The Ballad of Brett

I met a man on the Denver Light Rail (like the New York subway only above ground, clean, cheap, and rarley used) System who loved the Kansas City Royals. He had a blue Royals cap. A pro-back. Seemed like it was too tight because he kept fidgiting with it- taking it off and putting it back on again and each time it was tilted a bit differntly. Either it was too tight or he was tweaking out hard core. He was too clean to be a crak-head though. Too groomed to be a meth fiend. He told the same story over and over again. It wasn't really a story I guess; actually more like a chorus of statements. Exactly the same everytime. He never rushed a word. He never slowed a phrase. Same inflection, same tone, same subtle matter-of-factness. Everytime. And this is what he repeated (like a catatonic canto paying homage to a simple fact that made the world all make sense):

"George Brett is Brett Butler's brother. She was 'Grace under Fire'. She taught him how to play third base and he played it. Yes he did."

over and over and over and over again. From the Evans station to the Colfax intersection.

Now, at first I tried to make sense out of the statement. Of course I did not. I went through all of the images it created for me. George Brett always reminded me of my friend John's cousin. He owns a bar. He was our little league baseball coach. Then came the images of Brett Bultler on the short lived "Grace Under Fire.' She coached a little league team. I remember her coming home in her baseball uniform. Then I thought of George Brett again. The man considered by many the greatest third basemen in Major League Baseball history. I remembered the monster-sized wads of sweet, juicy tobacco in his cheeks. Brett also spat, did she not?  Maybe there was more here than I thought.

However, as these images surfaced, the droning statement became a ballad that buried me somewhere alltogether different than the baseball diamond or the set of the classic t.v. show. I thought about nothing. And everything. The world made sense. It was as if this repeated statement answered everything at once. This guy was a genious. I almost wanted to follow him when he got off- just to keep hearing it. I stayed on. And I thought of ... Brett Favre. That guy loves him some chaw! 

Notes: Rockies Gaining my Confidence

The Colorado Rockies front office is starting to gain some credibility in my book. I like what they have done to solidify their young base of talent as they just signed Brad Hawpe to a deal. Read about their off season moves in the Denver Post by clicking the title of this blog. Holiday still may be gone when his contract is up, but I must say the plan they have been preaching for years has worked. 7 years of farm development gave us a run into the World Series. Now expectations are raised, and the front office better keep thier team up to that level of play. I have little doubt they will sell plenty of tickets this coming season, we all know the people of Colorado will whole heartedly support these players, so the team budget should continue to grow with attendance. I see no reason that the Rockies can't be in the hunt of the National League West Pennant on a regular basis for years to come. Like I said expectations have raised.

NBA MVP? Kobe, LeBron? How about CP3? This kid established the New Orleans Hornets as a contender for the regular season Western Conference title! He is an amazing player with the attitude that all of us nuggets fans wish any of our boys had. He makes everyone on his team better. He is averaging 21 points, 11 assissts, 4 rebounds, almost 3 steals per game, with a beautiful .483 fg%. One way I think might help to prove that he makes his teammates better is to take a look at their filed goal percentages: big man Tyson Chandler-61%, David West-47%, Stojakovic-45% and and amazing 46% from 3 point land. Doesn't that say Chris Paul gets the ball to them in the right spots and in the right rhythm? MVP? Well at least we can talk about it.

The Denver Broncos haven't attacked the free agent market like we are used to in the past. Unless by attacked we mean kicked players off their roster. Biggest surprises; they cut WR Javon Walker and OLB Ian Gold. Should we be upset about that? I don't think we'll miss them. Walker may never live up to his talent after that knee injury. No wonder he wanted to get the money while he could; now can we blame him for holding out in the past? Really, Gold is in the same boat, injured down the stretch last season, and really not having the impact the Broncos needed from him before he was hurt. I don't think we'll miss him either. We all know its a tough business and whoever says a guy can not loose his spot because of injury is just clueless. We also say goodbye to Matt Lepsis who retired in Feb, he was old and beat-up. He had a great career. I don't see the Broncos improving much from last year. Spoiled Broncos fans should be ready for some tough times ahead. I'm scared, how will we handle it?

Nuggets Making a Run Away from A Title

The Nuggets are making a run in the West . . . A Run in the opposite direction of a title. You can read about the Avs gearing up for a run in Billy's story below. And the Rockies are returning soon. The Nuggets continue to stay the course year after year by underachieving and making excuses about it. They are nowhere near the top powers in the West,and, until they make a conscious effort to carry players with a consistency in attitude, effort, and character- things will only get worse. The Nuggets, since Carmelo Anthony was drafted, have been a team that seems to have forgotten the very basics of basketball: moving without the ball, passing and cutting on offense, and defense- any defense at all. Why was Camby the Defensive player of the Year? He is a cleanup man. He cleans-up blown coverage’s and lazy footwork. There is no consistent effort to play defense in Denver. Kenyon Martin is the only player that can guard a man one-on-one on our entire roster! Do you know how easy we are to game- plan for? We are laughable. We have run a couple of coaches out, we have made excuses for everything. We have never won a playoff series. It is time for the fans around Denver to grow up and stop buying into the over hyped images of 'Melo and A.I. and start demanding that we build a team. That won't happen of course. People will still fill the seats, and, that seems to be all Stan Kronke and the front office cares about. Melo will still get 20 and 10 every night, A.I. will still dribble around for the first 12-15 seconds of the shot clock, George Karl will still stand there munching on candy wondering what he can say to Carmelo or J.R. or any of the other guys that won't piss them off and induce passive- aggressive temper tantrums that will linger in the locker room and on that practice floor all week and make everybody's life hell. The fact that they did not go out and sign a player this year before the trade deadline- while the entire Western conference only got better- solidifies the theory that I had hoped wasn't true: the Nuggets are content with just filling the seats. Don't go to the games people. Don't watch them. Demand a better product. The Nuggets are the joke of the league. The Lakers, The Spurs, the Mavs, The Hornets, the Suns, the list goes on and on--- we can't beat any of these teams in a playoff series. Are you kidding me? Who on the Nuggets is going to guard ____________?(just fill in the blank depending on the team). So what is the frigging point? How could we not try to make something happen? Anything! Artest, Mike Miller, Bibby, Randolph, whatever... anything at this point. One thing is for sure: the team we have now is going absolutely nowhere. But we wanted to hang on to Linus Klezia. Do you understand how completely ludicrous that sounds? Now the only way to fix this team - a team "led" by Melo for 5 years, is to trade HIM. Yes, trade Melo. You can develop talent. You can't develop character. You either have the Character that it takes to be a winner or you don't. Either Jim Boehiem lied or Nike lied, but this guy is an absolute chump. A lazy, fat, selfish, annoying, stubborn chump. Thanks for letting me rant Billy. I needed that. I will be posting regularly, and less angrily, from now on. -Stewie.

Ready For a Run?

I don’t know if I have watched the entirely of a Colorado Avalanche game since the year 2003, or 2006 at the very most possibly recent. Hockey has fallen off my radar scene for the most part. But I am crawling back slowly. Taking my time to remember how I appreciated it the way I did back in the later years of my high school career. But, I am aware of the late and impressive run the Avalanche made last year attempting to slide into the playoffs. They lost the last game of the year, which if they had won would have put them in. Over the past 12 or so seasons the Avs have pretty much been a shoe-in for a playoff spot, but things have changed. Joe Sakic and crew couldn’t make it last year, and they are no longer the perennial Northwest Division champs. Still, although they have fallen, they have not fallen to the bottom. And another thing I am aware of is that they have some impressive young talent, Merek Svatos, Paul Stastny, just to name a few, so the future is bright.

They won dozy against division rival Vancover on Wednesday Feb 27th. The stalwart captain Joe Sakic, recently returned from injury, scored the game tying goal with 14 seconds remaining on the clock in the frenzied final moments of the game, and then contributed with a go ahead goal in the shoot out. They came out the winners, and emerged standing in the eight and final playoff spot.

The obvious unmentioned point of interest here is the exciting additions of Avalanche heroes past: Peter Forsberg and Adam Foote. Foote has already contributed, and Forsberg’s health is still in question. We shall see if he’ll play in the next few games. Either way it is an exciting time. Colorado needs a strong push to hold on to their playoff spot and give us an exciting run, and I think they might have the boost to do it.

Further Coach Joel Quinville deserves some consideration for Coach of the Year because he has kept this team in the hunt while three of his best players (Sakic, Stastny, and Ryan Symth) were out for significant portions of the season. Now with all pieces back in place, and some new exciting ones rolling in, maybe this team will roll on into the playoffs and make a run at the gin

Don't look now but they just won another game against the Los Angles Kings last night.

Scols