This Week in HS Sports - August 15, 2009

NMSU coach: Who was supposed to bring the snacks?
by Lonnie King

Wow…here’s a new old-man cliché that I can start dropping on my kids: “You think you’ve got it bad? There are kids playing football for New Mexico State University who are so poor, they can’t even have snacks!!”

Apparently a state university in the state next door can’t afford to run to Kroger and pick up some Butterfingers (trust me, I know for a fact that Butterfingers are a popular college team snack) for their players and they’ve sent out a letter to their boosters to request snacks for those kids. Oh, the pictures this conjures up.

First of all, there will be no need to use the words ‘New Mexico State’ and ‘big-time college football’ in the same sentence this year. Imagine college recruiters grabbing this bit of news. Imagine being a NMSU coach on the recruiting trail. “If YOU will come play football for us, we promise that your mom will only have to bring the Cheez-its for one game—no more than that!”

I checked NMSU’s athletic website for a snack schedule, but, as of this writing, it apparently hasn’t been finalized yet.

Can’t you just picture some player’s dad dragging a cooler over to the bench area as the fourth quarter clock winds down during the September 5 home opener against Idaho? Capri Suns for everyone! But keep your little brother away until everybody on the team has gotten one first.

The most embarrassing thing? The NMSU team name is Aggies. I don’t even want to hear it from any of you…

Next on the NMSU athletic department bulletin board:

· Your mom needs to wash your uniform and have it back by Thursday.
· Sign up for carpooling to the Louisiana Tech game.
· We need to know who will and won’t be at practice on Wednesday.

Here’s something to circle on your calendar. On September 12, NMSU hosts Prairie View A&M. They may not be able to scrape up enough department funds between the two schools to buy Happy Meals for everybody after the game. And I PROMISE you that there will be at least one kid wearing a uniform that doesn't look like the rest...his mom didn't know that they had to have a specific color pants and she bought him the generic white ones.

Right now the only Houston-area player on the NMSU roster is 2005 Spring HS grad and OL Joseph Palmer. I wouldn’t expect to see any others any time soon.

PS—don’t ever ask my wife or sister about my ‘big-time’ college athletic experience. They will NOT confirm that I know what I’m talking about when I mention Butterfingers as a team snack. At least, they better not…