Arizona Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury at his home during the NFL Draft on April 23, 2019. (Twitter photo/@AZCardinals)
It was a year.
Looking back on the early parts of 2020 is pulling back the curtains on another era of life.
A pandemic sports paused leagues, and here in the Valley, two blockbuster trades made it clear which teams own this town.
The Arizona Cardinals and Phoenix Suns made big moves. Meanwhile, the pandemic made for weird times.
To look back before the new year, here is a collection of some of the most-read headlines we touch on those with strong ties to the news stories of the year on ArizonaSports.com in 2020.
Certainly, this headline would make no sense if you read it before March 2020.
The answer to this educated question posed by Vincent Bonsignore of theLas Vegas Review-Journal turned out to be yes. It just didnt come to fruition until before Week 13 of the NFL season.
Santa Clara County, home of the 49ers, declared in late November that large gatherings, including sports teams practices, were unsafe with rising coronavirus numbers in the area. So the 49ers relocated to play scheduled Week 13 and 14 home games in Arizona at State Farm Stadium.
The Niners will also close their year at State Farm Stadium.
They werent the only team that temporarily moved to Arizona during the pandemic.
Teams from New Mexico State, San Jose State and the NHLs San Jose Sharks also set up shop in the Grand Canyon State to keep their seasons alive as local government guidelines limited them from working at their respective home bases.
Phoenix Suns fan favorite Dan Majerle sued his former employer, Grand Canyon University, for a breach of contract. It was an ugly end to a successful run with the Antelopes.
The coach built the schools mens hoops program up as a competitive Division I team and went 136-89 in seven seasons there.
GCU was 13-17 before he was fired after his first losing season, and GCU later replaced Majerle with Bryce Drew.
Among the things that took on a new look during the pandemic was the NFL Draft. Instead of a planned in-person ceremony along the Las Vegas strip, commissioner Roger Goodell operated the draft from his basement.
Coaches, GMs and players participated in the draft over Zoom.
Cardinals head coach Kliff Kingsbury set up his draft war room at his Paradise Valley mansion, and damn the views were nice.
Remember that lockdowns at the start of the coronavirus pandemic made getting out of the house a little harder?
Not for Suns guard Devin Booker and friend-but-nothing-more Kendall Jenner, who popped by a rest stop around a trip to Sedona.
The Kardashian curse was a real worry for Suns fans. So far, so good after the bubble run.
You can click the story and read about what David Johnson was referencing, but his history of cryptic social media messages bucketed his tweet as negative commentary about the Arizona Cardinals.
It came after the team traded Johnson to the Houston Texans.
Arizona used Johnson and a swap of draft picks to acquire DeAndre Hopkins, who enters the season finale as the NFLs third-leading receiver in yardage. More on him in a bit.
Johnson has amassed 607 rushing yards and 278 receiving yards with five combined touchdowns with the Texans this year.
Were coupling up these Suns items from Nov. 12 and Dec. 15 because they represent winds of change sweeping through the Valley.
Kelly Oubre Jr. had the unfortunate role of developing the Valley Boyz identity of a Suns team that just after using him to showcase their new jerseys flipped him in the Chris Paul trade.
Pauls arrival, a new practice facility and a renovated Phoenix Suns Arena represent what the team hopes is a change in status after a decade run without a playoff appearance.
The Suns were in the midst of a perfect bubble run that nearly got them into the NBA playoffs via a play-in when Warriors forward Draymond Green, working with the TNT crew, dug himself a $50,000 hole.
He called for Booker to leave Phoenix and find himself a winning team to play for.
That, as Ernie Johnson called in the moment, was defined as tampering by the NBA league office.
Hopkins let some free birds fly as he was driving his Ferrari to State Farm Stadium before the Cardinals squared off against the Seattle Seahawks on Sunday Night Football.
Later, he told teammate Patrick Peterson on the All Things Covered Podcast that one driver in a Donald Trump parade had slammed on their brakes.
I really was about to do the peace sign to him, but this finger right here was kinda hurting, so it didnt make it up in time, Hopkins said.
The Arizona Department of Public Safety did not have a record of Hopkins being stopped for reckless driving or speeding after it was alleged by many on social media he was weaving dangerously in and out of traffic.
It sure does, J.J.
It was no surprise that the Texans moved on from head coach-slash-GM Bill OBrien after Houston got out to a rough start and clearly missed having one of the NFLs best pass-catchers to lean on.
Kobe Bryant and eight others, including his daughter Gianna, died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, shocking the sports world.
Steve Nash eloquently described what it was like as a Sun to compete with Bryant and later become teammates with the brash competitor on the Lakers.
If you need one clip of evidence that the Hopkins trade went well for Arizona, consider the Hail Murray catch to beat the Buffalo Bills exhibit A.
Murray rolled out for a desperate heave after the Bills scored a go-ahead touchdown, and with time expiring, Hopkins sucked the ball out of the air with three Buffalo defensive backs contesting his catch.
The imagery of his Jordan brand quintuple-XL gloves reaching above a mass of hands and arms went viral but as a non-Jordan athlete, Hopkins didnt get a cent.
Good thing he self-negotiated that contract extension with Arizona earlier on this year.
If theres one lesson about a pandemic, its that you should plan for everything and expect nothing to go as you thought it would.
The NBA was the first sports league to shutter with Rudy Goberts positive coronavirus test on March 11, and from there it was a guess as to how play would commence.
Meanwhile, the Suns were still expecting to move forward with arena renovations, so they set up shop at their original home, Veterans Memorial Coliseum.
While fans never got to see basketball games at the Madhouse on McDowell virtually or in person they instead got an even more unthinkable product with a Disney World bubble instead.
Finally, Booker got his well-deserved All-Star bid. It just came in a non-traditional way.
Damian Lillard injured himself days before the All-Star game and vouched for Booker to get the nod in his place. It ended up happening.
Booker canceled some vacation plans and instead played some hoop.
Not often do you get to see live video of a professional athlete finding out their season might be done with. Not ever.
Booker found out the NBA had been postponed while he was streaming online. It was a sign of the times, where athletes have found formats to let fans into their lives digitally.
Bookers gaming practices got more attention soon after as the country locked down. He defeated teammate Deandre Ayton in the title round of an NBA 2K tournament that aired in place of live sports on ESPN.
The Paul trade went from rumor to report to likely to happening over the course of a few weeks.
Even then, Suns fans apparently couldnt be more excited than to see Paul joining his new All-Star teammate.
It was a year in which sports did not avoid the topic of racism and inequality.
Nationally, games were canceled or postponed as Black athletes took a stand over police violence and overt instances of hate.
Locally, the story that was felt came from Arizona State. Sun Devil football players Jordan Clark, Nolan Matthews and T Lee took to social media to tell the story of their interaction with a racist woman at a Whataburger drive through.
The incident went viral, and Clarks father, ESPN analyst Ryan Clark, spoke candidly and passionately about his perspective.
Go here to read the rest:
The top 16 ArizonaSports.com headlines of 2020 - Arizona Sports
- Streaming, Politics, & Philosophy | Destiny (Steven Bonnell II) - The Daily Wire - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Jordan Peterson Proposes Using AI to Determine Whether Hitler Was Right-Wing Because He Cant Figure It Out Himself - Mediaite - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- News round-up: Radical expats, Church of England anti-whiteness, and Jordan Peterson - UnHerd - March 24th, 2024 [March 24th, 2024]
- Jordan Peterson & Sam Harris Try to Find Something They Agree On - The Daily Wire - December 27th, 2023 [December 27th, 2023]
- Discussing Communism in All its Glory | Michael Malice - The Daily Wire - December 27th, 2023 [December 27th, 2023]
- Tammy Peterson's journey to Catholic conversion is really a ... - Florida Catholic - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- The hairy beer belly of the Tradwife movement - The Michigan Daily - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- How to Kill a Literary Genre | Jaspreet Singh Boparai - First Things - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- Men, Masculinities and Memes: The Case of Incels GNET - GNET - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- An Alternative to Western Nihilism | His Excellency Saeed Al Nazari - The Daily Wire - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- The Future of Canada | Josh & Nick Alexander - The Daily Wire - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- Thanks within Thanks - The Catholic Thing - November 28th, 2023 [November 28th, 2023]
- Here's Everything Jordan Peterson's Daughter Mikhaila Has Said ... - TheThings - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Kansas football recruiting: Jayhawk commit adding substantial offers - Through the Phog - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Have children, save the world? The right's push for the right kind of ... - Salon - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Sound of Freedom anti-sex trafficking "hero" charged with sex crimes - Daily Kos - October 16th, 2023 [October 16th, 2023]
- Jordan Peterson, explained - Vox - April 17th, 2023 [April 17th, 2023]
- UFC Champ Israel Adesanya Gives His Surprising Take On Masculinity, Lauds Andrew Tate, Jordan Peterson: They Are the Ones Who Are Really Pushing Men... - April 17th, 2023 [April 17th, 2023]
- Andrew Tate Again Loses Romanian Detention Appeal: His Human Trafficking Charges Explained And A Timeline Of The Social Media Stars Controversies -... - February 2nd, 2023 [February 2nd, 2023]
- Rex Murphy: If CBC cared about diversity, it would host Jordan Peterson global warming talk - National Post - January 31st, 2023 [January 31st, 2023]
- Jordan Peterson event in Ottawa that coalition tried to cancel goes off without trouble - Toronto Sun - January 31st, 2023 [January 31st, 2023]
- Andrew Tate Detained In Romania For Another Month: His Human Trafficking Charges Explained And A Timeline Of The Social Media Stars Controversies -... - January 22nd, 2023 [January 22nd, 2023]
- Free speech isn't what Jordan Peterson thinks it is - Canada's National Observer - January 10th, 2023 [January 10th, 2023]
- Andrew Tate Appears In Romanian Court: His Human Trafficking Charges Explained And A Timeline Of The Social Media Stars Controversies - Forbes - January 10th, 2023 [January 10th, 2023]
- Read the court filing by Jordan Peterson against the College of Psychologists of Ontario - Ottawa Sun - January 10th, 2023 [January 10th, 2023]
- Jordan Peterson and Bjorn Lomborg: Hunger is more pressing than ... - National Post - December 16th, 2022 [December 16th, 2022]
- Kathy Griffin on How Elon Musk Reinstated Her Twitter Account: Dont Put My Name in the Company of White Supremacists - Hollywood Reporter - December 12th, 2022 [December 12th, 2022]
- Usman, Khamzat, Gaethje and Cejudo Visited a Chechen Dictator But: Robert Whittaker & His Wife Sofias Appearance With Controversial Figure Jordan... - December 12th, 2022 [December 12th, 2022]
- Jordan Peterson | Events - November 25th, 2022 [November 25th, 2022]
- Elon Musk begins reinstating banned Twitter accounts, starting with ... - November 25th, 2022 [November 25th, 2022]
- Olivia Wilde says Jordan Peterson inspired Chris Pines terrifying ... - November 25th, 2022 [November 25th, 2022]
- Jordan Peterson Returns To Twitter, Immediately Demands The Site Censor Anonymous Trolls - Forbes - November 25th, 2022 [November 25th, 2022]
- Jordan Petersons 5 most controversial ideas, explained - October 28th, 2022 [October 28th, 2022]
- Jordan Peterson: Id Rather Die Than Delete Truthful Tweet For Cancel ... - October 25th, 2022 [October 25th, 2022]
- Opinion: MRA and Incel Red Flags - Houston Press - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Arizona Governor Candidate Kari Lake: 'There's No Such Thing as Toxic Masculinity' - Jezebel - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- Olivia Wilde Responds to Claims She 'Abandoned' Her Children - 22 Words - October 19th, 2022 [October 19th, 2022]
- 12 Rules for Life: An Antidote to Chaos by Jordan B. Peterson - Goodreads - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Looking for advice on masculinity? Try St. Joseph rather than Jordan Peterson - National Catholic Reporter - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Jordan Peterson Cried Discussing How Dont Worry Darling Incel King ... - October 13th, 2022 [October 13th, 2022]
- Remember When Jordan Peterson Was a Thing? - thetriad.thebulwark.com - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Conservative stars Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro address sellout crowd in Jerusalem - JNS.org - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- "Might be the greatest promotion on Earth" - Twitter erupts after Bloodline member takes a shot at Andrew Tate on WWE SmackDown premiere -... - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Quiet, everyone! Megyn Kelly has thoughts about Jordan Peterson and Super Bowl vaginas! - The Independent - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- The Untold Truth Of Don't Worry Darling - Looper - October 8th, 2022 [October 8th, 2022]
- Jordan Peterson Breaks Down in Tears When Asked About Olivia Wilde Calling Him a Hero to the Incel Community: Sure, Why Not? - Variety - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- Who is Jordan Peterson and what is his net worth? - AS USA - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- THE WEEK AHEAD: Jews mark the holiest day of the year, Yom Kippur; Jordan Peterson and Ben Shapiro speak in Jerusalem; and 'The Rosenberg Report'... - October 2nd, 2022 [October 2nd, 2022]
- OPINION: Ego is the main problem of our political polarization - N.C. State University Technician Online - September 20th, 2022 [September 20th, 2022]
- What is Jordan Petersons 'grandma dream'? Story goes viral 23 years on - September 17th, 2022 [September 17th, 2022]
- Canada's Trump - The Week - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- 100-year-old Wythenshawe man one of the last to receive birthday card from Queen Elizabeth II - The Manc - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- How Marcus Mumford turned torment into healing on solo album - Los Angeles Times - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- Olivia Wilde on creating the most controversial film of the year - Sydney Morning Herald - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- The Sacred Heart of Uvalde - The Texas Observer - September 15th, 2022 [September 15th, 2022]
- Dr Jordan Peterson Launches Greek Focused Masters Programme On The Island Of Samos - GreekCityTimes.com - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Conservative Party Leader Eric Duhaime Teases An Interview With Jordan Peterson On Twitter - MTL Blog - September 11th, 2022 [September 11th, 2022]
- Jordan Peterson says he would rather die than delete his 'hateful ... - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- Who is Jordan Peterson, the alt-right darling of YouTube? - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- Sci-Fi Writer Patrick S. Tomlinson Instructs His Followers To Mass Report Dr. Jordan B. Peterson For "Transphobia And Dead-Naming" -... - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- The top 10 audiobooks on Audible.com - Star Tribune - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- I Read Robert Greene's Best-Selling Books And This Is Why I Recommend Them To Every Woman In My Life - Evie Magazine - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- Beverly Peterson | News, Sports, Jobs - The Daily news - Iron Mountain Daily News - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- Wingstop launches their own chicken sandwich in 12 flavors - USA TODAY - August 30th, 2022 [August 30th, 2022]
- Freeze Your Eggs: The Worst Advice Ever - The Stream - August 29th, 2022 [August 29th, 2022]
- Is Scott Galloway the Howard Stern of the Business World? - The New York Times - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- Stephen Harper may have picked the wrong horse again - Al Jazeera English - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- The Daily, American Dream, Emily DiDonato & Jordan Millington Liquorice Celebrated The August Cover With A Fun-filled Family Fte At The Maidstone... - August 2nd, 2022 [August 2nd, 2022]
- Reality's revenge: The return of stagflation | Columns | timesnews.net - Kingsport Times News - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- America's heart of darkness: Making sense of the nonsensical allure of MAGA - Salon - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- Letters to the editor: Irony and inspiration in Pope Francis's visit - National Post - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- Charles Barkley Thinks Bob Myers is the 'Second-Best Thing' to Happen to Golden State - Sports Illustrated - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- Can Q&A lead us out of the opinion wars its helped to fuel? - The Conversation - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- The World and Everything in It: July 29, 2022 - WORLD News Group - July 31st, 2022 [July 31st, 2022]
- Wisdom of the Ages: Email, Jordan Peterson, and a Latte - Patheos - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- Learn from these heroic saints who lived against the grain - Fox News - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- Vegans need to stop exaggerating the health benefits of a plant-based diet - Fast Company - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- Remembering the honest and natural voice of Amy Winehouse - The Daily Star - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- The Barstool Bros' Split Over Abortion Could Determine the Future of the GOP - POLITICO - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]
- From The Mailbag - The American Conservative - July 25th, 2022 [July 25th, 2022]