March Madness: Where is the men’s Final Four being played in 2024?

Here’s where the Final Four is this year.

The Final Four is the pinnacle of sports. It’s the climax of arguably the greatest tournament in sports. This is what March Madness boils down to —these games matter most.

Since these are the games that matter most, hosting them matters a lot, too. Like the Super Bowl, it’s a big deal when a city books the Final Four of the NCAA tournament. It brings so many people into town. It generates so much business. It also gives your city an unforgettable moment.

SURVIVOR POOL: Free to enter. $2,500 to win. Can you survive the madness?

This year the host city is Phoenix, Arizona. The games will be played at State Farm Stadium on April 6 and April 8 according to the NCAA’s schedule.

Phoenix has hosted the Final Four before. The last time it happened was in 2017, when North Carolina, Gonzaga, Oregon, and South Carolina advanced to the final.

UNC beat Gonzaga 71-65 in the championship game to win its sixth NCAA championship and its last one under Roy Williams.

Might that be a good omen for Hubert Davis and UNC this year? We’ll just have to find out.

IT’S BRACKET MADNESS: Enter USA TODAY’s NCAA tournament bracket contest for a chance at $1 million prize.

Expert reveals top five snakes encountered in Phoenix area

Atop the list, to no surprise, is a type of rattlesnake that is “quick to be defensive, and quite venomous.”

A company that specializes in catching and relocating snakes in Phoenix and Tucson metro areas on Monday tweeted a list of the top five types of snakes encountered by residents.

Bryan Hughes of Rattlesnake Solutions stated that the list is based on “15,000-plus snake relocation calls and almost as many identification requests.”

It might come as a relief that only one of the snakes is venomous. The list, with species details gleaned from the Rattlesnake Solutions website:

Western diamondback rattlesnake: “Can be found anywhere where neighborhoods get close to native desert habitat. These are sometimes called ‘coon-tail’ rattlesnakes. They can be identified by the rattle, white-and-black striped tail, and white-lined diamond pattern on the back.

“They are generally quick to be defensive, and quite venomous, so keep your distance and leave it alone if encountered.”

Sonoran gophersnake: “Next to the Western Diamondback, the gophersnake may be the most commonly snake seen in Arizona. This is not only due to it being incredibly common, but also because it has adapted very well to life in the city.

“They can be very large, with adults commonly exceeding 5′ or more in length. They are often mistaken for rattlesnakes because of their superficial likeness, and tendency to quickly become defensive when approached.”

Kingsnake: “Kingsnakes are medium-sized, harmless snakes. Adults in the Phoenix area are commonly in the 3′ range, with exceptional animals approaching 4′. They are generally considered as beneficial snakes, regardless of fondness for snakes, since they regularly prey on rattlesnakes.”

Desert nightsnake:  “Nightsnakes are the most common snake to see inside of the home, in our experience. They are great at getting into small cracks and even get through pipes, and end up on kitchen counters, in bathroom sinks, and all kinds of surprising places.

They are very small, generally less than a foot long, and are often mistaken as baby rattlesnakes due to their triangular head and vertical eye slits. In fact, they are completely harmless, and it would be a challenge to try to get one to try and bite.”

Long-nosed snake: “The Long-Nosed Snake is usually patterned with speckled black and white bands, with varying amounts of red or orange coloration. In addition to being often mistaken for a Kingsnake, this snake is frequently misidentified as a Sonoran Coralsnake. Long-nosed snakes are completely harmless, and almost never bite, even if provoked to an extreme level.”

Arizona has dozens of types of snakes, including 19 different rattlesnake species. Rattlesnake Solutions offers free identification for residents who can provide an image of the snake they’ve encountered.

–Western diamondback rattlesnake image courtesy of the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service

Check the yardage book: TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course for the 2024 WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour

No. 16 is famous, but how does the rest of TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course shape up?

There’s a lot more to the Stadium Course at TPC Scottsdale than the famed 16th, the par 3 lined by grandstands and site of this week’s party at the WM Phoenix Open. Here’s your chance to see how the rest of the course sets up for the 2024 version of the PGA Tour event.

The Stadium Course opened in 1986 with a design by the team of Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish. It was renovated in 2014. The site of a Tour event since 1987, the layout will play to 7,261 yards with a par of 71 this week.

The layout ranks No. 4 in Arizona on Golfweek’s Best list of top public-access layouts in each state. It also ties for No. 83 on Golfweek’s Best list of top resort courses in the U.S.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course.

Brian Deegan set for Nitrocross Group E debut in Phoenix

Brian Deegan will make his Nitrocross Group E debut driving for Dreyer & Reinbold JC at the next event at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix on November 10-11 It will mark a return to rallycross-like motorsport for off-road racing veteran …

Brian Deegan will make his Nitrocross Group E debut driving for Dreyer & Reinbold JC at the next event at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park in Phoenix on November 10-11

It will mark a return to rallycross-like motorsport for off-road racing veteran Deegan, who previously competed in Global Rallycross between 2011-16, but has more recently been supporting his childrens’ motorsport endeavours, including NASCAR driver Hailie Deegan while competing in off-road truck racing as well as making occasional appearances in Nitrocross’ Side-by-Side class.

[lawrence-auto-related count=3 category=6940]

“I’m really looking forward to this new challenge,” said Deegan. “Nitrocross is a whole different animal, but I love pushing my limits and trying new things. Dreyer & Reinbold Racing has a strong track record winning the team championship along with going 1-2-3 in the driver’s championships, and I believe this partnership will be a winning one.”

After a decorated career on two wheels – which included 10 X Games medals across Freestyle Motocross, Step Up, and Best Trick – he joined a number of his contemporaries, including motocross rival and Nitrocross founder Travis Pastrana in switching to four wheels. There he added four more X Games medals in Rally Car Racing and Rallycross, including a gold for his maiden win in the discipline in Los Angeles at the end of 2011.

Deegan won his most recent rallycross race, at the Port of LA in 2016. Larry Chen/Red Bull Content Pool

Across three full-time and three part-time campaigns in GRC with Olsbergs MSE and later with Chip Ganassi Racing, Deegan took 18 podium finishes from 42 GRC starts, including a string of five consecutively in 2012 en route to second in the championship behind Tanner Foust. His second, and most recent event win came at his most recent start, the 2016 GRC finale.

“We are elated to have Brian Deegan join our team for Rounds 4 and 5 of the 2023-24 Nitrocross season,” said Dennis Reinbold, team owner of Dreyer & Reinbold Racing. “Brian’s fearless attitude and his drive to conquer new challenges are qualities that resonate deeply with our team. We believe that this collaboration will ignite the racing world with excitement and intensity.”

Deegan completes a 10-car field for rounds four and five of the 2023-24 Nitrocross season, filling the seat held by IndyCar and NASCAR driver Conor Daly for the first three rounds of the year. XITE Energy Racing is also set to drop down to a single-car entry for team owner Oliver Bennett, having fielded five-time World Rally winner Kris Meeke and four-time U.S. rallycross champion Tanner Foust so far this season.

Where to play golf around Phoenix and Scottsdale: Golfweek’s Best 2023 public-access courses

Phoenix and Scottsdale are stacked with great public-access golf options. Which are best?

Arizona is home to a great selection of desert golf courses, and most of those are centered around Phoenix and Scottsdale. But which are the best?

Thanks to Golfweek’s Best annual rankings of top public-access courses in each state, we can break out the highest-ranked layouts in the Phoenix and Scottsdale area. For the purpose of this exercise, we limited driving time to about an hour from Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. (We used Google Maps for its drive times, keying in the courses on a mid-afternoon – take all drive times around the Valley of the Sun with a grain of salt, of course.)

There are other options not included here, courses that were beyond that hour limit. If you have a little more time for the drive, Wickenburg Ranch’s Big Wick course ranks No. 2 among all public-access courses in the state, but it’s about 90 minutes northwest of the airport. Similar story for several strong options in Tucson about two hours to the southeast.

A little background on how we do this: The hundreds of members of our course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them on 10 criteria on a points basis of 1 through 10. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings are averaged to produce all our Golfweek’s Best course rankings.

The courses on this list allow public access in some fashion, be it standard daily green fees, through a resort or by staying at an affiliated hotel. If there’s a will, there’s a tee time – no membership required.

Keep scrolling to see how they stack up, and check out the accompanying map to get a handle on roughly where everything is located.

Phoenix golf map 2023
(Google Earth/Golfweek)

Golfweek’s Best 2023: Top 50 casino golf courses in the U.S.

Up for a great mix of casino fun and golf?

Welcome to Golfweek’s Best 2023 Casino Courses in the United States. This list focuses on courses owned and/or operated by or in conjunction with casinos, with data pulled from Golfweek‘s massive database of course rankings.

The hundreds of members of Golfweek‘s course-ratings panel continually evaluate courses and rate them based on our 10 criteria. They also file a single, overall rating on each course. Those overall ratings on each course are averaged to produce a final rating for each that is then used to compile the Golfweek’s Best course rankings.

Listed with each course below is its average rating, location, designer(s) and whether the course is modern (m, built in or after 1960) or classic (c, built before 1960).

* New or returning to the list

Kalitta, Alexander, Cuadra lead Friday NHRA Phoenix qualifiers

Top Fuel veteran Doug Kalitta is in line for his second straight No. 1 qualifier position in Phoenix, powering to the provisional top spot on Friday at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. Blake Alexander (Funny Car) and …

Top Fuel veteran Doug Kalitta is in line for his second straight No. 1 qualifier position in Phoenix, powering to the provisional top spot on Friday at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park. Blake Alexander (Funny Car) and Cristian Cuadra (Pro Stock, pictured above) were also provisional No. 1 qualifiers.

Kalitta, who has 49 career Top Fuel victories, went 3.679-seconds at 330.23 mph in his 11,000-horsepower Mac Tools dragster to go to No. 1. Should it hold, Kalitta would pick up his first No. 1 qualifier since last year in Phoenix and the 52nd in his career. It marks another strong moment in the early part of the season for the veteran. He struggled a year ago, including a first-round upset in Phoenix last year, but is motivated for a big turnaround in 2023.

“The car was strong and to go out and run a 3.67 was pretty cool,” Kalitta said. “My guys have been working their tails off on this thing and we’re super hungry to make it happen. There’s no better place to do it than here because we love coming to Phoenix.

“Last year was just one of those years. For whatever reason, the car just wasn’t happy, and it wasn’t responding to what we were doing. It was a long year, but I think all the changes and everything we’ve made have been paying off. Hopefully we’ll just stay on a nice roll.”

Kalitta will also be part of Saturday’s first Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge, which offers a bonus purse and bonus playoff points, plus competitive racing during qualifying. It includes semifinal rematches from the previous race, including Kalitta taking on Steve Torrence and Gainesville winner Mike Salinas racing Leah Pruett. Salinas is currently qualified second with a 3.689 at 335.73, with Austin Prock’s 3.696 at 330.31 putting him third.

Alexander made the most of his one pass on Friday in Funny Car, going to the top in his 11,000-horsepower Pronto/Head Inc. Ford Mustang with a run of 3.927 at 322.50. If that holds, Alexander would earn his first No. 1 qualifier in a loaded Funny Car class, as the talented driver made one of only two three-second runs during the session. After a first-round loss to open the year, it was also a positive move in the right direction.

“We came out today with the mindset of we didn’t do that well on Friday in Gainesville. In fact, we lit the car on fire, and we just wanted to get down the track today,” Alexander said. “It turned out to be a nice ending for us. We work really, really hard and even when you have a bad weekend you work extra hard. So we’re happy. We know what this car needs and we just need to keep moving forward.”

Chad Green, who is competing in Saturday’s Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge, is currently second after going 3.952 at 319.29 and Terry Haddock is third with a 4.044 at 308.14. Green will face off with J.R. Todd in the Challenge, while Matt Hagan takes on Alexis DeJoria in a semifinal rematch from Gainesville.

In an impressive Pro Stock qualifying session, Cristian Cuadra went to the top position, closing in on his first career No.1 qualifier with a run of 6.552 at 210.24 in his Corral Boots Ford Mustang. Cuadra has advanced to one final round in his career but hasn’t finished on top in qualifying. That could change this weekend in Phoenix after a strong start on Friday.

“When I saw my time slip, I was excited but I thought it wasn’t going to be No. 1 because the fast cars, Erica [Enders], Greg [Anderson], and T.J. [Troy Coughlin Jr.] all those cars are always really fast,” Cuadra said. “I was really, really amazed. Hopefully, I can keep it for tomorrow. I’m really excited. I really want to be the first Mexican to be No. 1. That’s something important for me. We want to make history in Mexico, and we’re already making it.”

Kyle Koretsky, who qualified No. 1 in Phoenix last season, is currently second after a run of 6.554 at 210.37 and KB Titan Racing teammate Dallas Glenn is right behind thanks to a run of 6.556 at 210.11. The Mission #2Fast2Tasty NHRA Challenge matchups include Troy Coughlin Jr. racing Glenn, and Mason McGaha taking on Greg Anderson.

Qualifying continues at 12 p.m. MT on Saturday at the NHRA Arizona Nationals at Wild Horse Pass Motorsports Park.

TV ratings: Gainesville, Phoenix

March Madness is heating up, which means a lot more competition for sports fan’s eyeballs, but motorsports held its own. The NASCAR Cup Series round from Phoenix last Sunday afternoon averaged a 1.93 Nielsen rating and 3.389 million household …

March Madness is heating up, which means a lot more competition for sports fan’s eyeballs, but motorsports held its own.

The NASCAR Cup Series round from Phoenix last Sunday afternoon averaged a 1.93 Nielsen rating and 3.389 million household viewers on FOX, per numbers from ShowBuzzDaily.com. That was down from a 2.33/3.991m for this race last year, and from a 2.22/3.991m for the previous week’s race in Las Vegas.

NHRA’s Camping World Drag Racing Series launched its season at Gainesville on FOX, and averaged a 0.58 and 945,000 viewers. Additional coverage on FS1 bumped up the total race day audience to 1.12m, the highest ever for the Gatornationals during the FOX era, according to the sanctioning body. Last year’s finals were delayed on FS1 and averaged 0.28/458,000.

The NASCAR Xfinity Series race at Phoenix on Saturday averaged a 0.60 and 1.025m viewers on FS1, down from 0.70/1.087 last year. The ARCA Menards Series race at Phoenix on Friday night averaged 0.12/172,000 on FS2.

Check the yardage book: TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course for the 2023 WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour

StrackaLine offers hole-by-hole maps of TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, including its famous 16th that becomes the scene of a giant party.

TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course, site of the 2023 WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour, was designed by the team of Tom Weiskopf and Jay Morrish and opened in 1986. It was renovated in 2014.

The Stadium Course has been the site of a Tour event since 1987. It will play to 7,261 yards with a par of 71 this week.

The layout ranks No. 4 in Arizona on Golfweek’s Best list of top public-access layouts in each state. It ties for No. 75 on Golfweek’s Best list of top resort courses in the U.S., and it ties for No. 94 among all public-access layouts in the U.S.

Thanks to yardage books provided by StrackaLine – the maker of detailed yardage books for thousands of courses around the world – we can see exactly the challenges the pros face this week at TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course.

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The Super Bowl, the WM Phoenix Open and you: Check out the top 10 public-access courses near Phoenix-Scottsdale

The Valley of the Sun offers plenty of great public-access golf courses.

Headed to the Phoenix/Scottsdale area for the annual giant party that is the WM Phoenix Open on the PGA Tour? Maybe you scored a ticket to watch the Eagles square off against the Chiefs in Super Bowl 57 at State Farm Stadium in nearby Glendale? Perhaps you’re one of the truly lucky ones planning to attend both?

Then pack your golf clubs because the Valley of the Sun offers plenty of great public-access golf courses. For most of the year, we recommend you start with these top 10 in the area. Of course, only nine are really options for the week of the Super Bowl and WM Phoenix Open, as TPC Scottsdale’s Stadium Course is booked to host the pros, but you get the idea.

Golfweek’s Best ranks courses around the world, utilizing a pool of more than 800 course raters. The most popular rankings list in the program is the Best Courses You Can Play list for public-access layouts in each state. To analyze the top 10 public-access courses around the Phoenix and Scottsdale area, we started with those rankings for all of Arizona. Then we included only those courses within a 90-minute drive of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, which sits about halfway between TPC Scottsdale and State Farm Stadium.

But don’t consider these your only options. Check out even more great courses in Arizona on the state-by-state public-access list. But be ready to pay a premium for a tee time the week of the Super Bowl and PGA Tour event, as many courses in the valley utilize fluctuating on-demand pricing all year, and all the courses will see a spike in demand on what will be the busiest week of the year.

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