@Mark Knudson41
Strike One: The Rocky Mountain Showdown as we have come to know it is over. Colorado and Colorado State will play at Canvas Stadium to open next season, but after that, the series will be hit and miss, and played only on the two campus sites. They meet in Boulder in 2023 and again in Fort Collins in 2024. That’s the last time they’re scheduled to play over the next 10 seasons.
Meanwhile, CU has renewed its long dormant series against the other in-state rival, Air Force. They play this weekend, and then again in 2022 in Colorado Springs. It’s about damn time. These two haven’t played since 1974. They should play regularly, too.
The Buffs will also host Northern Colorado in 2021, so they will have played all four D1 programs in the state over the next five seasons. Hats off the CU Assistant AD Dave Plati, who handles CU’s future scheduling, for trying to help build the sport throughout the state of Colorado.
And of course the Rams and the Falcons play each other every year, so we have that going for us, which is nice.
But after 2024, CU doesn’t have any games scheduled against an in-state rival, and that’s the real shame. Instead they have games scheduled against small timers Colgate and U Mass, plus a home-and-home against Houston. There are two still-to-be filled non conference dates in 2029.
It would obviously be best for college football in Colorado if the Buffs played an in-state rival every season.
With no more Rocky Mountain Showdown, it’s fair to wonder what the already sluggish interest level in college football will be like over the next decade. Will there be anyone going to games that don’t involve a marquee (Power Five) opponent?
The local fan base is most apathetic to the college game…unless they get some red meat: A big name opponent to muster some localized angst against.
Maybe the answer is to hold such a game at the end of the season, rather than the beginning? Maybe there should be a renewed effort to create “The Mile High Bowl” to be played in Denver?
There are only 35 bowl games on the slate this season (down from a high of 40) not including the National Championship game. Three new games are being added at the end of next season, one that involves the Pac 12 and MW in the new Los Angeles Rams stadium – the other two in Wrigley Field and Fenway Park.
There are several more being proposed, in places like Austin, Texas and Little Rock, Arkansas. Games are also being sought on foreign soil, in places like Toronto, Melbourne, Dubai and Ireland.
So why not Denver? Get rotating tie-ins with the Pac 12 and the Mountain West to serve as the host school and bring in a team from the Big 12 or Big 10. Make it a real event. Some creative promoter should find a local Marijuana merchant to promote it, with the obvious naming rights connection. Good chance one of the local squads will be in line to play host.
We may not like the fact that CU isn’t set to play any more in-state games after 2024, but that doesn’t mean someone else can’t step up and find another way to promote college football in the region.
Strike Two: It’s hard for the old guard (present company included) to come to grips with the fact that the game of baseball – at least at the pro level – is changing – a lot.
I’m not talking about the newfangled statistical measurements. Those all adapt quite nicely with the grand old game. We already know what Babe Ruth’s “WAR” was (162.1, for the record.) No, this is about the way the game is now played…or more specifically, the way it’s now coached.
Since the beginning of time, the game has been coached by former players, who are given the task of passing along what they know, how the game was taught to them…and therefore how they (we) believe it should be played by the next generation of athletes. That’s still mostly the case. For example, every member of the current Colorado Rockies coaching staff played professional baseball.
Ex-players typically scoff (or worse) at the ideas of those who “didn’t play the game.” But the new wave of front office execs aren’t doing so any longer. Gone are the days when front offices were filled with retired players. While there are still a lot of former players in management roles, it’s not close to as many as there used to be…and the number continues to dip.
Perhaps the most shocking change is exemplified by what’s happening with the Rockies division rival, the Los Angeles Dodgers. In their relentless chase of a World Series title that has eluded them since 1988, the Dodgers did something revolutionary last off season when they hired a man named Robert Van Scoyoc as their hitting instructor. Don’t bother looking for him on Baseball Reference. He ain’t there. Dude barely played past high school. Yet LA hired the 32-year-old last Thanksgiving to replace 11-year Major League veteran Turner Ward.
So what on earth were the Dodgers thinking bringing in someone who “didn’t play the game” for such an important gig?
The man has a resume, albeit an unusual one. After college, Van Scoyoc and his partner helped create a cottage industry by helping re-tool the swings of numerous major leaguers in the off season. They did so for several off seasons, their most notable client being slugger J.D. Martinez, now with the Red Sox. Van Scoyoc then worked as a consultant for the Dodgers a couple years ago, and then as hitting analyst for Arizona, before LA brought him back to be the hitting instructor. Yes, he’s one of those guys whose all about “launch angle” and all that stuff that make old school types cringe.
Credit Dodgers boss Andrew Friedman for being forward thinking. It’s not like LA struggled at the plate with Ward as their hitting coach last season. They led the NL in home runs and runs scored. But Friedman saw room for improvement. So enter the guy who “never played the game.”
Meanwhile, the Rockies were bringing in 16-year Major League veteran Dave Magadan, who’d been released from his duties as the hitting coach of the Diamondbacks after three seasons. This season, the Rockies are back near the top of the National League in team batting average, but are 10th out of 15 teams in home runs (187) and just fourth in runs scored (740.)
Dodgers on the other hand lead the NL in six offensive categories, including home runs (255) runs scored (792) RBI (770) and the all important OPS (.816.) And even with this “swing from your heels and try to lift the ball” approach, they’ve struck out the fourth fewest times in the league (1,195).
The Rockies are third worst in the NL having struck out 1,322 times.
This miserable Rockies season will be blamed largely on the struggles of the pitching staff, but if you look closer, there’s more than just the work on the mound that has room for significant improvement.
Strike Three: The college football bowl season is set to begin on December 20th with the Bahamas Bowl in Nassau, Bahamas. Obviously there are now questions surrounding that game.
With the devastation created by Hurricane Dorian still very very fresh, the last thing anyone should be worried about is a football game. Then again, this is a chance to once again witness the healing power of sports.
Officials with the bowl game have already come out and said that the game will be played as scheduled. The stadium was not damaged, and neither was the hotel that the two teams stay at. The worst damage was roughly 100 miles away.
So, representatives of the Mid America Conference and Conference USA will – unless there’s an unforeseen complication between now and the end of the season – travel to the island for the first bowl game of the holiday season.
It’s easy to say the game should not be a priority given what has happened to that country. On the other hand, all the revenue generated by the game for the local economy could be badly needed as those who have lost everything seek ways to get back on their feet. Games like this do generate jobs and opportunities for the locals to cash in on the popularity of American football. Plus, given the scope of the clean up and rebuilding efforts, the respite provided might be a big help, too.