Congratulations to Champions Phoenix Mercury

The Phoenix Mercury captured their first WNBA crown on Sunday to become Arizona’s third professional champion behind The Arizona Rattlers and the Arizona Diamondbacks. The Mercury handily beat Detroit by a score of 108-92.

Coach Paul Westhead in his second year as head coach was the brains behind the winners. Diana Taurasi, Penny Taylor and Cappie Pondexter carried the team in the championship series. Cappie was the most valuable player.

Diana Taurasi writes in her WNBA.com Blog, “People doubted the running game, they doubted Small Ball, they doubted the Rover defense and we say YES to all the naysayers, doubters and haters. We are Phoenix. We run-and-gun, we shoot the three and we win championships.”

ASU Wins Third Consecutive Game

For the third time in the last four years, the Arizona State University wins its third consecutive game. Thanks to San Diego State University Aztecs.

In the first half, it looked as though the Aztecs would make a game of it. For the first time this season, a team scored points against ASU in the second quarter making the score 14-10. But ASU rallied for ten straight points to lead by a score of 24-10 at halftime.

The Sun Devils scored ten more points in the second half versus three for San Diego State making the final score 34-13. I left the game after the third quarter with the score at 31-13 only missing ASU adding another field goal.

Keegan Herring, replacing Ryan Torain, rushed for 161 yards, the second most in his career with the Sun Devils. He also scored two touchdowns.

It is too early to tell how good the team really is. The combined record of the teams is 1-7. The game this coming Saturday will help reveal the strength of the Sun Devils. ASU will be playing a Pac-10 school, Oregon State (2-1).

I want to thank Jim and Margie for giving me the ticket. I wished they could have made the game, but Jim and his son-in-law disassembled and moved two huge, oak desks from his Chandler home to his newly purchased home in Trilogy.

2nd effort for ASU

Arizona Toughens DUI laws

If you drink and drive, be prepared for heavy penalties. Arizona law has become tougher. In the past, only extreme and repeat offenders had to equip their cars with ignition-interlocks to drive a car. Now first-time offenders are required to have the devices. In addition to fines, penalties and lawyer fees, a convicted drunken driver will bear the cost of about $100 to install the device and an additional $60 to $80 per month.

A taxi is much cheaper.

Tough DUI law to begin

A Tour of the Tempe Center for the Arts

On Sunday, Bob and I attended the Grand Opening Family Day at the Tempe Center for the Arts. It was a hot and humid day. Thank God, the hosts had plenty of ice-cold water and food too for the multitude of people that toured the center. The free performances were classy too.

The main theater is designed so that none of the seats is more than 55 feet away from the stage. But the parking lot was not designed to handle as many cars as showed up on Sunday. We had to walk a good quarter of a mile to get to the Center. Maybe people came for the hamburgers and hot dogs.

Some facts mentioned in the Arizona Republic about the Center:

• The Tempe Center for the Arts is 88,000 square feet.
• It will primarily serve about a dozen community music, theater, dance and visual arts groups.
• The main theater is modeled after an Italian opera house. None of the 600 seats is more than 55 feet from the stage.
• The main theater has four levels of seating.
• The dome above the main theater is made of 280 tons of concrete. It was cast in place during a single pour that took nearly eight hours.
• The arts center is 100 feet tall, with a main roof of five layers.
• The 55,000-gallon negative-edge reflecting pool creates a 300-foot long waterfall into Tempe Town Lake.
• Building the arts center took 1,400 tons of steel.
• There is 40,000 square feet of wood paneling inside the arts center, including African mahogany and oak.
• About 760 wine glasses can fit on the lobby’s glass drink rails.
• There are 300 doors. The soundproof doors to the theater weigh more than 300 pounds.
• There are 347 parking spaces for vehicles and 130 for bicycles. (Not enough for Sunday’s event.)

It was a fun day. I can’t wait to attend some of the performances.

Friends of Tempe center for the Arts

Something to Cheer About

The ASU football team looked very good last night in their game with San Jose State. It appears we have a running game to go with the passing game, and we finally have a defense. The crowd was noisy. I hope it continues.

The band looked snazzy in their new uniforms. Pants are black which makes them look astute and shapely. And I like the white extenders on their caps. It makes them look tall and proud.

Maybe we have something to cheer about.

ASU marching band: Larger, louder