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.
Dear Philadelphia Eagles fans and players: I was going to be classy. I wasn't going to say one word about it, reference it, mention the score - 41-37 - analyze it, let alone write a column about it. But then I remembered. I remembered the time "The Playmaker," Michael Irvin, lay motionless after his head was driven into the turf at Veterans Stadium by defensive back Tim Hauck.
With UNM football receiving most of the attention during the fall semester, it's easy to overlook smaller sports such as cross country. But the UNM men's cross country team has a pre-season ranking at No. 15 in the U.S. The ranking is the highest UNM has had since 1989, and it's the first appearance in the national poll since 2004.
After two weeks of the 2008 NFL season, there are 10 teams with an undefeated record of 2-0. Oh, and what a coincidence that both conferences share five undefeated teams a piece. I have joined the bandwagon and sadly must admit that the Dallas Cowboys can win the 2009 Super Bowl.
Nothing needed to be said. The score - 36-28 UNM - served as the sole motivating purpose for the Lobo football team's defense when it took the field with 1:27 left in the fourth quarter. "Every single guy knew that the game was on the defense's shoulders," linebacker Zach Arnett said.
After joining the UNM football team, Clint McPeek was told to eat a little bit more McDonald's. McPeek, who is UNM's 6-feet-1-inch, 227 pound Lobo back, has had to beef up, adding 50 pounds to his frame since coming to New Mexico. But all that weight is muscle.
UNM forward Hannah Hand continues to make her way up the all-time assist list. Hand, who came into Sunday's game with 14 assists, dished out 15 and 16 as UNM glided past the Knights of Fairleigh Dickinson 5-0 at the UNM Soccer Complex. She now trails alumna Laurie Hegedorn by only seven assists, with Hegedorn at 23.
That column I wrote a couple weeks ago in which I proudly proclaimed "America will finally - after waiting nearly 14 years - witness America's Team win its first Super Bowl since 1995" is starting to develop nicely. I'd call it a prophecy, but last time I did that, well, prophecy kind of faltered.
Solutions by The State News
