United we stand behind N.M.’s soccer nomads
New Mexico United’s season may have ended Saturday night in El Paso but it’s safe to assume that, should the team survive the economic catastrophe that was the 2020 season, it has earned a place in the hearts of sports-loving fans across the state.
And, yes, that includes all you non-soccer types.
The club that burst onto the scene in 2019 by averaging a USL-best 12,693 fans through 17 matches at Isotopes Park, played all 17 of its matches this season away from home thanks to health restrictions that prohibited mass gatherings amid the coronavirus.
Long before the ’19 season, owner Peter Trevisani said the team’s business model projected a need for at least 8,000 fans per game. At the time it seemed a wildly optimistic goal considering the Albuquerque Isotopes, one of the top draws in all of minor league baseball, averaged 7,948 in 2018 and 7,983 last year.
For an unknown entity like the United to get anywhere close to that over the course of a six-month season seemed like a long shot, at best. But they did it, and then some.
The groundswell of support was so strong that it started a legitimate conversation about the need for a soccer-only stadium, one that would further energize the fan base and stimulate economic growth with the development of restaurants, pubs and retail space around the facility.
Then came the ’rona and, along with it, the state-mandated health guidelines that gave coach Troy Lesesne and his club every excuse to mail it in, tank the 2020 season and claim that life as a soccer nomad was no way to do business. All they did was make it to the playoffs for the second straight year, record their first postseason win last week and get within a single penalty kick of reaching the USL’s final four. The United lost at El Paso Locomotive FC on PKs after being tied at the end of regulation and overtime.
Considering the team did it all on the road is amazing. It brings to mind the NFL’s Saints and NBA’s Hornets did after Hurricane Katrina ravaged New Orleans in 2005, forcing both teams to play every game outside the city.
The United will be back and, pandemic guidelines notwithstanding, the fans should be lining up to see them.
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Ask anyone around town about Ron John Porterfield and they’ll tell you about the time he kicked the game-winning field goal for St. Michael’s in a 3-0 win over Santa Fe High at Ivan Head Stadium during Ronald Reagan’s first term in the White House.
Ask anyone around Major League Baseball about him and they’ll tell you he’s one of the best there’s ever been in the training room. He spent nine years with the Houston Astros and 21 with Tampa Bay, the last 12 of which were as the head trainer for an organization that reached the 2008 World Series.
He left the organization three years ago to become the director of player health with the Los Angeles Dodgers, a position the team created specifically for him. He told the Tampa Bay Times that he made the move, in part, to be closer to his family in New Mexico.
With the Rays back in the Series and the Dodgers posting the major leagues’ best record, oh my, oh my, oh my, what this month has done to increase Porterfield’s heart rate.
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Just in case you hadn’t noticed, school football is on hold. The calendar says teams can start practice on Feb. 22, but feel free to file that in the “let’s just wait and see about that” department. As we all know, nothing is for certain in a world where the coronavirus sets the tempo for everything we do.
Arizona prep football is going strong, though, and one team in the Phoenix suburb of Queen Creek is off to a 3-0 start. Casteel High remained unbeaten with a 12-7 win over crosstown rival Queen Creek on Friday night.
Take a gander at Casteel’s roster and you’ll see some familiar names to New Mexico. The Colts’ head coach is none other than Bobby Newcombe, a legendary player in his day at Albuquerque’s Highland High. He parlayed his unforgettable run as an option quarterback with the Hornets into the starting job at Nebraska, then a brief career in the NFL with the Arizona Cardinals.
He’s in his third season as Casteel’s head coach, having gone 21-7 since taking over a program that won Arizona’s 3A state championship in 2017.
Casteel’s roster includes Newcombe’s sons Isaiah (a senior receiver) and Jeremiah (a freshman receiver). Another notable is Kennedy Urlacher, a freshman safety and the son of Hall of Famer and arguably the best player in UNM history, Brian Urlacher.