A beautiful and serene, snowy landscape greets me this morning as I contemplate (for all of two minutes) whether to go in to work today. Since my last posting, the Super Bowl has come and gone, Chauncey Billups and Carmelo Anthony have departed, Hosni Mubarak vacated the presidency of Egypt, Peter Forsberg came back and went away in the blink of an eye and, best news of all, baseball Spring Training has begun!
Super Bowl XLV was an entertaining game, as Green Bay outplayed the Steelers, thereby emphatically validating the Packers' decision to keep Aaron Rodgers over Brett Favre. The NFL Draft will be held in New York City at the end of April, and then, the suspense over the pending labor negotiations intensifies. The owners and players will posture and argue over how 3 billion dollars should be divided. Billionaires arguing with millionaires. Thank goodness, baseball is here!
The Melo Drama over the last few months came to a head this week as the February 24 NBA trade deadline approached. Carmelo (no "D" in) Anthony and his wife LaLa Vasquez finally get their wish, and return to New York. I think the Nuggets will be a better team without 'Melo. They've only had two games since he left, just one with the new players, but they already look like they are going to be better for George Karl to coach than the team was with Anthony. More passing, more moving without the ball, more picks, more hustle, much more entertaining basketball. And did you see Karl's face after the Celtic game? He was smiling, and obviously happy that his team listened to him at the last time out when he told them that defense was going to win the game in the last 3 minutes. They held the Celtics scoreless after that. Now the battle of the comments begins. Karl said after the game that Carmelo's defensive focus and intensity was disappointing. When told of those comments, Anthony responded by tweeting, "Amazing, when the grass is cut, the snakes will show." Too bad that the Knicks and Nuggets don't meet again until next year, unless they meet in this year's NBA Finals (hardly likely).
So sad that the collateral damage from the deal is that Colorado and Denver basketball hero, Chauncey Billups had to be included in the trade. Billups, is the best basketball player from Colorado, ever. Four times an All-State player while at George Washington High School (one state championship in 1994), three times Colorado Mr. Basketball, two years at the University of Colorado, All-Big 12 and All-American in the 1996-97 season, and a first round NBA draft pick (by the Boston Celtics) in 1997. NBA Champion and Finals MVP for the 2004 Detroit Pistons. He led the Buffs to the school's first NCAA tournament victory in over thirty years in 1997, over Bobby Knight's Indiana Hoosiers in the first round of the NCAA bracket. They lost to the North Carolina Tarheels in the second round. Lute Olson's Arizona Wildcats beat the defending champion Kentucky Wildcats in overtime that year. CU's previous appearance in the NCAAs was the Cliff Meely-led Buffs in 1969 (who lost to the Colorado State Rams in the second round of the Midwest Regional). I remember going to the old Balch Fieldhouse on the CU campus those days to watch the Sox Walseth-coached Buffs play. Cliff Meely, Mike Coleman, Gordie Tope, Jim Creighton, Ron Maulsby, Boyd Pickens, Dudley Mitchell..... fun times. It was so loud and raucous and fun. It's great to see renewed excitement surrounding the current Buffaloes' basketball team. They've been so irrelevant for so long, since Chauncey left.
So, I don't follow world events all that much, but the thing that happened in Egypt this month caught my attention. President Mubarak had ruled, or presided, in Egypt since Anwar Sadat was assassinated in 1981. He enjoyed over thirty years of largely unopposed, iron-fisted rule over Egypt. As a 'friend' to Israel and the United States, Egypt enjoyed billions and billions of dollars and shekels in aid and support. Now that Mubarak and his family have retired to southern Sinai with, presumably, his billions intact, growing concern emerges that Israel has no more allies in the Middle East. Growing unrest in Libya, Tunisia, Turkey in addition to the changing of the guard in Egypt, are bringing about some real disturbing prophesies. Have you ever played the old board game "RISK"? We used to play in college all the time, and ultimately, it always seemed that the critical end-game showdowns invariably boiled down to that geographical bottleneck around, you guessed it, the Middle East.
It was with great joy and anticipation that I heard the Peter The Great was going to attempt a comeback to the NHL with the Colorado Avalanche. I am not a big hockey fan, but the Avalanche sure were fun to follow when they moved here from Quebec for the 1995-96 season. Joe Sakic, Patrick Roy and Peter Forsberg spoiled us Colorado sports fans by bringing the first ever major sports Championship to us in their very first year here. What amazing skill Forsberg possessed on the ice in his prime! Then, after a few practices, he made his appearance for two games, on the road, back to back nights in Columbus, then Nashville. He played over 17 minutes against the Blue Jackets and then another 17+ minutes effort the very next night against the Predators. Now, I appreciate that the Avs were struggling, and Coach Sacco was searching for any spark to get the team back on track, but too much ice-time for Forsberg, after over three years of retirement, burned him out, and he re-retired before even one appearance on the home ice at the Pepsi Center. No chance for his expectant, adoring fans to see him one more time, wearing the Avalanche colors, gliding across the rink, delivering his trademark hits, skillfully handling the puck like it was attached to his stick. What a wasted public relations opportunity for the woeful Avalanche, and what a disappointment for the dwindling hockey fans here in Colorado.
Finally, Spring Training 2011, has begun! Thank god for the MLB Channel. I just watched their (arbitrary) countdown of their Top 100 Major League Players Right Now. No shock, Albert Pujols #1, Roy Halladay #2. Top Rockies, Tulo #14, CarGo and Ubaldo in the top 40. Las Vegas Hilton sports book has the over/under for Colorado Rockies wins this season at 86. Last year, the number was 83-1/2. I had a $100 ticket that the Rox would win OVER 83-1/2 games, or an 84-win season would cash me a $100 profit. With two weeks to go in the season, the Rockies were 81-67. They beat the Dodgers in LA on Saturday night, Sept 18th to win their 82nd game. Five straight losses brought us to Saturday night, Sept 25. Against the Giants, Tulowitzki hammers a two-run homer in the 5th, a two-rbi double in the 8th, and hits the walk-off, game-winning double in the bottom of the 10th, to drive in Carlos Gonzalez. Rockies win 10-9 to knock the Giants temporarily into second place in the NL West. Little did I suspect that this would be the final win for the Rox in 2010, they lost the final 7 games of the year, leaving them with an 83-79 record, and just short of a winning ticket for me. Go figure. Spring Training always represents that age-old "Hope Springs Eternal" adage, everybody's tied for first, nobody's out of the pennant chase just yet. I predict the Rockies will win 90 games, win the National League West Division. I hope they face the Yankees in the World Series, and win Game 7 here in Coors Field. Then all Colorado Rockies fans, especially my mom, can rejoice, and vindicate the notion that good guys CAN finish in first.
No comments:
Post a Comment