By: Dave Cortesi
Flew to PHX; got rental car (brand new Toyota Avalon, v. nice); drove to Tucson just in time for supper at famous eatery El Charro. Had time for a drink before...
... joining Peter, Nancy, Millie, Mitch and Don for famous house specialty
carne seca. Marian liked it; I didn't.
McKale Center is large, and the crowd was small.
Only general admission tickets sold, and you could sit just about anywhere you liked. Wildcat fans wear red too, so there weren't quite as many of us as you might think.
This arena has a nice selection of
banners.
6-6 Suzy Bofia commiserated with her twin, 6-7 Beatrice, out for the season.
The UA band is an OK musical outfit.
Nothing special except they wear white gloves.
UA has two mascots, Wilbur and Wilma -- they are cute and do creative stunts.
Especially I'd never seen a mascot in a cheerleader stunt.
Early next morning in the motel, Marian updated the FBC website with the latest results.
Then we headed off to a favorite place, just west of Tucson, the
Desert Museum. This saguaro seemed to be trying to hitch a ride.
Outside the Desert Museum we got close to a Cactus Wren who was puffed up against the chilly (43ºF) air.
Inside we saw a coyote,
an ocelot,
and in a special raptor session, a roadrunner,
a barn owl,
and a hawk.
Then we had to buzz back to Phoenix.
On the Friday, Arlene Rusche and several other fans went to Mesa see our next year's recruit, Kayla Pederson (see the
recruiting blog) play at Red Mountain High School. Arlene reports,
The gym was full! The crowd was loud and the temperature hot. The Lions, Kayla's team lost, but not because of her. She is very good and so versatile. She can take the ball up the floor with better than average speed. She plays defense! ... She has an outside 3 shot possibility and we were generally impressed. However, she did miss at least 6 free throws... Maybe she was nervous because the Stanford coaches were there.... Scoring wise she was the only player for the Lions in double figures. Most of the time when she rebounded the ball, the point guard was not there to take the ball. She took the ball up court herself.
On to game day.
Wells Fargo Arena is not as large as some, but it was pretty well filled with 4,200 enthusiastic fans.
As at Tucson we got general admission tickets, but not because that was all they sold. We got them because that was all they
had left--all reserved seats were sold out! Arlene showed Mitch the section she planned to move into as soon as the ushers let down their guard. (They never did.)
We attended with our friend and host, Diane. She's a major Phoenix Suns fan. Here she is reminding me that the Suns had just won their 16th straight and she expected no less from the Cardinal.
Before the game, Charli T. T. came around for the usual coach's smooze-fest. What they say: "Hi, you look
great!" What they think is: "We are so gonna kick your butt..."
The ASU band plays loud and smooth, mostly old college rah-rah standard fight songs. Mitch commented on how they add materially to the excitement and enthusiasm of the crowd.
The crowd was really into it, partly because the ASU yell squad is very active along the sidelines whipping people up. But this crowd was totally into the game. Whenever ASU had the ball and a chance to tie or lead, they were on their feet without prompting and the noise level was intense. Only at Mac Court have I heard cheering as loud.
They had plenty of occasions for standing; this was a
very tense and exciting game!
We watched it again on Tivo afterward and there is no comparison: the noise, the color, the suspense unbroken by commercials or commentator chit-chat--the actual game experience is ten times as gripping as the TV experience. Crucial moments called for duelling timeouts...
Anyway, Candice took it over. Here's one of her overtime free-throws.
The joy and relief of the team at the end was noticeable.
A few hours later we were awaiting our flight at PHX
where they have free wi-fi and Marian could update the website...
See that shiny spot on the floor between the seats? I believe that's my cellphone which was missing when we got home. Anyway, thankfully that is our last airport experience until we fly to Cleveland for the final four!
Flew to PHX; got rental car (brand new Toyota Avalon, v. nice); drove to Tucson just in time for supper at famous eatery El Charro. Had time for a drink before...
... joining Peter, Nancy, Millie, Mitch and Don for famous house specialty carne seca. Marian liked it; I didn't.
McKale Center is large, and the crowd was small.
Only general admission tickets sold, and you could sit just about anywhere you liked. Wildcat fans wear red too, so there weren't quite as many of us as you might think.
This arena has a nice selection of banners.
6-6 Suzy Bofia commiserated with her twin, 6-7 Beatrice, out for the season.
The UA band is an OK musical outfit.
Nothing special except they wear white gloves.
UA has two mascots, Wilbur and Wilma -- they are cute and do creative stunts.
Especially I'd never seen a mascot in a cheerleader stunt.
Early next morning in the motel, Marian updated the FBC website with the latest results.
Then we headed off to a favorite place, just west of Tucson, the Desert Museum. This saguaro seemed to be trying to hitch a ride.
Outside the Desert Museum we got close to a Cactus Wren who was puffed up against the chilly (43ºF) air.
Inside we saw a coyote,
an ocelot,
and in a special raptor session, a roadrunner,
a barn owl,
and a hawk.
Then we had to buzz back to Phoenix.
On the Friday, Arlene Rusche and several other fans went to Mesa see our next year's recruit, Kayla Pederson (see the recruiting blog) play at Red Mountain High School. Arlene reports,
Wells Fargo Arena is not as large as some, but it was pretty well filled with 4,200 enthusiastic fans.
As at Tucson we got general admission tickets, but not because that was all they sold. We got them because that was all they had left--all reserved seats were sold out! Arlene showed Mitch the section she planned to move into as soon as the ushers let down their guard. (They never did.)
We attended with our friend and host, Diane. She's a major Phoenix Suns fan. Here she is reminding me that the Suns had just won their 16th straight and she expected no less from the Cardinal.
Before the game, Charli T. T. came around for the usual coach's smooze-fest. What they say: "Hi, you look great!" What they think is: "We are so gonna kick your butt..."
The ASU band plays loud and smooth, mostly old college rah-rah standard fight songs. Mitch commented on how they add materially to the excitement and enthusiasm of the crowd.
The crowd was really into it, partly because the ASU yell squad is very active along the sidelines whipping people up. But this crowd was totally into the game. Whenever ASU had the ball and a chance to tie or lead, they were on their feet without prompting and the noise level was intense. Only at Mac Court have I heard cheering as loud.
They had plenty of occasions for standing; this was a very tense and exciting game!
We watched it again on Tivo afterward and there is no comparison: the noise, the color, the suspense unbroken by commercials or commentator chit-chat--the actual game experience is ten times as gripping as the TV experience. Crucial moments called for duelling timeouts...
Anyway, Candice took it over. Here's one of her overtime free-throws.
The joy and relief of the team at the end was noticeable.
A few hours later we were awaiting our flight at PHX
where they have free wi-fi and Marian could update the website...
See that shiny spot on the floor between the seats? I believe that's my cellphone which was missing when we got home. Anyway, thankfully that is our last airport experience until we fly to Cleveland for the final four!
