To call the weekend football games disappointing would be an understatement. To call them disheartening wouldn’t quite be enough. To call them a disaster – now we are getting close. The Colorado Buffaloes and Deion’s boys faced off against tenth-ranked Oregon in Eugene. The Buffs showed up with their usual swagger – dancing on the opposing team’s logo and talking trash. But in the end, it would be Oregon dancing in the endzone, and letting their performance do the talking for them. Oregon coach Dan Lanning screamed in his opening speech to the team – “They’re fighting for clicks.... Read More

The National Football League kicked off on Thursday, and as usual, it failed to disappoint. In Kansas City, Travis Kelce was dropped from the lineup, Kadarius Toney dropped everything in sight, and the Detroit Lions dropped the defending Super Bowl Champions. In Denver, the Broncos are kicking themselves after losing to the Raiders in Sean Payton’s coaching debut. And in New York, Aaron Rodgers will still be playing with the Jets – but that’s assuming the team’s rehab facility comes with a hot tub. A look at the wacky first week of the NFL. • Tony! Toni! Tone! Has done it again.... Read More

Historically speaking, the running back position has always dominated the first round of any Fantasy Football draft room. The logic is sound. A quality running back receives more opportunities (overall touches) than any other player besides the quarterback. A quality running back piles up fantasy points by running the football, catching the football, and generally due to goal-line situations, even scoring the football. And while there are hundreds of quality wide receivers to fill your draft board, there are only a handful of running backs that are so successful in what they do – they avoid... Read More

As the Denver Nuggets rolled through the downtown streets of LoDo, champagne filled and shirtless, the confetti flew, and fans cheered. A franchise that began back in 1967 had finally captured its first NBA Championship. A victory parade of epic proportions. But as the fire engines stopped, and thousands packed into Civic Center Park, I realized that Denver’s victory parade was also a goodbye parade. A goodbye to sports for quite some time. Forty-one days to be exact. Starting with the NBA draft on June 22 (in which – spoiler alert – the 7’5 French guy is going first) and ending with... Read More

The memory is still fresh in our minds. A player lays motionless on the field as fans watch in disbelief. A sight so horrific that many cannot bear to watch, and yet, cannot look away. A stadium of enthusiastic fans, painted faces, and cheering voices – suddenly turned silent. No, I am not talking about Damar Hamlin. He’s doing great! I am talking about Georgia’s 65-7 drubbing over TCU in the College Football Playoff National Championship on Monday night. Actually, it wasn’t just one player laying motionless on the field, it was an entire TCU secondary that seemed motionless. The defensive... Read More

The lights flickered off the Christmas tree like stars in the dark sky. The table was set with fancy holiday dishes, festive wine glasses, and charcuterie filled with various gourmet cheeses and prosciutto. Filled stockings hung off the fireplace, expensive bourbon poured into those with eggnog, while the scent of Grandma’s sugar cookies filled the air. It was the perfect Christmas. The matching family pajamas may have been a little over-the-top, as was the hula-hooping Santa Claus that rotated around on the mantle. But nothing was going to embarrass me on this day. Nothing was going to spoil... Read More

Historically speaking, Jack Faulkner’s 1963 Denver Broncos are considered the worst squad in franchise history as the team finished the season with a disastrous record of 2-11-1. But that was a little before our time. Recent memories may have you thinking about Vance Joseph’s 2017 Broncos (5-11) that relied on the laughable trio of Trevor Siemian, Brock Osweiller, and Paxton Lynch to steer their sinking ship. Or Vic Fangio’s 2020 Broncos (5-11) and the failed Drew Lock experiment. But I always refer back to the Josh McDaniels team of 2010 as Denver’s blueprint of football futility. In... Read More

The Peloton bike was rolled into the front room of the house three months after promised. It was the early stages of the pandemic, the gyms were closed, and the room had been converted into a home gym with a weight bench, exercise ball, and a view of the cul-de-sac. The bike cost around $2500 as I recall, unclear if that price included the four sets of shoes, Peloton logoed water bottles, hand weights, or yoga mat. The monthly subscription was another $40 per month for virtual classes, instructors, and guidance. Our family used it religiously for three months – until we didn’t. The Peloton... Read More

Besides the sugar-buzz from devouring fun-sized Snicker bars all weekend, the best part was watching famous athletes walking arena halls in their Halloween best. The Celtics’ Grant Williams went full Gotham in a Batman costume. Atlanta’s Trae Young dressed as the Black Panther. The Nuggets’ Nikola Jokic was appropriately made up as The Joker. And most everyone else in the sports world showed up as some type of character from Stranger Things. I didn’t happen to catch what quarterback Russell Wilson dressed up as pre-game, but I had a few guesses. • Russell could have dressed up as... Read More

Let me get this straight. Denver brings in Nathaniel Hackett, Aaron Rodgers’ offensive guru to run the team. Trades for quarterback Russell Wilson, a Super Bowl winning first ballot Hall-of-Famer, and signs him to a $245 million dollar contract. Starts the season against a laughable schedule that includes the Seahawks, Texans, and winless Raiders. And the Broncos are 2-4 averaging a league worst 15.1 points per game? • It’s bad enough that the Broncos are the laughingstock of the league right now, but is it necessary to keep putting them on the big stage for all to see? The loss to the... 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 All-Madden Team was named after former Oakland Raider coach, and sportscaster great, John Madden. It celebrated the attributes that Madden looked for in his players. Toughness, grit, and determination. The All-Maddening Team is completely different. The name – purely coincidence. The All-Maddening Team is a regretful look at the players you drafted in your fantasy league and the maddening decisions that were made. More mistakes than Nathaniel Hackett. More misses than Rodrigo Blankenship. More bad picks than Joe Burrow. Meet the team, and the players that are ruining your season. Quarterbacks... Read More

As Serena Williams took to the court for what was presumed to be the final match of her career, the audience roared – but the music stayed silent. Unlike baseball in which songs by AC/DC, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, or The Notorious B.I.G. could blast through speakers to elevate crowds – Tennis is simply too regal, too proper, and light clapping will suffice. But what if there was a walk-out song? Can you imagine the response if Serena Williams paid homage to her upbringing and took the court to the sounds of Tupac Shakur’s “California Love”? In the city, the city of Compton – we... Read More

By the time the 2021 Fantasy Football season had ended, my team looked like a MASH unit. Cooper Kupp had helped me secure the number one seed for the playoffs, but my players were dropping like flies. Derrick Henry was rehabbing, DeAndre Hopkins was sidelined, and Lamar Jackson had to be replaced by Washington quarterback, Taylor Heincke. I lost big. But last year’s squad was like a Taco Bell Chalupa. It looked good on the surface and tasted pretty good at the time. But after the fact, all I was left with was unhealthy ingredients, pain, and regret. Instead of the Chalupa, this year’s... Read More

Imagine that you are Baker Mayfield’s agent. Your client has a career record of just 29 wins and 30 losses, has thrown 56 interceptions in 60 games as a starter, makes $19 million a year, is coming back from off-season shoulder surgery, and he’s demanded a trade. Did I mention that your client has also been replaced as the starter by Deshaun Watson and his five-year, $230 million contract? You tell your client that you will make a few calls and not to worry. After all, this is Baker Mayfield, the first pick of the 2018 NFL Draft. • Tampa Bay seems like the perfect fit with its talented... Read More

The matchup was determined almost two weeks ago. The Los Angeles Rams would be facing the Cincinnati Bengals in Super Bowl LVI. The teams would have ample days to rest, strategize, and attend press conferences. The fans would have more than enough time to buy cheese dip, preview Super Bowl commercials, and upgrade their big screens. Two weeks can seem like an eternity, but if the Super Bowl is the main course, sports filled us with plenty of hors d’oeuvres while waiting. Tom Brady won’t be playing on Sunday, but he still dominated the news. We had the NBA trade deadline, the NHL All-Star... Read More

It was Couch Potato Heaven as the NFL put on a show during last weekend’s Divisional Playoffs. Cincinnati’s Joe Burrow survived being sacked nine times as the Bengals upset Tennessee 19-16. San Francisco blocked a Green Bay punt late in the game on their way to a 13-10 win in Lambeau. The Los Angeles Rams completed a deep pass to Cooper Kupp to avoid another Tom Brady comeback in winning 30-27 over Tampa Bay. And Pat Mahomes outdueled Josh Allen, 42-36 in overtime, with both a flip of the wrist, and a flip of the coin. A look at the crazy games from the past weekend and more. • The sample... Read More

COVID-19 continued to dominate the NFL news cycle last week as three games had to be postponed, more than 150 players were placed in COVID-19 Protocol, and rosters scrambled for eligible replacements just hours before kick-off. The Chicago Bears had 12 players placed in COVID-19 Protocol, the Los Angeles Rams had 19, and the Cleveland Brown topped them all with a total of 20, including their head coach. With the Omicron variant wiping out entire team rosters, the NFL and the Players Association were forced to adjust their process announcing less testing for vaccinated players, thus allowing more... Read More

The idea started percolating on a quiet Thursday night back in week three of the NFL season.  Carolina Panther’s star running back, Christian McCaffrey, had limped off the field early in the game only to be replaced by some guy named Chuba Hubbard.  The Houston Texans relied on a rookie quarterback named Davis Mills to keep the game close.  And I sat there watching despite not caring about either team, and not having any players starting on my Fantasy roster, until finally heading upstairs around halftime. Carolina would end up winning the game 24-9. Thursday Night Football originated as a... 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