Sports on the Brain!

Super Bowl weekend in Phoenix is extra special because the [insert sponsor name] Phoenix Open PGA Tournament is always played on Super Bowl weekend. The Phoenix Open draws the largest crowds by far of any PGA Tour event. I think the record crowd for the Phoenix Open was over 538,000 in 2008. This year attendance was down because the Pro-Am was canceled on Wednesday and we had unseasonably cold weather with early and mid-morning frost. Total attendance was about 365,000, which will still be the largest attendance of any PGA Tour event this year. And crowd size is generally down on Sunday because of the Super Bowl festivities.

On Saturday, SO and I hiked the Go John Trail in Cave Creek Regional Park, just north of Phoenix. The trail is 4.8 miles long and is very scenic. There are a couple of steep grades, but mostly it is a nice hike on generally flat terrain. We completed the hike in 1 hour and 45 minutes. I led the way at the beginning and end of the hike and SO ran me ragged for over an hour in the middle. I could barely keep up with her! She has been working out like a demon and it is really showing in her physical conditioning. I am very proud of her.

On Super Bowl Sunday I played in the "traditional" Greenfield Lakes invitational golf tournament with SO's step-dad and his buddies. Greenfield Lakes Golf Course is a really nice par-62, 4,100 yards executive golf course with two par-5 holes, four par-4 holes and twelve par-3 holes ranging from 100 yards to over 200 yards. The par-5, 530 yard 18th hole is the signature hole with a double dogleg. I hit the ball really well and shot an 8 over par 70. I had two double-bogeys and two birdies and eight pars.

After golf, it was time for the Super Bowl. Although I did not really have a dog in this fight, I was rooting for the Packers. I hate to admit it, but I still remember Bart Starr and the Green Bay Packers winning the first two Super Bowls (I don't remember whether the games were called "Super Bowls" at that time). I was a die-hard New York Football Giants fan at the time, but everyone revered and wanted their team to emulate the Packers. The Vince Lombardi trophy deserves to be in "Title Town". The Steelers are also a great football organization and there is no family more deserving of greatness than the Rooney family, the owners of the Steelers (except maybe the Bidwills - yah right!). This was a match-up of two storied football franchises that play football the way it was meant to be played. Although the game was not the best played Super Bowl ever, it was very competitive and until the final incomplete pass you sat on the edge of your seat thinking that the Steelers might pull out a victory.