Sports

Orange Sunday

Jeromey Balderrama

Sorry for posting a few days late.  I’ve definitely failed on the “once per day” posting for October, but I guess it’s the thought that counts, and I have a few thoughts on the Broncos game on Sunday.

All last week the Broncos org was pushing “Orange Sunday”, as the Broncos wore their alternate orange jerseys, and thus wanted all of the fans to wear orange as well.  They actually had a rally on Larimer Square on the Friday before the game.

I’m all for promoting home team enthusiasm, but I have a problem with “Orange Sunday”: that the Broncos need to christen a special event to wear orange and encourage their fans to do the same.  In still bothers me to this day that the ditched the orange jerseys in 1997.  I hate that they had a distinguishing color that really looks striking when a stadium full of fans, and decided to chuck it all away because some marketing guy thought blue would match more clothes.

Why can’t every home game Sunday be “Orange Sunday”?  If the Broncos themselves are so unwilling to do that, the fans should step up and don the orange – especially because you can get away with donning hunter orange.  I am now so envious of a team like the Chiefs, where the stands are a sea of red – that used to be Denver, and it should be again.

Tebow

Also a note to all the Tebow fans at Mile High: I’m happy to see him come into the games as you are, but can you please shut up when he enters the game?!?  For crying out loud, we’re still on offense at home. Mark Sanchez had to deal with less noise.

Lastly, even though we’re down 2-4, after going toe-to-toe with the Jets and outplaying them – I like the Broncos chances, especially when you consider that they still have 6 games against AFC West opponents.

LeBron-pocalypse

Jeromey Balderrama

We knew it was bound to happen. While the romantic in me was hoping that LeBron would stay with Cleveland, the team didn’t do him any favors by not getting him the right help to win a championship. I’m not quite sure I see the appeal in going to Miami.  There is the innocent “I’m going to play with my friends” aspect which I can definitely understand.  However, LeBron has always been very self-aware of his image and understands his potential legacy – and it baffles me that the part of him didn’t consider that now he’ll be looked on as a glorified Scottie Pippen to Dwayne Wade’s MJ.  Wade is now always going to have one more ring than LeBron, and it doesn’t help add to LeBron’s legacy of not being able to win one on his own – that stigma followed Kobe around until last year. Now LeBron’s just prolonged his tarnished branding.

It’s still funny to see this build-up reprehension against LeBron. Not longer than a few hours after the announcement, owner Dan Gilbert tarred LeBron in a letter on the front page of their web site – using the  Comic Sans font! For those without a designer’s eye, Comic Sans is the web equivalent of crayon.

lebron1

Crayon-writing aside, the letter is definitely worth a read. Gilbert likes to put words like “King” and “motivation” in quotations, many of them very unnecessarily so.

However nothing tops the front page of The Plain Dealer out of Cleveland.  The best part is the little arrows pointing to his ring-less hand.

lebron2

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p align=”left”>So we’ll see where all of this goes. It seems like overnight three superstars 2 superstars and 1 gravy-train have seemingly changed the landscape of professional basketball, forming a Yankee-like evil empire.  We’ll see how long it’ll be before they win any championships.  Any predictions?

Awesome Nike Ad (from a guy who hates Soccer)

Jeromey Balderrama

If you’ve talked sports with me, you probably know that I hate soccer. However, this Nike commercial about the World Cup makes even soccer look cool.  It’s more of a "mini-movie" than a commercial, but pretty awesome nonetheless.

Apparently there were a lot of big soccer stars in this video, but all I could say was "Hey that’s Kobe Bryant & Homer Simpson!". Go check out this write up though to get all the details on this awesome video.

Update: Looks like Vimeo somehow took down the video, so I found the replacement on YouTube.

Nostalgic Alert: Zappolo Interviewing Smith & McCaffrey

Jeromey Balderrama

With the recent Brandon Marshall fiasco, it’s easy to forget just how classy Broncos receivers can be.  Check out this video of Ron Zappolo interviewing Rod Smith & Ed McCaffrey – two of the Broncos greats:

 

This makes you wish they’d still suit up and play. I don’t know what was more classic: the interview itself; or the fact that Ron Zappolo, who is missed sports staple in Denver, interviewed them.

Now baseball has their “hoodie”

Jeromey Balderrama

OriginalHoodie McDHoodie

Quick Reaction: Even though we’ve grown tired of Bill Belicheat’s hoodie (which has also spawned Josh McDaniels taking that tradition to Denver), it seems that another coach has decided to join this exclusive club of fashion-insensitive coaches: Tampa Bay (Devil) Rays coach Joe Maddon (Maddon, not Madden):

TBHoodie

Maddon’s hoodie however, has caused much more controversy, since baseball still insists that baseball managers need to wear the same uniform that their batters and pitchers have on.  Yes, they may be permitted to wear a team coat if it’s cold, but certainly not a hoodie.  All that changed this month when MLB Brass decided that Maddon wearing a hoodie would not ruin the tradition of the game, and reversed their original ruling.

Belicheat, inspired by Maddon’s courage, decided to send him a Patriots hoodie.  However the story didn’t specify whether Belicheat chopped off the sleeves before he sent it.

This story reminds me just how ridiculous it is to see these middle-aged & older men wearing these baseball uniforms as if they’re going to step into the batter’s box.  This makes as much sense as having Josh McDaniels or Mike Shanahan strap on some shoulder pads, or George Karl putting on some baggy shorts.  I’m glad baseball’s loosened the reins a bit for cold weather gear, but they should really relax these rules for all games.  Maddon admitted he didn’t want to wear a shirt & tie, but it’d be nice to see these managers in a nice polo or something.