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New Mexico beat writer rage-quits after Lobos’ unexpected loss to Harvard

When our team loses, there's heartbreak. Frustration. Agony. But we almost always come back, again and again, season after season.

But sometimes the pain is just too much. Sometimes, we just can't take any more. Such is the case for Dennis Latta, freelance writer for Rivals.com's Loboland and a 33-year veteran of the New Mexico beat. After Thursday night's stunning and, yes, humiliating loss to Harvard, Latta had had enough.

In his farewell column, Latta fires a shot across the bow — or, really, through the hull — of the New Mexico program: "I really thought that the University of New Mexico finally had a men's basketball team that earned the loyalty of their fans." He lists all the virtues of this year's New Mexico team — "real potential," accomplishments in both the regular season and the Mountain West Conference, strong players across the board — but then he undercuts each one of those plaudits with "I was wrong."

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And then he drops the hammer:

But I won't be wrong again. It was a lot easier to take when expectations were lower. Losing was acceptable because UNM had almost always lost when it really counted. You didn't have visions of greatness, only to have them dashed. After the pitiful performance UNM put up against a team that doesn't even offer scholarships, I've given up. Having all five starters back next season means nothing on a team that can just disappear like that. I'd be back to wondering when it would collapse, have a terrible game and lose to an inferior team again.

No, I've had it. I've been to my last Lobo basketball game after covering the team for much of the last 33 years.

Good-bye Lobo basketball.

You can see Latta's frustrations. You put in over three decades with a team, you expect some kind of payoff somewhere down the line, right? And hey, perhaps Harvard could use someone to cover their next games. (Sorry, Dennis.)

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