"Broncos Fan 'Till I Dizzie"

I was just saying to a friend the other day.... "You know what this season is missing, friend that I made up for this story? A Denver Broncos rap song" Then I found this little gem..... I know what some of you are thinking... probably something along the lines of "Wow. That was absolutely awful" But you have to give the guy some props for the effort. Seriously. He used the phrase "rememberable people".... and rhymed it. That is not easy folks. "Remembreable" isn't even clost to being a real word. He also claims he didn't give up on the Donks after they lost the AFC Championship game to Pittsburgh, he stayed a true Broncos fan. Even after they went 13-3, and were one win from the Super Bowl, he still stuck with his team. Wow. This dude is for real. And that is a true fan my friends... that's what makes this anonymous rapper, known simply as RealTrue661, a "rememberable" Broncos fan.

Why can't the good guy ever catch a break?

So.... Travis Henry has apparently tested positive for drug use again. That's just special. Honestly, has there ever been a more tardtastic athlete in the history of sports? Let's see, he knocked a different chick up nine different times, he's constantly forgetting to pay child-support, he's now tested positive for marijuana at least three times.... I think that he's missing the part of the brain that helps us learn from our mistakes. In fact, if we x-rayed his brain Homer Simpson style, it probably looks something like this: I like to imagine him as a kid at his house, playing around the stove.... Mom - "Travis baby, don't touch that stove... it's hot." Henry - "Huh? This stove? (puts his hand directly on the flaming hot burner) OW! THAT'S HOT!!" Mom - "Dammit Travis! I told you it was hot! Now don't touch that stove again!!" Henry - "Huh? This stove? (puts hand on it again) OWWWW!!!" ...and scene. Seriously though, thank God Shanny dumped this waste of talent last month. You have to feel a little for the guy though. A year ago he had just signed a $22.5 million contract, he was the starting RB for the most potent rushing offense of the past decade... fast forward one year and he's been cut from the Broncos, he owes child support on 9 kids, he's looking at least at a one year suspension, and at age 29 it's likely he may have played his last football game and squandered his entire fortune. Actually, fuck that turd. Good riddance Travis Henry.

Champ's got your back Jay

I didn't see this until this morning, but Champ Bailey pretty much called out Philip Rivers taunting Monday night with a verbal bitch-slap. You can read the full article here, but here are the highlights: "And I don't really care for the guy, first of all," Bailey said of Rivers. "He's not a respectable guy right now because you talk too much trash and do this and that, but you're really not a great player in this league right now. "You're surrounded by great players, but you're not a great player. I think he needs to understand where he stands in this league - where he stands on his team first and foremost." "They've got a lot of classy guys on that team," Bailey said. "He kind of represents the classless guy on that team. He's definitely lost my respect." Rivers claims he was just congratulating his defense on a good 4th down stop.... despite all of the visual evidence to suggest that he was indeed talking shit. Whatever you say Philip. But I think you have some apologizing to do to some virgins.

The Denver Broncos- Losing Like it's 1999

In the spirit of the Christmas season, I want to try to refrain from being too negative about the state of the Broncos. So here it goes..... If we lose on Sunday, we will end up with a first round pick in the #8-10 range. That's a pretty good pick! By letting LaDainian Tomlinson run all over our defense, the Broncos helped me win my fantasy title! ....... That's all I got to say about that. About the Chargers game, I only have a couple of things to say: - Philip Rivers; you should never talk shit to anyone... ever. You suck dude. Thank God everyday that you play on a team with LaDainian, Antonio Gates, and your defense. They hide your significant shortcomings. Your own fans have spent the majority of the season booing you, they all wish they still had Drew Brees. - How soft is our team? Can you imagine if someone had taunted John Elway like that back in the day? Keith Bishop would have snapped some femurs. - Jay Cutler is starting to get some heat because of his record (8-12 in his first 20 starts) and his interceptions (14 through 15 games this season). But let's not get carried away. Peyton Manning went 3-13 in his first season as a starter and threw 28 interceptions that year. In Troy Aikman's first season starting in Dallas they went 1-15 (0-11 in games Aikman started) and he threw 9 TDs with 18 INTs. I'm not saying that Cutler will end up as good as either of these guys, but let's give him another year or two before we hit the panic button. I'm more concerned with what appears to be a "I don't give a fuck" attitude about losing all of these games. I always picture him standing on the sideline, holding onto his shoulder pads with both hands, hat on tilted a little to the side, and a seemingly stoned look on his face. How about just a little emotion Jay? Just something to show us that you realize that you aren't just wasted playing Madden against your buddies, and that you actually care. So now that we are guaranteed our first losing season in 8 years, I thought I'd dig up some facts about what was going on in the world the last time the Broncos had a losing season: - Dr. Dre had just released his Chronic 2001 album, and introduced the world to Marshal Mathers aka Eminem. - The Matrix and American Pie were in movie theaters. - Britney Spears had just turned 18, and was not yet considered a drunken slut. - The Backstreet Boys were the biggest music group in the world. - George W. Bush decided to run for President. - Y2K fear was gripping the nation. - The Sega Dreamcast was introduced. - People were still able to party like it was 1999. Those were good times.... So how long does Mike Shanahan get a pass? Since Elway retired we have won a grand total of ONE playoff game in 9 seasons. We've been to the playoffs only 4 of 9 years, and haven't been to the Super Bowl once. Remember, we went to the Super Bowl in 5 of Elway's last 12 seasons. At what point to we start pointing the finger at Shanahan? I understand that we were hit pretty hard by injuries this year, but so were the Indianapolis Colts.... and they are 13-2. We have had the same problems on offense for years, namely production in the red-zone. I don't know if it's play calling, the overall offensive scheme, undersized lineman, or a combination of all three.... but the problem has not been fixed. And that has to fall on the old Mastermind himself. Now here's the problem with looking for a new coach; you have to upgrade over your old coach or what's the point in making a change? And what coach is available out there that would be an upgrade over Mike Shanahan? See. This is the problem I run into everytime I'm arguing with Brainz that we should axe Shanahan.... who else is better? I guess an argument could be made for Bill Cowher, but he has said that he isn't going to look into coaching again until 2009. So what's the answer? I don't know. I think we should fire Jim Bates though. Our defense was an absolute joke this season. We are currently 30th in the league in rush defense and it could have been worse if we weren't blown out of so many games. I think we need to draft an LB in the first round. If we are somewhere between #8-10 we should have a shot at James Laurinaitis, or we could pick a DT or Safety in the top 10 and get Jordan Dizon in the 2nd or 3rd round. Our offense was still pretty potent despite the injuries, so I think this draft should be completely focused on the defensive side of the ball. So here's to the Broncos tanking this Sunday to get us as high a draft pick as possible... then we can be done with this God awful season and start giving our full attention to a couple of winning teams, the Nuggets and Avalanche.

Random Thoughts....

It's been a few weeks since we've posted an update here at Homers. Just some quick thoughts, and I'll have CU update up later..... - I'm still reeling from the revelation that one of the greatest pitchers in MLB history was using steroids. Sure, we all suspected guys like Bonds and Benito Santiago of getting a little help from the juice, but now we find out that Denny Neagle was using???? Consider my world rocked. Just so you know, I judge the greatness of a pitcher solely on their salary and shockingly poor taste in prostitutes. - Todd "Fat Arms" Sauerbrun was released by the Broncos yesterday. As he was leaving Dove Valley he could be heard screaming from his car "God damn you Devin Hester!!!!" Here's an interesting sidenote; Sauerbrun, Pacman Jones, and Chris Henry all attended West Virginia University. Yet Sauerbrun is the only one of them to be kicked off of three NFL teams. Don't worry about Sauerbrun though, I'm sure he'll get another shot somewhere. And if he doesn't, he's still got his huge biceps, rad Oakley shades, and a kick-ass tribal band tattoo going for him. So he'll have absolutely no problem getting laid in New Jersey. - The Broncos only ended up with one player (Champ Bailey) making the Pro Bowl. That number seems about right. I think Brandon Marshall was close to a Pro Bowl level this year, but he's not going to make it in the AFC. Same with Jay Cutler. I don't think Cutler was on that level this year, but he will always have a tough time getting in. We're talking about a conference that includes Brady, Manning, Roethlisburger, Palmer, AND Kyle Boller. And they only take three. Seriously can you even make a case for another Broncos player to be in the Pro Bowl? Nalen missed most of the season, there is no way you can reward a guy like DJ Williams when our run D was so pathetic. Dre Bly was decent, but not great. The ONLY player who might have a complaint is Elvis Dumervil. I mean, he does have 11 sacks, 4 forced fumbles, and an interception even though most NFL scouts consider him a midget. Not bad stats for a little person. With Elvis' freakishly long arms, I wonder if he'd be good at dwarf throwing? Or basketball.... - I think the biggest Pro Bowl snub would have to be Mario Williams. The guy does lead the AFC in sacks and he did single handedly destroy the Broncos O-Line last Thursday. I think that voters weren't quite ready to admit that they were wrong about him when he was drafted, I can't think of any other reason why he shouldn't be in. I'm sure all the chowds feel like their Caucasian sensation Wes Welker was snubbed. But that's just their closet racism talking. Just kidding, i'm sure they're not all racist. Afterall, New Edition is from Boston. - Nene has been given clearance to start full practices on Friday. Hopefully, since he was only out with a thumb injury, he was able to stay somewhat in good shape. Given Nene's history this isn't a likely scenario. I'm a little worried he might come back looking like Tony Soprano in the final season. We also should have Chucky Atkins back soon. They are projecting his return sometime shortly after Christmas. So in the next week we could finally see the Nuggets at full strength for the first time this year. Well, we still won't have Steven Hunter for another six weeks, but we'll be healthier than we've been all year. If Chucky can play even remotely close to the level he was at during the final few weeks of last season, we should be pretty damn tough to beat. In other Nugget related news. DerMarr Johnson was back in town this week playing with the Austin Toros of the D-League against our very own Colorado 14ers! The Teeners and Toros squared off back to back nights, with our boys sweeping both games. DJ looked pretty good, getting 16 points each night. You know, I always liked DerMarr. And unlike most of the squares in this town, I didn't give a damn how ridiculously he spelled his first name. I looked past his name, to the player that never lived up to his potential. Also, the name is not that strange. I believe the German translation of DerMarr is "that goop" or "the goop", depending on the context.

Jay Cutler kinda sucks but could be good someday...

Just a quick post. Hopefully you all watched the new South Park on Wednesday night. If you missed it, they had some hilarious references to local Denver "celebrities" and a nice little shot at Jay Cutler. Here's the video: Hopefully there's nothing like a little South Park roasting to get Cutler to start playing more consistent. I only wish they would have shown Irv and Joe at the party, face deep in coke and hookers. Now that would have been awesome.

Monday Night Mancrush

Tony Kornheiser is going to have lockjaw in the morning. After spending the last four hours verbally and mentally fellating Brett Favre, ESPN got what they wanted and I felt like vomitting all over my flat screen. What they got was the dramatic overtime touchdown pass by Brett Favre to win the game and hours of mancrush material for Tony Kornheiser and the rest of the staff at ESPN. Seriously, I know that Brett Favre is good. Everyone knows Brett Favre is good. But how many highlights do I have to see? For Christ sake, how many times do I have to listen to his wife during a game? I'm not sure that the rest of us have heard our own wives / girlfriends speak that much during a single half of football. And how many times can the phrase "gunslinger" be used during a single broadcast? Answer: 637. I get it Tony. I really do. He tries to make crazy throws. But how about we just watch him play instead of taking turns attempting to make sweet love to his legend during a broadcast. (I think my favorite part of the broadcast was when Ron Jaworski was mentioning Jay Cutler's arm-strength yet again, and Tony Kornheiser accused him of having a mancrush on Cutler. Shortly after that, Kornheiser began to explain how good Brett Favre looks with his shirt off, and how he can solve global warming with one of his rocket, gunslinger passes!) And after the miracle of manhood that is Brett Favre unleashed hell upon us, all of us in Denver had to suffer through yet another Broncos home loss. What has happened to this franchise? We've now lost six out of the last nine home games played at Invesco Field (they need to drop the Mile High from the name quickly, the old Mile High Stadium is losing it's legend by the week). Remember the good old days at the old Mile High Stadium? When the rafters would shake so loud that you were virtually certain that the entire stadium would collapse? When a 6-2 home record was a terrible season? Now look at us. 4-4 at home last season, and 2-3 so far this season. And I have no clue why it's happening. First the positives. Jay Cutler showed the ability once again to make a drive when we need it. For the 4th time this season, he has led us down the field to a game tying or winning drive in the final seconds. Brandon Marshall finally showed up on the last drive too, showing his amazing ability to make something happen after the catch. Consequently, the game ended at roughly 10pm MST, which means that Marshall will be legally drunk by 12:30, and get his DUI by 2:00am. Actually, maybe he only rolls like that on Sunday nights. I know I do. Another positive is Jason Elam. I feel pretty confident that he's proven his ability to kick a last second field goal at this point. Selvin Young also looked good in his first start. It's funny, at the beginning of this season I had a bet with my step-dad that Selvin Young would be our starting RB by mid-season. I thought it was going to be the result of Mike Shannahan simply attempting to show that he can literally turn anyone into a thousand yard back, but it turns out it's going to be because Travis Henry can't but down the ganj. Either way, I won the bet. Now for the negatives. First off, we have the worst run defense I have ever seen in my roughly 30 years on this planet. Granted, I don't remember too many details about the Broncos defensive prowess before the age of say... 6 years old, but I'm pretty sure that they weren't this bad. Tonight we let a fella by the name of Ryan Grant run for 100 yards against us. You all know Ryan Grant right? He's the 4th string running back on the worst rushing offense in the NFL. No? Still don't remember him? He graduated from Notre Dame in 2004? Still not ringing a bell? Well, he's that dude that just ran for 100 yards against us and, according to the interweb, he has fallen off the planet for the last three years. There is literally no information regarding his whereabouts from graduation in 2004 to a preseason trade from the NY Giants to the Packers at the start of this season. Seriously, check out his Wikipedia page. But that's the beauty of Mike Shannahan's Broncos, we can turn ANYBODY into a 1,000 yard rusher! Second negative. Our lock-down corners got absolutely torched. Maybe that's what makes Brett Favre great. He has that gunslinger mentality and will throw at anyone. At least that's what I heard Kornheiser say several dozen times tonight. Well, he beat Champ for a 79 yard TD to a rookie receiver, and beat Dre Bly for an 82 yard TD to a second year receiver. So maybe there is some truth to that theory. But whatever it was they got lit up like a Christmas tree. Favre threw for 331 yards against us, and 248 of them went to the two guys being locked down by Champ and Dre. Really the only positive of the game on defense was our goal line D. Stopping them twice on the 1 yard line to let former Buff great Mason Crosby get some burn in front of the hometown fans and kick a couple field goals. And what the hell is going on with our red zone offense? How many years has this been a problem for us now? To start the second quarter on the Packers 1 yard line, our own offensive lineman strips the ball from Cutler? It's like watching a bunch of retards try to dribble a basketball when we get inside the twenty. And in the third quarter we have a first and 10 at the Packers 16 and a couple of penalties and a sack later, Elam is trying to kick one in from almost 50 yards. The schedule doesn't get any easier for the Broncos either. We go to the Lions next week, then to Kansas City, back home to play Tennessee, on the road against Oakland and then back home for the Chiefs again. Sure some of those should be winnable games, but the Broncos don't exactly inspire confidence right now. But tonight all comes back to the Brett Favre love-fest. Whether it was the highlights from decades old MNF games, the repeated listing of all of his records (with his interceptions record noticeably absent), the 2+ hours of airtime devoted to his wife (she claims that when he gets hit, it hurts her more than him. Sure it does Deanna. That's why he was addicted to painkillers, because of how badly all of those brutal hits hurt YOU. I usually wouldn't talk about a player's family, but she did put herself on TV for a couple of hours), tonight was all about one thing. Brett Favre. And Tony Kornheiser's unnatural mancrush on him. This begs the question, if Brett Favre, Tom Brady, Peyton Manning,Tony Romo and Bill Bellichek were all in the same room, who would Tony Kornheiser blow first?

An Awesome Broncos Preview

I don't know what to make of our beloved Donks right now. They seem dominant, but then leave us screaming at the TV at the end of every game as we pull a win out of our ass. It has been completely frustrating. So what's the problem? I don't know. But here's what we do know about the team so far after 2 weeks: - #1 ranked offense in NFL. - #3 ranked defense in NFL. - Travis Henry leads the league in rushing yards (and bastard sons) but has 0 TD's. - Jay Cutler is 4th in the NFL in passing yards. - Javon Walker is 6th in the NFL in recieving yards but has 0 TD's. - Only 3 total TD's in first 2 games. - Jason Elam has missed 3 FG's in the first two games (although he's made the game winner in both too, so I guess we can cut him some slack.) So basically once again we are great between the 20's, and suck in the red zone.... again I don't think we have too much to worry about though. With our offense virtually unstoppable and the ability to completely shut down our opponents passing attack, I have a good feeling about this team. Right now it seems like we are still trying to get used to some of the new personnel and how to use them the right way. I'd like to see some looks to Dan Graham in the red zone, and if we are going to throw the fade, we should probably throw it to our 6'4" guy against a 5'10" guy... not to Javon who's got someone equal in size on him. On defense the linebackers are still adapting to their new positions, and our extremely young D-line looks like it's improving daily. So here's my gameplan for this weekends matchup against Jacksonville: Do the exact same thing, only score touchdowns. With this sort of intricate and highly imaginative mental prowess the Broncos will be able to vanquish all foes..... On another note, has anyone out there seen what Adam Morrison looks like right now? It kinda looks like he combined all of Jake Plummer's greatest haircuts into one stunningly awesome look. Check it out: One part: and one part: Equals: Thanks to my boy DJ for emailing me that picture all the way from a city called Nancy, France. Keep wearing those capri's buddy... and try not to catch any "gay" while you're living there.

Shawn Kemp ain't got sh*t on Travis Henry

A lot has been made about the recent revelation that Travis Henry has been spreading his seed throughout the South to the tune of 9 kids by nine different women. It's also become known that he is something of a deadbeat dad, often falling behind on child support payments while spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on cars and bling. I've only got two words for all of this..... Who cares. Honestly. Why does anyone care if Travis Henry is a piece of shit off the football field? He was brought in to the Broncos organization and given $22.5 million to tote the rock on Sundays, not to be the guiding light to all the fathers of Colorado... a shining example of being a better dad for all of the other dads in Colorado to observe in awe and envy. Nope. He's just a football player. And hopefully he's a damn good one. Because I don't really care how badly Henry hates contraception, or many times he used the "I can't feel you with one on" line to some Southern belle who fell for it, and I don't care if he can't remember all of his babies names. I just want him to get my Broncos a hundred yards and a couple TD's every Sunday and I'll be just fine. Don't get me wrong, it sounds like Travis Henry is a real turd. If he ever bumps into my sister down in LoDo I'm going to tell her to stay the hell away from that potent super-sperm he's packing. Because apparently, much like Chuck Norris, Travis Henry can impregnate women simply with his steely gaze and a stroke of his beard. But as long as he's helping the Donks win every Sunday, I don't really care. He's not being paid to be a stand up father. He's being paid to run the football. So as long as he's not breaking the law, leave him alone. That said, this whole situation reeks of stupidity. The way I see it, there are only two ways you can get 9 different women pregnant by the time you're 28: 1.) You're so ignorant and retarded that you think that it's pretty unlikely that you'll get another girl pregnant if you don't wear a condom. Even though it's already happened 8 other times... 2.) You're so ignorant and retarded that you think the girl is telling you the truth that she's "on the pill". Even though 8 other girls have already won the baby lottery with you. When I was playing ball in college, we used to get the same talk from our coaches before the start of every season. They would warn us about these loose women around campus. Women with no morals and no future who saw us all as a potential meal ticket. Thus, we should always wear protection whenever we wanted to "get our little dicks wet" as our coaches would so eloquently put it. Because there were women out there who would blatantly lie about being on the pill in order to get knocked up. This may be true. And let's pretend for a second that this is what happened to Travis Henry.... How stupid do you have to be to fall for it 9 times!?! I'll tell you what though. Part of me likes this, at least from a football standpoint. Because at the end of the day, he's got 9 babies mouths and 9 babies mommas to feed, spread out across all the Southland, and he can't afford to fuck this up. I know one guy who's happy this has all come to the pulic's attention. That guy is Shawn Kemp. His seven kids by six women seems like nothing compared to Travis Henry's achievements. I think Kemp out to come to Denver and take Henry out to Shotgun Willies to celebrate and say thank you. What could go wrong there?

One down, Shakes, one down.

FINALLY IT IS HERE! Football season has started in Denver! The Broncos pulled off a miracle win last night on the biggest stage.... the first pre-season game on Monday Night Football. Just when it looked like the 49ers would snatch the victory away from our beloved Donks, some dude from our 3rd string defense stopped the 49ers 3rd string QB (and his gang of a bunch of guys I've never heard of) on the 3 yard line to secure a hard fought victory. Here are some game notes: 1.) The one drive our starters participated in looked great.... on offense at least. We looked pretty shaky on defense. Our run defense was especially un-inspiring. 2.) If Jay Cutler, Javon Walker, or Travis Henry miss any significant time due to injury or drug usage, we are fucked. 3.) Our equipment managers must be in pre-season form also. I've never seen a game in which so many players lost their helmets. Either that, or they all ditched the "how to adequately secure a chin-strap" workshop the first day of minicamp. 4.) Apparently Bill Walsh was a good coach. Approximately 85% of the broadcast was dedicated to this little known tidbit of football information. 5.) Jay Cutler always looks like a wasted frat guy at the end of a party. Another accurate description could be someone who just walked out of a Cyprus Hill / Snoop Dogg concert. Luckily for us, despite his look of constant intoxication, he is very good at football. 6.) Here is a favor I have to ask of Jay... I want you to dedicate at least 3 days of practice next week to the quarterback SLIDE!!! Former CU Buff Michael Lewis nearly decapitated you on that run. For the love of God get down!! I saw our season flash before my eyes on that play. 7.) How was Patrick Ramsey ever a first round draft choice? He blows. Despite the entire 8 minutes that Mike Turico and Ron Jaworski spent trying to convince the public that Ramsey is actually good, it was just the Redskins offense that stunk.... I feel his play on the field did more than enough arguing against him. His final numbers were 2+ quarters played, 4-10, 45 yards, 1 TD pass, 1 interception, 2 interceptions called back, and one extremely awkward high five. 8.) I thought it was absolutely awesome when Trent Dilfer was going crazy that his coach wouldn't throw the challenge flag with .40 seconds left in the first half, when the booth automatically reviews close plays in the last two minutes. How long has it been since you played in a real game Trent? I also thought it was awesome how he threw an interception on the next play, then tried to blame it on the receiver with Jaws saying "what an absolutely horrible read by Trent Dilfer!" 9.) Travis Henry looked great. He reminds me of that guy on X-Men 3 that can't be stopped once he has gained momentum. He sounded borderline retarded in his post game interview though.... I'm not sure what was going on there, but he is from Tennessee.... 10.) Mike Bell and Cecil Sapp did little to instill any confidence for me. I know they put up decent numbers, but that was against 2nd and 3rd stringers. Can you really imagine either of them stepping in and getting 100 yards per game if Travis Henry goes down? Me either. 11.) We need to get Brandon Marshall and Brandon Stokley healthy. Last night saw David Terrell and Quincy Morgan both get significant playing time despite the fact that it wasn't the year 2002. Although Domenik Hixon looked pretty good. Hixon was a 4th round pick in '06 and missed all of last season with a broken foot. He has impressed the CB's in camp (mainly Champ Bailey) and was a good kick returner in college too with the Akron Zips. (I look for a chance to mention the Akron Zips whenever possible. Go fighting Zips!!) Even though his first name would lead you to believe he was a hockey goalie from the Czech Republic, he should see some PT for the Broncos this year. 12.) Our third string QB looks like most teams middle linebacker. His name is Darrell Hackney. He is 6 foot 240lbs. He went to UAB. That's about all I can tell you about him. He did look better than Patrick Ramsey though. 13.) Monday Night Football needs to get rid of it's mandatory "celebrity" interview mid game. I really didn't need to hear Jerry Rice talk for 45 minutes in the first half. Sometimes it seems like ESPN forgets that there are actual sports going on during their broadcasts. At least it wasn't Cristian Slater again, or somebody like Corey Haim and Corey Feldman pimping their new reality show "The Two Corey's". Actually, scratch that. Having a 45 minute interview with the Two Corey's would have been outstanding! 14.) Mark Fenton got on the field for the Broncos last night. Fenton was yet another casualty from last seasons 2-10 debacle up in Boulder. Fenton was All Big 12 and a Remington Award finalist as a Junior, and started his senior season on the watchlist for every offensive lineman award. Then he got injured and missed half the season, the Buffs were the worst team in the nation, and Fenton goes undrafted. I hope he makes the final roster for the Broncos because he is a very good player and is a potential steal as an undrafted free agent. Overall I felt pretty good about the team after last night's effort. If we can stay healthy we have a shot at a deep playoff run. Cutler looks like things have slowed down a bit for him, Henry looks like a great fit for our running scheme, and with the addition of Dan Graham at TE, and a healthy receiving core we could have an extremely explosive offense. Of course, if Cutler goes down and we hand the keys to Patrick Ramsey all bets are off.

Team USA's Colorado Connection

I turned 30 last week. And due to the momentous occasion, I have been either extraordinarily intoxicated, or fighting for my life while recovering from the previously mentioned level of intoxication. I was pretty much like Def Leppard in the 80's... only without the mullets, topless girls backstage, and one-armed drummer. Either way, I wasn't in any shape to be posting any new material on the blog. On top of that I got a new dog. So now I'm fighting off hangovers while chasing a puppy to keep it from shitting and pissing on my carpets. Oh yeah, and I've had to take it to the vet twice already to get an IV stuck in it's arm.... Needless to say I've been pre-occupied. But that doesn't mean I haven't been keeping up with the happenings of CO sports. It just so happens that not a lot of exciting news has actually come up during my drunken new puppy getting week. Let's have a look: - The Rockies are still .500. Granted, Matt Holliday has been pretty fun to watch, but I still am hanging out off to the side of the bandwagon, watching the other Rockies fans jumping on and off that sumbitch. Know what the Rox Bandwagon reminds me of right now? It's like an ex-girlfriend that later becomes a booty call. Sometimes you want to end it for good.... sometimes you want to get back into a relationship... but either way, every time you get drunk you wake up in her bed, then try to sneak off before she wakes up. Not that you would do that kind of thing with the Rockies though.... - The first NFL pre-season game is on August 5th (that's a mere six days to me and you) and the first Broncos game is Monday, August 13th televised nationwide on the great big ESPN network. Home of such popular sports dramas as "The Bronx is Burning" and hip new Sportscenter segments like "Who's More Now". It will be nice to have some actual sports back on the network. It's just a matter of time until ESPN has followed MTV's lead, and the entire day of TV will be filled with reality TV shows where you can occasionally see some sports on a TV in the background of a dating show featuring four former athletes who are gay and trying not to get "nexted". - In the midst of a hungover afternoon last week I did happen to catch the inter squad scrimmage between Team USA basketball. It was probably the best basketball game I have seen in a very long time, and I am being completely serious when I say that. It was like an All-Star game, only if the guys actually played hard. The Colorado connection played well with Carmelo finishing with a game high 28 points and Chauncey Billups playing a great game at the point. Both of them should make the final roster. Carmelo has proven that he excels in international competition and Chauncey is an ideal PG for international play. He's a great shooter, makes great decisions, plays D, and knows how to run a team. If I were in charge of picking the final 12 man roster for the Tournament of Americas at the end of August it would be this squad: PG - Chauncey Billups Jason Kidd Kurt Heinrich SG - Kobe Bryant Michael Redd Mike Miller SF - Carmelo Anthony Kevin Durant PF/C - Amare Stoudamire Chris Bosh Dwight Howard Tyson Chandler That's right. No Lebron. Look, I'm not a Lebron hater, but his game could not be more unfit for international play. International play emphasizes skill, shooting and ball movement. Lebron is obviously skilled, but he has been built and molded to excel in the NBA. NBA style of play is about athleticism, strength, size and quickness. Lebron has all of those in bunches. But international teams can use different defensive schemes to take away from Lebrons biggest strengths (size and speed) and completely expose his biggest weakness (shooting). Lebron can become a liability in the international game because of the fact that he is not a good shooter at all, but thinks that he is. Which means he will end up shooting and missing wide open jumper after wide open jumper against a team like Argentina, and we'll end up losing and getting the bronze again. I'm absolutely positive that Lebron will be on the team come end of August, and the team will be worse off because of it. The fellas from Colorado should excel though. Carmelo proved last summer that he can dominate the international scene. Chauncey's aforementioned talents make him a great fit in the international game. In fact, I think my twelve man roster would cake walk to the title, and here's why. To win in the international game you have to be able to shoot well. With Michael Redd, Mike Miller, Kobe, Kevin Durant, Chauncey, and Kurt Heinrich on the squad, you are virtually guaranteed to have at least a couple guys shooting the ball well in each game. This means that other teams won't be able to just pack in a zone against us and watch us shoot ourselves out of games like in the past. Second, you need great PG play. You need someone who can keep the team together during negative runs, distribute the ball well, run the offense, and hit big shots when needed. Enter Mr. Bigshot Chauncey and J-Kidd. Hell, if Sarunas Jasikevicius and Carlos Arroyo can dominate international ball, then Chauncey and J-Kidd sure as shit ought to be able to do it too. I mean, all Jasikevicius does anymore is awkwardly scream and pump his fists after another Stephen Jackson or Baron Davis 3 pointer.... and in international play he is a superstar. I think Chauncey, Kidd, and Heinrich can do a little better. Kobe can also run the point if you want to go with a big lineup of say.... Kobe, Melo, Durant, Bosh, and Stoudemire. Third, we've got Kobe. As much as you either love or hate Kobe, I can guarantee you that you want him on your team if you are in a close game and need a big shot. No one currently playing in the world is a more clutch performer than Kobe Bryant. And if he's in foul trouble, or hurt, or in an unforeseen trial... we've still got Melo and Chauncey to hit the big shots. But like I said, we are going to put Lebron on the team and play him a lot... and we will struggle again. I still think we can win, but it sure would be a lot easier without Lebron. Bet you didn't think you'd hear that did you?

With Just 2 Days 'till Elway Day, Some John Elway Facts

Elway Day is rapidly approaching, and the local CO Blogiverse has shown great support for the cause. Make sure you check them all out: Orange Bucksnorts BroncoTalk My Denver Obsession Slushy Gutter Summer Big Money, No Whammies Broncos Freak Thanks for the love fellas and keep up the good work. We also recieved an email from si.com earlier today letting us know that John Elway bested the likes of lesser #7's in history (such as Mickey Mantle, David Beckham, Kevin Johnson, Craig Morton, and Andrea Bargnani) to be declared the greatest #7 in the history of sport. We at Colorado Homers couldn't agree more. In fact, I personally believe he should be the greatest #6 and #8 of all time also. Through simple osmosis, his number probably infected those two with his greatness. Speaking of his greatness, here are 7 John Elway facts I came up with to help celebrate John Elway Day: 1.) Pluto was recently declassified as a planet when it was discovered to be a football thrown by John Elway. 2.) John Elway did build Rome in a Day. He only did this so he could destroy it later that night with a perfectly thrown spiral. 3.) It is a widely known fact that John Elway had his left ACL removed in high school. It is a lesser known fact that this ACL was used to form the first bullet proof vest. 4.) The first sonic boom in recorded history was the result of a 10 yard out thrown by John Elway. 5.) Once a reporter asked John Elway to throw a football as far as he possibly could, that throw is now known as the Hale-Bopp Comet. 6.) The fastest recorded pitch in major league baseball history was, strangely enough, a John Elway thrown football. 7.) The explosion at Chernobyl was not an accident, it was actually caused by an errant John Elway throw. Of course, John Elway has never had an "errant throw", so the lesson here is that Russia shouldn't have been talking shit. I'm sure some of you out there can come up with some good ones too, so feel free to fire them up in the comments. Also, a couple of other Broncos made the list. Shannon Sharpe was the greatest #84 of all time and Neil Smith the greatest #90. Here are some promotions updates for John Elway Day: - Fox & Hound on Bowles: Everyone wearing a Broncos jersey on Saturday will get free pool until 5:00PM After 5:00pm you can get half off pool and half off the cover for the UFC fight. If you have any questions you can call 720-922-0400 and ask for Tiffany. Click here for directions. - Timeless Sports at the Flatirons Mall in Broomfield: They will be offering all John Elway items autographed and non-Autographed that day at 21% off (7+7+7 = 21%). For more information you can contact them by phone at (303) 410-0068, or by email info@Timeless-Sports.com We should hopefully be getting a few more drinking spots on the list before Saturday, so I'll be updating this as they come in.

Nuggets Draft Review

Draft Review: Round 1 - Round 2 - Grade - Analysis - While the Nuggets didn't improve much during tonight's draft, they didn't get any worse either. I don't see any future stars coming out of the team's draft picks this year, but it is doubtful it will produce any Nikoloz Skitishvili type busts either. They did about as well as can be expected for a team with absolutely nothing to do today. ___________________________________________________ John Elway Day update: - Thanks to everyone who's joining in the movement with us. Some great Denver Broncos blogs have joined in to raise awareness. Check them out at BroncoTalk and My Denver Obsession. Thanks for the support fellas! - We are still working on some bar spots to celebrate Elway Day, but if you need some new Elway hotness to celebrate with then you're in luck. We received an email from Jason Patterson, owner of Timeless Sports at the Flatirons Mall in Broomfield, who wants to participate in the Elway Day festivities. They will be offering all John Elway items autographed and non-Autographed that day at 21% off (7+7+7 = 21%). For more information you can contact them by phone at (303) 410-0068, or by email info@Timeless-Sports.com. It looks they have Champ Bailey coming to the store on the 8th also, so it's a good weekend to head up there and check it out. ______________________________________________________ Other Draft Notes - - One thing is for sure, this draft definitely made things a lot more difficult for the Nuggets to win the Northwest Division next year. - For the second year in a row Portland nailed the draft. Got Oden, got rid of Randolph to make room for Oden and Aldridge. They did have to pick up Steve Francis in the deal, so hopefully he can teach himself to pass before the start of the season. The Trail Blazers also picked up Channing Frye and Josh McRoberts during the draft which leaves them extremely stacked up front. I don't think they are done making moves yet. - The Celtics got over on the Sonics in the Ray Allen deal. Here's what I don't understand if you're the Sonics. You draft a dynamic 3 man in Kevin Durant. You then trade the best shooter in the league, Ray Allen, to Boston for Jeff Green (who's basically just like Durant only not near as good), another 3 man in Wally Szczerbiak, and now you are trying to re-sign your other dynamic 3 man in Rashard Lewis. So you now have Lewis (who scored over 22 ppg last year), Wally (who averaged 15 ppg last year), and the #2 and #5 pick in the draft who all play the exact same position. We know they can't put Durant at the 4 spot since he can't do a push up, or at least he can't without putting his knees on the ground. So either they are making another trade, or they are planning on playing Golden State style of ball next season and spreading everyone out to rain 3's. And the Celtics just became a contender in the East. Of course, if you put me, Forty Duece, a Yorkshire terrier and Ray Allen on a team we'd contend in the East. The East blows. But Ray Allen averaged a career high in points last season, and a player like him (a scorer who relies on his jumper) can keep playing well into his mid-30's... ask Reggie Miller. - At some point around pick #40, the 2nd round of the NBA draft has become a joke. For the past few years teams just use these picks to take a flier on some tall Euro who might be a player in the next few years, instead of taking a proven American college player. An example of this is the last pick in the first round Petteri Koponen. Koponen was the 3rd leading scorer of his Finnish Basketball League TEAM, at 12.5 ppg. Not in the entire league, just on his team. In comparison, my former teamate at CU and one of my best friends DJ Harrison also played in the Finnish League. DJ was the 5th leading scorer in the league at 19.4 ppg, averaged nearly 10 rebounds, and was second in the league in player efficiency rating (a huge stat in Europe, it's kind of like Hollinger Stats). So why is this foreign kid a first round draft pick and DJ isn't? Because NBA GM's and talent scouts are retarded that's why. US players who don't quite make the NBA consistently go to Europe and DESTROY the competition. Yet these lesser players that they dominate end up in the NBA.... makes sense I guess if your a GM of an NBA franchise and you want to populate your team with dudes like this. ______________________________________________________ In other Nuggets news: - I was reading Gilbert Arenas' blog on NBA.com and came across this in his last entry: Starting a Rumor I had seen Melo in our arena. Carmelo is doing a documentary of him working out for the Olympics back in D.C. When I saw him, for some weird reason I thought he was traded to us. I wish. He’s going to be in D.C. for about two weeks working out before he goes back to Denver. He works hard. It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy that other NBA players think Melo is a hard worker. - Allen Iverson's lawsuit hearing began today. It sounds like AI is a victim of his fame in this one. From what I can tell, some guy got his ass beat at a bar and Iverson was there, so he is suing him for $20 million. I don't think AI has anything to worry about.

07-07-07 Update; Elway Day Gaining Momentum

Good news Broncos fans! Clay Travis at CBS Sportsline has endorsed the John Elway Day movement. Make sure you read the column (it's a great interview with ex-Chief, and Super Tecmo legend, Christian Okoye) and you'll see he gives us some love at the end. Elway Day will not be stopped!! We are also currently working on getting a few bars throughout the Denver Metro area to sponsor some kind of Elway Day promotions. We'll be providing links to places that the Elway hordes will be gathering to celebrate as they become available. We can use this site as an Elway Day think tank. A sort of e-village with ideas of places to gather, special Elway Day drinks to consume, or just a place to share your favorite John Elway moments. Please share in the comments section. I'll get the Elway stories going with one of my favorites: Date - September 17th, 1995 Site - Mile High Stadium Opponent - Washington Redskins. It was the third game of the Mike Shanahan era in Denver. Elway was leading a young team with a young head coach and some serious potential. We had an unknown rookie RB named Terrell Davis in the backfield, and relied heavily on Elway to carry the team. I was sitting in the west stands of the old Mile High with my buddy Wade, who's dad had given us the tickets. It was a beautiful Colorado day. We were going the distance with the Skins in a shootout, Elway was having a monster day that would see him end up with 327 yards and a couple of TD passes. But with a minute or two left, the Skins tied the game at 31, and the following kickoff went out of the end-zone leaving Elway 80 yards and two minutes to lead us to victory. No problem. The drive stalled out at the Redskin 43 yard line though, and Shanny decided it was too far to risk a FG block. So on 4th down (I think) Elway dropped back sending everyone down the right side of the field for the old Hail Mary. He scrambled right, stopped, and threw a laser towards the only receiver running down the left side of the field. This lonely receiver was an undrafted rookie named Rod Smith, who had yet to catch his first pass in the NFL. Elway's throw was on the money and Rod Smith snatched it in front of his defender to score the game winning 43 yard TD, with no time left on the clock. Wade and I (and the rest of Mile High Stadium) went batshit crazy. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Following up with Brainz analysis of the newest CU recruits, here is a youtube video of Tyler Hansen. I'd say Brainz was right on about this kid. He can make a lot of throws and looks pretty polished for a 17 year old, and I'm pretty sure that his dad picked his highlight tape tunes. I don't think i've heard the song "Highway to the Dangerzone" in the last 17 years, so I'm pretty sure that Tyler hasn't either.

Still the Greatest. Some things never change

The greatest football player who ever lived.... scratch that. The greatest athlete in the history of mankind..... scratch that one too. The greatest collection of DNA that the human race has ever produced, is once again a champion. That fits. Ol' #7 has done it again. John Elway wins yet another championship. Was there ever any doubt? That's right, yesterday Elway took on a formidable cast of foes (a list including retired Steelers coach Bill Cowher, video game entrepreneur / skateboarder Tony Hawk, singer Jewel, a rodeo guy, and a wrestler) and took them all down, winning by over 3 seconds. Elway averaged 149 mph during the race, didn't hit anything on the track, or any other cars, and he didn't stall the car once. These all seemed to be issues for the other drivers, but not for Elway who handled that car like he handled many a Broncos last minute drive, in total control. I think Kenny Mayne summed it up best when he said: "Millions of years from now, when the sun no longer exists and cars can fly, the poets will write, 'John Elway is the greatest celebrity car driver ever.' He is the champion. Congratulations." Well said Mr. Mayne. As if we needed anymore proof that John Elway is the greatest human ever, now we can add "Celebrity Car Racing Champ" to his list of feats. -- This brings me to my next Elway related issue today. A reader of ours named Matt Allinson sent in an email that needs to be posted, as it is one of the greatest ideas I've ever heard. Here's what Matt said: And a good day to you. I come to you because I have no one else to turn to (that I know of). I'll make it brief, because I know you are busy men with deadlines to meet and snacks to eat. July 7th (aka 07-07-07) is sneaking up on us quickly and beyond being one of the most popular days of all time to get married, the date also seems to lend itself, rather seamlessly, to a tribute to our beloved John Albert Elway. He was the number seven to beat all number sevens - at least in this fellow's opinion. I'm not suggesting an organized rally or fawning columns in the paper or Reggie Rivers fucking up an interview with him; I'm merely asking the Denver Metropolitan area, the Rocky Mountain Region and the Nation as a whole to take a moment and appreciate what the man with the golden arm and the imposing teeth did for football. If you have a jersey, throw it on (and I may pay a pretty penny to see someone wearing one at a wedding). If you have a copy of Super Bowl XXXII or XXXIII, insert it into the VCR (DVD player?) and enjoy. If you live in Denver, go to his restaurant. If nothing else, Google him. There's really no better day to honor The Comeback Kid and anytime you can remind people to do so leading up to the 7th would be great. If not, I understand. But not really. I'll be contacting the mayor's office to see if we can't get the day renamed in His honor, even though we've probably had about a dozen John Elway days by now. First off Matt, I'm glad that we are someone that you feel you can turn to in a time of need such as this. If we Homers can't help each other out, than what good is this crazy world we live in? Second, this is an incredible idea that needs to happen. Rest assured we will do our part to have 07/07/07 officially recognized as John Elway Day, a nationally recognized holiday where we will all have the day off work, we will all wear our Elway jerseys and other paraphernalia, and we will all gather in Washington Park and re-enact The Drive, The Dive, and various other great moments in Elway's unmatched career. We'll sing the "I Love Elway" Song. We'll probably be very drunk. To all of our other readers, it's time join in the revolution. Make 07/07/07 John Elway day, call in sick to work, call your congressman, email AM950, the Denver Post, Rocky Mountain News, Mayor Hickenlooper, Governor Ritter, Sammy Winder, anyone you can think of. Send this link on to all of your friends and let's get some momentum going for this thing. Matt has planted the seed, now it is up to us to make this baby grow! Thank you for your vision Matt! Also, any bar / club owners that may read our blog, if you create some sort of celebration for Elway Day, count me in. In other sports news: - The Bandwagon loses some weight as the Rox get swept by the Blue Jays. I hope I didn't jinx them with that whole "best team in the AL East" thing last week. Although, at the time it was true. It's a tricky thing, playing in Canada. I mean, I still haven't worked out the exchange rate exactly, but I think that once you do the math that we actually won the first two games. So technically I was right. Plus, a lot of teams have been nearly no-hit by Dustin McGowan.... wait, what do you mean they haven't? Have you seen the size of those mutton chops? He's got a 5.85 lifetime ERA people! We've got Jeff Francis going against the Cubs today, so hopefully this little losing streak will end before it gets out of hand. - Attention Nuggets fans, with no picks in Thursday's NBA draft, make sure you head out and purchase one of these draft day Nuggets hats! No one else will be wearing it that day, and you and your friends can pretend to get signed to a free agent contract or something.

Is JT on the bandwagon yet?

After yesterday's posting on the Rockies being the best team in the AL East, several people have asked me if I'm on the Rockies bandwagon now. My answer? I'm interested..... but.... cue the dramatic music.... no. They're having a good run, and it has been fun to watch, but I just don't quite believe yet. Sorry Brainz. Let me explain. I officially jumped ship a couple years ago after it became clear that we were going to abandon the "Blake Street Bomber" theory of baseball, put our balls in a humidor, and try to make the games more boring. We may have always been average in the past, but we were always fun to watch. Plus, they have frequently been just good enought to make you say, "they'll be better next year" only they don't make any moves, don't re-sign their best free-agents, and end up starting over the next season. This is why I can't get on board with the Rox. We draft well, develop talent, get them to the bigs and watch them get better and better. Then, when it's time to pay up to keep them, ownership refuses and they end up on the Yankees or something. We are like a AAAA team. We just develop talent for the rest of the league. So no matter how much I love watching Matt Holiday, Troy Tulowitzki, Jeff Francis, Brad Hawpe, Garrett Atkins and the rest of the boys play, I can't get through the fact that they will probably be wearing another teams colors in the next couple of years. It would be one thing if I knew these guys would all be on the squad for the next 5-7 years, but knowing our ownership, they probably won't. I don't want to get attached too deeply, only to be let down again. I got tired of being like that girl who keeps letting her boyfriend come over every time he's wasted, only to have him break up with her again the next morning when she thinks they're back together.... you know what? That whole analogy made more sense in my head. So until upper management can prove to me that they are willing to spend some money to keep a core team together, I'm not willing to completely attach myself to them. I'll cheer them on, because they'll always be my favorite baseball team, but I'll never completely believe until ownership shows me they're committed to winning, and they try to make some moves. Look at the other teams in town. The Broncos spend money and sometimes fail (Brian Griese), the Nuggets spend money and sometimes fail (Kenyon Martin, Tariq Abdul Wahad), and the Avalanche used to spend money before the new salary cap completely befuddled Pierre Lacroix. But they were all out there spending money, trying to get better and win championships. You know that Stan Kroenke wants to win. You know that Pat Bowlen wants to win. But what about the Montforts? The Rox tried and failed a couple of times several seasons ago and decided to give up on it all, and go the cheap and average rout. That's why I can't jump on the bandwagon yet, because I don't believe that ownership is on the bandwagon. So why would I be? But that doesn't mean I don't root for them, they're still my favorite team and I want them to do well. I mean, I still like them. But just not in that way anymore. They've let me down too many times... We're just friends now.

I can't quit you!

After spending the off-season in free-agency, weighing all of his options and narrowing down his list of teams, former CU Buff standout running back "6 Touchdown" Chris Brown is going to sign with the.... Tennessee Titans.... again. They agreed to terms on a new 1 year contract last night. It seems kind of weird to me that someone would re-sign with the team that decided not to renew their contract at the end of last season, but professional football isn't always an easy thing to figure out. And also, sometimes your starting running back shows up to camp looking like he ate Rosie O'Donnell. Brown can thank former Chatfield HS running back Lendale White for his newest bag of money from the Titans. Lendale was given the starting RB job in the beginning of the off-season when the Titans decided not to resign Brown and let Travis Henry go via free-agency. Then White got stung by a bee in the off-season and started swelling exponentially, which resulted in the Titans using a 2nd round pick on a RB and now re-signing Chris Brown. You've gotta love it when you see a young man taking full advantage of great opportunities! Lendale, your job is to play football. And people are willing to pay you millions of dollars to play it. All you have to do is stay in shape. So put down the doughnuts and extra plate of barbecue and jump on the treadmill or something. I'm begging you! As for Brown, he should split carries again for the Titans with White and occasionally rookie RB Chris Henry. But Henry is likely to be commit a handful of crimes before the season starts just by name osmosis. Brown has had an up and down career, running for 1,000 yards in 11 games back in 2004 while averaging nearly 5 yards per carry. Since then he has been plagued by injuries (mostly of the mysterious "turf toe" variety) and shown just enough upside to always warrant a spot at the end of my Fantasy bench year in and year out. Actually, no matter what he does in the NFL, he will always have a home on my fantasy team for this: As a Colorado Buffalo, I owe him that much.... we all do. In other important fantasy football news, here's how our Broncos rated out in the inaugural player position rankings at CBS Sportsline: - Jay Cutler #9 QB - Travis Henry #10 RB - Javon Walker #10 WR - Brandon Marshall #49 WR - Dan Graham #18 TE - Tony Scheffler #19 TE - Jason Elam #4 K - Broncos #6 DST The Cutler rating jumps out at me. I think he is going to have a season that will either put him in the top 5 of fantasy QB's or he'll be like an Eli Manning (who ranked at #17 for QB's). Travis Henry is ranked about right considering the other RB's in the league, same goes for Javon. I think that Brandon Marshall is going to have a breakout season though and should end up somewhere in the top 20 fantasy receivers. Much like our real season, the fantasy numbers will all fall on Cutler's shoulders. We have the potential to be a dangerous, high scoring offense if Cutler can handle the wheel. I'm in. I think he can do it. But I'm a homer. He'll have a few ups and downs, but with the talent we've surrounded him with I think he can get it done. Plus Champ and Dre will pretty much keep other teams from using that tricky "forward pass" against us, so the defense should keep us in most games. God I can't wait for football to start.

What's up in Boulder

During this extremely dull time to be a sportsfan in Colorado, we have some news from Boulder this week. The biggest news was the unveiling of the new football duds. Now don't get me wrong, I loved the CU uniforms, but I have always been a big fan of the uniform change. It has proven to be a successful way to harbor some good luck to your favorite team, especially here in Colorado. It is a little something I have dubbed "The New Uniform Corollary". Here's your evidence: -In 1997 the Broncos change their uniforms and what happens? Two straight Super Bowls. - The Nuggets do a complete overhaul to their uniforms in 2003/ 2004 and what happens? Four straight playoff seasons. Sure we lost in the first round every year, but we weren't making the playoffs at all for years before that. Need further proof? The Colorado Rapids change their uniforms this season and what happens? ..................um. I'm not really sure actually. A quick Google search shows that they are in second place in the Western Conference of the MLS. The Corollary holds true again. So now the Buffs are coming out with new jerseys to follow up a 2-10 juggernaut season. I predict they will improve. I know it sounds crazy, but trust me, "The New Uniform Corollary" is time tested and true. Here are my thoughts on the new look. I think we need to ditch the gold pants with the black uni's, and only wear the gold pants with the white uni's. White / gold and all black. The other combos look like ass. I am particularly unimpressed with the black uni / gold pant combo. I don't know why we ever wear those two together. I'm a little bias though as the all blacks will occasionally make me visually aroused... It's awkward when it happens, but they look that cool. In hoops news, Coach Bzdelik has driven off another player. Oops, I meant he has "granted another player a release from his scholarship". The only problem is that this time it looks like the player he is graciously granting a release to isn't happy about it. In fact, he had no idea it was happening. Here is what sophomore point guard Kal Bay had to say about being released in the Daily Camera: "It's not because I want to leave CU or leave my teammates," Bay said. "I don't know exactly what it is. "I got a call from coach Friday and he said, 'I've been thinking long and hard about this Kal, and I'm not going to renew your scholarship for next season.' He said I missed a meeting with an academic advisor and he wasn't going to tolerate that. "That's really all that I know. I haven't gotten any more explanation than that. This is all mind-boggling to me right now." As I've said before, I hope that Bzdelik takes our program to the next level at CU. But it is insane that Coach Patton was looked at so negatively for doing the EXACT SAME THING (losing scholarship players) and Bzdelik has been given a free pass. I'm not saying that Patton is in Bzdelik's class as far as X's and O's coaching chops, but they seem to have the same attitude. And it was Patton's attitude that resulted in him being less than loved by the media and fans. It just seems a bit hypocritical to me that Buzz doesn't get the same treatment. As bad as last season was, Bay was a bright spot from our freshman class and seemed like a guy who could be a pretty big contributor throughout his stay at CU. I'm pretty surprised by this move for a few reasons 1.) He was the starting PG last year, 2.) We are starting to run out of players and 3.) Transfers bring down the overall graduation rate, which could result in a loss of scholarships down the road. With this being the 4th transfer already since Buzz arrived, we've got to be teetering on the edge of disciplinary action. With that said, here are a couple of reasons not to worry too much about the loss of Bay. 1.) Marcus Hall will be back next year. As long as he can stay eligible he is a much better PG and player than Bay. He is a good leader, a good distributor, can score when it's needed, is a decent outside threat, and the level of speed and quickness between the two isn't even comparable. If Hall is a Ferrari than Bay was a Kia Sportage. Hall is an improvement in every way over Bay. 2a.) Word on the streets (and by streets I mean message boards) is that we are pursuing Juco All-American PG Omar Leary. Leary had signed with CSU but was released from his letter after a CSU coaching change and was now considering Colorado. He would be the first CU hoopster from Portland since Tyrone Manlove (I'm not sure what that has to do with anything, I just love to say / type Ty's name). Here's where this street information takes on the look of an inside tip from a crackhead.... Leary has already signed with Oklahoma. Now maybe this insider has some info that the rest of us aren't privy to, but it looks to me like he is out of the picture. But I guess you never know. 2b.) We are loaded at the 2 guard with Roby and Silas returning, and the addition of Colorado Mr. Basketball Levi Knudson and Corey Higgins. All of these players can handle the ball if needed and are legitimate scoring threats. So I guess what I'm saying is not to worry too much about losing Bay. He would have been nice to have, but we will get along fine without him. Moving on, it looks like we've solved the lack of height problem that developed with the transfers of Van Burck and Kowal. CU announced that 6'10" Casey Crawford is transferring to CU from Wake Forest. Crawford was the Gatorade Player of the Year in Kansas as a HS Senior and will have to sit out next season as a transfer. He will have four years to play three at CU. Addressing the height problem next season will be incoming 7 footer Caleb Patterson from Ringwood HS in Oklahoma. Patterson is a 3 star player recruited by Coach Patton who decided to honor his commitment to the Buffs after Coach P resigned. I'm not sure of the immediate impact he will have with the team, but he will most likely be forced into playing early as he will be the only scholarship player on next seasons active roster over 6'9" tall. Much like the football team, CU hoops has only one direction to go after last season's 7-20 finish. As a homer, I've got to believe that Bzdelik is making the right moves to help bring us back to the national picture. It's a long way away from opening tipoff, and all we can do is sit, wait, and argue about the state of the program. God it's a long way away.... I'm so bored. When does football season start?

Can the Nuggets get Kobe?

So Kobe wants out of LA.... or he doesn't.... or wait, yes he does. Nope. He doesn't. Whatever is going on there he is obviously unhappy and may have made things too awkward and difficult for him to stay in LA. If that's the case than the Kobe trade sweepstakes is about to begin. Everyone has been throwing in their opinions of what trade possibilities are out there. But their is only one possible location that concerns us Nuggets fans, so let's have a look at the possibility. Can Kobe be a Nugget? Here is a trade that Scott and Al from The Fan were talking about on the radio yesterday: Nuggets trade Iverson, JR Smith, and K-Mart for Kobe and Lamar Odom. First off, the salaries match up. Which is obviously the most important aspect to making any trade work. K-Mart makes $12.06 million, JR $1.38 million, and Iverson $17.18 mill. For the Lakers, Kobe makes $17.71 and Lamar Odom $12.34 million. One thing to remember is that Kobe has a no trade clause, which he can waive. But this clause says that any team Kobe is traded to has to pay him a $15 million signing bonus that won't count towards the salary cap. But still, $15 million ain't chump change. So the salaries match up, but will it work? LA would still have a superstar in Iverson and an exciting young player in JR Smith to keep the fans paying an average of $350 per ticket. I really don't think that the Lakers will make any kind of trade that doesn't involve at least one superstar player. The Nuggets would get two All-Star players to replace an All-Star and a former All-Star. Granted, K-Mart is a far cry from his former All-Star caliber of play, but he is still a pretty big name. Plus, the Lakers would end up with JR Smith who has huge potential. Denver fans have consistently booed Kobe since the alleged rape a few years back. I'm talking about every time he touches the ball he has been showered with boos. So would Denver fans accept his past transgressions? A forgive and forget for the sake of winning? Definitely. Wait... actually, that booing statement is not completely true. Every single time the Lakers come to Denver there are always a couple thousand Lakers fans who have never been to LA in their lives, who are wearing Kobe jerseys and go bananas every time Kobe does even the littlest thing... like dribbling the ball between his legs. "Holy shit bud!! Did you see that move by Kobe!" they will scream. Kobe would be huge here. So maybe Kobe could work out in Denver. Let's have a look at the lineups: Starting Fives: Nuggets: PG - Steve Blake SG - Kobe SF - Melo PF - Lamar Odom C - Nene / Marcus Camby Lakers: PG - AI SG - JR Smith SF - Luke Walton PF - K-Mart C - Kwame Brown Looks pretty lopsided now doesn't it? Jesus! If the Nuggets managed to make this trade, we could potentially be one of the greatest dynasties of all-time, and we will have pulled off the greatest trade steal of all time. You've got 4 or 5 possible All-Stars every season on the same team! It would be glorious!! One problem though.... It will never happen. Don't get me wrong, I wish it would, but there is no way the Lakers are going for this. Look at their starting 5 after this trade, they aren't improving much if at all. Why would you trade a player like Kobe Bryant and not make your team better? Not gonna happen. We're going to chalk this one up to another bout of stupidity over at AM950. Kind of like the time that Irv Brown thought that the CU hoops squad should just get Larry Brown to be the coach. His rationality was "He loves Boulder!". Yep. That'll get him here Irv. Maybe you should go back to yelling at the TV again while on-air, or tell us again about some guy who played for Wheat Ridge HS in 1957. I love Irv and Joe, but sometimes I wonder what they put in the weed over there because it must be outstanding. Not to worry though Nuggets fans, I think our team has a pretty bright future with the current lineup. Trade or no trade I think we will be in the title hunt next season. Some quick hits from around Colorado: - Maybe I was a bit premature in calling the Rockies season a few weeks ago. With a seven game win streak going they have managed to climb out of the cellar. I feel confident that they will now do just enough to make us believe that they might have the potential to be a playoff team. Just enough to make sure that the Monforts don't have to spend any money in free agency this off-season, or won't sell the team. Just enough to ensure several more seasons of mediocrity. - We all know about David Kircus passing Shanny's breathalyzer test to stay on the team. Good for Kircus. I hope he makes the team this season. Because he's either telling the truth, or his ability to lie is rivaled by only Catherine Trammell - Dan Graham's addition to the Broncos is exciting for me on a few levels. 1.) He's good. 2.) He's a former Buff. 3.) He's my boy. But it makes me wonder what Shannahan will do with Tony Scheffler. Scheffler was Cutler's favorite target and best friend from last year's team and has seemingly been demoted. I figure with the questions at WR and our love of the running game that we will see a lot of 2 TE sets next season that feature passing over running plays. - Lastly, Chatfield HS alum Lendale White forgot to come back to training camp the other day leaving coach Jeff Fisher just a little bit peeved. Here's what Fisher said: "Everybody else managed to make it back," Fisher said. "He didn't, so I don't know, I guess he had things that are more important to him than what we're doing." and... "I've been on record with being disappointed with him right now," Fisher said. "I hope to have him back on the practice field Thursday. But again, everybody else was here, he wasn't. I'm anxious to hear what kind of excuse he has." Wow. I'll never understand what goes on in the minds of some athletes. With Travis Henry coming to the Broncos, the Titans basically handed the keys to Lendale White as their #1 RB. Then he reports to camp earlier in the off season at a whopping 260lbs. So the Titans use a 2nd round pick on a Chris Henry, a kid who didn't really play at Arizona but was the star of the combine. So what does Lendale do when he has a little competition? He shows up a couple DAYS late to camp, while his eager rookie replacement is busy wowing the coaching staff. I hope Lendale gets his shit together before the season starts because he has all the potential in the world to be a great running back in the NFL.