With the NFL Pro Bowl being played in Glendale, Arizona followed by Super Bowl XLIX the week after, the list of local parties and events is too long to list. The downtown Phoenix area, Old Town Scottsdale and Westgate (which is next to the University of Phoenix stadium) were the three main locations where things took place. The list would include parties thrown by Playboy, Maxim, Yelp, and ESPN to name a few. Hosts and appearances included performers and athletes alike such as Nelly, Snoop Dogg, Jordin Sparks, Larry Fitzgerald, Drake, Odell Beckham Jr. and Patrick Peterson among others. The town was abuzz as it became a two week party. While I will not make a list of the parties and events I attended, I do want to share details regarding one of them.
I had the pleasure recently of attending the Tazon Latino IX
at the Phoenix Convention Center a few days prior to the big game.The Tazon Latino hit close to home for me due to it being part of the NFL's effort to grow its audience in the Latino Community. It is a flag football game involving former NFL stars as well as Latino celebrities. On the field we saw Mark Brunell,
Torry Holt, Tony Gonzalez, Warrick Dunn, Derrick Brooks, Jake Plummer, Fred Taylor and Deion Sanders. Arizona
Cardinals Michael Floyd and Patrick Peterson were the coaches. As for
the actual game, the purple team led by Deion, who just like in his
playing days appeared faster than everyone else on the field, ultimately
won and did so convincingly by a final score of 46-24. The game was
emceed by former Arizona Cardinal and the first player ever to be
drafted from a university in Mexico,
Rolando Cantu. It was well organized and a blast to attend but the memorable part was Deion's take on it:
"Blending cultures, blending ethnicities and we have a great time doing it."
I'm considering attending next year's Super Bowl and you can bet that if I do, I will look into Tazon Latino X as well.
