It's that time again! Friday morning and I was handed a stack of baseball tickets for games this weekend!  Four tickets for each game!

So, if you want to see the Wildcats do their thing against California this weekend, enter below. I'll draw winners at 1 p.m. You have to be able to pick the tickets up from our office near the Foothills Mall sometime before we lock the doors at 5 p.m.

We've got four tickets to Wednesday night's Diamondbacks game against the Texas Rangers.The game starts at 6:40 p.m at Chase Field in Phoenix. We'll draw the winner Wednesday ("tomorrow" from when this was published, "today" when most of you will see it) at Noon. You have to be able to pick the tickets up at our office (located near the Foothills Mall) between when we get in touch with you at Noon and when we lock the doors at 5 p.m. (Though you should probably be on the road before then). Enter below:

Update: And, they're all accounted for. Thanks for playing!

Busy tonight? We've got two pairs of tickets for tonight's game—which starts at 7:10 p.m. at Chase Field in Phoenix—waiting for you. 

The first two people to email me ([email protected]) will each get two tickets. Make the subject line of the email read "Beat the Giants," and more importantly make sure you have time to pick the tickets up at our office, near the Foothills Mall, before we lock up at 5 p.m. (although you should probably be on your way to the game before then). Good luck!

Hey there, sports fan! I bet you want to go see the Wildcats play some baseball. Well, good news—you've got a couple of chances to do that! We've got four tickets to tomorrow's game against USC at 6 p.m. and four tickets to Saturday's game against USC at noon. 

Just click on the link above for the game you want to go to and fill out the form. Fill 'em both out, I don't care! We'll be drawing for the April 2 game today at 4 p.m., and we'll draw the winner for the April 4 game at 10 a.m. tomorrow. Our office is located near the Foothills Mall. We're open from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., so make sure you're able to pick up the tickets.

Good luck!

Ahead of the UA's game against Xavier in the Sweet 16 at 7:17 p.m. tonight, the UA News Service tells the story of Synergy Sports Technologies, which compiles extraordinarily precise highlight reels so that coaches can get a look at their opponents' strengths and weaknesses:

With Synergy's services, teams are able to go back and watch footage of any game, and they are supplied with a plethora of statistics both basic and advanced. Coaches have the potential to view what their team did in every possible situation.

Here's how specific it can get: If the UA coaching staff wants to examine all of the team’s possessions with less than 4 seconds on the shot clock, or any of T.J. McConnell’s steals, or all of the times the team scored off of an inbound pass, it’s no problem. For most people, that would mean hours of tedious video editing, but Synergy clients can have matching video clips in a matter of seconds.

"Synergy probably has the biggest database of college basketball video anywhere," Mossman said. "The way it works is: We grab the video via satellite or we have the teams upload it if the game isn't televised, and then we take that video and we cut it, edit it, record the stats and then — most importantly — catalog and index it in an organized and efficient way.

"Let's do a basic example. Take your point guard, T.J. McConnell. He's had 71 turnovers over the course of the season. So in our system, you can go in and go to his cumulative stats page. If you click on his turnovers, it will compile a list of every one of those turnovers linked immediately with the live video clips."

As I read this story Sunday, I kept flipping back to the front page to make sure I was reading the Business section of the NY Times and not The Onion. The story has the tone of deadpan absurdity perfected by The Onion's faux news. Yep, it was the Times. The story is written by Robert Frank, who is the CNBC wealth editor (really, that's his title). He also wrote "Richistan," which exposed the ways of the wealthy, so maybe he had tongue planted firmly in cheek as he wrote this seemingly laudatory story. Or maybe not.

I recommend you stop reading this post, link to the story, A High School Where a Student Might Letter in Polo, and read the whole thing. Honestly, I can't do it justice. But let me give it a try.

William I. Koch, the sports/playboy billionaire brother of the famed David and Charles "Koch Brothers," put up $60 million to open a private high school so his children had a school they could attend near his Palm Beach, Florida, home. (Thoughtful dad. How people are willing to pony up $60 million for their children's educations?) Tuition is a hefty $25,000 a year, though I'm guessing if William was asked about increasing spending for public schools, he'd say money doesn't matter and complain about people who want to "throw money at schools."

Here's a wonderful stat from the story about the growing education spending gap.

High-income families now spend, on average, seven times as much each year on education as lower-income families, up from four times as much in the 1970s, according to one study. From 2007 through 2011, while the broader economy was weak, enrollment at private schools with tuition averaging $28,340 jumped 36 percent, according to federal data.

Polo wasn't part of the original curriculum. It began as an attempt to serve the needs of one student who was a competitive polo player. The school started the program so he wouldn't have to miss so much school. Really, isn't that what a good education is all about, meeting the needs of your students?

Well, I'm giving you a little more notice than last week. We are giving away four tickets to the following UA Baseball games:

Tuesday, Feb. 24 against Oakland at 6 p.m. 

Wednesday, Feb. 25 against Oakland at 3 p.m.

We're drawing names for Tuesday's game tomorrow morning at 9 a.m. and we'll draw Wednesday's tickets three hours later, at noon. If you enter before 9 a.m., we'll keep you in the drawing for both games.

The winner has to be able to pick the tickets up from our newsroom on the Northwest side of town. We lock up at 5 p.m. Enter here and good luck!

Bill Walton, whose commentary during Wildcat basketball games has become the stuff of legends, is making an appearance at downtown's Rialto Theatre this Friday, Jan. 16.

Walton will sit down with former UA assistant basketball coach Jim Rosborough to talk about "music, basketball and life," according to a Rialto bulletin announcing the fundraiser for the non-profit theater.

Walton will also sit in on a Grateful Dead tribute with Top Dead Center and we'll see, "of course, plenty of Pop-A-Shot."

The intimate evening starts with hors d'oevres at 6:30 p.m. at the Rialto, 318 E. Congress St. Tickets are $50, but you can also pay $110 and get a ticket the Rialto's upcoming annual Gin Joint Jubilee gala—which promises to be a great time—on Saturday, Feb. 28.

Find the scoop on Walton's appearance here.

We've got a pair of tickets to the UA Men's basketball game on Jan. 17 against the Utah Utes, and we want you to take 'em.

All you have to do is email me at [email protected] with the subject line "GO WILDCATS" sometime before the end of the day on Monday, Jan. 5th. I'll pick the winner randomly, and get in touch by email on Tuesday morning.

The game starts at 5 p.m. on the Jan. 17, at the McKale Center. We'll have the winner's tickets waiting at Tucson Weekly HQ.

The Arizona football team is playing what is arguably their biggest game in school history when they take on Oregon in the Pac-12 Championship game tonight.

Game 13 » No. 8 Arizona (10-2, 7-2 Pac-12) vs. No. 3 Oregon (11-1, 8-1)
Date.......................................... Friday, Dec. 5
Time........................................... 6 p.m. (PST)
Location............................Santa Clara, Calif.
Stadium...................Levi’s Stadium (68,500)
Surface.................................................. Grass
Television.................................................FOX
All-Time Series.....................UO leads, 24-16
at Neutral Site..........................UA leads, 1-0
Last Meeting ....................UA 31, Oregon 24
................................. Oct. 2, 2014 (at Eugene)

Streak ......... UA has won last two meetings

The Pac-12 championship is on the line as the Wildcats and Ducks meet at Levi Stadium, the home of the San Francisco 49ers. If the Ducks win, they are assured a spot in the National Championship Playoffs. If the Wildcats win they are still alive for the playoff, though they would need help.

To pull the upset, the Wildcats need to play a “clean” game, meaning limiting turnovers, penalties and negative plays. They also need to keep the explosive Ducks from breaking off big plays. In their last two wins over the Ducks, the Wildcat defense has not allowed a scoring drive of less than seven plays.

The game is a match-up of two of the nation’s best player, Arizona LB Scooby Wright and Oregon QB Marcus Mariotta. It is also a game featuring the two best freshmen running backs in the Pac-12, Oregon’s Royce Freeman and Arizona’s Nick Wilson. 

News and Notes:
» Arizona has won 10+ games for the third time in program history (1993, 1998).
» The Wildcats captured their first Pac-12 South Division Championship.
» Arizona has never faced an opponent twice in the same season in the program’s modern history.
» The Wildcats have defeated top-5 Oregon teams in each of the last two seasons.
» Arizona is 3-1 against ranked teams this season, including wins in each of the last two weeks.