Cullen, Lobos deserve fans’ respect

I don’t often read Sports Speak Up, because the negativity depresses me, but what I read Sunday about the UNM “loss” at SDSU angered me to the point that I felt I had to say something.

Most of the people who contributed to Sunday’s Sports Speak Up! had their facts wrong: Cullen Neal did not have a turnover in the SDSU game until that inbounds play with 12 seconds left, and the Mountain West Conference has confirmed that the referee made an error. It was indeed a legal play, and the Lobos should have kept the ball, likely winning the game. Those facts are inconvenient for those whose agenda is to bash Cullen.

I think it’s inappropriate for the Journal to print anonymous personal attacks on individual players. But it’s equally unfathomable to me that adults would choose to take cheap shots at kids behind cloaks of anonymity. I have never seen a definition any of these terms — fan, adult, human decency — that included anything about personal insults toward a player.

The venom, personal agendas and direct insults at coaches and players (especially Cullen and Coach Neal) that seem to have become the norm are shameful and embarrassing for our city and our fans. It’s not just here in the Sports Speak Up! forum, but on our local sports talk radio shows as well. I don’t always like everything I see from the men’s basketball program, but I can disagree with a decision or be disappointed in how a player played in a given game without hurling anonymous personal insults toward the staff or players.

The constant negativity directed at Cullen is a bad look for UNM. Blaming him for all that doesn’t go right or picking apart his game to find faults to justify a viewpoint is ludicrous. He is an integral part of this team that is maturing and coming together before our eyes.

Cullen and his teammates chose our state, this city and the UNM program for myriad reasons, and they play their hearts out for themselves, their teammates, their coaches, their families and many people who are important in their lives that we will never know. As residents of the city and state, we are not obligated to be fans, but it’s basic human decency for us to treat those who choose to play for UNM with respect … and that includes Cullen.

I hope other fans who are tired of the drivel will begin to speak up as well. It’s not about Cullen or Coach Neal. It’s not even about the team. It’s about who we are as fans and New Mexicans. I’m signing my name, because I have no reason to hide behind initials or a pseudonym.