Broncs cheer: On behalf of all Broncos fans not fortunate enough to live in Denver, shame on Adam Cayton-Holland for helping to destroy the magic and home-field advantage that used to resonate throughout the old Mile High (What's So Funny?, December 8). It's bad enough that he belittles fans who passionately support their team -- as if such passion is somehow low-class or sophomoric -- but then to take the time to write such a whiny, self-indulgent piece about it? That is what is truly shameful.
Next time, Adam, please do everyone a favor and stay home. Your TV has a handy feature that allows you to adjust the volume. I am sure that someone on the thirty-year waiting list for season tickets will be happy to occupy your seat, screaming fans and all.
Kelley Hauser
Washington, D.C.
Hit him again: Adam Cayton-Holland addresses the reason Mile High II hasn't offered the benefit of "home-field advantage" to our team. Fans (term used very lightly) like Adam are the real problem at Mile High. I've had to endure the likes of him on several occasions, and I'd prefer to deal with the fan who sat behind him. Too bad he didn't molest Adam's right ear as much as his left.
My suggestion for this Girlie Boy: Stay the hell at home and watch baseball. You are not cut out for a man's game!
Leo Castro
Westminster
Real fans don't eat quiche: Meanwhile, the quiche goes flat from all this anger.
Adam Cayton-Holland's column sounds like the opposite complaint I had at both the Eagles and Jets game. This guy could be complaining about me. The woman behind me pushed me down and told me to sit down, because she "wasn't going to stand all game." I only had four beers. I have tickets to the playoffs (if there is one at home). I am going to drink a fifth of Wild Turkey and vomit on the b@tch, 'cuz we will sit in the same seats!
Watching a contact sport is a contact sport. Stay home and eat your roquefort and drink your Pinot.
Welcome to Broncos Country! Out here...there be monsters!
Curtis Delagerheim
Murray, Utah
Noise in the hood: Adam Cayton-Holland, what a dumbass you are! You go to a game and want to have everyone around you be quiet? It's called "home-field advantage" for a reason, you ass. If everyone was quiet, then the offense for the opposition could call all their plays freely without having to worry about the crowd noise.
It's also called "twelfth man" for a reason: They/we are part of the game. If you want to sit in peace and quiet, then get a club-level seat where no one has any clue as to what is going on on the field and they are there for the look-at-me factor. Or better yet, stay home so no one can interfere with your very limited knowledge of what it takes to be a true fan.
Ever since they tore down Mile High, Invesco hasn't been the same due to "fans" like you who would rather sit there and not make any noise. Well, this year the real fans are back, taking over. And look at what they are doing: undefeated at home for the first time in years.
Jason Trujillo
Denver
Mile High cry: Sure, the game wasn't perfect, but just maybe Adam Cayton-Holland might learn about the twelfth man at Mile High and quit being a whiny little bitch. For he is the problem with the crowd getting into the game; he likes to sit on his hands during a defensive stand and drink his little latte.
Hello! Football is about the fans, too, and some of them like to revive the twelfth man like the old Mile High used to have. It's cute how Adam uses a public forum to cry about his little adventure at Mile High instead of maybe learning what it means to be a football fan.
Check out OF1 in tailgate spot 31 and see what it used to be like to be a real football fan.
Derek Koelmel
Englewood
Slice of life: Regarding "Dr. Etiquette's Guide to New Year's Eve," by Patrick Osborn in the December 15 issue:
Since I am a member of one of those crazy religious sects (we like to call it the One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church) that commemorates the circumcision of Christ on January 1, I thought that I could shed some light on the feast.
It is true as far as I know that Jesus was probably not born on December 25, and that that date was chosen to correspond with a traditional solstice feast. However, January 1 was not arbitrarily picked for the date of his circumcision. According to Jewish law, male children must be circumcised on the eighth day of their lives. If you count on your fingers, you will see that a boy born on December 25 would be circumcised on January 1.
Celebrating the circumcision eight days after the Nativity is important to Christians because it starts the pattern of Jesus following the Law, even as he enlightened us as to what the Law was really getting at: "Love God and love your neighbor." The name has been cleaned up a bit (in the Episcopal Church we call it Holy Name), but it is all the same idea.
Benjamin Skeen
Denver
That giant sucking sound: Was the intention of Dave Herrera's December 15 Beatdown to promote the Pool Cleaners, or an excuse to rip King Rat? I like the Pool Cleaners From Distant Planets websitefunny stuff, smart guys. I'm glad Herrera is promoting them, but man, it seems like he spent more time ripping King Rat than anything else. I hope this doesn't discourage people from checking out King Rat. I just saw them at the Odgen (with Pockets, the new and improved drummer) and thought they were great.
There is enough ass-kissing in the local scene, so seeing bad reviews is refreshing. I don't have a problem with that. But at the very least, it should be mentioned that the show Herrera reviewed was in October 2004. King Rat have since "turned down the suck."
Jamie Hillyer
Denver
Mister blister: Dave Herrera, I guess you know that sarcasm is a dangerous form of humor. Just because your pathetic vendetta against Chris Dellinger ("The Nightmare Before Blistmas," December 15) strokes you enough to make you hard doesn't mean that you have to soil the name of journalism with your old and unbright insight. Do yourself a favor and be angry about something important.
Ask Jason Sheehan how colorful "digging up a dead horse" is. Be a fucking writer.
Shelly Standrig
Denver
Truant and consequences: While I suspect some of the Altvaters' statements in Alan Prendergast's "Catch-16," in the December 8 issue, I can sympathize with their plight. I, too, am the parent of a child whose problem was never drinking or drugs, but truancy. A child who also fell through the cracks and was underserved by the educational system. When I appealed to law enforcement, school administration and her guidance counselor, all I heard was the same thing: "She's over sixteen -- there's nothing we can do."
To Kaeleigh, I would say one thing: The "blond, popular crowd" has always been there and always will be. The challenge is to find and believe in your own individuality, and not to blame others. The district has only the obligation of providing an alternative setting (if that). After that, you experience the consequences of your actions, just like an adult. (As an educator myself, I need to clarify that the IEPs [Individual Education Plans] mentioned in this article apply only to students who have a documented learning or physical disability. Students who do not meet these criteria do not have the same support services.)
The student population of the high school from which my child did not graduate is 99 percent white, upper-class and college-bound. While Kaeleigh's high school, Eaglecrest, does not have those same statistics, it is a Cherry Creek school, and the message is the same. The more "elite" school districts need to open their eyes and start implementing the same types of dropout-prevention programs that can be found in Denver Public Schools. Your student population is more diverse than you think, and they deserve it.
Name withheld on request
To serve and neglect: After reading "Catch-16," I felt sick to my stomach. These idiots bring a child into the world, neglect her for sixteen years, then have the gall to complain that the courts, schools and therapists have all let their daughter slip through the cracks. How about the parents? I'm glad they made getting their education a priority; it certainly has paid off. "Kaeleigh got very attention-dependent" -- duh. Do you want to chat? No, okay, clean the living room for $20. Dying grandmothers, handguns, divorce and remarriage, parents going to school and working, moving across country. Yeah, I don't know why this kids is so mixed up.
But the worst had to be the lame-ass letters to the editor last week -- self-indulgent "words of solace for the parents." Wow. What paper is this? Focus on the family weekly?
Liz Rueda
Denver
In the interest of the child: Thank you for Jessica Centers's "Focus on the Family," in the December 1 issue. I wish more of our media outlets would address the big issue of our local children being neglected and/or abused by their own families and, in most cases, their own parents. Our society needs to know about this growing problem and needs to know that there are ways that they can help.
The story gave a great and detailed account of how the dependency-and-neglect civil proceedings operate. However, I feel it left out one extremely important "player" in the system: a guardian ad litem. A GAL is a licensed attorney in the state of Colorado who is appointed by the court to represent the best interest of the child in dependency-and-neglect civil proceedings. The job of a GAL is to not worry about the parents' wants or needs, and to not worry about what treatments or programs the state can or cannot afford. A GAL's sole purpose is to zealously advocate for the child's best interest.
I do not know whether the court appointed a GAL for the McAdam children, but I do know that in many, if not most, cases of this type, a GAL is appointed. So I have to wonder, if the court did not appoint a GAL in this case, why not? This would seem like a perfect case to have legal representation for the two children, a perfect opportunity for the children's "voices" to be heard in the courtroom, a perfect opportunity for Judge Wakefield to hear from an attorney who put in the time and effort discovering what was in the best interest of these children.
From the article, it seems both parents' interests were heard in court and the Denver Department of Human Services was heard, but I wonder -- were the best interests of the McAdam children heard? If not, we need to start asking why, and we need to do what we can to change that. Colorado children deserve to be heard!
Molly Lee Greenblatt
Denver
