Blame our goodie-two-shoes nature from middle school or whatever for never getting the chance to get into ollies and lip tricks before hitting adulthood. That’s why we’re heading to Eldorado Park & Community Center to check out the eleventh annual Wedge Skate Competition. Since the skatepark at Eldorado is a…
People make fun of professional wrestling, but it’s actually a performance art. The coordination, agility, and strength required of pro wrestlers make the “sport” a lot like ballet — or at least like a bizarro version of ballet with carnies as dancers. The fine-arts enthusiast in you should know that…
Everyone loves a winner. However, when times are tough, it’s easier to appreciate the people who just survive. Consider, for example, the Phoenix Suns’ opponent tonight. This season, the Portland Trail Blazers lost star center Greg Oden to a season-ending knee injury. Oden’s replacement, Joel Przybilla, got hurt, too. Along…
As much as we love sports, sometimes there’s just too much strategy involved. With all of the critical thinking required in modern life, it’s nice to find mindless entertainment that we don’t have to wrap our heads around. That’s why we’re heading down to Jobing.com Arena, 9400 West Maryland Avenue…
Sometimes, group membership is conditional. You can’t be a Shriner if you don’t want to wear a funny hat, for instance. The condition for Phoenix Suns’ fans is even simpler: you can’t like them if you don’t hate the Los Angeles Lakers. Prove that you belong in Phoenix when the…
We’ve never wanted to be fair-weather fans, but there comes a time when logic demands contingency plans. That’s why we’re suggesting that fading basketball followers of the Phoenix Suns begin to find another team to root for after the Suns’ nigh-inevitable first-round playoff exit. Phoenix will host a team that…
Among professional sports, golf has always seemed out of place. Part of it is the prevalence of fat guys, but a bigger part is the atmosphere: the PGA is the only sports organization we know of that actively discourages fan involvement. Boo. If you’re looking for a more interactive golf…
It’s fashionable to lament on how money-driven sports have become, but we wonder if people aren’t just watching the wrong sports? You can’t expect anyone to play “for love of the game” when there are millions of dollars on the table. If you want pure competition, the key is to…
Maybe it’s the instant-gratification of a race that’s over in 4 seconds, the concept of driving a car that needs a parachute to stop, or our love of Vin Diesel movies, but there is something about drag racing that just fascinates us. That’s why we’re considering spending this weekend at…
It’s nice to kick back with a cold beer on the weekend. Maybe you’d even like to relax with a few more than one, but you worry that people will think you’re “trashy” or that you “have a drinking problem.” Whatever. If you’re looking to drink a lot of brewski…
Nausea is a common symptom of “Suns Fever” these days. It’s understandable because following the Phoenix Suns this season has been like riding a carnival ride operated by a drunk. For the first two months of the season, they looked like one of the best teams in the league. Then,…
Maybe we’re antisocial or something, but for whatever reason, we hate awkward reunions. We doubt anyone likes running into people he or she sort of knew a long time ago; you always get stuck doing that thing where you pretend to be upset that you lost touch with the guy…
It’s natural to obsess over decisions we didn’t make. Tonight’s 8:30 p.m. game at US Airways Center, 201 East Jefferson Street, will give Phoenix Suns’ fans a glimpse of the road not taken when the team hosts the Chicago Bulls. Two years ago, the Suns declined to hire Vinny Del…
Say what you want about the Cold War, but it made sports a lot more interesting. Competitions like the Olympics became a fierce cultural battle. Until Al-Qaeda gets their beach-volleyball team into the Summer Games, we just won’t have that in the post-Cold War era. If you’re looking for a…
It’s tough for a team to carry on when it loses its brightest star. Remember when ‘N Sync fell apart after Justin Timberlake split? If you’re curious how the ASU Men’s Basketball team will respond after its best player James Harden bolted to the NBA, then we suggest you take…
A lot of people think of action movies as a big ball of explosions and murder puns. When you boil them down, though, they are really just elaborate revenge fantasies. How that relates on a personal level is this: everyone’s been picked on by an a-hole; action movies allow us…
People love rooting for an underdog, which is crap when you think about it. The Ivan Drago’s of the world work damn hard to get where they are; their reward is that their greatness automatically casts them as villains as soon as someone less talented shows up. Wanna root against…
America loves a good subplot. How else, besides the porn thing, could a guy like Dustin Diamond get famous? If you’re looking for football with a side story, then today’s game between the Arizona Cardinals and the St. Louis Rams is right up your alley. The main draw will be…
We worry about becoming old because everyone seems to hate talking to a geezer. That is, unless the old dude experienced something awesome. The best we’ve got so far is passing a guy in an airport that looked like Charles Barkley. Probably not going to cut it, eh? If you…
The unpredictable is often celebrated in sports, but there’s also a certain charm to the constants in the sporting world. It’s nice, for example, to be certain that Hulk Hogan will at some point question his opponent’s plans regarding the possibility of Hulkamania running wild. Nicer still is the certainty…
People love to reminisce, which is why folks argue about whether the Steve Nash-led Phoenix Suns could beat the Charles Barkley-era squad. Foolish, really. Besides, even if the two teams squared off, the old Suns would be at a disadvantage because A.C. Green wouldn’t play with the same aggressiveness on…
A dedicated sports fan is not just invested by the present state of a sport but also its future. This is apparent with creepers, too: Any dodgy 35-year-old can show up uninvited at college parties, but the truly dedicated creepy 35-year-old also hangs out in high school parking lots to…
