Friday, April 27, 2007

Friday Jam

You sure got that right, coach.

Nuggets' ringmaster George Karl has it down and who knows, maybe he can even sell it to his team now.

Game 3 of Denver's first-round playoff series matchup with San Antonio is big, very big. Lose and doubt creeps in for an organization that doesn't win in the postseason. Win and you make the Spurs realize you are in it to win and you put extreme pressure on them in Game 4.

Will say it now -- if the Nuggets fall Saturday, they will end up losing the series. Win and the odds of winning go way up, making Game 4 the contest that tells all.

Here's the bonus -- check out David Ramsey of the Colorado Springs Gazette for a factor not being discussed much in this series. He's money with this story.

The Bzdelik difference

Did you catch the Neill Woelk story on CU basketball player Marcus Hall in Thursday's Daily Camera?

There it is -- more proof of the changing of the guard in that program

Hall talks about new coach Jeff Bzdelik being hands on instead of delegating authority on teaching. Prior to this article, star guard Richard Roby talked about Bzdelik making the team do things the right way as opposed to just asking and telling. Kal Bay also made glowing statements about the new basketball professor.

You don't think differences like that are going to have a significant impact as far as what happens on the floor, the scoreboard and standings?

Throw in some quality recruiting and you have something worth appreciating and cheering.

Ah, teaching fundamentals...who knew?

The hungry Buffs are finally being fed.

Rams hungry for money

CSU knows it needs to find a well to dig, financially, to take its' sports programs to higher ground and it's bulking up to do just that.

Inspiration, creativity, committed, sustained effort and belief can change the status quo and those supporters of Rams' athletics appear to be up to the challenge.

Paul Kowalczyk, the athletic director at the school, told me in a past conversation that sports at his school are a gold mine of potential. With people coming together to work for the common goal, as Kowalczyk said, positive things can materialize.

Buff notes

Had a question about CU's recruitment of Ponderosa star linebacker, Jon Major, and hit up Adam Munsterteiger of BuffStampede.com about it all.

So how would Major fit into the defense.

"I heard CU is looking at him as a "Mike" linebacker that Michael Sipili is playing and that Thaddaeus Washington manned for a couple of years but I've also heard from a lot of other schools that he's going to develop into a defensive end," Munsterteiger said.

So, what about the spring evaluation?

"Being out there, you'd be optimistic or pessimistic just given the day," he said. "Their talent level isn't where it needs to be but last year they where in so many games, so if familiarity with the system makes a difference, maybe that's room for optimism."

Movin' on up or down

We all know the Denver Broncos love to be aggressive and move up every draft season but take a look at this article here and ask yourself, "what?"

Patrick Willis of Ole' Miss is a strong character guy, highly productive and not a difference maker. Lawrence Timmons is high risk. The Broncos, as usual, are swashbucklers, gambling big. Of course, they lose their, well, they lose often with this approach.

How about being smart for a change and look for more stable stock. Maybe you can't get Georgia Tech wonder-boy receiver Calvin Johnson, Wisconsin tackle Joe Thomas, LSU safety LaRon Landry or Clemson defensive end Gaines Adams but you might be able to reel in, with a trade up, defensive tackle Amobi Okoye of Lousiville or Florida safety Reggie Nelson, both playmakers.

If the team can't move up, it could surprise and move down to refortify the mid-round picks it doesn't have and needs.

Former Bronco gets stung, again

San Francisco wide receiver Ashley Lelie, a former Bronco dealt to Atlanta before ending up out West, got bad news for his bank account. Lelie had something good in Denver, just like Bobby Humphfrey and Clinton Portis once did and all three of them didn't recognize it at the time and were shipped elsewhere where problems followed. Humphfrey was never the same, even getting shot, Portis has been dinged up and Lelie is even less a factor than he was as a Bronco.

Denver brings in training camp meat

No offense to linebackers Warrick Holdman and D.D. Lewis, two fine Texans I'm sure, but them signing with the Broncos two days before the NFL draft is little more than the team having some bodies to bang around this summer, before Denver cuts them before the season starts.

Guess it's big money for a short amount of time, although pain for the green is not exactly something I'd be excited about. Of course, they can hit the bars and tell the chicks they're pro football players and have the groupies fall under their spell. They've got that going for 'em.

Draft mocking


Catch the written roast of the NFL draft, courtesy of Gene Wojciechowksi of ESPN.com.

How true, how true. The whole coverage of the event, while great fun, is full of laughable foolishness. It's so over-the-top theater but it's also a time of great hope for fans. It's their Christmas. Let them enjoy.

Chris Berman is P.T. Barnum and Mel Kiper is the court jester.

It's more weird than serious, but strangely satisfying on some level, in moderate doses.

By the way, a little note for the media who do this -- there is no such thing as a can't-miss prospect. With the human variable, anyone can become a bust. The evidence "don't lie."

Gotta love it

How about this little juicy little nugget from Jeff Legwold of the Rocky Mountain News on the draft. He presented the following comment in trying to defend the Broncos' poor overall track record in the draft. Problem is this -- Denver has not consistently hit on enough picks, especially on top talents as other teams. Said it before, with any kind of acumen in this area, both Dan Reeves and Mike Shanahan would have more Super Bowl trophies because both men could, and can coach.
"I've spent most of my professional life around scouts and personnel people and some of their frustration with the public perception of the draft is that somehow a team has to hit on all the picks to make it worthwhile

That's an impossible bar to set in what is certainly an inexact profession. Really, about 60 percent is big-time."

Rockies farming

Check out no. 8 on this list of high-flying prospects. He's been good from day 1 for the organization but buried deep in the minors, he is a long way from ever making it to Coors Field. So much, history shows, can go wrong from the starting line to the finish line. For now, he looks extremely promising.

Random Ramblings

Funny how I have never seen her smile at her husband like this.


An amazing concept to think on here, further connecting the world. The internet has done it and now, a tunnel could do it, further. I see many obstacles but the ability of the human mind to conceive, believe and achieve is almost limitless, isn't it?

Are beatings allowed for stupidity? No one is cheering for child abuse but any fool, before Virginia Tech or after, that brings a gun or any weapon to school, should be tied to the goal posts, naked, for a week and subject to whatever mockery comes their way. What kind of mindset ignores common sense and current events to say "gonna take a gun to school today along with my books, cell phone, computer games, condoms, weed and sack lunch. Just being a kid."

Someone wants accountability and more. Sign of things to come. Virginia Tech is watching. While it says here all potential hazards cannot be accounted for that doesn't mean attorneys, most of whom fit the sleazy stereotype, won't try to sell it that way. All victims want some kind of retribution, some kind of acknowledgment that wrong was done and punished but it doesn't always come in court. That is a sad, sometimes devastating reality.

A man with one interesting arrest record. Some people just seem to be attracted to trouble, like me.

Good thing he's not a diplomat. Not sure he gets foreign cultures.

I tried to get her to live with my in-laws but no such great fortune as my ex-wife had to have the last word, the same word, on everything.

Karen, a reader from Kansas City, sent in a story that left me wondering how to respond. Has she noticed something about me? Is she trying to tell me something? Personally, while I think the subject of this story is odd, I admit I do not, thankfully, know the emotional torture he's endured for years. I also respect the grace in which he handled the announcement and pray for how the world, despite the courteous small sample in his story, will likely treat him, especially in the amped-up testosterone field of sports.

Now why do we have to use national television for apologies on family matters? Is it really necessary or helpful? That's Hollywood for you, all about show and perception. The equally sad parts of this little drama are that the dad doesn't get it, talking about what is "proper" and not and the mother is a control freak breaking the parenting degree out of her rage. They're both disgusting, "selfish, little pigs."

Final note

And for an industry friend Sam Amico, congratulations on a new gig.

"I am happy to announce that the Amico Report is hitting the airwaves, as I will be hosting my own radio show on sportstalkCLEVELAND.com. The show will air live each Tuesday from 5-7 p.m. Eastern beginning May 1.

You can listen to archived versions anytime, by linking to it on either sportstalk CLEVELAND.com or ProBasket ballNews.com.

The Amico Report radio show will be two hours of nothing but pro basketball talk. It will include my analysis and reporting, as well as guests from around the NBA."