Without losers, there would be no winners, so today we give a glimpse at what life is like for the less fortunate in college football. On Friday night in a driving rainstorm in Las Cruces, New Mexico State played its final game of 2007. 
These Aggies won't be headed to a bowl. A 30-23 loss to Fresno State completed a 4-9 campaign.Our man Greg, perhaps the biggest college football fan around, braved the elements to see what this made-for-TV event was all about.
Also among the dozens in attendance (more on that in a second) was Dave Ryan, on sideline duty for ESPN. If you've ever dreamed about being a sideline reporter, well, it's not all peaches, cream and Erin Andrews. We actually feel sorry that Ryan drew the short straw on this one. The guy does not look like he was having a good time.
Concerned, Greg eventually decided to venture down toward the New Mexico State cheerleaders to see how they were holding up in the downpour. At that point he encountered trouble. Writes Greg: "The cheerleading coach for NMSU had the audacity to confront me and tell me not to take pictures of 'my squad.' I told her the stadium is a public venue and that I have every right to take a picture from the stands. She threatened to have me removed from the stadium."Deciding not to press the issue, Greg ventured over to the Fresno State side of the field where he was warmly greeted by Timeout, the Bulldogs' mascot, who was more than happy for the attention.
Let's get to the crowd. Attendance was "announced" at 6,937 and we can only think this total is for tickets sold. Greg says no more than 2,000 were in the stands and sends along several photos to back his claim. Frankly, we're surprised ESPN didn't make everybody sit on one side of the stadium, the side facing the cameras. If you recall, officials actually did that at last year's Papajohns.com Bowl.
On Sunday, New Mexico State officials said that coach Hal Mumme, with an 8-29 record, would return in 2008. Heck, with crowds like this, why not?
3 comments:
We never had that poorly of attended games when I played my high school ball there. And it looks like Mr. Mumme wont be getting his 1$ per ticket bonus. Section 4 I states: $1.00 per attendee in any season when any game paid attendance exceeds 18,500 people ("Base Amount").
Perhaps you need to get your facts straight before spewing all of this.
I am actually a cheerleader at NMSU and was cheering at this game and first of all our coach is a man and secondly we had a certified UCA staff watching over us because our coach was in Austin for the volleyball tournament with the rest of our squad.
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