Opinion

By KYLE McDANIEL Sports card collecting is a shrinking market, as fewer kids have an interest in them.  Matt Mortenson, owner of OverTime Sports, a sports collectible shop on Speedway Boulevard weighed in.  “The biggest factor I think is kids have phones, iPads and so many other avenues besides cards, so it’s not as cool as it was when I was a kid,” he said.  With the increased awareness about how some sports will leave you with health issues later on in life, parents are enrolling their children in other activities.  Over the last seven years, children ages 6 to 12 that didn’t participated in team sports was about 44 percent, according to the Aspen Institute, an educational blog. That doesn’t mean they don’t watch it, but when you play the sport, you get more connected to it.  When...

By ERIK MEDINA  I believe that representation allows us to move toward equality, and it is what I feel most minority groups desire.  The year 2018 was great for representation for many minority groups. “Crazy Rich Asians” and “Black Panther” broke boundaries. Both films have most, if not all, actors of minority descent.  “CRA” was the first major theatrical release to have an all-Asian cast since “The Joy Luck Club,” which was released in 1993. “Black Panther” also showed hiring minorities doesn’t jeopardize a film’s success. The film predominately was cast with black actors and had a variety of people of color working behind the scenes such as director Ryan Coogler.  Aside from ethnicity, we also saw more female-led films such as “Oceans Eight” and “A Simple Favor.” Both films portray...

 By JOE GIDDENS Welcome to a New Year and a new semester. The start of a New Year is often viewed as a blank slate of endless possibility, the chance for rebirth and self improvement with New Year’s resolutions.  Or you could decide to forego all of that and double down on your previous choices.   Prior to November’s midterms, Arizona Republicans occupied all statewide elected offices, held both chambers of the Legislature and a majority of the congressional seats. The blue wave hit, eroding away much of these holdings.  Republican Sen. Jeff Flake was replaced at the polls by a Democrat for the first time in 30 years. A similar trend occurred throughout the midterms in Arizona, a state that Trump won in 2016 by 4 points.  Faced with the trend of an increasingly purple state, two opti...

By Kyle McDaniel   Raise your hand if you’re tired of seeing the New England Patriots, Alabama College Football and now to some extent the Golden State Warriors, win year after year after year. It gets old fast especially if you’re a fan of a rival team, or just look for the league to be competitive.   For example, I am a Miami Dolphin fan. I have to see Brady, Belicheat (as I call him) and the Patriots twice a year, every year. Then add the Patriots winning their division, the AFC East 14 out of the last 15 years and you get quite discouraged, yet hopeful as a Dolphin fan.   Hopeful because you know both Belichick and Brady had to retire at some point, which will then make your division and even the whole AFC more competitive.   The Patriots have been to 8 out ...