Category Archives: Archive

The Art of Roy

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I could spend a whole blog calling Patrick Roy a quitter or selfish. I could spend another whole blog defending the man who backstopped the first major championship for the state of Colorado. I could kick and scream and bitch or I could sell you the idea that the Colorado Avalanche are better off. But I’m not going to do that.

To put it simply, Patrick Roy stepping down as the Avalanche head coach sucks. The timing was awful and, while it was a poorly kept secret that Roy was a below average NHL coach, it still sucks to lose a man who bled burgundy and blue.

Yes from a coaching stand point the Avalanche are probably better off. And perhaps it was inevitable and perhaps they dodged a (PR) bullet by not having to fire their former star goaltender at some point in the future. But if you came here for me to tell you that everything is going to be alright or to help guide you through who the Avs are going to grab as their new coach, I’m sorry but you came to the wrong place (this might give you some clarity though).

As excited as I am for the future of this franchise, thanks to the likes of Nathan MacKinnon, Gabriel Landeskog and Matt Duchene, I am also very scared. And it’s not because St. Patrick took his puck and went home. It’s how Roy went about quitting that concerns me.

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Broncos Aren’t Backing Down

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The rumors of a decline for the defending champs was greatly exaggerated. The only thing in decline is the media’s ability to accurately predict what the Broncos are going to do. Maybe stop guessing that this team will fail? Crazy, I know. For those of you saying that it was only the Bears, well that’s what good teams do to bad teams. They pummel them in all three phases of the game en route to a 22-0 win. And how about Cody Latimer and Kapri Bibbs showing up big? That’s what we need to see from those guys at this point, and while one preseason game won’t secure anyone anything, it’s a good start. Hopefully they can keep it up.

Here are three other thoughts I had about last night’s game.

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Now or Never for Kapri Bibbs

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One of my favorite Terrell Davis moments came during his rookie season. TD was struggling to crack the running back rotation in training camp and it looked like he was ready to pack it in. As luck would have it, the Broncos were in Japan for a game against the 49ers and Davis couldn’t arrange a flight back to the United States. He wound up staying, played in the game and delivered a crushing hit on special teams that would change his fortunes forever.

Davis caught the attention of the coaching staff with that play and started getting more carries at running back. The rest is history. I love that story because a guy that no one was expecting much from literally forced his way into the starting lineup, and that brings us to Kapri Bibbs.

After running all over the NCAA in 2013, Bibbs was picked up by the Broncos and has spent the last two years trying to make the final roster. There’s no doubt that he’s talented, but that one signature play that will turn heads and prove his worth has eluded him thus far. And time is running out.

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The Curious Case of Cody Latimer

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The annual training camp hype surrounding Cody Latimer has become a running gag of sorts between Kevin, myself and our buddy Ryan. We marvel at how the media comes away impressed with Latimer’s performance during these flag football practices despite the fact that he has accomplished a whole lot of nothing his first two years in the league. In fact, Ryan is so fed up with it that he actually wished death upon the guy. Then he promptly took it back, criticized the media for overhyping Latimer and then before I knew it, Kevin was faced with the horrifying prospect of losing all of his top Pokemon in Pokemon Go for a Magikarp named Cody Latimer.

Yep, things escalate quickly when Cody Latimer’s name gets brought up.

All kidding aside, it’s a rather baffling scenario to say the least. I have no doubt that Latimer makes some big plays in practice and by all accounts he’s a good person, but you know who else possessed those qualities? Kyle Orton. You know who Kyle Orton was benched for? Tim Tebow. I don’t care that it’s a different position because the same principal applies. Orton never performed when it mattered in games that counted and that’s the reason that Latimer has drawn the ire of Broncos fans everywhere, including Ryan.

To borrow a quote from Jon Gruden, having potential just means that he hasn’t done anything yet. When’s he going to do it already? Incidentally, “When’s he going to do it already” is a question that pretty much every girl I’ve dated has asked me, but that’s neither here nor there. Moving on.

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Broncos’ Focus Should Be on Offensive Line

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There’s been an awakening. Have you felt it?

No, I’m not talking about the Force or Kylo Ren. This is all about the start of training camp and a merciful end to a very long offseason. The Broncos are going to start playing some actual football and there will be concrete stories worth discussing. We can finally put all of the pointless, high school drama behind us (at least until next year).

Naturally, most of the attention will be geared toward the quarterbacks. Everyone will be anxiously waiting for Mark Sanchez to screw up badly enough so that preseason darling Trevor Siemian or first-round pick Paxton Lynch gets a chance in the spotlight. Quarterbacks are always the top priority for the fans and media, even if they aren’t the most important one for the team.

Regardless of who winds up playing under center, it is imperative that the Broncos correct one of the weaknesses that has plagued them for the past couple of seasons: the offensive line. If they don’t, it’s not really going to matter who the starting quarterback is. They are all dead men walking.

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With Von Back in the Fold, the Real Work Begins

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The Super Bowl is the hardest championship to win in professional sports. “Bunk!” you might say. “You have to play 162 games just to make the playoffs in baseball, or have to topple the superteam Warriors or the Lebron-led Cavs in order to win the NBA Finals.” If you said that, I would agree that you made some good points, but I’d stand by my opinion.

Sure, the NFL season is only 16 games long and at most you only have to claim four victories to get that Super Bowl ring, equivalent to a series win in other sports. Those games are hard to pull out though, people, and it only takes one bad day for everything to come crashing down. Stink out the joint in an NFL playoff game and your season is over. No game two. No series to tie or opportunities for redemption. It was this level of failure during the most crucial times that cost John Fox his job here in Denver, and why despite all of their domination over the rest of the league, the Patriots have lifted the Lombardi trophy just one time over the past 11 years.

Resigning Von Miller may have seemed like an arduous task, mostly thanks to all of the silly and media manufactured drama, but it’s a day at the beach compared to what it will take for the Broncos to be back-to-back champions.

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Rocky Mountain Low at 20th and Blake

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At some point today, maybe even before I finish this column, Von Miller will put pen to paper and become the highest paid non-QB in the history of the NFL. There are some of you who believe the Broncos will ruin their cap and mortgage their future by agreeing to such a deal (they won’t), but that’s beside the point. What you should take away from this is that the Broncos are going to steal all the headlines on the same day that the Rockies begin the second half of their season. And so begins the annual mid-summer transition, where the Rockies will be overlooked when training camp starts and almost entirely forgotten when preseason games get underway.

This is the path of the casual fan or those like me who bleed orange and blue. If you’re a diehard Rockies fan, you have every right to be pissed that it’s the same old song and dance every year. I’m just not sure what you can do about it.

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Nuggets Playing the Long Game After Flirting with Wade

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The Nuggets’ courtship of disgruntled and declining superstar Dwyane Wade was curious, to say the least. Not only did Wade represent an odd fit into a crowded and youthful backcourt, but it was pretty obvious to everyone, including Kevin and I, that Wade never had any intention of taking what’s left of his knees to Denver. He simply used the Nuggets as leverage to land a better deal with the team he really wanted to go to, which most of us thought was the Heat but actually turned out to be the Bulls.

Just to make sure that there were no hard feelings, Wade did send out this tweet to show his gratitude for the Nuggets’ interest in him. “Sorry guys, but I only want to be friends with you.”

On the other hand, I can’t remember the last time that a top free agent even agreed to sit down with the Nuggets brass, much less entertain an offer from them. So should we be upset that D-Wade spurned us to play for his hometown team?

Eh, not really. Hit the jump and I’ll tell you why.

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Welcome to the Champ’s Asylum

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If you live under a rock and haven’t heard, last night was kind of a big deal for Cleveland. Lebron James, through sheer will and perhaps a little bit of help from God, led the Cavaliers to a title and sent the entire city of Cleveland into a frenzy. Nothing is getting done there for at least two weeks, and the fact that the Cavs became the first team to come back from a 3-1 series deficit in the NBA Finals is just the icing on the cake. Plus, most Warriors fans are Raiders fans, so them being sad today makes this writer extraordinarily happy. It’s the simple things in life that you treasure.

So what does any of this have to do with wrestling? Well, as you may or may not know, Dean Ambrose is also from Ohio. Cincinnati, to be exact. He is probably all too aware of the decades of suffering that Cleveland has endured, so I find it quite poetic that on the same night that Lebron brought a championship to his hometown, Dean Ambrose shocked the wrestling world and became the WWE World Heavyweight Champion.

I would say that you can’t write this stuff, but you can. And they did.

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Von Miller and the Broncos Will Find Common Ground

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Contract negotiations in sports are like relationships. You have to compromise, talk things out and come to an arrangement that makes both sides happy. Oftentimes, feelings are hurt and that will cause someone to lash out or send a not so subtle message about how disgruntled they are. Look no further than Von Miller’s somewhat comical cropping of a White House picture that left John Elway on the outside looking in.

Maybe these negotiations are more like high school relationships?

Nevertheless, from Elway “lowballing” Miller to Von supposedly threatening to sit out the season if he doesn’t get the deal he is looking for, the prevailing theory is that tensions are high between the Broncos and their franchise player, making the likelihood that a new contract will be reached dismal at best. It’s kind of pathetic how much drama the media tries to fabricate surrounding these situations every year. What’s really alarming is how many people seem to take the bait, hook, line and sinker.

My prediction? You will hear a lot more about how contentious these talks have been, only to watch as Miller signs a long-term deal by the July 15 deadline that will either make him very rich or super rich. A lot of journalists will feign surprise even though absolutely no one should be surprised. Here’s why.

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