Tag: sports

Euro 2008!

The Euro 2008 football championships begin on June 7 and I can hardly wait. ESPN and ESPN2 will be airing every game this time around, thanks in part to the success they had with the World Cup two years ago. Unfortunately, most of these matches will be during the day and I won’t be able to watch them live. The final match will be played on Sunday, June 29th in Vienna. I may have to make my way down to the George & Dragon pub to view a few matches. It’s always great to watch football matches surrounded by other fans. Also, it’s interesting to see how many people from the participating countries are here in Phoenix.

The most exciting matches will be the Quarter Finals, Semi Finals and Final. The dates for these matches are as follows: June 19 – 22 – QFinals; June 25-26 – Semis; June 29 – Final.

Every two years I’m rewarded with a great football championship.  Thank goodness for the Euro Championship.  The four years between World Cups would be quite difficult to deal with if it wasn’t around.  A small fact, for those of you who like learning new things, this is the third most watched sporting event in the world after the World Cup and the Summer Olympics.  Kinda crazy.

Spring Training – Milwaukee Brewers

This post is a bit late but whatever.

Two weekends ago, [Mike] and I went to the Milwaukee Brewers game at Maryvale Baseball Park.  The day was actually  kind of hot and the game wasn’t very well attended.  We were surrounded by people from Wisconsin who were all uber excited about watching their team and being able to wear shorts in December.  I remember checking the weather forecast for Milwaukee during the game and I believe the temperature was something like 23 degrees.  Yikes!  We were at about 81degrees by the 3rd inning.

Anyway, here are a few pictures from that day.  Enjoy!


(The Chorizo Sausage Won!)

Baseball – Quickly Approaching

Baseball season is quickly approaching and the spring training season is just around the corner. I seem to go through these phases with different sports. I get really into one for a year or two and then I switch to a different sport. I have never really been one to memorize stats or things of that nature, but I do go and cheer on the team.

Contrary to what some may think, this is not a fair-weather type of deal. Case in point, I was a season ticket holder of the Phoenix Coyotes for 2 years and during both of those years, they were either last or second to last in their division. Another example, I’m a current season ticket holder for the Arizona Cardinals and they have been mediocre at best (the real motivation for my season ticket purchases was getting a guaranteed seat in the new stadium and seeing my Pittsburgh Steelers these past two seasons).

Dbacks AnniversaryBack to baseball… Every weekend in March I have tickets to spring training games around the Valley with [Mike]. This will help me to get ready for the upcoming D-backs season. I will not be getting any sort of season ticket package to the Arizona Diamondbacks but I do plan on attending more games. My goal is to go to Opening Day this year against the LA Dodgers. This is the 10 Year Anniversary of the AZ Diamondbacks franchise and to celebrate they are getting a brand new video scoreboard. This thing will be HUGE and will be the largest in the majors. I’m kind of excited to see it (read: “nerd”).

Before I end this post, there’s one more thing that I just thought of while writing this entry. The Diamondbacks have been around for 10 years and, yet, we have not hosted an All-Star game. Why is that?!

USMNT vs Mexico!

Ok, so I would have blogged yesterday but I didn’t get home until late because of the soccer match.

This was probably one of the best sporting events I’ve been to. I don’t think there’s been a game where I’ve stood as much as I did at this one. I was so nervous that we would lose the game, Wednesday was the longest day for me!!

Some not so fun experiences at the game… ummm… overcrowded restrooms (for the men at least). Yeah, so overcrowded that many people just decided to use something other than a urinal to do their business (yes, the sinks… and the drains in the floor). Good times!

Check the pictures (of the game) in my album!

USMNT vs. Mexico

Oh No, Romo!

I’m not sure how many of you watch NFL football but last nights Cowboys/Seahawks game was bizarre!

With just over a minute left in the game, the Cowboys were down 21-20 and were forced to make a field goal as they failed to gain a first down from inside the 10 yard line. You could sense the crowds dread as they figured the game was over and their beloved Seahawks were doomed to lose the Wild Card game, ending yet another promising season in disappointment. Then the unexpected happened!!

The ball is snapped….

Romo bobbles the ball! What?! This never happens? The kicker practically falls on his ass missing the ball! What?! This is insane! Romo picks up the ball and runs for the end zone… and it subsequently tackled on the half yard line…. just inches from winning the game for the Cowboys.

Cowboys lose 21 – 20 on a bobbled snap… it’s all the fault of the QB… the rookie QB in his first playoff game ever.

“It hurts, it hurts real bad.” – Tony Romo

Cardinals

So, I went to the football game between the Arizona Cardinals and Chicago Bears on Monday night. Needless to say, the Cardinals lost. What’s really bad about them losing was the way they did it. Cardinals were up 20 – 0 at the half and we go on to lose it 23 – 24 at the very end of the game… on a missed field goal.

STOP RUNNING THE DAMN BALL. LET MATT THROW AND CALL HIS OWN PLAYS!!

On that note, good job Matt! Hopefully the Cardinals coaching staff will remember that you led USC to two National Championships… USC teams that could easily beat the AZ Cardinals. Keep up the good work Matt! Hopefully you can save this team from mediocrity!!

Naming Rights…

Well, the big news yesterday here in Phoenix was the fact that the Morton family wants to be in on the naming rights of the new Cardinals Stadium. The Morton family, responsible for the creation of the Hard Rock Cafe, Morton’s Steak House and the Pink Taco restaurants has put forth a suggestion of what they would like to name the stadium if they win those naming rights. See the image below for one of their suggestions:

Comments?

Update:

Some people are now saying that the Morton’s offer of $30 million over 10 years is too cheap for the naming rights to an NFL stadium. Let’s take a look at the numbers for the other stadiums/arenas in the Phoenix Metro Area…

Chase Field: $66 million over 30 years… that’s $2.2 million per year.

US Airways Center: $26 million over 30 years… that’s $866,666.67 per year.

Are You Ready For Some Football!?

Yesterday was the first Cardinals football game at the brand new, $500 million, Cardinals stadium in Glendale. The Cardinals were playing my Pittsburgh Steelers so I had to go. There are pictures below, but here’s the story of how the day went…

I leave my house at 11am with a friend (another Steelers fan, of course) and head over to Glendale. If any of you have traveled from the I-10 to the Loop 101 you know that there are two lanes that exit the 10 onto the 101 north. Yeah, traffic was stopped 1/4 mile from that exit. We slowly made our way up the 101 to the Glendale Ave exit. If it wasn’t for some shady driving by my friend, we may have never made kick off. Even with the mad driving skills, it took us almost 35 mins to go from the I-10 to the Glendale Ave exit. A few other smart moves once we got on Glendale Ave got us into the parking area very quickly.

We parked on the far west side of the WestGate shopping center (the northwest parking area around Glendale Arena) and proceeded to walk to the stadium. The line to get through security was moving very quickly and the stadium gate had practically no line at all. We proceeded up the two large escalators up to the upper deck. Once you arrive at the top of the escalators there is this sort of entry way where there are doors that are closed. One of the best things about the game yesterday was the point at which we opened those doors. We were greeted by a nice blast of cool air and the sound of a roaring crowd. I finally realized what the Cardinals have been saying all the time that the stadium was being built. They now have a place they can call home. And what a home it is.

Even if you despise NFL football, you NEED to see this stadium. It has been named one of the top 10 sports arenas in the world by BusinessWeek.

National Anthem

Kickoff!

The Steelers!

New Logo

So, the Anaheim Mighty Ducks have changed their name and their logo. They are now the Anaheim Ducks and they changed their team colors. They wanted to be more “hip” and wanted to distance themselves from their old owners, Disney. Anyway, the new logo is below, you judge for yourself. I think it’s crappy, the colors are crappy, and it’s crappy that they decided to change things up just to be “cool”.