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By Brett Erickson
Arizona Daily Wildcat,
April 11, 2000
Talk about this story

When Buddy Ryan came to Phoenix in 1994, he promised Arizona (then Phoenix) Cardinal fans they "had a winner in town."

Well, everybody knows how Buddy Ball turned out - Ryan enjoyed a foot sandwich on his way out of town two seasons later.

Why would a person make such a bold statement? Simple, because people want to be associated with winners. Sports fans want nothing more than to have bragging rights over their buddies for years to come.

At the University of Arizona, a handful of sports - namely football and men's basketball - account for most of the fan interest. That's not hard to understand because those two sports receive most of the local and national media attention, and the athletes are also the most noticeable on campus.

It's only a matter of time, though, before one of the best kept secrets on campus gets out - the UA softball team.

The Wildcats, which are ranked second in the country, have the winningest program in the 1990s and have won four national titles in the decade.

Head coach Mike Candrea's players show more hustle and have more enthusiasm than most sports on campus.

Besides the fact that the team is a proven winner, home softball games are more entertaining than Spring Fling, in large in part because of the nature of the crowd.

About 75 percent of the people in attendance each game are over the age of 50, and the crowd gets riled up at the smallest things.

Take last Tuesday's 3-1 victory against Arizona State. Linda Wells, ASU's head coach, made numerous trips to the circle - the softball version of a pitching mound - to chat with her pitcher. At each of these instances, which lasted no more than half a minute, UA fans got so upset, that I thought they were going to tear Wells' head off - literally.

Apparently, everybody older than 50 is only allowed out for a maximum of two hours because these people were raging.

The fans also know EVERY detail about EVERY Arizona player, which makes for seven innings of amusing shouts from lunatics.

"Come on Jennie, you're seven for nine against this chump."

"Hey Mike, why isn't Becky starting?"

"Nicole, you've got a birthday coming up, and you didn't think your No. 1 fan forgot?"

"You suck batter. Oh wait, she's on our team."

You get the point.

Fans also had the opportunity to win prizes. Not all fans, though, only the first one to show proof that they had their name engraved on the back of their belt buckle.

Oh yeah, and the lady who could prove she had a half-eaten dog biscuit in her purse.

You will also find out very quickly that Katie Swan is a senior, thanks to an entertaining game announcer.

What more could poor sports fans want? The games are free, they last about two hours, the fans will keep you laughing, and the team is a consistent winner.

Who knows, you might even win a T-shirt for having a Tootsie Roll wrapper with the Indian shooting a star on it.


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