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...