The Last Fiesta Bowl in Tempe

Here come the top ten lame-assed excuses as to why the posting has been so infrequent over the past two weeks:
10. Things have been really busy at work and I can only justify spending three quarters of my free time blogging.
9. I really have a secret blog that I am not telling any of you about and I have been laughing my ass off reading it the past two weeks
8. The dog ate my homework
7. I wanted to see how badly you needed it--I find it so sad
6. I have already run out of topics
5. There is no lazier man on the planet--if you don't believe me, take a look at the two-tone dirt job on the Opamobile
4. I have offended so many in such a short period of time, I didn't think that there could actually be anybody out there still reading this thing
3. After reading about my gambling problem a couple of weeks ago, Kim locked me in a cold damp potato cellar during the college bowl season (she thought it ended on New Year's Day, so I still got a shot to win some serious coin)
2. I've spent too much time dealing with those pesky slander lawsuits from family members to have the time to write about any other family members
1. I just finally finished reading my last posting this morning--who the hell can write that much crap in one setting?

And now back to our regularly scheduled program:

Now I realize that there is a strong contingent of you out there who see any kind of sports posting and just skip ahead to the next blog out there--usually some foreign exchange student reporting on the inequities of the American social structure in Portugese, but far more riveting than anything sports related. And I respect each of you for it. This is not to be a "sports posting," however, and I encourage you to read along for at least a couple of paragraphs on the off-chance it is more exhilarating reading than whether or not our justice system would work effectively in Bangladesh.
One of the coolest things about being in the resort industry here in Arizona is getting to see and meet people that you probably wouldn't have the opportunity to meet in every day life. We have our share of celebrities here, and generally it is considered in poor taste to go up and solicit an autograph. But we do get to talk with them, and I have had more than my fair share of celebrity sightings and conversations. Most of which were far less thrilling than one might expect, but I can doctor up any situation for the purposes of entertainment
My most recent encounter was with Dick Clark on his birthday, when he dined in my restaurant. He no longer looks like a teenager, by the way, and if you saw him on ABC's New Year's Rocking Eve, he is hardly rocking anymore either. He was a genuinely personable man, and I enjoyed speaking with him for a few minutes. My all time favorite "celebrity" sighting was at my previous hotel during the 2001 World Series when I was getting ready to close the bar down and Biff Henderson was standing next to me ordering a drink for last call. For those of you not familiar with Biff, I feel for you. I can only imagine trying to read this blog with any degree of regularity without knowing one of the catalysts for The Late Show (and previously Late Night with David Letterman). I met Paul Shafer as well, but I actually pulled the old "Oh my gosh, you're Biff Henderson." starstruck and goofy encounter when I saw who it was. Though in the grand scheme of celebrities, he may be way down on most people's scale, Biff is right up near the top in my book.
The most bizarre encounter that I can recall is not fit for printing and that took place with Gary Busey. The man is certifiably insane. Some day I may tell you the story of "Hey, hey hey--I'm not talking to you, skyscraper," But that is for another day all together.
At my previous post, the best part of the job was not getting to meet the Hollywood-type celebrities (though there were plenty). The best part was the interaction with the athletes. We hosted an annual WTA (ladies tennis) event, an ATP (men's tennis) event, PGA (men's golf) event as well as being the hotel for one of the participating teams of the Fiesta Bowl each year. The first year I was there, I was awestruck by it all. In October, with the World Series in town, I meet Biff Henderson and see a bunch of Baseball Hall of Famers crashing at the joint. In December, we were inundated with Oregon Duck players and fans, the likes of which no human outside of Eugene would ever have to endure. Then in January, I've got Vijay Singh, Justin Leonard, Phil Mickelson and Freddy Couples walking around and having cocktails in my bar. A few weeks later, Serena Williams, Jennifer Capriati and Martina Hingis are running around, and then the next week, Pete Sampras and Andre Agasi are both signed up for the Men's event.
The next year started out with the National Championship game going on here (the game is on a four year rotation between the Rose Bowl, Orange Bowl, Sugar Bowl and Fiesta Bowl), and we hosted Jim Tressel, Maurice Clarett and the Ohio State Buckeyes (pre-embarrassing scandal of course). Those fans waited 38 years between National Championships and they got back to the hotel that night and partied like there wouldn't be another one for at least another 38 years. It was great--especially when I had to lock them out of the bar at 1AM--damn Scottsdale liquor laws. But they were great fans and had a great time.
The next year, we hosted the Buckeyes again, but there was nowhere near the same level of enthusiasm. It is a down year after the National Championship--the team and the players had that been there--done that mentality, but they still managed to pull out a big win. The week itself, however had started to become a burden (at least for me). The thrill of seeing these bohemoths clad in Silver and Red no longer had much draw for me. Waiting for the tour busses to return from the stadium with the throngs of delerious revelers just had lost its luster. Last year was the worst of the bunch--I had moved from the Food and Beverage world to the Front Desk and the Fiesta Bowl was in the year that they picked the "leftover" teams to fill out their game and we were stuck hosting the Pitt Panthers and both of their fans.
You get to see things from a different perspective at the Front Desk versus being in a restaurant. I always looked at these events/groups/teams as a great opportunity to fill my restaurant, hit my budget, make money for my staff, and the more the merrier. At the Front Desk, you learned to dread seeing these type of groups--everybody showing up at the same time, when the likelihood of any of the rooms being ready was remote to say the least--nothing like six charter busses pulling up with several small herds of families demanding that they get premier view connecting rooms (even though you are completely sold out and the group has been given nothing but lower floor smoking rooms per contract). There is nothing quite as satisfying as greeting 800 angry people who waited 2 hours for their plane to take off and then another hour and a half for their luggage here at Sky Harbor, found themselves trapped in a bus in holiday traffic only to arrive at the hotel where they find their room block is nothing that they thought and the three grand they forked over per person for this trip is going to get their kids put into rooms three sections away from their "guaranteed connecting rooms" that they had been promised by the tour director and the hotel should have known this even though they have different names and there is nothing on their separate itineraries stating anything about joining up with anybody else. Boy do I miss the Front Desk.
So now, I find myself keeping an eye on the score at the Fiesta Bowl, but not really concerned about the result. If Notre Dame wins, it will cap off a great rebuilding season for a once proud franchise and if Ohio State wins (yes, they are back for the third time in the last four years and they are staying at the same hotel again) the Big Ten can finally say that they are not a completely overrated conference because they actually won a bowl game this year. But the outcome does not affect me personally. When the fans of Buckeye nation return to the hotel, they will either party like freaks to celebrate their win, or they will be subdued at another season of promise falling short. I don't have to worry about it--I just have to check the tee sheets and make sure that there won't be a swarm of hungry golfers coming in for nachos tonight.
The Fiesta Bowl is played in Tempe, at Sun Devil's Stadium on the ASU campus. The Cardinals play their home games there as well, or at least did until last week. Next year, there will be a brand new (as of yet unnamed) stadium just a few miles up the road in Glendale. It will be a bastion of modern conveniences, as all stadiums pretend to be. Once it was enough to be a domed stadium, and then the SkyDome opened up in Toronto and they utilized a retractable roof. Now all new domed stadiums have this feature--real grass in a building--who'da thunk it? This new stadium in Glendale will have a retractable roof, but in addition, they have the field on rollers, and it too will be retractable. The field will move in and out so that it can enjoy some sunshine while the inside is gutted for concerts, monster truck rallys, political conventions, etc. I will miss the nostalgia of the Sun Devil Stadium experience. I was able to enjoy the splendor of one of the first (if not the first) BCS championship games when Florida State came and got their ass handed to them in 1998 at the hands of Tennessee (I can still hear freaking Rocky Top in my sleep). Sitting down on those rickety high-schoolesque bleachers as the entire stadium shook to the point that I was certain Tempe sat directly on a major fault line made me realize just how truly crappy this stadium was. I have only returned one other time (last year for the Bucs game) and it was equally disappointing sitting in an outdated, empty, dilapidated stadium for an NFL game.

I can only hope that the new digs will be all that they are cracked up to be. The Diamondbacks play in a great stadium and I have been dozen of times and enjoyed it no matter where I was seated. Maybe, just maybe someday, there may even be a game worth seeing in Glendale someday as well. As for tonight, it doesn't mean a damn thing who wins and who loses--at least not at this hotel. DJ actually played golf today--didn't think about the Fiesta Bowl at all. I never realized how much this week occupied our lives for the past five years until it had no impact whatsoever.