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.