RICKAROO - The New Mexico Sports Place

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...