Thursday, November 27, 2008

Happy Thanksgiving

Make it a great day with family or friends. See you back here Monday morning.

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

A couple of musings

• Since when did it become impossible to determine what advertisers were trying to sell the general public on TV?
• NBA coverage on Turner Network Television is far superior to anything offered on ABC/ESPN. Why? One reason. The TNT folks pay some attention to the game. The ESPN people are far more interested in self-promotion.

Monday, November 24, 2008

7-9 could win the AFC West

There's a parallel forming between the AFC West and the NL West.
It's a division no one should be forced to belong to.
It's entirely possible that someone will win the AFC West with a record that is below .500. Denver took a step in that direction by not showing up for its game with Oakland yesterday. San Diego stayed two games behind by losing to Indianapolis last night.
Denver coach Mike Shanahan may have been right when he guaranteed his team would be in the playoffs. But at 7-9, that's nothing on which to hang a hat.

Friday, November 21, 2008

Sad news

Former Jefferson County sheriff and Golden police chief Russ Cook was found dead in his South Jeffco home today. He was 59.
His troubles with alcohol were well-known. They cost him the sheriff's job in 2003 after just six months on the job.
I worked around Cook for many years. He was a good man, hired in Golden at a time when the city needed some leadership stability and accountability in the department. He was as open, as accessible and as pleasant a police chief as a press person or member of the public could ever hope to see. He also offered a certain reporter his resources to find family members who hadn't been heard from following a huge earthquake in the L.A. area in 1994.
Cook's heart was in the right place. But the bottle wasn't too far away, and that's the saddest part of all.

Thursday, November 20, 2008

Greenberg movie opens eyes

Watched an interesting movie the other night on Detroit Tigers' slugger Hank Greenberg. He was the first Jewish player of note in the majors, and he played in the 1930s and 1940s.
The biographical information and his career stats are fairly common knowledge. What opened my eyes was a comparison between the amount of abuse he took because he was Jewish and the amount of abuse Jackie Robinson took because he was a Negro. Greenberg's career finished the same year that Robinson broke the color barrier.

Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Super Bowl? Not a chance

Two straight wins do not make a Super Bowl champion.
In the eyes of the Denver talkers and TV stations, the Broncos are unbeatable.
True, the defense showed up the last two weeks.
It's also true that half the offense – the runners – can't show up for a while because of injuries. And as good as Jay Cutler seems to be, he can't carry the troops alone.
It's also true the defense is quite suspect, despite the last two games.
Hooray for the two wins. But let's put a cap on Super Bowl talk.

Friday, November 14, 2008

A change in the NBA

No, it's not the Denver Nuggets. Yes, they changed people (Chancey Billups is here and Allen Iverson, Eduardo Najera and Marcus Camby aren't, and the Nuggets didn't get anything in return for Najera and Camby). But they don't figure to be a lot better than before .. at least until Carmelo Anthony takes full control of the team on the floor.
The major change of note is the Detroit Pistons. Yes, the same Pistons with the advanced degree in half-court offense. Now it's the Pistons who run the floor when the chance is available.
Times change. So do good teams. It'll be interesting to see what Detroit does this year.