It all comes together at state hoops tourney
This month, I once again attended the state basketball tourney. Northern New Mexico basketball. Need I say more? The kids, the programs, the school spirit. The athletes are fundamentally sound; the coaches are professional. The zebras are clean cut, and with skilled demeanor, they maintain the rules — objective, calling what only they can see.
In recent years I have streamed the tourney, but this year I attended in person in The Pit. We had a horse in the race. And what a horse! To mix metaphors: Santa Fe Prep was at the big dance this year. I witnessed that team develop over the last couple of years at regular-season games, at districts and finally at state. What a job Coach Joe Vigil and his staff have done in developing those talented athletes. They had bigs with handles, the guards, the shooters and a hustling, usually impenetrable defense. The Prep Blue Griffins defeated the defending state champion twice. The players hung with the state finalists, including this year’s champion, Navajo Prep.
By attending the big dance, I was also able to experience, once again, the ambiance of high school basketball — school pride, school colors, parent and community support. Unity. Sportsmanship. Hard work. Norteño hoops to the max. Santa Fe Prep, Pecos, Mesa Vista, Peñasco (’24 girls champions), Santa Fe Indian School, Santa Rosa, Robertson, West Las Vegas, the Academy for Technology and the Classics (’24 boys champions), Des Moines, Cimarron, St. Mike’s, Santa Fe, Fort Sumner (’24 boys champions — not from the north, but alma mater of ‘77 All-Stater and one of our most resilient northern coaches, Ralph Casaus at Monte del Sol). State: Loud cheers, Eagle cries, “… home of the Braves!” Northern New Mexican press and fast break. Rez ball. Lookaway passes. Steals. ¡Y sapos cuentan!
There were wins and losses, of course. Celebrations and heavy hearts. Coaches and players, we live basketball vicariously through you. Thank you. We are sorry for the losses some of our esteemed coaches suffered. There is some comfort that many of them have already taken the blue trophy home. Yes, you will be criticized by some — it’s part of game, the territory.
More important — you will be appreciated and supported by most. You will toss and turn and second guess, but you are already rebuilding. You will be at it again next year. Some players will return; others will move on. Athletes, whatever you experienced by being a team member will remain with you forever. The work ethic you established will carry on. And then basketball life will begin to fade as more important things inhabit your lives — your future families, your occupations.
In part, thanks to basketball, you will know how to navigate “victory and defeat.” As Phil Jackson says, “Basketball is life.” Thank you, players and coaches, for your talents. It made sitting in the stands and cheering and moaning and applauding and eating nachos, Reese’s, hot dogs and popcorn, a fantastic weekend. It made climbing those stairs in The Pit, while sucking for air, well worth it. I remember scampering up those stairs in the good ol’ days.
Now I need to pull myself up along the rails and take deep recovery breaths at the top. Good workout — yeah, sure — thanks a lot! Back to Santa Fe Prep. Repeat generations are now represented on the roster — Belyeus from Dexter, homegrown Andersons, Riveras from Pojoaque, Gonzaleses and Abeytas from Canyon Road, Chakeres next — truly Northern New Mexican. Truly scholar-athletes. You are playing with the big boys, Blues! Congratulations. And thank you, once again, for a wonderful season of basketball.
Athletes, whatever you experienced by being a team member will remain with you forever. The work ethic you established will carry on.