Dec. 4, 2006 - Coming to a Stadium Near You ... um ... me |
The final BCS standings are out and Ohio State will be facing Florida in the BCS National Championship game January 8 right here in Glendale at University of Phoenix (nee Cardinals) Stadium. My sympathies to Michigan, who likely were more deserving of the trip to the desert.
  Ohio State fans should be familiar with the Valley, if not Glendale, as the Buckeyes won the national championship here in 2003. From what I was told it was the greatest college football game in history. I missed it - I was on my first date with my lovely wife, watching The Two Towers. And I only remind her of this every couple of months. As for the Gator folk, welcome to a whole new world - what you will see here bears little resemblance to the Valley the last time you were here in 1996.
College football playoff debate aside, what is there to do in Glendale?
There's Glendale Glitters in downtown. There's shopping at Arrowhead Towne Center, as well as micro-brewed beer at Rock Bottom where you can find the name of a truly talented real estate agent and beagle owner permanently etched on a keg. You can play a round of golf at the Legend at Arrowhead Ranch or any one of the dozens of other courses in the West Valley.
Check out a Phoenix Coyotes game - you have to get here early or late, as they play at home December 30 and not again until January 11 - or for something completely different, go to the Arizona Sting's National Lacrosse League opener on January 5 against Colorado. (Don't hold me to it, as I haven't checked the schedule, but I'm fairly sure I'll be there with the family - my wife fell in love with the Sting last season.)
AMC Theaters just opened at Westgate - my daughter and I watched Happy Feet there yesterday - and when all else fails, you can sit inside the newly-opened Gordon Biersch mere steps from the stadium and watch the world go by over a hand-crafted lager.
And this list doesn't include the Fiesta Bowl sanctioned events, including the Fiesta Bowl parade through downtown Phoenix.
With all of this to do, only one question remains ... will Maureen take her Columbus Best Blog on the road? The first beverage is on Tobey if she makes the trip.
(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes
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Oct. 30, 2006 - Futbolistas at the Gate! |
This evening I had to take a short trip down Loop 101 to pick up press credentials for tomorrow night's friendly between América y Chivas de Guadalajara at Cardinals Stadium (note to University of Phoenix ... send a naming rights check to my attention, even a few dollars will do, and I'll change the reference on my blog.)
 For those not in the know, I've been writing free-lance sports articles for the Associated Press since the fall of 1992, when my parents invested about $200 in a Radio Shack TRS-100 - used only by a handful of students and a legion of newspaper reporters - and I started covering Arizona State Basketball and the Phoenix Roadrunners of the International Hockey League.
This afternoon I got the call asking me to cover the game, the first live soccer match at the three-month-old stadium. It's the Mexican League's second visit to the Valley in just under two years; in 2005, the league staged a playoff doubleheader at then-Bank One Ballpark in downtown Phoenix.
Cardinals Stadium features about 37 color-coded parking lots (fuchsia go left, periwinkle head south) and, naturally, I chose the wrong one in the dark this evening which led me to Gate 3, where a few dozen fans were waiting for a glimpse of the players on América. Somehow, a few people got inside and proceeded to open the door for the rest, and there was a mad rush at the gate ... all to watch a couple dozen soccer players going through rudimentary drills (which I soon relayed to my son, a midfielder for the local Arizona Fury Boys 97 United.)
 After convincing security I really was a media member I was sent the long way around to Gate 1 - the long way meaning a journey 3/4 of the way around the stadium - where I picked up my credential, got some help from a friendly security guard who walked me back toward my original door rather than forcing me to walk around the canyon dividing Gates 1 and 3 (literally - this is where they roll back the retractable grass field) and high-tailed it back to my car before someone noticed I was holding a press credential and free entry.
Most remarkable of all? Early estimates are for more than 30,000 people to make their way to the stadium to watch the game - a friendly match that doesn't count in the league standings. An exhibition.
But if tonight's any indication it will be one wild, energetic evening at the stadium tomorrow evening.
P.S. One tangential stadium naming note. During tonight's Patriots-Vikings broadcast on the Vikings radio network, the play-by-play man re-christened the San Francisco 49ers new field (nee Candlestick Park, 3Com Park and Monster.com Stadium) as 3-Com-dlestick Park.
Not bad.
(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes |
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Sep. 13, 2006 - Go West, Young Man! |
Overheard in the parking lot before last night's Cirque de Soleil show at Glendale Arena: "This is why this whole thing is destined to fail."
The scenario: walking to the arena from the parking area and crossing over some dirt medians caused by the construction at the Westgate project. A resident of the East Valley (apparent from his disdain for having crossed Central Avenue for any reason) was complaining loudly about the admittedly cross-country trek to the arena.
The larger scenario: we were walking just east of Glendale Arena - a few hundred yards north of the new Cardinals Stadium, a few hundred yards south of Loews' new movie theater (a first in the Valley - the Loews portion, not the movie theater, just west of where the residential condos are being added and directly south of a building whose purpose I'm still working out.
Yep, Westgate clearly is a failure. Dork.
If you follow sports you've heard about the supposed East Coast bias in the media. If you don't follow sports, you probably can get the same experience watching presidential returns - we don't really matter much out here (see: Florida, New Mexico, 2000). In the Phoenix area, there's a severe East Valley bias because it was the East Valley that grew long before the West.
Times have changed, though not everyone in the streets (north-south roads on the east side of Central Avenue are Streets, those on the west are Avenues) seems to realize it.
With the Cardinals and the Fiesta Bowl having moved to Glendale, Tempe is left with the Insight Bowl. It's a cute bowl - I was there last year - but it's not the Fiesta Bowl. Gammage remains the primary location for full-scale Broadway productions, but if you drop one step, there's now a Broadway dinner theater in peoria to match the one in Mesa. The Coyotes left downtown for Glendale.
More and more, the places to be are either in downtown or the West Valley.
So, Westgate destined to fail? Um, probably not. For many, the time's come to take off the street-shaded sunglasses and see what has blossomed out west.
(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes |
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Sep. 12, 2006 - Neighborhood profile: Daybreak |
Today I'm starting a series of neighborhood profiles ... what better place to start than in my own backyard.
Daybreak (actually four separate subdivisions - Daybreak Units 2 through 5) is located on the southeast corner of Greenway Avenue and 67th Avenue in Glendale. The homes are slightly older - built in the mid- to late 1980s for the most part - but as a tradeoff sit on lots considerably larger than what you will find in many newer subdivisions. Also, the majority of the homes are block construction - another feature of the late 80s that can't be found in newer homes.
There is no HOA and many of the homes feature RV gates that are more than decorative. Mine's not among the ones used as I'm currently toy-less but I digress. Despite the lack of HOA, pride of ownership shows throughout the neighborhood and home values have appreciated nicely over the years, just as they have in much of the Valley. It's the type of neighborhood in which a beagle (who shall remain nameless) can run free and know he'll make it back home safely.
Daybreak is conveniently located - we are three blocks from Pioneer Elementary School, six blocks from Cactus High School and just over two miles from Rock Bottom (and the rest of the Arrowhead Towne Center.) The Peoria Sports Complex is five minutes away as is Pullano's, home to the best wings in the West Valley.
There are three supermarkets within a mile of the subdivision as well as numerous restaurants. Also, the Thunderbird Graduate School of International Management is only a half-mile away.
Daybreak features just over 250 homes, the majority of which are owner-occupied. I'll add some additional sales data later, but the turnover rate for the neighborhood is somewhat lower than what you'll find in other parts of Glendale. People who move to Daybreak tend to stay there for a while. Even with a Realtor (and a beagle) as a neighbor.
For more information on Daybreak or other neighborhoods in Glendale, please visit my primary website at http://www.daltonsazhomes.com.
(c) Jonathan Dalton, 2006 / Jonathan Dalton's Arizona Homes |
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