After a few lousy weather days, the sun was out on a beautiful Sunday morning in Austin for the AT&T Austin Marathon. It ran along Congress heading south and then wound around the city before ending back on Congress a few blocks south of the Capital Building. As possible newcomers to the area, we were taken with the spirit of those who not only ran but came to enjoy the scene.

Yes, it’s the first week of February and baseball is back. Here in Arizona, after a long cold period (40 is cold here), the sun is out, it’s 70 and baseball is in the air. Down by Chase Field, the Arizona Diamondbacks hob-knobbed with the fans in their annual fan fest. This year, it was a better organized event than last year with player autograph tables set up inside the park with a few interactive stands outside. Maybe I am sounding like a “homer,” but the Diamondback players seem to be a fairly nice group of guys that are patient with their adoring fans.

Featured here are a host of players: Conor Jackson, Chad Tracy, Orlando Hudson, Mark Reynolds, Chris Young, Stephen Drew, etc…

The day before the big game, the Valley (of the Sun) is full of events related to Super Bowl 42. There are parties (to which we are not invited), private functions (such as one hosted by Chris Berman) and events such as two flag football games for charity. We went to the Celebrity Flag Football Challenge which was hosted by former NFL star, Doug Flutie (on behalf of his charity). For some unknown reason, the game was out in Surprise at the spring training home of the Royals and Rangers.

The game was really fun with DMC performing at halftime. We actually arrived at halftime and missed the Flutie Brothers Band but saw the second half which featured Flutie, Chad Johnson, Willis McGahee, A.J. Feeley and others…

I am truly impressed with how the NFL players handle themselves with the fans. They are far more cordial and natural and don’t seemed annoyed by the fan worship. Cardinals kicker Neil Rackers stood in the concourse and chatted with fans for 10-15 minutes just having a good time.

We finally got into the Super Bowl 42 mix by attending the NFL Experience down by the University of Phoenix Stadium, site of the big game.

It was a long, and I mean long walk from the parking lot adjacent to the event and the line for folks waiting to buy tickets was outrageous and wouldn’t be surprised if it was a 90 minute wait, and this was late in the afternoon.  We had to wait in a short line for will call tickets.

Once inside, it was crowded, but well organized. The “Experience”  included a number of interactive events (kicking, throwing, running, catching) that also had long lines, exhibits of such things as uniforms throughout the years and sponsored booths featuring current and former NFL players. That was our main focus.

This video includes: Chad Johnson, Brayon Edwards, Reggie Wayne, Antonio Gates, Marc Bulger, Alex Smith and a host of others. The players were all friendly and some even talked on fans’ cell phones, saying their hellos to jealous friends “back home.”

The NFL Experience is still going today, but it would not be someplace I’d want to be near given the traffic, crowds, etc.. We’re off to another SB 42 event.

Our last encounter with the RedBall Project came as part of the Super Bowl 42 festivities. Well, maybe not exactly, but we saw it about a block from the ESPN stage at the Scottsdale Waterfront and in the middle of SB42 Party Central. The ball was outside the Bentley Gallery as part of the Thursday night “artwalk” which is different than the Super Bowl Artwalk scheduled for Feb 2.