My apologies again for missing the blog yesterday.....and I don't really have a reason except I wanted to just hang out at the hotel room in Phoenix and then really hang out in the suite I have here in Denver...I'll tell you that story in a little bit, but it's the swankiest room that I have had so far on the trip.....just crazy!
Alright, my final day in Phoenix was a great day of just talking to locals and taking in a game at Chase Field.....As I've been saying all along, one of the best things that I'll take away from this trip is just being able to talk to the locals, exchange stories about each others' hometowns and get a sense of what the population is like in each city....
So, here's the jist of what I gathered in Phoenix about what they think about their sports teams....
1) The Suns - the number one team in town, even though they are quickly becoming an old, worn-down team...
2) The Cardinals - gained huge momentum by making it to the Super Bowl this year and might be able to take over the Number 1 spot if they have another great year....
3) The Diamondbacks - Even though the Diamondbacks won a championship in the 90's, nobody really goes to the games 'cause nobody knows who the players are...
4) The Coyotes - And the Coyotes just garner laughter....There's a hardcore fan-base, but the general population couldn't care less about the team leaving....
As for the game, I had heard some great things about Chase Field and boy, were they right! It's a great place to watch a ball game and the view of the stadium from a few thousand feet is gorgeous as well....
I was concerned about the heat and really hoping that they would have the roof closed, much like they did in Houston when we were there about a month ago, but the roof was opened.....However, to compensate for the heat, they had the air conditioners blasting like there was no tomorrow...I wondered to myself about just how much energy it's costing them to air condition the place despite the fact that they have to counteract the heat from outside....It's a weird feeling to have a gust of disgusing hot air blow in your face from time to time during a game....
The field also has a retractable roof, but like I've said before, it doesn't really get points anymore since it's not so unique anymore, but everything else is holding up really well even after about 15 years in use.....
So, on the updated list of 21 stadiums now, Chase makes it quite high on the list:
1) AT&T Park - San Francisco
2) Petco Park - San Diego
3) Chase Field - Arizona
4) Minute Maid Park - Houston
5) Camden Yards - Baltimore
6) The New K (Kaufmann Stadium) - Kansas City
7) The Ballpark in Arlington - Texas
8) PNC Park - Pittsburgh
9) Citi Field (New Mets Stadium)
10) Fenway Park - Boston
11) Yankee Stadium
12) Citizens Bank Park - Philadelphia
13) Angels Stadium - Anaheim
14) Dodger Stadium - Los Angeles
15) Busch Stadium - St. Louis
16) Safeco Field - Seattle
17) Turner Field - Atlanta
18) Tropicana Field - Tampa
19) Nationals Park - Washington
20) Oakland-Alameda Coliseum - Oakland
21) Dolphins Stadium - Miami
