The Colorado Buffaloes didn’t expect much as they drove their 2011 Subaru Outback into the repair shop off campus. The Subaru had plenty of wear and tear on it with all those road trips to Corvallis, Palo Alto, and Tucson – but not a lot of memories to go along with it. Once shiny and new car smelling, the black and gold vehicle was now rusty and slow to start, presumably after years of fender benders around Westwood, radiator trouble in Tempe, and a flat tire in Spokane. The break came when the Big 12 saw the broken-down Subaru and somehow thought it would look good on their lot, somewhere... Read More

It is hard to describe my excitement of the current sports calendar. It is as if the Sport Gods opened up the heavens and simply let it rain. The NFL kickoff could have satisfied my fix as entertainment filled my Sundays, Mondays, and even Thursdays. But add to that the college football season and I really start to get aroused. Using the term aroused intertwined with sports seems a little creepy, but it is not sexual. It’s not like I’m Ime Udoka of the Boston Celtics or anything. And after months of meaningless baseball, the MLB is finally getting good. Teams fighting for playoff spots,... Read More

The first Rose Bowl game was played in 1902 when Michigan defeated Stanford by a score of 49-0.  Technically, that would make the first college football bowl game sponsor the Pasadena Tournament of Roses Association, but for years it was simply called the Rose Bowl. It was not called the Carnegie Steel Company Rose Bowl or the Rose Bowl presented by Oldsmobile, it was just the Rose Bowl. In the 1930s the Rose Bowl was joined by the Orange Bowl (1935), Sugar Bowl (1935), Sun Bowl (1935), and Cotton Bowl (1937). The Gator Bowl was added to the mix in 1946. The names were simple.  The sponsors quiet. This... Read More

For a moment it was as if COVID-19 had come and gone.  Thousands of college students filled band-filled stadiums, beer flowed during massive-sized tailgate parties, and Sundays returned to crowded gatherings in musty man caves. True, some venues required masks and others proof of vaccination, but spectators were adapting and sports were officially back.  If sports now meant sitting inches from strangers rather than six-feet or pulling my mask down to drink a beer, I was fine with that. Then Aaron Rodgers brought it all back. Green Bay’s star quarterback stirred up plenty of controversy last... Read More

It reads like a Hollywood script.  A new coach comes to town to take over a loveable, but losing team full of misfits, cast-offs, and no-names.  Individually they are overmatched.  But collectively, the team finds a way to work as one, defy the odds, and shine in the biggest moments. As the Colorado Buffaloes hit the field for their opener against the UCLA Bruins, the movie Major League flashed through my mind.  With a new quarterback, an unknown running back, and a bunch of wide receivers that I’ve never heard, I thought of the scene where the Cleveland Indian fans are reading about the... Read More

Ask someone to name their favorite sport and you will find a variety of answers.  The question so subjective that a crack of a bat, smell of fresh cut grass, or even taste of cheese dip may elicit contrasting responses. Ask someone to name the toughest sport and you will find arguments defending the size and speed of the everyday linebacker, the blood and bruises of the MMA fighter, and the toothless grin of the second-line hockey player.  Again subjective. But ask which sport has done the best job returning to play during a pandemic and there looks to be plenty of evidence to judge them objectively. ... Read More

It was only last weekend that I sat on my couch watching some guy named Daniel Berger win the Charles Schwab Challenge in a playoff over some guy named Collin Morikawa.  This wasn’t about the names of the players, the putts being drained, or even the awkward silence of an empty golf course.  This was about hope, normality, and the gradual return of sports. Despite the fear of COVID-19 and the social unrest that has dominated our lives, the golf tournament gave me just a glimmer of hope that our world was finally trending the right direction.  The opening of restaurants, gyms, and businesses... Read More

  On the surface, the title seems like an ignorant tailgate cheer.  Bring college football back so fans can paint their chest, shotgun a beer, and get back to the way things were.  Over a million COVID-19 outbreaks alone in the United States, and over 70,000 deaths and we have the audacity to talk about football.  But it’s deeper than that.  The professional game will come back in due time when the billionaire owners and the millionaire players decide that things are safe.  But the college landscape is not as simple. In a perfect world, deaths and the virus disappear tomorrow.  In... Read More

The whispers began after the Colorado Buffaloes fell apart in the Oregon State game.  Those same whispers turned to shouts after the Buffs dropped their sixth game in a row, after a 30-7 drubbing by 19th ranked Utah at Folsom Field. Coach Mike MacIntyre was officially let go over the weekend, despite having one game left to possibly save the season.  While it is that time of year in which teams like Kansas go after a Les Miles, and USC ponders the future of Clay Helton, letting go of MacIntyre was premature at best, and here are six reasons why. Expectations – That Oregon State game really... Read More