Somebody pinch me – Glendale adds to its sports resume

Note: This column appears in the 4/3 issue of The Glendale Star, and the 4/4 issue of the Peoria Times

I’ve barely recovered from the Super Bowl.

Now this.

Last Friday it was announced that the University of Phoenix Stadium will host its first ever basketball game. (The game will not, as I had assumed it would, be between the University of Phoenix Online Cougars and the Harlem Globetrotters.) It will be a doubleheader event that will take place sometime this December, with one game pitting national power Louisville against the University of Minnesota, and the next game featuring Brigham Young against ASU.


Not as good as THIS, but still...

First question: Why? Well, for one thing, the Stadium has already been awarded the West Regional’s of the 2009 NCAA men’s basketball tourney (where, by the way, I already have Gonzaga losing to whoever they’re playing), and these games will be, at the very least, a trial run for that. Second question: Why else? Well, the games will also serve as a showcase with the hope that Glendale, in the very near future, will play host to the Final Four.

I really don’t know what I’ve done to deserve this. Two months ago my favorite NFL football team came to Glendale and won what was arguably the greatest Super Bowl ever. A couple of weeks after that, I started going to spring training games in Peoria, where I would sit in the sun and drink beer and watch baseball and wait for lightening to strike me because what the heck did I do to deserve this?! In between all of that, I somehow became a Phoenix Coyotes fan, which is convenient, because they also happen to play in Glendale. Weird!

Wait, I’m not finished. Next year, Glendale will cut the ribbon on a brand new facility that will serve as the spring training home for one of the premier Major League Baseball franchises in the country. It just so happens that the manager of that team, Joe Torre, is like, my favorite manager ever, and another coach on that staff, Don Mattingly, is like, my favorite baseball player ever. Zoinks!


...and another reason I prefer Glendale is because everyone in Vero Beach has arthritis, like this...

Wait, I’m not finished. Next Friday night, Bon Jovi is performing at Jobing.com Arena. Now granted, Bon Jovi is not technically a sport. But still. Bon Jovi, like me, and like the New York Giants, are from New Jersey. And like me, the New York Giants and Bon Jovi have left the comfort of New Jersey to come and rock Glendale to its very core. Rock out!

And now, after all of the things that I have previously mentioned, the city of Glendale is essentially saying to me, “Oh yeah, one other thing -- the NCAA tournament will be here next year, and we’re trying to get the Final Four here as well eventually. Hope you don’t mind.” I mean, is this for real?

I moved to Arizona despite having to leave my favorite sports teams (and, of course, Bon Jovi) behind, and I have been rewarded by living in one of the most up-and-coming sports scenes in the nation -- a sports scene that has included or will include, both directly and indirectly, the very sports team that I left behind. All I’m saying is this: If Glendale does somehow get like, the 2012 Final Four, and that National Championship game features Rutgers versus Loyola College of Maryland, I’m going to grab a golf club, stand out in the middle of the desert during a lightening storm / monsoon, and see what happens. Because I sure as heck don’t deserve this.


I wouldn't mess with the Jov if I were you


And just for old times's sake...this

In Arizona, the sports scene keeps chugging right along

Note: This column appears in the 2/7 issue of The Glendale Star, and the 2/8 issue of the Peoria Times

Of the many reasons why I moved to Arizona -- the weather, better cost of living, an adventurous new time zone -- none may be greater than this very moment right here, right now. As a sports fan, this is why I moved here.

As the rest of the nation recovers from its Super Bowl hangover, Arizona, ironically, being the Super Bowl host and all, moves right along. My favorite part about living here is that, from a sports perspective, everything simply segways into the next thing.

Let me be more specific. If I were back east right now, though still high off a Giants’ victory, I would eventually settle into a state of depression. Not only would I be brutally cold, chipping away at the frost and ice on my car’s windshield at 5:30 on a Monday morning, but I’d be miserable because February is traditionally the worst sports month. Football is over, baseball seems like a world away, the NBA and NHL are droning on in the merciless monotony of their regular seasons, the pinnacle of the college basketball season is more than a month away, and even the Masters can barely be seen on the horizon. Weekends would be spent looking for deals at Old Navy (buying a discounted bathing suit was always an instant pick-me-up) and attending various family functions that have specifically been scheduled so as not to coincide with major sporting events. (At which point my cousins, brothers-in-law and I attempt to revive the dead sports scene by making fun of the fantasy baseball draft picks we have yet to make.)

Not anymore. Take last weekend for example. On the eve of the big game, I found myself soaking in the sun, overlooking the seventeenth green at the FBR Open. On Sunday, we got together with friends to watch a Super Bowl that was being played just minutes away. And on a Monday morning that had typically involved three aspirin, a call-out of work, and the realization that the shortest month felt like the longest, I instead skipped and whistled my way to the office (not really -- I drove -- but still), looking forward to the next thing, which in this case, happens to be a celebrity baseball game we were able to score tickets for in Scottsdale this Sunday.

Ah, baseball. Back home, no term greater lifted the moods of those caught in winter’s wrath than “pitchers and catchers.” It represented a dream of greatness to come, and when pitchers and catchers did report, die-hard baseball fans like myself read about it, talked about it, and were happy. It’s a baseball fan’s Groundhog Day, and serves as a more gratifying example that spring is close. I even recall getting so excited about Spring Training itself, and then wondering why, as my own involvement in it was limited to brief and uninformative television highlights.

Here? Pitchers and catchers are a reality. Spring Training is a reality. They’re reporting here, to Peoria. To Surprise. To Mesa. (And next year, to Glendale.) Pitchers and catchers are reporting next Thursday, the concrete date of February 14th, Valentine’s Day. In fact, I may even express my love for my wife by taking her over to the Peoria Sports Complex to watch a handful of professional athletes stretch, and then throw a ball around for a few hours. I think she’d like that.

And then maybe we’ll head over to Old Navy. Just for old time’s sake.