Saturday, April 28, 2007

The Saturday Score

The clock says today's when it all starts.

The NFL draft is here again and it's time for Denver to prove they can put together a group that is remembered five years from now as a catalyst to playoff victories. An unresolved issue is the Broncos see themselves as too smart when in fact they usually only out-smart themselves.

Willie Middlebrooks a first-round pick?

Paul Toviessi in the second round?

Travis McGriff in the third?

Denver should just try to stop over-thinking and reaching and just decide to get smart. No, the draft isn't as easy as fans would like to believe it is but it certainly isn't akin to finding a cure for death and taxes either.

The Broncos are a good football team but they aren't great and they have more holes than you would think. If coach Mike Shanahan and his crew can find a star or two strong players out of this draft then they will have done very well. Fall short of that mark as they often do and they can continue losing playoff games. Simple really.

The Top 10

Here is a top-10 list of how the WSN would draft if no trades were to go down.
  1. Oakland -- Brady Quinn, QB, Notre Dame -- he's ready to play and well coached
  2. Detroit --Joe Thomas, OT, Wisconsin -- stud talent at premium position
  3. Cleveland -- Gaines Adams, DE, Clemson -- help that defense with a pass rusher
  4. Tampa Bay -- JaMarcus Russell, QB, LSU -- Jon Gruden needs a QB
  5. Miami -- Calvin Johnson, WR, Ga. Tech -- Dolphins need a guy like this
  6. Washington -- Amobi Okoye, DT, Louisville -- 'Skins need to build in trenches
  7. Minnesota -- LaRon Landry, S, LSU -- excellent talent at no. 7; playmaker
  8. Atlanta -- Jamal Anderson, DL, Arkansas -- win with defense
  9. Arizona -- Adam Carriker, DL, Nebraska -- not glamorous but stout defender
  10. Houston -- Adrian Peterson, RB, Oklahoma -- missed Reggie Bush; get star quality now

Camby shows potential

One of the Brittle Brothers came through large in 2007. Marcus Camby, the other half of the Nene-Camby Brittle Brothers, stayed healthy long enough to make a significant impact on one end of the floor with his rebounding (11.7 per game), blocked shots (3.3 pg) and busy hands (1.2 steals pg) to earn NBA Defensive Player of the Year.

He wiped out his competition in the voting -- Bruce Bowen and Tim Duncan, both of playoff opponent San Antonio.

Uh-oh.

Ironically, I read in more than one place this season how Camby was little more than a serviceable weak-side defender.

Here's some more detractors.

Bottom line, maybe the Nuggets' center winning this award is debatable but the fact is Camby is a big man many teams would line up to get should he be made available in a trade (he won't).

Beats Blair Rasmussen in the pivot.

Quick hitters

Koy Detmer
could become a backup quarterback in Cincinnati, according to some rumors floating around the NFL. Detmer may not have much physically but his mind is sharp and he can fill in admirably in short stints. He can also hold for kicks. Throw in that he's no Jake Plummer-kind-of-flake and you have a low-level, quality reserve.

Really don't wish to beat others down but is Kobe Bryant a pimp these days? I mean, the colors, the shoes, the hat? If I had such a get-up going on, well...I think I do. But last time I put it all together it got me arrested.

Have to say, with Barry Bonds and Sammy Sosa still addicted to the long ball it just makes me shake my head at the players like them, and Mark McGwire and Rafael Palmeiro before they retired, who have stolen thunder from legitimate players from the past. Maybe Alex Rodriguez and others will partially erase their memory one day.

Big 12 basketball -- Kansas guard Brandon Rush is entering the NBA draft and so is Oklahoma State's JamesOn Curry. Rush will stick as he will be a first-rounder but Curry is too one-dimensional and inconsistent to earn that same grade. Bad move. The Jayhawks have now lost Julian Wright and Rush and suddenly don't look like an elite power.

Scoreboard Grumblings

The Rockies finally get some offense going but Jeff Francis proves he's still sick as Colorado falls 9-7 to Atlanta at Coors Field. Willy Taveras is starting to hit, Matt Holliday continues to hit, Garrett Atkins drives in three runs and Troy Tulowitzki finally homers but Francis' ERA is now an ugly 6.52 after giving up four runs in five innings. Could be a 90-loss season for this bunch.

Sunday Truth

Tomorrow, WSN will break down the first day of the Broncos' draft, discuss local players selected, print your draft comments and more.

Will have a breakdown of the Nuggets-Spurs performance in Game 3 of their NBA playoff series and will have a Rockies' farm update.

Will also find other bits from around the country.

Random Ramblings

A new kind of hit list. Don't let the world sell you that girls aren't as lusty as guys. Sometimes it's looks, sometimes it's fame and sometimes it's what you have in your pants.

And bank account.

Motives? They want motives? Sadly, there are no answers sometimes. Well, other than someone is plum bent and mangled in the head.

Love the phrase "friendly fire." This one has to hurt. The family of the victim will have to swallow hard on this one. Do you have hatred for the home team as much as you would if it would have been the nut-job criminal doing the killing?

Dad says the school overreacted. Really? Something else I love, families condoning, almost encouraging any sick, twisted thing their children do solely because...they're their children. Interesting how that works. Go to the mat for them and then wonder why your offspring jack up their lives. The boy was a straight-A student we hear. So, it's not always the outcast in school, like the Virginia Tech shooter, who wig out.

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