There’s a very sound reason we don’t engage in sports gambling but on the rare occasion: We learned the hard way a long time ago that we come too close too often to striking gold–but almost inevitably lose. We wrote yesterday that, in our imaginary betting world, we would take the…
Time was, the annual trek to So-Cal by Arizona State and Arizona’s men’s basketball teams was something to fear. Actually, that would have been just a few years ago, when UCLA was oh-so-close to winning a national championship or two. But that (as the cliche goes) was then and this…
Alvin Gentry and Steve Nash complained about it in their post-game remarks. As usual, the coach and the veteran point guard were on the same page. The Suns didn’t hustle as a team. Too many Suns played like old ladies. Vowing that the team will get better in this strike-plagued, young…
The Phoenix Suns’ 103-83 loss to the Philadelphia 76ers last night was just plain horrible. Offensively, defensively, you name it.Steve Nash knew it. “That was about as bad of a game as I’ve had personally and team-wise also as well,” he stated to the press afterwards. Head coach Alvin Gentry…
They were terrible on defense (allowing recent Hornets acquisition Eric Gordon to nab 20 points), awful on offense (shooting only 39.5 percent from the field), and were particularly bad from three-point range (going 5-for-25 beyond the arc). Oh, and rookie Markieff Morris screwed up a last-second chance to win the…
The long goodbye finally ended last night up in Nevada, as Dennis Erickson coached his final game at Arizona State, a crushing 56-24 loss to a far-superior Boise State Team in the Las Vegas Bowl. ASU finished 6-7 after such a promising start to a season that was supposed to…
The ASU Sun Devils men’s basketball team has but one pre-conference game remaining to right the ship, and things are looking mighty bleak. We looked in on last night as the Devils lost their second straight game on a three-point buzzer-beater, this one 64-61 to a pretty good Southern Mississippi team. Somehow,…
After a 1-6 start, the Arizona Cardinals still have an outside chance of making the playoffs thanks to a Tebow-esque fourth quarter in the team’s 20-17 overtime win over the Cleveland Browns yesterday.The W is the Cards’ third overtime win in seven games.”We have a flair for dramatics,” wide receiver…
The Arizona Cardinals beat the San Francisco 49ers 21-19 yesterday for the team’s fifth win in 6 games — and that’s after starting the season 1-6.Cards’ quarterback Kevin Kolb went down early with concussion-like symptoms after getting drilled by Niners linesbacker Ahmad Brooks.Enter B-squad QB John Skelton, who replaced Kolb…
The National Hockey League announced yesterday its plan to divide the league into four conferences rather than six divisions, as the league is currently arranged.Under the new organization, the Stanley Cup Playoffs will begin inside each conference, with the top four teams squaring off in divisional playoffs (see how the…
The Arizona Cardinals have life — in the form of tiny wide receiver LaRod Stephens-Howling, who caught a screen pass from quarterback Kevin Kolb and took it 52 yards to paydirt for a 19-13 overtime win over obnoxious owner Jerry Jones and his Dallas Cowboys. More than half of the…
Arizona State University reportedly has offered University of Houston football coach Kevin Sumlin the head coach position that opened up when soon-to-be former coach Dennis Erickson was given the boot earlier this week.KTAR broke the story about the offer, and reports that the university is ready to cough up nearly…
For the first time since 2009, former Arizona Cardinals quarterback/2004 Heisman Trophy winner Matt Leinart played in a professional football game. By halftime, Leinart was back on the bench, which is where he’s likely to remain for the rest of the season.In what was to be Leinart’s latest chance to…
Arizona State University made it official an hour or so ago, releasing a statement that everyone expected: Dennis Erickson is out as the Sun Devils’ head football coach, apparently effective after the team plays in a minor bowl game somewhere next month. Erickson’s record in Tempe is 31-30, and that…
Beanie Wells had arguably the biggest game of his career yesterday, as the running back rushed for 228 yards during the Arizona Cardinals’ 23-20 win over the St. Louis Rams on Sunday afternoon at the Edward Jones Dome. He nabbed a franchise record for rushing during the game, averaging 8.4…
Back about a hundred years ago (actually it was September 24) just after Arizona State’s high point of this lost football season, a 43-22 win over USC, team defensive coordinator Craig Bray spoke to an Arizona Republic reporter about “superstar” linebacker Vontaze Burfict. He vowed to keep himself under control…
A few hours from now, the Arizona State Sun Devils will take the field in Tempe against the equally mediocre California Golden Bears in what fairly can be called an “important” game. Remarkably, the Devils still have a very decent chance of making it to the Pac-10 championship game against…
The odds were definitely against the Arizona Cardinals in their lopsided 23-7 loss to the San Francisco 49ers on Sunday at Candlestick Park. The hometown team was in enemy territory, playing in the rain, and were facing the current NFC West leaders (and one of the top 10 defenses in…
The Kevin Kolb-less Arizona Cardinals stunned Michael Vick and the Philadelphia Eagles with a 21-17 road victory in the city of brotherly love yesterday — which never would have happened if wide receiver Larry Fitzgerald wasn’t straight-up nasty.Aside from Fitzgerald’s two touchdowns — making him the franchise’s touchdown leader with…
It was late Janary 1974, and I took a train from Connecticut to New York City for the rematch between Joe Frazier and Muhammad Ali. I had no idea how or if I was going to get into Madison Square Garden for the fight–but I was determined to give it…
The Arizona Cardinals snapped a six-game losing streak with a dramatic overtime win against the St. Louis Rams yesterday in Glendale.The score was tied at 13 at the end of regulation — then the Cards’ first-round draft pick in last this year’s draft, Patrick Peterson, got all Patrick Peterson on…
We wrote often this summer of the defensive exploits of Arizona Diamondbacks outfielders Gerardo Parra and Chris Young. We remember the game in September (we were at Chase Field that night) when incredible catches by both he and Young made ESPN’s top ten plays of the day. …
