All-Star SCRAP

I hate All-Star games. Hate ‘em, don’t want anything to do with ‘em.

If you reluctantly turned on your television this weekend you could not escape the grasp of any and, perhaps, all the All-Star festivities.

The NHL, NFL and college football were all trying to make people watch, and care.

But they’re not fooling me. The NHL game had a combined 21 goals, and the NFL had 96 points… and not to mention DB DeAngelo Hall won the MVP. They are games where the league is trying to promote the skills of individuals, and yet they try to give the allusion of teamwork and camaraderie.

These guy are good, don’t get me wrong. They are the best of the best in their trades. And at time the skills challenges can be really entertaining, and a good showcase. But these games are absolutely garbage.

Time to take out the trash; scrap the idea and move on.

SportsMag's on FCS

In the very first show as associate producer of CUSportsmag.... I anchored, interviewed Tad Boyle and wrote the best damn reader from a galaxy far, far away.









Well check it out and be as harsh on the criticism as you'd like.

Mind-Boggling

What is going on?

The NFL sounds more like a reality radio show… if there ever was one. (Not a bad idea, right? Jersey Shore mixed with Don Imus… could turn out to be some good radio.)

Last week it was, “Who could have the biggest grudge, talk the most smack?” media week. Jets and Pats were throwing, and sometimes landing, soundbite after soundbite. Steelers and Ravens had nothing good to say to each other, obviously they ran out of compliments because they said them during their 2 regular season matchups.

This week it’s the role reversal, “They are real good, I don’t know how we are going to compete.” They are playing the ultimate underdog, just like Dean Smith did with his Tar Heel squad. Ben Roethlisberger can’t seem *says he is in awe of the Jets defense. And Charles Tillman, Bears CB, *thinks the Packers wide receivers are THE best in the league.

I’m excited. This is going to make for one heck of a quote happy, drama stirring, crazy fun Super Bowl week. Yea I said it, I’m not really that excited for the big game… only the pregame festivities that involve athletes, mind games and microphones.

Take Me To The Looney Bin

Last evening we had the privilege of Doug Looney, former senior writer for Sports Illustrated, come talk to our class the other night.

What an experience… both ways on the spectrum.

I could literally listen to the man talk all night. He told stories about the sports world in the prime of the magazine and in the prime of the sporting world. There was no greater time to be a fan than from the 60’s-90’s, and he got to travel to any event he wanted and meet all the athletes. Just livin’ the life, and he’s the first one to tell you that.

To quote Shakespeare (this is a historic first, and most likely last time this happens), “Can one desire too much of a good thing?”

This world I hope to one day be entrenched seems too good to be true. I hate to be pessimistic, but he lived and worked in a different time in this industry and in the arena of sport we once knew, it no longer exists. It’s not all sugar plums and chocolate rabbits, it’s hard work, even more so than in the past. And, man, that can scary me sometimes.

But there is still light on the end of the tunnel, it just isn’t the same way that it used to be.

John > Jay or Tim

I don’t know if it’s all the hate-mail Drew Soicher let me read or if it was the salty omelet I had for breakfast but I’m in the mood to drop some knowledge.

As it stands right now the Denver Broncos franchise is in shambles. There may be some, slight potential to be better… but there isn’t much worse than 4-12. And why is that? Many reasons, but the most evident one right now is that we don’t have our reliable quarterback. The Bears do.

Jay Cutler is a single victory away from leading the Chicago Bears to the Super Bowl. But don’t tell the Denver sports fans this, they’ll just say he doesn’t have a chance against Mr. Rodgers. (The football star, not tv icon.)

But that is beside the point. Why did Jay Cutler fail here in the Mile High City? Not because, he threw too many interceptions, or didn’t have enough passion for the game, or he had contract disputes with the owner, or he looked like a Jersey Shore reject. No, it’s because he’s NOT JOHN ELWAY.

Jake ‘the Snake’ Plummer led the team to a 13-3 record, the AFC Championship game and then people were asking for his head. You would have to win a Super Bowl to alleviate yourself of that sort of pressure… and that’s no easy task. (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oBuGr1pDEEM about the 3 minute mark especially)

Tim Tebow maybe, for all we know, might be God’s right-hand man, but in Denver, John Elway’s town, he’s just some shmuck under center. And the addition of John Elway to the front office is only going to put more pressure on the kid.

[Sidebar: If you watch that whole video, above, then you saw some other familiar face…. Mike Shanahan. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he has been part of some of the greatest teams of all time. His release could be seen as the beginning of the end, or in the most articulate way possible ‘Because the Little Bug went Ka Choo’.]

Carmelo Unveils

Why are we on Melo’s case? How can we take a ‘no comment’ and make it into a whole big story? How much can we make seem like the truth out of answers he doesn’t give us? Do people know something I don’t that makes you understand this situation infinitely better?

I believed all of that…. Until yesterday.

And you could see it coming. The La-La comment, the post-game interview after the Heat game, and finally, all culminating yesterday, when he said it was his “ultimate dream” to play in New York. He just flat out said he does NOT want to be here anymore.

The once media savy, ‘No Comment’ King, Carmelo Anthony couldn’t handle the pressure anymore and finally cracked. And this thing could get ugly really quick.

It may go from bad to worse faster than Steve Carroll movie. Melo will be traded, it’s only a matter of minutes now. We’ve been waiting the whole year and now people, including the Nets, Melo, fans, Nuggets execs, and even Super Mascot Rocky are really getting fed up with the whole situation.

I’m so utterly over the fact that this trade is going to happen. Get it done, it’s ridiculous.

My First Day

I always told people, ‘If you ain’t nervous you ain’t ready’ and boy was I ready.

By the time I arrived at 9NEWS the butterflies I had throughout the day were starting to get restless. But as I walked through the front door that all changed.

This is my element.

My job for the night…. Watching Auburn v Oregon in the National Title Game AND the Avs vs Red Wings game on side-by-side televisions. Nice. And who was there along side of me, but Drew Soicher himself. I was like a wishing well with no pennies; he gave me advice, answered questions and just plain hung out. Sweet.

If the rest of my days are anything like that first one I’m in for one heck of a ride.

'Luck' be the Lady

Architectural designer or #1 overall pick?

Sounds like a tough decision… I guess it actually was, because Stanford QB Andrew Luck has made the decision to return to college for his redshirt-Junior year (I've been corrected, good research sir) and get his degree.

Although it seems like the right decision in a world where athletes tend to make the wrong decisions, I definitely see it differently… IT MAKES NO SENSE.

Hear me out, okay!

Everyone is gawking over Andrew Luck like you’re pig roast in Arkansas. Your stock is literally as high as it’s ever going to be while at Stanford. You declare yourself eligible for the draft and go as the #1 pick to the Carolina Panthers, sign a contract somewhere in the thin Bel-Air range of $55 million, and probably play as a rookie in ahead of Matt Moore and Jimmy Clausen.

Instead you stay in Palo Alto, go to the tutors for a 4^th year and graduate. Learn an entirely new system under a new coach. Go to the NFL, maybe, if there isn’t a lockout already happening or you got hurt like Sam Bradford did. Then your future is up in the air.

PROS>CONS. Isn’t that what we learn in college, especially at a prestigious university like Stanford, is how to make the right/logical/rational/smart/I’m just using the thesaurus now/wise/coherent/keen decisions in life??

[This makes absolutely no sense to me. Jim Harbaugh is undoubtedly leaving, so you put the extra work of learning a new system and new leadership. You just broke every single record in the Stanford record book, including team records. (This is the first year ever Stanford has won 11 games) So you put the bar ridiculously high for your expectations. And finally you go back to get your degree. When will that come in handy? After college, when you are looking for employment? I don’t think you’ll have to worry about retiring to a stress free life with that $55 million in the bank, possibly.

I don’t want to say it, but maybe he knows something we don’t. Something he isn’t telling us….]

Thanks to Peter, for making these crazy ideas come out of me.

Rockies Extensions

Who all loves the extensions signed by Tulo and CarGo?? Every purple hearted, Venezuelan, mullet-loving sports fan in Denver…. And yes, that includes me.

But be weary Mile High faithful. By the time 2017, for CarGo, and 2020, for Tulo, rolls around people may be asking for their heads.

Todd Helton was awarded, and rightly so, a contract very similar to these guys. He was once the fable only option for numerous All-Star games and the face of the franchise for many years. Now he’s making too much money and not producing enough. (Should have listened to me 5 years ago, when I said I love Helton but it was time to get a trade when his stock was at an all time high. And Ryan Shealy was there to fill the role.) And I know this could be a bad example, but the Rockies and the contract are eerily identical.

And people undoubtedly will put ridiculously high expectations on these 2 up-and-coming stars and the Rockies organization as a whole which will pack the stands. But will it do the most important thing of all, win championships? Doubtful.

[These extensions had to happen, they are good for the team and the city, but we’ll see what happens. Damn you Mike Hampton for making every Rockies fan, especially Dan O’Dowd, scared of giving a good/hefty contract to a pitcher.]

Resolutions

It’s 2011… it’s a new year…. It’s a new decade…. And it’s time for some Dr. Pure’s resolutions!

1. Blog more often. It seems to me that my best work isn’t the drawn out research, 2000 word magnum opus but the little blurb on a random topic.

2. Keep this as my alias. This just something that I enjoy to do, not what I make it doing.

3. Be an ESPN intern.

4. Spread the knowledge. If I write it people will come… I guess this philosophy didn’t work in 2010 so I have to spread the word more.

5. Become more cultural apt and relevant. What makes Bill Simmons and Rick Reilly good is not their wealth of sports knowledge but their ability to construct a parallel between the non-sports lover and the sports world.

6. Get more help from my followers… you don’t necessarily have to comment on the opinion of a certain topic but those arguments are always fun. You can help me improve my writing, tell me that joke wasn’t funny, help with the structure of the articles, or pretty much anything else. I’m open to all the criticism, bring it on!

And in 2011, much like the AAA farm team in Salt Lake City, I’m gonna be BUSY!!!