If there's anything worse for a Broncos fan than watching the team gag up a victory to the hated Oakland Raiders, as took place on December 2, it's having to see the agony be rehashed and rehashed and rehashed again by every mainstream news outlet in the area. Last night, an absolutely unconscionable percentage of local newscasts was dominated by footage from and about the debacle, and the same thing was true of the a.m. shows this morning. And while the Denver dailies wisely chose not to devote their Monday covers to, say, an oversized shot of Travis "I swear I didn't inhale" Henry putting the ball on the grass yet again, their sports sections still set aside plenty of pages for the contest, on the off-chance that masochists hadn't been sufficiently sated by the previous day's salt-in-wound approach and desired a second dose of punishment.
Thank you, sir. May I have another?
As of this moment, the Broncos season is, for all practical purposes, over. Even so, don't expect the local media to ratchet back coverage of the squad's last few meaningless contests. Because the Broncos have been competitive for so long, news departments are geared to providing blanket reportage about every scrimmage and snap. Under the current circumstances, electronic and print managers could reallocate resources and provide readers and viewers with more actual news. But that would take too much effort. Instead, they'll likely maintain a typical focus on the Broncos even though the ballers' playoff prospects are bleaker than Tom Tancredo's odds of being elected Chancellor of the Universe.
That's the Denver media way. -- Michael Roberts
