Love the Lobos; just don’t be afraid to get hurt
It’s OK to fall in love again, Lobo fans. Let’s be honest, we’re in the honeymoon phase of the 2023-24 version of the University of New Mexico men’s basketball team, and it’s showing in the one noticeable area. When 11,536 fans show up for a mid-week game against the UC-Irvine Anteaters, you know the bandwagon is starting to fill up.
For all the charm New Mexico can hold, nothing quite compares to when the Lobos are good and The Pit is packed. For much of the past nine seasons, The Pit felt more like The Tomb, as a half-filled arena was considered a good thing.
When The Pit is rocking, everybody comes knockin’. And the line of fans is starting to get longer.
All credit goes to head coach Richard Pitino and his coaching staff ’s recruiting prowess that has UNM on the precipice of relevance — and not just in the ultra-competitive Mountain West Conference.
The Lobos are earning votes in The Associated Press Top 25 poll and they were earning praise as a team to watch before the season began. That should make every Lobo fan appreciate the good days, because they were turned off by the seven-year stretch of bad.
Yet, there is a sense that Lobo fans are excited, but nervous. They want to love this team. Check that, they love this team, but ...
When you’ve been teased by that which you love the most, there is a hesitation to take that plunge yet again. Because on the other side of this high everyone wearing the cherry red is riding is the mind-numbing, soul-sucking depression that comes with the inevitable letdown.
Lobo fans know this roller coaster ride all too well. How many times has UNM been on the cusp of something special only to have it end with blank stares and cherry-stained tears? Oh, let us count the ways.
There was the 1966-67 team that was ranked as high as No. 3 in the AP poll before a late-season four-game slide ended hopes of an NCAA Tournament bid — and that was when the tournament was a 23-team affair.
Just mention the “Stormin’ Norman” Ellenberger years, and grandfathers will talk for hours about those mid-1970s teams with glints and tears in their eyes. And don’t get them started about the 1977-78 team — the team that would achieve sainthood if Lobo fans had a say.
They’ll smile wistfully at the 1987-88 team that upset No. 1 Arizona and No. 5 Wyoming within a week, then remember UNM went 20-12 and then-coach Gay Colson was fired.
Lobo fans haven’t forgiven, nor forgotten, David Gibson’s failed shot attempt in the final seconds in a 64-63 loss to Louisville in the second round of the 1997 NCAA Tournament. Nor have they forgiven Royce Olney’s torn ACL the following year that upended the Lobos’ dreams of reaching the Sweet Sixteen.
The biggest heartbreak might be the newest one of them all — the 2012-13 squad that was seeded third in the West Region and a favorite to reach the Final Four. That team lost to No. 14 Harvard in the first round, then lost head coach Steve Alford to UCLA after he signed a 10-year extension days earlier.
So, if some fans are hesitant to come running back, it’s understandable.
Speaking as a Boston Red Sox and a Kansas City Chiefs fan long before they started winning titles, Lobo fans’ feelings hit a nerve.
When you love a team as much as some do the Lobos, every loss hurts — but nothing like the ones when it matters the most. Red Sox fans can rattle off Jim Burton, Bucky “Bleeping” Dent, Bill Buckner and Grady Little as if reciting state capitals. Chiefs fans remember Lin Elliott, Levis Grbac over Rich Gannon, the No-Punt Game and Dee Ford like it was yesterday.
At least those sad stories are followed by the 2004 Red Sox and the 2019 Chiefs, teams that finished at the top of their respective sports. It makes all of the pain worth it.
Lobo fans have ... Well, nothing. They can look down south and see Aggie fans bragging about the 1970 Final Four team and the 1992 team’s Sweet Sixteen run that ended in The Pit (of all places). Heck, the football team brought the bulk of the 30,000-plus fans who showed for the New Mexico Bowl. UNM has no retort.
But that’s OK. You didn’t get this far because it was hip to be a Lobo fan. No, you must suffer before you enjoy the fruits of labor. But suffering is good. It builds character and an appreciation for the good days because they make the bad worth it.
So, enjoy these salad days of Lobos basketball. There is a chance this team might do something special once March crawls around. And if it does, just remember what you had to endure (the Craig Neal and Paul Weir eras ... ugh) to get to a view of the beautiful sunset on the horizon.
If it doesn’t, take heart. Better days are here. Just appreciate them when you’re screaming at the refs for every single call they make against your beloved Lobos. It’ll be worth it.
Trust me.