Can it be spring already?

The Colorado Avalanche are awful… the Nuggets traded away their most popular player (from Hawaii, Anthony Carter)… the best chance for a Coloradan March Madness birth is Northern Colorado… and unless John Elway tweets he’s coming back the Broncos are going to be in the cellar…. Is it baseball season yet?

The Rockies are our last hope. A month, and a day away from Opening Day. So fire up that churro maker, get your peanuts and cracker jacks ready and let’s get this season going already.

(And your Double-Bubble....)

On paper they look good, but there aren’t many teams in baseball that can’t say that right now. And even last season, the Rockies were supposedly the low-lying team with the most talent, with the most to prove and they got shut out like Disc in Mission Impossible (Matty McD will probably only get that). It was a tumultuous season full of some ‘ups’ and more than enough let ‘downs’ that didn’t help our cause, finishing a respectable but relatively disappointing 83-79.

2011 is a new season, signing both young All-Stars to lengthy deals, and having a healthy and potentially a ‘Paranormal Activity’ scary (but maybe I’m just a wimp) rotation.

Time to turn our clocks back, feel a warm spring breeze and sing our hearts out to Heeeeeey Babbby.

Come on Rox, don’t disappoint.

CU SportsMag PKGs

Malcolm Blacken.... new CU Strength and Conditioning coordinator.


Frozen Foot 5K.... the CU Triathlon hosts a race that will support their efforts as they head to Nationals next month.

Sportsmag Anchoring

Somehow they let me anchor CU Sports Mag...
And my partner in crime, Audi Streetman, did a great job... and she had to tough through sickness and a sore throat to talk. Nice.

Segment #1:
Opening of the show, and into the men's basketball versus K-State highlight.


Segment #2:
Mark Johnson and his golden pipes were in the studio, and that ever pesky trivia question.


Segment #3:
Matt Hanlon rambling on about the men's basketball team (but seriously good work) and Double Team.


Segment #4:
Man On The Street and the loooong close of the best show all semester.


Overall, it was another good experience and I feel that I'm getting better and more comfortable in front of the camera.
Let me know if you see anything I need to improve on....

For The Love Of The Game

It’s really kind of funny how some things come together… and here are a couple of them. (No pun intended, you’ll see why.)
[One of my favorite movies, probably ever, but has very little to do with this post.]

Today there were 2 major retirements; Peter Forsberg and Ronaldo.

Both outstanding players are, well were, some of the greatest in their respective sports. They played the game with great passion and respect that was palpable as we watched from afar. They adored the mental, physical, and emotional grind that comes with the fame and the game. And it brings both these men to tears to say that they will not be able to continue competing.

After being away from the NHL for 3 years, Forsberg came back to the game because of love, and he’ll leave due to the same exact reason. He made a promise to his wife to-be that he would not put his health at risk. Classic Foppa; loyal as they come.

Ronaldo is a worldwide icon and Brazilian hero. A lot like Forsberg he was forced to hang it up after physical ailments hinders the back-end of his career. And who did he retire from, Corinthians Soccer Club…

“Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres.”

- 1 Corinthians 13

Happy Valentine’s Day everyone….

Foppa Should Stoppa

One of my favorite personal sports moments of all time came at Invesco Field at Mile High. And it had nothing to do with the Broncos.

So we’re walking out after the game and there are religious mavericks with Christ trademarked megaphones. They yell ‘Jesus Saves’, and right on cue, in perfect Alan Roach tone somebody says ‘And Sakic scores on the rebound’. Classic.

That reminiscent moment brings me back to the golden days of Avalanche hockey and the Peter Forsberg comeback.

If you have watched the first games of his return to the league where he gained fame and fans adornment, then you probably feel a lot like me, disappointed. Forsberg appears tentative, sluggish, and unproductive.

And I feel bad for the guy. All he wants to do is play hockey, and play it well. But at 37 years young his body, bad foot and all, won’t let him do what his mind thinks is still possible. The game has moved on and sadly, so should Peter the Great.

[And that gets me thinking… how personalities, both good and bad, get extended media coverage and everyone suffers.]

Melo Yellow

In the latest installment of the Melo Trade rumors, Anthony is supposedly headed to the City of Angels, Los Angeles Lakers in Los Angeles or LALAL. (You know Anthony’s wife likes the sound of that….)

(I guess this was foreshadowing, Anthony is definitely leaving the station.)

And, right now I know what you’re thinking… you think I’m going to delve into why Anthony would be good/bad trade for both teams. And that Laker Yellow is not his color, but come on, I’m a little more clever than that.

Let me put this as elegantly as I can…. NOT GONNA HAPPEN.

Carmelo Anthony is too yellow to go anywhere other than New York. He’s flat-out scared and afraid to go someplace, anyplace else. New Jersey… There will be no talent to speak of and he would waste a promising career away on the edge of the big city. Detroit… It’s a rundown city with a rundown team. The Pistons already had their shot at Carmelo, it’s too late now. Denver?... We’ve turned our back on the kid that saved our franchise; we ridiculed him to a point that he doesn’t want to stay. (Can you blame him?) Los Angeles … butting heads with Kobe, in a Black Mamba driven town. He’s been THE man since probably middle school or before and you want him to slide over and be unnoticed.

That leaves New York, and frankly, it’s a perfect fit. HIS team, BIG city, and TALENT all around him.

So sit tight Nuggets fans, anticipation will gradually build until the 24^th of February and then it will dissipate faster than the Hindenburg. And when the off-season comes all Mile High natives will be able wish Melo bon voyage, because he will be leaving with the chance to take a bite out of the Big Apple.

SuperBUST

How anticlimactic was SuperBowl XLV?
(I don't think it's any coincidence that it says 'Cope' and 'terrible' on a towel for the Super Bowl.)

So much so that people were willing to pay $200 to stand outside the stadium in 40 degree Dallas weather and watch the game being projected on a white tarp. If that’s not good, wholesome family-fun then I don’t know what is.

The game itself was in hand from the get-go. The early Ben Roethlisberger pick-6 sealed the deal, and an insignificant late run by the Steelers was hardly enough to make it a game. The Green Bay Packers were the better team, the best team all year, and showed it with their talent, depth and precision. It just didn’t have the feel of smash-mouth game that should have resulted from such good defenses coming together.

The commercials were also weaker than a Circus strongman. Way too much money, and way too much research went into them. They outdid themselves, and by ‘outdid’ I mean couldn’t put a memorable or funny ad together for the life of them.

The NFL Championship game doesn’t have to be Super to be called a SuperBowl… this year proved that.

[They didn't even say I'm going to Disneyland.... tradition?]

CU Signing Day

Pens were clicked, papers were scrawled on and recruits signed away their lives to numerous schools for the next 4 or 5 years of their lives. And that is about it.

National Letter of Intent Day came and went like a ship passing in the night.

I was in attendance for the first recruiting class under recently anointed head coach, Jon Embree. And other than the mouth watering chocolate macadamia nut cookies there was little to report on. He went down the list, name after name, talking about how special this kid could be and how good this kid might end up.

It was a press conference to have a press conference.

Lambeau Leap... of Faith

Fairy tale stories usually don’t start with a light cover of ice.

But as the Dallas/Fort Worth area shut down on account of freezing temperatures (Did I mention it’s -8 degrees here in Boulder now, and I still have to go to school?) this seems to be what it happening.

The Packers are the Darlings of the Midwest. Aaron Rodgers will step out of Brett Favre’s shadow and and Bart Starr will gladly make a spot in Lambeau lore for #12. Mike McCarthy will bring in the ghost of The Minister of Sack, Reggie White, to give the pregame sermon to put the Cheeseheads in the right mindset. And the Black Eyed Peas will sing a 12-minute ode to Clay Matthew’s hair at half time.

I was getting sick, so I had to stop.

Green Bay thinks it’s their destiny to win this game, and they are wrong. Showing up, and, evening playing well does not guarantee them a victory.

Clay Matthews looks more like Wendy Peffercorn than an All-Pro linebacker. (Yet, both pack a punch.) Aaron Rodgers waited in the green room on Draft Day, he waited behind Brett Favre for his turn, and now it’s his chance to kick back, grab a magazine and relax because the Football Gods are not ready to see him yet.

And fairy tales rarely end the way most people see fit. Just saying.