If it’s a sport in Arizona, I’m your Fangirl. From the crib to today, I’ve always been a fan of all sports Arizona – the Suns, the Diamondbacks, the Coyotes, The RoadRunners, the Sun Devils and of course THE CARDINALS! Sports was the big bond with my dad (a Cardinals season ticket holder since they arrived in Arizona) and my five brothers, so little Sande had to keep up…and I loved doing it.
After the Cardinals moved to Phoenix from St. Louis in 1988, our fall and winter weekends were always dedicated to the Cardinals. I remember rooting for Neil Lomax and JT Smith that first season. I remember my dad loving Tim McDonald’s punishing style of defense, so of course, I loved it too. As the years went on, the names changed but my support never let up. Steve Beuerlien, Boomer Esiason (maybe he could take us to a Super Bowl like he did the Bengals!), Seth Joyner, Larry Centers (we loved throwing the ball to the big man), Simeon Rice…so many players I can remember rooting for.
Then in 1997, my Cardinals drafted the quarterback I rooted for at Arizona State, Jake “The Snake” Plummer, heck yeah! And the next year another Sun Devil in Pat Tillman (great safety… better human being)! And then they lead us to the playoffs where we beat the Cowboys in the Wild Card game! My Cardinals were becoming a force!
The Cardinals ups and downs continued during my college years at Arizona State University (told you I loved all things Arizona). Even before ASU, I knew my passion pursuit was going to be sports journalism (nothing would have made me happier than covering the Cardinals one day) and I’ve pursued it ever since.
Along the way, I’ve had the joy of watching the Kurt Warner Era and having him lead us to being 30 seconds away from our first Super Bowl…and doing it with amazing class and character. I regularly call my dad and we discuss what we need to add to the roster to help Carson Palmer, Larry Fitzgerald and Patrick Peterson get us back to the Promised Land.
Having this opportunity to cover the Cardinals for Fangirl Sports Network is a dream come true and I look forward to sharing my passion and insight with all of you. I hope you’ll enjoy my perspective on what should be a very fun season for the Bird Gang. Cardinals may have the longest drought in all of sports, but as your Cardinals Fangirl, I’ll be here to help you get through it!
[social] [social_icon link=”http://www.twitter.com/cardinalsFGSN” target=”_blank” title=”Twitter” type=”twitter” /] [social_icon link=”https://www.facebook.com/Cardinals-Fangirl-125144488121218/” title=”Facebook” type=”facebook” /] [social_icon link=”https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3LnJQepIAsGQOgdNNwdIGA?sub_confirmation=1″ title=”YouTube” type=”youtube” /] [social_icon link=”https://instagram.com/cardinalsFGSN” title=”Instagram” type=”instagram” /] [social_icon link=”https://www.pinterest.com/fangirlsports/cardinals-fangirl/” title=”Pinterest” type=”pinterest” /] [/social]