A programming note

A few weeks ago, blog co-editor lemonverbena and I were huddled in the soon-to-be-less-expansive STADIUM parking lot drinking beers and debating who would write the game recap following another 7:30 p.m. football start. It could have been the Hawai’i game, or maybe the UNLV game. Hell, who really remembers. All I recall is that it was dark and too cold for the thin hoodie I was wearing.

Neither of us volunteered for recap duty particularly quickly, and with good reason. The game would end around 11 p.m., meaning we’d get to our respective homes around 11:30, meaning we’d probably have a draft ready to post around 2 a.m., meaning holy shit someone’s Sunday was going to be in tired shambles. This was one particular moment but much of the past couple years of blogging has gone like this.

A realization finally set in that was time to rethink our endless cycle of game previews and recaps.

Our ultimate conclusion was that we’d see football season through to its — as it turns out, horrific — finish, then go on blogging hiatus for a bit while we recharged and figured out a way to make the project feel lively again. The timing worked out for other reasons. One of us is starting a new business venture; the other is spending much of the next two months traveling.

Let’s be clear: Neither of us are going away. I mean, what kind of asshole would blog about your favorite team for multiple years and then completely ghost you without warning? We’ll still be around on Aztecs Twitter, passing along clumsily photoshopped images and noting the various locales that are not, in fact, states. Much — if not all — of our audience dwells on that micro-blogging hellsite anyway. If you’re someone who follows the accounts but never clicks on the actual posts, you probably won’t notice a difference. And if you don’t follow us, well, what the fuck.

Both of us extend big thanks and humble gratitude to AttemptedChem (David), EgosAndDespair/Advisory Columnist (also David, but different), and to Jodes, who became too busy having a life and running a different site to keep posting here but will always be a K30er in our hearts. Seriously, thanks to each of you for the quality content and support, the laughs and tears, the cold comforts and warm misgivings.

Most of all, a hearty THANK YOU to the loyal blog readers of Kabeer Thirty. From the outset this has been a self-funded passion project we wanted to share with San Diego State fans, of whom we feel kinship as an overlooked and neglected band of cynics tucked into the best corner of our unsettled country, and scattered around it. This would be a pointless exercise without your feedback, support, appreciation and/or aggrieved rebukes.

These many moons later, please know that the blog isn’t going dark. We’ll be back soon-ish, just not at the same pace or format. Expect less day-to-day grind and more the stuff we actually like doing; i.e. absurdist humor, bad logo roasting and big-picture taeks.

We’ll see you soon. Promise.

*This promise is not legally binding.

Frisco Bowl Recap: I’m not mad, I’m actually laughing

San Diego State football entered 2018 on the heels of one of the best stretches in program history, ripping off 32 wins in three seasons. The 2018 season just ended with probably the lowest ebb of the Rocky Long era — a rain-soaked 27-0 loss to Ohio University in the Frisco Bowl in which the suspension-depleted Aztecs didn’t look particularly interested to be there.

If only, friend. If only.

Continue reading “Frisco Bowl Recap: I’m not mad, I’m actually laughing”

Frisco Bowl Preview: Aztecs vs Ohio

Major Rock is gonna ride out this bomb of a season if it harelips everybody in Lemon Grove.

What: Postseason football game
Who: San Diego State Aztecs vs. Ohio Bobcats
When: 5:00 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Toyota Stadium in Frisco, Texas
TV: ESPN
Line: Ohio -2.5

The Stakes
Pride and self-respect. Making their ninth straight bowl appearance, the Aztecs need a win to avoid ending the season on a four-game losing streak. And in a late surprise, SDSU will have to overcome the suspension of three players — including starters Noble Hall and Daishawn Dixon — sent home by Rocky Long two days before the game.

The Frisco Bowl is the former Miami Beach Bowl, which was played at Marlins Park from 2014 to 2016. Frisco is a half-hour drive north of Dallas.

The Opponent
Before being announced as SDSU’s bowl opponent, I was only vaguely aware of Ohio University’s existence. Founded in 1804 and the oldest university in the state, Ohio U. is situated on a sprawling 1,800-acre campus in the little college town of Athens. It sounds kind of idyllic to be quite honest. The school’s student population is 60 percent women, a demographic anomaly future college applicants may wish to consider.

Ohio started playing football in 1894. Pretty legit considering the game has only existed (as 25-on-25 murderball) since 1869. The football Bobcats have competed in Division I since 1962.

Continue reading “Frisco Bowl Preview: Aztecs vs Ohio”

On Jalen McDaniels

I was expecting to recap a San Diego State men’s basketball game tonight.

This is not a recap of a San Diego State men’s basketball game.

A few hours before the Aztecs were slated to tip off against Cal State Dominguez Hills, we learned of a two civil suits (one already filed, another apparently on its way) against sophomore star Jalen McDaniels, alleging that while in high school he filmed and shared sex videos without the knowledge or consent of the women involved.

There are times like this where I realize the limitations of having a blog where we like to crack jokes and take things a little less than seriously. Grappling with real world societal problems I’m not so good at, and I’m sort of at a loss for a nuanced take right now beyond, “This is some fucked up shit.”

Continue reading “On Jalen McDaniels”

Blind recap: Aztecs lose to bad Cal Berkeley 89-83

We regret to inform that none of your loyal scribes were able to watch this game then write about it — which is to say; we were unavailable, except for one of us at the game as a visiting civilian with no intention of sitting down at a computer afterwards. Which is for the best as it turns out! San Diego State lost to the University of California men’s basketball team 89-83 in Berkeley.

The loss to Pac-12 cellar-dwelling Cal drops SDSU into the college hoops wilderness. With a résumé of a 30-point loss to Iowa State, a home loss to little crosstown rival USD and this loss to a bad Cal team, the Aztecs are now 5-4 and have squandered virtually any chance of an at-large berth to the big dance. It’s Mountain West tourney champs or bust, y’all, and it’s hard to imagine this iteration putting together a miracle run like last season, even if No. 6 Nevada weren’t standing in the way.

Jalen McDaniels led the Aztecs with 20 points and Jeremy Hemsley had 19, including 5 of 6 on threes. Neither was enough to keep the Golden Bears from finishing the game on an 18-5 run over the last 3:53. Justice Sueing led Cal with 23 points.

Feel free to read the box score and weep, and here’s Mark Zeigler’s U-T gamer.

SDSU returns home to face Division II powerhouse Cal State Dominguez Hills this Wednesday in a game that is sure to be enthusiastically attended. The Aztecs then host BYU on December 22.