“East Valley

When the New York Times wrote about the high-fliers coming to the Super Bowl, they didn’t fool around with the silly locution "the Valley." They wrote Phoenix, and Phoenix area.

Of course the local mantra is "Arizona’s Super Bowl." But Arizona is a big state, and that’s a little like saying the Super Bowl in Miami (it was also played in a suburban stadium) is "Florida’s Super Bowl."  In other words, meaningless. Once again, the region will miss a great "branding opportunity" by continuing to deny itself the cool, distinctive name, Phoenix. It’s a world of competing cities, not geographies of nowhere (in Jim Kunstler’s apt phrase). But for Phoenix and "the Valley," it’s an old tale of self-destructiveness.

What’s less understood is why it happens.