Fortunes don’t change often in the NBA, but when they do, they change quickly. A year ago, the Miami Heat were a powerhouse that seemed all but certain to contend for NBA titles for the next half-decade. The Phoenix Suns, meanwhile, seemed destined for a long cycle of rebuilding. One…
Forget about the exhaustion, forget about the cramps, forget about the dehydration and forget about the chafed nipples—we think the big challenge with running is boredom. If you’re not running competitively, the whole activity can get a bit dull, which makes it really tough to stay motivated.If you’re looking to…
The Arizona Coyotes aren’t exactly dominating the NHL, but they’re off to a promising start. The Yotes looked like a strong bet to miss the playoffs on paper, but the beginning of the season has seen Arizona play like a playoff contender — especially in a 3-2 win over the…
College football has arguably never been more popular nor more maligned than it is today. The power conferences all have TV deals worth north of a billion dollars, top teams routinely sell out their 80,000-plus-seat stadia, and the ratings for the college football playoffs will likely be far greater than…
Even when the NFL is predictable, it’s not. The belief back in August was that the Arizona Cardinals, who lost nearly every key piece on from last year’s defense, could win in spite of their defense, not because of it. Instead, the Cards’ defense has carried the team to first…
No matter how you slice it, our culture simply does not care about exploration the way it used to. In the past, great explorers were celebrated heroes who earned a guaranteed place in elementary school history textbooks. Today, however, we struggle to name a single modern explorer, partly because it’s…
Arizona State’s women’s soccer team may be on the verge of something big. Not only have the Sun Devils gotten off to a great start (the team ripped off six straight wins en route to a 7-1-1 start), but they’ve racked up their wins on the strength of huge contributions…
The Arizona Derby Dames just may be the most brutal of all the sports leagues in the Valley. Leave aside the violence inherent to the sport — the ladies never take a real break. Professional footballers take a seven-month off-season to recover from their on-season; basketball and hockey players have…
For whatever reason, some celebrity deaths seem to hit the public harder than others. All deaths are, of course, a tragedy, but Robin Williams’ death really grabbed the public’s attention. Seemingly everybody — from Billy Crystal to the people on your Twitter feed to the people setting up Netflix’s recommendations…
For as popular as Mixed Martial Arts have become, there’s something to be said for a pure martial arts competition. There’s a certain art to fighting in a single style that gets lost in the mish-mash of fighting styles you’ll see in a typical MMA fight. For the purists, it…
Some ideas sell themselves to their target audience. There’s not much you need to tell a child about an ice-cream sandwich, and there’s not much you need to tell the elderly about all-you-can-eat buffets. Friday, August 15’s Beer Olympics at Tempe Marketplace fits the same mold: If the name catches…
Sometimes it’s good to play in a small league. A few weeks ago, Arizona United were struggling near the bottom of the USL-Pro table. After a short hot-streak, however, United are, well, still near the bottom of the table, but they’re also within striking distance of a playoff spot thanks…
The Arizona Rattlers are no longer chasing history, but that may not be the worst thing in the world. Last month’s loss to the San Jose Sabercats cut the Rattler’s bid for a perfect season short, but it also relieved a certain amount of pressure. Rather than playing every game…
t’s hard to believe, but the ninth season of Arizona Derby Dames is nearly in the books. Only two teams remain in contention. Those two teams will face off for the title on Saturday, July 12, at the Arizona Derby Dames Warehouse, 2517 West McDowell Road, suite 118.On one side…
Before the season, a division title seemed like a realistic goal for the Arizona Diamondbacks. After a disastrous start, the only realistic goal was to not be a complete embarrassment. The D-Backs kissed that goal goodbye when they essentially threw a game against Milwaukee in order to prove that they…
There’s no shortage of professional sports teams in Phoenix. If you’re a huge sports fan, this is awesome, but also exhausting — actively rooting for six major pro teams is a time commitment on par with being a mediocre parent.The Arizona Sports Fan Expo, running this weekend at University of…
Buying tickets to watch a sports team is, essentially, gambling with your happiness. It pays off if the team you’re rooting for wins. If they lose, then you just paid money to watch something that left you disappointed and perhaps (depending on your level of fanaticism) depressed. If you’re looking…
This is an odd thing to say about a team that won a title five years ago, but the Phoenix Mercury just can’t seem to get over the hump. The team has plenty of star power (Diana Taruasi, Penny Taylor and, more recently, Britney Griner), but all they’ve had to…
This isn’t exactly top-shelf sports analysis, but Arizona United tend to struggle when they don’t score goals. In the four league matches where United managed to score, they’ve earned 10 points. The problem is that United have been skunked in their other five matches. The soccer squad’s management is hoping…
It’s not every week that the Arizona Diamondbacks play a game that matters. The D-backs don’t have a stake in the pennant race, so all they have left to play for is the pride of not being the absolute worst team in the majors. In a sense, this means the…
The Arizona Rattlers and San Jose Sabercats have never quite been able to stay out of each other’s way. The Rattlers have knocked the Sabercats out of the playoffs three times in the past 11 seasons; the Sabercats have knocked the Rattlers out four times in that same time span…
With the way our technology is advancing, it’s looking more and more likely that robots will be running the show in a few decades. We’re not sure how or when it will happen, but the idea hardly seems far-fetched when we already have robots to clean our house (like in…
