It took awhile, but Valley Christian has hired Jeff Rutledge as its new football coach on Monday.

The Arizona Cardinals didn’t need this.

Wait, these guys again?

Fittingly for a guy who’s about to become “big time,” Dion Jordan’s life has been hectic.

Chance for quarterback upgrade makes Carson Palmer deal a no-brainer for Cardinals.

On Jan. 16, students from 14 Valley schools gathered at Gilbert’s Higley Center for the Performing Arts for the Building Bridges program to fight bullying in schools. In May of last year, Kyrene Altadeña Middle School students participated in the Bully Academy Webquest, an online course involving reading articles, watching videos about bullying and most importantly, talking about it. After all, this is about how young people learn to express their emotions. In November 2011, students from Chandler’s Tarwater Elementary School spent a day focused on kindness, respect, and friendship.

Four years ago, a talented freshmen class came together at Paradise Valley with visions of winning the boys basketball state championship.

Terry Bradshaw made a quote just before playing the Dallas Cowboys for the Super Bowl. Hollywood Henderson, of the Dallas Cowboys said, “Bradshaw couldn’t spell CAT if you spotted him the C and the T.” Bradshaw just laughed and said prophetically, ”who said you have to be a PHD to be a winning quarterback?”

On Jan. 22, Priest Willis slipped on a pair of powder blue football gloves, aligned his hands in the sign of a ‘U’ and confirmed to the college football world what everyone long suspected: He was verbally committing to UCLA.

Since 1986, the Scripps Celebrity Super Bowl Poll has been asking big names in entertainment, news, sports and pop culture to predict the outcome of the big game. This year, more than 115 celebrities picked between the San Francisco 49ers, led by quarterback Colin Kaepernick, and the Baltimore Ravens, featuring linebacker Ray Lewis.

The Cardinals are back to drafting in the top 10, back to enduring losing streaks that last months. They have fired the coach that guided them to the Super Bowl and have no quarterback in a league where it is the No. 1 requirement.

The scoreboard on Friday night showed a decisive 72-44 win for the Pinnacle boys basketball team over Sandra Day O’Connor, but really, it was Brandon Wechsler 1, Duchenne muscular dystrophy 0.

Zach Miller came to Seattle in 2011 with a big contract and a penchant for catching a lot of passes.

Am I the only one who’s waiting to see if Arizona running back Beanie Wells writes his home phone number and email address on the back of his helmet for today’s 49ers game? Perhaps he can put it right over the Cardinals logo, since that doesn’t mean anything to him anymore.

All-Tribune First Team Offense

A lot of people like to make predictions on what is going to happen. Too few of us take responsibility for their successes and, yes, their failures. Here is what I forecast on December 23, 2011 followed by what actually happened and my report card:

Remember when the idea that leading the Arizona Cardinals to the Super Bowl would have insured the kind of job security only Supreme Court Justices and the Pope have enjoyed?

The occupational tools for high school athletic directors do not include a fire extinguisher.

My name is Hunter Rodriguez. I was the quarterback for Desert Vista — last year’s state championship team.

It wasn’t hard to choose last year’s Tribune Player of the Year, as Saguaro running back D.J. Foster broke several state records, ran for 508 yards and 10 touchdowns in one game and led the Sabercats to the Division III state title.