PHOENIX – Camping out before any event is nothing short of madness anyway, but almost 250 Grand Canyon University students took it to another level, setting up tents and hammocks to stand in line Thursday in record-breaking Arizona October heat.
For Lopes fans sweating out a chance to see their basketball team, it’s all worth it.
GCU hosted its annual Midnight Madness celebration Friday, unofficially tipping off the 2024-25 basketball seasons for the men and women’s teams. While the event is a party for the entire Lopes community, it is also a strong show of support for GCU’s athletes.
TEMPE – Minutes after Arizona State secured its first Big 12 Conference victory Saturday, quarterback Sam Leavitt was on the field praising coach Kenny Dillingham on national television for his work ethic and commitment to players.
In the postgame game interview room after the 35-31 victory over Kansas, running back Cam Skattebo snuck up on the coach with a bear hug and said, “This is the man right here! Love you coach.”
TEMPE – It’s not October football if you’re not breaking curses.
A nearly three-year hex followed the Arizona Cardinals into their game Sunday against the San Francisco 49ers but was broken when linebacker Kyzir White picked off quarterback Brock Purdy to seal a 24-23 victory.
The Cardinals entered Sunday with a four-game losing streak against to 49ers, which dates back to November 21, 2022, when they lost by 28 points.
The Cardinals’ last win over the 49ers was on November 7, 2021, when Colt McCoy threw for 249 yards and a touchdown to improve the team’s record to 8-1.
PHOENIX – The Arizona Diamondbacks blew an eight-run lead to the Milwaukee Brewers on Sept. 22, but the unclear MLB postseason picture made foreshadowing the team’s fate impossible at the time.
Now, over a week later, the answer is clear.
While the Diamondbacks survived an extra day thanks to the postponement of the New York Mets-Atlanta Braves series to Monday due to Hurricane Helene, their 2024 season ended with the two teams splitting the doubleheader at Truist Park.
Making a strong case for Game of the Year, Monday’s first game started with Atlanta leading 3-0 through seven innings behind starting pitcher Spencer Schwellenbach’s five strikeouts and three hits allowed. A Mets leadoff double ended his night, then the Braves’ lead quickly evaporated.
Three Braves relievers allowed five earned runs on five hits, turning a once-rowdy crowd to stunned silence. However, moments later, the stunned crowd turned into a frenzy after Atlanta’s four-run eighth inning — capped off with Ozzie Albies’ bases-clearing double — gave the Braves a 7-6 lead.
The final act of the drama came from Mets superstar shortstop Francisco Lindor, who blasted a game-winning two-run home run to right-center field in the ninth inning to secure a playoff berth.
By Game 2, Diamondbacks fans gathered at Guy Fieri’s DTPHX Kitchen + Bar and nxiously optimistic fans watched as Atlanta took care of New York 3-0, which secured the final wild-card berth for the Braves.
Despite the disappointing results Monday, some fans applauded the team’s fight all season long.
“Honestly, there were a lot of really fun moments,” said Diamondbacks fan Julian Miller. “Just every game that they were down in that they came back and won, really was just a great moment. I mean, we have the Rally-backs, which is our form of cheerleaders, almost, but it’s true that we are the Rally-backs. The Diamondbacks, throughout the season, have been rallying back.
“Seeing them work through the adversity and everything like that has really been special to see, and hopefully they can bring a little bit of that magic to the playoffs, if we’re so fortunate to do so.”
For the second consecutive year, the Diamondbacks handed the keys to their postseason fate
to another team. Last season, the Diamondbacks lost the last four games, before the St. Louis Cardinals secured a postseason berth for Arizona by defeating the Cincinnati Reds 15-6 on Sept. 30.
Despite the team’s familiarity with these late-season situations, they were unable to clinch a second consecutive postseason appearance after making a World Series run in 2023.
“Yeah, it’s very similar, and I can draw from those experiences,” manager Torey Lovullo said Friday before the team’s game against the San Diego Padres. “I know that it wasn’t easy for us last year. From start to finish, we caught a tailwind at the right time of the year and got hot.”
The Diamondbacks lost five of their last seven games to end the regular season, including losing two of three games to the division-rival San Francisco Giants and San Diego Padres, and blowing the eight-run lead to the Milwaukee Brewers at American Family Field.
Other factors also contributed to the team falling short this season. The Diamondbacks suffered from the World Series hangover for the first two months of the season. The month of May ended with a season-high five-game losing streak, which brought the team’s record to 25-32.
During the peak summer season, the Diamondbacks played their best baseball. August was the most successful, as the team rattled off two season-high six-game winning streaks. Rookie catcher Adrian Del Castillo played a huge role in the team’s dominance after he was called up to replace Gold Glove catcher Gabriel Moreno, who suffered a left adductor strain in early August and missed a month of action.
Del Castillo’s bat proved big-league ready right away. He hit a ninth-inning walk-off home run in his second game and became the first player in franchise history to hit a walk-off for their first career home run.
A week-and-a-half later, Del Castillo put together a career game with his friends and family in attendance at loanDepot Park, where he hit his first career grand slam and contributed six RBI in a 9-6 victory. He had 14 RBI through his first nine big-league games — second-most in MLB history since RBI became an official statistic in 1920.
Arizona won 16 of the 25 games Del Castillo appeared in, including winning his first six games.
Other key players experienced injuries during the latter half of the season. Two-time Gold Glove first baseman Christian Walker missed the entire month of August, before returning in early September. When he returned, Walker continued his dominant ways, by securing his third consecutive 25-home run, 25-double season.
2023 All-Star Lourdes Gurriel Jr., who missed three weeks in September, batted .370 with one home run, one triple and five RBI over the last eight games.
Still, Arizona had its chances and couldn’t come through nor get the help they needed Monday. The MLB-leading team in runs scored were shut out twice in the final five games of the year, which proved to be crucial losses.
“It’s definitely been kind of a rocky last couple weeks,” relief pitcher Kevin Ginkel said Friday. “We played pretty much flawless baseball up until early September, and then we kind of had some games here and there that haven’t gone the way we wanted (them) to.”
Manager Torey Lovullo and the Arizona Diamondbacks miss their goal of reaching the 2024 MLB Postseason after the New York Mets and Atlanta Braves split their doubleheader Monday. (Photo by Spencer Barnes/Cronkite News)A season full of challenges ends in disappointment as the Arizona Diamondbacks miss the 2024 MLB Postseason. (Photo by Dylan Wickman/Cronkite News)
TEMPE – Arizona State football remains a work in progress.
Coming off a bye week, coach Kenny Dillingham said Monday that his team is working to return to the same level of play the Sun Devils showed during a 3-0 start to the season as they prepare for their Big 12 Conference home opener against Kansas Saturday at Mountain America Stadium.
”We have to get back to what we’re good at,” Dillingham said. “We have to get back to playing the game really hard.”
PHOENIX – Kim Hayashi rose to dominance thanks to her “go big” jumping style. Now she’ll “go big” into the USA BMX Hall of Fame this weekend in Tulsa, Oklahoma, alongside fellow Arizonan Debbie Kelley.
Hayashi and Kelley will be two of the eight members inducted into the USA BMX Hall of Fame Class of 2024, as voted on by over 500 BMX experts, including current Hall of Famers, BMX historians and selected members of the BMX media.
“It’s pretty humbling. It feels like a huge honor,” said Hayashi, 38, who lives in Chandler. “Especially when you look at the women’s side, there’s not a lot of female names up there (at the Hall of Fame). To see some of the people that I looked up to, some of the people that were my heroes, and seeing my name next to theirs is a huge honor.”
PHOENIX – The outcome of Thursday’s Phoenix Mercury regular-season finale against the Seattle Storm at Footprint Center didn’t matter.
The playoff-bound Mercury lost 89-70, but scenes from the stands suggested otherwise. Handmade signs in the crowd reading, “DT, we’re NOT ready” and “If this is it, I might cry” perfectly evoked the collective feeling of fans attending what could have been Mercury guard Diana Taurasi’s last home game.
As the Mercury’s ‘If this is it’ campaign implied, the night was supposed to be a celebration, a chance to honor the greatest player to grace the WNBA. But the night was an emotional rollercoaster. Fans were just as prepared to say goodbye as they were ready to chant, “One more year!” every chance they could.
PHOENIX – The Arizona Cardinals had a long flight home after a 34-28 loss to the Buffalo Bills Sunday, a game in which they had an early lead over last season’s AFC East winners.
This is the second consecutive year the Cardinals have opened their season with a loss on the East Coast. It also was the second year in a row that they blew a halftime lead in the opener. They led Washington 13-10 at halftime a year ago.
This time, they led 17-3 in the second quarter and 17-10 at halftime and failed to execute in the second half, but the team is moving forward with three straight games at State Farm Stadium in Glendale.
“When you have those opportunities to capitalize to force a punt, or a turnover, or make them kick a field goal in the red zone, you have to capitalize on them,” Cardinals coach Jonathan Gannon said Monday. “Good offenses are good, they’re good for a reason. We got to keep the score down a little bit more.”
PHOENIX – When sportswriter Jim Turvey arrived at his in-laws for dinner, he was shocked to hear his non-sports-centric relatives discussing Chicago Sky forward Angel Reese and Indiana Fever guard Caitlin Clark.
The WNBA rookies rivaled each other at LSU and Iowa in a memorable championship game in the 2023 NCAA women’s basketball tournament, with a rematch the following April that drew a women’s college basketball record of 12.3 million viewers in the women’s Elite Eight. Clark and Reese’s high-profile matchups and competition have spiked growth in women’s basketball.
TEMPE – As the Paris Olympics begin, Arizona State’s Missy Farr-Kaye’s fingerprints are all over the golf competition as the Sun Devils women’s coach. Five of her former Sun Devils will represent Tempe on the world stage in a show of the program’s longstanding success.
“Well I just think it’s such a great reflection of what we do, why we do it and why I do it,” Farr-Kaye said Wednesday. “And it’s great to see all the details, the things that we do every day in the grind and trying to help our athletes be successful on and off the golf course. It is wonderful to see them be so externally successful.
ASU’s Linn Grant, the Swede who became the first woman to become a two-time winner of the DP World Tour, and Alexandra Forsterling, a four-time Ladies European Tour champion, will join Spain’s Carlota Ciganda and Azahara Munoz and Italy’s Alessandra Fanali.
PHOENIX – The WNBA All-Star game returned to Phoenix for the third time last weekend, bringing in fans from across the country and internationally to witness the world’s best players.
Team WNBA prevailed over the Women’s National Team, 117-109, in front of a sellout crowd Saturday at the Footprint Center, with Dallas Wings guard Arike Ogunbowale earning the All-Star MVP award after a 34-point performance in her third All-Star game appearance. The 2024 WNBA All-Star Game averaged 3.4 million viewers on ABC, making it the most-watched WNBA telecast since opening weekend in 1997, according to Front Office Sports.
Fans also flocked to downtown Phoenix to see rookies Angel Reese and Caitlin Clark. Reese scored 12 points and had 11 rebounds to become the first rookie with a double-double in an WNBA All-Star game, while Clark’s 10 assists set an All-Star rookie record of her own.
The weekend festivities kicked off with Friday night’s skills competitions, including an obstacle course-style skills challenge, a 3×3 exhibition game and a 3-point contest. Atlanta Dream guard Allisha Gray became the first player in WNBA history to win both the skills challenge and the 3-point contest in the same year.
A huge focus of the weekend was fan engagement, as the league hosted events like the WNBA Live fan festival in Phoenix. Fans of all ages participated in shooting contests, waited in line for meet-and-greets with their favorite players and purchased a variety of All-Star-themed merchandise.
After Team WNBA’s victory Saturday and the ensuing awards presentation, ESPN reporter Holly Rowe spoke to the loud Phoenix crowd. Her message was received by applause and cheers from players and fans alike.
“I feel really comfortable saying that this has been the best WNBA All-Star game we have ever seen in this league,” Rowe said.
Arike Ogunbowale celebrates after hitting a 3-pointer in the second half, where she scored 34 points in an MVP-worthy performance at Footprint Center. (Photo by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)From left: Aliyah Boston, Allisha Gray, Caitlin Clark and Arike Ogunbowale celebrate after Ogunbowale’s basket to end the third quarter in Saturday’s 2024 WNBA All-Star Game. (Photo by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark takes warmup 3-pointers in front of a fan’s sign that reads, ‘Caitlin from the Logo,’ at Footprint Center. (Photo by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)Fans were greeted Saturday with a unique T-shirt designed by Kelly Malka across their seat backs ahead of the 2024 WNBA All-Star Game at Footprint Center. (Photo by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)A’ja Wilson stretches for Team USA before the start of the WNBA All-Star game Saturday at Footprint Center. (Photos by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)Indiana Fever rookie Caitlin Clark, a starter for Team WNBA, goes for a layup surrounded by Team USA players in the second half of Saturday’s 2024 WNBA All-Star Game at Footprint Center. (Photo by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)Kahleah Copper goes for a layup for Team USA in the first half, defended by Aliyah Boston in Saturday’s 2024 WNBA All-Star Game at Footprint Center. (Photos by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)The 2024 WNBA All-Star Game averaged 3.4 million viewers on ABC, making it the most-watched WNBA telecast since opening weekend in 1997, per reports. (Photo by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)Arike Ogunbowale earns WNBA All-Star MVP for the second time in her career Saturday at Footprint Center. (Photo by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)Team WNBA’s Angel Reese finished the game with a double-double, putting up 12 points and 11 rebounds, in Saturday’s All-Star Game. (Photo by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)Mercury veteran Diana Taurasi hugs Vanessa Bryant after Team USA’s 117-109 loss to Team WNBA Saturday at Footprint Center. (Photo by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)Nikkole Bonner wears a shirt featuring A’ja Wilson and Angel Reese that reads, ‘I came to see the vet vs the rookie,’ Saturday at Footprint Center. (Photos by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)Fans had the opportunity to meet current and former players at the WNBA Live fan festival held at the Phoenix Convention Center, including A’ja Wilson. (Photos by Grace Hand/Cronkite NewsPhoenix Mercury center Brittney Griner hugs second gentleman Doug Emhoff, who visited Team USA’s practice Friday at the Player 15 Group facility. (Photo by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)New York Liberty center Jonquel Jones reacts to missing the final shot in the 3-point challenge Friday at Footprint Center. (Photos by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)Allisha Gray celebrates with former University of South Carolina teammate A’ja Wilson after winning the 3-point and skills competitions Friday at Footprint Center. (Photos by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)Connecticut Sun guard Marina Mabrey high-fives enthusiastic young fans before competing in the skills challenges Friday at Footprint Center. (Photo by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)Connecticut Sun guard Marina Mabrey high-fives enthusiastic young fans before competing in the skills challenges Friday at Footprint Center. (Photo by Grace Hand/Cronkite News)
SCOTTSDALE – The way Arizonans play mini golf will never be the same at Puttshack’s new location in Scottsdale.
Golfers will not only aim for holes-in-one, but will look to sink shots in beer pong and test their skills in roulette, bowling, Trivial Pursuit and Connect Four.
The two-story space opened its doors Thursday and consists of four courses with nine holes each, neon lights, outdoor patios, a full bar and a DJ spinning all the right tracks to make the experience more epic. The opening night crowd remained steady throughout the night, with eager and excited mini golfers ready to break in Puttshack’s ninth location.
