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👋 GOOD MORNING
Thursday, Dec. 12, 2024 — Happy Thursday! It’s an even happier Thursday in the Arizona sports landscape given the news from the Suns that Kevin Durant is nearing a return, expected to be back this weekend. Phoenix’s struggles without him have been well documented: They are 9-2 with him in the lineup, and 1-9 without.
While we’re talking Suns, tip of the cap to head coach Mike Budenholzer, who announced yesterday he’s launching “Coach Bud’s Assists for Hunger,” which is aimed at combatting hunger across the state. For every Suns assist this season he’s donating 15 dollars to St. Vincent de Paul, with a minimum of $25,000 committed to fight food scarcity.
Budenholzer partnered with St. Vincent de Paul during his time as head coach in both Atlanta and Milwaukee, and he’s continuing that relationship after returning to Arizona to coach his hometown Suns. The organization provides 7,000 meals daily in Arizona alone, and plays a key role in fighting food insecurity — especially in underserved and underrepresented communities.
Hopefully Coach Bud is saving up — if the Suns continue at the pace they’re at (ranked 11th averaging 26.8 assists per game), that final check will come in at almost $33,000. Kudos to you, coach!
On to the show!
Q&A With Arizona Broadcaster Jody JAckson
If it’s happened in the Arizona sports scene, there’s a good chance Jody Jackson has been there.
Many of you probably know Jody from her incredible work as the TV broadcast host and reporter for the Arizona Diamondbacks, or perhaps from her time in the same capacity with the Arizona Coyotes (sad face). To be perfectly honest, if you’ve been paying attention to sports in The Valley at all, you have seen or heard her on basically any broadcast medium, whether it’s TV or radio.
Jackson is one of the hardest-working people in the industry, and she was kind enough to sit down and chat with the PHNX Daily for our weekly Q&A session, so let’s get right to it!
Catching Up on Current Happenings and Life After the NHL
PB: Jody, thank you so much for taking some time today. We’ll get to Arizona sports in a bit, but first of all, what are you up to right now? Where can fans watch or listen to you?
JJ: I have been up to a little bit of this, and a little bit of that. I have been doing Cardinals pre-and-postgame radio, usually about two games a month, and I really enjoy that. I also did that last year and I’ve been working for them, in some capacity, since 2001. I love that, it fuels my love of covering football.
The other thing I’ve been doing for quite a bit is filling in for some of the hosts on 98.7 Arizona Sports. I do love sports radio, it’s taking me back to my roots. My very first job in this business was at Sports Radio 560 WQAM, in the Ft. Lauderdale / Miami market. I just always go back to that. It’s how I got in, and I love it.
PB: That’s great, and it’s amazing to hear. With baseball currently in its offseason, do you get a little more time to be social?
JJ: You know from working in this business, you love it so much and you love your job a lot, but you miss a lot of things with the family. There’s so much that you miss. While I have been grieving the loss of our hockey team — and it’s been tough — I have had more time with my family, which is so great.
I didn’t really pursue a lot of things that involved travel for that reason. It’s been nice to be home. My son is playing college football at Division II Western New Mexico, and I was able to go to a bunch of those games. I was able to go to my daughter’s events in school, and her softball games, and it’s been great.
One other thing I’ve been doing is I did get involved with the Cardinals Girls Flag Football Game of the Week, and I loved that. That’s a growing sport. I did play-by-play for four of those, and I did some Red Mountain football. I’m doing some play-by-play, and probably over the winter here and into February I’ll do some baseball and softball, so I’m expanding my skill set.
The Good and Bad from Valley Football This Season
PB: That’s incredible! Speaking of football, what do you make of the rollercoaster ride that has been the Arizona Cardinals?
JJ: It’s been a fun football season. It’s crazy how as a sports fan you can feel so positive and optimistic one minute, and then things take a turn. The Cardinals went into their bye at 6-4, and now they’ve lost three straight. There’s still some hope, they have played pretty good ball at times. I think they’ve been surprising at times, but unfortunately this losing streak has come at the worst possible time, now in December, to be hitting this little rut.
PB: In happier football news, have you enjoyed the Sun Devils’ march to the College Football Playoff?
JJ: What the Sun Devils are doing has been so much fun to watch. My husband played at ASU (Chad Ackerley), and he and his former teammates, who played there in the 90s, they were able to get together and a bunch of them went to the Big 12 Championship. My son went, as well. Back in the day when I met my husband, we would go to the games every week. I was covering them at that time, too. Then, Saturdays become really involved with your own children, so it has really been such a galvanizing experience.
The fact that the Sun Devils were picked last this year, and then to get to the College Football Playoff, it’s an incredible story. That has to dominate the minds of sports fans here. I understand U of A fans probably aren’t really enjoying it, but if you’ve been here in The Valley for a long time, or if you’re a Sun Devils fan, or at least don’t hate the Sun Devils, you’re feeling good about that. Really rooting for them to go ahead and beat Texas or Clemson in Atlanta.
PB: Your work on radio certainly makes you stay in tune with all of Arizona sports. What’s your take on the Suns?
JJ: I’ve covered all the sports through the years here. When I came here in 2000, I covered literally everything, from golf, to NASCAR, to the Mercury and the Suns. I’ve been keeping up on the Suns. It’s been disappointing, what they have been doing without Kevin Durant. You felt like they had a lot of depth coming into this season, and all of a sudden that’s withered away. I’m hoping they get back on track. It’s still early, but I felt like we said that last year. With them it seems to be injuries. It’s all about the injuries.
Can the D-Backs Keep Pace with the Big Spenders?
PB: Of course, you are extremely well known for your incredible work on D-Backs broadcasts. This is an interesting offseason — what do you make of it?
JJ: The D-Backs, 89 wins should have been enough to get into the playoffs last season. I know the pitching really struggled, and I know the last week was pretty horrible, but it was a really fun season. I had such a great time just covering that team, and the moments they had, and the players, the way they performed, whether it was Geno Suárez, Christian Walker, Corbin Carroll, it goes on and on. There were some great moments, and it’s just a shame, if you don’t make the playoffs, no one really remembers that team.
But, for me, they’ll be remembered as the highest scoring team in the league. They deserve their flowers for that, but it didn’t get them into the playoffs. Despite the craziness of this offseason, and losing some potentially really good players as we speak — the rumor is the Yankees want Christian Walker — I’m hopeful. I’m hopeful they will batten down the hatches and go back to where they were before they became this offensive juggernaut. If they tighten up the pitching, and they stay tight with their defense, it could make up for the loss of some offense.
PB: There’s been a lot of discussion around Juan Soto’s massive deal with the New York Mets. Is that bad for baseball?
JJ: The numbers have been going higher, and higher, and there has been concern for smaller market teams. I’ll say this as a disclaimer: Small market teams continue to surprise people and get into the playoffs and make some noise. But now, as it reaches these monstrous numbers, especially with the deferred money situations that you see the Dodgers doing a lot of, I think there’s a real concern there.
With Soto, that’s not the case, it’s just big, big numbers. I think there is a concern, of course. How will small market teams continue to compete? There are questions about that. I guess what gives me hope, though, is they have done it. Teams like, I know Milwaukee has not had success in the playoffs at all, including losing to the D-Backs in 2023, but this is a team that’s very, very good year in and year out with a lower payroll. Then you see the D-Backs, last year, they were at their highest ever, above $170 million.
I remain hopeful, but the Soto contract in particular, it just makes you shake your head. You wonder, what is 15 years going to look like for a player? You know when you have that kind of money to spend, it makes things that don’t make that much sense a reality.
I know it certainly goes against the way a lot of people would like to run their franchise, with common sense thinking around players and how they age, things like that. But, here we are, and it doesn’t appear to be changing, but you have to wonder if there isn’t something coming down the line. Baseball has shown an ability to make a lot of change in the game, but this is the one area that hasn’t changed. There’s no salary cap, and it doesn’t appear as if that’s going to happen.
Can ASU Win the Whole Darn Thing?!
PB: OK, one more and you’re off the hot seat. The Sun Devils have been doubted all year — can they make noise in the College Football Playoff?
JJ: I wouldn’t put it past them. I’ve watched more Texas this year than Clemson, and they’re a really good team. They have Quinn Ewers who gets a lot of criticism because Arch Manning is behind him, but they have a really good defense, they have explosive players, and yet, with ASU, I think, if you can possess the ball and run the ball with Cam Skattebo, honestly, there haven’t been too many times he’s been able to be stopped.
Whoever they play is going to load up to stop him, and then, Sam Leavitt and his group of receivers, who did a really good job against Iowa Sate, will need to perform. I know what the previews are going to look like, and talk about, against a blue blood team. These are teams that are almost always in that mix, usually top-10.
ASU is crashing the party.
ICYMI:
Jimmy Butler wants to be on the Suns, per reports
Diamondbacks Notes: How Will Pavin Smith factor into 2025 plans?
Full PHNX Coverage
🧢 TIP OF THE HAT BY BRANDED BILLS
The accolades continue to roll in for ASU football, as offensive coordinator Marcus Arroyo was named a finalist for the Broyles Award, which recognizes the top assistant coaches in the nation. Congrats, coach!
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