Grumpy old man?

None of us get of here alive.

I turned 60 the other day. Became a grandfather(papa?) earlier this month. As one of my mentors said years ago, “life only gets better as you get older”. I’m starting to believe his wise words.

I could be a grumpy old man and go down the path of, “boy the Suns aren’t very good and the NBA isn’t nearly as interesting as it used to be”, but I’ve felt that way about the Association for many years now. It’s not FAAAAAAANNNNNNTTTTTAAAASSTTIICCCC unless you’re getting a paycheck with an NBA logo stamped on it. As one broadcast manager in the Valley told me several years back, “if you come work here, you have to play by our rules with the teams in town”. Hard pass for them and I…

I could be a grumpy old many and ask if handrails will be soon be installed at Desert Financial Arena so I won’t have to worry about tumbling down the stairs as I’ve seen many, many, do through my time in the Valley. But, I hear that there is hope on the horizon, that there’s been movement(feasibility study) as to what can/should be done. I’m guessing that since the building known as “where Elvis played” doesn’t have any elevators(true story) or handrails, that the cost just to fix those two items would be outside of President Crow’s budget. You figure that there are still payments being made to Ray Anderson https://www.statepress.com/article/2023/11/ray-anderson-contract
Both the mens and women basketball programs have underachieved to this point of the season(this is why Conference Tournaments are a good thing). Could both basketball programs be looking for a new head coach? Very fair to wonder if finances will be a factor in DFA if moving on and adding new coaches salaries is an issue in about three weeks…

If we just had good ownership/leadership the NHL would’ve made it here. We would be talking about how great Friday night’s USA v Canada finale was. We can be a hockey town. Great ownership is a must. Look around the Valley and see how many titles we have hanging in the rafters of all of our buildings. I’m guessing there are three times more retired jerseys than titles from our pro teams. A sports owner is a steward to the community. Championships should be the first metric, the other is staying out of the news cycle with news of off the field activities…

Ken Kendrick gets a bad rap. I do get grumpy when i hear criticism of the Diamondbacks owner. Of all of the sports teams in town the last ten years, he’s overseen the build, rebuild under the same GM and Manager. His teams have gone on to the playoffs and World Series. Some will argue with the funding of the stadium renovation, but you can’t argue with the on the field product throughout the organization. Homegrown talent through the farms system has produced more than just Corbin Carroll…

It’s NFL Combine week. We used to go to Indianapolis every year until I started seeing that we weren’t getting great access to the players. The idea of “look mom we’re at the Combine” doesn’t do it for me. Instead, I caught up with one of the most intriguing players in this years draft who happens to have played his high school football right here in the Valley. Former Hamilton high school quarterback Tyler Shough.

February 20th Podcast: Tyler Shough, Paul Coro

Stories like Tyler’s is why I love my professional life day in and day out.

Good for me, I’m not grumpy or old…