Chauncey Billups and Elway’s magic number 7

Channel 9’s Drew Soicher devoted much of Tuesday night’s late sportscast to a conversation with John Elway about whether or not he was bothered by Nuggets star Chauncey Billups’ decision to ditch the number 7, which he wore last year to honor Big John, in favor of his original digit,…

JaMarcus another reason not to overrate Broncos D

All the hosannas about the Broncos’ improved defense are mondo premature due to the fact that the D gave up what should have been the winning score during crunch time at Cincinnati during week one and dominated an utterly inept Cleveland Browns squad on Sunday. And the next opponent? The…

Basebrawl: Rockies weekend Moby Dicks the Giants

I concluded the inaugural edition of Basebrawl, our stretch-run trash-talking faceoff with the Giants lovers at SF Weekly, one of Westword’s sister papers, with these lines: “The Giants begin a three-game series against the Dodgers in Los Angeles tonight, and this time Monday, the boys by the Bay will be…

Broncos’ 2-0 start is meaningless

The Denver Post’s front-page blurbs about the Broncos’ 27-6 victory over the Browns yesterday appear beneath the line “With a Capital D” — the point being that Denver’s defense stifled Cleveland throughout the afternoon. But that’s not particularly difficult. As commentators Bill Macatee and Steve Beuerlein noted during the broadcast,…

Shmuck of the Week: Professor Mouthy

The world doesn’t hand us many absolutes. Don’t stare directly into the massive fireball in the sky. Make babies. Never buy fewer than eight Washington apples at one time. And, of course, if you happen to know enough about rocks to teach geology at a large institution of higher learning,…

Broncos vs. Browns: An orgy of cynicism

No cities in America — okay, maybe Buffalo, but nowhere else — have achieved the same level of football-related pessimism as Denver and Cleveland. (OK, maybe Detroit, too, but that’s it!). So with the Broncos and Browns set to throw down on Sunday, I channeled all the dismay I could…

Basebrawl: Giant-size trash talking

Earlier today, Westword’s sister paper, the San Francisco Weekly, published “Basebrawl — So Those Denver Boys Want to Talk Some Trash, Eh? Well, Two Can Play At That Game,” in which staffer Joe Eskenazi wrote about checking “the pneumatic tube connecting all the Village Voice Media newspapers” and finding “what…

Brady Quinn vs. Kyle Orton: We got the ugly one

When the Broncos began shopping Sweet Baby Jay Cutler earlier this year, one of his possible destinations was Cleveland, this weekend’s opponent, where he’d have been swapped for Brady Quinn. My twin high-school-age daughters, Lora and Ellie, weren’t very enthusiastic about that prospect from a football standpoint, since this particular…

Rockies ace: Jorge De La Rosa?

Most Rockies fans see Ubaldo Jiminez as the blossoming star of the squad’s pitching staff. But Jiminez got absolutely shelled Tuesday night against the San Francisco Giants, making last night’s series-ender against the SF crew the sort of must-win no one wanted to call a must-win — but it was…

Denver Blogs: For your grilling pleasure…

Our daily round-up of local blogs. A Denver-born iPhone app is on fire. Literally! (Actually, figuratively!) (Denver Egotist) How Denver will rebound from the recession. (5280) The Broncos aren’t as bad as you think. According to this guy. We’ll see. (HuffPo Denver)…

Rockies in danger of being broomed out of the Bay Area

So much for psychology. The Rockies were crushed 9-1 by the San Francisco Giants on Monday to begin an important three-game series — and I hoped the size and scope of the humiliation, coupled with the return of ace pitcher Ubaldo Jiminez to the mound, would result in a Colorado…

The Rockies, and the upside of humiliation, Giants-style

Our blog previewing yesterday’s Colorado Rockies series against the San Francisco Giants was headlined “Rockies Mission: Solve Tim Lincecum.” But that mission proved impossible. Lincecum, who’d squelched the Rocks the last time he’d faced them, repeated the feat, turning Colorado bats into the equivalent of portable fans en route to…

Kyle Orton: Not very good, but a really good guy

The Broncos’ miracle win against the Cincinnati Bengals has inspired the sort of out-of-proportion optimism among fans that will almost certainly be crushed, and crushed brutally, a few weeks from now — especially as it concerns quarterback Kyle Orton, who had a miserable game. True, former Broncos QB Jay Cutler…

Denver Blogs: Who dey? We dey!

Our daily adventure in blog-surfing. More reaction to the miracle in Cincinnati (and another excuse to play the above video). (Mile High Report) Jared Polis is quite effin rich. (Colorado Independent) Conservatives really don’t want you hippies looking at their tweets. (Colorado Pols)…

Rockies mission: Solve Tim Lincecum

Last Thursday, we talked about the impending trio of games between your Colorado Rockies and the San Diego Padres, and the importance of the Rocks winning at least two of the three games going into a key series in San Francisco against the Giants. Unfortunately, that didn’t happen: Colorado took…

Gaining access to the Post‘s “Premium Broncos” coverage

This morning, while sitting down to write a blog about the Broncos’ Jesus Christ-aided, loaves-and-fishes-style miracle win over the Bengals yesterday, I headed over to DenverPost.com and clicked on the home page’s main photo, which was linked to the game summary. Instead of getting the entire article, however, I was…

Ed McCaffrey’s color commentary monochromatic

Veteran radio-and-TV writer Dusty Saunders showered praise on the KOA broadcast team calling the Broncos 12-7 victory over the Cincinnati Bengals (achieved thanks to a big assist from Jesus Christ) — particularly retired receiver Ed McCaffrey, who joined longtimer Dave Logan in the booth. But in my view, McCaffrey’s contributions…

Broncos MVP in win over Bengals: Jesus Christ

Yesterday, the Denver Broncos beat the Cincinnati Bengals 12-7. But the victory wouldn’t have taken place without divine intervention. With well under a minute to go, struggling quarterback Kyle Orton heaved a pass in the direction of disgruntled wideout Brandon Marshall, but Bengals defender Leon Hall got to the ball…

Denver Blogs: Oh, NFL Sundays, how I missed thee

Our daily round up of local blogs. Enjoy, and happy Friday. Is the pessimism of Broncos fans waning, or do the Bengals just suck? (Or could it be both?) (Mile High Report) It’s environmentalists vs. outdoorsmen in a battle of who loves the wilderness more. (Colorado Independent) Bring back the…

Our Broncos bet with the Post‘s Dan Haley: 4-12 or 5-11?

Last year, I wrote a blog needling Denver Post editorial page editor Dan Haley about a piece that took what I saw as cheap shots at the Denver Broncos. In response, he challenged me to make a bragging-rights prediction about the team’s record that season. I foresaw a 10-6 finish…

Does Chad Ochocinco plan a siesta against the Broncos?

Cincinnati Bengals receiver Chad Ochocinco, who cut off his “Johnson” some time ago, is in self-promotional overload prior to the team’s season-opening contest against your Denver Broncos. But will he be tweeting? NFL commissioner Roger Goodell has warned players not to feed Twitter during games, apparently because he doesn’t want…