RICKAROO - The New Mexico Sports Place

Let me start, first of all, by wishing everyone a happy holiday season and a happy and prosperous new year. Let me follow that, though, by saying that in my very humble opinion whoever invented the term “politically correct” was an idiot. (If that offends anyone, I’m deeply sorry). What I think is what I think and what I believe is what I believe, and anyone who dismisses my thoughts and beliefs as politically correct is merely saying those thoughts and beliefs run counter to his/her thoughts and beliefs. The PC thing is simply a label and a weapon — and a stupid one. As for the flip side, people who proudly label themselves as politically incorrect, like HBO’s Bill Maher, are really saying “I’m better and smarter than the rest of you.” Pure arrogance. With this in mind, let me proceed with my No Class lumps of coal: Sunday, Cleveland Browns quarterback Baker Mayfield saw fit to once again taunt former Browns head coach and current Cincinnati Bengals assistant Hue Jackso...

A while back, someone decided the plus-minus category that long has been a part of hockey statistics should be applied to basketball as well. I don’t closely follow hockey, but I’ve always assumed plus-minus is of value there, where it originated. In basketball, in my humble opinion, plus-minus is as useful as a fork in a soup kitchen. The concept is so simple that, on its face, it would seem to make sense. It measures how a team does when a particular player is in the game. A plus number means a team outscored the opposition when that player was on the court; a minus number means the opposite.  In practice, plus-minus simply doesn’t compute.  Example: the New Mexico Lobos’ 82-70 victory over Central Arkansas on Sunday afternoon at Dreamstyle Arena in Albuquerque. The final statistics show UNM senior guard Anthony Mathis with a team-best plus-16. They show Lobos junior forward/post Carlton Bragg with a team-worst minus-4.  Those numbers are virtually meanin...

As Mike Locksley became the likely candidate to become Maryland’s next head football coach, stories in the media invariably mentioned the off-the-field behavioral problems he experienced while the head coach at the University of New Mexico (2009-11).  Fair? Of course. What one has said and done in the past never goes away, especially in the Internet/social media era. (Just ask Kevin Hart). That’s all behind him, Locksley said, and Maryland believes. He was introduced on Thursday as the  Terrapins’ new coach.  As one who covered Locksley’s tenure at New Mexico, first as a columnist, then as a beat writer, I believe as well that the off-the-field issues that dogged him in Albuquerque will not reoccur in College Park. It’s on-the-field issues that concern me. Regarding the off-the-field stuff — an office manager’s sex-discrimination complaint, a physical altercation with a wide receivers coach, alleged intimidation of a UNM student newspaper reporter at a sports b...

I first became acquainted with In-N-Out hamburger restaurants in the mid-1950s.  We were visiting my maternal grandparents, who lived in La Puente, Calif. (though back then it was just Puente).  One evening, my grandmother suggested we jump in the car and go get burgers from a place called In-N-Out. Our destination might have been the company’s original location in Baldwin Park, or perhaps an early addition in Covina. The two cities were essentially equidistant from La Puente. Truly, the experience was a revelation. Calling our order into a squawk-box, pulling up to a window, paying and getting our food without even getting out of the car: wow, my 8- to 10-year-old self thought. This could catch on! As long ago as it was, I remember as well that my hamburger was really good. On Thursday, Albuquerque Journal business writer Marie Baca reported that, with In-N-Out planning to locate a warehouse in Colorado Springs,  the long-discussed possibility of the hamburger...

I’ve known Sandy Martinez-Pino for some 35 years. While covering boxing for the Albuquerque Journal, I came to rely on Sandy — a devoted steward of the sport on many different levels — for her knowledge, expertise and counsel. Sandy, suffering from heart problems, died on Sept. 28 at age 65. Her funeral service today (Oct. 10) at Our Lady of Fatima Catholic Church was attended by family, friends, Albuquerque Police Department co-workers and people from the boxing community. I talked with Sandy frequently over the years, exchanging information and opinions. Usually, we talked on the phone, or at events that she was working and I was covering. Occasionally, though, we’d meet for lunch. The last time we’d done lunch was about a year ago at a West Side Italian restaurant. That day, I arrived before her, and — as I got out of my car — realized I had no money. I’d left home without my money clip. “Sandy, I’m sorry,” I said when she arrived, “but I’m broke.” Of course, she said, “No probl...

When I chose to retire this summer after 41 years at the Albuquerque Journal and eight as the Journal’s University of New Mexico football beat writer, I knew what I was giving up. I was OK with that — at least, with most of it. I was aware that in upcoming seasons, starting with last week’s game in Madison, Wis., the Lobos would be playing at some of college football’s most celebrated venues and compelling atmospheres: Wisconsin. Notre Dame. LSU. USC at the L.A. Coliseum. UCLA at the Rose Bowl. I would be passing up those opportunities. I was OK with that. A press box is a press box, and when you’re covering a game, rather than watching from the stands, you don’t get the full flavor. And most if not all of these games, like UNM games I covered at Texas, Pittsburgh and Texas A&M, promise to be lopsided losses for the Lobos and not particularly pleasant to write about. In two of every four years, as the Mountain West Conference inter-divisional schedule rotates, the Lobos wo...

Some thoughts on the New Mexico Lobos’ 45-14 loss at Wisconsin on Saturday: In this cyberspace last week, I flatly stated that the talent gap between Wisconsin and New Mexico was greater than that between New Mexico and Incarnate Word. Upon further review, I believe I was wrong — but by how much, I’m not sure. It’s fun, and fair, to speculate how much better the Lobos might have done had starting quarterback Tevaka Tuioti not left the game with an injury early in the second quarter. That, however, falls into the category of ifs and buts. Tevaka or no Tevaka, the Badgers’ superior personnel on both sides of the ball was going to be decisive in the end. No doubt. Sheriron Jones, in unexpected relief of Tuioti, obviously did not play well. His three turnovers were instrumental in turning a close game into a 31-point laugher. But, if Jones is the starter Saturday against New Mexico State, and if he knows he’s the starter and gets the first-team reps all week, I believe he’ll do well ag...

We’ve all seen Academy Awards shows, right? Each year, the losing nominees, however disappointed they might actually be, smile and applaud for the winner. They’re actors, right? But I’ll never forget Burt Reynolds’ reaction in 1998 when Robin Williams for “Good Will Hunting” and not Reynolds for “Boogie Nights” won the Oscar for best actor in a supporting role: pure, unvarnished devastation. Reynolds, a wonderful actor when he was given the chance to be, died on Thursday, Sept. 6 at age 82. Too often — and I guess this was partly his fault — Reynolds was dismissed as a comedy/action star who, like John Wayne and sometimes James Garner, was dismissed as basically playing himself. Just a big, good-looking guy whom women wanted and men wanted to be. Clearly, this haunted him throughout his career. I remember seeing him on a talk show, noting that his former girlfriend Sally Field — who’d begun her career on TV as “The Flying Nun” — had metamorphized into an Oscar winner in “Norma Ra...

Some thoughts regarding the New Mexico Lobos’ 62-30 opening-night victory over Incarnate Word on Saturday: The talent gap that exists between UNM and its next opponent, Wisconsin, is greater than that between UNM and Incarnate Word. Next Saturday’s game at Camp Randall promises to be the every bit the bloodbath one would expect.  Of course, giving up 30 points to an FCS team that went 1-10 last year is cause for grave concern. Yet, UNM’s defensive performance was not as bad as those 30 points — and even the yield of 566 yards —might suggest. After UIW kicked a field goal to trim the Lobos’ lead to 28-16 with 1:01 left in the second quarter, UNM held the Cardinals scoreless for the next 20:51. During that span, UIW managed just 44 yards on 18 plays. The Cardinals’ last two touchdowns, and 161 of those yards, came against a UNM defense populated almost totally with backups. You like to get your backups experience, though you might wish they’d played better than they did. And, e...

Not sticking to sports ... Like Relish sandwich shop, which I blogged about recently, Ruben’s Grill Mexican restaurant is a place I’d driven past literally thousands of times and never stopped. Finally, on Saturday, I did. Muy sabroso. My normal M.O. on Saturdays, since that’s generally a 4 p.m.-midnight work shift for me, is to pick up something to go and eat it at my desk — thus fortified for the long night ahead. This past Saturday, though, my wife, Barbara, and I had a successful garage sale. We decided to spend some of our well-gotten booty on a sit-down lunch. It turns out our next-door neighbors were longtime fans of Ruben’s and highly recommended it. They were not wrong. Anyone who lives in Albuquerque knows there are hundreds of Mexican restaurants in our city. Even restaurants that don’t specialize in Mexican fare often have enchiladas, tacos, etc., on their menus. It is, thus, hard to stand out among the crowd. Without having tried all the competition, or anything...

For your consideration ... The above essay by longtime ESPN anchor Kenny Mayne is an echo, in a way, of a blog I recently posted reminiscing about my reaction to John Carlos’ and Tommie Smith’s Olympic protest of almost 50 years ago. Not many people read my blog, and that’s OK. I’m no Kenny Mayne. Whether you read that particular blog or didn’t, I hope you’ll read Mayne’s essay. The subject at hand is always timely, but especially so for me because just this morning the Albuquerque Journal published yet another Sports Speakup item from a gentleman who says he’s refusing to attend University of New Mexico football games this season. He’s still angry because, last Sept. 30, five UNM players knelt during an unscheduled playing of the national anthem at halftime of the Lobos-Air Force game. He’s angrier still because, at a subsequent news conference, UNM coach Bob Davie supported the players’ right to do so. As I wrote in my previous blog, my 20-year-old self initially was deeply o...

Not sticking to sports ... In my efforts to lose weight, or at least not gain any, my typical lunch is a frozen entree of 400 calories or less. But Saturday is my cheat day. Recently, in my part-time retirement gig at the Albuquerque Journal, Saturday is a work day (4 p.m. until we’re done).  I’ve been grabbing a late lunch to go and eating at my desk. After a lifetime of McDonald’s, Wendy’s, Burger King, Subway, etc., I’ve been looking for something different. So far, so good. A week ago Saturday, I tried Relish — a sandwich shop at 8019 Menaul, just west of Wyoming on the north side of the street. I’d driven past it literally thousands of times before stopping. I’m glad I did. I ordered the Lobo beef (and why not), a hot sandwich with two of my favorite sandwich ingredients: green Chile and avocado. The sandwich was huge, and the bread was excellent. The order came with a container of potato salad that easily could have fed two people. I’ve seen some negative reviews of Rel...

On Oct. 16, 1968 in Mexico City, American track athletes Tommie Smith and John Carlos scandalized a nation and the world by bowing their heads and raising gloved fists during the playing of the U.S. national anthem on the Olympic medal podium. No doubt, as the 50th anniversary approaches, a great deal will be said and written about that momentous day. But why wait? That moment is as relevant today as it was then — or will be 66 days from now. I remember that day so well, how it shocked and angered me to see two American athletes disrespect their country in front of the world. Slowly, though, it dawned on me: as a 20-year-old white kid from Albuquerque's Northeast Heights who had never experienced racial discrimination, I wasn’t SUPPOSED  to like it. All Smith and Carlos wanted from people like me was that we’d at least think about it. Eventually, gradually,  I did. And I consider that day a seminal moment in the evolution of my thoughts and beliefs regarding race in our ...

To paraphrase our president: If Brutus Buckeye shot  https://i.pinimg.com/originals/3b/ed/5d/3bed5dbfe98ea75d5b08b93308ba9879.gif someone on Fifth Avenue, I would still be an Ohio State football fan. In my case, however, love is not blind. Not quite, anyway. As a kid, I picked out teams from each region of the country as my football favorites: USC in the Far West, UNM in the Rockies, Texas in the Southwest, Georgia Tech in the South and Navy in the East. And Ohio State in the Midwest. Over the years, my rooting interest in USC and Texas — for no particular reason — waned. My chosen line of work as a sports writer, covering the Lobos has prevented me from rooting for UNM. How much that will change in my retirement is yet to be seen. My love for the Yellow Jackets, the Midshipmen and the Buckeyes, however, has flowed unabated. Not that, in the case of Ohio State, it has been easy. There was the Woody Hayes slugging incident. The Art Schlichter gambling scandals. Jim Tressel’s...

I’m not sticking to sports in retirement, but I’m not leaving it, either. Politics? Only on the periphery. That’s a morass into which I choose not to get sucked. But even the periphery is fascinating and alarming enough. Case in point:  https://www.thedailybeast.com/new-poll-43-of-republicans-want-to-give-trump-the-power-to-shut-down-media Obviously, Donald Trump’s attacks on the news media are in play here. (And yes, in my effort to stay unsucked from the morass, I acknowledge his supporters feel the “fake” media is getting what it deserves). Many years ago, though, my former Albuquerque Journal colleague Dennis Latta related to me a conversation he’d had with a state legislator of his acquaintance — a man who believed journalists should be licensed by the state of New Mexico in the same fashion as are boxers, beauticians, undertakers, etc. etc. Write a story that doesn’t meet the state’s approval, no license. Either he hadn’t heard of the First Amendment or disagreed with it....

Thank you, UNM Athletics for the honor you gave me yesterday.  Your kind words were humbling.  I will treasure my shirt always and if I can ever reverse time and actually play football, this is the jersey I will proudly wear!

I'll be going "live" in a while.  I'll keep you posted via Facebook!