Saturday, September 27, 2008

Latest and most essential news on professional baseball coming back to Tucson




Professional Baseball is back in Tucson in the form of the newly announced Tucson Toros!




Jay Zucker, former owner of the Sidewinders has announced he plans to bring professional baseball back to Tucson. Zucker has negotiated a deal to bring the Golden Baseball League to Tucson. The Golden Baseball League is unique in that it is a singular league unaffiliated with Major League Baseball or any of its Minor League systems. The Toros will play all of their home games at Hi Corbett Fieldstarting May 27, 2009.



The newly formed league will be entering its 5th season in existence.

The Toros will play 40 games at Hi Corbett Field and 40 on the road.














Hi Corbett Field, the 71 year old baseball park was last renovated in 1999, it is part of a complex including Reid park and Randolph park. Hi Corbett is less than 3 miles away from The University of Arizona.



The team plans on playing in the “South Division” of the league along with teams from Long Beach, Orange County and Yuma.









The team plans on playing with a new logo and set of colors as seen above.


There is hope that this new team can survive due to the renovation of the stadium and because the previous Toro team was able to find a following there. Former Toros players such as Carlo Colombino and Dave Rohde both believe when the Sidewinders moved from Hi Corbett Field the first time it was a mistake and blame the failure of the Sidewinders on the move.


In 1981, the Toros were able to attract a crowd of 12,863 at Hi Corbett Field where Tucson‘s population was less than half of what it is now.


Zucker is working hard to get Tucsonan's excited about baseball again, stating “The Toros will be part of the fastest growing baseball league in the world,” he proclaims. “While most professional franchise are affiliated one of 30 major league teams, there is a new breed of baseball and these teams are independent.”

The level of this play has been reported by baseball officials in the industry as up to the par of Double A Minor League baseball play. The league has even brought in famous names such as Ricky Henderson to play in the league as well as infamous names like Jose Canseco.


The league is surviving in Yuma, and if it is surviving in a market as small and isolated as Yuma than it has to have a chance of surviving in Tucson.

Monday, September 22, 2008

Tucson Sidewinders leaving the southside for the bright lights of…. Reno?



Why should we care that the Tucson Sidewinders are leaving may you ask?



Well, Tucson is losing a franchise that has won the city 3 league titles, 1 conference title and 4 division titles. In 2006, The Sidewinders won the Pacific Coast league Championship, defeating the Toledo Mud Hens 5-2.



The Tucson Sidewinders are leaving Tucson Electric Park after calling it home for 10 years. The Sidewinders will remain the Triple-A farm system franchise of the Arizona Diamondbacks as they prepare to move to Reno.[Photo]



So what has made this franchise with a recent history of winning move from the desert to… well, the desert?



Money of course.



The Sidewinders just weren’t attracting enough people to remain a profitable franchise. There could be a variety of reasons why the Sidewinders just weren’t able to find a consistent following. Tucson is a college town, it is extremely hot in the Summer, Tucson Electric Park's location can be a long drive. But the bottom line is the original owner, Jay Zucker decided to sell the franchise in June of 2007 for $15 million dollars.



But not all hope is lost.



Zucker soon announced he is planning on bringing a new franchise to Tucson. This new team will be called the Tucson Toros, and will play in Hi Corbett Field. Hi Corbett Field is closer to the University of Arizona so it may mean the minor league team could become more relevant to the University and its student body.



The team will need this new found relevance and fan base to survive as the old Tucson Toros, who would later rename themselves the Sidewinders , played to only to 285,817 in a season of over 140 games in 1997.



Hard to imagine a professional sports team could survive with little over 2,000 fans attending a game.



Let’s hope Jay Zucker has something up his sleeve so we can keep as much sports action as possible along the border.

Monday, September 15, 2008

Senior sensation Andy Garcia a player to watch

In a game demonstrating the offensive firepower of the high schools of southern Arizona, Senior running back Andy Garcia continued to impress with 22 touches, 161 total years and 2 touchdowns in a 55-36 losing effort to Sahuarita.

The loss is a surprise to Nogales who defeated Sahuarita, 28-24 last year.

Still, Andy Garcia is the player to watch for in southern Arizona high school competition. This athlete at times can also be found playing saftey, kick returner and punt returner for a vaunted Apache team that last year went 9-1. The Aztects may find themselves 1-1 after the loss to Sahuarita Friday night, but Andy is the major bright spot this team can build around and look to the future for.

Garcia’s coach, Vince Villanucci said about the super talented Garcia, "We knew he was going to be someone special when he was a freshman."

"Garcia is such a special talent Villanucci knew he had to get him involved in the game as much as possible, Last year, I moved him from receiver to tailback so I could get him the ball more. He took the challenge. He was probably the main reason we went 9-1."

"He's amazing. If he makes that first guy miss a tackle, it could be a touchdown every time."

Listed as one of Arizona's "Top 50 Athlete for 2008," Garcia is 5-foot-11, 185 pound statistical production machine. He has averaged an unheard of 9.4 yards a carry 53 attempts this season. His total yard production has been 499 yards and achieved an incredible standout performance where he rushed for 292 yard and 4 touchdowns against Douglas high school.

Currently Garcia has received a variety of letter from college recruiters. His standout performances and speed make him a wanted aquisition for a variety of colleges according to his coach.

Monday, September 8, 2008

Southern Arizona Athletic Talent... not going to University of Arizona?

Southern Arizona is growing rapidly and the athletic competition amongst this ever growing populous is increasing just as fast as the population.

Major Universities continue to pay more and more attention as the amount of gifted athletes continues to emerge from the Southern Arizona sports scene.

Kristofer O’Dowd of Tucson’s Salpointe High School is the starting center for the Number One nationally ranked USC Trojans. Big surprise he chose USC over Arizona.

Southern Arizona does have a variety of skilled athletes. High School phenoms such as Andy Garcia of Nogales High School and Amphitheater High School’s Chris Johnson display their remarkable skills weekly in some of the best high school football played anywhere.

Garcia averaged 13 yards a carry while running for 292 yards and four touchdowns this Friday night. His talent exemplifies a problem skilled youngsters have in the border and the purpose of this blog.

This isn’t a blog created in order to discuss just border sports but to provide information to cover every detail the major media outlets will miss.

There is a lot of talent to be displayed and few media outlets to cover these gifted players who have a strong desire to demonstrate their skillets to the major Universities throughout the Country.

As of today Rivals.com ranks the University of Arizona 2009 recruiting ranking as 58th in the country behind schools such as Tulsa and Baylor University. Only one player, Jake Fischer, a Linebacker for Ironwood Ridge High School is from Tucson, Arizona. As the team continues to struggle it should become apparent the University should continue to try its hardest to keep its best athletes home. The 2008 roster only records five players as being from Tucson and with a population of 518,956, this is simply unacceptable.

Remember that statement about Center Kristofer O’Dowd playing for the number one ranked USC? A local Tucson athlete leaves the local University for a rival school and this should never happen to a community with as much pride as Tucson has for its local University. The media needs to strive to pay more attention to the local athletes and the University of Arizona needs to work to continue to keep special tabs on Southern Arizona’s special athletes.

Wednesday, September 3, 2008

And The Southern Arizona Sports Gossip Begins!

Welcome to "Arizona Border Sports," where we will be discussing, scrutinizing and analyzing all the major sporting issues surrounding the Arizona border scene.

We will be covering everything High School sports, from the gridiron to the diamond to the hardwood floor of the basketball court. Our goal at "Arizona Border Sports" is to get you so close to the action you feel like you can smell the ruffled, muddy grass of the games we discuss.

This blog will continually strive to bring you the best coverage possible and all the latest and biggest breaking stories at the Southern Arizona border.