fishing rod parts
fishing rod parts
Photo: Contributed Kelowna-Mission MLA Gavin Dew. British Columbia is at an economic crossroads. For seven years, the NDP government has prioritized government expansion over investing in the private sector. The result? A cost-of-living crisis, a brain drain of talent, and stagnation in industries that should be fueling prosperity for our people. Now, more than ever, B.C. needs a relentless focus on private sector job creation to ensure every British Columbian sees the benefits of a province awash in talent and resources. Under the NDP, job growth has been driven by government spending rather than by investments in BC’s business sector. Bureaucracies have ballooned, while small businesses—the backbone of our economy—struggle under crushing taxes, red tape, and labor shortages. Key industries like forestry, mining, and energy, which should be key drivers of our prosperity, face uncertainty and stagnation due to ideological policies and poor management. The NDP will likely point to its record of job creation in their upcoming fiscal update, but let’s be clear, those are predominantly public sector jobs paid for by taxpayers. While public sector workers play an important role in our society, they cannot be the foundation of a thriving economy. The longer we rely on government expansion as a growth strategy, the deeper we dig ourselves into an unsustainable fiscal hole. Since 2022, British Columbia has created one private sector job for every 12 public sector jobs. Over the last five years, public sector employment in BC has grown by a third, while net private sector job growth has been virtually zero. Our public sector is growing at three times the rate of the rest of Canada. However you measure it, it’s not good. And it’s not sustainable. This imbalance underscores the NDP’s failure to foster an environment where private businesses can thrive. British Columbians need more than government-funded jobs; they need a robust private sector to drive innovation, investment, and long-term prosperity. The cost of complacency is clear. Young people are leaving BC in search of better opportunities elsewhere. Businesses are struggling to survive. Investors are looking to provinces with more favorable policies. We cannot afford more of the same. The B.C. Conservative Party has a clear alternative: to create an economic environment where the private sector can flourish, making life better for everyday people and families. This vision is built on three key principles: 1. Cut red tape. Overregulation is strangling innovation. Whether it’s delays in permitting for tech startups or endless red tape for resource projects, the NDP has created a climate of uncertainty. A B.C. Conservative government would streamline approvals, eliminate unnecessary regulations, and fast-track projects that create jobs while respecting environmental standards. 2. Lower taxes. Under the NDP, taxes on individuals and businesses have skyrocketed. The Employer Health Tax, carbon tax, and other levies have driven up costs for everyone. To remain competitive and attract investment, we must reduce the tax burden on both families and businesses. 3. Invest in the right infrastructure. Infrastructure investment shouldn’t just mean spending on government pet projects and playing blacktop politics. It should mean building the roads, ports, and digital infrastructure that allow businesses to grow and trade more efficiently. Investments in transportation, housing, and broadband connectivity are critical to unleashing BC’s economic potential. Revitalizing BC’s private sector also means providing clear, stable policies for resource industries, doubling down on technology and advanced manufacturing, and supporting sectors like agriculture and tourism that are uniquely tied to our identity. These industries have the potential to create good-paying jobs for British Columbians while positioning B.C. as a leader in Canada’s economy. British Columbia has everything it needs to lead the nation in economic growth: abundant natural resources, world-class talent, and an entrepreneurial spirit. What is missing is a government that truly believes in the power of the private sector to create jobs and prosperity. This week’s fiscal update will give us another snapshot of the NDP’s approach. British Columbians deserve better. They deserve more than just numbers on a page. They deserve a government with a real plan to empower the private sector and build a thriving, sustainable economy and the “can-do” attitude to get it done. As we await the fiscal update, it’s time to move beyond government-funded job creation and start building an economy driven by private sector growth. The Conservative Party of British Columbia is ready to deliver a plan that works for businesses, families, and future generations. Gavin Dew is the BC Conservative MLA for Kelowna-Misionn and his party’s Jobs, Economic Development, and Innovation critic.Penn State seeks to stay perfect, takes on Fordham
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Broncos are 0-4 in Las Vegas, but in a matchup of teams heading in opposite directions, Denver has more at stake than trying to end a series skid. A victory over the Raiders puts the Broncos that much closer to an unexpected playoff berth, playing with a rookie quarterback and just a year after they went 8-9. The Broncos are 6-5 and coming off a 38-6 victory over the Atlanta Falcons , and would be in the playoff field if the season ended entering Week 12. Not bad for a team given a win total of 5 1/2 games at BetMGM Sportsbook. “Everyone understands the significance of where we are at this point in the season,” Broncos wide receiver Courtland Sutton said. The situation is quite different for the Raiders. They are 2-8, on a six-game losing streak and decimated by injuries. Las Vegas could enter this game without its top two running backs and a reshuffled line on offense, and defensively, the Raiders could have two linemen, three cornerbacks and a safety out of action. “Just been having some bad breaks, but nobody feels sorry for us,” Raiders coach Antonio Pierce said. "Nobody feels sorry for me. You’ve got to roll out there with 11 players, and that’s what we’re going to do come Sunday.” The Raiders are badly in a need of a franchise quarterback and are in a logjam for the top pick in next year's NFL draft. Denver showed with this year's draft how valuable landing such a QB can be to an organization. Bo Nix was selected 12th — one spot ahead of the Raiders — and he is pushing for AP Offensive Rookie of the Year. He was this week's top AFC player and rookie after completing 28 of 33 passes for 307 yards and four touchdowns in the rout of the Falcons. “I think as we’ve gone on, Coach (Sean Payton) and I have found a good rhythm of what we both like, what we can kind of put out there on the field and what we can execute," Nix said. "Then the guys have kind of adapted to it, found our roles within the offense and executed at a high level. It’s just all about slowing the game down and processing things in a manner that you can handle.” Raiders tight end Brock Bowers also could have a say in who wins the season's top offensive rookie award. He is second in the NFL with 70 catches and his 706 yards receiving is 10th among all receivers. His numbers from a historical perspective are even more impressive. Bowers, the 13th pick in this year's draft , is fourth all time among all tight ends in catches through the first 11 weeks and he and Jeremy Shockey in 2002 are the only rookies at that position to have more than one game with at least 10 receptions. “This week's a brand new week,” Bowers said. “I've always got something to prove.” Payton still isn't entirely comfortable splitting carries between running backs Javonte Williams, Jaleel McLaughlin and rookie Audric Estime. Asked how he determines the right balance in his rotation, Payton said, “That's the $6 million question. It’s difficult. We know kind of what we have with those three players. I think it’s always hard to feed three. "I'm used to — and it’s easy — to feed two. So we kind of do that a little bit. I thought Javonte had some really good runs (last week). Certainly the game ends and we’re like, ‘Gosh, we have to get Jaleel more touches.’ So it’s a tough, but a good problem to have.” With injuries to running backs Alexander Mattison (ankle) and Zamir White (quadriceps), 10-year veteran Ameer Abdullah could get the start for the Raiders this weekend. He has just 17 carries for 82 yards and a touchdown this season and started just one game his previous six seasons. “I see myself as a starter,” Abdullah said. “I think every guy in the room does. I consider myself the best back on this team just like every back does. This is my opportunity to go out there and put my best foot forward.” Patrick Surtain II had a pair of interceptions, including one he returned for 100 yards and a touchdown, in the team's first meeting this season and that fueled the Broncos' 34-18 win in Denver . Both of the passes were intended for Bowers, who caught a 57-yard touchdown pass in the first quarter. Surtain isn't expecting the Raiders to avoid him Sunday, however. “You don't want to go into a game thinking they're not gonna throw it your way,” Surtain said, “because it's the pros at the end of the day, everybody's ready, everybody's capable.” AP Pro Football Writer Arnie Stapleton in Englewood, Colorado, contributed to this report. AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nflJohn Parker Romo made a 29-yard field goal to lift the Minnesota Vikings to a 30-27 overtime win against the host Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon. Romo buried the game-winning kick in his third career game for Minnesota (9-2), which won its fourth game in a row. The score capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive for the Vikings after the Bears went three-and-out on the first overtime possession. Sam Darnold completed 22 of 34 passes for 330 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Vikings. Wideout Jordan Addison finished with eight catches for a career-high 162 yards and a touchdown. The overtime defeat spoiled an impressive performance from rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who completed 32 of 47 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns for Chicago (4-7). D.J. Moore had seven catches for 106 yards and a touchdown, and Keenan Allen finished with nine catches for 86 yards and a score. Chicago erased an 11-point deficit in the final 22 seconds of regulation to send the game to overtime. Romo had put Minnesota on top 27-16 when he made a 26-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining in the fourth quarter. Williams trimmed the Bears' deficit to 27-24 with 22 seconds to go. He rolled right and found Allen wide open in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown, and moments later he fired a strike to Moore for a two-point conversion. The Bears recovered an onside kick on the next play to regain possession at their 43-yard line with 21 seconds left. Cairo Santos' onside kick bounced off the foot of Vikings tight end Johnny Mundt, and Tarvarius Moore recovered it. D.J. Moore put the Bears in field-goal position with a 27-yard reception across the middle of the field, and Santos made a 48-yarder as time expired to even the score at 27-all. Minnesota led 24-10 after three quarters. Romo made a 40-yard field goal early in the third quarter, and Aaron Jones punched in a 2-yard run with 1:22 left in the period to put the Vikings on top by two touchdowns. Addison and Jalen Nailor each had receiving touchdowns in the first half for Minnesota. Roschon Johnson scored on a 1-yard run for the Bears' only touchdown of the first half. Chicago trailed 14-10 at the break. --Field Level MediaIt started barely minutes after the horrifying news broke that the chief executive of UnitedHealthcare, Brian Thompson, was fatally shot in midtown Manhattan. Even before any details were available, the internet was awash in speculation that the company had refused to cover the alleged killer’s medical bills — and in debates about whether murder would be a reasonable response. Soon there was a video of a man in a hoodie, face not visible, walking up behind Thompson and shooting him multiple times, ignoring a woman standing nearby before walking away. Could he be a hit man? Then came the reports that bullet casings bearing the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were found at the scene. “Delay” and “deny” clearly echo tactics insurers use to avoid paying claims. “Depose”? Well, that’s the sudden, forceful removal from a high position. Ah. After that, it was an avalanche. The shooter was compared to John Q, the desperate fictional father who takes an entire emergency room hostage after a health insurance company refuses to cover his son’s lifesaving transplant in a 2002 film of the same name. Some posted “prior authorization needed before thoughts and prayers.” Others wryly pointed out that the reward for information connected to the murder, $10,000, was less than their annual deductibles. One observer recommended that Thompson should be scheduled to see a specialist in a few months, maybe. Many others went further. They urged people with information about the killing not to share it with the authorities. Names and photos of other health insurance executives floated around. Some of the posts that went most viral, racking up millions of views by celebrating the killing, I can’t repeat here. It’s true that any news with shock value would get some of this response online — after all, trolling, engagement bait and performative provocation are part of everyday life on digital platforms. But this was something different. The rage that people felt at the health insurance industry, and the elation that they expressed at seeing it injured, was shocking. It was also widespread and organic. It crossed communities all along the political spectrum and took hold in countless divergent cultural clusters. Even on Facebook, a platform where people do not commonly hide behind pseudonyms, the somber announcement by UnitedHealth Group that it was “deeply saddened and shocked at the passing of our dear friend and colleague” was met with, as of this writing, 80,000 reactions; 75,000 of them were the “haha” emoji. Politicians offering boilerplate condolences were eviscerated. Some responses came in the form of personal testimony. I don’t condone murder, many started, before describing harrowing ordeals that health insurance companies had put them through. On a prominent Reddit forum for medical professionals, one of the most upvoted comments was a parody rejection letter: After “a careful review of the claim submitted for emergency services on December 4, 2024,” it read, a claim was denied because “you failed to obtain prior authorization before seeking care for the gunshot wound to your chest.” Just a few days earlier, the forum had been a place where people debated the side effects of Flomax and the best medical conferences. I’ve been studying social media for a long time, and I can’t think of any other incident when a murder in this country has been so openly celebrated. The conditions that gave rise to this outpouring of anger are in some ways specific to this moment. Today’s business culture enshrines the maximization of executive wealth and shareholder fortunes, and has succeeded in leveraging personal riches into untold political influence. New communication platforms allow millions of strangers around the world to converse in real time. But on a deeper level, the currents we are seeing are expressions of something more fundamental. We’ve been here before. And it wasn’t pretty. The Gilded Age, the tumultuous period between roughly 1870 and 1900, was also a time of rapid technological change, of mass immigration, of spectacular wealth and enormous inequality. The era got its name from a Mark Twain novel: gilded, rather than golden, to signify a thin, shiny surface layer. Below it lay the corruption and greed that engulfed the country after the Civil War. The era survives in the public imagination through still resonant names, including J.P. Morgan, John Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie and Cornelius Vanderbilt; through their mansions, which now greet awestruck tourists; and through TV shows with extravagant interiors and lavish gowns. Less well remembered is the brutality that underlay that wealth — the tens of thousands of workers, by some calculations, who lost their lives to industrial accidents, or the bloody repercussions they met when they tried to organize for better working conditions. Also less well remembered is the intensity of political violence that erupted. The vast inequities of the era fueled political movements that targeted corporate titans, politicians, judges and others for violence. In 1892, an anarchist tried to assassinate industrialist Henry Clay Frick after a drawn-out conflict between Pinkerton security guards and workers. In 1901, an anarchist sympathizer assassinated President William McKinley. And so on. As historian Jon Grinspan wrote about the years between 1865 and 1915, “the nation experienced one impeachment, two presidential elections ‘won’ by the loser of the popular vote and three presidential assassinations.” And neither political party, he added, seemed “capable of tackling the systemic issues disrupting Americans’ lives.” No, not an identical situation, but the description does resonate with how a great many people feel about the direction of the country today. It’s not hard to see how, during the Gilded Age, armed political resistance could find many eager recruits and even more numerous sympathetic observers. And it’s not hard to imagine how the United States could enter another such cycle. A recent Reuters investigation identified at least 300 cases of political violence since the 2021 assault on the Capitol, which it described as “the biggest and most sustained increase in U.S. political violence since the 1970s.” A 2023 poll showed that the number of Americans who agree with the statement “American patriots may have to resort to violence in order to save the country” was ticking up alarmingly. And the fraying of the social contract is getting worse. Americans express less and less trust in many institutions. Substantial majorities of people say that government, business leaders and the media are purposefully misleading them. In striking contrast to older generations, majorities of younger people say they do not believe that “the American dream” is achievable anymore. The health insurance industry likes to cite polls that show overall satisfaction, but those numbers go down when people get sick and learn what their insurer is and is not willing to do for them. Things are much better now than in the 19th century. But there is a similarity to the trajectory and the mood, to the expression of deep powerlessness and alienation. Now, however, the country is awash in powerful guns. And some of the new technologies that will be deployed to help preserve order can cut both ways. Thompson’s killer apparently knew exactly where to find his target and at exactly what time. No evidence has emerged that he had access to digital tracking data, but that information is out there on the market. How long before easily built artificial-intelligence-powered drones equipped with facial recognition cameras, rather than hooded men with backpacks, seek targets in cities and towns? The turbulence and violence of the Gilded Age eventually gave way to comprehensive social reform. The nation built a social safety net, expanded public education and erected regulations and infrastructure that greatly improved the health and well-being of all Americans. Those reforms weren’t perfect, and they weren’t the only reason the violence eventually receded (though never entirely disappeared), but they moved us forward. The concentration of extreme wealth in the United States has recently surpassed that of the Gilded Age. And the will among politicians to push for broad public solutions appears to have all but vanished. I fear that instead of an era of reform, the response to this act of violence, and to the widespread rage it has ushered into view, will be limited to another round of retreat by the wealthiest. Corporate executives are already reportedly beefing up their security. I expect more of them to move to gated communities, entrenched beyond even higher walls, protected by people with even bigger guns. Calls for a higher degree of public surveillance, or for integrating facial recognition algorithms into policing, may well follow. Almost certainly, armed security entourages and private jets will become an even more common element of executive compensation packages, further removing routine contact between the extremely wealthy and the rest of us, except when employed to serve them. We still don’t know who killed Brian Thompson or what his motive was. Whatever facts eventually emerge, the anger it has laid bare will still be real, and what we glimpsed should ring all the alarm bells.
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John Parker Romo made a 29-yard field goal to lift the Minnesota Vikings to a 30-27 overtime win against the host Chicago Bears on Sunday afternoon. Romo buried the game-winning kick in his third career game for Minnesota (9-2), which won its fourth game in a row. The score capped a 10-play, 68-yard drive for the Vikings after the Bears went three-and-out on the first overtime possession. Sam Darnold completed 22 of 34 passes for 330 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Vikings. Wideout Jordan Addison finished with eight catches for a career-high 162 yards and a touchdown. The overtime defeat spoiled an impressive performance from rookie quarterback Caleb Williams, who completed 32 of 47 passes for 340 yards and two touchdowns for Chicago (4-7). D.J. Moore had seven catches for 106 yards and a touchdown, and Keenan Allen finished with nine catches for 86 yards and a score. Chicago erased an 11-point deficit in the final 22 seconds of regulation to send the game to overtime. Romo had put Minnesota on top 27-16 when he made a 26-yard field goal with 1:56 remaining in the fourth quarter. Williams trimmed the Bears' deficit to 27-24 with 22 seconds to go. He rolled right and found Allen wide open in the end zone for a 1-yard touchdown, and moments later he fired a strike to Moore for a two-point conversion. The Bears recovered an onside kick on the next play to regain possession at their 43-yard line with 21 seconds left. Cairo Santos' onside kick bounced off the foot of Vikings tight end Johnny Mundt, and Tarvarius Moore recovered it. D.J. Moore put the Bears in field-goal position with a 27-yard reception across the middle of the field, and Santos made a 48-yarder as time expired to even the score at 27-all. Minnesota led 24-10 after three quarters. Romo made a 40-yard field goal early in the third quarter, and Aaron Jones punched in a 2-yard run with 1:22 left in the period to put the Vikings on top by two touchdowns. Addison and Jalen Nailor each had receiving touchdowns in the first half for Minnesota. Roschon Johnson scored on a 1-yard run for the Bears' only touchdown of the first half. Chicago trailed 14-10 at the break. --Field Level MediaPenn State seeks to stay perfect, takes on Fordham
Defeated In By-Election, Forest Minister Ramniwas Rawat Alleges Sabotage By BJP LeadersGCS Glass Raises a Glass to Personalized Wine Wall Solutions in Phoenix Metro AreaUS to send $1.25 billion in weapons to Ukraine, pushing to get aid out before Biden leaves office WASHINGTON (AP) — U.S. officials say the United States is expected to announce it will send another $1.25 billion in military assistance to Ukraine. It's part of a push by the Biden administration to get as much aid to Kyiv as possible before leaving office on Jan. 20. Officials say the large package of aid includes a significant amount of munitions, including for the National Advanced Surface-to-Air Missile Systems and the HAWK air defense system. It also will provide Stinger missiles and 155 mm- and 105 mm artillery rounds. The officials say they expect the announcement will be made on Monday. They spoke on condition of anonymity to provide details not yet made public. An online debate over foreign workers in tech shows tensions in Trump's political coalition WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. (AP) — An online spat between factions of Donald Trump’s supporters over immigration and the tech industry has thrown internal divisions in the president-elect’s political movement into public display. The argument previews fissures and contradictory views his coalition could bring to the White House. The rift laid bare tensions between the newest flank of Trump’s movement — that is, wealthy members of the tech world who want more highly skilled workers in their industry — and people in Trump’s Make America Great Again base who championed his hardline immigration policies. A 9th telecoms firm has been hit by a massive Chinese espionage campaign, the White House says WASHINGTON (AP) — A top White House official says a ninth U.S. telecoms firm has been confirmed to have been hacked as part of a sprawling Chinese espionage campaign that gave officials in Beijing access to private texts and phone conversations of an unknown number of Americans. Administration officials said this month that at least eight telecommunications companies, as well as dozens of nations, had been affected by the Chinese hacking blitz known as Salt Typhoon. But Anne Neuberger, a deputy national security adviser, said Friday that a ninth victim had been identified after the administration released guidance to companies about how to hunt for Chinese culprits in their networks. Warren Upton, the oldest living survivor of the attack on Pearl Harbor, dies at 105 HONOLULU (AP) — The oldest living survivor of the 1941 Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the last remaining survivor of the USS Utah has died. He was 105. Warren Upton died Wednesday at a hospital in Los Gatos, California. Kathleen Farley, the California state chair of the Sons and Daughters of Pearl Harbor Survivors, says he suffered a bout of pneumonia. The Utah was moored at Pearl Harbor when Japanese planes began bombing the Hawaii naval base in the early hours of Dec. 7, 1941. The attack propelled the U.S. into World War II. Israeli troops forcibly remove staff and patients from northern Gaza hospital, officials say DEIR AL-BALAH, Gaza Strip (AP) — Gaza's Health Ministry says Israeli troops have stormed one of the last hospitals operating in the territory's north and forced many of the staff and patients outside. Then they had to remove their clothes in winter weather. Friday's incident was the latest assault on Kamal Adwan Hospital. Staff say it has been hit multiple times in the past three months by Israeli troops waging an offensive against Hamas fighters in the surrounding neighborhoods. Israel's military says Hamas uses the hospital as a base. It did not provide evidence, and hospital officials have denied it. Azerbaijani and U.S. officials suggest plane that crashed may have been hit by weapons fire U.S. and Azerbaijani officials have said weapons fire may have brought down an Azerbaijani airliner that crashed on Wednesday, killing 38 people. The statements from Rashad Nabiyev and White House national security spokesman John Kirby on Friday raised pressure on Russia. Officials in Moscow have said a drone attack was underway in the region that the Azerbaijan Airlines flight was destined for but have not addressed statements from aviation experts who blamed the crash on Russian air defenses responding to a Ukrainian attack. The plane was flying from Azerbaijan’s capital of Baku to Chechnya on Wednesday when it crashed, killing 38 people and leaving all 29 survivors injured. Court rules Georgia lawmakers can subpoena Fani Willis for information related to her Trump case ATLANTA (AP) — A judge has ruled that the Georgia state Senate can subpoena Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis. It's part of a inquiry into whether Willis has engaged in misconduct during her prosecution of President-elect Donald Trump. But Fulton County Superior Court Judge Shukura Ingram is giving Willis the chance to contest whether lawmakers’ demands are overly broad before Willis responds. A Republican-led committee was formed earlier this year and sent subpoenas to Willis in August seeking to compel her to testify during its September meeting and to produce scores of documents. Willis argued that the committee didn’t have the power to subpoena her. US homelessness up 18% as affordable housing remains out of reach for many people Federal officials say the United States saw an 18.1% increase in homelessness, a dramatic rise driven mostly by a lack of affordable housing as well as devastating natural disasters and a surge of migrants in several parts of the country. The U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development said that federally required tallies taken across the country in January found that more than 770,000 people were counted as homeless. That increase comes on top of a 12% increase in 2023, which HUD blamed on soaring rents and the end of pandemic assistance. Among the most concerning trends was a nearly 40% rise in family homelessness. What Snoop wants: Arizona Bowl gives NIL opportunities to players for Colorado State, Miami (Ohio) TUCSON, Ariz. (AP) — When Snoop Dogg agreed to become the sponsor of the Arizona Bowl, he had a demand: It must have a NIL component. Other bowls have provided NIL chances for single players the past few years, but the Arizona Bowl is believed to be the first to offer NIL compensation to every player on both Colorado State and Miami (Ohio). The players participated in youth clinics before Saturday's game and will be compensated for their time. Alex Ovechkin is on track to break Wayne Gretzky's NHL career goals record Alex Ovechkin of the Washington Capitals is chasing the NHL career goals record of 894 held by Wayne Gretzky. Ovechkin entered the season 42 goals short of breaking a record that long seemed unapproachable. He is set to play again Saturday at the Toronto Maple Leafs after missing more than a month with a broken left fibula. Ovechkin was on pace to get to 895 sometime in February before getting injured. At 868, he his 27 goals away from passing Gretzky.
This is the part where you roll your eyes, cross your arms and huff off in the other direction, maybe kick a little dirt as you head back to your couch to sulk. This is also the part where you tell yourself not to fall in love, not to believe, to build walls and sit back to watch the world burn. Buy tickets to another game? Not on your life. Seem apocalyptic? For the college sports fan, not so much. As the 10 p.m. news cycle hit Thursday, Lobos fans were hit with another sucker punch to the privates when reports surfaced Bronco Mendenhall was ditching the UNM football program he’d been in charge of for 366 days in favor of the lateral move to Utah State. Conveniently he waited until Day 1 of Year 2 of his contract to make the announcement, a day that dropped his buyout from $3 million to $2 million. It was a business decision that, to steal his words from earlier in the week, make you want to take a shower because of how skeezy it felt. In a blink, the state’s most well-compensated public employee took all the “development” and “progression” and “consistency” talk and put a match to it. The guy who espoused to be the laid-back, patient program builder, the owner of a lucrative five-year contract worth more money than most New Mexicans will see in five lifetimes, was a one and doner. It immediately opened the floodgates to a mass exodus that we all saw coming. Although the NCAA transfer portal doesn’t open until Monday, news quickly leaked that all-conference quarterback Devon Dampier and running back Eli Sanders were leaving. Mendenhall was prophetic during what proved to be his farewell address Tuesday, saying every Mountain West team would lose 35 to 50 players to the portal. Expect another few dozen Lobos to hit the open road in the days to come. Mendenhall saw it coming. As much as Lobo fans don’t want to admit it, they did, too. Even the new guy saw it. Fern Lovo, the 36-year-old who was rolled out as the new athletic director on Wednesday, issued a statement Friday morning — his fifth day on the job, no less — saying he was aware of Mendenhall shopping himself around and was prepared to offer a bigger compensation package to keep him here. Now he can take the $2 million he’ll get from Utah State buying out Bronco’s deal and spend it on another coach who will come in, wear the red blazer and talk about how proud he is to be a Lobo and part of this amazing community with an up-and-coming program. Whaaatever. We’ll keep the moving van's engine idling for you. The real gut punch is the announcement that Lobo-for-life Luke Wysong was also planning to jump ship. Wysong, the versatile receiver and ballyhooed local kid whose parents were UNM athletes and whose brother was a Lobo, no longer wanted to be here. What a lousy time to be a college sports fan — not just of UNM or New Mexico State, but everywhere else. Conferences are collapsing and rivalries being ditched. The system is broken and the problems oozing from the afterglow are dictating the renegade nature of things. It’s OK to disassociate, to feel like walking away. It truly is a business more than a sport, and it's the fans who pay the ultimate price. With the archaic structure of the NCAA crumbling before our eyes, the power is now in the hands of athletes. A few years ago, payments to players got programs blackballed and put on probation. Now the first question asked in recruiting is how much money can you put in a kid's pocket to wear the (checks latest email) cherry and silver? Before we get into it, let’s stop the stepping-stone talk about Lobos sports. Mendenhall aside, of the previous eight football coaches only one (Dennis Franchione to TCU) left for greener pastures. Yes, Rocky Long (San Diego State), Mike Locksley (Alabama and Maryland) and even Mike Sheppard (the NFL) did just fine down the road, but none of them actually left UNM directly for a better gig. Long was forced out and became an assistant coach while Locksley and Sheppard were both fired. UNM’s basketball program, same story. The last half-century has seen just two coaches (Steve Alford to UCLA and Dave Bliss to Baylor) get poached for another gig — and we all know how that went. The others were all fired or quit, guys like Norm Ellenberger (fired), Gary Colson (fired), Ritchie McKay (fired), Charlie Harrison (quit), the legendary Bob King (retired) and insanely less-legendary Craig Neal (extra fired) and Paul Weir (super extra fired). If you buy the idea that the carousel ends with Bronco’s departure, we have a nice bridge over here we want to sell you. We’ll have this same discussion three or four months from now when certain basketball coach of Italian/East Coast decent lands in the Big East or Big 12, or is handed the keys to an SEC or ACC program hungry for his surname. Same, too, with a number of his players you love to love. Can’t wait to see No. 2 in a Duke or UCLA uniform next season. Maybe No. 3 somewhere in Texas or the upper Midwest. The house of cards they built will fall to the floor as their fans wait, hoping someone can walk through the door to make it better. There won’t be. There never will be. As college sports is teaching us on a daily basis, commitment only extends as far as the cash on hand. Someone somewhere is always going to have a bigger piggybank and as soon as the hammer cracks that thing open, loyalty goes out the window. Take a drive to UNM’s South Campus. Take a look at the cars in parking lot when practice is going on. There are courtesy cars and newly purchased vehicles that make the ride you rolled up in seem pedestrian. There’s nothing wrong with that. Who among us would clutch their pearls and adhere to an ethical standard of solidarity to those who brought you here when someone’s waving stacks of cash in your face? You take what you can get, especially when the “getting” means more money in the next year or two (six- and seven-figure NIL deals every year, no strings attached, are standard for the top athletes) than anything you’ll come close to making after you get a college degree and join the 40-hour club like rest of us zombies. Imagine being an athlete. You’re 18 to 23 years old, you have the ability to run fast, jump high and do special things with a spherical object. Full scholarship? You betcha. While we’re at it, how about half a million dollars and facilities to match? Sign me up! At a time when most college kids are trying to find the anthropology building or figure out when the SUB makes fresh donuts while trying to do laundry in a dorm sink and deal with a roommate’s weird habits, the people who make magic on an athletic field are swimming in cash and making decisions on the advice of agents. It’s crazy. Now comes the impending House vs. NCAA settlement that will force schools to share revenue with athletes. Many of them will make more money than their assistant coaches — and certainly more than most of the people who pay their hard-earned money to buy seats to watch them play. Then imagine having no moral or ethical reason to stick around. You can literally leave the minute someone else offers more money. It’s happening right now at UNM, just like it is everywhere else. The team you root for now will be entirely different next year. The meteoric rise of Lobo football in Mendenhall’s one year was a remarkable thing. As much of a fan-favorite Danny Gonzales was when he was hired in 2019, it turned out that the local guy everyone wanted simply wasn’t a good coach. Great guy, sure, but someone whose ashes turned into Mendenhall’s six-lane freeway to another post. Gonzales' time on the South Campus was an abject failure that, sadly, is probably the most any Lobo fan can hope for; going 3-9 next year and hoping they don’t get 50-pointed in road games at Michigan and UCLA. Take a deep breath, Lobo fans. Thursday night was painful and Friday was a stinker. Next week won’t be any better as the portal overflows with players who no longer want to be here. Hold onto that feeling next season if the new guys somehow sustain Mendenhall’s momentum and hope you’ll fill the seats to pump up that revenue-sharing thing. Don’t give in to temptation. Everyone's getting paid here except you. Your payment is wins. It's school pride. It's having a bunch of kids and a handful of adults give you the chance to puff out your chest and feel good about the school colors. It's all a farce. Stay home. Play with your kids, take your dog for a walk, tend to your vegetable garden or, heck, lay on the couch and play games on your phone with the TV on in the background. Until this college sports thing gets better, don’t pour your heart out expecting the people you hope to protect it will make you a priority. They never will.Israel launches new airstrikes on Lebanon as leaders draw closer to ceasefire with Hezbollah
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