So the first preseason game is history now. I really don't have much to say other than I'm really psyched about the coming year. The first offense was generally sharp, but they were playing a good defense that shut them down on each of the two drives that Warner engineered. The defense took care of Pittsburgh's number one offense. And Leinart looks as good as everyone thought he was all along.
Now to make it to the next game. Come on, San Diego!
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Friday, July 24, 2009
Another Season Upon Us
So it's the Friday before training camp, and for the first time in years, I'm completely at ease with how the Cardinals look. Who knows? Maybe it'll turn out that Ken Whisenhunt is the coach for the ages.
For this year, I've purchased an additional two season tickets, but since I was not early enough in the process, my additional seats are in the upper deck. C'est la vie. My daughter will have to suffer with upper deck seats.
Just five more days. If there's anything that's eating at me, it's the fact that I have to wait. I've always been a bit impatient about the brevity of the NFL season compared to other sports, and the Diamondbacks have not made this off season any easier. Five more days. Five more days.
For this year, I've purchased an additional two season tickets, but since I was not early enough in the process, my additional seats are in the upper deck. C'est la vie. My daughter will have to suffer with upper deck seats.
Just five more days. If there's anything that's eating at me, it's the fact that I have to wait. I've always been a bit impatient about the brevity of the NFL season compared to other sports, and the Diamondbacks have not made this off season any easier. Five more days. Five more days.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Kurt Warner Sighting
So how do you combine a love of all things Cardinals as well as a love of all things Ellen (just got back from Florida, where Epcot has one of my favorites, Ellen's Energy Adventure)?
Mr. Warner will be paying Ellen a visit tomorrow (2/12/2009). Here in Phoenix, that's Channel 12 (KPNX) at 3:00 PM. If you don't live in Phoenix, you can find the Ellen show web page here. Or, more quickly, to get to the "When it's on" page, go here.
My DVR will be ready.
Mr. Warner will be paying Ellen a visit tomorrow (2/12/2009). Here in Phoenix, that's Channel 12 (KPNX) at 3:00 PM. If you don't live in Phoenix, you can find the Ellen show web page here. Or, more quickly, to get to the "When it's on" page, go here.
My DVR will be ready.
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
I'm Well Adjusted Again
First, my favorite picture from the trip:
Two and a half minutes to play, the Cardinals have won the game.
You know, plenty of people say that they are happy just to have seen the team in the game, but I can't shake the notion that the Cardinals should have won that game. Unfortunately, my reason for thinking that mirrors so many games in the Cardinals history.
I remember the games in Denny Green's last season. That home game against the Rams. It should have been put away with a relatively easy field goal, but Rackers missed. Kansas City was beat, but Bryant Johnson dropped a touchdown pass that couldn't have been thrown more accurately. Even the famous Monday nighter against the Bears came down to another closing seconds field goal that should have won it for the Cards only to see the Bears win.
Still, I have hope.
Will Boldin bolt? Right now, I don't care. Certainly I want him on the team since he is, unknown to those outside of Arizona, Larry Fitzgerald's equal. That's not taking anything away from Fitz: his season this year has been stellar. No, I'm saying Q is just as good and in different ways that make the combination of the two unbelievable. But if he's so unhappy, I can live with him moving on to another team. Breaston is not Q, but he's good in his own right.
Will Warner return? Not to sound like a broken record, but right now, I don't care. I would love to see him return for another year and another shot at winning a second Super Bowl. More than that, I want my voice mail greeting to continue to be relevant. But if Kurt feels he's ready to move on, I have complete faith in Matt Leinart.
Going to the game was magical and heartbreaking. While I bought more souvenirs than I usually do at a football game, I approached the game the same as I do any other game. And when the game went south, I was upset. We left as soon as the game ended, and returned to Orlando (where we stayed for the weekend) without delay.
And now we have the off season. This should be the most interesting I've ever seen from this team. I'm just glad the off season is a month shorter this year.
Thursday, January 29, 2009
Leaving on a jet plane
Today's the day. In a matter of hours, I'll fly out of the state headed toward Florida.
I'm so tired of hearing so many comments about how much the Cardinals don't deserve to be in this game, how they're just not in the same class as the Steelers. Lazy people make those determinations.
The countdown is on.
I'm so tired of hearing so many comments about how much the Cardinals don't deserve to be in this game, how they're just not in the same class as the Steelers. Lazy people make those determinations.
The countdown is on.
Monday, January 19, 2009
Coming Out of the Woodwork
Having this blog (and having it show up occasionally on a Google search) means that people looking for fans will occasionally find me.
Leading up to the NFC Championship, I got an email from Studio One who was giving away a pair of tickets to people who made a fan video. They wanted a plug, and I would have done it, but over at the Arizona Sports Fans forum, they also had the announcement, and I knew more people would see it there anyhow, so I didn't bother.
Today, I got an email from the Tampa Airport Embassy Suites. It was to alert me that they had 25 rooms available for 4 (that's the minimum stay) nights at $1,050 per night. That's right, a standard hotel room for $4,200. It's good to know that some people (at least as far as they know) have not been hurt by the economy.
Leading up to the NFC Championship, I got an email from Studio One who was giving away a pair of tickets to people who made a fan video. They wanted a plug, and I would have done it, but over at the Arizona Sports Fans forum, they also had the announcement, and I knew more people would see it there anyhow, so I didn't bother.
Today, I got an email from the Tampa Airport Embassy Suites. It was to alert me that they had 25 rooms available for 4 (that's the minimum stay) nights at $1,050 per night. That's right, a standard hotel room for $4,200. It's good to know that some people (at least as far as they know) have not been hurt by the economy.
Well, I Guess There's Something Big to Post About
I'm a big fan. And I don't just mean I'm physically big (while I've lost over 100 pounds, I'm still big), no I mean I'm thoroughly devoted.
In virtually every season, this makes me the subject of ridicule on the parts of friends, families, co-workers, even complete strangers who enjoy the sport of kicking people when their down. Let's face it, as often as this team has been down, it's hard for the kicks to land while we were standing.
Year after year, I would walk out of Sun Devil Stadium seething with anger. I could handle my team losing, but I became very angry with those people who live in the Phoenix area but who would come to our games hoping that their neighbors would leave disappointed.
The locals are different now. And just as Homer Simpson, upon learning that the Isotopes were on a winning streak, could shift gears from hating the local team to being thrilled that the team has finally hit its stride, I have to face the fact that there will be tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Homer Simpsons clones in the state celebrating alongside of me after making my life hell for the previous 20 years.
And I'm okay with that.
No, I'm ecstatic about it. Sure, I'd like the fans to stand by this team, win or lose, but maybe they're just a bit more insecure than I am and feel the need to have that lifeline of someone else to prop up their self-esteem if the local team loses. I'm fine with that because this season, there are going to be more Arizona Cardinals fans than there are people in the Phoenix area. And I get the pleasure of knowing that when only 20,000 seats were regularly filled at Sun Devil Stadium, I was one of them.
When the game ended Sunday, I got 20 phone calls and 20 text messages. The cell phones around the stadium were so active, that when I tried to get my voice mail, it kept failing because the touch tones couldn't get to the voice mail system clearly.
This is a win for the community, and it makes me proud.
Meanwhile, karma is with me as well. The Cardinals received an allotment of about 11,000 Super Bowl tickets to sell for $825 each. Since 2/3 of those are designated for sponsors and suite holders, that left about 3,500 for season ticket holders. There are 60,000 season ticket holders. So that gave me roughly 17-1 odds against winning. Even holding the account for 13 continuous years doesn't improve me to even money of getting a ticket. But karma was even kinder to me. The NFL provided 500 tickets at the discounted rate of $525 each with stipulations that make them hard to scalp (which is just fine with me, of course). With those odds hovering around 120-1, the fact that I got chosen makes me feel that much more special.
In a week and a half, I'm flying to Orlando (Tampa will probably be too expensive). In just under two weeks, I'm going to the Super Bowl.
This is the year. I've only said that 20 times before.
In virtually every season, this makes me the subject of ridicule on the parts of friends, families, co-workers, even complete strangers who enjoy the sport of kicking people when their down. Let's face it, as often as this team has been down, it's hard for the kicks to land while we were standing.
Year after year, I would walk out of Sun Devil Stadium seething with anger. I could handle my team losing, but I became very angry with those people who live in the Phoenix area but who would come to our games hoping that their neighbors would leave disappointed.
The locals are different now. And just as Homer Simpson, upon learning that the Isotopes were on a winning streak, could shift gears from hating the local team to being thrilled that the team has finally hit its stride, I have to face the fact that there will be tens, if not hundreds, of thousands of Homer Simpsons clones in the state celebrating alongside of me after making my life hell for the previous 20 years.
And I'm okay with that.
No, I'm ecstatic about it. Sure, I'd like the fans to stand by this team, win or lose, but maybe they're just a bit more insecure than I am and feel the need to have that lifeline of someone else to prop up their self-esteem if the local team loses. I'm fine with that because this season, there are going to be more Arizona Cardinals fans than there are people in the Phoenix area. And I get the pleasure of knowing that when only 20,000 seats were regularly filled at Sun Devil Stadium, I was one of them.
When the game ended Sunday, I got 20 phone calls and 20 text messages. The cell phones around the stadium were so active, that when I tried to get my voice mail, it kept failing because the touch tones couldn't get to the voice mail system clearly.
This is a win for the community, and it makes me proud.
Meanwhile, karma is with me as well. The Cardinals received an allotment of about 11,000 Super Bowl tickets to sell for $825 each. Since 2/3 of those are designated for sponsors and suite holders, that left about 3,500 for season ticket holders. There are 60,000 season ticket holders. So that gave me roughly 17-1 odds against winning. Even holding the account for 13 continuous years doesn't improve me to even money of getting a ticket. But karma was even kinder to me. The NFL provided 500 tickets at the discounted rate of $525 each with stipulations that make them hard to scalp (which is just fine with me, of course). With those odds hovering around 120-1, the fact that I got chosen makes me feel that much more special.
In a week and a half, I'm flying to Orlando (Tampa will probably be too expensive). In just under two weeks, I'm going to the Super Bowl.
This is the year. I've only said that 20 times before.
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