NM Green

That movie did as much for us exposure wise as 4 straight bowl trips have done combined! When I mention North Texas out here people still reflect back to that movie and remember that movie and the Texas State Armadillos. Talk about a flick with staying power! GMG

Interesting listening this morning getting ready for work. Karl says that it appears the WAC finally has members that are set and happy to be in the league and that there is a new energy in Las Cruces, Logan and Moscow. Funny how he did not mention the energy in Fresno, Boise and Honolulu. Karl believes the 3 new additions, our ex-compadres are going to truly improve in the coming years. While I believe we should all live in an optimistic world, I was more struck by the instant tranformation in regard to respect for the Idahos, Utags and Southern Aggies of the world. He made it sound like the Bows were headed to play in Salt Lake, Albuquerque and Pullman, Washington. His "We made an even swap with Utah State and Tulsa" comment was a bit off. The radio talk show host did him one better by stating that many in the league are saying Utah State and UTEP was an even trade. There was no mention of losing La Tech, even though I think it will be a reality soon. Our bowl picture prospects are about to pass the WAC's and neither gentlemen were too fond of the thought of a Fresno State vs Tulane Hawaii Bowl on Christmas Eve. That is a distinct possibility with the loss of a guarantee for Hawaii. Heck with a home schedule of Boise, Fresno, USC and Wisconsin, I am not sure the Bows are going to need to worry about a bowl berth. They will be improved on defense with Glanville, but like us will be breaking in a new General to take the snaps. Not North Texas related, but I am just glad we remained in the SBC and look forward to the continued development of our league! GMG

Do what I do and forward that on to a Mean Green fan on the fence. SUMG Marketing extraordinare! GMG

Great idea! We can never have too much community outreach. Regardless of the success we must continue to brainstorm ideas on how to make ourselves as a University appealing to joe casual fan. With the huge influx of people from other communities (i.e. Hispanic), maybe we could one day have a Mean Green Fiesta or something that would bring people to Fouts during the summer for a family friendly party. Then maybe we can get them back in the fall. Now thinking way out of the box - one day maybe even having a re-occurring fall Fiesta on gamedays and marketing this bad boy via mail in Spanish. I know I am stereotyping here, but I know my peeps and the Latin community loves a Fiesta! GMG

It is interesting how people want to make their imprint on a University they have few deep-rooted connections to. GMG http://newmexico.rivals.com/forum.asp?sid=...fid=557&style=1 Sunday, July 17, 2005 NMSU May Get All-New Identity By Toby Smith Of the Journal Inside a locked steamer trunk, tucked in a secured storage room on the concourse of the Pan American Center in Las Cruces, sits a head the size of a sofa. Made chiefly of rubber and plastic, the head belongs to the mascot of New Mexico State University, a fellow named Pistol Pete. Over the years, Pistol Pete's well-known cranium, with its menacing glare, bushy black mustache and towering 10-gallon hat, has teetered atop many students' shoulders at football and basketball games. The head, however, may never again leave its steamer trunk. Pistol Pete is being revised. Simultaneously, perhaps the cruelest Aggie joke of all is brewing: The term "Aggies," long the school's nickname, is also up for revision. As are the school's colors, crimson and white. Is nothing sacred in the shadow of A Mountain? All these possible alterations are part of NMSU's new "branding" strategy, an effort to sharpen the school's image nationally. The results are expected to be unveiled late next month. Needless to say, many Aggie rooters are already worried. "I hate the thought of what they might do to Pete," says Sarah Valerio Ford, a Las Cruces resident who has been around the campus for 40 years. "They are calling this an 'extreme makeover,' but I'm afraid they're going to shape Pete into something stupid." "I can't believe anyone would want to get rid of Pete," says Bob Andrews, a 1960 NMSU graduate and football letterman, now an insurance broker in Albuquerque. "OK, yeah, he's toting pistols. But we're talking about an emblem for sports! And sports are competitive, not something pacifist." Poor Pistol Pete. Fifteen years ago, they took away the costumed Pete's bullets, which were blanks, after NMSU officials decided there was too much violence in the world. A year ago, the school confiscated the costumed Pete's gun, because the student then portraying him had misused it. Meanwhile, the smaller Pete logo that seemingly appears everywhere in Aggieland still has his two pistols, though they now seem endangered. Transforming Pete Pistol Pete is not going to be eliminated, promises New Mexico State President Michael V. Martin. "We just want to update him." Some members of the Aggie Nation can recall a similar surgery that 25 years ago attempted to move Pete away from a perceived provincialism. The mascot who survived looked like a clone of Chuck Norris, the martial arts luminary, and was quickly abandoned. By most accounts, the symbol of Pistol Pete, a bowlegged gunslinger with vest, chaps and six-shooters at the ready, first appeared on the Las Cruces campus in 1970s. A decade later, however, someone said, "Hey, our Pete looks a lot like the mascot at Oklahoma State University." In fact, he was a dead ringer. Oklahoma State's mascot, also called Pistol Pete, has been around since 1923. He is based on a grizzled cowpoke named Frank "Pistol Pete" Eaton, a quick-draw artist who penned his own life story about mowing down bad guys across the Oklahoma Territory. Eaton, who died in 1958, is immortalized in Oklahoma. Thus, OSU has not been happy sharing the same mascot with NMSU. OSU could do little about it, though, because the original Pistol Pete apparently was never copyrighted. In the 1980s, New Mexico State came up with the costume for its Pistol Pete. After buckling a holstered gun, the student then pulled on the piece de resistance: the monstrous head. More than 3 feet tall, weighing close to 25 pounds and fitted with a tiny fan inside to keep the wearer cool, the head was made by an El Paso stylist who used to craft costumes for Hollywood. It's been repaired at least once, to the tune of $3,000. For more than two decades, the costumed Pistol Pete, Big Pete, has been a sideline fixture at NMSU athletic events. At the New Mexico State University bookstore, a smaller image of Pete, a Little Pete, adorns notebooks and sweatshirts, baby clothes, shot glasses, trailer hitch covers and more. President's views More than a few Aggies blame the recent stir over Pistol Pete on President Martin, who came to NMSU a year ago from the University of Florida. Coincidentally, Martin was at that school when the Florida football team's media guide in 2003 pictured on the cover not a gator, the school's mascot, but a crocodile. Martin had nothing to do with that gaffe, however. What's more, he says, a marketing firm was already in place studying identity issues at New Mexico State when he came on board as president. Even so, the school's new leader jumped in. "Look," he says, "if you showed our Pistol Pete caricature to people outside New Mexico, 99 out of 100 of them would think of Oklahoma State University. Same with our nickname. If you asked people outside this state what they think of when you say 'Aggies,' 99 out of 100 would say 'Texas A&M.' "We want to keep those symbols, but we want to modify them. We want everyone to know exactly who New Mexico State is." Also on the agenda of the school-formed branding committee are NMSU's colors— crimson and white. Too many people around the country, the committee believes, align those colors with the University of Alabama. "There isn't a color or colors that some school or other doesn't have," says Lou Henson, NMSU's legendary ex-basketball coach as well as an Aggie graduate. "To monkey with crimson, well, that would be terribly disappointing." Martin is sure Pistol Pete's name will remain, even if it is periodically confused with other Pistol Petes, including the late basketball star Pete Maravich. "Pete's a tradition, and I think people like the name," he says. The president, however, feels the school's nickname ought to be tweaked, like the Utah State Aggies, who are sometimes called the "Utags." Says Martin: "Personally, I like 'Aggie Amigos.' '' The president is also convinced that it's time to retire the huge head part of the mascot's costume. "It's not only deteriorating, but I've seen it frighten little children." Diane Pierce, who for several years oversaw cheerleaders at NMSU, and thus Pistol Pete, laughs at that assessment. "I don't think Pete looks scary; all mascots can seem scary. I've never seen kids run away, though I have seen kids cower a little, be a little unsure. Anything in a costume can scare a small child. My own son was scared of Barney, and my daughter used to hide from the Chuck E. Cheese mouse." Guns put down Herb Taylor, the school's senior associate athletic director, says the seizing of the costumed Pete's ammo was brought about by a combination of events, including the 1990 bowling alley massacre in Las Cruces and Operation Desert Storm in 1991. "It just didn't seem like Pete should be firing a gun." Last year, the student selected to dress up as Pete, says Taylor, was spotted on campus not yet in costume but brandishing Pete's .44-caliber pistol. NMSU police confiscated the firearm, says Taylor, and still have it. The artist chosen to design a more contemporary Pistol Pete— for the logo and the costume— is from Artesia. He's an NMSU alum and lifelong Aggie fan. His name is being kept secret, says the athletic department's director of media relations, Sean Johnson, who heads the branding committee. "We don't want to release the name until we cover all our legal bases," Johnson says. In other words, the committee wants to make sure the figure chosen does not look like any other mascot. Change can be good This isn't the first time a logo at New Mexico State has come under fire. The school yearbook for many years was named the Swastika. In the early 1980s, someone had the wisdom to rename it the Phoenix. Leading the charge for that change was Michael Swickard, these days the host of a talk radio show in Las Cruces. Swickard, who holds two degrees from New Mexico State and loves the place, is nonetheless annoyed when tradition surrounding his alma mater steps ahead of common sense. "NMSU clearly stole its mascot from Oklahoma State," he says. "More important, what does a Western gunfighter have to do with an agricultural college?" Swickard slyly suggests the school's mascot ought to be Willy the Windmill and its nickname the NMSU Chile Pods. "Our cheer could be 'Howdy, Podner.' '' Discussions about the mascot weary Michael Martin. "There are so many more important things I have to mind here: retention rates, faculty and staff concerns, community and economic development. On the grand scheme of things, Pistol Pete is down there about Number 27. I really hope the same people who are in such angst about Pete are also in angst about our library, border issues and the future of our students." Those students, believes Sarah Ford, will not have input on Pete's future. "The administration is making its decision about Pete during the summer, when the students are not on campus. It's my opinion the administration is going to sneak something in here." A poll taken of NMSU students last fall during campus senatorial elections showed 536 students favoring updating Pistol Pete, 524 wanting no changes at all, and 190 students voting to completely replace him. "With all due respect to the folks in Las Cruces, when the Lobos play, the entire state of New Mexico comes to a standstill" - Bob Carpenter, ESPN

The Lobos do it in the Pit as well - very effective. GMG

That sounded horrible. Wish I were there but would have been a long drive back to Dallas. Giving up such a huge lead says a lot about any team. It should never have been that close. Hope they can get back up for tourney time. GMG

I love the Ute program. They are fun to watch and will give any BCS school hell in the Fiesta Bowl. GMG P.S. - Meyer is going big time and can pick up the phone after the Fiesta and land the job of his choice. No big hurry to make a commitment now.

Is this story amazing? Here I am sitting in the Pacific watching clinch another Sun Belt Conference title and bowl berth. I was telling a friend that I was at our opener when I couldn't believe my eyes. I had never seen a more unprepared unemotional team in Green. We then lost to a D1AA team which was the worst thing our program needed after one of the most humiliating losses since the 80's. Our stud running back goes down and the season looks LOST. I head to Boulder to get incredibly excited (in the first quarter), only to be humbled and bummed in the end. We then accomplish the lowest of low - lose to Baylor - wait, get BLOWN OUT by Baylor. Now we are at 6-4 and I am sweating wondering how I am going to get back to New Orleans. Thankfully it looks promising but as I told my friend, "I am shocked in many ways that we are in this position." Thank you Mean Green! GMG

I would much rather be in our position with an undefeated record in conference. I would much rather be going bowling again this year. I am still not sold we are going to New Orleans just yet. I am confident in the direction of our team but we need 2 things to happen this year for it to be a success - we need to win the conference (I would even accept 1 loss). But we need to win the New Orleans Bowl. That is a MUST for this year to be a success. Troy has better name recognition around the country than we do because of what they accomplished with their HUGE win on national tv and what they have done with the BIG BOYS over the past few years. I am glad we still have a season to play for, but please do not discount the remarkable accomplishments of Troy. Our next feat will be to find a defense in 2005 and compete in the OCC AND the Sun Belt! Lets go 3 - 0! GO MEAN GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

CMJ - next time a SUPER JAMARIO sign. Oh, and no whining about the start time. I set my alarm every Saturday morning at 4:29am so that I can wake up, rub my eyes, push the coffee maker to "on" and grab the remotes - all from the comfiness of my bed under a dark sky. This Sunday will be a challenge as I am expecting the Cowboy game to be early. If that is the case I will be at the local pub "Legends" where the beer is flowing - yes at 7:00am. Ambush the utah state aggies! GO MEAN GREEN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Great game! It is weird because I wasn't a huge basketball (college) fan until I watched the Lobos in The Pit. I was hooked and am absolutely hooked on Mountain West basketball. I love the Mountain West Monday night games. I dig Majerus and his coaching style. He gets all these tall Missionaries to play a disciplined style of ball. The Running Rebels always draw and have a nice tradition in Vegas. Of course the Lobo fans are simply diehard. The Pit hosted a regional right before the Woman's Final Four and averaged 16,000 plus fans, setting a Woman's bball record. If the Lady Lobos continue to build their program, especially while the men are down right now, they will probably land a regional on a regular basis. That place could become another Tennessee or Connecticut kind of draw. I loved having passion for Mean Green Pigskin in the fall and heading to the Pit in the bone chilling winter when I lived in New Mexico. Before I get hammered for not being a Mean Green diehard first and foremost, let me tell you about one of my craziest adventures. Remember that year we beat Texas A&M in the Superpit. It was epic and worth the 9 1/2 drive I had to make to get home to work the next day. I slept for a few minutes at the border, went in a couple of hours late and wasn't even tired after the Mean Green energy flowing through my veins. Roy Williams will win his National Title at Carolina. I think he will take that job this time. The timing is right, and Carolina is really a phat job. He will have even more talent than he gets in Kansas and that Tar Heel program is really unstable right now. A man of his caliber will restore some lost respect. Beat the Sooners!!!!! GO MEAN GREEN!!!!!!!!!!

I think the Cuse wins but the reason why is weird: Last August I was in DC at a sports bar sitting in a sports bar watching the Texas Tech at OSU debacle. I was one of the few rooting for the Red Raiders. There were a bunch of OSU fans and some guys at the table next to me that were Syracuse fans. They stuck out in my head because I am not a fan of either program. They both kind of bug me in fact. Well we saw what OSU did, so I say Syracuse doest it today. STRANGE REASONING or PURE COINCIDENCE - or both or none. GO MEAN GREEN!!!!!

Yeah, the guns up sign is lame, but at least they are there, mandated or not. However I must once again comment on the band! KUDOS to your play and enthusiasm in the stands! I was pleased to see you came to eat at the tailgate and burned some of that energy in the stands! HOWEVER, what the heck kind of halftime was that? The music was beautiful and well suited for the Myerson in downtown Dallas. I appreciate the hard work you guys and gals put into your performances week in and week out, but that halftime was tooooooo quiet. It fit the mood of the game that was for sure. I love and appreciate the music, but it put what few were awake asleep. Thanks again for your hard work. GO MEAN GREEN BRIGADE!!!!!