Embarrassing El Paso Sports Moments – Our Top Five

Former UTEP Miners Basketball coach Billy Gillispie was rising quickly in the basketball world. He proved he could win, and win big both in El Paso and Texas A&M before moving on to Kentucky, where everything fell apart.

But his string of DUI arrests hang like a weight around his neck.

1999 - Tulsa, OK

2003 - El Paso, TX

2009 - Lawrenceburg, KY

He did some fantastic things in basketball, but that will forever be marred by his off-court problems. Hopefully he gets it together and stays on track. We still like him here.

The UTEP Miners football team doesn't exactly lead the way in proud El Paso moments in history. The basketball team has some huge highs, including the 1966 win against Kentucky, or course.

But football...well, that's another story.

The UTEP football team has made only 13 appearances in bowl games since 1936...and all the appearances through 1967 (8 of them) were Sun Bowl appearances, before the Sun Bowl had all the recognitions and connections it does now to get bigger teams. They're only Bowl Game wins...you guessed it, those early Sun Bowl games. They won 5 of those 8, and nothing since 1967.

Brandon Cohn is kind of a big guy. We don't say this to be mean, and to be honest he's lost a lot of weight, and we're really happy for him. But a couple of years ago, while he was really big, he volunteered to represent us at the El Paso Diablos Hot Dog Eating competition.

We thought, "He should place, at the very least."

When the event started, Brandon was ready to go, he was hungry, he was eyeing those dogs like a man seeking vengeance for a past wrong.

He ate 1 hot dog.

And barely got through that one.

Will he ever live this down? Take a guess.

Andy Lee, producer of SportsTalk, gets to talk a lot of trash on the air about players not getting it done, screwing things up...generally having a ball with athletics.

His ancestors Sid and Andy Cohen made names for themselves in baseball beginning in the 20's. They began playing baseball in El Paso in 1922, and Andy Cohen became a second baseman for the New York Giants, Sid a pitcher for several teams in the American League. Sid actually has the honor of being the last pitcher to ever strike out Babe Ruth!

So when the 20th anniversary of the baseball stadium that was named after these two famous El Pasoans was to be held, the thought of having their descendant Andy thrown out the first pitch was a no-brainer.

Watch the video and see why Andy is in sports RADIO. And then watch the little girl show him up.

Will Andy every live this down? Take a guess.

The UTEP Miners brokered a deal with the Texas Longhorns for a couple games to be played against each other. The Longhorns would get some easy tune-up games, and UTEP would get all the benefits from having this huge Texas Longhorns presence in El Paso. So when the Longhorns came to El Paso in September 2008 for their game here, ESPN came with them to show the world the game.

It was great exposure for El Paso, UTEP...and one Miner Fan.

It was the year the whole world got to see a girl...um...going down field with her guy on the hill overlooking the stadium. Not only does the camera guy zoom in on them amorous couple, but then the hosts (laughing) use their telestrator to circle them! On the upside, this guy can proudly show all his friends how deep his relationship is with this girl. (Jeez, I hope they're still together...)