azdad1978
Championship!!!!
Bob Baum
Associated Press
Dec. 22, 2005 06:20 PM
TEMPE, Ariz. - Eighteen years after the Cardinals moved to Arizona, they are leaving their "temporary" home. Saturday's game against Philadelphia will be their final contest at Sun Devil Stadium.
No tears of nostalgia will be shed.
"I'd like to go out with a win," Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill said, "then say 'so long and farewell' and we move on to new and better things."
Bidwill moved the franchise from St. Louis in 1988 with a handshake assurance that he'd have his own stadium soon. The savings and loan scandal ruined that possibility, and various other attempts failed either in the planning stages or at the ballot box.
So the Cardinals made do with Sun Devil Stadium, paying rent to Arizona State University. Locker rooms were built outside the south end of the stadium down a long path from the playing field.
Quarterback Josh McCown was asked if he would miss anything about Sun Devil Stadium.
"No, not really," he said. "The long walk, they can have that."
As the losing seasons mounted, the big crowds that greeted the franchise in 1988 dwindled to a base of 30,000 or so hardy but boisterous supporters.
"You know, you saw every fan," McCown said. "I say that and you laugh, but I mean that in the sense that I appreciate the fans so much. You look out and you can really see and identify every person that's pulling for you. You appreciate what they do for you."
The big crowds were lured by the visiting teams, especially the Dallas Cowboys. The three largest crowds all came against Dallas, topped by the record throng of 73,025 who watched the eventual Super Bowl champion Cowboys beat the Cardinals 17-10 on Sept. 19, 1993. In fact, nine of the 12 biggest crowds came against Dallas.
Of the nine games that topped 70,000, only one was a truly "Cardinal" crowd. That came in the 1998 regular-season finale against San Diego, when the Cardinals beat the Chargers 16-13 to finish 9-7 and make the playoffs. It was the only winning record or postseason berth the team has earned since its been in Arizona.
"There's been some very good games played there," Bidwill said, "not as many as we'd like but a lot of great games. You know the first year, beating the 49ers on the last play of the game. That was the last loss they had before they won their first Super Bowl that year."
A more recent memorable game came in the season finale of the 2004 season, when McCown threw 28 yards to Nate Poole for a touchdown on the last play of the game to beat Minnesota 18-17 and knock the Vikings out of the playoffs.
"There are a lot of good memories there, but the building is just not up to whatever the new standard is," Bidwill said. "It's an older building, very bare bones."
With temperatures still in triple digits in early September, the Cardinals opened their season on the road all 18 years in Arizona. Even in late September, fans had to broil on metal bleachers in the desert sun. Fewer and fewer chose to endure the heat while watching mostly bad football.
"It wasn't a place that we could call home," wide receiver Anquan Boldin said. "We didn't have home locker rooms. It was just an awkward situation. But every time we played there fans who came out have been great. So I'm grateful, but I'm also looking forward to a place that we can call home."
After stadium proposals withered in the planning process or were voted down, the Cardinals threatened to move out of town when community leaders finally put together a plan that melded a new stadium with money for the Cactus League spring training facilities and youth sports fields. The money mostly came from a hotel tax and rental car surcharge, and the voters approved it.
The Bidwill family hired Dennis Green to direct what was supposed to be a turnaround in the franchise's fortunes so a respectable product would be on the field in the new $370 million stadium. The stadium - with a retractable roof and a natural grass field that slides out in the sun when not in use - already dominates the skyline on the far western reaches of suburban Phoenix in Glendale.
The turnaround has not occurred. The Cardinals are 4-10 going into Saturday's game.
"Hopefully moving over to a new stadium we can just change the whole thing around," rookie cornerback Eric Green said. "You know, new stadium, new program, new people. I know we've been saying it probably for years and years - 'next year, next year, next year' - but we really have to mean it this time."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cardinals/articles/1222cardsleave-ON.html
Associated Press
Dec. 22, 2005 06:20 PM
TEMPE, Ariz. - Eighteen years after the Cardinals moved to Arizona, they are leaving their "temporary" home. Saturday's game against Philadelphia will be their final contest at Sun Devil Stadium.
No tears of nostalgia will be shed.
"I'd like to go out with a win," Cardinals owner Bill Bidwill said, "then say 'so long and farewell' and we move on to new and better things."
Bidwill moved the franchise from St. Louis in 1988 with a handshake assurance that he'd have his own stadium soon. The savings and loan scandal ruined that possibility, and various other attempts failed either in the planning stages or at the ballot box.
So the Cardinals made do with Sun Devil Stadium, paying rent to Arizona State University. Locker rooms were built outside the south end of the stadium down a long path from the playing field.
Quarterback Josh McCown was asked if he would miss anything about Sun Devil Stadium.
"No, not really," he said. "The long walk, they can have that."
As the losing seasons mounted, the big crowds that greeted the franchise in 1988 dwindled to a base of 30,000 or so hardy but boisterous supporters.
"You know, you saw every fan," McCown said. "I say that and you laugh, but I mean that in the sense that I appreciate the fans so much. You look out and you can really see and identify every person that's pulling for you. You appreciate what they do for you."
The big crowds were lured by the visiting teams, especially the Dallas Cowboys. The three largest crowds all came against Dallas, topped by the record throng of 73,025 who watched the eventual Super Bowl champion Cowboys beat the Cardinals 17-10 on Sept. 19, 1993. In fact, nine of the 12 biggest crowds came against Dallas.
Of the nine games that topped 70,000, only one was a truly "Cardinal" crowd. That came in the 1998 regular-season finale against San Diego, when the Cardinals beat the Chargers 16-13 to finish 9-7 and make the playoffs. It was the only winning record or postseason berth the team has earned since its been in Arizona.
"There's been some very good games played there," Bidwill said, "not as many as we'd like but a lot of great games. You know the first year, beating the 49ers on the last play of the game. That was the last loss they had before they won their first Super Bowl that year."
A more recent memorable game came in the season finale of the 2004 season, when McCown threw 28 yards to Nate Poole for a touchdown on the last play of the game to beat Minnesota 18-17 and knock the Vikings out of the playoffs.
"There are a lot of good memories there, but the building is just not up to whatever the new standard is," Bidwill said. "It's an older building, very bare bones."
With temperatures still in triple digits in early September, the Cardinals opened their season on the road all 18 years in Arizona. Even in late September, fans had to broil on metal bleachers in the desert sun. Fewer and fewer chose to endure the heat while watching mostly bad football.
"It wasn't a place that we could call home," wide receiver Anquan Boldin said. "We didn't have home locker rooms. It was just an awkward situation. But every time we played there fans who came out have been great. So I'm grateful, but I'm also looking forward to a place that we can call home."
After stadium proposals withered in the planning process or were voted down, the Cardinals threatened to move out of town when community leaders finally put together a plan that melded a new stadium with money for the Cactus League spring training facilities and youth sports fields. The money mostly came from a hotel tax and rental car surcharge, and the voters approved it.
The Bidwill family hired Dennis Green to direct what was supposed to be a turnaround in the franchise's fortunes so a respectable product would be on the field in the new $370 million stadium. The stadium - with a retractable roof and a natural grass field that slides out in the sun when not in use - already dominates the skyline on the far western reaches of suburban Phoenix in Glendale.
The turnaround has not occurred. The Cardinals are 4-10 going into Saturday's game.
"Hopefully moving over to a new stadium we can just change the whole thing around," rookie cornerback Eric Green said. "You know, new stadium, new program, new people. I know we've been saying it probably for years and years - 'next year, next year, next year' - but we really have to mean it this time."
http://www.azcentral.com/sports/cardinals/articles/1222cardsleave-ON.html
