ON DECK: Cardinals say good-bye to Flagstaff

You have to feel sorry for Flagstaff.

If you have lived in Yuma long enough, you know what it was like when the San Diego Padres said adios and moved their spring training camp to Peoria.

Now Flagstaff is about to say adios to the Arizona Cardinals, who are close to moving their training camp from the Northern Arizona University campus to a facility in Glendale.

Poor Flagstaff.

What I find really interesting is the similarity between the Cardinals' and Padres' excuses for wanting to move, most of all location, travel and expense.

I also find the commentary in the Phoenix newspaper entertaining. While writers from San Diego annually bemoaned having to be in Yuma for spring training, regularly whining about a lack of nightlife, a columnist for the Arizona Republic wrote, “Sorry, Flagstaff. I'd miss the wailing trains and occasional waft of skunk as much as the next guy. But we can do without training camp in the pine trees.”

And, “By old-school standards, Flagstaff is considered a jewel among cow pastures.”

Ouch!