Thursday Grab Bag: Sunbathing Woman

Random Thought of the Day: Why is it so difficult to focus on the big picture and so hard to avoid staring at the minutia of details that won't matter to us by next month?

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Football power poll: Last week I wrote that my poll might change a good bit during the next few weeks. Notice it didn't change at all. I lied.

1. Aztec (3-3) -- The Tigers look to get a game above .500 for the first time since their season opener, a 56-7 win over Santa Fe. (Previous: 1)

2. Farmington (3-3) -- The Scorpions now look like a bona fide playoff team. How will they handle that down the stretch? It won't matter this week. They're a better team than Los Alamos. (Previous: 2)

3. Kirtland Central (2-4) -- The Broncos may have killed their playoff chances with a loss to Bernalillo. They'll have a remedy this week in what should be a blowout against Shiprock. (Previous: 3)

4. Bloomfield (3-3, 3-0 District 1-3A) -- The Bobcats haven't won a game outside the pedestrian District 1-3A. They'll get a chance against Albuquerque Academy. (Previous: 4)

5. Piedra Vista (1-5) -- The Panthers would love a two-game winning streak heading into district play. (Previous: 5)

6. Shiprock (4-1) -- The Chieftains have created a lot of talk, but their season isn't a failure if they get whooped by KC. (Previous: 6)

7. Navajo Prep (4-3, 2-1 District 1-2A) -- The Eagles are talking playoffs -- at least a few players -- but they're not ranked in 2A and may fall back to .500 before the season ends. (Previous: 7)

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Prep rankings: Farmington makes its season debut at No. 10 in the 4A poll.

4A
1. Belen (12) 120 points
2. Artesia 99
3. Goddard 97
4. Volcano Vista 88
5. Aztec 67
6. Silver 45
7. St. Pius X 38
8. Valencia 32
9. Deming 31
10. Farmington 16

3A
1. Lovington (8) 89
2. Raton 77
3. St. Michael's 69
4. Albuquerque Academy (1) 59
5. Socorro 50
6. Bloomfield 40
7. Cobre 37
8. Portales 25
T9. Hatch Valley 18
T9. Robertson 18

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All-Media: Some coaches act different during interviews depending on the result of the game. The coaches that are open and willing to talk even during a loss, and the coaches that call a spade a spade, are the ones that are easiest to respect.

Let's face it, we depend on coaches to write good stories. There are too many teams and too many schools for us to be experts.

Some that come to mind are Kirtland Central's Roy Johnson, Piedra Vista's Brian Shock and Jared Howell and Bloomfield's Frank DeHoyos. You can count on those guys to tell it how it is. It makes it easier to write credible stories that aren't critical in tone.

Reta Dominguez, the FHS volleyball coach, deserves special mention. She's called in her scores all year, even though we haven't covered the winless Scorps, and she's managed to be honest about her team (inconsistent, had a lot to re-learn), positive about her kids and pleasant to talk to.

Kirtland Central's Danene Sherwood impressed me during the Lady Broncos' 4-0 loss to Aztec in soccer. She gave an honest assessment of her team's performance. Not a frustrated one or a sugarcoated one, but one that seemed unafraid to contradict the neo philosophy that, even at the varsity level in high school, everyone's a winner, everyone is good and everyone deserves a trophy.

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Link of the week: You've all read about Balloon Boy by now.

But have you read about the sunbathing woman that got run over by a city council maintenance vehicle? It's more disturbing and it's nearly as riveting.

Stay true and keep pounding,
Christopher