Sept. 15, 2010
SO YOU WANT TO KNOW WHAT I THINK?
--About my first Arizona home football game... I spent a lot of time prowling around last Saturday and came away with some good impressions of the game-day experience at Arizona Stadium. A lot of elements are involved in running a medium-sized city in a 40-acre parcel for most of a day, and we do a pretty good job of it. I thought the Wildcat Walk was outstanding and the ZonaZoo was excellent. Most of all, I want to thank our fans who came in force and made it one of the largest crowds to ever watch an opening game at Arizona Stadium. One of the things that pleased me the most was the fact that people came to watch Arizona! Bear Down!
LET'S MAKE IT A RED-BANNER NIGHT
You probably know we're aiming for a stadium RED OUT for the football game against Iowa on Saturday. That means everyone's expected to wear red and bring their "A" game. A view of the ZonaZoo gives you a good sense of what a sea of red is all about. Get on board and help us do this simple but effective collective statement of crowd support.
CELEBRATING EXCELLENCE THIS SATURDAY
At halftime of the Iowa game this week, we'll be citing some NCAA title accomplishments by Wildcats in 2009-10. Included are national champions Cory Chitwood, Clark Burckle, Anny Chandler, Ana Agy, Whitney Lopus, Justine Schluntz, Erin Campbell and Liz Patterson. Congratulations, again, to these student-athletes. Also at halftime, we'll officially be presented with the State Farm Territorial Cup Series trophy for our edge in the 2009-10 total sports series against our friends from Tempe. The first showdown in the 2010-11 Cup race is an Oct. 1 volleyball game in McKale Center against our in-state rivals.
AND WHILE WE'RE ON SPECTATING...
Please, it behooves all of us at Arizona Stadium (and all University of Arizona athletic events) to maintain very high standards of sportsmanship and behavior, notably including language and personal decorum. We play host to family-oriented events and want our patrons to enjoy themselves. Our events are not the place for vulgarity or any discourtesy to fellow spectators. We hold our student-athletes to high standards of behavior and we hold our fans to the same. Thanks so much for your support to make Arizona Stadium the loudest stadium in the Pac-10 as well as the classiest.
CATS ON NFL SQUADS
The National Football League season was under way last weekend and with it the professional careers of 14 former Wildcats. Kudos to Antoine Cason, Nick Folk, Lance Briggs, Brandon Manumaleuna, Nate Ness, Rob Gronkowski, Chris Gronkowski, Eben Britton, Mike Thomas, Earl Mitchell, Spencer Larsen, Michael Johnson, Mike Bell and Fendi Onobun. A few more guys could find spots on NFL rosters as the season progresses. That's a fine contingent and speaks well to our program.
KEEP UP ON THE CATS
Don't let these updates be your only window into University of Arizona athletics. Remember that daily news is available at www.arizonawildcats.com, on our Facebook or Twitter pages, and through local and regional newspaper web sites. Our volleyball, soccer, cross country and football teams are all officially under way and we're expecting good things across the board. Best of luck to the coaches and student-athletes on those teams and all our other squads as they begin their 2010-11 action.
JAGUARS AREN'T THE ONLY CATS IN JACKSONVILLE
Football season-ticket holder Ed Moody (Section 21) and family toured the country this summer and reports that in Jacksonville, Fla., his UofA shirt drew some enjoyable conversation from a former tennis player. Ed's shirt was 'Arizona' written in Hebrew, and the former player shouted "Bear Down!" upon seeing it, and showed Ed his red and blue block 'A' tattoo. Another Global Cats citation goes to former volleyball player Brooke Buringrud, who noted that playing professionally in The Netherlands last week she and former players Dominique Lamb and Jolene Baptiste were all sporting UA spandex during preseason matches in the same gym. "Even across the world, UA athletes seem to find each other," she wrote. Please, don't forget to share these stories on our Facebook page, especially on Fridays. Speaking of which, below is a photo of former baseball letterman Richard Lemmons and his colleagues at Vantage West Credit Union sporting the colors on a recent "Wildcat Friday."
NOTES...
One thing our compliance officers stress to student-athletes is "If it's not available to the general student body, then it's not available to you," a little piece of advice relating to accepting any gifts or services... It doesn't matter how innocuous some items might seem, providing student-athletes anything at all can jeopardize our program. Please keep that in mind if you interact at all with our student-athletes... Congratulations to former basketball player Andre Iguodala for his gold medal experience with the U.S. team in the World Championships... Buying a football ticket to the Homecoming game (Oct. 23 vs. Washington) can get you a $3 ticket to the Oct. 24 men's Red & Blue game in McKale Center. The men's and women's teams are nearing the start of fall practice in a few weeks... Hispanic Heritage Day will be part of the football weekend for the Oct. 9 Oregon State game...Congratulations to Coach Laura Ianello, who guided the Wildcat women's golfers to a victory in her first tournament as the UA head coach. UA won the Topy Cup of Japan by seven strokes and was led by Isabelle Boineau, who won the individual event with a 2-under 214 total...
Bear Down,
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