From the Denver Sports Czar: State of the City Address

I have annointed myself the Denver Sports Czar, and as such I feel a certain duty to deliver my State of the City Address.

The newest unit of measurement of panic: The Blue Bear

Good Evening, My fellow Denverites,

I come to you as we are facing a low point in our city’s sports history, but I am not without hope. The hits have been plentiful and painful of late, however I am not ready to give in to despair and the bottom of the standings. I will continue to cheer. Here is a quick rundown of our teams and the panic level on a scale of one to ten Big Blue Convention Center Bears.

Yes, it is true, the Broncos are somewhat in disarray. After three seasons of .500 football, our great leader Mr. Shanahan was surprisingly dismissed from his post and replaced with a young man who may or may not be of legal drinking age, Josh McDaniels. Then, as his first major move, Coach McD alienated his best player and got into a bit of a war of words through the newspaper. I say to you, though, that it could have been worse. Jay Cutler could have been traded and we could be entering the Matt Cassell era. Not that Cassell is a terrible quarterback, but I don’t believe his ceiling is anywhere near as high as Cutler’s. I believe that the Broncos will rise again, and one day they will be great again. (Of course, I think we are looking at a 6-10 season ahead, but I'm thinking long term. I also hope (but don’t necessarily believe) that McDaniels was the right man for the job. Of course, when you have a coach that has won two Super Bowls but you have a chance to get a 32 year old unproven assistant, you have to make that move.




For you conspiracy theorists out there, is it entirely nuts to think that Bill Belichick initiated trade talks with the Broncos for a Cutler-Cassell trade and then leaked it to the media that Cutler was being discussed in order to cause problems for one of his former assistants and now his competition in the AFC? I say no, it's not nuts. If for no other reason than it makes it easier for me to dislike an already very dislikable Belichick.




I remain a Broncos fan, although dark days may be ahead, I believe that we will make it through this time as stronger, better fans. (And with fewer bandwagon jumpers than ever amongst our ranks.)



Panic Level - 7 of 10 Big Blue Convention Center Bears








Let us move to our strongest team, the Nuggets. True they are (barely) in first place in the Northwest division, but there are definitely cracks in the foundation. Melo was just suspended for refusing to leave a game when George Karl told him to come out, and it’s never a good thing when your coach and best player are playing the feud. Plus, they have hit a cold stretch losing five of their last seven games. That said, every NBA team goes through bad stretches during the course of the season. I’m not ready to completely panic, although it would be nice if Carmelo would stop adding to his considerable baggage. I love the guy, but he definitely has trouble staying out of trouble. This season will be defined by how the Nuggets do in the first round of the playoffs, if they can get to the second round, I consider this season a success. I’m not sure they can do it, but it’s definitely not time to panic.



Panic Level - 2 of 10 Big Blue Convention Center Bears










Spring training has started, but apparently the Rockies have not. As I write this, they are yet to win a spring training game. That’s no big deal, as spring training games are about as meaningless as figure skating results, but it is symptomatic of something that I worry about with the Rockies. After losing Matt Holliday over the offseason, it appears that the Rockies are returning to their losing and not caring about it tradition. After a brief season of glory that amazingly launched them into the 2007 World Series, they seemingly haven’t made a good move since, and the talk is that Clint Hurdle is on his last legs as Rockies manager. No one around these parts seems to feel the Rockies have much hope at all, which is sad since it was only a year and a half ago that they were four wins away from a championship.



Panic Level - 5 of 10 Big Blue Convention Center Bears












Now for the saddest of the sad, The 2009 Colorado Avalanche; The Avs are having their most pathetic season in Denver. They have dropped their last five games, and not even a matchup with the Red Wings can drum up interest. It’s not even anger that people in Denver feel towards this team, It’s even worse, it’s complete apathy. They aren’t any good, but no one around town even cares right now. What a precipitous drop for a team that has been the best run team in town for most of the past decade and a half. We are finding out how well the NHL will do in this market when the team stinks, and the answer is…not very well.

Panic Level - 9 of 10 Big Blue Convention Center Bears