Goodbye, Las Cruces
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