The Front Row: Sidewinders bid farewell

END OF AN ERA: Sadly, it ended with a whimper.

The double-header that was supposed to close out the Sidewinders’ era in Tucson turned into a dreary one-game finale.

The Salt Lake Bees triumphed 7-2 over the last-place Sidewinders, who were playing their final contest at Tucson Electric Park before their likely move to Reno, Nev.

The Sidewinders announced a paid attendance of 6,033, but there couldn’t have been more than 3,500 fans there to witness the final out.

Rain knocked out a pair of games, but nobody seemed too enthusiastic to make them up.

The Tucson Toros will return to Hi Corbett Field to play Golden League baseball (about the same level as rookie ball) in 2009, but Tucson will no longer be hosting Triple-A baseball.

The Sidewinders finished 60-81, 21.5 games behind division-leader Sacramento.

With Spring Training still hanging by a thread, the future of baseball in Tucson should be considered murky, at best.

I’ll be the first to admit I didn’t see as many Sidewinders’ games as I would’ve liked. Even though TEP is a beautiful baseball park and one of the top Triple-A facilites I’ve visited, it’s not exactly convenient to drive to.

There’s also nothing happening in that part of town — no restaurants, nowhere to go before or after a game.

Baseball should succeed in Tucson. It has the perfect climate and the ideal demographics to flourish. It’s a shame that the Sidewinders couldn’t make it work.

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PALIN’S FORMER CAREER: Perhaps the most enjoyable four-minute video clip in years has recently surfaced on Youtube.com.

Vice presidential nominee Sarah Palin can be seen delivering a wrap-up of Alaskan sports highlights in an 1988 broadcast on KTUU-TV in Anchorage.

With a Pat Benetar-esque haircut and a thick accent that would’ve fit nicely in the Coen brothers’ film “Fargo,” the 24-year-old Heath (she wouldn’t become Palin until later that year) discusses the Iditarod dog race, college basketball and other athetic news of the day.

Her delivery is a bit stilted and her head barely moves throughout the duration of the clip, but she remains likable until the end, when the lead anchor and Palin started sniping at each other. That’s when things got a little awkward.

nprevenas@gvnews.com | 547-9747