ARIZONA DIAMONDBACKS

Meet the Arizona Diamondbacks fan who created the ‘Snakes Alive’ meme

Oct 29, 2023, 6:45 AM

Snakes Alive, Jeff Guzzardo...

'Snakes Alive' creator Jeff Guzzardo with Arizona Sports hosts Steve Zinsmeister and Mitch Vareldzis (Arizona Sports)

(Arizona Sports)

Becoming something of legend, the “Snakes Alive” slogan has turned into a calling card for the Arizona Diamondbacks late in this postseason.

It began with a television broadcast of Game 3 of the NLCS, which caught a fan holding a white sheet of paper with, simply, “Snakes Alive” written on it.

The Diamondbacks loved it and ran with it, taping those signs to the Chase Field bleacher sets at a following game.

Players have taken a liking to it. They had shirts made.

Jeff Guzzardo, creator of the original sign, joined Arizona Sports Saturday ahead of World Series Game 2 to talk about the origin of the sign and the thought process behind it.

“It’s all about the Diamondbacks and the fans and the players and the organization,” he said.

Guzzardo explained that he came up with the idea on a whim the morning before a game and wanted to limit himself to a normal 8.5 x 11 piece of paper so as to not obstruct anyone’s view behind him.

While he’s not a native of the Valley, he did move from the Midwest before the D-backs existed and said he loves supporting local teams. So he’s been a Diamondback supporter since the beginning.

Guzzardo has a ticket for Game 4 already, planning to bring the same regular-sized paper in addition to something in his back pocket — but wouldn’t go into detail on.

Fortunately for Guzzardo, the D-backs guaranteed the Game 4 he’s going to won’t be the last game of the series after they tied the World Series up at 1-1 with a 9-1 victory in Texas for Game 2.

Posed with the question of whether he’d take the 2001 D-backs or 2023 D-backs, Guzzardo said: “It’s hard to say. I really can’t pick one or the other, but I really enjoy watching this young team.”

Guzzardo’s certainly not alone as the entire Valley rallies behind this D-backs postseason run.

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