Although we’re all fans of lacrosse, I think in general, players and those involved on the business side tend to forget what it’s like to be a fan.  (You can replace lacrosse with your favorite sport, but for ease, it will be my preferred reference.)

Fans feel a sense of ownership and even protectiveness over their teams and players, even if it’s completely irrational.

Just like a parent, they see everything through a skewed lens. They will cheer and stand up for a player against his detractors simply because he’s on their team but put that same player on the other team and their tune will probably change.

Recently I had an interesting discussion on Twitter with Andrew McKay and Teddy Jenner* about this concept.  To them, it’s very strange and even frustrating how fans can hold grudges against players long after the players themselves have moved on.  Or how fans make broad assumptions about the players based on their limited information.

For a lot of the players, they have played on the same teams or against one another in different leagues over several years and have built camaraderie on and off the field.  You might find players who had a tussle on the field chatting over a beer afterwards.  For the players, they can go all out during the game and leave it on the field.

But as fans, our only real involvement in the game is our emotion.  We cheer.  We jeer. We celebrate. We get angry.  We get upset. We feel the excitement of a win.  We feel the pain of a loss.

But whereas a player can work out their frustrations on the field, telling a fan to rein in their emotion and get over it can be a whole other story.

When a fan sees a player on their team on the receiving end of a cheap shot, just like a protective sibling, they get upset and more than likely develop a dislike for the instigating player.

Off the field, the instigating player might be the nicest guy in the world, volunteering for local charities and giving back to the community.  But to that fan, he’s just a dirty player.

Is it right? Does it even make sense? No, of course it doesn’t.

But fans are given very limited information in emotional situations and as humans they try to process that limited information and expand on it to obtain a bigger view.  This generalization and assumption is actually common enough to have a name.  It’s called the Halo Effect and no, I’m not referring to the Bungie video game.

Dictionary.com defines the Halo effect as a potential inaccuracy in observation, as of a person, due to overgeneralization from a limited amount of evidence or the influence of preconceived beliefs or a prior hypothese.

While some players seem to enjoy their reputations, good or bad, others find it frustrating.  Some don’t want to be viewed as a role model, up on a pedestal.  Others don’t want to be viewed as a villain.  In the major sports, most players have very little if any interaction with their fans.  But in professional lacrosse, that dividing line is much thinner.

Fans can talk to players after the game and interact with them on Twitter and on Facebook.  As you’d expect, some players are certainly more open and receptive than others to this interaction.  Even though quite a few players are on Twitter, not all of them are responsive.

How does this interaction change a fan’s view?  It probably reinforces some views and possibly changes others.  I wouldn’t be surprised if in some ways this interaction actually increases some fans ownership of a team’s players.  But in general, I think it’s a good thing as it helps fans to see players as people too and get a different view of them beside what they see on the field.

What do you think?

*(On a side note, if you’re a lacrosse fan and you’re not already following them on the net, you’re missing out. Check out The Laxist and IL Indoor)

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© John Strohsacker/LaxPhotos.com

When does a player’s actions outweigh their contributions?

Anymore, it’s not that uncommon to have players do something either on or off the field that makes you question if they should even be playing. But for good or bad, because they have a huge impact on the field everything else has a blind eye turned towards it. Or maybe because they play for your team it’s not considered as bad. At what point does that change for you?

This season I’m forced to reevaluate something I never thought I would have to.

The Colorado Mammoth traded for John Grant Jr. (JGJ) from the Rochester Knighthawks.

This is a very significant trade. Although older, JGJ is still considered to be on one of the best players to have ever played the game. I certainly can’t deny he’s talented, but I hate the fact that he’s going to be in a Mammoth uniform this season.

All because he did something out of anger while playing at the Pepsi Center.

December, 2006, 4th quarter is winding down and the Mammoth have the lead. Play moves from the Mammoth side to the Rochester side but 2 players remain behind. Some helmet mashing and pushing ensues before one of them turns and walks away. He gets several steps before the other player charges him from behind hitting him with his lacrosse stick to the neck below the helmet. The first player crumples to the arena floor while the aggressor leaves the scene, meanwhile play continues for several seconds on the other side.

The two players were John Grant Jr. and John Gallant. Apparently Gallant was doing a great job that night on defense and really got to JGJ who finally snapped and took his anger one step too far. Because the incident wasn’t caught on tape JGJ was slapped with a one game suspension while John Gallant was out for six weeks and missed three games.

Needless to say,Mammoth fans were livid at the time, but here we are four years later.

When Gallant was asked on the Mammoth forums what he thought of the trade he said “I’m excited to have Jr. on our team. He is a close friend and one of the best lacrosse players ever to play. He is a pure goal scorer, something we have not had here in Denver in a long time, if ever. Most importantly his number one goal is to bring a championship to Denver.”

So if the Mammoth Captain who was the recipient of the cheap shot is able to forgive JGJ, shouldn’t fans? Many think so.

In a week long poll asking what fans thought of the trade, most were split between loving the trade, and disliking it but still willing to support the team. A few felt JGJ was just fodder for another trade we haven’t seen yet, but at least a couple didn’t really want to support the team because of the trade.

I consider JGJ to be similar to Todd Bertuzzi and as such, could not imagine ever seeing Bertuzzi in an Avalanche uniform. But here I am being asked to cheer on a player I feel crossed a similar line and only received a slap on the wrist.  It could be argued that since Gallant is still playing, comparing JGJ to Bertuzzi is excessive but the Mammoth have lost at least two players because of concussions.  But that is a debate onto itself.

Regardless of where you stand, as a fan, I never thought I would be in this position.

I detest this trade so much that I’ve considered whether or not I wanted to keep my season tickets this year.

Am I overreacting? Maybe. I’ve been a season ticket holder for all but the inaugural season. I have a Mammoth tattoo. I have more Mammoth memorabilia than I would really want to admit to. My husband and I have done several road trips to catch Mammoth games. And I’m seriously considering whether or not I want to cheer on my team because of one player.

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Kobe Bryant is a one-man scoring machine. (Photo from bigleaguescrew.com)

When the Denver Nuggets take the court tonight in Los Angeles (8:30MST), they will be decided underdogs.  In fact, without top offensive threat Carmelo Anthony, the Nuggets will almost surely lose.  But for Kobe Bryant, the game is still a must-win.

Bryant is nursing a bum ankle, an injury sustained two nights ago.  He is undergoing pain therapy to make sure he can play, determined to avenge a 79-105 thrashing in Denver early in the season.  For Bryant, it’s personal.  What’s more, he doesn’t trust the rest of his team to get the job done without him, and he will risk further wear & tear on his injured left ankle as a result.

Without Melo, the Nuggets have struggled to beat middle-of-the-road teams, and they got walloped Wednesday by the aggressive Suns in Denver.  The Nuggets stands 4.5 games back from LA in the Western Conference standings, but they are nowhere close to rushing a so-so Carmelo back into action.  Chauncey Billups has been playing through a nagging ankle injury, and will certainly cede time to Ty Lawson & Anthony Carter.  In short, the Nuggets aren’t panicking over a solitary game on the long road to the Finals… even a game against the team that bounced them out of the playoffs a season ago.

The comparison is drastic; Kobe stubbornly refusing to rest, Carmelo cheering on his team in a suit & tie.  Even with the ’09 Championship, even with the conference lead, even with Carmelo out and Chauncey at 75%, even with a painful, swollen ankle… Kobe Bryant will not shift a single pound of pressure off his All-Star shoulders and onto the ample shoulders of his talented teammates.

Some would call this preoccupation with carrying the load a trait shared by champions, and Kobe is certainly a champion of the highest degree.  But there is another dimension to team sports that Bryant will never fully accept: depending on the guys rockin’ the same color jersey.

Carmelo may never be mentioned in the same conversation as Kobe, MJ, Wilt & Magic.  But after years of selfish play, Carmelo returned from the ’08 Summer Olympics a more complete player.  He understood the game on a level that Kobe never will.  He has been a better teammate and, by many accounts, a better man.  The part of him that always wanted to be The Man grew up, and in his aged wisdom Carmelo Anthony learned to be just as happy for his teammates’ successes as he was for his own big dunks & power drives.

For all of his personal success, you watch Kobe on the sidelines in a blowout win and you know he would just assume still be on the court.  Blinded by his ultra-competitive nature, he doesn’t look happy when Pao Gasol converts a crucial score.  Instead his reaction ranges from passive to jealous… and it always will.

Tonight’s game is about vengeance and winning now.  The city of Los Angeles will follow Kobe’s lead.  In LA, sports fans expect a championship every year, and they expect the Lakers to route the Nuggets every time they come to town.  This is not a judgment on the fine folks in SoCal, but everybody knows you don’t move to LA for the weather.

With two more meetings to go after this one, and having won their first meeting in November, the Nuggets will continue to take the long view.  And Denver fans won’t sweat another loss at Los Angeles.  Thursday, April 8^th the Lakers will come to town, both teams will be at full strength, and we’ll find out just who owns the West.

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Will the real Tiger Woods please stand up?

As a hyperactive media plays Six Degrees of Tiger, we begin to wonder if the whole world has been tainted by Woods’ fall from grace.

Reports of the arrest of Canadian doctor Anthony Galea have provided a convenient way to drop Tiger’s name into a slew of local bi-lines across North America.  Galea treated Woods and a laundry list of other pro athletes in the past, so charges that the doctor smuggled growth hormones across the US/Canada border draws fuzzy (but buzzworthy) lines between Tiger and the likes of Chris Simms and Huston Street.

Simms (Broncos QB), Street (Rockies Reliever) & Woods were likely treated with the doctor’s unique plasma-therapy method for rapid healing, and have almost assuredly never had contact with human growth hormones.  But a vague connection to post-scandal Tiger is yellow-journalism gold.  The two-degree tie-in has warranted headline stories on local Colorado TV news outlets.

The obsession with Tiger’s personal life is, of course, not puzzling at all.

He is one of the most widely recognized people in the world, and yet so little is known of him beyond his amazing golf game and mountains of endorsement deals.  So when reports circulated that Tiger was a fallible, imperfect human… the game was on.

Alternate and conflicting messages have sprung up since the depth of Tiger’s extramarital affairs broke.  Some called for media to back off from what is surely a very personal matter for the Woods family, while others openly celebrated a falling star crashing to earth so rapidly and brilliantly before the eyes of the world.

Had this story broken relative to a moderately popular blue-collar athlete, we would have blinked once and looked away.  But Tiger is playing a gentleman’s game, and his face is recognizable to the far reaches of civilization.

For his part, Tiger has stepped forcefully out of the public eye.

What started with a withdrawal from his own tournament turned into a complete denial of his pro career until family matters are resolved.  Whether this is a publicity stunt or an honest attempt by a mostly good man to clean up his life is pure opinion.  But what is certain is that Woods’ handling of this saga over the coming weeks, months & years will speak as much to the man’s character as his apparently habitual cheating ever did.

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Let’s take a look…

Nuggets Original NBA Logo, 1948-49

This is one I was not aware of. Before the Nuggets graced the ABA, there was an NBA franchise called the Nuggets that only lasted a year, but carries the distinction as being the first basketball team to charter a flight. The original logo doesn’ t look like much, but set out the Gold Miner motif that would be the basis for future logos.

Original Denver Rockets, 1968-71

Denver Rockets 1971-1974

Next came the Denver Rockets – Denver’s first entry into the new ABA. This red logo was used from 1968 until 1971, when they switched to a busier and in my opinion much less appealing purple and yellow version, which stayed in use until 1974.

When it became apparent that the Nuggets were going to end up in the NBA, the Rockets name was already in use by Houston, so they decided to make some changes – and the Nuggets name was revived, along with the Yosemite Sam-looking character that was the face of the Nuggets through 1981, along with an alternate pick-axe and gold nugget logo.

Nuggest Miner Logo 1974-1981

Nuggets Alternate Logo 1974-1981

Then, in the 1981-82 season, the Nuggets debuted the rainbow mosaic skyline logo that we all know and love. This multi-colored extravaganza was the primary logo until the early 90s, meaning it saw the glory days of Alex English, Fat Lever, Calvin Natt, Doug Moe, and Bill Hanzlik, mustache and all. Anyone that grew up in my generation has a soft spot in their hearts for this logo, no matter how hideous.

Nuggets 1981-1993

And finally, when the 90s rolled around the marketing department kicked into gear, realizing that what seemed like a great idea in 1981 was probably not going to keep traction in 1993, so they rebuilt the logo to something very similar to what we have today – all that changed was some color combinations. There are tons of alternate logos and color variations, but the following dark colored version came in 1993, and stayed for 10 years until 2003 when the current blue and yellow color scheme was adopted. (I’m not differentiating between the darker blue and lighter blue variations on the current logo)

Nuggets 1993-2003

So there you have it. The Nuggets are clearly a team that has been through several visual identities… not like the Lakers, whose purple and gold has remained largely unchanged since the franchise landed in Los Angeles. The current blue and yellow scheme is nice, but it makes you wonder what’s next on the horizon. So which basketball logo is your favorite? The old-time Rockets? Classic 1980s rainbow? Vote in the poll below, and be sure to leave a comment and explain your choice! Next time, we’ll look at the rest of the logos from Colorado sports history – baseball and hockey specifically, and then we’ll find out which old-time logo is the best from all sports.

[poll id="3"]

Special thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page for help getting good files of all these logos – SportsLogos.net

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We’ll start with the Broncos – since they’re the ones that got me started on this whole thing. First we have the logo that we’re all familiar with – the original 1960 look, complete with the classy brown and mustard color scheme.

Denver Broncos Throwback Logo 1960-61

The problem most people find with this logo is not the logo itself, or even the colors, but the fashion statement of the striped socks. I shudder to think what that statement actually is. I will have to admit… I’m a fan of the brown and yellow, and I love the brown numbered helmets. But overall, while it’s a nice logo to look at, it makes me yearn for the blue and orange. Which brings us to the next logo, worn by the Broncos from 1962-67. This logo brings the introduction of the famous blue and orange color combo.

Denver Broncos Throwback Logo 1962-67

This one isn’t all that appreciable different from the previous logo. You still have the cartoonish horse with the cartoonish football player on its back. There was a nice alternate version of this logo with just a silhouette of the horse, but we aren’t dealing in the alternates. Say what you want though, this logo deserves recognition simply for introducing us to the orange.

Denver Broncos Throwback Logo 1968-96

Now we come to the single most recognizable logo in all of Denver sports – the classic orange “D” with the horse rising out of it. This is the logo that the Broncos wore to their first 4 Super Bowl appearances, this is what John Elway wore for the majority of his career. This is the logo that most of us reading this most identify with the Broncos. I’d love to see them wear this every now and then, just for fun.

We aren’t just worried about the Broncos though – there were a few other football team logos that have graced our fine city over the years. Now that the Arena League is defunct, we can include not only the original Denver AFL team and its horrific Microsoft Paint-looking logo, the Denver Dynamite, but the Elway-owned Colorado Crush. Then rounding out our football teams of the past is the extremely classy look of the USFL’s Denver Gold. Am I the only one that would love to see a USFL tribute/revival league start up again? I think it would be a huge hit. From 1983-1985, the black and gold roamed the field at Mile High.

Denver Dynamite Arena League Logo - 1987-1991

Colorado Crush Arena League Logo - 2003-2007

Denver Gold USFL Logo 1983-1985

So there you are – football logos from Colorado’s past. Fill out the poll, then we’ll be talking basketball next time.

[poll id="2"]

Special thanks to Chris Creamer’s Sports Logos Page for help getting good files of all these logos – SportsLogos.Net

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The ceremony was just what you would expect for Joe – classy and impactful, without excessive flash. He carried himself with the appropriate humility, but also accepted his place in history and seemed genuinely appreciative of the night’s festivities. As he entered the arena, cameras followed him through the locker room (where his locker stall is enshrined – not even Patty Roy got that treatment) as he greeted the current team, then through the tunnel and onto the ice. He clearly relished every moment – as he should. Watch the view from Section 144 as the banner gets raised -

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And lest you forget… there was a hockey game last night. It’s just nice to see hockey back in the picture. Joe dropped the puck for the ceremonial face-off, which oddly enough involved Adam Foote and Rob Blake. Then, the future of the team, Matt Duchene, took the opening faceoff. No pressure, huh kid? Just jump in at 18 years old and take the faceoff that belongs to Joe Sakic. And while you’re at it, you want to quarterback the Broncos too? But let me say this… that kid, and his kid buddy O’Reilly, look good. They play with unbridled energy. We’ll see how the grind of an 82 game season against the best in the world affects that, but if this is what we have to look forward to, there’s going to be some good hockey at the Pepsi Center once again, and it will be sooner than you think. It’s LaCroix’s version of the Kid Rocks… what do you call them? The Snowballs? Either way – this young team looks promising. The defense played with tenacity, and Anderson was *gasp* great in goal. 19 saves in the 3rd period (gotta love every appearance of 19), many of them acrobatic, and many of them shorthanded. San Jose at a full 2 minutes of 5 on 3, and the Avs killed it off brilliantly. It’s been a long time since the Pepsi Center crowd has chanted the name of the home team goalie, but it happened last night.

That’s right – hockey is back in the Rocky Mountains, and while this team may not contend seriously for the playoffs this year, the future is bright for the boys in burgundy, and I for one can’t wait to see how it goes.

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There. I said it.

I think Bowlen might be going off his rocker. I think McDaniels is already on thin ice. I think Marshall’s an idiot, but I hate to see him leave. I think Cutler was a baby, but I hate to see him leave. I’ve questioned far more decisions than I’ve applauded in recent months, and yet, the fact remains. I’m a fan. I can’t help it. I’m really learning right now what it means to bleed orange. I’m already looking at the jerseys in the closet with longing. Fireworks haven’t even hit the air for July 4th, and already I’m salivating for the sounds of gridiron action on a Sunday afternoon.

And when the Broncos take the field, captained by Kyle Orton and a bunch of guys I’ve never heard of, I’ll be paying rapt attention, hoping for the boys in orange (but mostly blue) will secure another victory for this once glorious franchise.

I’m a Broncos fan. I can’t help it. (God save me.)

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