That Will Do

Long Live the Sun Bowl

(WRITER'S NOTE: While finishing up a little holiday va-ca, here is a redux of a column I wrote awhile back that is pertinent considering El Paso's bowl season is upon us once again. This one's for the Brut Sun Bowl volunteers. Thanks...DRK)

The plastic cups and popcorn bags will rustle in the breeze that always winds up chasing its tail in the Sun Bowl, a swirling wind stirring discarded programs that just a few hours earlier were worth the space created in somebody’s wallet or purse.

America will move on to more important bowl games this next week and leave the Brut Sun Bowl behind. But while it lasted, El Paso’s septuagenarian event showed, once again, that the old fella still throws one heckuva party, even if it is considered a lesser light in the bowl universe.

Importance? That is relative.

As any good Sun Bowl Association volunteer knows, you get out what you put in. And – though they’ll probably not see reimbursement money for the credit card maxed out by bar tabs, late-night pizza deliveries and the drugstore’s entire rack of Chaser anti-hangover pills – they know because they show how important the Sun Bowl game is to El Paso.

The volunteers are those behind-the-scenes people who get visitors to pluck the word “hospitable” from their hats when describing the Sun City’s annual New Year’s Eve-or-thereabouts party.

This is important in an age when many in the media and elsewhere take a look at the NCAA’s slate of 32 bowl games and ask “Why?”

Well, says El Paso, why not? Why should anyone need an excuse to throw a party everyone enjoys?

It says here that if lightning strikes the NCAA President’s and Athletic Director’s Committees today and America gets a Division 1A playoff tomorrow, the Sun Bowl will still live. Why? Because El Paso has fun with its bowl game. Visitors to the city feel that, and they like it.

Sun Bowl Association members should take a deep bow.

Hearing about UTEP’s Humanitarian Bowl experience in 2000 puts it in perspective. The words “bowl organizer” were mutually exclusive to game officials in Boise, ID. The Miners were left to organize their own activities, which, in beautiful Boise meant finding a couple of movies after practice.

El Pasoans may roll their eyes upon seeing news footage of yet another trip to the local boot factory or the bloodless bullfights in Cd. Juárez, but it sure beats a brisk Boise mall-walk and snowball fights in the hotel parking lot.

What is not mentioned come Sun Bowl week is the group of hundreds of locals who burn their vacation time and give up family Christmases to chaperone players and coaches and media hacks anywhere and everywhere else in the Borderland that wouldn’t make headlines – sometimes avoiding the headlines.

More than one visitor has been bailed out of a south-of-the-border fix by bowl volunteers and was amazed to discover how well Ben Franklin speaks Spanish.

The volunteers do it because they love their city, they love the game and they love a good fiesta. Which is why El Paso has the Sun Bowl in the first place.

Importance? As long as El Pasoans believe the game is important, everyone else can think what they want.

Besides, the next shipment of Chaser is due soon. Now, that’s important.

Reggie Was Just Happy

Hey now, Coach Reggie, is that a rivalry under your skin or are you just happy to Theus?

Must be happiness. What else could it be to cause Reggie to jump so high? Surely not a rivalry -- according to Reggie, NMSU doesn't have a real rivalry with UTEP in this front-running border town.

After Theus' Aggies deservedly swept the Miners with clutch shooting down the stretch in the Haskins Center last Saturday, Coach Reggie was jumping.

Mosh-jumping with his team in the Aggies' final timeout huddle. Jumping around in front of the Miners' student section. Jumping in front of the donor section, jumping from one end of the Don to the other. 

Talk about "Hang Time".

Reggie's foray into Hollywood aside, this was one happy, humble man Saturday.

Pirouettes, spins, mad hops – not lookin' for his props, now – all with his finger pointed to the sky, surely not at the fans or the scoreboard. Resplendent in his silken best, he wasn't Carl Weathers -- he was John Travolta!

No matter the opponent, Reggie’s team had stayed alive. Oh, the joy of winning just another unimportant December non-conference game! Rivalry-shmivalry, Theus wasn't upset at raspberry-blowing UTEP fans, he was hopping...glad.

It couldn't have been the fact that, in questioning how big a rivalry this series is, he awakened the monsters under his bed – or the UTEP donors behind his bench, anyway – inspiring them to new highs in lows.

Who did we just get finished talking about two blogs ago? A raspy-voiced restaurateur (at least in his commercials) with a rules manual in hand, a lawyer who researches coaches like a prosecutor and a contractor who would rather take a staple gun to the forehead than back down. Just to name three.

Not that they got under Reggie's skin. Not at all. Besides, an announced crowd of just over 10,000 is not the stuff of real rivalries. Those boosters would have to do a lot more than stay on Theus the entire night to turn him into Reggie Rabbit-Ears. 

But hopping around like a lunatic after beating those front-running losers? Could that make UTEP a...r-rrri…? 

Nah. Perish the thought and pass the microphone – Reggie wanted to express his joy after the game. He was certainly not feeling cheeky as the head coach of a program that plays second media fiddle in both El Paso and Albuquerque. And there would be no blame-shifting to excuse his antics at this post-game press conference.

Regarding that incident with security in the Haskins Center tunnel, well, when he was an assistant at Louisville, Reggie was always losing track of his suitcoat and threatening to press charges against thieving fans of the opposition. What was the big deal about doing the same thing in El Paso?  Happens all the time. So what if Theus later discovered an assistant had brought it up to the locker room.

As for the accusation that maybe he’s not providing the best of examples to his team on the same night Carmelo Anthony was sucker-punching his way to a blue Christmas, New Year and very nearly Groundhog Day, that’s not true at all. He was teaching his team to express joy, to get in touch with themselves by shouting at the top of their lungs and chest-bumping their 49-year-old coach. 

Forget that all this was on the floor of the team they were about to vanquish in full view of its fans. It was too important a moment in the development of these young men to wait until they got to the locker room. 

Rubbing it in? Only guys with chips on their shoulders and poor sports do that.

Hey now, Coach Reggie, is that a rivalry under your skin or are you just happy to Theus?

Must be happiness. What else could it be to cause Reggie to jump so high? Surely not a rivalry -- according to Reggie, NMSU doesn't have a real rivalry with UTEP in this front-running border town.

After Theus' Aggies deservedly swept the Miners with clutch shooting down the stretch in the Haskins Center last Saturday, Coach Reggie was jumping.

Mosh-jumping with his team in the Aggies' final timeout huddle. Jumping around in front of the Miners' student section. Jumping in front of the donor section, jumping from one end of the Don to the other. 

Talk about "Hang Time".

Reggie's foray into Hollywood aside, this was one happy, humble man Saturday.

Pirouettes, spins, mad hops – not lookin' for his props, now – all with his finger pointed to the sky, surely not at the fans or the scoreboard. Resplendent in his silken best, he wasn't Carl Weathers -- he was John Travolta!

No matter the opponent, Reggie’s team had stayed alive. Oh, the joy of winning just another unimportant December non-conference game! Rivalry-shmivalry, Theus wasn't upset at raspberry-blowing UTEP fans, he was hopping...glad.

It couldn't have been the fact that, in questioning how big a rivalry this series is, he awakened the monsters under his bed – or the UTEP donors behind his bench, anyway – inspiring them to new highs in lows.

Who did we just get finished talking about two blogs ago? A raspy-voiced restaurateur (at least in his commercials) with a rules manual in hand, a lawyer who researches coaches like a prosecutor and a contractor who would rather take a staple gun to the forehead than back down. Just to name three.

Not that they got under Reggie's skin. Not at all. Besides, an announced crowd of just over 10,000 is not the stuff of real rivalries. Those boosters would have to do a lot more than stay on Theus the entire night to turn him into Reggie Rabbit-Ears. 

But hopping around like a lunatic after beating those front-running losers? Could that make UTEP a...r-rrri…? 

Nah. Perish the thought and pass the microphone – Reggie wanted to express his joy after the game. He was certainly not feeling cheeky as the head coach of a program that plays second media fiddle in both El Paso and Albuquerque. And there would be no blame-shifting to excuse his antics at this post-game press conference.

Regarding that incident with security in the Haskins Center tunnel, well, when he was an assistant at Louisville, Reggie was always losing track of his suitcoat and threatening to press charges against thieving fans of the opposition. What was the big deal about doing the same thing in El Paso?  Happens all the time. So what if Theus later discovered an assistant had brought it up to the locker room.

As for the accusation that maybe he’s not providing the best of examples to his team on the same night Carmelo Anthony was sucker-punching his way to a blue Christmas, New Year and very nearly Groundhog Day, that’s not true at all. He was teaching his team to express joy, to get in touch with themselves by shouting at the top of their lungs and chest-bumping their 49-year-old coach. 

Forget that all this was on the floor of the team they were about to vanquish in full view of its fans. It was too important a moment in the development of these young men to wait until they got to the locker room. 

Rubbing it in? Only guys with chips on their shoulders and poor sports do that.

Who's Name-Calling?

OK, I guess I didn't make myself sufficiently clear in my last blog. Most folks read "classlessness" and "Aggies fans" and assumed I was picking on kids in Las Cruces.

I'll chase my tail a little bit, here, just to let folks know that's not the case. I'm simply not going to get into name-calling -- unless an individual warrants it -- and I especially won't single out a group of people in their late teens and early twenties having some fun at college. The "kids having fun" bit was part of the gist of the blog. As I wrote, "What should we expect from a bunch of 18-to-21-year-olds away from the parentals?"

Many letter-writers thought I shouldn't single out Aggies student-fans. I'm not trying to. It WAS loud and obnoxious and, at times, profane during Aggies-Miners 1. But as I said in the first blog: "It's not supposed to be nice."

Perhaps I ruffled some Aggie feathers by comparing them to UTEP students, who tend not to be AS profane. Oh well. If that upset some folks, then I can safely say you weren't reading closely enough and took what you wanted from the first blog.

I reiterate, it is fun to have the rivalry back again, and the crowd was directly responsible.

Aggie Amplitude

At times, it was Bambi-On-Ice brutal. All elbows and hips and missed layups. But this last battle in the War of I-10 was fun in a way it hasn’t been in awhile. 

Put it in the books: 71-69, Aggies, in a game that reflected the venue for the first leg of the UTEP-NMSU hoops rivalry. 

While the Pan American Center gets ugly as it undergoes extensive plastic surgery – including implants, with a new practice court and team office complex – so too did the Miners and Aggies.

But, phantom time outs (AUDIO: Download barbee_regarding_stefon_outofbounds.mp3) and 58 fouls aside (AUDIO: Download barbee_players_should_decide.mp3 ) , it was the welcome noise of an obnoxious sold-out crowd that made this rivalry game sound like one again. It was so loud and profane, you could almost see Neil McCarthy’s slack-jawed, arm-flapping whine on the sidelines. You remember that look – like a garbage scow gull with the nerve to be upset at the menu.

McCarthy’s antics were always amplified by 12,000-plus rough-and-ready Aggies.

That’s the attitude NMSU coach Reggie Theus has wanted in Las Cruces. An attitude missing since Theus’ predecessor and McCarthy’s successor, Lou Henson, chided the student section for expletives not deleted and Aggie basketball got nice for awhile.

It’s not supposed to be nice. This is a university whose yearbook was named the Swastika for half a century after World War II. This is a university with the following lyrics in its fight song:

“And when we win this game
We’ll buy a keg of booze
And we’ll drink to the Aggies
‘Til we wobble in our shoes”

Keep in mind these things were institutions at NMSU long before National Socialism and M.A.D.D. The point is merely that New Mexico State is no bastion of political correctness.

Credit Reggie Theus for resurrecting the Ags’ inner punk.

Theus has actively questioned why he has to play four games against New Mexico and especially UTEP. He wondered if these were real rivalries. He has answered his own questions about the rivalries (AUDIO: Download theus_panamaniacs_are_back.mp3 ) with a mix of better basketball and a magnetic personality. His suave but in-your-face style has turned up the heat and made his team and his wardrobe something NMSU students want to see.

As it is, the university is a Southwestern capirotada – city kids from Albuquerque and El Paso, kickers from Jal and Hagerman, blue collar kids from mining country in Lordsburg and Deming. Put these personality types together and you get attitude stew.

Ole Miss or Princeton it ain’t. For this group, “Gentility” is who’s dancing at the party.

A lot has been made of the relative classlessness of Aggies fans. Here’s a question in response: What should we expect from a bunch of 18-to-21-year-olds away from the parentals? 

True, nobody wants a basketball game to be rated PG-13 when bringing kids to enjoy the game. UTEP has done an excellent job of generating student interest and, hands down, MinerManiacs have the PanAmaniacs when it comes to staying somewhat expletive-free while maintaining good irritant levels.

We should also give kudos to the hardcore, heavyweight UTEP boosters who buy tickets right behind the opponent’s bench specifically to invent new and creative ways to make neckless, sleeveless dark jerseys chafe like wool turtlenecks. NMSU may have its student section, but they don't have anything on a practicing attorney with the vocabulary to burn your ears without once using a profanity, not to mention the Godfather.

But for the Aggies, as long as Reggie is happy the university won’t stifle genuine feeling, even if it is tinged blue. Because that makes for more green.

Speaking of, our understanding is that NMSU president Michael Martin has opened the taps to sell beer at the PanAm Center and Aggie Memorial Stadium.

Oy vey.

 

 

No Explanations Necessary for Price

Ever get that guilty feeling when driving by a business to which you owe money, possibly including late fees, that the business was locked on to you with a giant scanning device that targets the magnetic strip on your debit card and sucks your bank account dry?

You know you owe, but you want to hang on to what little you may have.

And maybe you drive by a little faster.

Origins of this feeling aside – ahem – Mike Price doesn’t appear to be driving any faster or avoiding eye contact or neglecting to shake hands with any of UTEP’s 22,000-plus 2006 season ticket holders.

He can’t, really. That would be flinching, and building a successful football program is as much playing a game of chicken with Doubt as anything.

As to whether or not he owes anybody, roughly half a million dollars a year says yes.

But what does he owe, exactly?

Many fans seem to think it’s an explanation for a disappointing 5-7 season. That would be incorrect.

Besides, if anyone noticed the Miners’ Total Yards Rushing stat from the last game against Memphis, who needs an explanation? 

That would be the number five.

Rushing totals should at least be a big enough number to challenge a kindergartner to count that high.

The Miners’ individual game rushing totals for 2006 would get them held back from first grade.

No explanations needed. Lack of a running game, and moreover a lack of toughness doomed the Miners to their 5-7 finish.

Price himself has already admitted as much.

A lot was made of the 28 seniors at the beginning of the season, but honestly, the offensive line did not block well, the secondary was outsized and the linebacking corps was in need of speed.

If UTEP had lacked the star power of Jordan Palmer and Johnnie Lee Higgins the Miners’ win total might have been late Nordian.

Five-and-seven a blessing? Troubling, but possible.

There are still more fans who think a few paint-peeling halftime tirades by Price would have made a difference.

That won’t happen, nor should it.

Price has emphasized that he is a Norman Vincent Peale kind of a coach. He does not shout down his players, he talks them up. He depends on them to be responsible enough, to be tough enough.

To be man enough.

The Miners, frankly, weren’t.

Take it easy now, fellas. This isn’t to question beard-growin’ and squat-pressin’.

Remember, testosterone defines manhood like the mole defines Cindy Crawford.

This has to do with maturity. Lessons didn’t seem to be learned during the season. The team lacked exclamation points to signify the end of one phase of growth and the beginning of another.

The result was a meandering, repetitive season with a team that made no overall statement, just sprinkled in some notable (but parenthetical) individual highlights.

Isn’t this the coach’s responsibility? Sure, but let’s not confuse responsibility with coaching ability. Especially with a staff as experienced and successful as Price’s.

These guys didn’t lose their touch overnight.

There are only so many Braxton Amys who can be better by switching positions. Only so many ways to use bubble screens as a substitute for a running game. Only so many opponents’ media guide covers to be used as a motivating tool.

Players must step up, too, and there needed to be more of them than Troy Collavo.

It was evident in the Memphis game. To start senior night the Miners were a balloon full of air waiting for somebody who could tie a knot.

Nobody did, and by the fourth quarter the balloon was shriveled and empty, much like the Sun Bowl that night.

So what does Mike Price owe Miners fans?

Effort in recruiting. The ability to lead young men. Offenses and defenses that give his team a chance to win.

Can anyone honestly say UTEP doesn’t have more of this now than at any point in the program’s history?

The Power of Positive Thinking will work again.

Until then, Coach Price might want to watch where he swipes his debit card.