "Sending a record 11 athletes to the NCAA championship is always a great thing," head coach Joe Franklin said. Senior javelin thrower Katie Coronado will try to top her second-place finish in the 2008 NCAA Championships, while Lee Emanuel will look to add another bullet to his résumé, which already boasts a first-place finish in the one-mile race of this year's NCAA Indoor Championships.
Albion W. Tourgee, a pioneer civil-rights activist in the late 1800s, once said, "Jesus Christ was a carpetbagger." If only he could have met Terrell Eldorado Owens. Owens is the ultimate carpetbagger. Much like the people of the Reconstruction Era that the term was used to describe, Owens invades teams as an outsider, infiltrates the organization and then tries to assume authority.
Mike Brownstein didn't resort to pulling out a bag of excuses. The UNM baseball team's second baseman did his best to make sense of the way the Lobos asphyxiated themselves down the stretch, causing the Lobos to lose out on a trip to an NCAA Regional. UNM's postseason aspirations were wiped out by consecutive losses in the Mountain West Conference Tournament, coupled with Utah becoming the first No.
There will be no LeBron James in the NBA Finals. No puppets, no chalk, no oddly protruding right mandible. In his place is the Orlando Magic, a team that has a star in Dwight Howard, but whose success relies mostly on unsexy things like defense and Hedo Turkoglu.
Superman's kryptonite is his mentor - oh, the irony. The Ewing Theory lives on - in Patrick Ewing's protégé, Dwight Howard. Howard isn't as great as he's hailed to be. As one of my favorite columnists, Bill Simmons, said, he's the "worst great player" in the NBA.
UNM head football coach Mike Locksley dipped into the New Mexico talent pool and snagged two top athletes from the Land of Enchantment. Incoming freshman Dante Caro was among the two New Mexicans to sign with the University. The other was Artesia's Dallas Bollema.
It's no longer the country boys versus the city boys. Beyond all the burnt offerings, the smoking Aggie and Lobo effigies, and the swank claims of superiority from each student body, the rivalry between UNM and NMSU isn't as contentious as we are led to believe.
Paul Aitken has a tricky task at hand. It's more difficult than hurling a lacrosse ball 100 mph at a goalkeeper. As president of UNM's lacrosse team, he has to sell lacrosse, a highly popular East-Coast sport, to UNM and the New Mexico community. Aitken had plenty of problems when he took over as president.
Ron Artest isn't the NBA's resident reprobate. He isn't a pit bull on a short leash. In fact, he's more Ronald McDonald than Ron the Ripper. Yet, he's being treated like a criminal. Truthfully, I feel for Artest. I'm not an Artest apologist, but I don't believe what happened in Detroit was entirely his fault.
Ousted. The UNM men's tennis visit to the NCAA Tournament was short and unsatisfying. The Lobos were kicked to the curb by 33rd-ranked Minnesota 4-0 on Friday in the first round of the NCAA Tournament in Los Angeles. UNM finishes the year 20-6 overall. Despite the lopsided score, head coach Alan Dils said he couldn't fault his team.
Steve Saunders is having a Most Valuable Player-caliber season in the mold of his favorite athlete - LeBron James. But Saunders isn't dominating the court; he's unmatched on the golf course. Saunders won the Mountain West Conference Golf Championships in Tucson, Ariz.
In the battle of the bats, the visitor took the victory Sunday at Lobo Field. UNLV spoiled the final home game for the UNM baseball team and its seniors. The Runnin' Rebels took the weekend series, 2-1, and won 13-11 in extra innings on Sunday. On Saturday, the Lobos out-hit the Runnin' Rebels 12-8, but UNM walked and plunked too many batsmen.
Karl Marx once told us that capitalism is "vampire-like," and that it lives only by draining the jugular of labor. A century later, mosquitoes - the bourgeois - are still sucking off oxen - the proletariat - and complaining about the blood quality. On Monday, Vanessa Strobbe wrote a column addressing the uneven distribution of funds among UNM's varsity sports.
A win by UNM senior javelin thrower Anthony Fairbanks broke the gloom of a rainy day at the Don Kirby Memorial Invitational. Three lightning delays halted action for more than an hour and a half at the UNM Track Stadium, but Fairbanks wasn't affected by the distractions.
Home sweet home - at least for the weekend. The UNM baseball team is glad to be back in the Land of Enchantment after a three-game losing streak that rode from the edge of the Sierra Nevadas to the Great Plains. UNM dropped a 12-11 decision to BYU, only to follow that with two losses to Nebraska, 4-2 and 9-5.
Solutions by The State News
