Derek Wolfe makes minicamp

Dove Valley opened their doors for minicamp Tuesday and for the first time the Broncos first draft pick, Derek Wolfe, walked in wearing blue and orange with the rest of the team.

“[It’s] good to finally be out here with the teammates and working and getting better,” said the defensive tackle.

Wolfe was drafted number-36 overall, or early in the second round after the Broncos traded out of the first round, from the University of Cincinnati. The newest Bronco found himself unable to participate in the first team offseason OTAs (organized team activity). Under NFL guidelines, the former Bearcat had to wait until after his graduating class walked in its ceremony (which occurred Saturday) to join the team.

“You can look at the plays and see what’s going on but when you’re not getting coached up its hard to see what you would be doing wrong. That’s the hardest thing, is being behind,” recalled Wolfe, who was more concerned about not being able to grasp some of the new concepts.

This setback was short-lived.

“Trying to build your confidence, you’re just trying to catch up the whole time,” said Wolfe. “I think I caught up pretty quick and towards the end of practice I started to get it. It’ll come along.”

The 6-5, 300 lbs defensive lineman has a long way to go, but even after a lone practice under his belt Wolfe is adamant about making an impact right away.  

“I expect to contribute. Obviously they didn’t draft me with their first pick not to play,” stated Wolfe. The first Broncos 2012 draft pick has already signed a four-year $6.25 million contract. “I have some expectations here and I’m just trying to live up to them.”

The Broncos and Wolfe will continue on with minicamp for two more days before waiting over a month for full training camp to begin.   

Karl's NBA Finals Prediction: 9NEWS Article

http://www.9news.com/sports/article/272094/345/George-Karl-picks-OKC-but-favors-Lebron

My very first contribution as a young professional is an article for 9NEWS.

"DENVER - The Denver Nuggets northwest division rival - the Oklahoma City Thunder - takes one step closer to their first ever NBA Championship. The Thunder will begin the NBA Finals against the Miami Heat Tuesday night.
......."

Williams Tweets Playbook

When you “open your playbook” you would not want to necessarily do the way Broncos linebacker DJ Williams did. Via Twitter.

The six some odd plays Williams revealed weren’t reveled by other NFL teams. They weren’t secret plays drawn up, and this isn’t DJ-gate. Every single team in the league has these same plays, and NFL-typeface paper in thousands of 5-inch binders.

The Manhattan Project was never confused for the corner-bar Manhattan.

Over the course of a full season every team will likely show all their plays, on both sides of the ball. They are scouted to the nth degree by the time they line up against an opponent. Most scouts can probably tell you which leg Williams puts his pants on first.

But it’s the principle of the decit. The fact that a leader of the defense, Denver’s second leading tackler last year, would be so inept to wrap up a key piece of information such as this one. The price you pay is theortical.

Williams act, his lack is discretion or lapse in sound judgement won’t lose the Broncos football games. It’s simple a PicSlip. #oops.

The Art of NBA Screens

Two steps isn’t what it used to be. A pivot foot is far from pivotal in the NBA game of basketball. It’s the whistler-giver, never been called and seemingly never will be ever again.

But not far behind, and not far aloof from this discretion of migration, is a moving screen.

An NBA forward is no small man, so when they come by to set a screen or whatever it is that Kendrick Perkins does, it’s difficult to elude. Try finding mayonnaise in the grocery store with that one mom on the phone gallivanting with the extended push cart, you’re destination is their challenge.

It’s no longer a plausible offense, despite it giving the offense an undeterred advantage.

All-Stars and D-League call-ups are all pros in the art of moving screen. Running up the court with their hands raised as if they are completely innocent, yet going directly at the opposing guard who is helpless and hapless to not get in the way.

They are immovable objects, in stark contrast to their very description, in movement. 

Rox take two on Memorial Day

It seems that all the Rockies spring training questions have been answered. Yet the emphatic and exuberant amount of red markings on the page, one that’s under two months in the works, isn’t something Purple Monday fans were hoping for.

Colorado sits a gaudy 13 games out of first place in the NL West, and ten games under .500.

The bright side, or at least the one with a tiny, minuscule, glimmer of hope came in the form of a Memorial Day double dip.

The Rockies are in no place to take a positive note lightly. They don’t have the ability to take a win for granted, granted only 8 have come in this month. Don’t jump ship by calling for a Mayday, on any one of the last days in May; it is rather the exact opposite.

Colorado is bad. Heck, beating the Houston Astros 9-7 and then 7-6 in extra innings under the same moon is making at least one half-literate blogger giddy isn’t right.

But I’ll take it, in hopes that it will be a day to remember, for both those that courageously served our country and a step in the right direction for the Rockies.   

Sports Spectacular: #GENErous

#Generous. Sports Spectacular 2012 was one, simply put, the root of the single word.

‘Generous’ or ‘Generosity’ derives from the Latin word generōsus, which means "of noble birth."

Together with Cedar-Sinai Hospital, the many athletes, celebrities and actors alike help sponsor the event to raise money and more importantly awareness to others. These use their platform to benefit genetic research that is so crucial.

It's a beautiful thing to see; sports are full of people able, willing to help and #Generous.

NAB/BEA Conference; Oh what a trip

I’ve been on two “business trips” this past semester. One to Los Angeles and the Pac-12 basketball tournament and another, this past week, to Las Vegas and the National Broadcasters Association/Broadcasters Educational Association conference. So I’ve had some enjoyable moments, and as one friend put it, “ If they didn’t want us to have any fun they’d send us to Cleveland.”

The latest trip to the NAB/BEA conference was definitely one to remember.

After a tumultuous trip to Las Vegas, which was supposed to be the easy part, coming home from Sin City is the one that’s gives people the most fits, we jumped right in.

We saw the producer, director, and writer (all one guy) of “Breaking Bad”. Interesting lecture on a show that probably took more than a few extracurricular experiences to drum up.

After that it all becomes one big blur, in a good way.

For the next three days we were in “go-mode”. Never a dull moment and nary a time to ourselves, but, heck, that’s what Las Vegas is all about.

We sat second row at speech by James Cameron, just some guy who directed Titanic and Avatar, and Vince Pace, his equal and partner of innovations in 3-D technology.

They talked, most of the devices and terminology went sky-high over my head but these great minds are at the forefront of this curve. For how much they talked about techy stuff they equally lectured on its promise in sport. From the Masters, in 3-D (amazing by the way), to the X-Games, which used 34 3-D cameras, they were truly passionate, because it was a true challenge, about making sports “pop” off the screen and into people’s homes.

The next day we went to an honoring of Betty White. Again we snagged a front table and saw the Golden Girl in action. She is just as funny as any interview or show you’ve seen on television. A true icon.

Right after, and I mean right after we headed to a conference about Geoffery Mason, and hosted by Bob Ley, ESPN personality. I’d heard the name before from books and whatnot but it didn’t really register with me who this was. And apparently neither did it register with anybody else at the conference. We met Bob Ley before the lecture, talked with him for 20 minutes about just whatever. He was friendly and helpful, and just a good guy. Then the lecture began and we were literally 4 of only 20 people in the entire hall, and half were family and friends of Mason. Once the lecture began I immediately knew where I’d heard the name, the World Cup. Mason executive produced the whole tournament and is the Executive Vice President of Production for ESPN. He’s done several Olympic games, Americas Cups, and pretty much any sport you could ever imagine. He is the boss I someday want to work for, and not just because he is with ESPN but because he is transforming the way sports are broadcast.

Coming off that high the final day outlived my expectations. We went to the career fair, a main reason we were there, but at that point, just a footnote on an overall great learning experience and trip.  I received great feedback from some top hiring directors in the business. I talked to people from USA Today Sports, NBC Sports, and several stations that were enthusiastic about my potential (nice to get a pat on the back sometimes).

The trip ended, sadly and yet happily we left Vegas. (I don’t know if I can say the same for the other 300 flights out of Sin City that day.) Next stop, Denver, or who knows.