AZ Vibe – The Ultimate Phoenix Entertainment Resource

AZ Vibe is proud to announce the launching of our brand new dedicated website dedicated to all things ASU Athletics. Our goal is to provide not only coverage of the major sports but also coverage of sports you may not always hear about like aquatics events and the ASU Hockey team.

Make sure you bookmark this site and get ready for some great stories!

http://asu.azvibe.com

Stay tuned….we’re going to be rolling out another dedicated sports website in the next few weeks!

Popularity: 1% [?]

It’s been a while since we have had some Diamondbacks news hasn’t it?!?!?

Well, one of the reasons why we haven’t had news is that we’re busy behind the scenes building a dedicated Arizona Diamondbacks site for the coming season. We should have the site live within the next couple of weeks.

Anyways….

Spring Training is in Full swing and the D-Backs are in their final year in Tuscon. They will be in Scottsdale next season in a brand new facility.

- Single Game seats to all 81 Diamondbacks home games are now on sale at Chase Field, via dbacks.com, by phone (602-514-8400 or 1-888-777-4664), or at any Ticketmaster Outlet. There are 28 Fry’s locations in Arizona (includes 6 locations in Tucson) where you can purchase Arizona Diamondbacks Tickets.

Tickets range in price from $8 to $60.

- On March 3rd, The Arizona Diamondbacks signed 22 year old Justin Upton to a six year $51.25 million dollar contract. According to ESPN, the contract is broken down like this:

…a $1.25 million signing bonus, half on April 15 and the rest on July 15. He receives salaries of $500,000 this year, $4.25 million in 2011, $6.75 million in 2012, $9.75 million in 2013, $14.25 million in 2014 and $14.5 million in 2015.

Popularity: unranked [?]

The Phoenix Suns have a great deal for their upcoming game against the Portland Trailblazers.  This Wednesday, by using a super secret password, you can purchase $10 tickets to the game (while supplies last).

Just use the following password (without the quotes).

“DTLBUZZ”

http://ow.ly/15BNO

Popularity: 7% [?]

Tomorrow (February 4th, 2010) at the Upper Deck Grill in Scottsdale, the University of Arizona will be hosting a National Letter of Intent Day for all alumni in the Greater Phoenix Area. Starting at 6:00 PM alll are invited to attend the no-host reception followed by Wildcats Head Coach Mike Stoops talking about the U of A 2010 Recruiting Class.

After the presentation all U of A alumni are invited to stick around as the UA Young Alumni will be having a viewing party of the Arizona/Washington game at 8:30 PM.

You are asked to call 520-621-2331 to let the Upper Deck that you are coming so they can staff accordingly.

For more information about the University of Arizona Recruiting class of 2010 please refer to the following page:

http://www.arizonawildcats.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/020310aad.html

For more information about tomorrow’s festivities, please refer to this page:

http://www.arizonawildcats.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/020210aaa.html

Popularity: 4% [?]

Today was opening day of the NCAA National Letter of Intent for Football and for Arizona State University, it was a great day. As you can see below, ASU addressed many needs, especially on the offensive line.

We broke down the class of 2010 along with the full list of the Class of 2010 is at the bottom of the article.

By The Numbers

29 – The number of Arizona Natives that Coach Erickson has recruited during his tenure at ASU.

26 – The number of players in the ASU Football Class of 2010

20 – The number of freshmen in the ASU Football Class of 2010

15 – Offensive players in the Class of 2010

9 – Defensive Players in the Class of 2010

6 – Offensive linemen in this recruiting class

6 – The number of Junior College Transfers in the Class of 2010

5 – Players in the Class of 2010 that are among the Nations’s top 20 at their position. FB Carl Bradford (#5 – ESPN Scouts, Inc.), TE Josh Fulton (#14 – Rivals.com), OG Sil Ajawara (#15 – Rivals.com), DE Nduka Onyeali (#18 – Rivals.com), RB Deantre Lewis (#20 – Rivals.com)

4 – The number of players in the Class of 2010 from the State of Arizona. ATH – Ramon Abreau (Marcos de Niza, HS), TE – Josh Fulton (St. Mary’s HS), DE – Jordan McDonald (Saguaro HS), RB – Taylor Walstad (Chandler HS)

4 – This is Coach Erickson’s 4th signing class during his tenure at ASU

3 – The number of top ranked players in the State of Arizona who will be playing for Coach Erickson.

2 – Players that are rated in the Rivals.com Top-50 Junior College Prospects (OL Brice Schwab – Rated #9 & WR George Bell – Rated #32)

2 – Number of players that can play both sides of the ball

1- The number of players that have already used up their Redshirt year.

ASU Head Coach Dennis Erickson’s Comments on the Class of 2010

“This was a class that we recruited more for need, particularly junior college.  As you look at our football team as it has progressed over the last three years.  We’ve been awfully good on defense, as you can see. We’re getting more athletic and faster all the time.  We’re a lot better offensively.

As I sat back and looked at our team, where do we have to get better to compete for a Pac-10 Championship next year.

We thought we need a couple junior college offensive linemen, which we did in this class.  We need continue to improve our speed and skill at the wide receiver spot and at running back.  The class has a lot of depth in it.  We probably have more offensive guys than we have recruited in a while.  That was our plan coming in, to build the defense and go from there.  We fulfilled what we wanted to.  We have a heck of good recruiting class.  Probably as good as we have had.  I’m excited about it.  Everybody is.  At this time of year, everyone is excited.

We’ve got two players here in Steven Threet and Aaron Pflugrad that were here in fall, that have been here all winter, who are going to add a heck of a lot to our football team. They’re going to make a huge difference to our offensive football team.

George Bell brings a lot to the table as far as speed is concerned.  It is a good junior college class.

Brice Schwab is an offensive tackle, probably the best junior college offense lineman that I saw.  When they made a change at USC, obviously, we did a good job at getting on top of him.  He is 6′8, 320 pounds.  We expect him and have an impact right away.

Chris DeArmas is the same way.  He is an offensive guard out of El Camino [Junior College], who can come in a give us some depth.

I look at our offense front, we’ve got a lot of young good players.  We can add this depth along with Aderious Simmons, a junior college transfer out of El Camino.  6′7.  Now to add these [players] to our offense front along with our freshman.  We finally have some depth and we’ll be so much better there.  That was part of our plan with junior college recruiting and it’s made a difference.  We ended up taking six junior college players.”

ASU’s Recruiting Class of 2010

ASU Head Coach Dennis Erickson’s Comments on the Class of 2010 (By Player)

On Ramon Abreu…

Probably the best high school football in productivity in the Phoenix area, that I’ve seen. Played everything. We’re going to play him at safety to start out with. Everybody looks at his size. When you watch that kid play football, he’s really special. The thing that jumps out at me, he’s been at our camp ever since he was a ninth grader. We’re excited about having him.

On Lee Adams…

Lee Adams is a defensive lineman from Centennial High School. Obviously we have a few players from there. He is a guy that didn’t play much as a junior. He played behind Sutton. But when people started to see him play. People evaluate as juniors. Everyone offers so early. As you watched him continue as a senior and grow physically, he became a heck of a football player. He either be a defensive end or a tackle. I think he’ll grow into a defensive tackle.

On Sil Ajawara…

Offensive lineman out of Rancho Santa Margarita. Kid that has great potential. He was heavily recruited by a lot of different people. He will probably end up playing offensive guard for us, could probably play tackle. He is a guy who has great potential. Probably with what we’ve done, we can bring him in and redshirt. We can do that with a lot of our players, instead of playing them like we have the last three years.

On Kevin Anderson…

Kevin Anderson is a wide receiver out of Lakewood, Calif. He is one of the better receivers out of the state of California. He has great speed. He ran a 10.6 [100 meters] in high school. He has great feet. He has a chance to come in a play for us early.

On George Bell….

I really believe he has a chance to be special. He has great speed. He has great feet. We are very fortunate to get him. He’s got good height. He is a guy who can really help us as far as getting the ball deep. I looked at where we were offensively and made the decision to hire Noel Mazzone as our offense coordinator. He has been unbelievable. A pleasant surprise for me and what we’re going to do. We can gain more speed offensively. This class is going to make a heck of a difference in what we’re going to do.

On Carl Bradford….

Bradford is from Norco High School. He was a fullback but when we looked at him at fullback he was 6′2, 235. They only played him one way. We had him at camp and played him at linebacker. He was a good fullback. We feel like he can be great linebacker. We are taking a guy like that, who is very powerful, and moving him to linebacker, which I’ve done a lot in my career.

On Alden Darby….

Darby is from Long Beach Millikan. He will be corner for us. Kind of a sleeper, although at the end of recruiting he scored very well on his tests, so a lot of people came in on him. We knew about him. We recruited him at the end and he is a very good athlete. He can run and play corner for us.

On Chris DeArmas…

He is from Miami, Fla. He went to junior college at El Camino and sat out a year because of an illness in the family. So he is a little bit older. He is a very good football player and very mature. He’ll help us at guard.

On Jamil Douglas…

He is a guy that reminds me of Finkenberg from Southern California last year. He played tight end. Very good athlete. He is going to end up playing offensive tackle for us as time goes on.

On Eddie Elder….

Eddie Elder is a junior college transfer that is a safety. San Mateo Junior College. One area where we did lose some people at was safety. Although we have some good young safeties coming back that played quite a bit. Because of injury we ended up playing those seniors at the end. Eddie can come in and help us right away. We recruited him out of high school so we know quite a bit about him.

On Josh Fulton…

Josh Fulton is from St. Mary’s High School. He is a tight end who can really run. He is very athletic. He just had shoulder surgery, so he is going to be five, six months with that. We expect him to be ready to go in the fall.

On Taylor Kelly…

Taylor Kelly is a guy I really liked. He is out of Boise, Idaho. Taylor is a guy that led Eagle High School to a state championship. Very athletic. Starter on the basketball team. I had heard about him, so I started watching tape on him. That area is not recruited real heavily. I know the head coach Paul Peterson. We visited. I had a couple people call me. I really studied him. I looked about seven games. Games. Not highlights. Games. To me quarterback highlight films are so over rated. You see all the good plays, not the bad plays. I watched him from start to finish. He is a winner and a great athlete. He is about 6-3, 185 pounds. He has a really good arm. He runs 4.6, which is what they tell me. He makes things happen back there. He won a lot of football games at the end of the game. It may be Boise, Idaho but you still have to win games. I saw him take his team 80 yards at the end of games. He was making plays with either his legs or throwing it to win football games. I was very impressed when I watched him and talked to him and watched him play basketball. I was totally convinced that he was the guy. We were fortunate to get him to change his commitment and come here. I told him upfront, you’re going to be compared to one guy from [Arizona State] when you come here. Just be ready for that. He has no fear. If he can become as good as Jake [Plummer] we’re in pretty good shape. Obviously Jake was his idol growing up.

On Randy Knust:…

Randy Knust is wide receiver out of The Woodlands, Texas. He is obviously from a great football state. He can run. He makes plays. We really liked him. He has good size and catches everything. We’re excited about him.

On Deantre Lewis…

Deantre Lewis, to me, is one of the better guys I’ve been around. If you watch him on tape, this guy is explosive and he can run. We don’t have anyone quite like him at the running back position. I think he has run a 10.6-10.7 [100 yard]. Which is pretty good. He can explode. He gives us that break away speed on offense that I was talking about.

On Jordan McDonald….

To me has a huge upside. He has good height and a good body. He is going to get bigger. He is a very good athlete. He is a guy, that once you get him here for a couple years, he is going to be a very good football player. He could be a great football player. That is the one thing about where we’re at. We don’t have to play these guys right now.

On Kyle Middlebrooks…

Kyle Middlebrooks is another player like Lewis. He is a guy who can play back there [in the running back position] and he can play in the slot. He can play a lot of different places. He is true speed. He a guy that I believe ran a 10.4. He can fly. He is going to be involved in our track program. A lot of those guys say they can but when the track coaches say so, you know they can fly. If you run on this track team you have to be pretty darn fast. He is a great athlete. You can do a lot of different things with him as a receiver.

On Nduka Onyeali…

Junior is a defensive lineman and defensive end, linebacker from Denver. He just jumps out at you when you watch him play. He had got a chance to play for us next year. He can really run. He is not real tall. He is a guy that can make plays. He was very heavily recruited and we’re really excited about him. He is a guy that can play.

On Brice Schwab….

He’s from Pittsburgh. We really think he has a chance to be one of the better players I’ve been around in a long time.

On Aderious Simmons….

He came from Louisiana and was a high school basketball player. He played high school and some junior college basketball and then he ended up at El Camino Junior College. He is a legitimate 6′7, 310. He is an athletic tackle that can pass protect. The biggest thing with him is that he has only played football for three years. He is a guy that will continue to learn while he’s here.

On Devan Spann…

He is a corner out of [Junipero] Serra High School, which is an outstanding private high school in the Los Angeles area. He is also a track star who has done really well. He has great feet.

On Tyler Sulka…

We like him a lot. We look at his upside. As I said, we are able to with the young offensive linemen, we can go ahead and redshirt them and bring them through the program.

On Joita Te’i…

He might be a guy in the class that might be a sleeper. He is 6′4, 260 pounds right now. He started getting pretty heavily recruited at the end. But he is a guy that has great potential. He is a guy that could play defensive end, defensive tackle. He could end up being an offensive lineman before it is all said and done.

On Calvin Tonga…..

This is a big man. He is 6′4, 320 pounds and a big man. He is all of that. You watch him at defensive tackle and he is very athletic. He stays on his feet. He is a guy that could defensive tackle and a one technique over the center and take up a lot space. Or as time goes on, he could end up on the other side of the football. He is a very powerful football player.

On Taylor Walstad…

Unfortuately for Taylor, he was injured for a lot of the season. When we had them at camp we thought he was one of the better prospects in this area.

On Mike Willie…

He is another wide receiver that we talked about out of junior college. We think he can help us get a lot better at a couple things we’re doing. He’ll be here in the fall. When you watch him play, he reminds me a lot of T. J. Houshmandzadeh. Both came from Cerritos Junior College. Very similar, the coaches there compare him to T.J. which is good enough for me.

On Damien Williams…

He is a good running back but I think he is really going to be a good corner. He is 195 pounds. He is a big, physical corner and I really think he is going to be a good athlete out of San Diego.

Popularity: 20% [?]

That’s right fans!  The Arizona Diamondbacks have a special offer for fans who aren’t season ticket holders to purchase advanced regular season tickets for the 2010 season.  All fans have to do is purchase a Holiday six- pack of any games you choose and you can get advanced tickets to any game or games next season.  This includes the New York Yankees visit to Chase Field next season!

For more information and to purchase tickets, please refer to this link:

http://www.dbacks.com/holiday

Popularity: 4% [?]

Coach Dennis Erickson announced today that true Freshman quarterback Brock Osweiler will start the game this Saturday against the Oregon Ducks.

The game will be televised on ESPN at 6:20PM.

Popularity: 7% [?]

Yeah, Homer Simpson sums up what happened to the Cards today.  They lost a damned good defensive and anemic offensive battle to the San Francisco 49ers 20-16.

Here’s how we scored the Cardinals effort in Week 1:

Offensive Line – F – If there was a lower number I could give them it would be either a ‘Y’ or ‘Z’.

Running Backs - Tim Hightower  C-/D  Beanie Wells – B

Even in his brief performance, Wells did on the field with just seven carries that Hightower couldn’t in his rushing or receiving all game long.  Punish the Niners for extra yards after initial tackles.

Hightower may be a good receiving option for the Cards but he’s not very good at rushing.    However, he lacks the vision to find the weaknesses in the opposing teams defenses and is afraid to pound the defenses for extra yards.  As I said on our Twitter account after the game, Hightower might want to look at tape of Adrian Peterson’s performance today as this is what is expected from NFL running backs when they hit the secondary with the ball.  A few more games like this and you just might see Wells as the Starter.

Quarterback/Receivers – No Score – How can Warner and the receiving corps expect to be productive if the Offensive line can’t pick up defenders penetrating to the backfield with ease?

Defense - A-/B+ – Played a near perfect game.  Only the mental break down that caused Frank Gore to score unopposed in the 4th quarter along with 5 penalties keep the defense from getting a higher score.

Special Teams – B- Not really a factor like the defense was but they did make some great plays.

Coaching (Defensive) – A+ – Save for the Frank Gore score in the 4th, the play calling was pretty damned impressive.

Coaching (Offensive) – F—   Ok, how do you give Larry Fitzgerald only one reception before the end of the first half and not bench Hightower for wussing out when he approaches opponents in the secondary?  Sure he had 121 yards receiving but given the other weapons on the field and the fact that Hightower doesn’t know the first thing about trying to gain extra yards when he hits the secondary, most other NFL opponents would leave him open too.

More on the story and tons of stats…

http://espn.go.com/nfl/recap?gameId=290913022

Popularity: 6% [?]

The Arizona Cardinals Announced a few minutes ago that the TV Blackout for their game this Sunday with the San Francisco 49ers has been lifted!  The Game will be shown on Fox 10 in the Greater Phoenix Area.

http://blog.azcardinals.com/2009/09/11/cards-get-sellout-avoid-blackout/

Popularity: 13% [?]

Tonight was an open, non-contact practice for the ASU Football team where they went through situational scenarios in full game gear. The Practice was open to the public and after the practice, fans were invited on to the field at Sun Devil Stadium for a meet and greet with all the players on the 2009 squad.

Images from the open practice have been posted to our Facebook Fan Page:

http://www.facebook.com/azvibe

ASU Football Head Coach talks to reporters following the Open Practice:

ASU Freshman Quarterback Brock Osweiler answers a couple of questions following open practice.

Popularity: 13% [?]

The Absolute #1 thing to do this week is on Saturday (August 29th) night at Chase Field.

The Arizona Diamondbacks are literally having a party at the game against the Astros. First Pitch is at 5:10 PM.  Now the Diamondbacks have announced that they will be having a Luis Gonzalez appreciation night.  The team will honor Gonzo with a pre-game on field ceremony and the first 25,000 fans will also receive a commemorative ‘Gonzo’ T-shirt.

Now here’s the reason why it’s a party.

In addition to the festivities, you will get…

1) The baseball game

2) A post game concert with country superstars Montgomery Gentry

3) A post game fireworks show after the concert

That, as they say, is not all.

The Phoenix Area chapter of Saint Vincent de Paul is offering you a chance to head to this once in a lifetime event while raising money for them in the process.  You can purchase special tickets to this game for $10 or $35 (as of press time only 14 $35 tickets remain) and a portion of the proceeds go to Saint Vincent de Paul.  Just follow the link below for details on how to purchase tickets.

http://www.azvibe.com/phoenix-entertainment/2009/08/20/raise-money-for-st-vincent-de-paul-by-purchasing-d-backs-tickets-starting-at-10/

Other tickets, if sold out, can be purchased here:

http://arizona.diamondbacks.mlb.com/ticketing/index.jsp?c_id=ari

UPDATE: 2:30 PM AZ Time

The Diamondbacks have announced a press conference for 1 PM Arizona Time on Saturday (August 29th) where Gonzo will formally announce his retirement. We will be at the press conference and will bring you audio and video of the proceedings.

Popularity: 24% [?]

We’re taking a different approach to this year’s media day (than what the other media outlets did).  What we’re going to do is post the best audio and let people listen to it and download the MP3 files if they would like.

Junior Wide Receiver Kerry Taylor answers questions from reporters:

Freshman Wide Receiver Jarrid Bryant and Senior Quarterback Danny Sullivan talk about the preparations for the upcoming season:

True Freshman Quarterback Brock Osweiler talks about the three way quarter back battle in camp and what he brings to the table:

Part 1:

Part 2:

Video:

The Best two interviews are with Linemen beleive it or not.

OL Matt Hustad describes what his recovery process was coming back from an injury that could have finished his playing career at ASU.

OG Shaun Lauvao talks with reporters about the offensive line and their cohesiveness (among other topics).

…and finally, Head Coach Dennis Erickson closed out media day with a Q and A with the assembled reporters. (25:00)

Popularity: 11% [?]

The Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community (SRPMIC) Council signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to partner with the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies Major League Baseball teams to build a new spring training facility on Community land. It is the first Major League spring training facility in the U.S. to be built on Indian land.

According to the MOU, the SRPMIC will 100% fund, build and run this new facility.  The Facility will consist of a two team spring training baseball facility, an 11,000 seat ball park, 12 practice fields, office buildings that will house operations, major and minor league clubhouses and training facilities for both teams.

The SRPMIC and both baseball teams will be working together on the design with HKS Architects.  HKS most known projects have been the new Glendale Camelback Ranch spring training facility, and the new Cowboys stadium in Dallas.

“Our ancestors built ball courts on this land and throughout the valley,” said SRPMIC President Diane Enos. “Now we are excited about ‘bringing baseball home’ to our Community. It will add to the enjoyment of our members, Arizona residents and visitors to our state. This multipurpose facility is an ideal match for the vision of the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community as we develop land along our western commercial corridor.”

The facility will be located at Indian Bend and Highway 101 and will open in Spring of 2011.

Popularity: 2% [?]

The 2009 ASU Football season is just around the corner and tickets are going fast!  Pick yours up today!  Tickets start at just $99 for a full season.

Click here to purchase your season tickets today.

Popularity: 8% [?]

Since we’ve been getting more and more Phoenix Coyotes stories/topics to report on we have just rolled out a dedicated site for all Phoenix Coyotes news and events.  We will continue to post some Coyotes news here from time to time.

For the most part, all Coyotes related news will be posted here moving forward:

http://coyotes.azvibe.com

Popularity: 10% [?]