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.

Super Superliga

You probably have missed some great soccer as "Superliga 2008" is well underway. Superliga pits the top four MLS teams against the top four Mexican League teams in a "league" much like the Champions League in Europe. To my surprise, the soccer has been excellent. These matches are well-attended (in comparison to MLS matches) and hard-fought. It is clear that the Mexican League teams care as much about winning as the MLS teams do. This makes for some brutal play and tough contests. What is more impressive is how well the MLS teams are doing. Most soccer fans assume the Mexican League is superior to the USA's Major League Soccer. Top to bottom, I suppose they are right. But Superliga proves that the top MLS teams are on par with the best of Mexico.

Last night was a perfect example. Two excellent 1-0 games that featured hard tackles, tons of effort, and fast play. In both cases the MLS team won. Chivas USA beat Santos 1-0 on a nice header by Razov. Earlier the New England Revolution went to 2-0 in league play on a 1-0 victory over Pachuca. Read the game stories HERE. The only downside is that the games are a little hard to find --as they are only on Spanish-language TV. Telefutura is showing the games here and the channel is available on cable and the dish.

This kind of well-attended, well-played soccer bodes well for soccer in America and reflects the huge growth in the skill level played by MLS.