Thursday, March 26, 2009

Top 10 Events in Cardinals Glendale Stadiuum

Wow, the Arizona Cardinals' "new" stadium in Glendale AZ (called "University of Phoenix Stadium" by those who think corporate sponsorships matter) just opened three years ago, yet it has already hosted some awesome sporting events. Here are my top 10. Frankly the list is pretty impressive. Even better, I had tickets to every game on the list except SB42.

1. NFC Championship Game. Jan. 18, 2009. Cardinals 32-25 over the Eagles in a back and forth game that had fans on edge. Thunderous noise and joy throughout.

2. Super Bowl 42. February 4, 2008. Giants edge the Patriots 17-14 in a great game. Not #1 because it featured no local teams and was full of "fans" who didn't really care about the game.

3. Fiesta Bowl Jan. 1, 2007 Boise State 43, Oklahoma 42 (OT). Huge upset with amazing play after amazing play to finish the game.

4. NFC Wildcard Game January 3,2009. Cardinals defeat Falcons 30-24. First home playoff win ever.

5. Fiesta Bowl Jan. 5, 2009 Texas 24, Ohio State 21. Great game between two traditional powers when many were predicting a Texas blow-out.

6. International Soccer February 7, 2007 62,462 fans saw the U.S. National team defeat Mexico, 2-0. Raucus, pro-Mexico crowd made the whole event a blast.

7. Fiesta Bowl Jan. 2, 2008 West Virginia 48, Oklahoma 28. Huge upset by the Moutaineers.

8. Cardinals v. Dallas October 12, 2008. Cardinals defeat Dallas on a blocked punt in O.T. Though a regular season game, this result sent notice that this was a very different Cardinals team. Alot of Cowboys fans left the Stadium as Cardinals fans.

9. BCS National Championship Game. January 8, 2007. Texas blows out Ohio State 41-14. Not much of a game, but it was the National Championship.

10. First Game. August 12, 2006 Cardinals 21-13 win over the Steelers. Pre-season, but it was long sold out and we beat the Super Bowl Champ, and was an exciting start to a beautiful stadium.

Tuesday, March 3, 2009

2 years at $20 million sounds pretty good

This hurts to say, but the Bidwills are right with respect to Warner. Hey, Kurt, there's no "i" in team or in John 3:16. $10 million for the only year you're likely to be any good, plus another $10 million in case the team wants to hang on to you in 2010 as well, and we'll throw in a receiver who will catch anything you can throw at him. Hey, man, if you want to cadge a free steak dinner off the 'Niners, that's cool, but there is no way those guys are gonna fork over more money. You're a perfect fit for the Cardinals, and they are treating you fairly.

Mind you, my inability to criticize the Bidwills only goes so far. If you all want to make Warner settle for less than he wants (i.e., be treated like everybody else in America during a recession), you better make sure you use all your cap room to get us a running back (not Lamont Jordan -- a running back) and some big fellas on the D- and O-lines. And if you need even more cap room, trade the sulky California kid; as dumb and immature as he appears to be, Leinart will command a decent trade to make the rest of the team better.