Is anyone perfect, no way Jose

Mistakes can drive you crazy, like my Friday night high school football schedule has Santa Fe High heading for Albuquerque’s Milne Stadium to keep a date with District 5-6A opponent Sandia.

Except it’s incorrect because the Demons are going in the eight direction, but Wilson Stadium is where the game will be played. Hopefully, head coach Andrew Martinez knows his way better then I do. Imagine sending him and his players and staff to the wrong stadium.

But to clear that up, his 5-1 team follows correctly with a visit from Clovis, a ride down I-25 to 3rd-ranked Albuquerque La Cueva, and a home finale

versus Albuquerque High. Then we will see if it earns a berth in the post-season.

Good man, Coach Martinez. Before he took over as head coach at Santa Fe High, he would always greet me on the sidelines while still an assistant at St. Michael’s, and always praised my stay in Vietnam, and my handsome United States Navy rings.

Now I live in a 3rd floor apartment in the City Different, and when I once mentioned to him how, at my advanced age, I could replace this broken down leather chair in my living room. He said get another one, but when I replied that there was no way I could tug a new one from Office Max and carry it upstairs as well as dumping the old one in the dumpster.

So he said, no problem, that I let him know when I would be able to do this before I continue to danger my back. So I did, and shortly after, he met me at Office Max with three of his players, two of whom were seniors Luc Jaramillo and Martell Mora, his starting 4-year quarterback and star running back.

He told me to just pay for the new chair and it will be delivered right to my apartment after I gave him my address. Store manager George Rodriguez gave me a discount, and not long after I got home, there they were, the coach and his three players.

It was a fun time for them. They first tossed the old chair in the dumpster, wouldn’t except any money that I offered, and now my back is feeling much better and I think of them whenever I sit down.

Thank you Demons, thank you Coach Martinez.

And good luck tonight at the right place. There will no radio broadcast by Carl Twibell because he is in Las Vegas, Nev., after his daughter was married there Thursday night. I assume his brother John, who does the commentary for these broadcasts, is probably also there with the family.

Carl is not sure if he will be back to broadcast Saturday afternoon‘s game at, yes, Milne Stadium, against 5-5A opponent Albuquerque Rio Grande.

I’d like to congratulate Tom Manning on his latest achievement, being honored recently on his induction into the New Mexico Activities Association Hall of Honor. Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, it had been postponed until now.

No doubt, well deserving of yet another honor for the former Santa Fe High athletic director and now assistant in that role at his alma mater St. Michael’s after years of returning there as its athletic director. Now 72, I have known him well since arriving in New Mexico in 2001 and settling down in Santa Fe with Pretty Bird, my 21-year-old amazing green cheek conjure.

When I first heard from him I was covering sports for the Albuquerque North Journal, and had been doing this for about two weeks when I kept asking for a schedule for his teams at Santa Fe High. So one day he leaves a message on my phone — “Yo, what’s wrong with you people, check your messages, I sent the schedule a few times. Thank you.”

It sounded like sarcasm, but being I only knew him now by his voice, I went over to his office at school to introduce myself, met his oldest son, David, and we had a nice talk. Tom even took me to lunch with the then-head baseball coach of the Demons.

It was neat, they both got a kick out of me coughing up the spicy hot stuff. I wasn’t used to it being I previously lived in South Florida and before that in New York and New Jersey.

I’ll tell you one thing, he knows his sports, each and every one. He has been coaching almost every sport since he graduated from St. Michael’s and then from New Mexico State. If he doesn’t like someone, he lets you know. He doesn’t keep many secrets.

There was the time that I informed the other sportswriter at the Journal North that I thought it would be appropriate to write a feature on David Manning, who started at shooting guard for Santa Fe High, at starting catcher for the baseball team, and was starting quarterback for the football team.

But I didn’t take it lightly when I was told by the other sportswriter that all three of those teams were not good, and so forget it. So I was also writing for a monthly Santa Fe publication and I was told it would be fine to write it.

So I called up Tom, arranged to meet with David in the athletic office, and I was happy to write it. I called him “Man for all seasons.”

There have been some goods and bads between myself and Tom Manning, but his sons David and Mark and sister Lisa are a-okay and easy to get along with. Mark played quarterback at St. Michael’s and Lisa played volleyball as a Demonette.

On most Thanksgivings, there was Tom, who lives about a block or two near me in between Santa Fe High and St. Michael’s, would call me from his car parked downstairs and tell me he brought turkey and other goodies for me. Sometimes he would knock on my door, hand me the Thanksgiving stuff and chat with Pretty Bird, once he even left a note for my only other resident.

Happy to give your new honor some space to join all the others through the years. There are Mannings everywhere, not as many as the Smiths, but the Mannings I know here fit right in. When I see Payton and Eli on the tubes, it’s just another look at the good ole Mannings.

Oh, and always check my weekly high school schedules so that you don’t get lost, as in Milne Stadium instead of Wilson. Go Demons, Go Horsemen at El Paso Texas Cathedral, Go Capital at Milne Stadium, and go Santa Fe Indian School against visiting Robertson.

Robertson? Well it’s hard to figure why the local newspaper refers to it as Las Vegas Robertson when it’s the only Robertson in the state. How about Las Vegas West Las Vegas? And why hasn’t the local newspaper written up Santa Fe Indian School football, now 5-1, and is because the Braves haven’t taken vaccines? Who knows, I write up Indian School anyway.

Adios, have a dandy weekend from a former Nu Yawker.