Quick update: Former Broncos safety John Lynch is about to sign with the New England Patriots.
The only thing I can say about that is, “Ew!” Of course, I wish John well, but that’s gross.
Archive for the 'Broncos' Category
Lynch to Patriots
August 14, 2008Brandon Marshall: Out for 2 or 3
August 4, 2008It’s not official yet, but word around town is that Brandon Marshall will be suspended by the NFL for three games for violating the NFL’s personal conduct policy. If he “agrees to” attend counseling (does that mean he can just say, “Oh, sure, counseling! I’ll go!” and not actually do it?) the suspension will be for two games instead of three.
Marshall was arrested for DUI in 2007 (the trial is scheduled for September) and on false imprisonment and domestic violence charges earlier this year (he attended anger management classes and the charges were dropped).
Unrelated to the suspension, Marshall suffered a serious injury to his arm during the off season. In a Farnsworth-vs.-the-fan-esque comedy of errors, Marshall, while messing around with family members, got tripped up by a fast-food bag, and flew arm-first into an entertainment center. Fortunately, he has recovered from the injury and is doing well in training camp.
Don’t Drink the Broncos Kool Aid
August 3, 2008Did you hear the one where Mike Shanahan said that the Broncos will make the playoffs this year? That’s not a joke — he really said that.
I think that’s crazy talk and it will never happen. The Broncos will not make the playoffs this year. My discussion and prediction are after the jump.
Lynch Leaves Broncos
July 30, 2008Breaking news (well, it broke right when I got to the gym, so almost breaking news) — John Lynch left Broncos training camp today.
The details aren’t clear yet. Reports indicate that it wasn’t the best training camp ever for him — he wasn’t involved in many plays and possibly things weren’t going that well. I don’t know if he’s planning to just retire, go with another team, or (the early favorite) go into broadcasting.
So, that’s shocking. Of course, Lynch is awesome and I wish him well, but reserve the right to talk a lot of shit about him if he ends up with the Chargers.
Strength and Conditioning with the Broncos
July 29, 2008This morning, Rich Tuten, Strength and Conditioning Coach of the Denver Broncos, called in for a chat with the morning radio guys on 104.3 The Fan. You can listen to the whole thing here and, seriously, you really should. The discussion about his ongoing work with Montrae Holland, who showed up for training camp too overweight to practice, is the most badass thing I’ve ever heard.
To put it mildly, Tuten has Holland on a training regimen that I doubt most people would survive let alone get up and face every day. (Hey, maybe Tuten can work his magic on Carmelo Anthony before the start of the NBA season.) In the insane heat (the on-turf temperature regularly reaches 125 degrees) he and Holland get out there and kick some serious ass. On Sunday, they pushed a 200-pound sled up and down the turf for an hour and 40 minutes with no break and no water. The goal is to shock Holland’s system and get his body to get it that oh shit, it’s time to get in shape and shed the extra pounds. He loses 15 pounds of sweat every day (and then hydrates and gets it back, of course).
The truly awesome thing is that Tuten does this all with Holland — he doesn’t just sit on the sidelines and yell at him. He’s out there pushing the sled around and working on the stairmaster, treadmill, and bike in the gym, side by side with the portly offensive lineman.
My favorite part of the conversation was this quote: “You’ll pass out before you die, anyway. So, you know, you’ll be okay. When you wake up, it’ll all be over.”
Of course, these guys are professionals and they know what they’re doing. They’re not (and I’m not) saying that if you’re out of shape, you should go out in 100+ degree heat and work out like crazy for over an hour with no break. People, athletes even, can die doing shit like that if they don’t know what they’re doing. So of course, be smart about it and don’t go too crazy if you don’t know what you’re doing. And please don’t take his comment more seriously than it was intended.
Disclaimers aside, that is so awesome I can’t even stand it. It made me think about my workouts. I like to think I’m pretty cool, going to the gym five days a week and doing cardio or weights for at least an hour, maybe more. But after listening to Rich Tuten, I kind of feel like a wuss. Dude’s in his 50s, doing this shit! I take breaks and drink a lot of water. I don’t go all out for an entire hour. Of course, I’m not an elite athlete or even a professional strength and conditioning coach and I probably can’t and shouldn’t go all out for an entire hour. I know my limitations (and they are vast, let me tell you).
But the cool thing about sports, at least as I see it, is how they affect you in your everyday life. Listening to Rich Tuten makes me want to work out a little harder the next time I go to the gym. I want to run a little faster, or go a little longer — just push myself harder than I did last time. I guess that’s why some people hire personal trainers — to provide that encouragement or motivation or shit talk or whatever you need to give it a little bit more. I’ve never been into the idea of a personal trainer (I’m what has been referred to as an Ice Queen at the gym — I have my iPod on and I’m not stopping to talk to anybody). The problem is that the lack of a personal trainer can allow me to get a little lazy and too comfortable, which means I forget to push myself.
But the next time I go to the gym, I’ll imagine my own little mental Rich Tuten, pushing me to run more, faster, better. And that’s pretty cool.
Dear Shanny
October 30, 2007Dear Shanny,
It’s obvious you’re having a hard time this year. We’re all having a hard time in Denver right now, especially the fans who rallied around the Rockies and keep trying to get excited about a disappointing Broncos team.
The 3-4 record isn’t making it easy for us. It doesn’t help that a bunch of second-graders playing Red Rover could do a better job of stopping the run, or that a wide receiver with a T.O.-sized ego yelled at us for leaving a shitty game during shitty weather (good thing Brandon Marshall had enough time between arrests to criticize the fans).
For now, though, let’s talk about our quarterback situation. Shanny, you made us think that as soon as the dashing young Jay Cutler took over, our days would be nothing but sunshine and happiness. Jay Cutler is the perfect man to take us to the one place Jake Plummer couldn’t.
Things just haven’t been the same since things with Jake went sour. After almost four good years together, you gave him the ultimatum — get me to the Super Bowl chapel, or else. Most coaches would’ve been happy with a quarterback who went 39-15, with an 83.7 QB rating.ยน But you weren’t satisfied with a good, everyday QB. You wanted the hardware, the big rock of Lombardi love. Of course, it’s understandable that you were so anxious, what with all the pressure from friends, family, and the people of Denver, who want every QB to be Elway and every year to end in a championship.
Sometimes, though, Shanny, you need to be patient. Just because Jake Plummer ran a little wild, suffered a bout of road rage, shacked up with a cheerleader, and couldn’t get to the big game doesn’t mean you should’ve dumped him when you did. It also doesn’t mean that Jay Cutler will do the same. He’s a smart kid with a great arm. He won’t hurt you like you think Jake did, but you just have to trust him.
Let’s call 2007 what it is: a rebuilding year. You’re not going all the way this year. It’s okay. The only fans who don’t realize that are the ones who can’t tell their ass from their head and have been pounding ‘em back at the Stumble Inn since dawn. Sure we’re disappointed. We expect greatness, and we really wanted greatness because we’re still hurting over Darrent Williams and Damien Nash. Still, we know that right now, you can’t give us greatness.
But Shanny, what you can give us is some serious, thoughtful effort. Stop taking sloppy seconds from other teams and shoving them into the roster expecting instant results. Stop calling plays that make Antonin Scalia look liberal. As Mark Kiszla said in today’s column, you’re losing your play-calling nerve.
Why are you so afraid? Is it “creeping, middle-age conservatism” as Kiszla suggests? Do you consider your players as nothing more than chess pieces, dependent on you to make every move for them? Are you afraid of having your heart broken again? Is the magic gone between you and football in general?
The truth is that it’s not going to get much worse than 5-7 (the team’s post-Cutler record) if you make some changes. Stop deluding yourself that this team has any chance of seeing the post season and that you can control everything. Give the guys some freedom. You might not win games, but hell, you’re not winning games now. You need to let the players who are the future of the Broncos develop the skill and the confidence they’ll need to get anywhere in the AFC. If Broncos players are going to be anything more than pawns in your tired game, they need freedom. If you can’t give us good, at least give us interesting. Give us hope.
Shanny, it’s time to get outside and relax in this beautiful fall weather. Have a beer. Maybe take in a game of handball with Jake Plummer or spend a little time inhaling around Travis Henry. Think up some new plays. Ease up on the team and let them go do their thing. Let go. If they really love you, they just might score a few touchdowns.
Love,
HBP
__
1. Statistics compiled from CBS Sports.
Jake Plummer
October 22, 2007Here’s a quick post to answer a common reader question: What is Jake Plummer doing now?
Answer: He’s playing handball in California.
Boykins-sized update
October 9, 2007- World Series tickets for Rockies home games go on sale Monday October 22 at 10 a.m. Holy crap!!
- Willy Taveres might be ready to play in the NLCS, which starts Friday.
- I’ll be at the first-ever NLCS game played at Coors Field this Sunday.
- The Nuggets beat the Clippers 119-107 in the first preseason game of the year.
- Sometime over the summer, DerMarr Johnson up and went to Italy.
- Brandon Marshall is an asshole.
- The greatest event of the year is later this week: the Great American Beer Festival.
Dadgummit: Bobby’s streak is OVAH.
August 20, 2007In brief:
- Red-hot Joey Gathright of the Kansas City Royals singled off Bobby Jenks tonight, breaking Bobby’s streak of consecutive batters retired. Gathright would have been the 42nd consecutive batter retired by Jenks, which would have been an all-time MLB record. Oh well, at least the White Sox won, ending their 8-game losing streak.
- Rookie Bears running back Garrett Wolfe got some minutes in tonight’s preseason victory over the Colts, his first NFL game action. Little number 25 rushed for 15 yards; unfortunately, I couldn’t see all of his carries because the dumbass ESPN reporters spent more time interviewing Peyton Manning than showing the actual game. Brian Griese looked good.
- The Broncos traded Gerard Warren to the Raiders, for a fifth-round draft pick that the Broncos will get only if Warren makes the roster. How this was a good move is beyond me. After Sunday’s fiasco and with Ebenezer Ekuban out for the season (did you know he’s from Ghana?), it’s time to call this what it is — a rebuilding year. The Broncos will end up in second place in the AFC West, ahead of bottom-feeding Oakland and dismal Kansas City.
- Why do Rockies games go 900 innings lately?
D-Will
August 13, 2007
AP/Jack Dempsey
An interview with Denver Broncos wide receiver Javon Walker will air on HBO’s “Real Sports” tomorrow. (Denver Post story here.) This is the first time Walker publicly discussed the Williams slaying, and the only time he plans to do so.
I can’t even imagine what it’s like to have a teammate and friend bleed to death in your arms, or what it’s like to have the bloody clothes from that night in your house somewhere because, well, because you have to keep them. I don’t know what it’s like in Javon Walker’s head and how he deals with this. I’m not sure Javon Walker knows how he deals with this.
Although I’m just a fan and I didn’t know him, I remember the day Darrent Williams died like some people remember when Kennedy was assassinated or when the space shuttle exploded. I was sitting on the couch watching some game or other and the ticker at the bottom of the screen said that Darrent Williams had been shot. I didn’t see the whole thing at first, or didn’t process it right away — the fact that he was dead took a minute to sink in.
I used to make fun of people who got upset when some famous person or other dies, because I thought it was lame to get upset about the death of someone you don’t even know. But there I was on January 1, probably in my pajamas, drinking coffee, just in shock and incredibly sad. Not Darrent Williams. I love him.
You know how there’s one guy on a team you just love even though he’s not the star? Darrent Williams was that guy for me, and probably for a million other people, too. He was so much fun to watch on the field, and his frohawk was, hands down, the best hair of any professional athlete, ever (DerMarr Johnson gets honorable mention). He had an awesome attitude — check out this Denver Post article and watch the video. Don’t you just love him? I can’t even look at that now without getting upset and now that some time has passed, pissed the hell off. Why does shit like this happen in Denver?
Darrent Williams wasn’t the only professional athlete shot in Denver. In 2003, Joey Porter (formerly of the Pittsburgh Steelers, now with the Miami Dolphins) was shot outside a bar on Denver’s north side. In 2006, Julius Hodge (formerly of the Denver Nuggets, now with Italian team Cimberio Varese) was shot while driving on I-76 after leaving a bar. No suspects have been arrested in either case.
As a resident of Denver, I feel like I need to take some ownership of incidents like this. I want to do something to make it better, even if the only things I can do seem small and inconsequential. I can apologize. On behalf of Denver, I’m sorry that these things happened. I’m sorry that Darrent Williams is dead. I’m sorry that Javon Walker has to live with this in his head for the rest of his life. I’m sorry that Julius Hodge was shot and for whatever effect that had on his career. I’m sorry that these guys all came to Denver and this shit happened. I’m sorry that these crimes haven’t been solved. I’m sorry that Denver is a surly adolescent of a city that can’t get its shit together and that we have gangs and assholes and so much ridiculous shit that Reggie Evans has to apply for a concealed weapon permit and Carmelo Anthony gets harassed at the convenience store.
What else can I do? I can support the Broncos and send the team all my “good football” vibes. I want them to have an awesome year — maybe we, the people of Denver, need them to have an awesome year, because we love them and want them to kick ass because it would honor Darrent Williams and running back Damien Nash, who died in February of natural causes (apparently heart related).
But really, I’m not sure how that helps. I love football, but I don’t think it’s some profound, meaningful thing. Maybe it can be, though, in situations like this. The Broncos are a football team, but this year, it’s about more than just being a football team. It’s about tragedy and pain and getting through it as best you can and hopefully, someday, healing and becoming something better than you were before.
I joke about it all the time, but it’s true — sports are a metaphor of life and usually it’s kind of bittersweet funny, like when Tadaguchi gets traded to the Phillies and I feel like the new boyfriend I thought was the one dumped me and I eat ice cream and dream about what might have been. Sometimes — thankfully, not as often — it’s horrible and tragic and ugly and leaves you feeling sad and alone.
I know that the Broncos aren’t my family or my friends. I can’t call them up on Saturday night when I want to go drinking or ask them if these pants make my butt look big (I wish!). But in a way, they are my family and they are my friends. When you love a team, their pain is your pain, even if it’s a diluted, tangential pain. Their loss is your loss, but their healing and power and ass kicking is yours, too, and when you’ve shared the pain and loss with them, the ass kicking is even sweeter. If the Broncos can come back from this and be better, so can the rest of us.
In that Denver Post article, Darrent Williams said, “That’s why I work every day to get better.” If you’re a fellow Broncos fan, this is our year to work every day to get better. We’re all family and friends and, as fans, it’s up to us to cheer on this team and honor D-Will and everybody we’ve ever loved by working every day to get better.
Kircus and the Polygraph
May 30, 2007I learned three things in college that didn’t involve alcohol:
1. Correlation does not imply causation.
2. I don’t enjoy reading stuff that was written a long time ago.
3. How to cheat a lie detector test.
David Kircus of the Denver Broncos was charged with assault after getting into a fight at a suburban party last week. Although being at a party in the suburbs might be an indication of poor judgment, I can’t say I was bothered by the assault charge for two reasons. First, as a former criminal defense attorney, I know that charges don’t mean anything and people get charged with stuff they didn’t do all the time. Second, as a general rule, I don’t judge sports figures by their pending criminal matters. This is why I didn’t join the rest of Denver in booing Kobe Bryant — he was charged but never convicted and in my opinion, that doesn’t make him worthy of boos.
That said, there are exceptions. I’m trying to withhold judgment on Michael Vick, but if he had anything to do with dog fighting, I’d like to punch him in the face because nothing pisses me off more than animal abuse.
So anyway, I’m not worried about David Kircus and his assault charges. Apparently Mike Shanahan was worried, because when the case first broke, he said that if Kircus didn’t “handle himself the right way, he won’t be with us.” I guess that means that if Kircus was guilty of assault, he’d be kicked off the team. I can’t say I agree with that position, but okay.
So Kircus took a lie detector test to establish that he was just defending himself and, I suppose, not in the wrong. He passed. Now Mike Shanahan says that Kircus will remain on the team.
I don’t disagree with the result (Kircus stays on the team). That said, I don’t think that being guilty of assault would warrant being kicked off the team. Maybe it would, depending on the circumstances — I don’t know. I just find it bizarre that Shanahan apparently is saying that because Kircus passed the lie detector test, he’ll stay on the team.
If you google “how to cheat lie detector” (even without the quotes), you’ll get more than 346,000 results. There’s a wikiHow on the subject, which mentions the butt clenching technique I remember learning in college. I’m pretty sure my dog could spend some time on the internet and figure out how to pass a lie detector test.
So I don’t know that it makes sense for Shanahan to consider a lie detector the deciding factor. If he said that Kircus is on the team no matter what happens with the case, I’d be fine with that. If he said that whether Kircus stays on the team depends on what happens with the case, I’d be fine with that. Saying that the lie detector resolves the matter seems a little bizarre to me, but like I said, I’m fine with the outcome.
I suppose things are looking up in Denver when our athletes are sending guys to the hospital. At least they’re not getting shot, right?
More Linas Kleiza
March 28, 2007I knew it wouldn’t be long before the world started noticing Linas Kleiza — here’s an article about him from today’s Rocky Mountain News.
In Broncos news, wide receiver Brandon Marshall was arrested on false imprisonment and domestic violence charges and spent the night in jail before being released yesterday afternoon. Marshall had no comment on the incident.
I need for Sheed to go away.
March 27, 2007I’ll be honest. I kind of love Rasheed Wallace. I still have the Nuggets/Pistons game from earlier this month on my DVR, so I can watch the awesomeness of Rasheed missing a layup and screaming “GOD DAMN WHAT THE F*CK!!!” followed by some excellent commentary from the local announcers. What’s not to love about a guy who has 18 technical fouls so far this year?
But this madness?
Okay, it was a great shot. I ain’t no player hater. Still, it sucks because the Nuggets should’ve won that game. At least J.R. Smith played some kick-ass defense and had four steals.
In Broncos news, Al Wilson failed his physical for the Giants. He may be able to stay with Denver, likely with a pay cut.
In Bears news, Lance Briggs is mad as hell and not going to play for the Chi any more. A trade to the Redskins may be in the works. Failing to keep Briggs happy is a stupid, stupid move, guys.
Al Wilson on the trading block
March 23, 2007A trade of Pro Bowl linebacker Al Wilson may be in the works.
I’ll go on the record now as saying this is the stupidest thing I have ever heard. Trade Al Wilson? Are you freaking kidding me?
I wouldn’t go to Tampa Bay, either.
March 2, 2007I have been a slacking.
So it looks like Jake Plummer, after being traded to Tampa Bay, said no and HELL NO, opting to retire instead of battling Chris Simms for the starting position.
Can you blame him? Starting issues aside, something about Jon Gruden has always bugged me and he seems a little high-strung for someone like Plummer, who needs love and support from a coach. And maybe some weed.
