Sometimes you just want to play cowboy, but your wife/husband/girlfriend/boyfriend/roommate/parents/dog just look at you funny when start wearing chaps and a ten-gallon hat around the house. Might I suggest giving the new Adult Swim video game Westerado a shot instead. This gorgeous 16-bits-style Western-style action RPG is shockingly expansive. You play a red-clad gunslinger looking to find the man who killed your family. Get jobs, question townspeople, fight bandits, wrangle buffalo. Along the way, you'll gather clues as to the killer's identity. A wide variety of tasks and a sly sense of humor make this a blast to play. Just watch where you point that six-shooter, partner.

Nerves still high in Israel, despite cease-fire.

Black Friday started on Thursday this year, and some people are really unhappy about it.

Tragedy strikes the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.

Scientist believe they can bring a particular species of giant tortoise back from extinction.

World famous pool player “Black Widow” sues Albuquerque company over endorsment deal.

Chickenpox outbreak in Indiana is apparently the largest in US history.

Family of Hector Camacho wrestles with life support decision.

Bernalillo County commissioners gain international attention over upcoming vote to amend animal ordinance.

Yesterday in the NFL: The Texans won, the Cowboys lost and the Patriots embarrassed the Jets.

Black Friday in a nutshell: an incredibly overwhelming nutshell.

I hope you had a better Thanksgiving than this cat had.

Since its controversial release and subsequent rapid removal, No Doubt’s racist comeback video, “Looking Hot,” has engendered both indictments and shrugs. Marisa Demarco explains why perpetuating racist stereotypes and sexually violent themes in a pop music video matters in Plenty of Doubt.

Brock Lesnar made his long-awaited return to the octagon when he faced top Heavyweight contender Alistair Overeem. UFC President Dana White was certainly happy to see Lesnar return as he's the biggest pay-per-view draw in mixed martial arts. Despite Lesnar's bout with diverticulitis, many critics picked him to win by overwhelming Overeem with his wrestling ability. Shockingly, when Overeem aimed to the body with knees and kicks, that ability disappeared. Eventually, Lesnar crumbled to the ground and allowed the referee to rescue him from the Overeem beatdown. In the post fight interview, Lesnar announced his retirement under pressure from his wife and kids. Despite only having eight professional fights, Lesnar accomplished a lot in his brief tenure in the sport. While professional wrestling fans will wish for Lesnar's return to the WWE, Overeem can now become a major star with American MMA fans with a victory over UFC Heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos.

Also in MMA, Jackson's fighter Donald “Cowboy” Cerrone earned his co-main-event spot against Nate Diaz by going 4-0 in 2011. Both men engaged in a war of words through interviews and press conferences before the bout. Then, when the fight started, Diaz’ trash talk seemed to take Cerrone out of his comfort zone. Diaz’ signature boxing frustrated Cerrone and gave Diaz a massive advantage headed into the later rounds. “Cowboy” mounted a decent comeback in Round 2 with huge leg kicks, but Diaz countered with multiple combinations to the head. In Round 3 Diaz continued his striking dominance en route to a 30-27, 30-27, 29-28 unanimous decision. Diaz makes a very convincing case for a title shot but most likely will have another fight against a wrestler in order to become No. 1 contender. As for Cerrone, he has six victories out of his last seven fights and is still a major player in the Lightweight division. If he gets his wish to fight on the UFC Japan card, a victory could put him back in the title mix.

After a heartbreaking overtime loss to Santa Clara, the Lobos have been on a roll, winning nine straight before their New Year’s Eve battle with St. Louis. More than 15,000 witnessed UNM hold off the Billikens for the 64-60 victory. The Billikens kept within reach, but Drew Gordon’s 18 points and 9 rebounds carried the Lobos for their 10th straight win. While UNM may have been a little rocky to start the season, it has huge momentum headed into conference play. The Lobos have a good combination of athleticism, defense and confidence that may lead them to a Mountain West Conference title.

The Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants had challenging seasons in 2011. But each team had had one last opportunity to erase the failures of the past and earn an NFC East title and a ticket to the playoffs with a win last night. Many would think with everything on the line during Sunday Night Football, this game would be competitive. Instead the Giants embarrassed the Cowboys and moved into an early 21-0 lead in the first half. The injured Tony Romo engineered a fourth quarter comeback with two touchdowns to close within seven points. But the underrated Eli Manning made the Dallas defense pay and threw a four-yard touchdown to Hakeem Nicks to seal the 34-13 victory and win the division. The Giants earned a wild card home game and will face the Atlanta Falcons next Sunday. Meanwhile, Dallas will search for answers to the many flaws they showed this season. Expect Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones to evaluate everyone’s job, from star players to the coaching staff.

I am the good guy in an old west shootout. The outcome historically is known to be in my favor, but I am reliving it anyway. The bad guy, dressed in purple and black, is barricaded in a shack. My weapon is a breakdown, single shot pellet gun with detachable silencer and stock. The bad guy suddenly bursts out and rushes me. I manage to load my gun and shoot him in the eye (he is a cyclops).

As comfortable and hardy as an old pair of boots, the chuck wagon dinner is a venerated piece of cowboy culture. But you don't have to travel back in time, or even to Texas, to get a taste. Every Saturday evening until Labor Day, Edgewood's Wildlife West ecopark (I-40 and Route 66) rustles up a relaxed, family-style meal with all the fixings—barbecued brisket, chicken, ranch beans, baked potatoes, rolls, apple sauce, cookies and lemonade. (There are vegetarian options, too.) It's served under the stars with a little live country music to aid in digestion. Cost is $20 adults, $19 seniors, $10 kids ages 5 to 11 and free for kids under 5. You'll need to RSVP by 2 p.m. the day of the meal: Do it at (877) 981-WILD (9453) or wildlifewest.org.

Luckily the doors will open on the new $60 million Pit arena and a new era of Lobo basketball. Despite many basketball experts and websites picking New Mexico to finish third in the Mountain West, the Lobos are bound to surprise the basketball world once again. Losing Roman Martinez and Darington Hobson leaves the Lobos looking for a floor general, but the new additions have good chance of filling the void.

Saturday's exhibition matchup with Manchester College was a coming out party for the underclassmen. Alex Kirk and Tennessee transfer Emmanuel Negedu adds a strong low post presence to complement Junior forward A.J Hardeman. If Negedu and Kirk are productive on both sides of the ball, outside shooting should increase dramatically. Despite the exhibition game blowouts, there are still mistakes Head Coach Steve Alford will need to correct before their regular season debut against Detroit.

Speaking of the football team, Head Coach Mike Locksley finally got the monkey off his back by defeating Wyoming by a game-winning field goal. The first victory of the season should leave the Lobos off the ESPN's bottom 10 for at least another week. Locksley should keep the sweater and tie look, as he'll need all the luck he can get when the Lobos face Air Force.

He should fire coach Wade Phillips and give assistant coach Jason Garrett a trial run. The organization has been prepping Garrett for the position. Why not see if Garrett has what it takes to turn the team around? If he fails, it gives Jones an easy reason to get rid of Garrett, as well. Whatever Jones decides to do, something drastic needs to be done to save this sinking ship.

College Football
ESPN's Mock BCS standings had Boise State as the number one team in the nation but now the real rankings are out, giving college football fans a reality check. The Oklahoma Sooners sit atop the rankings but they should be sleeping with one eye opened. With unbeaten power teams such as Auburn, LSU, and Michigan State below them, Oklahoma needs to hope those teams look bad when losing. As for Boise State, TCU, and Utah, also need the power teams to lose multiple games in order to even have a shot at playing for the national title. It's a shame computers and rankings decide the fate of so many talented teams because it robs the fan of seeing a legitimate national champion. Sadly, Boise State and TCU will get continue to be disappointed until either we get a playoff system or they play in a power conference.

NFL
When your 'America's Team' having an 1-4 start is going to have the Cowboy faithful putting pressure on owner Jerry Jones to make major changes. Once again turnovers and penalties turned possible Dallas victory into a road loss disaster against the Minnesota Vikings. The Cowboys will have a chance to erase their 24-21 loss to the Vikings with two home games against New York and Jacksonville. Meanwhile fans are hopping on the Minnesota bandwagon with not only the win but also with the production of Randy Moss. If Brett Farve can handle his text messages controversy, the Vikings can recover and make a run at the playoffs.

It seemed fate was against the New Mexico Lobos before they even took the field on Saturday when starting quarterback B.R. Holbrook was sitting on the bench. Holbrook's hurt knee gave Brad Gruner the opportunity to lead the Lobos to their first win against the Utah Utes. But the Utes proved why they're the 14th ranked team in the country by shredding the Lobos defense for 428 yards of offense. With the defense unable to stop Utah and Gruner leaving the game with an injury, Utah's 56-14 victory seem inevitable. Despite another lopsided loss, the Lobos showed some positive signs by the performance of freshman quarterback Tarean Austin. Austin made some typical freshman mistakes but showed potential and playmaking ability. The Lobos could finally have their first victory season when facing the UNLV Rebels next week, but they'll have to win on the road to do it.

Notre Dame and Michigan State are guaranteed excitement and Saturday was no exception. Everyone including Notre Dame thought Michigan State was looking to tie the Irish in overtime. But a fake field goal play called “Little Giants” fooled Notre Dame and continued the Spartans’ undefeated season. Unfortunately, Michigan State couldn't enjoy their victory as Head Coach Mark Dantonio suffered a mild heart attack Saturday night. Dantonio is expected to make a full recovery—but how will the team react to Dantonio's absence?

The wheels are slowly starting to fall off the Dallas Cowboys bandwagon with another loss to the Chicago Bears. Three turnovers including two Tony Romo interceptions prevented the offense to fully get on track. All the credit toward the loss shouldn't fall on the mistakes of the Cowboys but instead should be given the the Bears. For the first time in their history, the Chicago Bears have a powerful offense to go along with their always tough defense. If Jay Cutler continues to throw multiple touchdowns and not turnover the ball, the Bears can easily be a NFC contender. Meanwhile the Cowboys continue to search for ways to keep their Super Bowl dreams alive.

When the Vikings went into the locker room after losing 14-10 to the Miami Dolphins, Viking players were probably wishing Brett Favre would have gone to training camp. Favre's patience and accuracy of last season has disappeared and desperation has taken over. Vikings running back Adrian Peterson had 145 rushing yards and a touchdown, but three interceptions was too much for the Vikings to overcome. Even though the Dolphins won, they shouldn't feel satisfied because the Vikings had a chance to steal the victory despite four turnovers. Nevertheless, Miami's 2-0 record puts them in a great position to be the surprise winner of their division.

America's game made its yearly debut yesterday and as usual delivered great drama and compelling action. Despite penalties and the lack of scoring, the Dallas Cowboys and the Washington Redskins had the intensity of a playoff game. Even though Tony Romo outplayed new Redskins QB Donovan McNabb, Romo was unable to score touchdowns. However the Cowboys had a chance to win the game on the final play, but a holding penalty cost “America's Team” the season opener.

If the Cowboys want to be a playoff team they will have to fix basic mistakes they should have corrected in training camp. Meanwhile McNabb showed the world he can take the Redskins to a division championship.

The New England Patriots looked like a Super Bowl contender against the Cincinnati Bengals. Tom Brady threw for three touchdowns with star receiver Wes Welker catching two of them. So after a dominating victory, why is Patriot receiver Randy Moss angry? After watching Brady receive a new contract, Moss made his feelings known during the 15 minute press conference, stating his team is disrespecting him by not giving him a new contract. Time will tell if Moss's crying will become a distraction for a Patriots team that has to play their best football each week to win.

Every football fan thought Eagles quarterback Michael Vick’s days as a starter was a faded memory. But when Eagles starter Kevin Kolb went down with an concussion, the Michael Vick experience was back open for business. Despite losing to the Packers 27-20, Vick showed he still had the ability to become a starter in the league. Even if Kolb returns, Eagles coach Andy Reid was impressed with Vick's performance and may decide to keep Vick as the starter.

UNM Fans were looking to erase the memory of the embarrassing 72-0 beatdown given by from the Oregon Ducks. The Lobos made some positive strides with an improved passing and running game against Texas Tech. But the Lobos never gave themselves an opportunity to win because of fundamental mistakes and foolish false start penalties. They lost 52-17 and now are in a must-win situation against Utah next week.

The Texas Tech Red Raiders have a new coach and remain outside the Top 25, but they are considered a power team from the Big 12. For the Lobos to be so unprepared and undisciplined is a massive concern. Lobo Head Coach Mike Locksley needs to repair the mistakes from the past couple of weeks against Utah or else he could be looking new job on Monster.com.

Yesterday, I heard on the radio that Gov. Richardson might issue a pardon for Billy the Kid. Yes, that Billy, the one who murdered a few people back in the 1880s and became a legend. My first instinct was to ignore it. But I can't, it keeps coming up. Today, KOB has a whole, long article about the history of the conflict. It's good, read it. I don't want to rehash it.

My point is, SERIOUSLY? The governor of New Mexico actually has time to sit around and think about this? Clearly, the answer is yes. He also, in 2003, let the Lincoln County sheriff to reopen the case as to whether Billy the Kid was actually shot by Pat Garrett or whether Garrett shot someone else and Billy escaped.

If I was 8-years-old, I would totally want the outlaw to win, even a hundred years later. But I'm a grownup now, and wish lawmakers would spend their time more productively, say helping victims of domestic violence or issuing pardons to people who are alive and jailed wrongfully.

But, I'm optimistic and probably a cranky-pants. Please, if you think the Kid should have his name cleared, explain to me why in the comments. I really do want to understand why anyone cares.