Remembering McGregor

Keli McGregor’s life was symbolized by his numerous accomplishments, but is, by no means, who he is because of what he does.

He was born in January 23, 1963 in Primghar, Iowa. But as he grew up in Lakewood, Colorado he would remain a proud Coloradoan the rest of his life.

He was a standout football player at Lakewood High School but slipped through the cracks of the major college football radars. Although the setback, and in perfect McGregor fashion he went on to walk on at Colorado State University and become an All-American and named to the CSU All-Century team as a tight end.

He was drafted by the hometown Denver Broncos in 1984, but his career didn’t pan out. He remained steadfast and involved in football being the assistant athletic director at Arkansas as well as assistant coach at the University of Florida.

Again in 1993 he came home when the Colorado Rockies were formed. With hard work and dedication which were not new to Keli he moved up the ranks in the front office of the Rockies. In 2001 he was finally awarded the role of president over the Colorado Rockies.

He and Dan O’Dowd, the general manager, had the same morals and began to build the farm system. The organization became a tight knit group which all culminated when the Rockies made the World Series in 2007 and named the ‘Organization of the Year’ by Baseball America. They were the second fastest team ever to reach the World Series and they did it the right way.

After 18 years of service with the Colorado Rockies Mr. McGregor finally found his way home for the last time. He will remain in the hearts and minds of many people and will be sorely missed.

Keli McGregor January 23, 1963- April 20, 2010

Death by Draft

The NFL Draft is a glorified fantasy draft. There is nothing to it and it really doesn’t matter. And for all you football fans that literally watch ever pick every year here is why you are literally crazy…

The talent doesn’t even really stay on the roster. Of the 66 players that are currently on their roster only 27 of them were selected by the very same Broncos. So that’s roughly half… 40.9% to be exact. That is a decent amount right? Wrong. Of those 27 that were ‘home-grown’ 9 of them were selected this year. Of the 18 of those past draftees only 2 players on the roster have 5 or more years of experience in the NFL. DJ Williams, drafted in the first round in 2004, has 7 years experience and Chris Kuper, drafted in the fifth round has 5 years of experience. That leaves us 16; and 4 of those draftees have yet to play a single down in the NFL. And finally that gives us 12 players that have always been in the Bronco organization. Of that dozen at total of 6 players were drafted in the first two rounds, the rest were drafted in the later rounds. So technically what I’m saying that if you want to sit around for the whole 8 hours on the couch with a bottomless bucket the Colonels best fried chicken and watch less than half your team, over the next 5 years, get drafted be my guest. Just don’t call me to join you.

I’m mad, as a lifetime Broncos fan, for selecting Tebow. As McDaniels said after the selection Tim is ‘hard-working’ and a ‘winner’ and those are two things you cannot replace or even ask less of in a player. They just come with him. But you contradict yourself as a coach when you go talk about draft picks to mold into the team you envisioned and then all of a sudden take a huge leap and give up 3 relatively good draft picks for him. Not to mention, that is the ‘Mile-High Messiah’, as his new nickname emerges, will undoubtedly get first round draft pick money which none of these rookies deserve. (That’s another whole can of worms) He would, most definitely, have been there early in the second round. And although the shock factor for Bronco fans would still be rather high it wouldn’t be as high and you wouldn’t have had to give up picks or mass amounts of cash for Tebow.

There is no bar to guide the draft by. People, coaches in particular, are always preaching to the youth of the world to learn from their mistakes. Shouldn’t the NFL, its analyst, and the organizations be held accountable for their mistakes a full 137 days from now and years down the road.

The NFL is the most watched sport in America; it entertains and dazzles millions worldwide each and every year. And the NFL Draft can single handedly bore me to death.

Boyle a Buff

Not since the Barnett scandals has the University of Colorado at Boulder been up in arms about a coaching move until now.

Okay, maybe that’s a little hyperbole but the excitement around campus is real and it’s a very good thing. For the first time in a long time people are more excited about Buffalo basketball more than they are about Buffalo football; and this happening as spring practices are in full swing.

Quarterback controversy is old news, and Tad Boyle is new.

But was it another ‘Bohn’head coaching move?

Tad Boyle has 4 years of head coaching experience under belt at a division 1 school. He has 12 years of assistant coaching experience at Oregon, Tennessee, Jacksonville State and Wichita State. He assisted Jerry Green at both Oregon and Tennessee who is disciple of Larry Brown. He coached under Mark Turgeon (now Texas A&M’s head man) at Wichita State. He played for Kansas from 1981-1985 with Larry Brown as his coach. Larry Brown approved the decision to hire Boyle earlier this week. He won 25 games last year at Northern Colorado. He recruited several 2 star recruits to Greeley, I’m impressed. His two leading scorers were guards; Will Figures 16.6ppg, and Devon Beitzel 14.3 ppg. Colorado has 2 of the most dynamic guards in the Big XII Conference for at least next year. (As Alec Burks declared that he was staying for his sophomore season earlier today). After a strong year in 2009-2010 and most of the talent returning it looks to be a lock as a successful year.

Well, let’s not jump to conclusions just yet….

Tad Boyle has an overall record of 54-62 as a head coach at Northern Colorado winning only 4 games in his first year. He never really ‘played’ that much for Kansas, be it may that he played during the era of the great Danny Manning. (At least there are no significant stats on him) The two leading scorers of the Bears were recruited by the previous coach at UNC. After playing at Kansas in 1985 he was away from the game until 1994, an almost decade of absence. So don’t give us a NCAA bid just yet.

Coach Boyle may turn out to be the right move in the long run, but he still has to prove quite a bit to me and the University of Colorado. And with Higgins and Burks being the liaisons between him and the rest of the fan base next year this upcoming season is looking to be a smooth transition with a productive and successful outcome. But after this year, that’s when he’s really going to prove it to me.

Uh-Oh

After the Nuggets game on Sunday there is not much to say. But I have found a way to put what I think into 2 two very sophisticated words…

‘Uh oh’.

The Utah Jazz are the NY Mets, of a year ago. They can’t keep players healthy. Kirilenko was an All-Star in 2004 and he went down down the stretch. Okur has played in 70 plus games in 8 straight years since entering the league; and he goes down with an Achilles injury.

Okay, so Deron Williams is proving to be the best young point guard in the NBA and Carlos Boozer is returning to his All-Star caliber form at the exactly the right time. But playing 2 on 5, and losing, is not a good thing. We lose to bad teams at bad times during the year, but this is the playoffs. There should be a different, more no mercy mentality with our team and our best player.

Melo showed why he is not considered an elite player in the NBA. He may be the most versatile scorer in the NBA. He can post up the smaller, quicker Bruce Bowens of the world and then take the Shane Battiers to the hole off the dribble. But he needs to grow up.

Okay, the refs were not giving him all the calls. But this is the NBA playoffs, this is the time of the year where you keep your head and overcome adversity. Instead he got frustrated and gave into the pressure and emotion of the situation. This is not what championship caliber teams and superstars do. You don’t see Lebron losing his head in key situation? No. You don’t see Kobe fouling at the most inopportune time when you have 5 fouls? No.

Carmelo is unstoppable with the ball in his hands, but if you can get in his head he can’t do anything. And this, in part lays on the coaches shoulders.

The situation for Adrian Dantley may be the hardest a coach has ever had to deal with. Coach Karl is the heart and soul of the team. He is the epitome of the team and although it may be subconsciously the players are affected by not seeing and hearing their orange lossanged leader on the sidelines.

But we have seen this happen before. Ala Larry Bird and the Indiana Pacers. Ala Isaiah Thomas and the New York Knicks. A great player in his own right, but the lacking intellectual capability to maintain a contender into late April. There is nothing new here; the players have a limited perspective on the game. The coaches view is all seeing; you have to keep the egos in check, keep the schedules on time, studying endless amounts of tape and do so much more than draw up the winning play behind the scenes. Dantley is one of the 50 greatest player All-Time but he is no Doug Moe.

With all this said there is no doubt in my mind that the Denver Nuggets still have a very legitimate opportunity to fulfill their goals by winning the NBA Championship. This team is unlike any team in the league. They have some of the best athletes in the league. They have the experience to win it all. They have proven they can beat the best teams in the league on any given night. They can score in bunches. They can play defense, when they want to.

Can ‘Uh oh’ be a good thing?

ESPN Denver... In the works

As the self proclaimed first columnist of ESPN Denver this past weekend was just another example of why Colorado sports is some of the best and most exciting in the world.

No other city in America, that has or doesn’t have their own ESPN website, has seen a weekend like this one.

- Ubaldo throwing a no-no. Not his best stuff, throwing 98mph late in the game, from the stretch and still not giving up a hit.

- Nuggs looking strong against the Jazz. Melo looks like an MVP candidate dropping a quiet 42 against a tough defensive team.

- Avs taking down the Sharks. The sweet sweet memories of Mutombo still resonate in every true Coloradan sports fan.

Not too shabby for a small market town with big market town talent, right?

[Coming soon, ESPN Denver via the blogosphere]

Party in ... Colorado

I’m a firm believer in cheesy sayings like, “Practice like you play”, “If you look good you’ll play good”, and “Failing to prepare is preparing to fail” just to name a few.

So was I surprised when Troy Tulowitzki only hit the ball to the warning track in the 9^th inning of a tie ballgame?

Nope.

Okay, here’s why.

Tulo is one of the classiest players in MLB. He and players like Evan Longoria are going to be the faces of the game for many years to come. And at home in Colorado he is going to be following in the footsteps of Todd Helton as the downright leader of the team and the face of the franchise. Not only is his image great but he has game. He has a canon situated on his right shoulder and, as we saw last year, the power to hit off the nastiest throwers in the game. He is a team player and player you can build a team around.

But... when your walk-up song is Party in the USA by Miley Cyrus I don’t expect much.

Da Da Dadada Da Da Da Da TuNO!!!!!

Bzdelik Bouncing?

2 years in the life a head couch, even nowadays isn’t a long time. Although the fact that there have been numerous 1-and-Done coaches in the NFL in its recent history.

As a coach you need time to recruit, develop talent and shape a team in the way you envision it. And if you give a good coach time to make his mark on the program they will definitely have success. Coach Krzyzewski was 38-47 in his first three seasons as the head man at Duke. I think he turned out alright.

And Bz, as I see him, is a good and quality coach. Maybe not a HOFer, but rather a guy who is going to go out and recruit (and players will come because he has a tie to the NBA which is key to getting a high profile player to commit to a school) and get the best out of his guys and use ‘his’ system to win.

With the Nuggets he coach a little more than 2 years and in that time he turned around a surefire lottery pick team into a decent squad. His 26 game turnaround of the Nuggs is close to the NBA record. It would be like the Nets winning 36 games next year and in contention in the Easy Playoff Push.

At Air Force he stayed there for 2 whole years and in the second year they made a run in the NIT tourney. You can’t tell me that making the Falcons a good solid team is not a success.

And now at CU, after the Richard Roby era, he has had gradual growth in competitiveness in the Big XII. The Buffs finished 8^th in the conference where 7 teams made the tournament. Where they lost 8 games by less the 6 points which could have sent them to the big dance as a 7 or 8 seed.

Now Bz, why leave?

You have a young team coming back, in a down conference. Cory Higgins could have been a lottery pick if he came out this year and projections for Alec Burks are in the top 10 for the 2011 draft. With 2 NBA Lottery picks sitting in your lap you have a chance to rule the Big XII. Kansas lost Aldrich, Collins and Henry; Texas is without Damion James; Iowa State is going to lose Gilstrap and Brackins.

And for Wake?

Okay, Wake Forest is most likely a better place for die hard basketball fans. But you would still be the step sister to UNC and Duke no matter how well you do. The Demon Deacons are losing Amino and PG to the NBA.

Is it a fair trade? I don’t think it’s even close.

And why would you even put your name out there? Don’t you remember what happened to Jay Cutler and Josh McDaniels? It was right in our backyard and it was the story of the offseason last summer. (And you if you thought the biggest story was Brett Favre last summer, you’re kidding yourself) You can’t go behind the team you are committed-to's back and get away with it. People are not going to be happy with you and situation is bound to emerge.

But, hey, if you think is the right place for you, go right ahead and leave. We have Mighty McClain to take the helm. And if you look at either is coaching career on film or in real life he is a good old fashioned coach. In Hoosiers he was the assistant coach and led the team to the state finals in Indy and they won it all. (Okay, that wasn’t actually McClain, but you have to admit that McClain and Dennis aka Coach Shooter look eerily similar.)

Courtesy Google Images

Dennis Hopper Steve McClain

‘Coach Shooter’ ‘Coach McClain’

McClain is a good coach too though. He went 157-115 as the head coach just north of the border in Wyoming. He led the Pokes to the second round in the NCAA tournament in 2002. So we know, he is a great replacement for Bz.

So, moral of the story is that it would be nice to see Bzdelik remain on the sideline here in Boulder next year, but we don’t need him. Whatever happens there is a very good chance that Burks, Higgins and the rest of the Buffs will play themselves into the big dance.

Lefty's NO Longshot

Congrats to Lefty who won the Masters the only way he knows how to play, risky. He played outstanding on a course that favors the players that can get creative and move around the course to low scores.

But the day after Phil won his third ever Masters all people can talk about is the heart warming hug Amy gave him.

Everyone needs to get off this.

This isn’t rare. Every three minutes another woman is diagnosed with breast cancer. More than 40,000 people will die from breast cancer every year. And there are more than 2.5 million breast cancer survivors in America.

So, you can feel for Phil. It is unfortunate what is happening to him and his family, but he isn’t the only one.

Support the Loveable Lefty and Breast Cancer Awareness.

(Love ya Ma)

NHL Schedules

Who is the commish of the NHL?

Anybody…. Anybody…. Anybody?

If you said Barry Melrose then you better shave off that mullet and turn off ESPN.

Cause what they are doing with the scheduling is ridiculous. They are losing their mind. A marquee matchup between Alexander Ovechkin and Sidney Crosby should be put on a pedestal. They should build it up. It should become a matchup that touches the hockey fan in us all.

But instead they put the games at the exact wrong time.

Super Bowl Sunday. Check.

NCAA Women’s Title Game. Check.

Only super ferocious, die hard, toothless, Canadians are watching these games at these times. Don’t you want to expand your fan base? Don’t you want some kind in any town in America to sit cross legged in awe in front of his TV? Don’t you want kids to look up to these real life gladiators? Don’t you want a kid begging mother nature to freeze the pond down the street so he can go play pond hockey?

Come on Commissioner Gary Bettman, figure it out, unleash the inner David Stern in you.

Playball

There are just certain things that I, a sports fan, just get goosebumps about. Like the Lou Gehrig video and speech; it gives me chills every time.

And there are other things that just get me plain pumped, like I need a chest bump somebody... this moment… pronto.

Like Opening Day of Baseball season.

America’s pastime returns to the main stage and everything else in the world around us stops. Nobody cares about health care, Tiger Woods returns to the back page and even March Madness ceases to exist. And all you can hear in the back of your mind is, “Play-Ball”.

UCONN Done For

What do David Tyree and Brittany Griner or Jane Appel have in common?

They are dynasty slayers.

What was sure to be the best team in the history of the NFL, the most prolific offense ever to grace the 100 yard field, the master mind that ran the show was cut short due to one game and ultimately one catch. And it is soon to be repeated.

The Football Gods don’t like to be upstaged and just about the time you thought Don Shula was gonna roll over in his parka lounger in Miami a guy from Syracuse, Tyree, showed up to save the day.

Don’t think the Basketball Gods are about to let the same thing happen to them and their sport. Why do you think Dee Dee Jernigan missed those two wide open layups? Why do you think, in the age of media, the punch by Brittany Griner only got her 2 games of suspension when Elizabeth Lambert and LeGarrette Blount got suspended the rest of the year?

If that’s not a sign, then I don’t know what is.

And yes, I am picking UCONN to lose.

And yes, I did use UCONN and LOSE in the same sentence.

Bulldog Bonanza

The Butler Bulldogs practiced before tens of thousands of Colts turned Bulldogs fans over the past week. But how much is this ‘home’ crowd gonna help them?

None.

Lucas Oil Stadium holds 70,000, and with the Final Four they expect to hold even more than that. And the people from the luxury boxes up won’t be a factor; they’re just too damn far away. It’s like going to a Bon Jovi concert without them plugging in the mikes. The Bulldog fans will come in flocks, no doubt, but their impact won’t be felt.

The crowd involvement and interaction is a staple of the college game and it is lost in the final games of the season. Rather than putting it in a arena where people will be literally on top of each other and tickets will be a National Treasure and a memory keepsake they are in the biggest structures in the world where people need help distinguishing the Mountaineer mascot from Coach Huggins and earning as much money as possible.

Now just stop that.

The games are still amazing and the atmosphere is still electric but it won’t be long before it tips and people start not showing up. (But that’s another blogumn itself)

No matter the arena, no matter who is in the stands, no matter who is courtside (other than Gene Hackman and Jimmy Chitwood) the game still has to be played. Go Bulldogs.