Pro basketball is all glitter, bombast and tasteless television commercials these days. It’s as though the game has been taken over by the Madison Avenue ad men. They can’t wait until the hoops really are 20 feet high and the floor is 100 yards long. The purity, simplicity and soul…

Martha Spears has made what she says is an irrevocable decision about Governor J. Fife Symington III. “The man’s a jerk,” Martha says. “Fife is a classless bum. He’s a jerk. He can’t hold a candle to Rose Mofford, his predecessor.” Martha’s indignation toward the governor stems from her efforts…

I had a long telephone conversation with Byron “Bud” Brown, the Scottsdale real estate man, the other day. Brown, 65, was belligerent throughout. He kept telling me how smart he was. Brown also insisted that nothing he did to make millions in the Big Boquillas Ranch swindle was any different…

Martha Spears has made what she says is an irrevocable decision about Governor J. Fife Symington III. “The man’s a jerk,” Martha says. “Fife is a classless bum. He’s a jerk. He can’t hold a candle to Rose Mofford, his predecessor.” Martha’s indignation toward the governor stems from her efforts…

I had a long telephone conversation with Byron “Bud” Brown, the Scottsdale real estate man, the other day. Brown, 65, was belligerent throughout. He kept telling me how smart he was. Brown also insisted that nothing he did to make millions in the Big Boquillas Ranch swindle was any different…

Martha Spears has made what she says is an irrevocable decision about Governor J. Fife Symington III. “The man’s a jerk,” Martha says. “Fife is a classless bum. He’s a jerk. He can’t hold a candle to Rose Mofford, his predecessor.” Martha’s indignation toward the governor stems from her efforts…

I had a long telephone conversation with Byron “Bud” Brown, the Scottsdale real estate man, the other day. Brown, 65, was belligerent throughout. He kept telling me how smart he was. Brown also insisted that nothing he did to make millions in the Big Boquillas Ranch swindle was any different…

Martha Spears has made what she says is an irrevocable decision about Governor J. Fife Symington III. “The man’s a jerk,” Martha says. “Fife is a classless bum. He’s a jerk. He can’t hold a candle to Rose Mofford, his predecessor.” Martha’s indignation toward the governor stems from her efforts…

I had a long telephone conversation with Byron “Bud” Brown, the Scottsdale real estate man, the other day. Brown, 65, was belligerent throughout. He kept telling me how smart he was. Brown also insisted that nothing he did to make millions in the Big Boquillas Ranch swindle was any different…

J. Fife Symington III will go down in state history as a hypocrite of outrageous proportions. He is a sanctimonious charlatan, an absurd mountebank and a poseur. Oh, yes, he’s also a fake and a phony. Aside from this rather considerable list of personal foibles, I see no reason Symington…

Last Sunday, Marv Albert, the television announcer with the lamentable toupee, pronounced the collapse of Charles Barkley as an NBA force even before the start of the game between Phoenix and Orlando. Unfortunately for Albert, he was quite wrong. Charles Barkley turns out to be alive and well. Albert’s moaning…

Last Sunday, Marv Albert, the television announcer with the lamentable toupee, pronounced the collapse of Charles Barkley as an NBA force even before the start of the game between Phoenix and Orlando. Unfortunately for Albert, he was quite wrong. Charles Barkley turns out to be alive and well. Albert’s moaning…

Within the hour, Howard Hantman, 50, had been sworn in as a Pima County Superior Court judge. Now the lightly bearded Hantman, looking more like a dashing figure from a woodcut illustrating a 19th-century novel than a lawyer, was encircled by friends and colleagues. More than 100 of them had…

Within the hour, Howard Hantman, 50, had been sworn in as a Pima County Superior Court judge. Now the lightly bearded Hantman, looking more like a dashing figure from a woodcut illustrating a 19th-century novel than a lawyer, was encircled by friends and colleagues. More than 100 of them had…

The electricity is gone. At this time a year ago, all they had to do at America West Arena was turn down the lights and put the spotlight on the Suns. The crowd would go crazy with expectation. On the sidelines, the Suns subs were on their feet, waving towels…

The electricity is gone. At this time a year ago, all they had to do at America West Arena was turn down the lights and put the spotlight on the Suns. The crowd would go crazy with expectation. On the sidelines, the Suns subs were on their feet, waving towels…

Here’s some advice for Louis A. (Chip) Weil III: Dear Chip, As publisher of the Arizona Republic and the Phoenix Gazette, you can emerge from this stadium-tax deal as the biggest winner of all. It’s no secret your newspaper company owns that white elephant of a warehouse located right in…

Kevin Johnson talks like a choirboy. His intentions are always innocent. At least that’s what he always insists later. But never doubt that KJ is the most lethal member of the Phoenix Suns. He is the club’s assassin. KJ’s brutal blow delivered to the face and neck of the Chicago…

The moment had arrived. For days Robin Morris had been growing increasingly apprehensive about the role she must play on this night. Her part must be played to perfection. She must speak for her late father in a way that reflected her moral outrage at her father’s experience and yet…

The politician doesn’t grow more human with age. In the end, he becomes a wharf rat. –Henry David Thoreau The governor spoke at the Republican party’s annual meeting the other day. “The trouble with our prisons in Arizona is that we don’t have the concept of arduous labor,” J. Fife…

They bid adieu to Robert Morris, the remarkable law professor, in a simple, elegant service in a downtown Phoenix church recently. Morris, 65, the only black member of the Arizona State University law faculty, had left a request. He wanted his funeral concluded by the playing of one of his…

Stick up a Circle K and take $50 and they’ll ship you down to Florence. Loot a savings and loan of millions and they’ll offer you a membership in the Paradise Valley Country Club.–Anonymous Ten years ago, they were flying high. Mention Charles Keating, Gary Driggs or Billy Bob Burns…