January 17, 2007

Loserville,
Elevation 5,280 ft.

The answer, “It’ll be tough.”  The question?  Can a Colorado team

beat anyone that’s not from Colorado besides the Oakland Raiders?    

College football ended its season last week (finally).  The gasbag educators making up the NCAA power structure took a hiatus from their usual baloney “We’re only here to protect the student-athlete” and extended the college football season into mid-January to gorge on TV dollars.     

One could be excused for believing there were more bowl games than teams.  But, from the Poinsettia to the Papa Johns Bowl, not a team from our Centennial State was an invitee.  In fact the folks in charge at both the Motor City and Champ Sports Bowls picked Middle Tennessee, Central Michigan, South Florida and East Carolina rather than a school from you know where preferring direction schools to anything people with green license plates can offer. 

Our neighbors were there.  Nebraska, Oklahoma, Arizona, Utah and New Mexico had teams go bowling. Well New Mexico cheated a little.  The burghers of Albuquerque put on something called the New Mexico Bowl and invited traditional power San Jose State (I’m kidding).  Sure enough San Jose won.  Next year the Lobo’s will wise up and invite a team from a state just to their north where the four Division I football schools went a combined 11-37.   

Hopefully, the men’s basketball season will be better.  And, so far, albeit ever so slightly, it is.    Air Force is nationally ranked. Yeah Zoomies!  At CSU the wins outnumber losses but scheduling, among others, Regis, Pueblo, Chattanooga and Montana State-Northern could lead to suspecting the Rams of padding the schedule. Among the other three Division I schools, DU, UNC and CU, the combined record, as of Sunday, was 9-39 but only four of those wins came against hoopsters from outside Colorado. At CU, the situation is particularly dire.  Two weeks ago Texas came into Boulder, started 4 freshmen, and won by almost thirty.  The Buffaloes are a lock for last in Big 12 hoops.  

So, you say, Coloradoans aren’t that big on college sports unless it involves teams from wherever they used to call home like the Nittany Lions, Hawkeyes or Bugeaters.  We’re into pro sports.  There the landscape is almost as bleak.    

The just ended Bronco season, where our orange and blue couldn’t hold a lead in the fourth quarter, lost 5 of their last seven, and still were in the playoffs had they not barfed on their shoes against the lowly 49ers, might be as good as it gets.  

The Nuggets will be forced to suit up volunteers from the stands should they experience another injury or suspension.  The Avalanche are either first in their division, or last, it depends on the day of the week.  They play in hockey’s weakest, the Northwest, but promise to make an early exit from the playoffs even if lucky enough to sneak in.  

The Rockies?  Oh please.  They’ll only finish over .500 by following the lead of their college brethren and scheduling long series against Regis, Metro State and CSU-Pueblo.    

Want to back a Centennial State winner?  It’s down to the Arena football league Crush or the indoor lacrosse Mammoth.  Doesn’t that just fill one up with Mile High pride?   

Maybe life was easier as a Cub fan.