SPORTS SPEAK UP!

sportsspeakup@abqjournal.com

BRAVO TO THE 98 schools around New Mexico who are playing high school sports this spring! Yet, APS and Los Lunas public schools, districts that receive the most money, have the largest administrative staffs, and the most student athletes, cannot come up with decoupling plans and lobby our Mighty Mite Governor to let our kids play? here are the proactive, big brain adults in these districts that know how to lead, and fight for the physical and mental health of our student athletes? What pathetic New Mexicans, bench them all.

— AU

OUR GOVERNOR stated that she was ‘very disappointed’ with the vote by APS to not return to class under the hybrid model. Yet she is going to punish the district’s student-athletes by not allowing them to play sports. She also remains the only governor in the 50 states to not allow universities to play their games in-state, to which the physical, mental and financial toll has yet to be completely determined. Thanks to the athletes, coaches and staffs for persevering while being in survival mode. In a nutshell, these dictatorial policies are just plain nuts.

— NM Old Timer

MANY THANKS TO Rick Wright for his article on John Charzuk. John coached both my wife and daughter, so I had heard of his kindness and positive support. Until I read the article, however, I had no idea of how many people’s lives he had influenced. He was a uniquely positive person and he will be greatly missed.

— RG1

THE GOVERNOR is killing college sports with ban on local play. OK, UNM men’s basketball has not been great for a while, but NMSU has won recent conference championships and now has a losing conference record, not a coincidence. The governor says she “follows the science”; not sure where she is getting that since no other state is doing this (by the way, our COVID record is not particularly better than other states). Good for UNM women for sort of overcoming this, but it seems they have lost games because of it too. Enough is enough, let us play, and watch.

— SDH

THE WORDS OF a recent Rascal Flatts song fit the Lobo’s basketball season quite well: Did you make them laugh or make them cry? Did you quit or did you try? Live your dreams or let them die? What did you choose? What did you choose?

— Joel from TX

MAKUACH MALUACH: Win or lose, you gotta love him!

— Bob, UNM Area

THE UNM MEN’S basketball team is one of the worst free throw shooting teams among Division I teams this season. Desperate times call for desperate measures. If Paul Weir ends up coming back next season, he needs to bring in Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer Rick Barry as a consultant. As a 90% career free throw shooter, he could teach the team how it’s done. What’s the downfall here? He shot them underhand. However, the razzing from other teams’ fans would be the only national attention on the horizon for this UNM program.

— Fading Lobo Fan