When you’re in the Wild West you can’t ignore the opportunity to see cowboys and cowgirls wrangling and riding. With 130 years under its belt this is the world’s oldest rodeo, hot damn! Festivities are every year since 1888 over 4th of July weekend.
Maybe not the most interesting sporting activities in Arizona, however there’s a lot of history behind these two basketball teams. The Mercury is one of the eight initial WNBA teams and has reached post-season in 11 out of 20 seasons and have been crowned champions three times in the last 11 years. The Suns, under the same owner as the Mercury, are the proud owners of the best all time winning percentage of an NBA team that’s never won the championship; umm, so they’re number 1 and being number 2?
Another professional sport drawing in crowds is the NFL representative of the Arizona Cardinals. They’ve been an extremely exciting team to watch for the last few years, ultimately seeing their demise later in the seasons. Sadly, they’re expected to be pretty terrible in 2018, but there’s nothing better than going to an NFL game, even if your team sucks.
What would a list of sports in Arizona be without golf? Non-golfers can still appreciate this event thanks to it’s relatively raucous crowd (compared to the sedated PGA fans elsewhere) which has led to the unofficial slogan of the event: “Greatest Show on Grass.” Seems that “on turf” would have made more lyrical sense, but whatever.
Similar to golf, Arizona is known for its baseball. While we’ll revisit this sport on this list again, it’s important to highlight the Arizona Diamondbacks. They were the fastest expansion team in history to win the World Series back in 2001, show some respect.
On the opposite side of the spectrum from golf and baseball is hockey; which is exactly why we love it on this list. The Coyotes regularly play hockey in the desert and that just feels like an oxymoron. It’s a great way to get out of the blistering sun and enjoy some natural (natural?) air conditioning.
Absolutely terrible acronym, but we suppose it’s better than having to say International Jet Sports Boating Association every time, maybe. Nevertheless, head to Lake Havasu for a week of Sea-Doos doing flips and races and giving us an excuse to crack open a beer and enjoy the warm sun.
The UFC has developed more of a home in Arizona over the last few years and considering both Cain Valasquez and Ryan Bader wrestled for ASU, there’s a special air of excitement one feels at one of the sport’s events. Cain was also raised in Yuma, Arizona making him a local and his Mexican heritage leads to more emotional meaning in this area.
We promised to revisit baseball and in what better way is there than Spring Training? The ways in which Spring Training is better than regular season are the following: cheaper tickets, closer to players, even chiller atmosphere, cheaper food/drinks. Here are the ways it’s the same as regular season: games are meaningless.
American College Football is a huge industry and the seasons culminate in the new College Football Playoffs and, of course, the National Championship. Every few years the Fiesta Bowl will be involved in the playoffs leading up to the College Football National Championship which will likely revisit the state regularly as well. Add this event to your list of must-do sporting events.
