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© Rob Vomund/USTA
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© Rob Vomund/USTA
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A favorite ritual at the all USTA League presented by Chrysler National Championships held this fall is the team gift exchange. Teams are asked to bring a small gift, representative of their home town or state, to give to their opponents immediately before their first round match Friday.
New Mexico is ground zero for UFO fanatics, due to the alleged 1947 crash of an alien spaceship in Roswell in southern part of the state. Capitalizing on the public’s fascination with UFOs, both teams from New Mexico at the 2008 USTA National Championship – Western Mixed Doubles, elected to bring alien-themed gifts to exchange Friday morning.
The 9.0 team representing the Southwest section gave out UFO Glow-and-Throw Frisbees while the 8.0 New Mexican team has little green men coffee cups. Both teams hail from New Mexico’s capital, Santa Fe.
Are the team members UFO-believers themselves? Husband and wife, Warren and Stacy Fulgenzi, of the Southwest 9.0 team answer that question with one of their own: “How can we be the only intelligent beings in the universe?”