By Jeff Lund
Arizona Daily Wildcat
Tuesday February 25, 2003
Props go to Channing Frye for being named Pac-10 Player of the Week ÷ it's about time. Frye has been dominant to say the least in the last couple of weeks. This should be the third week in a row, or at least the second time in three weeks Frye was recognized. He is playing confident and strong, and the Wildcats are reaping the benefits ·
The Arizona women's basketball team has had Thursday's game against Stanford circled since the beginning of the season.
Though many around the conference might not have put so much emphasis on the game in terms of Pac-10 championship significance, the importance has grown as the Wildcats have continued to win. Taking notice of the Arizona team on its heels, Stanford decided to recruit some extra bodies for the trip öö the team's band and mascot.
When Stanford originally decided to bring down its spirit crew, the conference title was supposed to swing heavily on Thursday's game. Arizona has not been as good on the road, however, as at home. The Wildcats are 11-1 within the friendly confines, and 6-6 on the road.
Whether or not the band and/or the tree is still planning on coming is a little up in the air, but the director of basketball operations for women's basketball said as far as he knows, all will be in attendance.
So the conference title is not on the line ÷ Stanford has already secured the top seed in the Pac-10 tournament. As students, how many chances do you get to harass an opposing team's band? Free admission, good basketball, the men's game doesn't start until 8:30 p.m., and who really goes to O'Malley's before 10 p.m. anyway ·
The men's basketball team will be hosting its annual awards banquet on March 9 at the Westin La Paloma, while the women are having theirs at the Student Union Memorial Center.
After an impressive run back into the realm of contenders and respectability, the team will pass out awards at the Arizona ballroom, but then what ÷ head down to get team haircuts for $4.99? Maybe it will be $5.99 by then.
Sure it's nice to promote using the new union, but c'mon now, a team that scares opponents into bringing their pep bands to games in McKale Center has its awards banquet hosted in the same facility that is home to the likes of Panda Express and McDonalds? Give these ladies a break, spend some dough, and give them a nice spread ·
Saturday night's game between UA and ASU shattered the previous record for the highest television rating for a college basketball game on Fox Sports Net Arizona. According to Nielsen Media Research, the telecast generated a 5.1 rating (8 share) in the Phoenix market. This means that an average of 78,400 Valley households tuned in to watch top-ranked Wildcats 92-72 beat up on the Sun Devils.
Rating figures are not available for Tucson since it is not a metered Nielsen market.
The previous all-time ratings mark for a college basketball game on Fox Sports Net Arizona was a 4.2 (65,000 households), which was established in this season's first match-up between Arizona and Arizona State in Tucson (Jan. 22, 2003). Prior to that, the top rating was a 3.9 (Stanford/Arizona in Tucson, March 9, 2000).
It's nice to know that so many fans in the Phoenix area were able to see just what a truly elite program looks like. I wonder if there is a bar research that could correlate the amount of alcohol binge drinking in Tempe as a result of last week's game ·
The saga of Pete Rose continued with the Canadian Hall of Fame voting not to let the former baseball star into the hall.
The consensus is that if Rose just fesses up and admits that he was in the wrong, he will be more likely to get voted into the hall. Canadian Hall of Frame president Tom Valcke said it best in a story I saw on ESPN.com.
"I think North America is perched waiting and hoping to forgive Pete Rose," Valcke said. "He's just got to fess up. Talk to Bill Clinton, talk to Ben Johnson öö we're a very forgiving continent."
A very forgiving continent, nice quote · eh?
