Strike One: Collectively, we could not be more eager to watch real live sports again on TV. Pretty much every athletic contest that could be remotely labeled a “classic” in any manner has been shown multiple times by now. We long for something fresh to watch – something where we can’t look up the result on the internet ahead of time.
So whenever any league gets back to action, it’ll get a ton of attention, regardless of whether or not the product is up to the usual standards.
The NBA – the first league to take players off the field of play back in March – is the first one to come up with an agreeable plan to return to live action. What those games will look like in terms of the quality of play in anyone’s guess. But it won’t look like the old normal, that’s for sure.
It’s been agreed that the players will return to play games that count at the end of July. No fans in the stands. No home games in fact (meaning no home court advantage.) There will be 22 teams gathering in Orlando to play eight “regular season/seeding” games at the Disney world complex to see who gets to be in the field of 16 to battle for the NBA title. There will be a standard post-season, albeit minus the travel.
To say that things are wide open is a gross understatement. Literally no one knows which players have been able to stay in shape during the pandemic lockdown when they couldn’t work out in their team facilities. A key player who isn’t in top condition could, for instance, get hurt more easily, and thereby impact his team’s chances of advancement. On the other hand, some relative unknown could emerge within these unique circumstances to lead his team to unexpected heights.
So how will the Denver Nuggets fare? Who figures to step up?
When play was suspended, the Nuggets were reeling a bit, holding on to the number three seed in the ultra-competitive Western Conference. Although they were/are 43-22, they’re just 5-5 in their last 10 games, and in danger of sliding down the standings. While they trail second-seeded LA (Clippers) by just a 1½ games, they’re only 2½ games up on sixth-seeded Houston. Although home court is not an issue any longer, whom you meet in the early rounds very much is. Under normal circumstances, the Nuggets would like to avoid early round matches against say, Utah or Houston – teams that have given them trouble in the past. Then again, that was in a past that was very different from our new reality, so who knows.
Reports are that Nuggets star Nikola Jokic is in great shape, and guard Jamaal Murray seems excited to return to play as well. Maybe those of us who have been clamoring for more Michael Porter Jr. in the Denver line-up could get our wish? Probably not.
All things being equal, Denver would appear to be among the favorites – on paper. But with so many unknowns going in, it’d probably be a mistake to place that first legal NBA wager on any team who doesn’t have a LeBron James on their roster.
Strike Two: It’s been incredibly painful to watch the Class of 2020 finish their high school years without having been able to compete in their final season of spring sports. Hundreds of baseball, soccer, tennis and track and field competitors had their final seasons ripped away by COVID-19.
That pain may be felt by the Class of 2021 as well.
CHSAA Commissioner Rhonda Blanford-Green told me recently, “We are moving towards all sports and activities resuming in the fall. So if they’ll just give me time and be patient, let me do my job, I’m getting your kids out there on the fields and on the courts…”
Blanford-Green remains the beacon of optimism when it comes to getting kids back into competition. As a leader, she’s a gift to Colorado high schools. But there are factors working against her that remain out of her control.
Individual school districts remain in control of facilities and coaches’ access to student-athletes. They aren’t lessening their grip. They make decisions that can override CHSAA. Right now, most facilities are still closed or partially closed.
Governor Jared Polis’ office – which the school districts closely follow – has recommended groups of no more than 25 participants at one time engage in youth sports activities. They are discouraging participation in “high-contact” sports like “wrestling or soccer.” (There’s no mention yet of football, but…duh.)
The recommendations also suggest “holding games with other teams (only) every two weeks.” Sort of puts a crimp in scheduling for any sport.
Since we’re still several weeks away from the scheduled start of the season (unless you’re a high school football coach, in which case it’s always football season) there’s been no direct mention of football. Yet. It’s supposed to kick-off with July mini-camps and August pre-season training camps. But if the current restrictions and guidelines remain in place (and they’ll likely be modified) then it’d be pretty much impossible to have any kind of high school football season, regardless of what CHSAA wants to have happen.
All this means that the upcoming fall sports season – including football – remains very much in doubt. The Class of 2021 could conceivably lose their final fall sports seasons, too.
And even if the restrictions and guidelines are lessened, the 2020 football season won’t likely resemble anything we’ve seen in the past. Facilities are likely to remain severely restricted, allowing perhaps only family members in the stands, if that. Some schools may decide not to play games at all. Some may play only a watered down schedule. And with limited opportunity to train and practice, the on field product could suffer.
Just like what happened in the spring, it’s nobody’s fault that this is happening to our high school athletes. It’s just more piling on…with no end in sight.
Strike Three: One of the signature moments of John Elway’s Hall of Fame playing career came against Green Bay in Super Bowl 32. Late in the third quarter, with the game tied at 17, Elway dropped to pass, then took off on a scramble from the Packers 16-yard-line. He sprinted toward the right corner of the end zone before being met by three Packers as he reached the 10. Elway jumped, all three the defenders hit him, spinning him in mid-air. The QB did a 360 before landing inside the five. “The helicopter” run produced a Denver first down and led to a key touchdown in the Broncos first ever Super Bowl victory. It’s still replayed often, more than 20 years later. It was a defining moment in Elway’s playing career.
Fast forward. Have we just seen “the helicopter,” part two?
Since he retired, Elway has not been shy about his unqualified support of right-wing political agendas, rubbing elbows with Rush Limbaugh and supporting local candidates like Walker Stapleton and Mike Coffman (Stapleton lost the race for Governor, and Coffman was elected mayor of Aurora. Each received significant campaign contributions for the Broncos GM.) He attended Donald Trump’s inaugural. Elway’s been on board with pretty much anything in Republican politics.
So it didn’t come as any surprise when, in 2017, after San Francisco 49’ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick – who Elway had considered trading for just one off season prior – became a free agent Elway posted a “No Vacancy” sign at Dove Valley. After all, the Broncos already had a group of quarterbacks that included Trevor Siemian, Mark Sanchez and Paxton Lynch. (The Broncos post-Peyton QB room has also included standouts like Case Keenum, Brock Osweiler, Joe Flacco and Brandon Allen.)
So they were all set at the position, right?…Right?
It was only a coincidence the Kaepernick – considered one of the best pure talents in the league at the quarterback position after leading the 49ers to the Super Bowl in 2012 – had become synonymous with the “take a knee” protest movement. The movement was championed by many on the left, but roundly criticized and condemned by everyone on the right, including Trump and Vice President Mike Pence. Elway was simply following GOP playbook. He went on record saying he wanted to “take politics out of football.”
In subsequent off seasons, when he was asked about Kaepernick, Elway would always fall back on his standard line of defense.
“Colin had his chance here,” Elway told the media prior to the start of the 2018 season. “We offered him a contract. He didn’t take it. So, as I said it in my deposition, I don’t know if I’ll be legally able to say this, but he’s had his chance to be here. He passed [on] it.” The Broncos GM neglected to say that the trade deal had included a substantial cut in pay for Kaepernick.
Never mind that signing him as a free agent would have cost the Broncos nothing. Kaepernick’s obvious blackballing by NFL owners ended up in court, where the Hall of Fame QB had to give a deposition explaining his stance on why Kaepernick didn’t get another chance in the league after the 49ers released him in the spring of 2017. The unemployed quarterback reached an out of court settlement with the NFL.
Fast forward to the events of the past two weeks, following the death of an African-American man, George Floyd, at the hand of a Minneapolis police officer. It was just the latest example of the exact kind of police brutality that Kaepernick has been protesting about for nearly five years now.
Now, in light of the response from Bronco players like Justin Simmons and Kareem Jackson, Elway appears to have done another spin move, this time doing a nifty 180 on the police brutality/peaceful protesting issue. He authored an incredible and moving social media post over the weekend that make writers like this one jealous. It was eloquent, extremely well stated and…humble. Amazingly humble. He says he previous views “couldn’t have been more wrong” and the entire George Floyd episode has “impacted me.” Don’t underestimate that. It takes a lot to impact John Elway. This was a significant moment.
You just wonder what might have been for the Broncos on the field if Elway had had this off the field revelation about four off seasons ago.