Around here, we like to get the bad part over with first.
We eat our vegetables before dessert. We skip to the sad ending, then rewind to the beginning. We start with the cherry, then get to the ice cream.
It’s not that we dwell on the negative, but isn’t it better to save the best for last?
Later this week, we’ll get to our 10 best sporting moments of the year and then look ahead to 2022.
But for now, just to get it over with, here are the 10 most painful moments of the year for Tucson sports fans. Don’t get too sad; happy days will be here soon enough.
10. Arizona Bowl-ed over
Why not just start with the freshest wound? After the Arizona Bowl was played with no fans last season, bowl organizers were eager to show off Tucson once more, ready to welcome a new caliber of competition and excited to show off their flashy new partnership with the popular — although controversial — media company Barstool Sports.
But not only did Boise State’s late withdrawal from the game leave the bowl hanging, it left Central Michigan ripe for the picking, and the better-paying Sun Bowl swept in and whisked away the Arizona Bowl’s other competitor. One of almost a half-dozen bowl games to be cancelled in yet another perilous postseason, bowl organizers and Barstool Sports honcho Dave Portnoy made a valiant effort to fill CMU’s shoes, but no one would come dancing.
For a fledgling bowl game still trying to find its national footing, a second straight sad story does few favors.
9. Tucson high school football fumbles
Once again, Salpointe Catholic held the torch for Tucson high school football.
But unfortunately for the Lancers — and for the larger football community at large — the torch went out at just the wrong time.
Tucson’s only team to vie for a state championship, the title game turned from the opening kickoff, as Salpointe fell behind Scottsdale Horizon 21-0 in the first half. The Lancers managed to make it a game, but it was too little too late, eventually falling 38-28.
8. Sugar Skulls miss playoffs
When you google “sugar skulls,” the Tucson Sugar Skulls don’t even come up as a search result, which says two things: They need to work on their SEO rankings and the Indoor Football League has a name recognition issue on its hands.
It’s not that the Sugar Skulls didn’t put up a valiant fight in 2021. It’s just that the fight didn’t have much defense. Vying for one of eight playoff spots in a 12-team league, Tucson finished ninth in points allowed.
The Sugar Skulls were alive for the postseason until the final day of the regular season, when Tucson needed a win and wins by Bismarck and Sioux Falls to advance. The Skulls did their part with a 56-38 win over Northern Arizona, and Sioux Falls played its role with a win over Green Bay. But Bismarck biffed it — like usual, right? — and the Sugar Skulls were sent into a sour offseason.
UA football players sit in disbelief during the home loss to NAU in September. The defeat was part of a 20-game losing streak that finally ended against Cal.
7. Wildcats flounder in Fisch’s first season
The excitement was palpable in Tucson for Jedd Fisch’s first season at the helm, even if 80% of the rah-rah came from the Jersey boy himself. Then the Wildcats actually had to play some football, and that excitement went right out the window.
It’s not that Arizona football was bad in 2021, it’s that it was laughably so. The Wildcats became a national punching bag as the losses mounted. There was a narrow season-opening loss to BYU and a drubbing by San Diego State. A shocking loss to Northern Arizona and then a predictable 41-19 slaughtering at No. 3 Oregon. By the time Arizona looked up, it had lost 20 straight games, including eight straight to open the year. A Week 9 win over short-handed Cal was the only thing that stopped the indignity. The season later ended with a loss to ASU in Tempe. The last time Arizona finished with one win? 1957. The only other time? 1899. That said, the worst is likely over for the Wildcats after a strong recruiting class.
6. Cats fall in WCWS as Candrea retires
Arizona’s 2021 softball season — and with it, the remarkable career of Mike Candrea — went down not with a bang but a whimper.
What a story it would’ve been. The legendary coach, rallying the troops for one more title run, led by Dejah Mulipola, the best catcher in program history, an Olympian at 20. Back in the WCWS for the second straight year (the 2020 season was canceled), and just the second time since 2010. Doing it for all the Wildcats past.
Instead, Arizona lost to Alabama 5-1 and then fell to Florida State 4-3. Even worse, after the Wildcats rallied to tie the Seminoles, Florida State won it on a Cassidy Davis walk-off sacrifice fly, and Candrea was denied a win in his final WCWS.
UA coach Mike Candrea led the Wildcats back to Oklahoma City in his final season, but Arizona lost to Alabama and Florida State at the WCWS.
5. Wildcats soccer team stumbles
Losing a legend like Candrea was a blow for Arizona softball, but while Tony Amato did not reach legendary status in Tucson, losing the women’s soccer coach to Florida was also a big loss.
Amato led Arizona to a program-best 67-40-15 record in six seasons, with four NCAA Tournament appearances in the last five. Before Amato, Arizona had just two 10-win seasons in the previous two decades. Under Amato, they had four.
The post-Amato era did not get off to a great start under first-time head coach Becca Moros. Moros, an assistant coach for Gotham FC in 2020, was an All-American for Duke and a three-time All-ACC selection. But the Wildcats went just 5-13, though the season ended on a high note with a 2-1 overtime win over Arizona State.
4. Arizona falls in CWS, then loses Johnson, Berry
After a few down seasons, the Arizona baseball team surged in 2021 under Jay Johnson, going 21-9 in Pac-12 play to win the conference en route to a 45-18 campaign. Once more — and for the first time since finishing as College World Series runner up in his first season of 2016 — the Wildcats ended up in college baseball’s Elite 8.
But the fun stopped there, with Arizona falling 7-6 in 12 innings in Game 1 to Vanderbilt and 14-5 to Stanford two days later. Three days after that, the Wildcats lost once more as Johnson departed for LSU, taking star hitter Jacob Berry with him.
3. Tucson Rodeo canceled, Williams retires
The last time the La Fiesta De Los Vaqueros Tucson Rodeo had been canceled was in World War II. Since then, the rodeo had survived down years and downfalls, poor turnouts and worse weather. But COVID-19 caused the rodeo’s organizers to call it off, robbing Tucson of one of its great sporting events.
The Tucson Rodeo also got some bad news when long-time general manager Gary Williams announced his retirement last year. Even though the event is in able hands with new operations manager Stacy Madigan, Williams’ departure leaves a hole.
Sean Miller led the Wildcats to numerous big wins during his 12 seasons in Tucson.
2. Arizona men’s basketball team has rough stretch
It was a string of shocking news that a city reeling. And if not for a wondrous start by Tommy Lloyd, who knows how Arizona basketball fans would be feeling right now?
In March, a judge ordered that the UA release its NCAA Notice of Allegations. The NCAA document detailed five Level 1 violations, including ones alleging academic fraud and lack of institutional control. The Wildcats had already announced a self-imposed postseason ban, though, at 17-9 and 11-9 in Pac-12 play, it’s not as if they were headed to a top-four seed.
But a third consecutive March without Madness was weird enough; Arizona hadn’t had three straight silent springs in almost 40 years, since the very beginning of the Lute Olson era.
Then Miller was fired on April 7, and the ground shook. Fans had long anticipated Miller’s dismissal, but then it finally happened, and it was a shock.
1. Cats lose title game heartbreaker
What do they say? It’s better to have loved and lost than never have loved at all?
The Arizona women’s basketball team was already on pace for its best season ever last year, boasting the best player in program history in Aari McDonald and a capable supporting cast that ranked among the team’s best ever. This was a team that hadn’t advanced to the NCAA Tournament since 2005, so just making it to the postseason was a feat.
But then the Wildcats knocked off Stony Brook and BYU, and suddenly they were in the Sweet 16. Wins over No. 2 seed Texas A&M and No. 4 Indiana put them in the Final Four. Had it ended there, the smiles on Arizona fans’ faces would’ve stretched to Casa Grande.
Only then the Wildcats did the unthinkable and toppled mighty UConn, and now Arizona found itself in the national championship game for the first time, pit against Pac-12 rival Stanford. The Cardinal has been there before, though they sought its first title since 1992.
For a while, it appeared Stanford would cruise, jumping to a 31-24 halftime lead as Arizona scored just eight first-quarter points. The Cats fought back, though, and cut it to four with under two minutes left. UA had a chance to win at the buzzer, but strong Stanford defense forced McDonald into an errant shot in the 54-53 final.
Arizona is undefeated and ranked No. 4 this season, helping ease the pain for fans after the team came thisclose to winning it all.
