Arizona

Memorial Day 2023: Arizonans mark unofficial start of summer

Published

2 years ago

May 29, 2023

Memorial Day 2023: Arizonans mark unofficial start of summer

PHOENIX – Memorial Day, a day that sometimes has two meanings for Americans, has arrived.

The day, according to the Associated Press, is supposed to be about mourning the nation’s fallen service members, but it’s come to anchor the unofficial start of summer and a long weekend of discounts on anything from mattresses to lawn mowers.

In Arizona, various events took place on May 29, ranging from events that remember soldiers who gave their lives in service to the country, to events that mark the end of a winter activity season, as well as events that, to some, kicks off the summer season.

Tributes to fallen soldiers across the Valley

In the Phoenix area, events were held to commemorate those who died in service to the country.

Phoenix

During the early morning hours at the National Memorial Cemetery of Arizona in Phoenix, hundreds of people gathered to pay tribute to those who who gave it all.

The grave sites of those buried at the cemetery were also decorated with flags and wreaths to commemorate Memorial Day.

“Very, very important that we remember our veterans and those who have served, because without them who died for this country, we wouldn’t have the freedoms that we have today, and we want to thank God for the men and women who have lived in the ultimate sacrifice to our nation,” said veteran Mark Burton.

Downtown Phoenix

Closer to Downtown Phoenix, people placed miniature U.S. flags at Wesley Bolin Memorial Plaza. Some even placed personal mementos.

“I think a lot of people actually forget what [Memorial Day] represents,” said Joe Mayeau, who served in Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Iraqi Freedom.

Some families, meanwhile, brought their children to teach them about sacrifice, honor and freedom.

“It’s very important to us, because without these guys, today wouldn’t happen,” said Carolyn Verdugo.

Mesa

In Mesa, hundreds gathered at the Mountain View Cemetery for an annual Memorial Day ceremony.

“We are so grateful that they have kept this event alive through the years to show its importance. I don’t know anyone whose life hasn’t been touched by a veteran,” said Amanda Goodwin with Mountain View Cemetery.

Many veterans were at Mountain View Cemetery to pay their respects, and there is a special garden on site specifically for veterans.

“It’s important to us because without our veterans, we don’t have the freedoms that we have,” said Goodwin. “Anything we do, we’re honoring people, and it is an honor to honor those who have served and sacrificed so much for us.”

Families flock to unusually full Salt River

Memorial Day: Salt River packed with people marking unofficial start to summer

Arizona’s wet winter has helped replenish the state’s waterways, and on Memorial Day, Arizona locals, as well as out-of-towners, packed the Lower Salt River for some water action to mark the unofficial start of summer. FOX 10’s Nicole Garcia reports.

As one of the highest snowpack levels in the past three decades help replenish many of Arizona’s waterways, a record number of people headed out onto the water at the Lower Salt River.

“It’s very full,” said Jordan Stone, who is visiting Arizona from Chicago. “We were concerned getting out here. We weren’t sure if we were going to be able to get in. We made a phone call, they said they were very packed today.”

It was so packed along the Salt River on May 29. So packed, in fact, that several day-use areas were shut down during an earlier part of the day, as those sites reached capacity.

Many people had to park on the side of the highway and walk, while carrying their rafts and tubes to the river’s edge.

Stone and his family, however, eventually snagged a coveted spot in the Pebble Beach Recreation Area parking lot.

“We were driving around 30-40 minutes, possibly an hour looking for a parking spot. We managed to sneak in here. We saw people pulling out,” said Stone,

On the Salt River itself, however, there was plenty of room for everyone who came to visit, and the refreshing waters provided both a lazy river and roaring rapids experience.

By the late afternoon, the Pebble Beach Recreation Area re-opened as spaces opened up. The Blue Point Bridge and Water Users Sites remained close most of the day.

According to officials with MCSO, the crowd at the Lower Salt River was one of the largest they have ever seen in one day.

Up north, one last day of skiing, snowboarding at Snowbowl

In the Flagstaff area, it’s a wrap for Arizona Snowbowl’s latest winter season, as Memorial Day marked the last day for skiing and snowboarding at that ski area.

“Everyone else is at the lake, and we’re here at the ski hill,” said one woman at Snowbowl.

Snowbowl has never been open this late into the season. Prior to 2023, the ski resort’s longest season ended on May 19, 2019.

“It can’t be bad. It’s almost June, and we’re skiing,” said one man.

Locals, as well as out-of-towners, headed for San Francisco Peaks for one last time on the snow this season. While the winter season is ending for Snowbowl, there will still likely be snow in June.

“We did get 399 inches of snowfall this year. That’s what’s making this long closing day possible,” said Angelina Grubb.

As for what happens from now until the next ski season, the area will soon be open for summer activities.

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Related Topics:Alerts Az Coconino County Featured Flagstaff Holidays Maricopa County Mesa Military news Phoenix us

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Arizona

College Football Playoff odds: Penn State, Texas, Ohio State, Georgia favored in 2nd round

Published

3 hours ago

December 23, 2024

Press Room

College Football Playoff odds: Penn State, Texas, Ohio State, Georgia favored in 2nd round

Who is favored in College Football Playoff quarterfinal odds?

Check out the point spread, moneyline and over/under (point total) for all four quarterfinal games on Dec. 31 and Jan. 1, courtesy of BetMGM Sportsbook.

No. 3 Boise State faces No. 6 Penn State in the Fiesta Bowl on Tuesday, Dec. 31.

On Wednesday, Jan. 1, No. 4 Arizona State takes on No. 5 Texas in the Peach Bowl, No. 1 Oregon plays No. 8 Ohio State in the Rose Bowl and No. 2 Georgia opposes No. 7 Notre Dame in the Sugar Bowl.

The lower seed is interestingly currently favored in betting odds for three of the four CFP quarterfinal matchups, with Arizona State the biggest underdog as almost a 2-touchdown underdog against Texas.

College Football Playoff quarterfinal odds: Point spreads

Penn State (-10.5) vs Boise State (+10.5)
Texas (-13.5) vs Arizona State (+13.5)
Ohio State (-2.5) vs Oregon (+2.5)
Notre Dame (+1.5) vs Georgia (-1.5)

College Football Playoff quarterfinal odds: Moneylines

Penn State (-450) vs Boise State (+340)
Texas (-550) vs Arizona State (+400)
Ohio State (-130) vs Oregon (+110)
Notre Dame (+105) vs Georgia (-125)

College Football Playoff quarterfinal odds: Over/unders (point totals)

Penn State vs Boise State: 52.5
Texas vs Arizona State: 52.5
Ohio State vs Oregon: 53.5
Notre Dame vs Georgia: 44.5

Reach Jeremy Cluff at jeremy.cluff@arizonarepublic.com. Follow him on X, formerly Twitter @Jeremy_Cluff.

Support local journalism: Subscribe to azcentral.com today.

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Arizona

Tommy Lloyd Giving Arizona Wildcats Mandatory Break During Holidays

Published

11 hours ago

December 23, 2024

Press Room

Tommy Lloyd Giving Arizona Wildcats Mandatory Break During Holidays

This season has not gone as many expected for Arizona.

After coming into the year ranked No. 10 in preseason polls, the Wildcats quickly dropped out of the picture following losses to Wisconsin and Duke which were a precursor of what was to come.

Arizona went into the Battle 4 Atlantis tournament as one of the favorites, and after beating Davidson in their first-round matchup by over 30 points, it looked like they had gotten things back on track and were ready to play like the team many expected them to be.

But, alarm bells went off when they lost back-to-back games against Oklahoma and West Virginia that pushed them under .500 for the first time in the Tommy Lloyd era, and also the first time in 14 years.

Since then, Arizona has taken care of business against the lesser opponents on their schedule but failed to win against UCLA despite being in control for the majority of that contest.

The Wildcats closed out their non-conference schedule in style following that loss, bludgeoning Samford and Central Michigan to head into the holiday break feeling more positive about what they can accomplish going forward, while also having a lot to think about.

Lloyd and the players know this wasn’t the early-season stretch they wanted, but he gave his team a clear directive during this break; take time away from basketball.

“Rest, relax, love your family, hang out. That’s the homework,” the head coach said per Bruce Pascoe of The Arizona Daily Star.

That’s probably a good approach.

There’s nothing anyone can do about what has already taken place, but they can certainly get burned out if they’re not careful and lose confidence if they dwell on mistakes.

“I mean, this nonconference was rough. I think we all need a little break and a reset,” KJ Lewis said.

Lloyd is giving his players that time to reset, sending everyone home for the holidays or somewhere with either friends or family.

This time away should hopefully allow Arizona to put the non-conference schedule in the past and get ready for the daunting challenge that will come by playing Big 12 opponents until Selection Sunday.

Lloyd is also hoping this let’s his team get motivated for their return to the court.

“Get hungry. Get hungry because we know when we come back — we’re excited to be starting this Big 12 thing we’ve been talking about for about 20 months. We’re fired up,” he added.

Arizona welcomes TCU into the McKale Center on Dec. 30.

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Arizona

Instant Grades: Cardinals Sabotage Playoff Hopes

Published

19 hours ago

December 22, 2024

Press Room

Instant Grades: Cardinals Sabotage Playoff Hopes

The story since the bye week has largely been the same game after game. The Arizona Cardinals had two chances to beat the Seattle Seahawks and fight for first place in the division. They failed both times.

Today, they needed to beat the Carolina Panthers to stay in the hunt with the LA Rams beating the New York Jets. They failed.

The underlying issues of why this is happening is another issue for another article, but the fact is that the Arizona Cardinals are out of the playoff hunt and already looking forward to 2025.

In the meantime, what happened today and how did the various position groups perform? Let’s take a look.

Quarterback – C-

No, Kyler Murray didn’t put the entire team on his back today to force a win, but it also can not be argued that he had much help from the team around him other than James Conner. That is not an excuse though for a player in his sixth NFL season with a massive contract that comes with high performance expectations.

Still, Murray is supposed to be a special player and he did not look special today. There was a flash of the special quarterback in the fourth quarter with a 20-yard rushing touchdown, but it was too little too late.

Most concerning, late in the fourth quarter Murray made a boneheaded mistake throwing to a spot of the field without an obvious receiver and the Panthers picked off the floater and held the ball till the very end, effectively ending Arizona’s season. There has not been a game since the bye in which Murray has not made a similarly mind-bogglingly bad play.

Offensive Line – B-

There were certainly concerns about the offensive line going into this game with left tackle Paris Johnson Jr. out with a knee injury and center Hjalte Froholdt suffering from an illness.

Thankfully, Froholdt was able to play through illness and Kelvin Beachum plugged in at left tackle and played another decent game.

Overall, the offensive line played a fine game and were one of the few position groups that showed up and simply did their job althought their performance was noticeably impacted after Jonah Williams went to locker room with a knee issue in the third quarter.

Tight End – C

Hard to really grade this position since, in a major switch from previous weeks, Trey McBride did not feature heavily for the Cardinals offense.

McBride caught three of the four balls that came his way, but only for a gain of 20 yards and once again was kept out of the end zone to extend his scoreless streak.

Running Back – A

James Conner is every coaches dream power back. After Petzing belatedly figured out that the Panthers possess the worst run defense in the league, Conner truly took over the offense.

Sadly, Conner hurt his knee in the third quarter and did not reenter the game leaving Michael Carter and DeeJay Dallas as the remaining active running backs.

Without Conner’s special gifts the Cardinals offense was not the same and the Panthers took advantage of that fact.

Wide Receiver – C-

The reader would be excused for not believing the Cardinals have any wide receivers on the roster considering the lack of impact they have had in several games this season.

Petzing has faced severe backlash for not finding ways to get the ball to the No. 4 overall pick of the 2024 NFL draft, Marvin Harrison, Jr, and for good reason. Still, trying to force the ball to Harrison, Jr. has not worked out and the connection between Murray and his rookie receiver is still not there.

Michael Wilson has shown up in big moments several times this year and did have a major 38-yard grab in the third quarter that gave the Cardinals some life.

Defensive Line – C-

The Cardinals defensive line failed in the two areas that were criticial to helping their team succeed this afternoon; contain Chuba Hubbard and put pressure on Bryce Young.

Naquan Jones was the only defensive lineman to actually get to Young but otherwise the young, second-year quarterback had time to do what he wanted and even saw multiple gaps open up through the defensive line and broke off some major runs that put the Cardinals in a hole early.

Hubbard really started to have his way in the second half and on several drives basically controlled the entire Panthers offense, often getting through the first line of defense untouched.

Linebacker – C+

The most that can really be said for this group is that Baron Browning flashes occasionally and did manage to get Young on the ground today for a sack.

Otherwise, the linebackers did not have a significant impact on this game after being one of the most consistent position groups all season. That being said, Kyzir White’s sack in overtime gave the Cardinals much needed hope and forced a punt, but again, too little too late.

The problems containing Panthers running back Hubbard might have started with the defensive line but the linebackers are supposed to stem the bleeding and they failed consistently in that effort in the second half.

Secondary – B-

Young did not have an inspired passing game today at all, and that is largely thanks to a sticky Cardinals secondary that did not allow him many easy downfield passes.

Rookie Max Melton had some rookie moments, but he continues to show some flashes that indicate a bright future in the league. It was second-year cornerback Garrett Williams that had some coverage issues.

Budda Baker did Budda Baker things but a big coverage whiff in the fourth quarter put the Cardinals in tough position. Fellow safety Jalen Thompson teamed up with Baker to clean up a lot of mistakes.

Sean Murphy-Bunting has struggled in big moments all season and today was not an exception. Needing a big stop early in the fourth quarter he allowed a corner of the end zone touchdown that put the Panthers up by ten and effectively ended the Cardinals season. A bad individual performance but not necessarily indicative of the entire position group’s performance.

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