SPORTS SPEAK UP!
RE: PAUL NEWBERRY’S AP commentary on March 17 on the NFL and Colin Kaepernick ending with, “Shame on you, NFL.” I say “Poppycock!!!” The real shame here is on a spoiled class of overpaid entertainer-athletes who think they can do what they choose to do with impunity just because they have some (in most cases, INAPPROPRIATE) kind of gravitas and platform. Just stick to your game, guys. And, put your money and your social efforts where your heart is (or should be) — back into the communities from which your high salaries come. Kneeling on the field during the National Anthem is totally inappropriate. Always has been. Always will be. — Veteran Paul in the North Valley
BOB DAVIE has got to go. If it was only one kid complaining about him and his misgivings it would probably be sour milk by one kid, but it’s multiple people blaming Davie. There is too much smoke for there not to be any fire. Also zero New Mexico kids signed scholarships to play football for the University of New Mexico this last recruiting season. Despicable! I will not support this team till Davie is gone. — NM native
THE BOYS basketball “All Metro Team” in Sunday’s paper looked more like a “State tournament all-star team.” These sections were dominated by the top four 6A finishers at state. Manzano’s Eric Sonneberg, who was consistently in the top five in scoring, rebounding and blocked shots all season is conspicuously missing from the top ten. I can’t believe that Hope, who won their 6th consecutive championship, couldn’t land a player in the top ten either. — Vince Guillen
ALTHOUGH I really hoped the Aggies would win at least one game in the big dance, all the convincing loss to Clemson proved is the NMSU basketball team is mediocre at best, playing in a bottom feeder conference. They did have a couple of nice wins early on, but it is not how you start, but how you finish. Perhaps if they played in a more competitive conference, they would have been battle-tested and a better team for it. So, Jerome and all other Aggie apologists, save your gratuitous, “we’re so proud of them, they will be back” comments, and don’t bring up beating a mediocre UNM team twice. You all need to realize the conference they are in is really bad, and the Aggies were what those who really know thought they were. — John J. Krapcha, ABQ
THE 2018 Mountain West Conference Basketball Tournament was hailed as a success with about 8,500 fans for the championship game. Of course that was thanks to the New Mexico fans who made the trip to Las Vegas. Without them, the tournament is a big zero. During the semifinal games, CBSSN’s Steve Lappas stated “this place is packed.” Maybe the lower bowl was packed but I didn’t see anyone in the upper bowl, which also used to be packed with another 8,500 fans. As they say in the business world these days “half a loaf is better than nothing?” — JJ