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PHOENIX – When Jocelyn Erickson suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament and damaged meniscus cartilage in her knee while playing basketball in January, there was reason to wonder about the athletic future of the Oklahoma softball commit. However, the two-sport star at Sandra Day O’Connor High School in Phoenix has used the setback as an.

PHOENIX – Hamza Abdullah played seven seasons as an NFL safety, including three with the Arizona Cardinals, making his mark in the league primarily on special teams during a career that lasted twice as long as the average NFL player’s. But Abdullah’s quest for a starting job – well, it was almost Sisyphean. Just as.

PHOENIX – Three years ago, Conor Garland earned his call-up from the Tucson Roadrunners. Within the first two months of his rookie season on the Arizona Coyotes, Garland made an immediate impact, scoring goals left and right, including one off his face – a testament to his hard-nosed character. Even before that, Garland knew he.

Editor’s Note: This story is part of an ongoing project to highlight Black athletes who have broken barriers and made lasting contributions to Arizona sports. PHOENIX – Jackie Robinson made his major league debut on this day in 1947, shattering the color barrier of Major League Baseball. Every 15th of April, Robinson is remembered and.

PHOENIX – After years of resistance from tribes around the state, Gov. Doug Ducey signed House Bill 2772 on Thursday, legalizing daily sports fantasy and sports betting in Arizona. The development comes on the heels of ratification of a revised Tribal-State Gaming Compact. “Today’s signing is the culmination of years of discussion and engagement among.

PHOENIX – Although Division I sports have found a route to safely hold seasons and tournaments, club sports are a different story, especially in Arizona. The state’s four major universities have handled club sports in different ways during the COVID-19 pandemic. Grand Canyon and the University of Arizona have implemented systems and procedures that allow.

PHOENIX – Legal sports gambling is just a signature away from becoming a reality in Arizona. The daily fantasy game company DraftKings and the PGA Tour wasted no time in taking the first step in Arizona even before that signature, announcing Wednesday that they will partner on a one-of-a-kind retail sportsbook at TPC Scottsdale –.

PHOENIX – No college athletics program is immune to the tumultuous nature of the transfer portal – the NCAA’s database of players interested in a new school. But few programs have been impacted by it this offseason more than Arizona State men’s basketball team. Since the 2020-21 season concluded, six ASU players have entered the.

PHOENIX — Jake Weinhold watches every Phoenix Suns game. Often, it’s with his girlfriend. Occasionally, he’ll tune in at work. And with Phoenix on the verge of making the playoffs for the first time since the 2009-10 season, Suns games haven’t been this meaningful to Weinhold since he was in grade school. He has just.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Senate passed legislation Monday night that paves the way for legalized sports betting in the state, possibly as soon as summer. Senate Bill 1797 and House Bill 2772 were passed with bipartisan support on the new gaming compact, which includes the legalization of daily fantasy sports, and now head to Gov..

PHOENIX – Mobile ordering. Immobile fans. The Arizona Diamondbacks and Chase Field opened their gates for the first time in over a year this past weekend for their home opening series against the Cincinnati Reds. While fans were excited to finally attend a live sporting event, ordering food and drinks and waiting in lines was.

PHOENIX – For Arizona sports fans, Doan is a legendary name. Shane Doan, former Arizona Coyotes captain, was selected seventh overall in the 1995 NHL entry draft by the Winnipeg Jets organization. When the team relocated to Phoenix in 1996, Doan became the face of hockey in the desert. He played just over two decades.

PHOENIX — It’s 11:08 p.m., and the fans at Phoenix Suns Arena have cleared out with the team about 30 minutes removed from a one-point home win over the Milwaukee Bucks in an early February matchup. With two days before the team’s next game against the Philadelphia 76ers, most of the Suns are likely looking.

PHOENIX – A documentary recently aired in France titled, “I’m not a slut, I’m a journalist.” The title might be shocking, but the experiences shared by female sports journalists featured in the documentary don’t come as a surprise to women in sports media. The documentary featured women speaking candidly about the derogatory comments, lascivious advances.

PHOENIX – On the court, the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament lived up to all of the expectations that come with a championship event. In the Final Four alone, fans got to witness two games that came down to the final buzzer, including Stanford’s heart-stopping 54-53 victory over the Arizona Wildcats in the championship game. Viewership.

PHOENIX – Call it the Kessel Run. No, Arizona Coyotes forward Phil Kessel isn’t flying the Millennium Falcon from the Star Wars saga in 12 parsecs. Kessel is soaring through the rankings of the most consecutive games played in National Hockey League history. And he doesn’t need a spaceship to do it. Kessel will play.

PHOENIX — After starting the season with a rough 2-5 road trip against division rivals San Diego and Colorado, the Arizona Diamondbacks come home tonight to host the Cincinnati Reds in their 6:40 home opener. The game, which will feature roughly 20,000 fans and an open roof, signifies a return to normalcy not only for.

PHOENIX – Two years off the pitch nearly was enough time to snatch away Cori Sullivan’s dreams of playing college and professional soccer. The Arizona State junior faced two devastating blows that left her feeling hopeless – but just for a moment – and the experience continues to be a daily reminder that helps her.

PHOENIX — Professional golfer Rory McIlroy is a lot of things. He is a U.S. Open winner, a two-time winner of the PGA Championship and a winner of the British Open. McIlroy, along with all-time great golfers Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods, is one of just three players in the sport’s history to win four.

PHOENIX – Fresh off its first dance in the NCAA Tournament, Grand Canyon University is a finalist for the services of Jaelen House, the Arizona State transfer and local product out of Shadow Mountain High School, who made the announcement on Twitter. House, a 19-year-old guard entering his junior season, made a name for himself.

PHOENIX – As the University of Arizona searches for a new men’s basketball coach, it will seek one that can sustain the success that has defined the program since the mid-1980s. And that includes financial success. The university fired Sean Miller Wednesday on the heels of an NCAA investigation that charged the school with five.

PHOENIX – Andrew Wiggins doesn’t want it. Monty Williams isn’t sure. And Herm Edwards already has it but thinks the decision should be left to the individual. These diverging opinions about the COVID-19 vaccine hint at how life has changed since March of 2020, when the virus put the world on lockdown and threw sports.

PHOENIX – In a way, it seems all too familiar. For the second straight year, the Arizona Diamondbacks are 1-3 after opening the season against the San Diego Padres. The 2020 season’s rough beginning was an unfortunate precursor for what was to come. Arizona hovered around the bottom tier of MLB the rest of the.

PHOENIX – Just as athletes and fans have had to navigate a new sporting normal, so have announcers and play-by-play personnel. And when a live microphone exists, so, too, does a window for exposure of unprofessional and unethical behavior. The advent of COVID-19 increased the popularity of live-streaming sporting events, especially at the high school.

PHOENIX – When the COVID-19 pandemic rolled from spring to fall in 2020, it put college football seasons at every level in doubt. Fortunately for Arizona Christian University, a small Glendale-based school that competes at the NAIA level, there were options to get the most out of what might have been a lost season. The.

It would be fair to say that going into this season, or even the NCAA Women’s Basketball Tournament, not many people would have expected Arizona, a No. 3 seed, to have an opportunity to win a national title with one shot Sunday. Despite shooting 28.8% from the field as a team, receiving a quieter-than-usual day.

PHOENIX – Carlee Turner was one push of a button away from ending her hockey career. On Feb. 1, the Boston Pride forward, 23, thought she had played in her last professional competition, a 7-1 win over the Buffalo Beauts in a National Women’s Hockey League game. Less than 48 hours later, the NWHL announced.

PHOENIX – For some sports fans, the interaction with an athlete during an autograph session is the best feeling in the world. Unfortunately, COVID-19 has taken some of the excitement out of autograph seeking. Before the pandemic, fans hoping to get an autograph from a favorite player could show up before games, especially during spring.

LOS ANGELES – The UCLA men’s basketball team doesn’t fit the usual glitz and glam associated with Los Angeles and the star-studded history of the program. The No. 11-seeded Bruins have made their way from the First Four to the Final Four by being the exact opposite – grinding out their opponents and winning at.

TEMPE – Under coach Charli Turner Thorne, Arizona State women’s basketball has been synonymous with playing well into the month of March. This season was no different, as the Sun Devils made an appearance in the 2021 WNIT in Fort Worth, Texas. It was ASU’s sixth appearance in the WNIT and 20th trip to the.

PHOENIX – Just like any sports franchise, the NCAA is a business, but does a correlation exist between how much money a collegiate athletic department spends on a team and how far it goes in the postseason? In the NCAA Division I Women’s Basketball Tournament, the answer this season is “yes.” According to data collected.

TUCSON — Sometimes when cruising on a long road trip, the drive goes faster than expected. Despite the distance traveled, time is made up along the way. That sums up Adia Barnes’ journey to the Final Four. Some might say her road has been a long one. A great college career at the University of.

TEMPE – In a strange way, baseball bookended the COVID-19 pandemic, at least in Arizona. While the NBA was the first league to act and suspend its season on March 11, 2020, the virus’s ripples were not truly felt in the desert until the remainder of the Cactus League schedule was called off the next.

PHOENIX – The college experience is often defined as the best four years of a person’s life. Deciding where those four years will be spent can be challenging enough. For high school athletes hoping to play their sport at the next level, the decision can be even more difficult. And as Arcadia High School senior.

TEMPE – Arizona State wrapped up spring football Sunday after getting in a full complement of 15 practices, something the program was unable to do in 2020 due to COVID-19. Not only did the Sun Devils get through the entire spring, they did so without any interruptions, COVID-19 or otherwise. So what did ASU’s coaches.

PHOENIX – Arizona is more than just desert. The state boasts six national forests, tied for the ninth-most for any state in the country. About 15% of the state’s land is designated as forest, including the largest ponderosa pine forest in North America. Mountainous grassland and chaparral in the state’s “transition zone” separates the true.

In a year that’s had no guarantees, with COVID protocols and plenty of new challenges, college basketball hasn’t exactly been a walk in the park. Positive tests plagued many teams, while others failed to live up to lofty expectations while taking on a new lifestyle. In the midst of it all, though, a team has.

PHOENIX – With less than two weeks before the Diamondbacks play their April 9 home opener against the Reds, Chase Field is preparing to host fans for the first time in over a year. Diamondbacks President and CEO Derrick Hall, alongside Diamondbacks legend Luis Gonzalez, recently unveiled the new procedures, amenities and food items to.

PHOENIX – Gavin Kohner’s parents noticed some peculiar signs when he was just a baby learning to crawl across their floor. “They noticed I wasn’t using my right arm and leg as much as my left side,” Kohner said. His parents immediately took action to identify the problem. Doctors soon had the answer. “We took.

GLENDALE – It might have been the optics, but whenever professional bull riders Keyshawn Whitehorse and Cody Jesus entered the ring, the crowd seemed louder, more engaged. In fact, Gila River Arena appeared to shake at the sound of their names as they competed in the Professional Bull Riding competition. Whitehorse and Jesus are both.

WADDELL – Nicholas Watson, 17, has spent the past eight years fine-tuning his esports skills and playing his favorite sports-focused games, including Madden. Now, thanks to Special Olympics Arizona and the Arizona Interscholastic Association, Watson plays Rocket League on Phoenix Canyon View High School’s unified esports team, which started its spring season earlier in March..

PHOENIX – It started out as a chance encounter. It ended as a special moment for a young boy. Those who knew Oscar Frayer, the Grand Canyon men’s basketball player who died in a car crash Tuesday morning, aren’t surprised. Friends remember him for his energy, smile and generosity, like the time he ran into.

TEMPE – When senior Remy Martin reluctantly exited Arizona State’s blowout loss to the top-seeded Oregon Ducks in the second round of the Pac-12 Tournament, it was expected to be the last time he’ll leave a court wearing a Sun Devils uniform. Now, Martin and his senior teammates Alonzo Verge and Kimani Lawrence are expected.

On March 15, 1998, senior Adia Barnes scored 30 points in an NCAA Tournament game against Virginia to advance Arizona to its first Sweet 16 in school history. Twenty-three years and only five NCAA Tournament appearances later, now-Coach Barnes and her Arizona women’s basketball team is headed back to the Sweet 16 for the second.

PHOENIX – Still sporting a sleeveless warmup shirt with the hoodie covering his head, Phoenix Suns guard Jevon Carter grinned when a reporter asked if he planned to spend the NBA All-Star break working on his game following a 120-98 Phoenix win over the Golden State Warriors earlier this month. Carter had just gotten his.

PHOENIX – It has been so long since the Arizona’s women’s basketball team reached the NCAA Tournament’s Sweet 16 that Wildcats coach Adia Barnes was playing for the school at the time. But with a victory over Brigham Young today at the University of Texas-San Antonio’s Convocation Center, the Wildcats can move past the second.

TEMPE – Arizona State wide receivers coach Prentice Gill and defensive backs coach Chris Hawkins have a relationship with each other dating back to when they worked together at USC. Gill was a graduate assistant while Hawkins starred in the Trojans’ secondary. Now they’ve brought their Southern California synergy to ASU, and the results are.

PHOENIX – For much of the 20th century, water polo was dismissed as a sport too taxing for women. Although men competed in the Paris Games in 1900, the 2000 Sydney Games, where the United States took home silver, was the first that featured women’s competition. Too taxing? Anyone who has watched the Arizona State.

Even Arizona women’s basketball coach Adia Barnes didn’t see this much success coming for the Wildcats this quickly. “I expected to be in this situation in like Year Seven,” Barnes said with a smile Thursday. “Maybe Year Eight if I last that long.” Behind Barnes, the Wildcats find themselves back in the NCAA Women’s Basketball.

PHOENIX – Derick Brassard did something the Arizona Coyotes had struggled to accomplish during their seven-game road trip. Scoring goals, and he made it look easy. The 33-year-old forward scored his first career regular-season hat trick in a Coyotes’ 5-1 win over the Anaheim Ducks at Honda Center Saturday night, and it couldn’t have come.

TEMPE – With the hope of creating “a more diverse and inclusive ball club” – a goal shared by Major League Baseball overall – the Texas Rangers announced the creation of the Charley Pride Fellowship Program, a paid 10-week internship program they believe can address that need. The fellowship is named for the late Charley.

Even though the Grand Canyon men’s basketball team lost in its first NCAA Tournament appearance, the trip to Indiana wasn’t without its benefits. The No. 15 seed Lopes found themselves in the national spotlight. During their 86-74 loss to No. 2 Iowa Saturday at Farmers Coliseum in Indianapolis, TBS cameras zoomed in on the rowdy.

PHOENIX — After looking over the details of his team’s 123-119 loss to the Minnesota Timberwolves, Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams raised his voice like an editor in a newsroom, saying the following should be printed as a headline for their defeat to the NBA’s worst team. “They kicked our butt tonight,” Williams said after.

GLENDALE – Rodeo is a longstanding tradition in western culture, running deep roots in families across the United States. Many have argued it’s not just a sport but a way of life. That’s the case for Colorado native Colten Fritzlan, the youngest rider on the elite-level Unleash the Beast tour for Professional Bull Riding in.

PHOENIX – Bryce Drew is returning home. And bringing with him the knowledge that he played a pivotal role in elevating Grand Canyon men’s basketball. By winning the Western Athletic Conference Tournament in Las Vegas, GCU earned an automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament, its first appearance in school history. GCU is the only Arizona.

PHOENIX – The sports community across the U.S., and in Arizona, are condemning the violence toward Asian Americans, after 21-year-old Robert Aaron Long shot and killed eight people in the Atlanta area, six of them Asian American women, on Tuesday. Arizona Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray posted a picture to Twitter with his family, ending his.

PHOENIX — The Western Athletic Conference will tighten its borders along America’s Sun Belt. In January, the WAC announced that over the next two years, five schools will join the conference, upping the total of full members to 13. Abilene Christian, Lamar, Sam Houston State and Stephen F. Austin State join the WAC from the.

PHOENIX – A beautiful sunrise on an early Saturday morning greeted the trail runners as they meandered through Mesquite Canyon. The scenic view from the White Tank Mountain Recreational Park in Waddell was just one of the perks for the athletes who competed in the race. Whether they were casual runners participating in the 8K.

PHOENIX – After a one-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic, March Madness has returned and sports fans across the country have put pen to paper hoping to fill out a perfect bracket, the odds of which are nearly impossible (about 1 in 9.2 quintillion). In Arizona, sports betting is still illegal. However, state law.

PHOENIX – With COVID-19 numbers sliding, the Phoenix City Council unanimously approved a plan Tuesday that reopened many parks amenities beginning Wednesday and just in time for Easter weekend, April 3-4, when local parks are often packed. The plan, proposed by Phoenix Parks and Recreation Director Cynthia Aguilar and made in consultation with health experts,.

PHOENIX – Arizona is in a drought. That’s not exactly breaking news, but all the water in the world won’t quench the thirst of pro sports fans around the Valley. With no disrespect toward the Mercury or Rattlers, who have been like water bottles found in a sea of sand that is the Arizona sports.

TEMPE – The last time Notre Dame Prep won an Arizona High School Hockey Association state championship skinny jeans were still in style, TiK ToK was just a song by Kesha and the year was 2011. Notre Dame’s victory against Pinnacle High School during Friday’s state championship game at Oceanside Ice Arena ended that dry.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Coyotes arrived at the first half of the shortened 2020-21 season in the middle of the pack in the West Division. After dropping two straight road games to the second place Minnesota Wild, the Coyotes sit five points out of the fourth playoff spot with a 12-12-4 record. Coyotes coach Rick.

TEMPE – Rachaad White and Chip Trayanum led a dynamic Arizona State backfield in 2020. The smooth-accelerating junior college transfer and formidable freshman were big reasons the Sun Devils averaged more yards per game than any offense in the Pac-12. So what’s the next step for these two talented backs in 2021? Learning to be.

PHOENIX – When Bryce Drew was hired to replace Dan Majerle as coach at Grand Canyon last March, the Lopes were not in a great spot. The 2019-20 season saw GCU suffer its worst season since becoming a Division I basketball school in 2013, a 13-17 overall record and 8-8 mark in the Western Athletic.

AVONDALE – Martin Truex Jr. has had an illustrious NASCAR Cup Series career, with 27 victories and the 2017 Cup championship. However, despite his success at NASCAR’s highest level, Truex had never broken through at Phoenix Raceway. And for most of Sunday’s Instacart 500 at the storied 1-mile tri-oval track, it appeared he would come.

PHOENIX – Many young children grow up with dreams of flying around speedways in the pristinely painted stock cars of NASCAR’s highest level, the Cup Series. It is rare to end up in the Cup Series but many drivers try anyway by cutting their teeth in lower-level racing circuits. At Phoenix Raceway today, a group.

GLENDALE – They named her Luna, which is Spanish for moon. The name fits nicely with the Arizona Coyotes’ crescent moon logo from 1996, which is at center ice this season at Gila River Arena. Luna is fond of taking naps in Jakob Chychrun’s locker. She wobble-skates on the ice. She has left a mark.

PHOENIX – Arizona Coyotes forward Christian Dvorak has returned to school. No, not in a classroom with a paper and pencil in hand. Rather, on the ice with a set of mitts and a freshly taped stick. Dvorak has evolved into the Coyotes’ top center in his fifth season with the team, thanks in part.

PHOENIX – Grand Canyon made program history Saturday by winning a share of the Western Athletic Conference regular season championship, the school’s first conference hoops crown at the Division I level. Now, the Lopes have more history within reach. With their 74-64 victory over WAC co-champion Utah Valley Saturday night at GCU Arena, the Lopes.

PHOENIX – They’ve endured postponements, positive COVID-19 tests, program shutdowns and four-game weeks. But after an abbreviated season rife with challenges, the Valley’s 6A boys high school basketball teams are ready to get under way Thursday in the state championship bracket. Central region powers Desert Vista and Mountain Pointe took meandering roads to reach their.

PHOENIX – On the same day the Texas Rangers announced they would allow 100% capacity for their home opener, the Arizona Diamondbacks reaffirmed their plans to host fans at a limited capacity at Chase Field to start the season. The team will allow fans at 25% capacity which means roughly 12,000 will be allowed. Chase.

PHOENIX – With two wrestlers awarded at-large bids Tuesday, Arizona State has qualified eight for the NCAA Championships. The Sun Devils dominated the Pac-12 Wrestling Championships at Oregon State’s Gill Coliseum recently, crowning five individual champions: Brandon Courtney (125 pounds), Jacori Teemer (157), Anthony Valencia (165), Kordell Norfleet (197), and Cohlton Shultz (285). Additionally, Trey.

TEMPE – For many fans of Arizona State men’s basketball, the state of the Sun Devils in March probably seemed incomprehensible four months ago. ASU entered the 2020-21 season with a couple of highly touted recruits in Josh Christopher and Marcus Bagley. Senior guard Remy Martin was returning after ranking second in scoring in the.

PHOENIX — For eight years, the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame has brought some of the nation’s premier high school basketball programs to the Valley for a full day of basketball against Arizona’s top teams. This year, the hall organized an all-Arizona affair because of the pandemic. Lexi McNabb, a junior at Seton Catholic.

TUCSON – At 21, Marcus Smith is already in unique company. When he was named head men’s and women’s golf coach at Pima Community College as a 20-year-old, Smith joined an elite group to be named a head coach just out of their teens. Dennis Mahan Michie is believed to be the first, when he.

TEMPE – As Arizona State prepared to take on the Washington Huskies, the command from coach Bobby Hurley to Kimani Lawrence was simple: “Hey, I need 20 rebounds from you tonight.” Whether serious or farcical, the message was received by the senior forward, who delivered two nights later by posting 21 points and a career-high.

PHOENIX — The Phoenix Suns finished the first half of their 2020-21 season with the NBA’s second-best record, entering the All-Star break with a top-seven rating in offensive and defensive efficiency and overwhelming optimism toward securing their first playoff berth since 2009-10. It’s been a long-awaited result for the organization and its fans. But you.

TEMPE – Gloves are popping. Bats are cracking. And gates are opening. Spring training baseball is back. But should it be? And, more important, should fans be able to attend the games just when the end to a global pandemic seems within reach? These aren’t just health questions. They’re ethical ones. “If it’s safe for.

PHOENIX – In past years, Arizona State coach Herm Edwards has preached a desire for bigger, stronger and longer players up and down the Sun Devils’ football roster. But this spring, Edwards has changed his tune. “We look good coming out of a tunnel,” Edwards said. “That doesn’t win games for you, though. But we.

GLENDALE – One could easily have written the Arizona Coyotes off multiple times this season. After a 5-1 blowout loss Friday and a 2-0 deficit through 20 minutes Saturday night against the Minnesota Wild at Gila River Arena, the Coyotes were in danger of chalking up another disappointing defeat on their home ice. Turns out.

GLENDALE — When the sixth goal rustled the net, it felt like the Coyotes had hit rock bottom. Arizona, 9-8-3 at the time, was on the verge of losing its second game in a row to the Colorado Avalanche. Although they had fallen to the Avalanche by just a goal the previous night, Coyotes coach.

PHOENIX – Using their backgrounds as a recruiting tool, Arizona State’s volleyball coaches are bringing international talent to the desert and helping them succeed on the court. Despite the team’s 1-9 record, the Sun Devils can be heard in more ways than one, with international players relaying supportive chants in their native languages and coaches.

PHOENIX – Mike Hazen’s words came firmly. No hesitation, no reflection before answering the question. Nothing. “We are extremely fortunate to have a superstar player that does what Ketel does,” the Arizona Diamondbacks general manager said. The description of Ketel Marte might trigger some second-guessing. Superstar? The 27-year-old utility player was fine during the shortened.

PHOENIX – Niklas Hjalmarsson has never been afraid to take one for the team. Well, make that two or three. He’s made a living blocking shots on a nightly basis over the course of his 14-year career in the National Hockey League. “It just comes naturally for me,” Hjalmarsson said. On Wednesday night, Hjalmarsson played.

PHOENIX – Picture a baseball game at Chase Field. Or a basketball game at Suns Arena. As more fans begin returning to sporting events after the COVID-19 pandemic, they are welcomed by the benefits of live competition, from ballpark hot dogs to the energy of a packed stadium. In the near future, the Arizona sports.

PHOENIX – When Phoenix Suns forward Frank Kaminsky walked into a postgame interview following his team’s recent 106-97 win over the Chicago Bulls, there was something different about his appearance. The 7-footer, who claimed he is “not really into jewelry,” was wearing teammate Deandre Ayton’s custom-made chain around his neck, something he requested for reasons.

PHOENIX – High school athletes will not be required to wear masks during spring sports competition and neither will winter sports athletes during playoffs, the Arizona Interscholastic Association Executive Board voted Tuesday The decision comes after the Sports Medicine Advisory committee recommended removing the mask mandate for outdoor spring sports. The only exception is for.

PHOENIX – Drake Caggiula was in limbo. The 26-year-old forward entered unrestricted free agency with the hope of continuing his NHL career amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. While supporting his 6-week old son, Caggiula waited two months for a call. Silence. “You’re just kind of wondering ‘What’s the next plan for me?’” Caggiula said. He reached.

GLENDALE – A buzz filled the air about 30 minutes before puck drop, with the Westgate Entertainment District surprisingly busy. Maskless customers congregated around restaurant tables, laughing and chatting away. Fans lingered outside the arena – roughly half of them protecting their faces, others not – huddled around their friends and family in anticipation of.

PHOENIX – March Madness is reserved for college basketball. Cardinals General Manager Steve Keim is trying to make March Gladness the official brand of Arizona Cardinals fans. Or March Sadness for Houston Texans faithful. In 2020, Keim’s one shining moment was acquiring wide receiver DeAndre Hopkins from the Texans in a trade that not only.

PHOENIX – Winter high school sports, which are beginning to wrap up around Arizona, took on a much different look than in past years on and off the courts and playing fields. Athletes had to jump through more hoops than they shot at. But at least the games have gone on. Now with spring sports.

PHOENIX – When the Pac-12 Men’s Basketball Tournament was canceled after the first round last season due to the coronavirus pandemic, the conference had one word to describe the preparation for this year’s event in Las Vegas to happen. Nimble. “There’s many crises that can happen and we have to be nimble enough and ready.

PHOENIX – Dave Rasley had attended every single Arizona State baseball home opener since 1984 – until this year. Rasley, an ASU alum of 1978 and former Tempe High School teacher, saw his annual tradition of attending Opening Day of Sun Devil baseball come to an end on Feb. 19 after 37 years. “It was.

GLENDALE – The Coyotes needed a kick in the backside. Arizona trailed 3-0 to the last place Anaheim Ducks early in the second period. Outhustled and outplayed, especially in the opening 20 minutes, the Coyotes had hit a new low. “In the first period we were god awful,” Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet said about the.

TEMPE – The Arizona State gymnastics team continues to enhance its resume for the postseason. The No. 17 Sun Devils scored a season-high 197.450 against Arizona in a midday Territorial Cup matchup at Desert Financial Arena. Wednesday’s score topped the previous season-high of 197.150 against No. 3 Utah and tied the ninth-highest score in program.

SURPRISE – Baseball fans enjoyed a glimpse into the near future last weekend when they attended the Sanderson Ford College Baseball Classic at Surprise Stadium, spring training home of the Texas Rangers and Kansas City Royals. Because of COVID-19 restrictions, a ballpark that usually has a capacity of 10,500 was topped off at 2,200 for.

PHOENIX – Krystle Mann, a stay-at-home mother to three sons, makes and sells cornbread and jam to pay for new baseball gear and help cover club fees – approximately $1,500 per year. Her older son, Sam, 12, plays for the AZ Diamond Dawgs in Queen Creek, while her middle son, Tommy, 11, plays for both.

PHOENIX – The Phoenix Suns are set to play 17 games against teams that currently have a .500 record or better in the second half of their 2020-21 schedule, the NBA announced on Wednesday afternoon. The Suns are 11-4 this season against teams with a .500 record or better and 9-6 against squads with a.

PHOENIX – Less than 24 hours after Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker put up an All-Star-worthy performance against Portland Monday night, the 24-year-old was once again snubbed out of the NBA’s marquee midseason game. Following the 132-100 blowout victory for the Suns that saw Booker score 34 points, coach Monty Williams was confident his guard.

LOS ANGELES – Golfer Tiger Woods is in serious but stable condition after suffering injuries to both legs in a traffic accident on Tuesday morning, Los Angeles County sheriff’s officials said. “Thankfully the interior was more-or-less intact, which gave him the cushion to survive what would have been a fatal crash,” Sheriff Alex Villanueva said.

Arizona State heavyweight wrestler Cohlton Schultz was just named Pac-12 Wrestler of the Week after going 10-0 this season. Schultz earned this award after a weekend of defeating two top-10 wrestlers. As Schultz and the rest of the Sun Devils look forward to competing in the Pac-12 Championships in Oregon on Sunday, ASU can thank.

PHOENIX – Going, going, almost gone! Tickets are selling out fast at the Valley’s Cactus League stadiums, where 15 major league teams are based during spring training. With attendance limited this year because of the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, seats are scarce. At least four Cactus League teams already are sold out for the spring, including.

PHOENIX – “Skate hard, have fun.” Those words from Leighton Accardo served as a guiding light for Lyndsey Fry as she embarked on an inspirational journey. Fry, the director of external engagement and female hockey for the Arizona Coyotes and the president of the Arizona Kachinas Hockey Association, rollerbladed 96 miles Sunday to raise money.

PHOENIX — A nine-year NBA veteran, Phoenix Suns forward Jae Crowder promised to hold himself and teammates accountable when he signed with the franchise in November. He certainly kept his word on Tuesday night, calling the Suns’ 128-124 loss to the Brooklyn Nets – in which they blew a 24-point first-half lead – “disgusting.” “It’s.

PHOENIX – It began with a simple black backdrop. A white chalk grid followed. Next came pops of color, including blue, orange, red and brown. In just three days, portraits of Brianna Turner, Skylar Diggins-Smith, Chris Paul, Monty Williams and Jevon Carter appeared on the west side of Phoenix Suns Arena. Behind them stand a.

TEMPE – At every level of baseball, pitcher health is a significant concern. Attention to the issue picked up steam in the late 1990s, when statistics like Pitcher Abuse Points were introduced in an attempt to quantify the health risk associated with pushing players past their limits. Today, arm management has its own science with.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Diamondbacks opened spring training on Wednesday morning when pitchers and catchers reported to Salt River Fields amid news that two players tested positive for COVID-19. Catcher Stephen Vogt and pitcher Luis Frías both tested positive for the coronavirus and were absent from workouts. Vogt’s positive test came during the team’s intake.

PHOENIX – Arizona State’s 2020 baseball season ended amid the uncertainty of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the start of the 2021 season was no sure thing, either. On Jan. 29, ASU coach Tracy Smith and the Pac-12 Conference announced the team’s 2021 schedule, a routine event at any other time. But there is nothing routine.

PHOENIX – Arizona Coyotes coach Rick Tocchet is clever with his catchphrases. Ahead of the team’s first extended road trip of the season, Tocchet tinkered with his line combinations and, in the process, came up with a new nickname for the team’s top forward line of Clayton Keller, Nick Schmaltz and Conor Garland. “It’s a.

PHOENIX – Desert Vista was pumped and prepared on Jan. 29, ready to travel to rival Mountain Pointe High School for a highly anticipated rematch of last season’s 6A state final. But as it often has in the last year, COVID-19 had other plans. In just another example of the havoc a pandemic has wreaked.

PHOENIX — Dave Thaker was 11 when the Phoenix Suns last made the NBA playoffs, advancing to the Western Conference Finals in the 2009-10 season before falling to the eventual champion Los Angeles Lakers. Since then, Thaker and Suns fans have endured a drought that has felt drier than the Mojave Desert. Phoenix posted a.

PHOENIX – A little luck and a lot of perseverance allowed Glendale native Michael McDowell to come away with an unlikely Daytona 500 victory early Monday morning, his first win in 358 NASCAR Cup Series races. McDowell, 36, started racing in the Cup Series in 2008 and has bounced around from team to team over.

TEMPE – Sophomore David Puig wasn’t expected to be Arizona State’s hottest golfer this season. That honor was supposed to go to Chun An Yu, the fifth-ranked amateur in the world. But it is Puig who has a chance to place his name alongside Phil Mickelson’s in the ASU record book by capturing the individual.

PHOENIX – Dale Earnhardt, or “The Intimidator” as most fans knew him, was probably the most-feared driver in NASCAR history. His black No. 3 Chevrolet was almost always running at the front or near the front of the pack on Sundays. Even the asphalt he drove on seemed to be afraid of him. This is.

CHANDLER – The 2020 high school baseball season was going to be one for many of Arizona’s top players to showcase their talents and attract attention at the next level. The rise of COVID-19 cases changed that. Headaches and heartbreak followed as seasons were canceled after just seven games. It wasn’t easy for Hamilton Huskies.

TEMPE – Nobody said playing sports during a global pandemic would be easy. For Charli Turner Thorne and the Arizona State women’s basketball team, navigating a season in the COVID-19 world has been a grind. “Challenging is not a strong enough word for what we’re all experiencing and trying to meet the standards we’re used.

TEMPE – A smile spread across Ty Murchison’s face as he walked through the doors of Oceanside Ice Arena for the first time. He got a taste of what will soon be home. “I can get used to being in the sun again,” Murchison said. Murchison, a Corona, California native, is the second full-time player.

PHOENIX – Batter up. Mask up. Despite an offseason that suggested a delay to the start of spring training, Major League Baseball pitchers and catchers are scheduled to report Tuesday, with games kicking off on Feb. 27. Arizona is home to 10 stadiums where 15 Cactus League teams prepare for the regular season each year..

TEMPE – For Bobby Hurley’s team, finding a rhythm in a season that has been full of irregularities has been one of the toughest challenges. It didn’t get any easier for ASU last week. Coming off of back-to-back wins over California and Stanford, their first weekend sweep in conference play, the Sun Devils were faced.

PHOENIX – With eight new players on his roster, Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams has had to continuously solve puzzles with his team’s rotation and chemistry. But more often than not, he has not had each piece at his disposal. Of the Suns’ 24 games played, they have rarely had their full rotation available. At.

PHOENIX — Phoenix Suns coach Monty Williams said the national anthem holds “a special place in my heart” when asked about the Dallas Mavericks’ decision under owner Mark Cuban to not play it in any of their first 13 preseason and regular-season home games, including their first contest with limited fans present against the Minnesota.

GLENDALE – The St. Louis Blues are no pushover of a team. They’ve made the playoffs in all but one season since 2012, and won the Stanley Cup just two years ago. Beating the Blues on their home ice once is difficult enough. Beating them in three games out of four at the Enterprise Center.

PHOENIX – Tyler Shough. Johnny Johnson III. They are familiar names to college sports fans in Arizona and Oregon. Johnson, a wide receiver, graduated from Chandler High and made several highlight plays for the Ducks in their 2019 loss to Arizona State. Shough, a product of Hamilton High, also in Chandler, started at quarterback for.

PHOENIX – Despite driving for a smaller NASCAR team, Glendale’s Michael McDowell understands his significance to the Arizona racing community. “I used to not think about it very much when I was young,” McDowell said. “Like it doesn’t matter where you’re from because it’s where you are now and all that. But as I’ve gotten.

TEMPE – The last time Arizona State’s softball team was prepared to take the field, the Sun Devils were on a bus traveling to Los Angeles to face UCLA at the Bruins’ Easton Stadium in a Pac-12 Conference opener. They never got there. En route, the 22-7 Sun Devils, who were ranked 15th nationally in.

PHOENIX – Almost a year has passed since Nico Mannion last started and played a full basketball game. March 11, 2020, to be exact – his final game of his one-year college career at Arizona before COVID-19 shut down the rest of the college basketball season. After being drafted in the second round by the.

PHOENIX – Super Bowl Sunday was in full swing with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers routing the Kansas City Chiefs when the gut punch landed. It wasn’t another Tom Brady scoring pass that floored many sports followers, especially baseball lovers. It was the stunning news that ESPN reporter Pedro Gomez, 58, had died unexpectedly at his.

PHOENIX – The end of the NFL season is near as the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Kansas City Chiefs meet in Super Bowl LV today. This time of the year inspires a look back at the history rooted in the big event and curiosity about what the 2021 game will add to its legacy. Will.

PHOENIX – The Phoenix Suns will start some of their taller options at power forward, like Frank Kaminsky and Dario Saric, moving forward, coach Monty Williams said after their 109-92 win over the Detroit Pistons Friday night. After starting Cameron Johnson at the position during a nine-game span from Jan. 18 to Feb. 3, Williams.

TEMPE – When the 2019-20 NCAA hockey season was shut down by COVID-19, Arizona State’s men’s team ranked 13th in the nation by both the USCHO and USA Today polls. The Sun Devils peaked in Week 19 of that season, when both polls placed them at a program-best ninth overall. But even with that success,.

PHOENIX – Bruce Arians is proud, proud of a young man he took a chance on nearly eight years ago. Arians, then the coach of the Arizona Cardinals, rolled the dice when the Cardinals selected former LSU safety Tyrann Mathieu with the No.69 overall selection in the 2013 NFL Draft. Mathieu had just spent a.

TEMPE – Bobby Hurley has never been afraid to wear his emotions on his sleeve. When a call didn’t go Arizona State’s way Saturday night in the second half against Stanford, the Sun Devils men’s basketball coach leaped onto the court in frustration, but slipped and tumbled back toward his bench, laughing as he sat.

PHOENIX – Apprehensive Arizona parents of high school athletes can rest easier now. Citing improving COVID-19 metrics, the Arizona Interscholastic Association executive board has amended its current attendance policy so that up to two parents or legal guardians of student-athletes can attend away games, the governing body announced via a release on Thursday afternoon. Prior.

PHOENIX – The 16th hole at the Waste Management Phoenix Open is not just any par-3. The 16th hole is three stories high. The 16th hole is a coliseum, built to hold tens of thousands of crazy, screaming fans. The 16th hole is where the hordes would line up at the break of dawn and.

PHOENIX – Even before Devin Booker set his feet and swished the go-ahead 3-pointer that beat the Dallas Mavericks Monday night, Phoenix Suns guard Chris Paul had “all the confidence in the world” the shot was going in. Separated in age by 11 years and teammates for just 16 games, Paul has quickly gained trust.

SCOTTSDALE – The Phoenix Thunderbirds, sponsors of the Waste Management Phoenix Open, like to call their event “The People’s Open.” However, it won’t be open to many people this year, and the people’s champion will be missing. For the second straight year, three-time WM Phoenix Open champion Phil Mickelson decided to play in the Saudi.

PHOENIX – With Major League Baseball pitchers and catchers expected to report in two weeks, Cactus League teams are scrambling to determine what spring training will look like for fans in 2021. The league announced on Monday night that it is preparing for an on-time start to spring training and Opening Day as originally scheduled.

PHOENIX – Kelly Oubre Jr. made his return to Phoenix recently for the first time since he was traded to the Oklahoma City Thunder, who then moved him to the Golden State Warriors, but his homecoming was greeted by the quiet of an empty arena thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was quite the twist,.

PHOENIX – Time seemed to slow to an agonizing crawl. On a high school soccer field in Queen Creek, a sophomore goalkeeper remained motionless on the pitch. Miles away, his two parents were glued to their iPad, watching helplessly, frozen with fear. Because of Arizona Interscholastic Association’s rules limiting attendance amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Jason.

PHOENIX – As Diana Taurasi officially signed a contract that will keep her with the Phoenix Mercury for another two years, it was easy to jump ahead a few months and imagine what might be, while also cherishing what has always been. A team that had been playoff contenders the last few years while not.

PHOENIX – Long before Dustin Pedroia turned spectacular double plays for the Boston Red Sox, he was turning heads in the desert. On the heels of the former Arizona State baseball star and long-time Red Sox second baseman announcing his retirement on Monday after 14 seasons with the franchise, his former college coach marveled at.

PHOENIX – Since the COVID-19 pandemic changed the landscape of sports competition, teams around the country have adjusted to playing in empty or near-empty arenas, making home-field advantage less of a factor. For Grand Canyon University, however, their fan base, the Havocs, continues to provide noise and energy that has impressed opposing coaches but also.

GLENDALE – Oliver Ekman-Larsson is the face of the Arizona Coyotes. Excluding last season’s shortened campaign, Ekman Larsson has played in at least 75 games every season since 2013-14, all with Arizona. He’s been an All-Star five times and the Coyotes captain since 2018. Since Shane Doan’s retirement, Ekman-Larsson’s name has been synonymous with the.

PHOENIX — Kaimarr Price recalls the night, as a student and basketball player at Mountain Pointe High School, that police pulled over a car he was in after a high school party. Now the varsity basketball coach at Mountain Pointe, Price was with friends and his brother, all of whom are Black. His brother’s girlfriend,.

PHOENIX — His voice raised and hands in the air, Suns coach Monty Williams shook his head after his team’s 102-97 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder Wednesday night, its third straight and sixth in its last eight games. For the third consecutive contest, Phoenix squandered a late fourth-quarter lead, allowing Oklahoma City to go.

PHOENIX – Anthony Gilich remembers March 16, 2020, the day when the National Junior College Athletic Association announced it was canceling the remainder of the spring sports seasons because of COVID-19. The Central Arizona College baseball coach, now in his seventh year, had to tell his players something he never thought he would have to.

PHOENIX – The stats are almost undeniable. Curt Schilling posted a 3.46 ERA over 20 years pitching in MLB. He recorded 3,116 strikeouts. His ERA+ was a well-above average 127. And yet, Schilling, a product of Shadow Mountain High School, failed to make the Baseball Hall of Fame for the ninth consecutive year Tuesday by.

PHOENIX – Mandatory masks. A fog of disinfectant sprayed throughout the gym before and after the game. Socially distant seating in the stands. Temperature checks at the door. This is high school basketball in a pandemic. It wasn’t normal. But it was still the same sport. And when Mountain Pointe and Corona del Sol tipped.

PHOENIX – The 2020-21 NHL season already has been an unusual one. A condensed, series-based schedule. Realigned divisional play. And games with limited fan attendance are a few of the twists and turns the league has maneuvered amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Now, another wrinkle has been added to the mix. Just six days into the.

PHOENIX – The Cactus League has asked Major League Baseball (MLB) to delay the start of spring training in Arizona due to high COVID-19 infection rates in Maricopa County. The request came in a letter addressed to MLB commissioner Rob Manfred. “In view of the current state of the pandemic in Maricopa County – with.

PHOENIX – His voice cracking, eyes cast toward the floor, Suns forward Cameron Johnson gave out a deep sigh and shook his head as he tried to explain his team’s 120-112 double-overtime loss Saturday to the Denver Nuggets at Phoenix Suns Arena, the team’s second straight loss in extra time against the surging Nuggets. “It’s.

PHOENIX – When Cielo Meza heard that her team would be taking a bus to its first conference series at UCLA, she knew something was wrong. “We fly everywhere, especially during Pac play, so getting on a bus – it was weird,” said Meza, who was a fifth-year senior pitcher on the Arizona State softball.

PHOENIX – In the midst of a week in which three of his team’s games were postponed in accordance with the NBA’s health and safety protocols, Phoenix Suns center Deandre Ayton overheard a statistic from coach Monty Williams that particularly unsettled him. “Coach made a valid point that I think we were last in points.

TEMPE – This was supposed to be Arizona State’s year. But so far, it sure hasn’t gone that way. After years of early-season runs leading to late-season disappointments and early March Madness exits, the 2020-21 basketball season was supposed to be different. A backcourt of top recruit Josh Christopher and returning senior Remy Martin was.

PHOENIX – News that New York Mets general manager and former Arizona Diamondbacks executive Jared Porter sent sexually explicit texts to a female reporter drew widespread criticism, including some from one of sports journalism’s female trailblazers. “I’m saddened that we’re still having these conversations,” said Valley resident Anne Montgomery, who was one of ESPN’s first.

GLENDALE – Linda Riggins was first in line at Gate 3 before the Arizona Coyotes’ season opener at Gila River Arena. Riggins, a season ticket holder, and her son, Keith Traub, arrived three-and-a-half hours early. They were ready for hockey. “I was just so happy to be there,” Riggins said. “My son was in seventh.

PHOENIX – One day he is studying accounting at Arizona State. The next he is hitting his “business” partner with a briefcase. Welcome to the world of former ASU wrestler Levi Cooper, better known these days as “Tucker,” a WWE performer on Monday Night Raw. “I love ASU and always will,” Cooper said. “Tempe has.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Coyotes had just 10 days to prepare for the shortened 2020-2021 season, which begins tonight when they host the San Jose Sharks at Gila River Arena. It wasn’t a typical training camp around the NHL, but coach Rick Tocchet and the Coyotes made the most of their truncated time. “It’s a.

PHOENIX – As the start of the Pac-12 women’s soccer season closes in, Arizona State is without veteran midfielder Lara Barbieri. The ASU senior is from Monte Mor, São Paulo, Brazil, where she has been stranded, unable to return to the United States because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Barbieri has been in Brazil since March,.

PHOENIX — As confetti sprinkled down on the court inside the NBA bubble in Orlando, Florida, most of the Los Angeles Lakers’ players and coaches celebrated their championship together, marking the end to an anomalous season. Assistant coach Lionel Hollins watched his team win on television from his home in Memphis. The Arizona State basketball.

LOS ANGELES – Angel City Football Club is looking to make an impact on women’s sports and soccer with new community initiatives as the team prepares to join the National Women’s Soccer League in 2022. With a star-studded ownership group that includes actress Natalie Portman, former U.S. national team player Abby Wambach and tennis legend.

PHOENIX – Phoenix Rising FC hopes 2021 is about more than just improved play on the field. The organization said it is committed to a better fan experience, too. A club that advanced to the USL Championship in 2020 – before it was canceled because multiple Tampa Bay players tested positive for COVID-19 – also.

GLENDALE – The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the landscape of college football, including postseason bowl games. Although few fans were allowed to attend the Fiesta Bowl, it didn’t spoil the experience for a certain Florida State quarterback in the stands. Seminoles freshman Preston “Chubba” Purdy was at State Farm Stadium on Saturday to watch his.

PHOENIX – Arizona State swim coach Bob Bowman has faced many challenges throughout a nearly 35-year-long coaching career, a portion of it guiding Michael Phelps, the most decorated Olympian. However, Bowman never had to navigate the postponement of the Olympic Games and all of the potential ramifications of the delay. Welcome to sports in the.

GLENDALE – Iowa State’s 34-17 victory over Oregon in the 50th annual Fiesta Bowl was its biggest bowl win in team history. And while it was an important moment for the Cyclones program as a whole, it was extra special for quarterback Brock Purdy. Purdy, who starred at Gilbert Perry High School, was named Offensive.

PHOENIX – If anyone has a unique perspective on two of the key players in Saturday’s Playstation Fiesta Bowl, it’s Dan Manucci. Call him the quarterback whisperer. “I have been training these guys since seventh grade so I pinched myself to make sure it was true,” the former Kansas State quarterback said. “Two better men.

PHOENIX – Johnny Walker is quite particular with his hockey stick. The Arizona State forward wasn’t happy with his shot at a morning practice last season and marched into the office of equipment manager Jon Laughner with a puzzled look on his face. “I don’t know what to do,” Walker said. “Grab somebody else’s stick,”.

PHOENIX – Pomp, circumstance and long-standing traditions are aspects of college football bowl games that players, coaches and fans have learned to cherish over the years. Yet in 2020, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, sports as we know them have looked different. That will include the second day of 2021 as well, when No. 10.

PHOENIX – Most of 2020 has been marred by uncertainty. The fickleness of daily routines. The indecision of divided leadership. The precariousness of an American lifeline, sports, as society once knew them. What lies beyond the scope of doubt, however, is that formerly marginalized voices are headed to the podium to ignite tangible, national growth..

PHOENIX – The sight can be jarring: As a runner’s graceful stride brings her closer, her face comes into focus. A rich, red handprint covers her mouth. We will not be silenced. The painted hand has become a powerful symbol for the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women Movement, known as MMIW, a cause boosted by.

PHOENIX – When reality sets in … a deep pain and sadness comes over you. It’s a feeling that lingers no matter what unfolds the rest of the day. It occupies your mind, even though I (along with many others) continue to put on a brave face. Those are the words Dominic Garcia penned June.

LOS ANGELES – Being locked up was supposed to be a punishment for Terry “Tank” Johnson. It also turned out to be an awakening. In the early 2000s, the product of Tempe McClintock High and the University of Washington was basking in the spotlight of football success – playing seven NFL seasons with Chicago, Dallas.

PHOENIX – After a disrupted 2019-20 season that ended in a bubble at Walt Disney World, the Phoenix Suns have undergone an offseason makeover that they hope will build on their surprising 8-0 run in Orlando that followed the COVID-19 interruption. The Suns pulled off a blockbuster trade to acquire perennial All-Star point guard Chris.

PHOENIX – His story is full of chapters. Some are complete, defined by adversity and accomplishments, and others remain unwritten, blank pages waiting to be filled with more life experiences. Former NBA standout Eddie Johnson is beginning his 20th year as the color analyst for the Phoenix Suns, who open their season tonight against the.

PHOENIX – Arizona State’s offense has come a long way since 2019. Though the 2019 season was a normal one by 2020 standards and featured a full set of spring and fall practices, the Sun Devils offense was stuck in neutral for much of the year. ASU’s passing game was inconsistent as then-freshman quarterback Jayden.

PHOENIX – From “Rookie of the Year” to “Little Giants,” sports movies captivated kids growing up in the 1990s. One of those was a young girl from Chandler, who fell in love with an unlikely sport. Hockey. For a native of the Valley, hockey seemed as out of place as a cactus in Buffalo. As.

PHOENIX – Running up the score was not Arizona State’s intent during its 70-7 win over Arizona in the Territorial Cup. Rather, the Sun Devils worked to ensure the statement win that had eluded them against USC and UCLA would not slip from their grasp Friday as they built an ever-increasing first-half lead that eventually.

PHOENIX – Arizona State was bound to struggle adjusting to the speed of the game after a COVID-19 outbreak sidelined the football program for nearly a month. Its opponent, UCLA, had just come off a win against Arizona to improve to 2-2. But what disappointed the Sun Devils most after falling to the Bruins Saturday.

PHOENIX – College football coaches were supposed to be immune from the wrath of COVID-19. Right? Not immune, of course, in terms of infection or exposure to the virus. But immune in the sense that no matter what game days delivered in 2020, losing records would receive a pass. Struggles realistically could be chalked up.

PHOENIX – A decision by the Phoenix City Council to cancel all sports tournaments through February divided a youth sports community and left organizers scrambling for solutions. The council voted 7-2 on Wednesday to cancel all sports tournaments in the city through February, due to concerns about COVID-19. Some tournament organizers have canceled events. Others.

PHOENIX – Loyalty matters to Ty Thompson. No one is more grateful than the Mesquite High School Wildcats, who find themselves two victories away from the 4A state title. The 6-foot-4 quarterback is a big reason. He is the top player at his position in Arizona’s 2021 class, known for his ability to throw and.

LOS ANGELES – After the Lakers won their first NBA championship in 10 years, LA fans defied pandemic warnings to rampage through the streets in celebration, leading to vandalism and dozens of arrests. But when the NBA season tips off Dec. 22, Lakers fans won’t be able to watch the defending world champions play at.

PHOENIX – Suns fans are certainly excited for the arrival of Chris Paul, but center Deandre Ayton might be the most excited of all. “We got CP3 in Arizona, y’all trippin’,” Ayton said Thursday in a press conference via Zoom. “We got Chris Paul in Phoenix!” Arizona sports fans have endured a lot of heartbreak.

PHOENIX – When Arizona Schools Superintendent Kathy Hoffman said at a recent press conference that “two high school coaches have lost their lives to COVID-19,” it rattled a local sports community that largely felt immune to the disease. Tolleson assistant baseball coach Ash Friederich passed away from complications of the disease Oct. 31, and Chandler.

With training camp underway, the acquisition of star point guard Chris Paul is changing the culture of a Phoenix Suns team that is looking to take the next step in becoming a competitive presence in the Western Conference. Paul is a 10-time All-Star and averages 18.5 points per game in his career, but his contributions.

PHOENIX – The City Council is expected to decide as early as Wednesday whether to cancel sports tournaments scheduled for December through February because of the continuing spread of COVID-19. The council’s decision could affect roughly 30 soccer and softball tournaments scheduled to take place at the city’s five sports complexes: Desert West, Encanto, Papago,.

PHOENIX – As high schools transition from fall to winter sports, Brophy Prep is left to reflect on a season that ended abruptly. After 32 years of dominating Arizona high school swimming, the boys team finally ran into an opponent the Broncos couldn’t outswim. COVID-19. “I think our first initial reaction was sort of like.

PHOENIX – After a disrupted 2019-20 season that ended in a bubble at Walt Disney World, the Phoenix Suns have undergone an offseason makeover that they hope will build on their surprising 8-0 run in Orlando that followed the COVID-19 interruption. The Suns pulled off a blockbuster trade to acquire perennial All-Star point guard Chris.

CHANDLER – He never wanted to be just some average kid from Los Angeles. Mark Tucker might be best known today as the offensive line coach for Hamilton High School. But his list of accomplishments is much longer than that. He is a mentor, role model and protector for many, and embodies the spirit of.

TUCSON – With the number of COVID-19 cases surging in Arizona, the football season for Tucson schools came to an abrupt end on Tuesday. Gabriel Trujillo, superintendent of the Tucson Unified School District, made the decision to suspend the remainder of fall sports, mainly affecting football for the Tucson schools, which were set to compete.

PHOENIX – For the third straight week, Arizona State canceled its football game despite optimism for a return to the field. That left coach Herm Edwards reflecting on how much he missed spending time with his players, something he couldn’t do while isolating with COVID-19. “You have these reflection moments when you’re sitting there, laying.

PHOENIX – Nico Mannion was considered one of the top college prospects in the country when he signed with the Arizona Wildcats after a standout career at Pinnacle High School. He even played for Italy’s national team as a teenager. So during the recent 2020 NBA Draft, Mannion expected to hear his name called much.

FLAGSTAFF – One of the attractions of running is that it is a sport that can be done anywhere, at any time and by almost any person. So, if all of that is true, why are collegiate runners from all around the country traveling to this northern Arizona city to train? It turns out Flagstaff,.

Updated: ASU will face Rhode Island instead of Baylor, according to Empire Classic officials, following the Baylor coach’s disclosure of a COVID-19 diagnosis. LOS ANGELES – Eight months ago, Remy Martin threw his name into the hat that is the NBA Draft, leaving Arizona State basketball without its starting point guard. Two weeks after losing.

SCOTTSDALE – After shuffling their schedule a whopping four times, the 2019 Open Division State runner up Saguaro Sabercats can truly say they have had to hustle to reach the five-game minimum to be eligible for the 2020 AIA playoffs. Sabercats athletic director Matthew Harris described the difficulties of replacing the four opponents that were.

PHOENIX – A new heat wave is headed to the Valley. Chris Paul, better known by his nickname CP3, brings with him a fiery attitude along with an impressive playoff resume. After the Phoenix Suns acquired the point guard from Oklahoma City in a blockbuster trade earlier this week, one of his former coaches said.

PHOENIX – Amid rising cases of COVID-19 in the state, David Hines met with state health officials recently to gain insight for the high school winter sports season. The executive director of the Arizona Interscholastic Association recommended delaying the start of basketball, soccer and wrestling until January 2021. He got his wish. The AIA announced.

Snow in the Valley? Unlikely, but Arizonans can make their way about two hours north from Phoenix to Flagstaff to get a taste of winter. Snowbowl Ski Resort, the Alpine slopes on Northern Arizona’s San Francisco Peaks, opens for the winter season on Friday, with some slight changes due to COVID-19 restrictions. “Obviously we want.

PHOENIX – Growing up, Alex Guy was called “Shock Collar” because his hits on the football field felt like an electronic dog collar. Throughout junior high school, his football pads acted as a Superman cape because he transformed into a different person on the field. When time came for Guy to undergo his fourth surgery.

PHOENIX – The New Mexico State men’s basketball team has temporarily relocated to Phoenix due to stricter COVID-19 regulations in its state. The Aggies will stay at the Arizona Grand Resort & Spa for five weeks, but could potentially stay longer depending on state updates regarding the pandemic. The resort has accommodated the team’s needs,.

PHOENIX – With the first-ever virtual NBA Draft taking place Wednesday evening, not much else has changed: 60 prospects will still be selected, NBA dreams will turn into reality and players will still be evaluated and discussed over countless mock drafts up until Commissioner Adam Silver says the magic words: “With the first pick in.

PHOENIX – Would you play a round of golf with Roy Williams at Pinehurst? How about a foursome involving Ken Griffey Jr. at a Michael Jordan-owned course in Florida? Does hitting chip shots with Bobby Hurley or Sean Miller appeal to you? That’s the hope of Eric Sedransk, who was moved to find a way.

PHOENIX – During Kellen Mills’ journey from college football to the construction industry, he made a pit stop that changed his life. Following an impressive football career at Mesa Mountain View High School, where he was an all-state fullback, and Arizona State, where he played a pivotal role as a walk-on defensive end, he transitioned.

PHOENIX – Where were you when Kyler Murray scrambled to his left, dropped Buffalo’s Mario Addison with his trademarked hesitation step and flicked the football, off-kilter, 50 yards downfield, smack dab into the center of the humongous, Jump Man gloves of Cardinals receiver DeAndre Hopkins as they rose above a cluster of three defenders? Three.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Interscholastic Association recommended postponing the start of winter high school sports such as basketball, wrestling and soccer to its executive board Monday, possibly pushing the start of those sports into January. AIA Executive Director David Hines will meet with state health and education officials before the executive board votes on the.

TEMPE – During a sports year when news of a game cancellation can arrive at the last minute – especially in the scrambled Division I college football season – the Pac-12 Conference took the unusual step Sunday of canceling a football game nearly a week in advance. In a statement on Twitter, the conference said.

ANAHEIM, California – Nicholas Mikhail has been a dual-threat in soccer and football throughout his high school career in Southern California. Entering his senior year in 2020, he was prepared to improve his chances of being recruited by college teams. The pandemic, however, had other plans. After the California Interscholastic Federation postponed all seasons in.

PHOENIX – Phoenix Rising FC announced on Friday it had re-signed eight players from its 2020 Western Conference Championship-winning team, but questions about the 2021 roster remain unanswered. The re-signed players – all starters – include goalkeeper Zac Lubin, defender Darnell King, midfielders Jon Bakero, Kevon Lambert, Santi Moar and Sam Stanton, and forwards Solomon.

GILBERT – With several schools experiencing outbreaks of COVID-19 during the high school football season, social media has served as a platform for those pointing fingers at programs who appear to have stands packed with fans, many without face coverings. But David Hines, executive director of the Arizona Interscholastic Association, which oversees high school sports.

PHOENIX – Arizona State football coach Herm Edwards has described the coronavirus as the “opponent you can not see” that teams have to prepare for many times this season. Unfortunately, that invisible opponent has made its way to him and his team. Arizona State’s football game scheduled for Saturday versus California was canceled Friday because.

TEMPE – We’ll never know what might have been for the 2020 Arizona State men’s hockey team. Ranked No. 13 on March 4, the Sun Devils, with a 22-11-3 record and seven wins in their last nine games, looked poised to make their second straight NCAA Tournament. That changed a week later, when the NCAA.

PHOENIX – Just two days before Arizona State is scheduled to host California in a Pac-12 football game, the status of the contest is still in question. The game could take place Saturday or Sunday, or not at all. Cal, who had one player test positive earlier this month, has been fighting local COVID-19 protocols.

PHOENIX – After a one-year absence because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Native American Basketball Invitational will return in July, showcasing indigenous basketball players from across the U.S., Canada and New Zealand at venues around the Valley. The championship games will take place at the newly renovated downtown arena of the Phoenix Suns and Mercury..

PHOENIX – It’s official. AZ Preps 365 has released its first football rankings after a one-week delay. As usual, they are full of surprises, like they are most every year. But this year, the rankings endured a different process because so many teams had to cancel games and shuffle their schedules to accommodate either their.

AVONDALE — Before this year, NASCAR crowned Cup champions in Miami, home of sunny skies and crowded beaches. This year the crown jewel of the series finished in the desert, amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Phoenix Raceway played host to its first championship weekend by implementing safety protocols that included a limited number of fans, masks.

PHOENIX – New field. New season. New outlook. With a newly renovated soccer facility and a dynamic mix of new and returning players, the Arizona State women’s soccer team appears ready to make a rapid improvement in 2021 and beyond. When the Sun Devils restart play next year, they will do so in new physical.

AVONDALE – It was a significant day in the racing world, as fan-favorite Chase Elliott became a NASCAR Cup Series Champion for the first time at Phoenix Raceway. In just his fifth full-time season, the 24-year-old became the youngest driver to achieve the prestigious honor since the legend he took over for, Jeff Gordon, in.

AVONDALE – Phoenix Raceway received its highly anticipated time in the spotlight with NASCAR’s Championship Weekend. This was the first time the sanctioning body held the prestigious honors outside of Homestead-Miami Speedway in 19 years and the on-track product did not disappoint. Before a new NASCAR Cup Series Champion was crowned in Sunday’s season finale,.

PHOENIX – If fans look a little, well, stiff at Saturday’s Arizona State game, don’t be alarmed. They’re not real. The Pacific-12 Conference’s decision to allow only family members to attend football games this season prompted the university to follow the lead of professional teams by allowing fans to buy cardboard cutouts of themselves and.

PHOENIX – The name of the game in college football is recruiting. When players can choose where to play instead of teams selecting them in a draft, talent accumulation is the most important component to having a team that can hang with the best in the country. Arizona State is not there yet. It’s getting.

Arizona’s season-opening football game against Utah has been canceled, the Pac-12 announced Friday. The decision to cancel Saturday’s game came after positive COVID-19 tests on Utah’s roster forced them below the required number of available scholarship players, according to a Pac-12 statement. It is the second Pac-12 game to be canceled in as many days..

A racing season marked by tragedy with a deadly wreck at the Daytona 500 and the challenges of COVID-19 has since gone on to become an overwhelming success. There was a historical stretch of dominance between two of the sport’s best, some of the most competitive racing in years and the revelation that NASCAR could.

More than 2,000 miles separate the desertous areas of Phoenix and Tucson and the humid South Carolina coast. However, for Arizona natives Derick Bush and CJ Schrimpf, the long trip has been well worth it. After starring for local high schools and junior colleges, the two moved to Conway, South Carolina, to play football at.

PHOENIX – Watching sports has always been one of America’s favorite pastimes. When the COVID-19 pandemic forced games and leagues to temporarily shutter, the country seemed to collectively ache. So when live sports finally returned in a rush, fans should have been ecstatic. But the plummeting television ratings tell a different story. “After three months.

PHOENIX – In MMA, the word “prospect” is combat jargon for someone to keep an eye on. Bryce Logan and Tyrell Fortune will require both eyes on Thursday night at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Fortune (8-1, 1 N.C.) is a former member of the U.S. national wrestling team and current Bellator heavyweight..

TEMPE – Exactly 312 days. That’s how much time will have passed since Arizona State’s last game when it takes the field Saturday against No. 20 USC. No one in this program has ever experienced a season like this, so how can players and coaches prepare for it? “Safety is paramount,” ASU football coach Herm.

PHOENIX – A COVID-19 outbreak among the Tampa Bay Rowdies wasn’t the only factor that led to cancellation of the USL Championship match between Phoenix Rising FC and the Rowdies. Expiring contracts and commitments to international teams made rescheduling the game impractical, which also played a role in cutting short the Rising’s season. The USL.

PHOENIX – Amid an otherwise relaxing Halloween weekend, Kliff Kingsbury’s biggest scare proved to be breaking news on the virus front, not spooky costumes. And this time, it hit home hard. Two Arizona players tested positive for COVID-19 during the team’s bye week – starting outside linebacker Devon Kennard, who revealed on Twitter that he.

PHOENIX – Athletes are speaking up more than ever about social issues, often crossing a boundary between the field of play into the arena of politics that many tried to tip-toe in the past. And as the 2020 election approached, college athletes across Arizona used their platform to encourage fellow students, members of their wider.

GLENDALE – Trick-or-Treat? It was more like “Chych”-or-Treat near Gila River Arena Saturday morning. Arizona Coyotes defenseman Jakob Chychrun joined in on the Coyotes “Howl-O-Ween” celebration of Halloween, handing out goodies during a drive-thru event designed to let fans have some fun while remaining safe during a pandemic. Turned out the day was a thriller.

PHOENIX – After a roller coaster season, Phoenix Rising FC will battle the Tampa Bay Rowdies on Sunday in the hope of winning its first USL title. Reaching the championship game in St. Petersburg, Florida, was not an easy path for the Rising, who advanced by defeating El Paso 4-2 in penalty kicks on Saturday..

PHOENIX – Tempe and Surprise will have scary talent on display during UFC Fight Night on Halloween night. Chris Gruetzemacher (14-3)and Kevin Natividad (9-1) may train in two different cities but they will be coming together at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas to face some tough competition. Gruetzemacher is a five-year UFC veteran who.

Despite concerns that COVID-19 would cancel college football’s postseason, Bowl Season released its schedule for this year’s games Friday, confirming that Arizona will host three games this winter. The 37-game postseason will begin with the Tropical Smoothie Cafe Frisco Bowl on Dec. 19 and culminate with the College Football Playoff National Championship on Jan. 11..

PHOENIX – Former NASCAR driver Michael Waltrip may be known for his success behind the wheel, but the two-time Daytona 500 winner is taking his chances in the world of brewing. After the idea sparked in 2018, the Michael Waltrip Brewing Company has launched in Arizona with three different styles of beers and is working.

PHOENIX — The Red Sea no longer parted at State Farm Stadium, it just socially distanced. When the Cardinals beat the previously undefeated Seattle Seahawks in a 37-34 overtime thriller on Sunday night, they were able to do so in front of 1,200 fans. The COVID-19 pandemic has forced new norms, including fanless sporting events..

PHOENIX – The Arizona Coyotes’ decision to part ways with a draft pick accused of bullying a classmate with developmental disabilities has put the organization at the center of a national debate about forgiveness and cancel culture. The Coyotes on Thursday renounced the rights to their 2020 fourth-round draft pick Mitchell Miller, 18, after more.

PHOENIX – On Friday nights at Cesar Chavez Skate Park, Atlético Arizona United Latinos SC is one of the many groups seen playing soccer and enjoying the field’s recent reopening. “It’s very important for us to be out here. I think sports in a child’s youth is very important for them both physically and mentally,”.

PHOENIX – Nearly eight months ago, 17,125 hockey fans filled the seats of Gila River Arena to watch the Arizona Coyotes in their final home game of the season before a league-wide shutdown due to COVID-19 concerns. On Wednesday, the Coyotes and the community returned to Gila River Arena not to watch a hockey game,.

TUCSON – The Brophy Prep boys golf team enters this week’s state tournament with an extra dose of confidence after winning the Duke Open at Rancho El Dorado in Maricopa recently and defeating rival Hamilton by five strokes. It was the Broncos’ first victory over the defending state champions this season after losing to Hamilton.

TUCSON – The dynasty continues. The Xavier Prep Gators took home the girls golf state title at Omni Tucson National Tuesday, one year after being handed only their fourth championship loss since 1979 by the Pinnacle Pioneers. “This is our 37th state (title), and this was very satisfying. It came down to the end,” Gators.

PHOENIX – Two Valley natives are representing teams on opposite sides of the World Series this year. Cody Bellinger of the Los Angeles Dodgers, who was born in Scottsdale and attended Hamilton High School, is no stranger to the big stage, batting his way to a third Series appearance at the ripe age of 25..

PHOENIX – Kyler Murray reportedly spent $95,000 on a gemstone-encrusted pendant in the likeness of martial artist Bruce Lee in March. While the Arizona Cardinals quarterback wasn’t wearing the pricey trinket during Sunday night’s sparkling 37-34 overtime victory against the previously unbeaten Seattle Seahawks, he produced a performance just as dazzling as his jewelry and.

PHOENIX – Saturdays on the West Coast look and feel a lot different this fall. In a time when college communities from Tucson to Seattle, and everywhere in between, are accustomed to college football Saturdays, the COVID-19 pandemic has wiped out nearly half of the typical season. And for a time, it appeared as if.

PHOENIX – Led by senior Katie Stinchcomb, Pinnacle High School beat some of Arizona’s best girls golf teams at the State Preview tournament in Laveen recently and served notice the Pioneers were ready to defend their Division I state championship Monday and Tuesday in Tucson. They will try to do it at an event that.

PHOENIX – The Hollywood Casino 400 marked the beginning of the semifinal Round of 8 for the NASCAR Cup Series playoffs. And with only two weeks remaining before a new champion is crowned, the once blurry Cup Series playoff picture began to come into focus thanks to an unlikely winner at Kansas Speedway on October.

SCOTTSDALE – Josue Aaron Gomez looked confident in his run-up. The El Paso forward needed to convert his team’s fourth penalty try Saturday night to keep Phoenix Rising FC from advancing to the USL Championship Final. Instead, he inexplicably slipped and fell as he struck the ball and watched helplessly as his left-footed shot scuttled.

SCOTTSDALE – After its first three games were canceled because of a COVID-19 outbreak, the Chaparral High football team will finally take the field Friday in a home game against the 0-3 Brophy Prep Broncos. Shut down for a 14-day quarantine after several players tested positive for COVID-19 two days before what was to be.

PHOENIX – High school athletes rarely get to look over their shoulder and have cameras with the ESPN logo pointed in their direction. For the unbeaten Hamilton and Saguaro football programs, they are among the lucky few who get to showcase their talent on the national stage by the biggest network in sports. Week 8.

Justin Gaethje will have to change his profession to “combat enigmatologist” Saturday night on Fight Island when he faces Khabib Nurmagomedov — MMA’s hardest puzzle to solve. The saying goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.” Well, Gaethje broke two times in a row; first at the hands of Eddie Alvarez in December 2017.

PHOENIX – Just two wins away from their first-ever league title, the Phoenix Rising FC will host the El Paso Locomotive FC in the USL Championship Western Conference Final on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. at Casino Arizona Field in Scottsdale. A victory Saturday will put Phoenix in the league final on Nov. 1 against either.

PHOENIX – With their 2020-21 season disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the ASU swim and dive teams are focusing on how they can best prepare for the 2021-22 season. So far, coaches are enthusiastic about what they’ve seen. “We are just concerned about trying to get back to a fitness level after having really missed.

PHOENIX – With the Arizona sun shining, players scored goals, officials blew whistles and spectators cheered as youth soccer took center stage at the recent 2020 Arsenal Challenge tournament at sports complexes around the Valley. They also used hand sanitizer, wore masks and socially distanced because this is what sports look like during the COVID-19.

LOS ANGELES – The Los Angeles Dodgers and their fans are no strangers to the October Classic, with this season marking the team’s third appearance in the World Series in four years. The difference in 2020? Most fans are watching the games at home and are nowhere near their team in Texas. Because of the.

PHOENIX – Following the announcement of Phoenix Rising FC voluntarily relinquishing home field advantage in the USL Championship Final if it advances, the team made another big decision and reinstated coach Rick Schantz. Schantz was put on administrative leave by the club after appearing insensitive when Phoenix’s Junior Flemmings allegedly directed a homophobic slur toward.

PHOENIX – Phoenix Rising FC announced Tuesday it will voluntarily relinquish home field advantage in the USL Championship Final if it wins its playoff match this weekend. The club made the decision after recognizing that it was given the chance to host the final after being awarded three points following San Diego Loyal FC’s forfeiture..

PHOENIX – Despite putting up a season-high 38 points on a national stage, Arizona Cardinals coach Kliff Kingsbury said the team still has not “hit its stride” offensively. “We’ve got to hit it here soon,” Kingsbury said Tuesday. “We have a great Seattle team coming in who’s scoring a bunch of points and has a.

LOS ANGELES – When Herm Edwards accepted the head coaching job with the New York Jets in 2001, he became the third Black coach in the NFL that year, joining the ranks of Minnesota’s Dennis Green and Tampa Bay’s Tony Dungy. Nineteen years have passed, and the number of Black head coaches in America’s favorite.

CHANDLER – Breanna Macha-Peterson, a former Arizona State softball ace, knows how to rise to a challenge. And plenty have come her way in 2020. Consider them met. After helping lead the Sun Devils to the 2018 Women’s College World Series, Macha-Peterson accepted a job at New Mexico as the Lobos’ pitching coach. But when.

PHOENIX – When Arizona State hired women’s soccer coach Graham Winkworth in 2016 and Arizona State women’s lacrosse coach Tim McCormack in 2019, it was with an eye toward upgrading and renovating its soccer and lacrosse fields in 2020. Then COVID-19 arrived. However, when spring sports, including lacrosse, were halted in March, renovation of the.

LOS ANGELES – The intersection of sports and politics will take center stage again Monday night when a campaign ad featuring a Northern Arizona football player will air during ESPN’s broadcast of the Arizona Cardinals-Dallas Cowboys game. Tristen Vance, a Hamilton High School graduate and linebacker for the Lumberjacks, expected to play his final season.

PHOENIX – Some of Arizona’s elite girls golf programs could provide a sneak peek at the upcoming Division I and II state tournaments beginning Tuesday at the State Preview, an invitational tournament that unfolds at Aguila Golf Course. Topping the list of entries are Division 1 powers Xavier Prep, who had an eight-game state championship.

PHOENIX – Grant McCagg went about his typical scouting routine during an Ottawa 67’s game at TD Place Arena in Ottawa, Ontario on March 10th. McCagg, a retired NHL scout and now president of Recrutes.ca, arrived with pen and notebook in hand at the fan-packed arena and took his seat in a press box filled.

Down two goals and facing elimination, Phoenix Rising FC pulled off a dramatic come-from-behind win against Reno to advance to the United Soccer League Championship Western Conference Final. After falling behind 2-0 before halftime, the Rising battled their way back into the match thanks to goals from midfielder Kevon Lambert and team captain Solomon Asante..

PHOENIX – Inde Motorsports Ranch has been a staple among motorsports enthusiasts across North America for a decade. The 2.75-mile road course sits in Willcox, a community of 3,500 about 80 miles of Tucson. It grants its 200-plus members exclusive access to private garages, trackside casitas and 40 different track configurations, while boasting one of.

PHOENIX – In the first two weeks of the high school football season, the 6A conference has seen a high volume of blowouts. Twenty-five out of 34 matchups in the first two weeks in the 6A conference have been won by at least 17 points. You can probably blame the pandemic. Week two saw multiple.

PHOENIX – Many of the state’s top golf programs will battle it out at the Duke Open in Maricopa starting Thursday in what could be a preview of the Arizona Division I state championships two weeks from now in Tucson. However, Hamilton coach Steve Kanner might be inclined to add an asterisk to the Huskies.

PHOENIX – When the Pac-12 football season kicks off Nov. 7, the festivities won’t include fans, at least initially. But conference players hope to have their parents there. Multiple players, including ASU quarterback Jayden Daniels, promoted a petition started by Sahaja Douglass, the mother of USC offensive lineman Liam Douglass, on their social media accounts.

PHOENIX – Brooke Todare held one thing consistent while pitching Phoenix as a host of the 2026 NCAA Women’s Final Four. The city is built for this. “Mega-events have become part of the DNA of Phoenix and the state of Arizona,” Todare, co-chairwoman of the Phoenix Local Organizing Committee, said in an interview with Cronkite.

PHOENIX – Raquel McNabb, a former college athlete and mother of four active children, has witnessed firsthand how money affects or limits a child’s ability to participate in sports. Maybe kids can afford the uniform, but not the travel expense. Others can’t pay for the required equipment. Some children never get around the first road.

TEMPE – Dennis Gardeck has rolled with the punches his entire football career. The Arizona Cardinals special teams captain took his first-ever career snaps on the defensive side of the ball in Sunday’s rout of the New York Jets. Although he was on the field for just 10 of the Jets’ 69 offensive snaps, his.

LOS ANGELES — More than two years after the federal ban on sports betting was lifted, Arizona is one of 28 states that have not passed legislation to legalize gambling on sports in-person or online. A bill that would have legalized land-based sports books, Senate Bill 1525, with exclusive rights going to Native American tribes,.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Coyotes bolstered their forward depth by signing three players at the start of the NHL free agent period, but it was a player the Coyotes kept and one they lost more than anybody they added that made news. The club announced that defenseman Oliver Ekman-Larsson will stay in the desert for.

Each year, Forbes magazine compiles important financial information about the “Big 4” North American sports leagues – the NBA, NFL, NHL and MLB – to determine the value of their teams. In September, Forbes released its 2020 NFL list, bringing its rankings of three of the leagues up to date. The most recent report for.

Tucson native Alex Bowman has grown accustomed to taking on large roles in the NASCAR Cup Series. In 2016, he captured the attention of the racing world when he filled in for Dale Earnhardt Jr., who had been sidelined with a concussion toward the end of the season. Upon the 15-time most popular driver’s departure.

PHOENIX – Tracy Cortez is seeking to build on her seven-fight win streak. All that stands in front of her is 8,000 miles, jet lag and a skillful Swiss fighter on a streak of her own. Welcome to Fight Island, Tracy Cortez. The Arizonan will showcase her skills on Saturday night’s ESPN prelims. This will.

SCOTTSDALE – Most Arizona high schools opened their 2020 football season last Friday, but one highly anticipated match-up of two Scottsdale powers – Chaparral and Saguaro – was canceled due to a COVID-19 outbreak at Chaparral. After several players tested positive for the virus, the Firebirds also canceled their Week 2 game, scheduled for tonight,.

PHOENIX – Who would have predicted that Phoenix Rising would enter the 2020 playoffs under the surreal circumstances that have surrounded the club in the last 10 days? Phoenix Rising FC will host Sacramento Republic FC on Saturday in the first round of the United Soccer League Championship playoffs, but will do so without the.

PHOENIX – Although the girls volleyball season began on Sept. 22 under the AIA’s modified guidelines, several schools will not be eligible for the postseason, including those in the Tolleson Union and Phoenix Union school districts. The COVID-19 metrics were high for residents in his district, Phoenix Union Athletic Director Zachary Muñoz said, and many.

PHOENIX – The coronavirus has hit all types of people in every kind of community over the past seven months. University of Arizona football coach Kevin Sumlin knows that firsthand. He now advises his players to be vigilant in protecting themselves against the coronavirus using his own experience as Arizona announced Sumlin tested positive for.

PHOENIX – An investigation into allegations that Phoenix Rising FC midfielder Junior Flemmings used a homophobic slur against an opponent were inconclusive, the team’s general manager said Wednesday. The USL Championship looked into the event that occurred last week against San Diego Loyal SC and shared its findings with Rising general manager Bobby Dulle. “The.

TEMPE – Arizona State hockey and the Big Ten Conference announced that they have agreed to a scheduling arrangement for 2020-21. According to ASU, the season could begin as early as Nov. 13. ASU, an independent hockey team not affiliated with a conference, will play 28 away games, playing each Big Ten team four times..

PHOENIX – The United Soccer League Championship announced Tuesday that it has levied a six-game suspension and a fine for an undisclosed amount against Phoenix Rising FC’s Junior Flemmings for his alleged use of a gay slur at an opponent. “Phoenix Rising accepts and supports the results of this investigation,” Rising general manager Bobby Dulle.

PHOENIX – For Alex Bowman, this year’s NASCAR playoffs will end a little sweeter than the previous two he participated in, even if he doesn’t win the championship. For the first time ever, the final race of the NASCAR season will be hosted at Bowman’s home state track, Phoenix Raceway. And 2021 will start a.

PHOENIX – The NASCAR Xfinity Series playoffs have only just begun, but top title contenders Chase Briscoe and Austin Cindric are already analyzing the challenges that Phoenix Raceway could present in the season finale at the Desert Diamond Casino West Valley 200 in November. Briscoe, who leads the playoff standings, and Cindric, who is drafting.

PHOENIX – In 1991, the NFL pulled the ‘93 Super Bowl from Arizona because voters failed to establish a paid Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday. In the wake of that decision, Arizona’s sports franchises led the effort to establish the holiday. Now, nearly two decades later, Arizona’s sports franchises are again leading the.

PHOENIX – Phoenix Suns guard Ty Jerome tried something for the first time in his career: a fantasy football draft. “I’m hoping for some beginner’s luck,” Jerome said. The Water Bowl Fantasy Football Draft was an entertaining and competitive experience, but more important, the event raised awareness and money for education and clean-water programs in.

Despite a disappointing 2020 season that saw the Diamondbacks finish in last place with a 25-35 record, the organization heads into the offseason confident they can make it back to the playoffs in 2021. “I don’t really know where the offseason is going to take us, you know, on a very micro-level,” Arizona General Manager.

PHOENIX- The UFC bantamweight division reads like a guidebook on MMA versatility with chapters and footnotes on styles, speeds, techniques, distances and a range of fight IQ. Local bantamweights Kyler Phillips (7-1) and Casey Kenney (14-2-1), who are fighting on Saturday’s 39th UFC event of the year on Yas Island, Abu Dhabi, offer no less.

MESA – Eastmark High School, which officially opened in August 2019 in Mesa, is expected to have a smooth transition into the AIA’s 3A Conference. Optimism surrounds the Queen Creek School District’s newest high school. This is the first year of varsity sports for the school, which opens its football season tonight at Pusch Ridge.

PHOENIX – Diana Taurasi’s “GOAT” T-shirt sold out in about five minutes earlier this fall, crashing the Phoenix Mercury’s merchandise store for the third time. “Y’know, it means a lot, it kind of validates you in the basketball world,” Taurasi said at the time, when her place in the hoop world still revolved around games.

PHOENIX – A highly anticipated football game between Chaparral and Saguaro high schools was canceled Wednesday after a Chaparral player tested positive for COVID-19. The Scottsdale Unified School District confirmed the news about the game schedule for Friday in a release. Later, parents expressed concern about the fairness of the decision. “It puts the team.

PHOENIX – Phoenix Rising FC finds itself under international scrutiny after an opposing player accused forward Junior Flemmings of using a homophobic slur during a game against San Diego Loyal SC Wednesday night. “This is not the first time I’ve heard this homophobic slur,” Collin Martin, an openly gay player, said in a statement Thursday..

PHOENIX – Once it was decided that high school football games would be played in Arizona amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the next decision to be made was whether fans would be allowed to fill stadiums. That decision was left up to each school district, which will base decisions on the COVID-19 numbers in its area..

When the San Diego Loyal Soccer Club hosts Phoenix Rising Wednesday night, it will be the Loyal’s first game since forfeiting a point in protest of an opposing player’s racial slur. During the 71st minute of last Wednesday’s match, Los Angeles Galaxy II player Omar Ontiveros directed the slur at San Diego midfielder Elijah Martin..

PHOENIX – The COVID-19 pandemic has stalled sports across the planet, causing cancellations, postponements or shortened seasons. But a few weeks ago, the Arizona Interscholastic Association approved its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee’s (SMAC) plan to return to fall sports, and now many schools across the state are preparing to play ball. While high school associations.

PHOENIX – On a hot summer afternoon, bags full of soccer equipment, clothing and shoes covered the floor of Monica McPherson’s garage, awaiting the arrival of a special group of kids from the North Phoenix Christian Soccer Club. Since January 2019, a Phoenix Rising FC supporters group called the Red Fury has helped provide thousands.

PHOENIX – Coming off their first defeat of the season, the Arizona Cardinals were disappointed in their level of execution. One thing that hasn’t changed, though? Their expectations. A sense remains inside the locker room that this could be a special season. And while players acknowledged the mistakes that led to Sunday’s 26-23 loss to.

On a bright winter day in 2006, Brinson and Steenn Pasichnuk were perched on a pair of five-gallon buckets that sat on the frozen sheet of ice covering Moose Lake in Bonnyville, a small town in the far eastern reaches of Alberta, Canada. They waited for hours with their fishing rods, patiently dangling bait below.

PHOENIX – Many high school seniors competing in fall sports have aspirations to play in college. For those in states where sports are on pause because of the COVID-19 pandemic, that goal might be difficult to reach if they don’t already have offers. But for high school athletes in Arizona, those dreams remain attainable. “We’ve.

In his homecoming to Arizona, Diamondbacks outfielder Kole Calhoun has been a bright spot during a difficult, pandemic-shortened 2020 season. Calhoun finished the season tied for third in the National League with 16 home runs and had his 40 runs driven in were good for a tie for ninth in the NL as he set.

PHOENIX – News of MLB’s decision to cancel the 2020 Arizona Fall League season left some players reminiscing on how the experience shaped their bond with the game. While there had been speculation about the AFL being canceled this year after the 2020 minor league season was scrapped, MLB made its decision official on Monday,.

PHOENIX – For the past six months, high school athletes have been left holding their breath. Ever since the World Health Organization (WHO) classified COVID-19 a global pandemic on March 11, the future of Valley sports in the fall has been uncertain. “One day we’re playing, one day we’re not … now we are playing.

PHOENIX – The conclusion of Phoenix Rising FC’s recent match versus San Diego Loyal SC produced the strangest 20 minutes of play most soccer fans will ever likely see, and the match result (a 3-2 Rising loss) shook the United Soccer League Championship playoff picture. The bizarre run of play on Saturday night started in.

PHOENIX – After postponing fall sports in August, Pac-12 CEOs called an audible Thursday and voted to play a shortened football season amid the COVID-19 pandemic. Conference teams will compete in a seven-game season beginning Nov. 6. The Pac-12 Championship game is scheduled for Dec. 18, enabling conference teams to be considered for the College.

PHOENIX – With the U.S. national team en route to its fourth World Cup championship in 2019, women’s soccer reached its zenith in popularity. It was the most watched ever, reaching more than 993.5 million individuals for at least a minute on television, and 1.12 billion viewers across all streaming platforms. Using that World Cup.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Cardinals are undefeated. Say it again, slowly, because Valley sports fans can use a reason to get excited. True, it’s only the third week of the NFL season, and a 2-0 record hardly means it’s time to break out the playoff pompoms. Will Kyler Murray’s dangerous yet highly entertaining (and effective).

PHOENIX – When Isabella Struckman decided in May to attend the prestigious Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall, she pictured herself going to classes, enjoying campus life and playing soccer for the MIT Engineers. Struckman belongs to a Scottsdale family with deep soccer roots. Both of her older sisters played youth soccer in the Valley.

PHOENIX – After police officers in Kenosha, Wisconsin, shot Jacob Blake, a Black man, seven times from behind as they attempted to arrest him, NBA players decided to amplify their voices by silencing their game. The incident involving Blake came just months after police in Minneapolis were charged with killing another Black man, George Floyd,.

PHOENIX – When the executive board of the Arizona Interscholastic Association recently approved updated recommendations from its Sports Medicine Advisory Committee, it cleared the way for the delayed 2020 fall sports season to kick off. However, some school districts might still decide not to play any sports in the fall because of safety concerns amid.

PHOENIX – For the most part, 2020 has been a disappointing year for the Arizona Diamondbacks. After several aggressive offseason moves, it looked like the team was preparing a serious challenge to the Los Angeles Dodgers’ reign in the National League West. However, with the COVID-19 pandemic forcing MLB to sprint through a shortened 60-game.

PHOENIX – With the presidents and chancellors of Big Ten universities voting to resume football last week, players and fans called on Pac-12 Conference Commissioner Larry Scott to join other Power Five conferences and allow the football season to kick off. However, Scott said in a statement that universities in California and Oregon do not.

PHOENIX – In March, teams in the NBA and NHL were closing in on the playoffs, spring training was in full swing in Arizona’s Cactus League and Florida’s Grapefruit League. March Madness was about to unfold as college basketball teams competed in conference tournaments. Then it all came to a stunning, abrupt halt because of.

PHOENIX – Arizona’s second test of the 2020 NFL regular season, and first in it’s own backyard, is set to be lacking many of the qualities that, typically, present a home-squad with a true home-field advantage. When the Washington Football Team (1-0) arrives to duke it out with the Cardinals (1-0) at State Farm Stadium.

TEMPE – New technology aims to bridge the gap between social media and the college football recruitment process. Now, more than ever, players across America have easy access to a pathway that may amplify the odds of reaching the next level. Just ask former Chaparral and Sunrise Mountain high school standout Elijah Castro, and he’ll.

LOS ANGELES – A day after a written plea from the Southern Cal football team for a resumption of college sports in California, Gov. Gavin Newsom said state guidelines do not restrict participation in Pac-12 football. “I want to make this crystal clear,” Newsom told reporters Wednesday. “Nothing in the state guidelines deny the ability.

PHOENIX – The Arizona Interscholastic Association’s decision to adjust a key COVID-19 metric opens the door for more high school football teams to start football on Sept. 30 and follows an outcry by parents upset by the original positive case ratio. The AIA Sports Medicine Advisory Committee announced Thursday that the ability to safely participate.

Sun Devil Stadium was expected to be a beehive of activity in 2020, a facility buzzing non-stop with football, live concerts, yoga, movies, obstacle courses and food festivals. Although the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a hush to fall over the concrete playground in Tempe, plans are in place to ensure the stadium doesn’t remain completely.

PHOENIX – Phoenix Rising FC announced its signing of Jamaican international defender Damion Lowe Wednesday, but the center-back may have limited availability when the United Soccer League Championship playoffs kick off in October. Rising coach Rick Schantz announced Tuesday that the team brought Lowe in on a trial basis earlier in the week. The news.

David Mayer is on a mission, a longstanding quest to prevent those from dying at the hands of medical mistakes. A retired doctor and CEO of the Patient Safety Movement Foundation, Mayer’s decades-long crusade has him crisscrossing the continental United States, meeting those dealt the unimaginable blow of losing their loved one to an error..

PHOENIX – Arizona State has a rich history of producing professional golfers and competing on the PGA Tour. Phil Mickelson, John Rahm and Paul Casey each have made their mark at the highest level, further cementing the foundation of ASU’s golf program. That legacy continues to grow as current ASU golfer Chun An “Kevin” Yu.