patriots

Today’s Miles High Experience

Jeromey Balderrama

Today was a long day, a fun day, but a long one.  We played a great show at Signature’s Night Club last night which I’ll have to get into a bit more, but a long drive home didn’t get me back into Fort Collins until after 2am.  I woke up this morning at 8:30 and started to make my way back to the Mile High City to see the Broncos take on the Patriots. Unfortunately I gave Bethany the illness that I had last week, so she wasn’t able to go.  Luckily my buddy Matt was able to drop things and head down to the game with me.

It was definitely a cold one.  I dressed in a decent amount of layers: a turtleneck, sweatshirt jacket, and of course my jersey.  The sun finally broke out in the 2nd half and made it warm enough to take off the knit hat and gloves.

If you saw the game (and thus the uniforms), you could see that the Broncos were going back to the 60’s, and the stadium crew was trying to go for the same thing as well.  Some of the things they did were pretty clever: the Cheerleaders with the 60’s outfits and huge pom-poms, a pep band playing (what I presume is) the Broncos fight song when touchdowns were scored, 60’s music during timeouts. 

However there were a few things that completely missed the mark: The big screens (people call them jumbo-trons, Mile High calls it “Thundervision”) showed everything in black & white, and to drive home the point they put it in this obnoxious old TV border.   The idea was cute, but there were a few problems: 1) Both jerseys came across as being white on the screen, making it difficult to identify players; 2) Even though they were going with a black & white effect to make things look old, it was still in HD. 3) The typical graphics/ads/screens were pretty much unreadable.  It was just one of those things that probably took things too far.

We were treated to half-time show by the CSU Marching Band – more appropriately: the home stands were treated to the show, as that was the only section that could actually hear the band.  I didn’t realize just how bad the acoustics in the stadium were until after I heard the band.  It seemed that all of the sound got absorbed by those plastic seats, with nothing left to bounce around the stadium.

Old-school experiences aside, it was great to walk out of the stadium with a win – especially one that practically no one outside of Denver was expecting.

Into the Weekend Thoughts

Jeromey Balderrama

Well the week is nearly over, and while I have a bunch of random thoughts floating through my head, I’d figure I’d do a culmination of random thoughts in one big post.  So without further ado, here are my thoughts going into the weekend.

First a Friday thought.  I woke up this morning to find on Twitter that Barak Obama received the Nobel Peace Prize for doing.  Maybe he got it for closing Guantanamo – oh wait, it’s still open.  Well how about withdrawing from Iraq – oh wait, we haven’t done that either and are escalating things in Afghanistan (and don’t get me wrong, I think it’s important to fight on both of these fronts).  Maybe it’s for getting the Olympi-oh wait.  Ok, politics aside – can we all agree that the Nobel Peace Prize is simply the Norwegian way of promoting their politics?  Obama joins the hallowed names of Jimmy Carter (for whining about Iraq) and Yasser Arafat (for going to a meeting).

My brother-in-law pointed me to a Time.com article about this that is pretty spot on, especially in the end:

"Compare this to Greg Mortenson, nominated for the prize by some members of Congress, who the bookies gave 20-to-1 odds of winning. Son of a missionary, a former army Medic and mountaineer, he has made it his mission to build schools for girls in places where opium dealers and tribal warlords kill people for trying. His Central Asia Institute has built more than 130 schools in Afghanistan and Pakistan – a mission which has, along the way, inspired millions of people to view the protection and education of girls as a key to peace and prosperity and progress." [Time.com]

Again, so does this award have any less credibility to it? Hell, the Grammys are now more relevant.

Shifting to football: Historically people think throwback jerseys are cool, and I love the Broncos Orange uniforms (either from the late 60’s, or the ones from the 70’s to mid-90’s).  This weekend the Broncos are going to prove that Throwbacks can be ugly.  To celebrate their 50th anniversary, coinciding with the 50th anniversary of the AFL, the Broncos are going to wear their "mustard & brown" striped-socks uniforms.  Frank Schwab from the Colorado Springs Gazette captured the first look on his blog.  If you notice Jabar Gaffney (#10), he twisted his striped socks to look like a barbershop pole.

BroncosUnis

To make matters worse, I think the refs are again going to be wearing their cream-sicle colored uniforms again.  I think I’m going to avoid eating anything before the game, because all of these colors are going to make me sick.

Staying on the Broncos, I have to say I’m really nervous about the amount of press coverage Denver has gotten.  I wasn’t complaining when Denver wasn’t getting any respect for their first three games, I was completely fine with them flying under the radar. I think under-rated teams thrive when they have the "nobody believes in us" attitude in the locker room.  Now a week has passed, and the next thing you know everyone is talking about the Broncos and Daniel Graham is on the cover of Sports Illustrated. This is a little too much attention for my comfort level.  The only thing we have going for us is the national media’s infatuation with Tom Brady and the Patriots, and still don’t give Denver a chance.  Let’s hope the Broncos prove them wrong again.  My guess is that we’ll win 2 of the next 4 games to be at a very healthy 6-2.

My Rockies Prediction this weekend is that at least one of the games will get postponed or canceled.  It’s going to be a cold one this weekend, and far be it that baseball players face any kind of adversity when it comes to weather.

Lastly, I’m very pumped for Greenfoot’s first show for the fall.  We ended up taking time off in the summer due to my wedding and Julien working in California for a few months.  We’re really pumped to be playing a full night of music on Saturday night.  We’ll be over at Signature’s Night Club, which is a place that is gaining some really positive reputation around Denver for being a great place for bands.  If you’re in Denver and looking for something to do on Saturday night, come check us out!

A Pat? Say it ain’t so John Lynch!

Jeromey Balderrama

This is a few days old, but still noteworthy nonetheless.  A few weeks back I was saddened to hear that John Lynch asked for his release from the Broncos at the start of training camp, seeking a team where he could play a full-time role. Things remained quiet for a few weeks, but the news broke: The New England Patriots signed John Lynch.

John Lynch... Now a Patriot

As a Lynch fan, I’m happy he’s still playing in the NFL. He’s an amazing player, and nothing will take that away from him.  As a Broncos fan, I’m definitely disappointed and actually feel a little betrayed by John.

When the story of Lynch’s release request broke, it was said he left because the Broncos weren’t playing him full time:

From ESPN:

“[T]wo sources close to the situation said, because he is unhappy with his role. He has been working with the first-team defense in the first week of training camp but not in nickel and dime defensive packages. He has admitted that not playing significantly bothered him.”

I definitely could respect that, except for the analysis that came out about Lynch’s signing.

From John Clayton’s blog on ESPN:

“Lynch can fit into packages that would allow him to play 10, 15 or 20 plays a game. Belichick is the best at figuring out ways to use veterans and not wear them out. He did the same with Junior Seau, who enjoyed his Patriots experience so much that he’d love to come back.”

So Lynch left Denver because he was unhappy about not playing full-time in nickel and dime packages, and goes to a team that will play him 20 plays a game?  The knee-jerk in me wants to think that this was a hypocritical move and can’t help but feel a little betrayed.

At the same time, it very may well have been that Lynch watched the phone for full-time starter jobs and when it wasn’t ringing, decided to pursue other options.  I’m also a realist, and understand that the Patriots have a better chance of winning the Super Bowl next weekend than the Broncos do – but this isn’t Junior Seau: Lynch has a Super Bowl ring with Tampa Bay.  I didn’t want to see John Lynch go to a bottom-feeder team just to be able to start, but I hate to see him in a Patriot’s jersey. The only thing that would be worse would be Lynch in Raider Silver & Black.

Selfishly, I’m torn about what to do about my Lynch jersey.  He’s still an active player and I want to support him as the player, but I would also like to wear the jersey of a current Bronco if I can help it. I have no idea what I’m going to do.

Super Bowl Recap

Jeromey Balderrama

SadSeau

 

I would be remised as a football fan if I didn’t offer my humble observations on the Pats/Giants Super Bowl on Sunday.

I hosted a Super Bowl party with a dozen family and friends over at my place (thank you guys for coming!).  While I was a little nervous for the large crowd in my seemingly small living room, I think we all had a good time.

24 hours later, here are some observations I’d like to make about the Super Bowl experience, including the game, personal reflections from the game, and my experience in watching the game.  These are in no particular order.

  • I love fly-overs after the Star-Spangled Banner, but do you realize they flew over a stadium where the roof was closed?  Sitting in the upper levels at Mile High I can tell you that the open field is what makes the fly-over.
  • The first two series of the game resulted in scoring.  After that, we went 11 possessions until the next score in the 4th quarter (don’t ask me why I know this, I can only tell you many weren’t happy).
  • Seeing Giants TE Jeremy Shockey sitting up in a suite drinking beer, while his team-mates were duking it out only made me despise him more.  I realize he got hurt at the end of the season, but at least stand on the sideline with your teammates.  He better be in the crowd during the parade as well.
  • Watching Belicheat storm off the field with 1 second left to play was about the most classless thing a coach can do.  I realize nothing’s going to happen in that one second left, but when you blow out people the way you did all season, you need to take your medicine as well.
  • Fox’s Chris Meyers had about the crappiest job in interviewing Belicheat in the locker room. I bet he would have much rather been cleaning the toilets in there than having to deal with the awkwardness that was the bitter Hoodie not saying more than 7 words.
  • By brother-in-law-to-be (how’s that for hyphens) was rooting for the Pats to win, solely because he wanted to see the ’72 Dolphins go away with their antics.  With the way they did the ’98 Broncos, I can understand that.  But after thinking about it, I would much rather deal with the ’72 Dolphins for part of my life than the ’07 Patriots for most of my life.
  • The commercials weren’t all that good but if I were to pick my top 3 I would say it would be PepsiStuff with Justin Timberlake, the Budweiser Rocky Clydesdale, and the ETrade baby with the clown.
  • SadBrady2Watching that smug look wiped off Tom Brady’s face was the best part of the game. I love watching him lose his cool.  I bet that Brady hates Mannings.
  • Someday I’m going to be telling my kids about that catch between Eli Manning and David Tyree.  That was legend.
  • Take & Bake Pizza was definitely the way to go for the party.  There was minimal cooking involved, no stress on delivery, and not to mention the pizza was very good.
  • The next time I want to carry my TV down-stairs to give people a Wii-playing alternative during the Super Bowl – please talk me out of it.

Oh, and this isn’t technically a Super Bowl ad, but this was the "Perfect" way to end the Super Bowl.  This goes out to my future brother-in-law, Tony: