UTEP running back Josh Bell at a recent game vs FIU. (Ivan Pier Aguirre/Courtesy of UTEP Athletics)

Concussions bedevil sports, but today they are taken seriously

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EL PASO — Any athlete can suffer some type of brain injury in a game or in practice during a career especially in the very competitive college and pro sports. Most athletes get concussions, but they are usually unaware of the injury, so they continue to play. But today, any symptoms are taken very seriously by trainers and coaches to make sure that their players are safe. Some symptoms that should be flagged right away are headaches, fuzzy or blurry vision, nausea and vomiting, dizziness, sensitivity to light or noise, balance problems, or fatigue lack of energy to do anything. Other symptoms include emotional problems such as easily getting upset, sad, nervous or anxious.

The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is new, but is it better?

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EL PASO — In college football you have the top 25 NCAA rankings and all 119 teams dream of being ranked number one and winning the national championship. But only two teams get to play for it at the end of the year. The Bowl Championship Series (BCS) is changing that. The BCS is a system set up with conference commissioners who take about a year to put the playoff games together. In 2014 four of the top teams will get the right to play for the title instead of only the two teams of previous years.

Germad Reed

Football teaches you the discipline to hit hard and when knocked down, get up and do it again

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EL PASO – I look to the sideline at my position coach to get the call, a series of quick hand signals repeated three times. “Over 4 Dagger Right Echo,” I yell out to my teammates so that we all can be on the same page. Now, I look at the Tulane University lineup formation and recall what plays they run out of the 10 personal formations. The first number is for how many backs are in and the second number tells how many tight ends. In this formation the quarterback is usually aligned in shotgun with the back either to his left or right.

Bob Stull, UTEP's Athletics director, presents The Mike Price Era timeline at the Don Haskins Center. (Hector Escobedo/Borderzine.com)

Mike Price Era

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EL PASO – As the football season ended, UTEP Miners head coach Mike Price made one last appearance at the Don Haskins Center. He was the main event in the halftime show for the Men’s Basketball Battle of I-10. The crowd was roaring as he gave his final “spell out” cheer for the Miners. Athletics director Bob Stull gave him an emotional timeline titled ‘’The Mike Price Era.’’ Price’s era began on December 21, 2003. He resurrected the program, bringing two 8-4 seasons in his first two years.

Female UTEP athletic trainer standing between towering football players.

Women working in all-male sports learn to adapt and flourish

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EL PASO – I stand on the sidelines of an XXL world filled with, size-17 shoes, and giants battling for a pigskin ball in a field of blood, sweat, ice and medical tape, one of a few women allowed in the center of the turmoil. There are very few women involved in the male maelstrom, whether it is college football or in the NFL. Having a passion for the game and also being involved in the media aspect, I have seen that women are undervalued in the world of men’s sports. “Have you ever noticed those female sideline reporters the networks employed for NFL games? And have you ever noticed they’re all a bunch of ignorant bimbos that wouldn’t know a football field from a cornfield without a man pointing them in the right direction ” said comedian Norm McDonald while imitating Andy Rooney.