James Aho, by all definitions, fits the quaint, stereotypical mold of a kicker. He is reserved and reluctant to talk - to the point that one of Aho's teammates playfully volunteered to speak on his behalf. "I told you guys to block me off," Aho said, jaw-jabbing at his lockermates for pointing him out.
As much as Lobo fans hate the Aggies, they might just owe them a Hallmark thank-you card at the end of the season. After a 35-24 win over NMSU pulled the Lobos to 2-3 overall and 0-1 in the Mountain West Conference, UNM cornerback Glover Quin said this week's Homecoming game against Wyoming might be the defining point in the Lobos' season.
While Donovan Porterie was studying film on the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, his family was busy preparing for Hurricane Ike. Porterie, a Port Arthur, Texas, native, said his family was affected by the storm that whipped across the Texas coastline. "They had a mandatory evacuation two or three days before the Tulsa game," Porterie said.
UNM made its homecoming in style Thursday with a 3-0 win over BYU in Mountain West Conference volleyball action. After being away from Johnson Gym for more than a month, the Lobos swept the 21st-ranked Cougars 25-22, 25-19, 25-17. "We executed our game plan and moved the ball around well," head coach Jeff Nelson said.
Since 2000, the AFC has been the superior conference in the NFL, with the 2002 Tampa Bay Buccaneers and 2007 New York Giants being the only NFC teams to win Super Bowls this decade. But after New York's monumental upset of then 18-0 New England in the Super Bowl - coupled with Tom Brady's season-ending injury - it seems the balance of power has shifted to the NFC.
It's Homecoming Week and UNM redshirt freshman quarterback Brad Gruner's first home start. Gruner will make his second career start Saturday and will look for his second career win. In his first collegiate start last week against NMSU, Gruner trudged through a dismal first half of offense, helping the Lobos storm back to beat the Aggies with 25 second-half points.
After coming out smokin' and leading its nearest competitor by five strokes, the UNM men's golf team let its lead slip away to UNLV in the last 18 holes Saturday. The Lobos, who hosted the William H. Tucker Intercollegiate Tournament, took second place with a combined score of 1-under par - 11 strokes behind UNLV.
LAS CRUCES - UNM cornerback Glover Quin capped Saturday night with a message for Aggie fans. "Tell them to get in their little bitty cars and drive home," he said. Of course, NMSU was already home. It was the sweetest possible way for the Lobos to win - and the most unsavory way for the Aggies to lose.
LAS CRUCES - Paul Baker didn't get the memo that the UNM football team belonged to Rodney Ferguson. The 5-feet-7-inch, 198 pound Baker, who is known for his nimble running style, rammed out 146 yards on 37 rushes Saturday against the New Mexico State Aggies.
The UNM softball team wasted no time in its first two games of the fall season. The Lobos run-ruled West Texas A&M twice Saturday, beating them 8-0 in both games. Senior pitcher Analise Rubalcava threw a one-hitter in the first game but credited the entire team.
Break out the banners. Pack the celebratory cigars. It's Lobos and Aggies - an interstate battle between the University's football program and its brotherly counterpart in the heart of the south. It's safe to say, as ESPN columnist Bill Simmons once pointed out, there is a difference between a rivalry and a feud.
Even in a rivalry between two schools that has brewed for 114 years, new traditions between UNM and NMSU continue to surface. In its second year, the Rio Grande Rivalry Football Run is getting more attention. This year, the UNM and NMSU ROTC cadets are running Saturday's game ball from UNM's practice field to Aggie Memorial Stadium in Las Cruces.
It has never been en vogue to be left-handed. Some say the life of a left-hander is rougher. But senior Mackenzie White, the first left-handed Lobo women's tennis player since 1990, doesn't see it that way. "I like being left-handed," White said. "It is different; it is a change for everyone else.
Staff Report It was golf's equivalent to a photo finish. The No. 19 UNM women's golf team battled No. 8 Pepperdine to the end. Ultimately, it was the lower-seeded Lobos that prevailed. UNM shot a team total of 872 to Pepperdine's 876. Coming into Sunday's third round, UNM and Pepperdine were tied, but UNM shot a 5-under 287 in the final round to claim the McGuire Invitational.
The aroma of Wilson tennis balls filled the air as the UNM women's tennis team hosted its first tournament of the year at the UNM Tennis Complex. The team was led by senior Ola Abou-Zekry. Abou-Zekry and Anya Villanueva Forte represented the Lobos in two finals.
Six-feet, five-inch Lobo men's basketball player Tony Danridge wears a size 14 shoe. He is one of four returning starters from last year's team. He is only 248 points away from making his 1,000th for the Lobos. But he never thought he would play Division-I college basketball.
UNM women's tennis head coach Kathy Kolankiewicz announced Wednesday that she plans to retire after the 2008-09 season. Roy Canada, assistant coach to Kolankiewicz for 12 seasons, will take over July 1. Kolankiewicz said she has mixed emotions about coaching her last season.
With a win under its belt, the UNM football team will look to weather the storm Saturday when it travels to Tulsa and into the eye of the Golden Hurricane. The Lobos haven't played Tulsa since 1997. In that game - when both teams were members of the Western Athletic Conference - UNM was victorious, dismantling the Golden Hurricane 51-13 to clinch the WAC Championship title under former head coach Dennis Franchione.
For a team that once boasted the likes of stand-up players like Reggie Miller, the Indiana Pacers' organization has spent the last few years searching for an identity. Too often the first and most popular image that comes to mind when somebody mentions the Pacers is the infamous "Malice at the Palace," where members of the Pacers, including Ron Artest and Jermaine O'Neal, leaped into the stands and pounded on Detroit Pistons fans.
It has all the common elements of a baseball game: pride, blood, sweat, tears, bats and balls. If only cricket had the same faithful followers as baseball. At the grassroots level, cricket is a less celebrated version of baseball, lacking in the pageantry and national attachment that has popularized America's pastime.
Solutions by The State News
