Still Keeping Score

Just over thirteen months ago, the Denver Broncos fired the oft vilified Josh McDaniels and the then 3-9 team appeared to be years and years away from contending again in the National Football League.  After the latest miraculous moves of Tim Tebow, and the strength and speed of one Demaryius Thomas, the Broncos won only their second ever playoff game in a decade since moving into Sports Authority Field at Mile High.  Suddenly, the 2011 AFC West champs are going to jump on a plane and visit their former coach this Saturday night in New England. McDaniels, who spent most of this season as the offensive coordinator in St. Louis, is officially employed again by the New England Patriots, just in time to welcome some of his hand picked Broncos in the Divisional Round of this year's Super Bowl tournament.  Next year, he will get his old job back as the offensive coordinator, since the current holder of the job is moving on to coach Penn State.  That is an amazing set...

I too had doubts.  I had little belief in the idea Tim Tebow could literally save the Denver Broncos.  At this point, it matters little if the team reaches the pinnacle of the sporting universe and reaches the Super Bowl, this is a team that has been taken to heights no one expected, and no one predicted.  Well, almost no one. Tim has become a spectacle transcending football into a national debate, the subject of that debate seems to move around as much as Tim does in the pocket, because honestly, most folks do not know what to think about him.  In the football world, he is not supposed to be doing what he is doing.  However, even his harshest critics are amazed at exactly how he has achieved the near impossible week in and week out. My wife and I caught a comedy show over the weekend, and yes, the topic of Tim is certainly a part of every one's routine, be it humor, news, sports or otherwise.  The wit of veteran comedian Kathleen Madigan went as far as...

I think the world is absorbing the shocking information rolling out of Penn State the last couple of days and for the most part, we're all moving to the inevitable conclusion that an otherwise accomplished and fantastic football coach made a mistake that should cost him his job. Joe Paterno, if he is half the person I always thought he was, should resign this week, before the game against Nebraska.  As Dan Patrick noted on his show this morning, it is not about the game now, it is about the lives adversely affected by an entire institution looking the wrong way when these children needed them the most. In case you have been in a cave the last 48 hours, a former Penn State defensive coordinator was arrested and is facing charges of child molestation.  And I am completely aware I awoke in the United States this morning, where we proudly declare "innocent until proven guilty" as we should.  The courts will now process all of the horrific information and make a decision, ...

As one of craziest nights of baseball wrapped up last night, ESPN baseball guru Tim Kurkjian said he essentially witnessed the "greatest regular season night in the history of the game."  A bold statement indeed, but it only took me a few moments to completely agree with him. I know, a blog is supposed to kick up some dust, throw a little controversy on an otherwise glorious occasion.  However, I am choosing to enjoy the afterglow. A lot of tight races down the stretch, and yet nothing like four teams staying alive for two wild card playoff spots on the last day, deadlocked in the standings.  Both the American and National Leagues had slated not one, but two extra games today if needed. As if that wasn't drama enough, most of the games lived well beyond expectation in the thriller department.  The relentless run of the St. Louis Cardinals provided the only timely result by putting away the Houston Astros 8-0 on the road.  The only person who believed the Card...

Media members across our great land, and a substantive number of Denver Bronco faithful keep asking the question, but the team has answered it a whole bunch. The recurring question that continues to haunt the locker room and Twitter accounts seems to be, "When is Tim Tebow going to play?" Not now.  That has been the answer since the NFL solved the lockout that was going to cost us all part or the entire season fans are currently enjoying.  Or not enjoying for Bronco fans after the later than usual kick-off as part of the second half of a Monday Night Football debacle. This is part of the problem.  A lot of fans don't like the answer.  And they really hate the answer of "not now" regarding the team's former first round pick when the home team played like they forgot how to play against the much hated arch rival Raiders. A valid question, that deserves some examination, but not so much.  We don't need Mel Kiper Jr., or CSI New York to help solve this c...

The ancient television show from my youth was called, "Eight is Enough," and it was a vastly mediocre comedy/drama show about a family with, you guessed it, eight kids.  Because we all know too many kids can be overwhelming, which reminds me of all the screaming children remaining in the Big-12.  Or as I enjoyed referring to them as the Texas Ten. Eight teams was certainly enough for the old Big Eight, the old Southwest Conference, the older PAC-8, and even the SEC in the way back machine.  Twelve seems to enough now, but of course, this time last year sixteen teams was the magic number for the 'Super' Conference.  The aforementioned Super Conference theory looked inevitable after the departure of Colorado and Nebraska from the Big-12, and the wild game of musical chairs between the WAC and the Mountain West Conferences, that the world of college football was destined or doomed, depending on perspective, to move into at least four sixteen team conferences and openi...

I could always go crazy for soccer, but I think there are plenty of fans of the sport who would crowd me out of my attempt to go insane for the game.  Instead, I am finally going sane for soccer.  And instantly, as a true fan of the sport, I must immediately apologize to the rest of the world, because I meant football. Of course, at this point, anyone who ever heard me on the radio, way back when, or ever read one of my newspaper columns, or online ravings, or even just a long time associate, is wondering how I can include the words "sane" and "soccer" in the same sentence.  There, now I've gone and done it, twice now. Yes, soccer, I mean football. Via the addition of grey hairs, and far fewer hairs overall, Mother Nature is telling me I am getting older, perhaps a little wiser.  I could be one of those folks who gets set in their ways and cheer for the same teams, same sports and eat the same breakfast until that final buzzer of life sounds, but not me.  ...

Okay, so it isn't quite dreaded "Mad Cow" disease, but "Buff Madness" has some less severe, yet substantial symptoms. We're talking of course of a coaching decision that appeared to have been made, then denied and now still moving in a direction that will secure a new football coach at the University of Colorado. The symptoms of Buff Madness include media members rolling with single source facts (i.e., gossip for regular non-media folks), fans roaming in several unique packs and factions sniping at each other, former players meeting at all hours and rich donors threatening fewer dollars to the school if the search committee fails to meet the expectations that are wide ranging and tend to stray from reality. Expectations range from an insistence to return former coach Bill McCartney back to restore the glory all the way to and including stealing LSU Tiger Les Miles away from the his BCS Bowl bound team in time to recruit new Buffs.  Along the way, former O...