Is the altitude actually a hindrance?

Why can't the Buffs win on the road? What makes leaving the city of Boulder so unlucky for Colorado? Does their bus to the airport put bad mojo on them?

We can rationalize it anyway we like it, and somehow all these profetic solutions make sense but end up dissolving, like a sugar cube in warm mug of coffee, right before our eyes. We need to run the ball more, we do, we somehow lose. We need to hit more three-pointers, swish and swish, but tack on another L.

Here's a thought; could altitude training be our downfall? Can the same physical, and as it turns out, psychological factor that taints our opponents on their arrival in Colorado be also plaguing the Buffs minds and bodies when they leave?

As a Colorado native, and people from this Mile High state can likely attest, I've been far and away immune to the psyche of "altitude". The fact that we have less oxygen molecules (in parts per million with normal, sea-level air) is no longer an interesting tidbit, it's as played out as your third fortune cookie.

So when a player of an opposing color comes in and hears the announcer blurt out the oh-so-common phrase, "Welcome to 5,430 feet of Rocky Mountain High altitude" it has an effect. A sense of doubt, even minuscule can play a factor. One that gives the Buffs an advantage, even if it just for a second or step in Colorado's favor. It's no longer about skill, talent or athleticism but rather an intangible bonus that only the Buffs have.

But when the Buffs leave Boulder they are not usually accompanied by this comfort. They are on their own, without altitude and that edge that makes them so potent at home.

They don't, and shouldn't, think about it. Colorado has trained in a tougher atmosphere, even if a aerodynamics major will tell you otherwise, and that can be an err of arrogance that is their downfall. A placebo that is swallowed without hesitation. But the Buffs are no longer in their element, while it's only a hundred molecules of difference, it is that little bit extra that doesn't exist at sea-level. Colorado can't help them, and in turn they are unable to help themselves.

The Buffs can't win away from home, but away from Boulder and altitude they are actually leveling the playing field.

Chucky Jeffery gets to 1,000 points

“Coaches helped me evolve a little bit, I'm a scorer now,” said Colorado Buffaloes guard Chucky Jeffery who, after just two and a half season in Boulder has transformed into a leader for the Buffs and a big-time scorer.

Jeffery scored 18 points in a loss to Oregon on Saturday night to push herself over 1,000 for her career. She is only the 24^th Buff to collect that many points in a career.

“It feels good to get 1,000 points,” said Jeffery of the feat. “It's very humbling and it makes you hungry for more.”

The junior guard from Colorado Springs, Colorado (Sierra High School) has been a staple in the Buffaloes backcourt since her arrival on campus in 2009. In only her second game in Boulder she recorded double figures in points with 11. As a freshman she averaged 9.3 points per contest, which was third on the team.

Coming into her sophomore year her role as leader and scoring came natural. She averaged 13.5 points per game, second to only Brittany Spears. After two complete years in Boulder, Jeffery continued to be on the rise just like the entire Buff team.

“You just have to keep playing and keep working hard and come every day with a positive attitude and that will get you through most of the time,” said Jeffery who knows that this accomplishment is far from an individual milestone. “Depend on your team mates and coaches. The more you reach out the more comfortable you'll be getting over that little hump.”

After the graduation and departure of Spears, Colorado’s all time leading scorer there was only one player that could fill her shoes. Jeffery is 7^th in the Pac-12 in scoring, averaging 15.1 points.

But while Jeffery isn’t sneaking up on anyone her team is. The Buffs came out of the gates fast and were off to one their best starts in the programs history. Colorado started 12-0 but they have fallen off slightly in the tough Pac-12 Conference.  

“We have the last 5 of our 7 games on our home floor and we couldn't be in a better position than right now,” said Jeffery who remains confident about the imminent future. “We have to come out aggressive, pushing the ball, playing defense and getting back to ourselves. Hopefully we get some wins out of that.”

Come on down Buff fans

It’s like Greek Week 2.0. It’ll be higher and stronger than the Boulder Creek current on a mid-August afternoon.

The Colorado Buffaloes enter the Pac-12 Conference last summer not knowing what to expect. They left the Big XII and preemptive Big 8 and Big 7 Conferences that they have called home since 1947. It was exactly that, a come-to-comfortable fir that gave the Buffs stiff competition in all areas of sports, including football where they garnered the reputation in the late 1980’s and early 1990’s.

So the move was a chance, that Mike Bohn could not help but salivate over, to conquer “new ground”. It’s a fresh start, on the gridiron in particular, a chance to break bounds, to not so analogous greener pastures and conquer new territory.

But where these vast ideologies stop, the new traditions should begin.

In the last four years Colorado football, it’s prescribed lore dissipating faster and faster, has been synonymous with a grinning South Park character and gargantuan losses, and repetition of those on the road. Boulder fans are now forced to take every opportunity, most often at home, to celebrate wins in the most obvious and cliché way possible. But I say lets run, nay, rush with it.

Let Colorado fans be joyful and exuberant after every win and stomp their way to the field.

Beat #6 USC on a last second field goal, rush the field. Beat Oregon State by overcoming a ten point halftime lead, rush the field. Heck, beat Arizona by 30 points, and let’s all rush Folsom Field.

Buffs win, we take like a sorority girl smoothie break, and rush.

It’s time for a tradition, a Pac-12 tradition in Boulder. I remember coming to games when marshmallows and tortillas flew through the air like a mini air-show. The fans were having a blast and the team was winning.

I remember coming to the CU versus Nebraska game with my father in 2001. The Buffs demolished the Cornhuskers, 62-36, in pure black and gold fashion. Students poured onto the field like ants on a picnic basket. And not far behind was an 11 year old kid and his dad. We walked down onto, what I recall as an illustrious field, one that I had seen my favorite players compete on week after week from the television screen. One of the best memories a sports-riddled kid could ever have.

Seven years later when I had to choose a college, and thus a team to root for, there was really no choice in my mind.

People will mock Colorado, they may think we are crazy. People, students and young fans alike that come to dream of the simple pleasure of watching Ralphie run and the Buffs play, will be united like no-place in the country after every Colorado win.

What a rush it will be.

A Super Bowl touchdown is just that

When Ahmad Bradshaw tumbled backwards, like a third grader at field day, into the end-zone for the game winning touchdown everyone cheered. New York Giants fans and New England Patriots fans alike, although drastically different but solely differentiated in thick accent, not fandom or obnoxiousness, were ecstatic.

But analysts and Bradshaw’s own quarterback, Eli Manning who was screaming “Don’t go in the end zone”, saw the scenario differently. They were concerned about giving the ball back to Tom Brady and the Patriots offense. But why? Bradshaw’s finest moment wasn’t filled with joy, elation and seeing dreams that he had as a young kid on the playground in Bluefield, Virginia, instead it was filled with doubt.

Bradshaw is a hero; one that, in the final moments, slayed the dragon even with an uncertain survival and victory.

If the touchdown had some earlier in the game, or for a matter of fact, if one, lone Patriots player had decided to attempt to tackle Bradshaw on his six yard trot up the middle he may have been the MVP of the Super Bowl. Of his 72 yards on the day, 50 of them came on scoring drives for the Giants. He accounted for numerous first downs and set the tone for the game in the second quarter.

In Super Bowl XX, Walter Payton, “Sweetness”, widely considered the best running back to ever play the game never got to smell the sweet air of the end-zone. Looking back, most Chicago Bears fans and general football fans find this to be a travesty. A Super Bowl touchdown is something special; a game-winning one is something no one should be able to forget. (Note: He did not score in Super Bowl XLII four years ago.)

It would have been a lack luster end to an NFL season that was almost for not. Let Lawrence Tynes kick a field goal and inevitably have his exuberant holder shout profanities after the kick sailed through. So don’t be mad at Bradshaw.

Is the Super Bowl overhyped?

Is the Super Bowl overhyped? The answer, to me at least, is plain and simple, no.

This is true for many reasons, but it’s most obviously seen the next year. They continue, they being the NFL, the networks that host it, the city that it is located in, the media, and the fans that continually go to these events, to make the event bigger and bigger. These faculties want to outdo each other on a year to year basis; so to say that this Super Bowl is more overhyped, especially compared to the one a year in the future doesn’t make sense.

But there are other reasons that are in play that affect the atmosphere and the playing of this singular game.

Super Bowl Sunday is a National Holiday the same way Halloween or St. Patrick’s Day is. There is no denying the fact that people, who have no interest or bearing on the game located thousands of miles from them pay attention or are at least aware of the spectacle of it. I saw the fact that some seven million people will call in sick to work the Monday following the Super Bowl. It impacts football fans, some beyond what should reasonably affect a grown man, and non-football fans alike. It creates a reason to gather, a reason to celebrate and Super Bowl Sunday is a holiday that should be, and rightly so, recognized.

And that brings me to my last point. The game of football has progressed so much in the last 20 years, that it has, to many sports fans, easily taken over as the most popular sport in America. The NFL is the American culture and the fans that follow are as faithful as any in all of sports. So pitting the two best teams in the most popular sports is going to be overblown, that’s just the way it’s supposed to be.

The Super Bowl is unlike any other sporting event. It is its own entity and holiday.  So to say it is over-hyped doesn’t sound like the truth; it’s big, it’s boisterous, it’s the Super Bowl.

Josh Hamilton's recovery should continue in Texas

Texas Rangers center fielder Josh Hamilton has battled demons in his life. He has seen the darkest side of a life, but he's getting better.

Hamilton was a top prospect coming out of high school. His expectations only surpassed his potential. He was selected with the number-1 overall pick by the then expansion Tampa Bay Devil Rays. But unlike many predicted, his highest of highs were not on the diamond playing the game of baseball, his addiction to a plethora of drugs took over his life.

What happened next in his life is not only inspirational, but divine and something people, in this unfortunately crazy world, should appreciate.

He hasn’t turned his life around, it’s actually far from it.

Hamilton literally cannot go anywhere without someone at his side. He just doesn’t trust himself enough to not give in to the pressures and evils that still haunt him to this day. The tattoos he dons on his forearms are signs of worse times, but they are too painful to remove. To comply with Major League Baseball’s drug testing policies Hamilton gives a urine sample at least three times a week.

He is growing up, overcoming and doing the most courageous thing you can do. He is learning to trust himself the same way a small child learns to walk.

So while he has stumbled several times in the past two years, and most recently last week. He gave into it, only as many as 4 or 5 drinks of alcohol and nothing more, almost subconsciously because that is what his brain was trained to urge for during his darkest days.

Hamilton is finishing up a 2-year, $24-million contract with the Rangers, who are coming off their best season in franchise history, and this latest incident is causing much hesitation on contract negotiations.

That addiction isn’t terminal. We all waver, and Texas should be able to overlook this isolated incident. His future is not his past, it's only a reflection of how much he can overcome.

Columbine wins rematch-original

Rebels win rematch 
Andy McDonnell The Denver Post

LITTLETON- The last game between Columbine and Dakota Ridge was a back-and-forth affair that took the full 32 minutes to decide. Eagle's senior Chris Poste hit nothing but nylon from distance to win the game in the final seconds 54-51.

"We knew it would be a dogfight coming in here," said Rebels head coach Clay Thielking. "And it was."

This time around Columbine (15-3, 10-1) was able to out-scrap an undersized but extremely quick Dakota Ridge (9-8, 7-4) team 68-55 at home in a Jefferson County League matchup.

"The loss over there hurt a ton," said Thielking who knows that although these kids don't go to school together, they're often friends off the hardwood. "The kids have bounced back really well since then."

Since that matchup on January 4th the Rebels have cruised in conference play, winning 8 straight games. "I can't give Columbine enough credit," said Dakota Ridge head coach Curi Yutzy. "They are a very solid team and they were definitely prepared for us."

In the rematch, the Rebels', who are No. 9 in The Denver Post Class 5A media poll, game-plan prevailed.

"They did a better job, especially in the first half of executing their game plan than we did," said Yutzy of his team who lacked the vertical stamina to stay with Chris Huth and Jon Snow, 6'7" and 6'6" respectively. "They took advantages that they have on us with their size."

But what the Eagles lack in height they made up in quickness and forced the opponent into dangerous plays.

"It is an interesting dynamic," said Thielking who entrusts much of the ball handling to Nick Carpinello. "That press makes it look that there are seven blue shirts out there and that makes things really tough."

"It was big, especially the last time for us seniors," said Carpinello with a wry smirk after handling the pressure against their rival. "It was just a good way to go out with them."

Dakota Ridge    11   8  22  14 - 55
Columbine        15  13  14  26 - 68

Dakota Ridge - Musleh 7 4-6 18, Hoffman 3 2-2 8, Anderson 1 0-2 2, Flores 1 0-0 2, Poste 3 0-0 9, Wallin 2 0-0 4, Genthe 0 0-0 0, Davis 5 2-2 12. Totals 22 8-12 55
Columbine - Carpinello 5 8-9 20, Daly 3 4-4 13, Hyde 0 0-0 0, Huth 4 4-4 12, McMinimee 1 0-0 2, Koop 0 0-0 0, Crowther 2 0-0 4, Snow 7 3-4 17. Totals 22 19-21 68
3-pt. goals: Dakota Ridge - Poste 3. Columbine - Daly 3, Carpinello 2.