Site Update

Even though I fear I’m shouting into an empty room, here’s a quick update of the State of the Blog -

There hasn’t been a lot of writing, of this I’m aware. I take full responsibility for losing focus. But what I haven’t lost is my passion for the local teams. So even if it’s me, just writing for me, I’m going to keep at it. I do have some ideas for promotion that I hope to kick off sometime soon.

Upgraded Wordpress to 2.6.2 — I can’t believe I was on 2.2 for so long. But the upgrade is complete, and the few plugins we had are working fine. I’ve added a “Share This” plugin which allows readers to share posts on all the popular social bookmarking and networking sites.

Up next, I’ll be trying out some cool bells and whistles. Any feedback? Comments, questions? Now would be a great time to let us know you’re here. What would you like to see here?

Thanks for reading.

–jason.

Short Week, Hugely Important

The Blackhawk game was a shame, and it can be blamed in part on the loss of Paul Stastny to a non-hockey injury. His appendix was removed a week ago and it will still be another week to two (and possibly three) before he’s back on the ice. This was another major blow to our already struggling offense. As a friend said to me, “Holy ****, we have an All-Star line on the IR.” To which I responded, “We have a future Hall of Fame line on the IR.” Surprisingly, the Avalanche have continued to pressure their opponents. The loss to the Predators started out as I expected with Nashville coming out hot in the first period and getting up a goal. After that, it was really a matter of the Avalanche getting good shots on a hot goaltender (Chris Mason) and getting shut out over the course of the second period. By the time the third rolled around the Avs were out of gas and the Preds took advantage. Voila! 0-4 loss.

Our young forwards will get their goals, however, and this week will undoubtedly be the key time for them to come. We play Minnesota tonight at home, and the game couldn’t be bigger. We trail the division leading Flames by two points and the Wild and Canucks by one point. Calgary and Vancouver have both played their 50th game of the season already, leaving the Avalanche and the Wild with a game in hand… tonight’s game. With a win the Avalanche catapult to the top of the division (by a mere point, but that’s a big victory in this division with the injuries we’ve sustained going into the All-Star break.) With a loss Colorado remains number four in the division with a week off and a week worth of tough games to come. What’s more, the Avs and Wild have split the season series at two games apiece, and head-to-head tiebreakers in our division are more than likely to decide playoff spots come April. (We’re 3-1 versus the Flames and 1-2 versus the Canucks.) I haven’t said it yet this season, so I’ll say it now; this is the biggest game of the season so far and we MUST win it. Tonight will come down to execution, and my feeling is that a loss tonight or a win tonight will roll over to the Blackhawks game next Wednesday.

Following tonight’s game we have six days to look back at the enormity of the implications of a win or a loss. Then the Blackhawks come back to town. All-Star week is a weird week for sure. For the Avalanche it means two games six days apart both at home and the crux of our season on the line. With all of the injuries the Avalanche have had offensively and defensively this season, it’s a wonder we’ve done this well. But every player on this team knows that there are no excuses in hockey, you just go out as a team and play hard. The fact that such a mentality is present on such a young team (increasingly younger with each injury and call-up) is amazing. The fact that the Avalanche have stayed competitive in a tough division is also worth noting. The Blackhawks are another young team that has stayed competitive in a division that’s as thick (maybe thicker) top to bottom as ours is, and games between two such teams almost always come down to emotional play. If the Avs spend a week hung over from a loss in a big game, they lose to Chicago at home as the ‘Hawks try to start a seven game road trip off on the right foot. If the Avs spend a week feeling good about a big win at home with another home game to come, they jump on Chicago early and send them off on the rest of their brutal road trip with a loss. But I’m here to predictify the unknownicles, and so I shall.

1/24 vs. Minnesota Wild

Because it’s such a huge game, because the puck has not bounced our way the last few games, because our team is wrought with young talent that is sure to be emotionally charged going in, I say we win the damn game. It’s going to be close, and it might go to OT, giving Minnesota (at least) one point that I would rather they not have. (That point would mean that the Wild would join the Flames at the two-spot in the division.) But I’m calling it a 3-2 regulation win with each goal being a spectacle to behold. Jose Theodore has played well these past few weeks, and it’ll likely come down to how many saves he can make. Go Jose go. Please, oh please, don’t let me down just when I’ve found it in my heart to have faith in you. Avs win 3-2.

1/30 vs. Chicago Blackhawks

Like I said, the outcome of this game will ride on the outcome of the last game. S’nuff ‘t be sid n’ that, s’nuff. Avs win 4-2.

Kenyan Martin is officially forgiven

You remember two years ago when this team imploded and right at the center was a guy name Kenyan throwing a fit.   Well I never quite got over that.  I hate it when any player places himself above the team.  I stopped hating him this year when he showed up to training camp with a body fat ratio of 13%, but I never really forgave him until last night. 

Duncan who, MVP what?  Kenyan held him to 7 for 20, stole the ball twice (including the crucial one late in the game), and 7 blocked shots.  The mighty Spurs were held to 77 points.  Before you tell me how typical this is, let me remind you, it was the Nugget’s defence.  I know, doesn’t make a lick of sense.  But it does beg a question for Popovich:

How do hold the Nugget offence to 80 points and lose?

Ripping off a good gag.

Jason. Stop.

Are you alive?. Stop.

We’ve got a search party out looking for you. Stop.

It’s Ian and Ben in a hot air balloon with a dog sled team. Stop.

Whereever you are, don’t drink the water and make sure to maintain opinions on sports. Stop.

10, 11, 12… his name is Selvin Young

During Mike Shanahan’s tenure as the coach of the Denver Broncos there had been eleven rushers who gained 100+ yards on the ground over the course of a game. On Sunday afternoon an undrafted free agent from Texas named Selvin Young became number twelve, lost five yards over carries and dropped to 98, and regained the 100+ mark two plays later, leaving the game immediately after that gain with the Broncos… dare I say it… routing the Kansas City Chiefs at Arrowhead Stadium in the month of November. It’s time to restart a couple of meters that are surprisingly telling in relation to the success of the Broncos. The first one counts up; years until the Broncos get another win at KC (the previous mark was five years.) The second counts down; games until the Broncos have another 100 yard rusher. Here’s to a win next fall at Arrowhead. (Jay Cutler throws for 300 yards and Jason Elam misses two field goals inside 40 yards before hitting a game-tying 53-yarder at the end of regulation and a game-winning 48 yarder three minutes into overtime. Elam later discusses his plans to play until he’s sixty.) And here’s to Selvin Young’s quick feet and broad field vision, may we keep that second meter counting as long as Young stays sharp. How sharp is he? Well, compared to Travis Henry’s half-wit thuggery… Mike Shanahan came out in staunch support of Henry leading into his hearing with the NFL over a positive marijuana test. I understand the concept of supporting a member of the team, especially if you really believe the test was in error, but Young is the future back of this team and even if Henry remains throughout the season I’m hoping to hear the tag “goal line back” attached to any mention of his name going forward. Aside from his brilliant performance on Sunday, a quote from Selvin Young has me dusting off my bandwagon and applying a fresh coat of paint…

“If you watch the films on those guys, they bring that safety down a lot and they send that back-side end, he plays a little soft sometimes,” Young said. “They fly. They’re a physical defense, they’re flying over the top, their defensive tackles are fitting their heads in the right gaps, so that front side is pretty much not there. If you’re going to keep running in there, you’re going to run into darkness.

“So, seeing that out of the corner of the eye, you know, coach coached it, and that’s the good thing about the zone offense. You don’t have to have just one hole. You can look and see where you want to go, pick your poison and attack it. So that back side was there.”

I haven’t decide whether to paint the big ‘#35′  in orange or blue. Suggestions are welcome.

I’ll bet noone else noticed the irony.

I’m sure I’m enlightening everyone to a new idea no one even considered.  (more…)

Temporary Theme Change

Quick design change for the Rockies. It’s a modification of a design template I’m still working on, so it’s a bit buggy in parts. But either way, it sports a fair amount of purple. Once baseball season is go over, we’ll go back to the previous design.

Do I ever write about anything substantive?

Not today.

Sorry everyone that I’ve been mostly absent from the site… I’ve been watching it, I’m just experiencing a bit of a crisis in the day job arena. Crisis meaning my day work has pretty much dried up and I’ve been taking some time to properly freak out.

I’ve made one administrative change to the site. It appears I mistakenly had it set up so that you had to register and login to comment… I didn’t intend this, as it stops many people from actually commenting. Sorry about that… it’s been changed, so while we appreciate the registration, there’s no requirement to do so in order to comment.

I’m considering making a little drive down to Dove Valley next week (assuming the work thing works itself out), and doing something I’ve always wanted to do but never lived close enough to do it- visit training camp. I’m absolutely rabid about the Broncos season starting, so hopefully I can get down there, see these guys in action, take some pictures, and  then write up a preview since the first preseason game is 18 - yes 18 - days away.

I’ve been out of town…

… Thus, I have been unable to keep up with the non-nationally televised Rockies.  And before you say “Why not just look at the stats and post about what you can glean for them?  In your infinite wisdom, surely you, the great Dan Olson, can tell exactly the type of game and how the game was won and lost just from the stats.”  You would be right. However, in my hotel, the bathroom (singular) was down the hall and around the corner.  I leave you to speculate whether or not it had internet access.  Posts shall be forthcoming as soon as I get settled back in.  In the mean time, here is an article I saw today that made me laugh: 

http://www.nfl.com/teams/story/KC/10258677

Full Disclosure

Just as a means of making sure everyone here is aware of it, ProSportsColorado has been added to the inventory of sites for Text-Link-Ads “InLinks” program… over time, you may start to see random words in these posts turn into hyperlinks, which head off to an advertiser’s site. These links aren’t random, they’re keywords that have been purchased by advertisers. With any luck, these ads will generate a bit of a trickle of income, without being obnoxious or intrusive. My only goal is to help out the authors a bit… but please know this. If at any time the promotional or advertising strategies of this blog become bothersome, intrusive, or otherwise detrimental to the community, TELL ME and we’ll cease the offending activity pronto.

Thanks for your time, back to your regularly scheduled Rockies-induced anger.