The softball team representing Sunnyside Little League is playing tonight in Portland, Ore., against a similar group of 11- and 12-year-olds from McLean, Va., for the Little League Softball World Series championship. The game is set to be broadcast live on ESPN2 at 8 p.m. local time.

Sunnyside has gone 4-1 in the World Series to this point, including a 10-0 win Tuesday against Maunabo, Puerto Rico that was stopped after four innings because of the mercy rule. The game was also a no-hitter for Sunnyside's pitching staff.

If Sunnyside were to win tonight it'd be the first Tucson team to take the Little League softball title. The last local rep in the World Series was in 2002, when San Xavier's team made it.

Tucson's south side has traditionally been its strongest in Little League softball, though the way things go in this town when these girls reach high school they'll probably be starring for schools from all parts of the city other than the south.

While they've probably already played themselves out of the postseason race, the Arizona Diamondbacks are at least making things interesting for the fans and viewers who stick around.

By that I don't mean just the ones who attend games or watch on TV. I mean the ones who actually catch the end of the games, which appears to be the only time the D'Backs can provide any sort of excitement. Good or bad.

The past two nights have shown of some of Arizona's late-inning magic, as well as its late-game crapitude, as both Monday and Tuesday's contests against the Baltimore Orioles ended in walk-off home runs.

First, there was Monday's 7-6 walk-off win, that ended with Adam 'Spanky' Eaton depositing the first-ever game-ending homer into the pool at Chase Field:

Mind you, this pool shot came after Arizona tied the game in the seventh, then fell behind in the eighth, then took the lead in the eighth, then blew the lead in the ninth. You know, a typical D'Backs bullpen kerfuffle, thanks to people like the Heath Bell Experience.

Then, there was Tuesday night, when dark horse MVP candidate Paul Goldschmidt tied the game with a homer in the ninth, then came back up in the 11th for a chance to do the rare tie it/win it homer double:

These are the kind of ulcer-and-heart-attack-inducing finishes that happen to the fanbase of a team that leads the majors in blown saves, wins after blown saves, 1-run victories, walk-off victories and victories in the last at-bat. It's also why the D'Backs are 7 1/2 games out of first in the NL West and 5 1/2 out of the final wild card slot with 34 games left.

None of this is new for longtime D'Backs fans, who over the past few years have seen some pretty spectacular finishes. No more outrageous than during the final series of the 2011 season, when — after allowing five runs in the top of 10th against the Dodgers, Arizona scored six unanswered with two outs to win 7-6:

If you're a fan of wacky '80s romps, "can do" sportsmanship, and movies (partially) filmed smack dab in the middle of the Old Pueblo, you should check out Major League tonight at The Loft.

It's all part of a celebration for Tucson's birthday month. In addition to the movie, there will be a Tucson-themed birthday cake, and several food tucks will be in attendance. There's also a free prize raffle for a "fabulous Tucson Gift Package which includes dvds of films made in Arizona, Tucson-centric books and gift certificates from local retailers!"

The 1989 comedy about a struggling, fictionalized version of the Cleveland Indians filmed their spring training segments over at Hi Corbett Field, back when the Tucson Toros reigned supreme and the actual Cleveland Indians did their actual spring training there. According to the Hi Corbett Field Wikipedia page, the film production used several University of Arizona baseball team players as extras. I can remember when the casting call for extras came out, asking for the city of Tucson to come on down and fill the bleachers while Sheen, Tom Berenger, Wesley Snipes and the rest of the cast goofed around on the diamond. I repeatedly begged my mom to take us there, but apparently she had better things to do than sit around Hi Corbett Field for nine hours.

Major League is a light, hilarious movie that still manages to hold up. The plot is standard Bad News Bears fare; a struggling band of wash-outs and rookies prove their naysaying owner wrong and rise to the occasion by the end of the credits. The grizzled Berenger plays veteran catcher Jake Taylor, a womanizer with bad knees who was last seen catching stray balls in a dusty town in Mexico. Sheen is Ricky Vaughn, a pseudo-punk rocker with bad eyesight, a mean throw and a prison rap sheet. Watching the movie when I was younger, I always assumed Sheen's scenes were filmed right after he awoke from a coke-binge coma, turns out I was close; Sheen is on the record about juicin' up on steroids during the production.

Snipes, Corbin Bernsen, Rene Russo, Bob Uecker, the tough-as-nails and gravel-voiced James Gammon and current Allstate spokesman Dennis Haysbert round out the cast. The movie has a bevy of great lines; everything out of Willie Mays Hayes (Snipes) mouth is pure gold, and I still say "Fuck you, Jobu" with alarming regularity. You might also recognize a line you and your drunk uncle say when watching any game together; "JUUUUUST a bit outside" was heard here first!

Also, if you just can't get enough of Charlie Sheen filmed in Tucson hotspots, The Loft will be playing the bitchin' 1986 sci-fi revenge film The Wraith as part of their "Mondo Mondays" series on August 19 at 8 p.m. What's the matter Loft, you couldn't go for a Sheen/Tucson trifecta and book Terminal Velocity?

The fun and festivities start at 5 p.m. Tickets are the Loft's regular admission prices. More information can be found at the Loft's website. Batter up!

The Wildcat Youth Hockey Association, an upstart organization entering its third year of existence, is holding an open house event from 2-4 p.m. Sunday at the University of Arizona Student Union.

Wildcat Youth Hockey has spots open for kids ages 4 to 18 of all levels of ability. Considering the overall lack of ice sheets in Tucson, this group plans on teaching many kids how to skate along with the nuances of hockey.

The open house will provide parents and kids a chance to ask questions about the program, the time and financial commitments that come with hockey, as well as a chance to meet members of the UA club hockey team.

More information can be found on the Wildcat Youth Hockey Web site or by emailing [email protected].

There's not much the Tucson Convention Center is good for nowadays. Except, apparently, for holding thousands of tons of dirt.

The USA BMX Southwest Indoor Nationals take over the TCC this Friday through Sunday, converting the Tucson Arena floor into a dirt bike track full of hills, valleys, moguls and, during race time, hundreds of BMX racers of all ages.

The Southwest Indoor Nationals were held in this 'world-class arena (according to the flyer)' last August, as well, drawing about 1,000 riders ranging in age from pre-schoolers to adults, all of whom have an innate ability to navigate a contoured dirt course with speed and agility.

This year's event, which like all such USA BMX races is open to the public for participation (assuming you're a USA BMX member), starts with practice runs at 1:30 p.m. Friday, with a 'pre-race' at 5 p.m. Friday. Saturday racing begins at 11:30 a.m., Sunday at 8 a.m.

Further information about registration, practice, parking and various other things can be found on the USA BMX Web site.

The city has its modern streetcar, while Pima County has soccer. The main difference: the county's ambitious new projects are actually getting put to use.

Tomorrow marks the latest milestone in turning the region into a soccer mecca, as a groundbreaking ceremony is set for 6 p.m. at Brandi Fenton Park for a clubhouse that will be used by members of the Tucson Soccer Academy.

The Ann K. Schmidt Kickin' It Clubhouse (named for the late wife of TSA president Ted Schmidt) occupies an existing building at the park that is set to undergo a $150,000 renovation with funds raised by the soccer club. The facility will also include a meeting room that is available for public use.

The clubhouse project is the latest in a series of moves involving Pima County to improve soccer facilities and infrastructure in the area. The Board of Supervisors has greenlit conversion of all of the baseball fields on the north half of the Kino Sports Complex into soccer fields, as well as a 2,200-seat stadium that semipro club FC Tucson will use next season.

The board also voted this week to spend $280,000 to further its effort to make Tucson the western hub of Major League Soccer preseason training, and last month the county teamed with the Southern Arizona Soccer Association to convert a baseball field at Arthur Pack Regional Park into two soccer fields.

Meanwhile, those almost complete modern streetcar tracks look really nice, huh? Get used to how they look without actual streetcars on them, just sayin'.

• Samantha Sais

We have a stack of Padres tickets for the rest of the month, good seats even, that we can give away. Want a four pack? Just leave a comment with the night you'd like to go (from tomorrow night's game to the game on Thursday, Aug. 29. Tomorrow morning, I'll pull random winners for each game we have tickets for. Good luck!

August is apparently Memory Lane month for the Tucson Padres and local minor league baseball in general.

First the T-Pads are turning their remaining Thirsty Thursdays (starting this week and running each Thursday through Aug. 29) into a Tucson Toros-themed night, complete with the team wearing 1990s-era Toros jerseys.

Now, those locally operating the soon-to-be-headed-to-El-Paso AAA club are on the lookout for anyone and everyone who's ever worked for either the Sidewinders or Toros throughout the years. Former Toros workers will be honored on the field before the Padres' Aug. 24 game, while ex-Sidewinders employees will get the same honor on Aug. 25.

It's yet another great gesture by the local baseball machine to thank the dissapointingly few people who have supported these teams over the years. This final season's attendance is a woeful 2,657 per game, about 300 less per contest than last season and a good 1,500 behind the next worst club in the Pacific Coast League.

And this for a team that, entering today, is above .500 and only three games out of first place in its division. It'd be a disgrace if the T-Pads made the playoffs and drew less than 3,000 to a postseason game.

The 2013 college football season officially kicks off four weeks from today, when a handful of games (some good, mostly bad) are played on Thursday, Aug. 29. The following night, Arizona opens against Northern Arizona in a Friday night tilt that will introduce the populace (and whoever is watching on the Pac-12 Network) to a renovated Arizona Stadium.

From that point until Jan. 6, when the BCS national title game is played at the Rose Bowl, college games will occupy the TV screens of living rooms and bars across the country on pretty much every day/night but Sundays.

So, naturally, it's time to start predicting who will win it all.

USA Today released its preseason top 25 poll, which is a vote of 62 college coaches sports information directors posing as coaches that, along with the Associated Press media poll (which hasn't come out yet, thankfully) are used to help determine which schools get to play in the biggest and most lucrative of postseason bowl games.

Not surprisingly, defending national champion Alabama is picked No. 1. The Crimson Tide got 58 of 62 first-place votes. Ohio State, picked second overall, got three such top votes, while someone who's either been living under a rock or thinks there's NOTHING WRONG with Johnny Manziel's offseason antics gave a first-place vote to Texas A&M.

Where's Arizona, you ask? The Wildcats were among 28 schools in the "others receiving votes" category, which is basically the leftovers who got thrown a 25th-place bone or two. In terms of actual rankings, Arizona could be considered No. 42 overall, getting five vote points.

Oregon (3rd, although they should be suspended and possibly kicked out of the NCAA), Stanford (4th), UCLA (21st), USC (24th) and Dan Gibson's beloved Oregon State (25th) were the other Pac-12 schools to make the Top 25, while Arizona State got 51 votes to clock in at No. 32.

Again, a reminder: games do not start for FOUR WEEKS, and considering how many players in the NFL have already been knocked out for the season during the first week of training camp, so much could still happen even before the first kickoffs. Arizona officially begins preparation for the 2013 season on Sunday, when players report for preseason training.

If you follow the NFL beyond just the 17 Sundays in the fall — a necessity if you played fantasy football — you're probably aware that the first few days of preseason training camp has been akin to a maiming field. Several high-profile players have been injured already, some so bad they'll miss the entire season.

And preseason games don't begin for another week.

But for every freak injury that could have been avoided if NFL owners weren't so greedy that they had to have a preseason schedule equivalent to one-quarter of the regular season, there's a player who benefits from a teammate's malady by moving up the depth chart.

Former Arizona quarterback Matt Scott might be the latest benefactor.

According to a beat writer covering the Jacksonville Jaguars, likely starting QB Blaine Gabbert was carted off the field today with what looked like a pretty severe ankle injury.

Scott, who went undrafted after his senior year but signed a deal with Jacksonville minutes after the three-day draft ended in April, is one of a handful of quarterbacks that move up the charts with Gabbert's injury. Veteran Chad Henne is still ahead of Scott, though that all could change the way this preseason is going.

Though he's yet to set foot in a professional game, this ancillary news still means it's time for another look at the awesome Matt-Scott-vomiting-rainbows GIF that won the Weekly's GIF contest earlier this year.

• mikij