Strike One: So now that the Denver Broncos are 2-0, have your expectations for the season changed? Maybe a little?
Prior to this season, Vic Fangio had never won a game in September as a head coach, and the Broncos have never sniffed the post season. Now, with two wins out of the gate, and with the struggling New York Jets coming to Denver next Sunday, the Broncos have a legit chance to get to 3-0 as well has being crowned Champs of Metropolis, at least. How many teams that start 3-0 don’t make the play-offs?
So are these Broncos a sure-first play-off team now, or what?
Every fan of the Predominantly Orange knows that the schedule gets a lot tougher after the Jets fly home. The Baltimore Ravens, Pittsburgh Steelers on the road with the Raiders, Washington, Cleveland and Dallas on deck. Two with the Chiefs and Chargers still ahead, too.
Still, if your expectations have changed, it’s because of two things: First, these Broncos look better than you thought they’d look. They weren’t world-beater good in a 10-point win at Jacksonville, but they did what they had to do to beat a bad team. But the play at quarterback, such a point of contention during the off season and pre-season, has been better than most people believed it’d be. Teddy Bridgewater has played at a Pro Bowl level thus far, albeit against poor competition. Do you believe he’ be able to keep that up?
The other reason would be the caliber of competition looks…different. The Ravens lost at Las Vegas, so that “L” that most had penciled in before the season now looks more like a “TBD” than it did before. Going to Pittsburgh is never ever easy, and Cleveland isn’t the mistake by the lake anymore. They could all beat the Broncos and it wouldn’t be an upset. Denver will be underdogs in Dallas, and perhaps not even favored at home against Philly and Cincinnati.
But these Broncos might win a few of those games, too. Who knows what those teams will look like by the time those game weeks arrive?
As we enter week three, the Broncos are where we hoped they’d be, looking a little better than we expected, with a schedule that looks a little bit more manageable than it did three weeks ago.
Probably want to hold off on printing play-off tickets just a little longer. But IF they get to 4-0, then maybe we can start making our post season plans.
Strike Two: Legalized sports betting has very quickly become a huge thing. Not only was it legalized in Colorado, but every college and professional sports entity around has now embraced it and are getting sponsorship dollars from sports betting operations. Out in Las Vegas, Pete Rose can only shake his head in disbelief.
If we’re being honest, we’ve all gotten involved in sports gambling is some way shape or form. How many March Madness office pools have you been a part of? Probably can’t count them on two hands. And then there’s the whole Fantasy Football thing, which from the very beginning, has been just another form of small time gambling.
But things are different now. Much different. It’s a big money op now.
But one thing hasn’t changed. It’s still really dumb to bet on College Football. Just check out the results from last Saturday.
For starters, not one single person outside the office spaces at Canvas Stadium – professional handicappers included – gave the CSU Rams a snowballs chance in Ohio of traveling to Toledo and beating the Rockets – a team that had played Notre Dame toe-to-toe the Saturday before. That was the same Saturday that the Rams were laying an egg at home against lowly Vanderbilt to drop to 0-2. There was legit concern about a winless season in the Fort.
The Toledo game looked – on paper – like a total mismatch. The oddsmakers had the Rams a two-touchdown underdog. They were probably being kind.
Final score, CSU 22 Toledo 6. Someone explain that to me. Please.
Up in Boulder, the Colorado Buffaloes were coming off an impressive showing against Top 10 Texas A&M and were 2½ point favorites over visiting Minnesota from the Big Ten. No reason for anyone on either side to think this wasn’t going to be a close, hard fought battle to the final gun, just like the A&M game was.
Instead, there were no similarities from the week before, other than the Buffaloes uniforms. Final score, Minnesota 30 Colorado 0. Again, someone has some ‘splaining to do.
But the craziness didn’t start or end at our borders.
Michigan State isn’t supposed to travel to Florida and beat up nationally ranked Miami. But they did.
There’s no way Fresno State should beat UCLA. But they did.
And so on.
There were several other games that were supposed to be blow outs that ended up being close calls. Add those to the 10 wins (so far) from FCS teams who beat favored FBS teams (CSU losing to South Dakota State included) already this young season. Get the trend?
We may not be about to relive the total insanity of the 2007 season, but anything approaching that should be enough to teach those who insist on putting their hard earned dollars down on what kids will do on a given Saturday a bitter lesson. And that lesson should be obvious. It’s not even the old adage about “Only bet what you can afford to lose.” The real lesson is simply, unless you want to spend Sundays feeling stupid and confused, don’t bet on college football, period.
Strike Three: We’ve just come out the other side of Hall of Fame induction season (for Major League Baseball and Pro Football at least.) The region was well represented this year, with Peyton Manning, Larry Walker and John Lynch all getting their well-deserved accolades.
There are still several locals who continue to wait for their turn at the podium – Mike Shanahan, Todd Helton, Chauncey Billups and Randy Gradishar jump to mind – and they’ll be forced to continue to wait for the foreseeable future. All four are very deserving, but you never know.
In the meantime, who are we watching perform here right now who might end up with a bust or a plaque after their playing careers are complete?
There are a couple of obvious candidates (not including Nolan Arenado, who hopefully will wear a Rockies cap into Cooperstown.) Von Miller has secured his spot in Canton. Could Justin Simmons join him? Keep in mind that Dennis Smith hasn’t gotten a sniff, so there’s that.
Every single former NBA MVP who is eligible for enshrinement is in the Basketball Hall of Fame. There’s no reason to believe that Nikola Jokic won’t end up there, too. If you think that maybe he needs an NBA title to get in…remember, Dikembe Mutombo got elected. ‘Nuff said.
Nathan McKinnon should get the call to the Hockey Hall, right? Maybe when he wins his first Hart Trophy he cements that?
Who else? Who has Hall of Fame talent that’s playing their home games here right now?
No. Charlie Blackmon has had an excellent career, but not Hall of Fame caliber. Trevor Story would have to start racking up Gold Glove awards to reach HoF status. He doesn’t have any yet.
Hard to see any current Broncos (other than Von) reaching that level. Getting to the Super Bowl is sort of a must for anyone who wears Predominantly Orange it seems. And that seems like a very long way away.
Joker will end up representing the Nuggets in Springfield, Mass, but it’s tough to see anyone else on this roster reaching that status. Jamal Murray? He’d have to win a scoring title or lead Denver to an NBA title (like Chauncey did in Detroit.) Michael Porter Jr might have Hall ability, but it’s going to take a lot more than potential to make him any sort of candidate in the distant future.
The most likely candidates playing here currently are key guys with the Colorado Avalanche. A 24-year-old Cale Makar perhaps? He’s got a long and perhaps stellar future ahead of him right now. Could happen.
Once again, the Avs will need to get to the Stanley Cup Finals at least to put Makar, Gabe Landeskog or anyone else whose career could be considered for enshrinement up on the biggest stage. NHL players going back to the Olympics will help, too, but mostly the Avs have to make the finals and establish themselves as permanent residents in late spring hockey games before the current group get mentioned with guys from the glory days of the late 1990s and early 2000’s.
The old saying is you know a Hall of Famer when you see one. Are we seeing any play right now?