1. At least now, if UTEP can pull off a victory Wednesday, we'll get another home game on Friday, which should be fun.
2. Oregon State on Monday shot better than 60 percent from the field. That will not happen again. They were on fire last night, but the high-altitude air of El Paso will throw them off on Wednesday night.
3. The way the came was called was clearly crowd driven. That may be the same on Wednesday, but at least it will be an El Paso crowd driving the calls, instead of a Corvallis crowd.
4. And it sounds like it's going to be quite a crowd on Wednesday. Already more than 8,000 general admission tickets sold.
I'm probably going to arrive early again to get a good seat, but I'm also tempted to just show up later and take whatever is available. Last game, sitting in the third row, I was surrounded by loud, obnoxious, wanna-be coaches. My ears were ringing with great advice like, "DRIVE THE HOLE, GUEY, DRIVE THE HOLE!" "WHO WANTS IT MORE, STEFON, WHO WANTS IT MORE?!" followed by, "SHOOT THE BALL, GUEY!"
Cliff Kirkpatrick of the Corvallis Gazette-Times has some great stuff from the game. Read his UTEP Postgame report here. He even goes as far as comparing Oregon State Center Roeland Schaftenaar to Magic Johnson.
And in response to a reader's question on whether the refs were from the Pac-10, he responds,
"Yes, they were familiar crews. That’s why opposing teams don’t like the calls. Expect a ton of calls to go UTEP’s way the next two games."
Word.
Good post, Jay. Walk on over to see Joe Muench's negative blast. Then go ahead and kick his chair out from under him.
Posted by: 2myeye | March 31, 2009 at 01:40 PM
lmao, great post Jay. Please listen to the advice of 2myeye.
Posted by: Caesar | March 31, 2009 at 02:24 PM
does everyone from El Paso use the word "Guey", or were the fans from Mexico. I have been to many games and have never heard of this. Were the fans at least knowledgeable about the game?
Posted by: pete | March 31, 2009 at 02:31 PM
Thanks for the shout out, fellas.
Pete: It was just one dude who kept yelling that stuff. But he was right behind me screaming at the top of his lungs, driving me crazy. He was definitely an El Pasoan, and, no, his knowledge of the game seemed to consist of the above quotes. Whoever won, it was going to be because they "wanted it more," by golly.
Posted by: Jay Koester | March 31, 2009 at 02:58 PM
the word guey doesn't come from mexico you idiot. its in any spanish dictionary and the last time i checked, spanish comes from spain. what does your comment have to do with basketball or jay's post anyway?? Why do there have to be racist in every blog?? geez!!
Posted by: John | March 31, 2009 at 03:08 PM
usatoday.com is already confirming Calipari to UK, not sure how valid or true that is.
Posted by: Caesar | March 31, 2009 at 03:10 PM
John, it has to do with the fans knowledge of the game, it is a valid question. I am thinking without General Admission this fan is not on the 3rd row. El Paso has become Mexico North and based on the posts I have seen lately, many fans do not understand basketball as they should.
Posted by: pete | March 31, 2009 at 03:20 PM
Pete, every Miner fan has to start somewhere. A lot of folks are slamming the old timers for sitting on their hands. We need fresh blood in the stands. GA fans usually get nosebleeds once the team starts winning consistently.
Posted by: 2myeye | March 31, 2009 at 04:39 PM