Bordow: Tucson teams either losing or leaving

As I drove down Interstate 10 Sunday for the Arizona State-Arizona basketball game, workers were putting up a huge sign just inside the city limits:

“Welcome to Tucson. Kick me.”

To be a sports fan in the Old Pueblo these days is to wallow in misery.

Consider:

•The Wildcats’ football team has lost three straight games to the Sun Devils, and coach Mike Stoops can’t open his mouth without inserting his foot into it.

His comment that ASU has “turned into a JC school,” — he was frustrated running back Ryan Bass and wide receivers Jarrell Barbour and Gerell Robinson reneged on their verbal commitment and signed with the Devils — was as ridiculous as his sideline antics.

(Memo to Stoops: You’re making a fool of yourself and embarrassing your university. And to think, you were supposed to make Wildcat fans forget John Mackovic, not long for him).

•Arizona’s basketball team was swept by ASU, which happens about as often as Lute Olson has a hair out of place. Or, come to think about it, as often as Bill Frieder’s hair is in place.

• The Sun Devil women also swept their counterparts down south, and coach Charli Turner Thorne did it with a former Tucson high school star, Sybil Dosty.

If you’re wondering, the last time ASU skunked Arizona in football, men’s basketball and women’s basketball in a single season was 1981-82.

“I think Geronimo and Cochise were in the area,” former ASU coach Frank Kush said.

It’s not just the Wildcats who are suffering from an inferiority complex. The entire city is on a losing streak.

Cactus League teams are racing to leave Tucson. The Chicago White Sox would like to skip town as early as next year to join the Los Angeles Dodgers in Goodyear, but they have to find a replacement team to get out of their contract.

So far, they haven’t found any takers.

(That has to make a city feel good about itself).

Once the White Sox leave, the Diamondbacks will be sure to follow, and the Colorado Rockies want major upgrades to Hi Corbett Field.

There’s a good chance that in five years, Tucson won’t have a Cactus League team to call its own.

Even the Tucson Sidewinders, the Diamondbacks’ Class AAA affiliate, are packing up their bats and balls and getting out of Dodge. They’ll play in Reno, Nev. beginning in 2009.

“It has to be as bad as it’s ever been,” longtime Arizona Daily Star sports columnist Greg Hansen said. “And there’s no Lute to fall back on.”

To be fair, there is one thing the Tucson sports scene has that the Valley doesn’t:

Tiger Woods.

He’s allergic to the FBR Open, but he’ll play in the Accenture Match Play championship next week at Dove Mountain.

Knowing how things are going in the Old Pueblo, however, he’ll likely get eliminated in the first round.

I asked Kush, hater of all things UA, if he’s enjoying the Wildcats’ comeuppance:

“Oh, yeah,” he said. “They’ve had their good years. Now we’re having one of ours.”

I could almost see his smile over the phone.

Tucson will eventually snap out of its funk. These sorts of things run in cycles.

Unless, of course, you’re talking about Rose Bowl appearances.

Losing Football

Dec. 1: ASU 20, UA 17

Men’s basketball

Jan. 9: ASU 64, UA 59

Feb. 10: ASU 59, UA 54

Women’s basketball

Jan. 12: ASU 75, UA 65

Feb. 8: ASU 67, UA 64

Leaving

• D-Backs’ Triple-A affiliate Tucson Sidewinders are moving to Reno, Nev., for 2009 season

• Chicago White Sox have deal to move spring training to Goodyear

• Diamondbacks have said they may leave Tucson if they are only one of two Cactus League teams in town