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MEMPHIS HAS LONG BEEN a basketball town. Many mark the city’s love affair with roundball as having begun with the Memphis State Tigers’ 1957 run to the finals of the National Invitation Tournament (a time when the NIT was the equal of the NCAA tournament on a national scale). A half-century later, the Bluff City finds itself with two prominent teams to fill their winter evenings, the NBA’s Memphis Grizzlies and the University of Memphis Tigers under the same arena roof at FedExForum.
The Grizzlies' tenth season in Memphis has seen the team endear themselves to Memphians as much or more than any of their previous seasons in the Bluff City. The youngest team in the NBA has exceeded all expectations, taking the team all the way to the 2011 Playoffs Semifinals. And in the process, with the help of the members of Grizz Nation, they have made FedExForum one of the best home court advantages in the league. Leading the way for the Grizzlies has been Zach Randolph, a player whose grit and relentlessness on the floor represent the toughness of the city itself. The team’s second All-Star in franchise history has been flanked by a young core of Marc Gasol, Rudy Gay, O.J. Mayo, Marc Gasol and Mike Conley, drawing the envy of teams from around the league. With Lionel Hollins at the helm and a talented young group of players with a flair for the dramatic, the wins and good times are sure to keep coming.
Fellow tenants of the FedExForum, The University of Memphis Tigers have continued their winning ways in recent seasons. Under head coach Josh Pastner’s direction the past two years, Memphis recorded consecutive 20-win seasons, won the 2011 Conference USA Tournament championship and earned back-to-back postseason berths, including a trip to the 2011 NCAA Tournament. Not only have the Tigers continued winning, but they have also been packing in the crowds at FedExForum. In 2010 and 2011, Memphis ranked eighth in the country in home attendance, averaging over 16,500 fans per game. And those numbers don’t include two over-capacity crowds (18,500) for the annual Memphis Madness, the Tigers’ preseason tip-off celebration to the last two campaigns. The excitement for Tigers basketball has been around for years, but it has reached a fever-pitch recently with the program’s unparalleled success. From 2006-09, Memphis won the most games in a four-year span in college basketball history (137 wins) and also posted the most victories for a single season with 38 in 2007-08. That same year, the Tigers advanced to the NCAA National Championship Game. Recent players have also gone on to NBA careers with the likes of Derrick Rose, Tyreke Evans, Elliot Williams, Joey Dorsey and Chris Douglas-Roberts carrying the Tigers’ banner in the professional ranks. Rose (2009) and Evans (2010) received back-to-back NBA Rookie of the Year awards, while Rose became the NBA’s youngest MVP in 2011.
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When the weather gets warmer and the seasons begin to change, so do the sporting events we attend. What better way to transition from spring to summer than catching a Memphis Redbirds game along the way? As the Triple-A affiliate of the St. Louis Cardinals since 1998, the Redbirds are the first and only professional sports franchise to be recognized as a charity (501C3). Their mission is to improve the lives of the children in our community through programs like RBI (Returning Baseball to the Inner-City) and STRIPES (Sports Teams Returning In the Public Education System).
In both 2009 and 2010, the Redbirds played for the Pacific Coast League Championship and are ready for another winning season this year. The 2011 Redbirds season includes 12 fireworks shows, giveaways, theme nights, and entertainment acts with a fun, affordable, family atmosphere. Check out AutoZone Park, voted the nation’s top minor league park by Baseball America, and make your summer a memorable one!
The grand opening of FedExPark will herald the return to national prominence of the University of Memphis Tigers baseball program. The new stadium and clubhouse, which is located on the University's Park Avenue Campus, feature new locker rooms, offices, meeting rooms, indoor hitting and pitching areas, and equipment and training rooms in the clubhouse. The stadium has a new press facility, concession and rest room areas and dugouts for the teams. A new ticketing area and grand entrance way are located adjacent to the leftfield parking lot and help offer fans a wonderful game day experience. Coach Daron Schoenrock and his Tigers begin the college baseball season in February and 2010 opponents playing in Memphis include nationally-ranked Rice University, Ole Miss, East Carolina and Tulane.
Each fall the Memphis Tiger football team returns to kickoff a new season in the Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium (which also hosts two major annual events, the Southern Heritage Classic in September and the AutoZone Liberty Bowl Classic around New Year’s). The 2011 season will mark the second season for head coach Larry Porter and his staff. A former Memphis Tiger running back, Porter returned in 2010 to Memphis after a stellar coaching career at Oklahoma State University and LSU, where he was honored as the National Recruiter of the Year in 2006 and 2008. The Memphis football team has participated in a post-season bowl game in five of the last eight seasons, twice as many as the program had attended during the entire 20th century. Annual contests at the Liberty Bowl include such opponents as the University of Tennessee, Mississippi State University, University of Louisville, Duke University, as well as Conference USA members Southern Mississippi, East Carolina, Houston and SMU. Among the former Tigers playing in the NFL are tailback DeAngelo Williams (Carolina Panthers), Stephen Gostkowski (New England Patriots), Tony Brown (Tennessee Titans), Isaac Bruce (San Francisco 49ers) and Brandon McDonald (Cleveland Browns).
The University of Memphis men's and women's tennis teams have recently moved to the Racquet Club of Memphis. The Club and the University have signed a contract which makes the Racquet Club the home facility for the Tiger tennis teams. New locker rooms and a player's lounge have been constructed for the teams. The Racquet Club offers the Tigers both indoor and outdoor courts for competition and practice.
Aside from all the team sports that make the city buzz, there are annual events that make certain months a bit louder, from one venue to another. In February, The Racquet Club of Memphis hosts both the men’s and women’s professional tennis tours. In 2009, the men’s event gained prestige as one of ten 500-level events in the world (a tier below only nine 1000-point tournaments). With The Racquet Club under new ownership, the Regions Morgan Keegan Championship took new strides in a sport that never seems to lose popularity, even with international dominance on the men’s tour. In 2011, amid a bevy of tennis top seeds that included Fernado Verdasco and Mardy Fish, Andy Roddick claimed the Championship title.
If you prefer a view from the tee, Memphis is home to 18 area golf courses and numerous regional courses only a short drive away, including Mirimichi, the first course to receive a Classic Sanctuary award from Audubon International. Annual golfing events abound, with the Memphis Golf Association currently staging five championship tournaments and one Pro-Am.
For more than half a century now, Memphis has hosted an annual stop on the PGA Tour, with TPC Southwind hosting the event each summer since 1989. Lee Westwood won the 2010 FedEx St. Jude Classic in an long and exciting playoff. (The 2011 event will take place June 6-12.)