Christopher Wuensch Staff Writer

The Valley of the Sun was in a generous mood Monday night as the city of Tempe hosted its first Monday Night Football matchup in more than four years.

In the wake of the fires that are ravaging the California countryside, Sun Devil Stadium had a rare chance to grab some national attention and give something back to the community.

And give they did.

You might recall the last Monday Night Football game in Tempe on Sept. 27, 1999; "giving" was a theme in that one as well. San Francisco's Lawrence Phillips gave Arizona Cardinal free safety Aeneas Williams a free rushing lane. Williams returned the favor by giving 49ers quarterback Steve Young a devastating career ending concussion.

But why dwell on the past?

On Monday night, a capacity crowd flooded the gates of Sun Devil Stadium. Arizona officials claim that all 73,014 tickets were distributed to the throngs of fans looking to cash in on the free ducats. Already, the giving had begun.

Arizona football fans certainly are a colorfully confused bunch. Can you blame them? With the UA, Arizona State and the Cardinals a combined 7-16, who can't fault the fans for not knowing whom to cheer for? Sure, there were enough Miami and San Diego jerseys to fill McKale Center, but if you walked through that crowd, you would have also seen the Rams, Redskins, Giants, 49ers, Cowboys, Raiders, Chiefs, Eagles, Bears, Broncos, Buccaneers, Packers, Patriots, Panthers, Seahawks and - believe it or not - the Bengals and Lions represented in Sun Devil Stadium. That's over half the NFL! I even saw a guy who must never have left Tempe since January; he was donning an Ohio State jersey.

I am never one to complain about free tickets, but when I got to my seat, I was so high up in the stands I could see my car in the parking lot. OK, I admit, I don't have a car. But I think it was sometime toward the end of the first quarter when I relaxed my kung fu grip from the bench that was preventing me from tipping forward and plummeting straight into the Miami end zone.

That's about the time when the giving began. It started with the guy who gave the largely college-age crowd a double-fisted exalting cheer after he jumped the fence, streaked to the Charger 20-yard line and promptly dropped trou. He's lucky, however - the security guard was in a giving mood as well. He gave the fan a Williams-like hit and some matching cold steel bracelets. God bless that pants-less martyr - he gave the rest of us hope that we might be able to reach the 20-yard line and maybe even go farther, perhaps to the 35. Believe me, some in attendance tried.

All 73,000-plus fans gave their bottoms a rest if only for a brief moment when the wave came rippling through the stadium during the second quarter. As the human tsunami blanketed the stadium for almost ten minutes, most fans lost track of the Chargers accomplishing a rare feat: driving toward the opponent's end zone.

After the wave turned into a ripple and quarterback Drew Brees wasted the Charger drive with one of his three interceptions, the fans needed another reason to give, and in part, entertain.

The solution was as clear as the desert night sky: Take college students, add beer lines that made moving through the tunnels impossible, throw the legendary fierce Dolphins-Chargers rivalry into the mix, and what do you get?

Fisticuffs.

Fans willingly gave each other a free fist to the face, sometimes in very generous portions. That took place in and out of the stadium all night. What else were the fans to do when they weren't giving a smattering of boos and jeers to former Cardinal wide receiver David Boston, or the guy at halftime who shanked the 15-yard field goal and a chance to win a free Ford F-150 pickup truck?

Some fans were there, in fact, to watch a football game, and some were even Charger fans from San Diego. Earl Rosales, a family studies senior at the UA, was one of those Charger faithful. The senior was torn between concerns for his family back in Southern California - who had their eye on the encroaching fire - and the rare chance to see his beloved Chargers play, especially for free.

Rosales' family has been directly impacted by the uncontrollable flames. While most were figuring out how they were going to get to Tempe for free tickets, his sister Janice was awakening Monday morning in her Claremont Mesa neighborhood to find the hood of her car completely covered in ash. A few hours later, she was one of the lucky ones to flee the area, taking refuge with her parents in Chula Vista. Free tickets were the furthest thing from Janice's mind on Monday.

In the end, however, the most important giving came from those very same fans who gave their evening to entertain those around them. Say what you will about the Tempe terrors, but when all was tallied at the end of the night, the Arizona Cardinals estimated that up to $200,000 was collected toward aiding victims of the California fires.

All in a night of giving. Just think what Thanksgiving will bring.