Sports

Nuggets, Playoffs and the NBA

Jeromey Balderrama

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(Photo by Jack Dempsey from AP)

Football is definitely my sport of passion, but with it being 3 months away I’ve decided to shift my attention to Denver’s hottest team right now.  The Nuggets look red hot right now, and I’m rooting for a swift finish with the Mavs so that they can rest up for the next series (and here’s hoping that I haven’t jinxed anything).

We’ve been catching a lot of the playoffs on TV.  At some point in the evening, the NBA is on, and it’s kept us up way too late for our bed time.  Despite being entertained and amused by the playoffs, I can’t help but be put off by the arrogance of the NBA by scheduling them so poorly.  The fact that the Nuggets played on Tuesday night and won’t play again until Saturday is asinine.  Are the teams traveling by covered wagon to get to the next game?  Come on NBA, they could play a whole other game during that time.  I also realize the NBA wants to play their games in prime-time, but it’s really too bad that the East Coast is missing out on these great games because they start at 11pm their time.  I think the NBA would be wise to take a page from MLB’s playbook and start their games earlier in the afternoon, or even alternate the times a bit.

It’s crazy that the playoffs last as long as they do, and really doesn’t offer much incentive for casual fans to follow the regular season.  They should shorten the first round to a best of 5 series and play the games without messing up the days.

Enough with the rambling though, here’s to the Nuggets!

Hopefully the last Cutler post ever

Jeromey Balderrama

The picture of Cutler showing his Bear excitement was too classic to wait for a post, but I have plenty of thoughts over what transpired last weekend in Denver. Rather than rehash the whole scenario, I just wanted to offer a few random thoughts.

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First off, Cutler had to go.  He could talk about feeling snubbed by McDaniels all he wants – but when he stops taking call from the guy who signs his checks, Cutler becomes just another disgruntled employee who should be shown the door.  The nerve that he had to claim that he never received any calls, and never wanted to be traded said all that you needed to know about his character.  Despite what really happened – and we may never know – this situation was beyond repair.

Now the Bears, that was definitely a team I didn’t expect to be vying for Cutler, but it all made sense. I think this was a good move by both teams.  People can debate who got the better of the deal, but only time will tell.  It’s up to the Broncos to make smart decisions with these picks, which they’ve honestly could have done better with our First Round track record.  I still think Mark Sanchez may end up in Orange and Blue before we know it.

I like Kyle Orton.  He’s obviously not as talented at Cutler, but is a winning quarterback who did throw for 3,000 yards last year.  When you considered the other quarterbacks on the trading block (Jason Campbell, Brady Quinn), Orton is was probably the most consistent of all.

While the dust settles, it’s still frustrating to think that Bronco fans have endured all of this drama.  After being known as one of the more stable and quiet organizations in the NFL, to have this kind of circus is very Dallas-like.  I’m sick of hearing about Cutlergate every time I turned on ESPN.

Cutler-Gate

Jeromey Balderrama

Ever since that last weekend in February, when the rumors circulated that Cutler was about to be traded, I’ve tried to lie low and simply let this blow over.  Here we are three weeks later, with the same problem that only seems to be getting bigger.

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When I first heard this, I was furious at Coach McDaniels.  The thing that made the Broncos such a great coaching prospect was the fact that we had such a prolithic offense, led by a young and talented quarterback – and somehow McDaniels managed to screw all of that up.  He got rid of Offensive Coordinator Jeremy Bates, basically fixing something that wasn’t broken.  Then when the opportunity arised to get his coveted pupil Matt Cassel, it became clear that a 32-year-old first-time head coach was going with what was most familiar with him.  Stupid? Maybe, but understandable in this case. Nonetheless my blame was on McDaniels for that first day.

Then came Cutler’s reaction, which made me flip-flop and turn my frustration towards him.  I understand how initially he felt the way that many fans did, but he has to realize that this is a business, that at one time or another players’ names are brought up in trades.  Cutler hasn’t reached that elite untouchable status of Manning. Even Tom Brady, who is always compared to Manning as the best QB, was probably discussed in trades.

Broncos fan-wise, it’s been agonizing to have every trade scenario under the sun that involves your QB – none of them good.  If a team’s looking for a QB, they don’t have a good one to offer you.

Peter King offers an excellent recap of the situation.  He summarizes Cutler’s predicament the best by writing:

Maybe Cutler can’t take the dissing he feels from McDaniels, or maybe he’s fabricating the dissing to justify in his own mind going somewhere else. I don’t know. But I do know this: If I had the choice of Denver, Tampa Bay, Detroit and the Jets, and the Denver coach has worked successfully with Tom Brady and Matt Cassel, I’d be thinking very hard about not burning a bridge that can’t be reconstructed.

The more I’ve been reading, the more I think the person responsible for this mess is Cutler’s Agent Bus Cook.  Read this article and take that into account.  Bus Cook has been associated with four words: The Brett Favre Saga – need I say more?

Right now I wish that the NFL was playing games, because winning would likely cure this problem.  In the meantime, I just wish owner Pat Bowlen would call Cutler and McDaniels into his offense office, then walk out and lock the door behind him until these grown men can work out their issues.

Favre Retired (Again)

Jeromey Balderrama

Sometimes sequels just shouldn’t be made, but here we go again.

The front page of ESPN.com says it all:

FavreRetired-Again

I’m not going to rehash my thoughts on Brett Favre, his career and where he stands in Football, or the saga of his un-retirement last year – but I will say this: 2009 didn’t do Favre or the Jets any good.

Also how does that salt on the open wound feel to Packers fans, seeing this image of Brett riding off wearing green & white?  You’d be hard pressed to find any images on ESPN of Favre with a Green Bay jersey.