It isn’t just Forbes magazine that’s noticed how miserable the Phoenix sports scene is. New Arizona Diamondbacks General Manager Kevin Towers saw it at Chase Field the day he took charge of the team last season. In a recent piece in the New York Times, Towers recalls a conversation with Diamondbacks…
Highly-touted pitching prospect Jarrod Parker walked three Rockies hitters in a row yesterday before getting Troy Tulowitzki to fly out in a meaningless Spring Training game. And the Arizona Republic covered that series of events by calling it “starpower,” a silly characterization from a writer — Nick Piecoro — who…
Phoenix-area sports teams just can’t win — even in a contest where all they would need to do to win is lose consistently.Forbes Magazine released its list of the country’s “Most Miserable Sports Cities,” and despite the fact that only one Phoenix-area major sports team has won a championship in…
We first met Mike Bibby when he was a high-school junior at Phoenix Shadow Mountain High, one of the most highly recruited players in the nation. He was the son of onetime NBA player (and coach) Henry Bibby, with whom he was not close at the time. Bibby was a…
The University of Arizona Wildcats journeyed to Los Angeles last weekend knowing that one win, especially over the UCLA Bruins, practically would clinch the Pac-10 regular season title. ASU, riding a precious one-game winning streak, simply wanted to keep the alleged momentum going. But both teams came back (on the same…
Ticket strips to this year’s Major League Baseball All-Star Game and other All-Star Week events go on sale tomorrow for those of you who want to watch good baseball at Chase Field this summer. The strips include tickets to the All-Star Game on July 12, the State Farm Home Run…
The Phoenix Suns launched a six-game road trip with games Friday and Sunday and came away winners in both, upping their record to three games over .500 for the first time this season. Regarding the Western Conference playoff race, even though the Suns are still outside looking in, they have…
We knew it was bound to happen, that the Arizona Wildcats weren’t going to run the table in the Pac-10 Conference. But last night’s 65-58 loss in Los Angeles to USC still came as something of a disappointment. The Trojans did a great job of bottling up Wildcats star…
The Phoenix Suns’ front office was hinting at bringing in some big name players as the trade deadline approached Thursday, but all they ended up with was a point guard shooting 34.6 percent from the field and barely 6 feet tall. The Suns announced their acquisition of Houston Rockets point…
The Phoenix Suns kicked off the second half of their season last night in arguably the best fashion possible: By upending one of the Eastern Conference’s better teams and earning a much-needed win in their quest for a playoff berth. Buoyed by Channing Frye’s 20-point performance, Planet Orange defeated the…
In the world of standing headlines, the above one is getting quite very tiresome for Arizona State men’s basketball fans. The Sun Devils lost last night 79-62 to the formidable Washington Huskies at Wells Fargo Arena in a game they never were in once it really got going midway through…
The Phoenix Suns scrapped and clawed, in the words of Head Coach Alvin Gentry, but just couldn’t get the job done against the Dallas Mavericks in a 112-106 loss last night. Dallas came out swinging, taking an early lead in the first quarter before expanding it in the second. At…
First, we note that the lowly Cleveland Cavs somehow beat the two-time defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers last night in what has to rank as the sports upset of this new year. A real stunner. ASU coach Herb Sendek needs help from the basketball gods For the ASU Sun…
Remember last year when Phoenix Mercury star Diana Taurasi tested positive for doping agents while playing for a team in the Turkish Basketball Federation? You probably don’t — it is women’s basketball. In any event, about that…The lab that claimed Taurasi was doping has now retracted its report on the…
It was almost another disappointment. The Phoenix Suns won a thrilling game against the Utah Jazz last night, holding onto an 102-101 victory after nearly giving the game away. Planet Orange led the Jazz 76-73 at the start of the fourth quarter, when they promptly allowed the Jazz to go…
It wasn’t even a sellout at the Wells Fargo Arena last night for the rivalry game between the ASU Sun Devils and the Arizona Wildcats, and probably with good reason. The Wildcats do have a very nice team in this, their rebound year after missing the NCAA tournament for…
The Phoenix Suns split their games this weekend, beating the Utah Jazz 95-83 on the road while getting beat 113-108 at home by the Sacramento Kings. That keeps their record at an even .500, although the nature of their losses suggest it is an uneven .500. Planet Orange got over…
Tom Verducci of Sports Illustrated wrote a column this week in which he discusses offseason trade rumors involving Arizona Diamondbacks star Justin Upton. Verducci writes that the Diamondbacks’ new general manager, Kevin Towers, “never really wanted to move 23-year-old outfielder Justin Upton.” He only wanted to see what sort of…
The Phoenix Suns reached .500 for the first time since December 19 yesterday, beating the hapless Golden State Warriors 112-88 at the US Airways Arena. Planet Orange opened up a can of whoopass on the Warriors right from the beginning, at one point taking a 33-point lead over their opponent…
The Phoenix Suns jumped out to a ridiculous start against the Golden State Warriors last night en route to a 104-92 win, banging out 33 points in the 1st quarter while holding the Warriors to 17. It was a matchup between two of the worst defensive teams in basketball that…
The Arizona Cardinals have a message for fans: sorry for sucking.In a mea culpa letter from team President Michael Bidwill to season ticket holders, he basically apologizes to fans for the horrendous 2010 season — in which the Cards finished in last place in the worst division in the NFL…
One of the very best college basketball games of the season aired on Saturday night, ending with the Arizona Wildcats nipping the Cal Golden Bears 107-105 in three thrilling overtimes. Saturday night’s road win made it a rare sweep of the Bay Area schools (Cal and Stanford), and kept the…
