A couple of hot news items about our Upper Valley neighbors in New Mexico:
Residents in the Santa Teresa Country Club area, whose property values have plummeted since the golf course closed, have not given up hope.
The scuttlebutt is that some of them have gotten together to petition the state of New Mexico to proclaim the area an incorporated village. If successful, the state government would be involved in the development of the area, including the golf course.
Wish them luck. The area was once a great attraction not only for New Mexico but El Paso.
THERE WILL be a major change in the racing schedule at Sunland Park Racetrack and Casino this coming season. There will be horse racing on Mondays instead of Tuesdays.
Dustin Dix, the track’s director of operations, announced that “We will begin (the live season) on (Friday) Dec. 5 and run until April 13. We will be racing every Friday, Saturday, Sunday and Monday.”
I asked general manager Rick Baugh why the change from Tuesdays to Mondays. He had a good answer. Previous general manager Harold Payne started horse racing at Sunland on Tuesdays since only one or two other tracks were holding racing on that day. It proved very beneficial, simulcast-wise, to Sunland.
However, it wasn’t long before other tracks followed Payne’s lead and started racing on Tuesdays, too. So now, as Baugh pointed out, the competition is less fierce on Mondays and thus the change.
TRIVIA QUESTION: Major League playoffs are upon us. The teams for many years were located in the eastern part of the country but spread from coast to coast. Can you tell me who were the first expansion team pitchers to win a World Series game for both the National and American Leagues? Answer at end of column.
HAVE YOU given up on the UTEP football team? Don’t. Not yet.
That 55-3 thrashing of the Miners by Louisiana Tech on Oct. 4 was one of the worst defeats the school has ever suffered, considering the two were supposed to be evenly matched. It was embarrassing, even heart-breaking. Those weren’t the same Miners that won at University of New Mexico, beat New Mexico A&M and gave Texas Tech a whale of a battle.
Last Saturday was a crazy week all around. Look at what happened to Alabama, Oklahoma and Texas A&M. They seemed as lifeless as the Miners when they showed up and all three were upset by heavy underdogs. Footballs can take funny bounces.
Now if the Miners lose badly to Old Dominion this weekend, then start worrying.
UTEP BASKETBALL is off and running. Practice began this past week. Coach Tim Floyd, whom I labeled “The Boy Next Door” because of his boyish good looks when he was an assistant to head coach Don Haskins in the 1980s, still owns the hearts of El Pasoans.
And boy, is he loaded. He’ll start out this season with two of Conference USA’s top players in sophomore forward Vince Hunter and senior guard/forward Julian Washburn. They’ve both been named to the pre-season Conference USA all-star team. I haven’t consulted my crystal ball yet about how the Miners will do this basketball season, but I’m betting it’ll be a dandy.
ANSWER to trivia question: Jerry Koosman of the New York Mets against the Baltimore Orioles in the National League in 1969 and Don Quisenberry of the Kansas City Royals against the Philadelphia Phillies in the American League in 1980. I was working at the El Paso Herald-Post then so I remember it was a big thing at the time.