Monday High Ten

Welcome to All!  Things here at the Mile High View are still under construction as new features will be added daily, but this week we will focus on the Daily High Five (and Elway’s possible return?) Of course, as is the practice during the NFL season, Mondays are worthy of….

TEN, UP HIGH!!!

10. These are “mixed-bag” times for the Denver Nuggets.  With the tenuous nature of the Carmelo Anthony predicament, there is still much uncertainty with the future of the current roster.  It does seem that he has finally made it official that he wants to play for the Knicks and the “interweb” is loaded with interesting takes and thoughts on what might happen.  (I especially enjoyed this little round-table thing done by ESPN.)  On the court, the Nuggets got Head Coach George Karl his 1,000 win in Toronto on Friday, before falling in NYC yesterday morning to the Knicks.  Of course, there was tons of speculation with Melo back in the line-up and playing in the World’s Most Famous Arena.  Like, I mentioned last week, something with Melo is going to happen soon.  The Nuggets are finally home after a pretty disappointing 1-4 road trip.

9. When you lose the first 3 games of a 5-game road-trip, there is seemingly no way to come out on the positive side of things, right?  But in the NHL, it is possible!  With 2 overtime losses in the first 3 games on the road, the Avalanche finished up their trip with 2 awesome wins.  Back-to-back victories in Atlanta and Washington against superior teams might represent the most impressive play by the team this season.  Matty Duchene was spectacular on Friday in the ATL and Paul Stasny was equally money on Saturday in our nation’s capital.

8. Oddly enough, it was kind of a slow weekend for college basketball.  My boys from Gonzaga continue to struggle suffering another loss (to another ranked team), this time falling in South Bend to Notre Dame.  Missouri and Illinois both won (the Illini fought off a scrappy little team from Greeley last night.)  Looking ahead, we have an equally slow week of interesting games, aside from the UCSB Guachos pulling two ranked opponents in UNLV and SDSU.

The local CU Buffs are in the middle of a nine-day lay-off before facing the might Cadets from the Citadel this Friday.  The Buffs have 6 games remaining before Big 12 play kicks off, so an 11-3 or 10-4 record is actually pretty possible.

7. I actually watched a little college hockey this weekend as the very cool, “Big Chill” game in Ann Arbor, MI between UM and MSU was played outside at the “Big House” in front of 113,000-plus.  Locally the #9-ranked DU Pioneers got a win and a tie against Alaska-Anchorage, while the CC Tigers got a weekend sweep over St. Cloud State (which might just vault the Tigers back into the top 20.) 

6. Speaking of “amateur” sports, Cam Newton won the Heisman Trophy just as I was starting my highly anticipated viewing of ESPN’s 30 for 30 movie on SMU Football, called Pony Excess.  As expected, this was a super awesome flick with tons of revealing interviews with coaches, players and most importantly, the boosters.  The craziness of the SWC during the late 70s/early 80s was spotlighted with all teams put under the microscope.  However, much of the SMU issues started with the recruitment of the Pony Express backfield of Craig James and the immortal Eric Dickerson (4Runners, Chiefs’ defense anyone???).  One of the most (in)famous lines involved the fact that Dickerson might have taken a pay cut when he was drafted into the NFL by the Los Angeles Rams. 

NFL TIME!!!

5. I will never cheer against the Broncos, EVER, or want them to lose. Despite my desire for them to “fade” right into the #1 drafting spot, I was still actively cheering during yesterday’s “Debacle in the Desert” (that was mine).  Losing sucks, but when we drop to 3-10, just as the Lions and Bills “rise” to the same record, that is good, very good.

Speaking of very good; how about those New England Patriots?  Face Cutler. Face Chicago.  You’re liars, you’re fakers.  Just like the Jets.  The Saints and Falcons appear to be the class of the mediocre NFC, but things have come down to the trio of New England, Baltimore and Pittsburgh.  Let the race for home-field advantage begin!

4. The AFC West, again, got interesting as the San Diego Chargers blew out the (for now) first-place Kansas City Chiefs.  That win puts the ‘Bolts just one game behind for the divisional lead and their inevitable run back to the top of the division appears….. inevitable?  The Raiders lost again, so we got that going for us….. which is nice.

3. A December game in Arizona was not supposed to be the site for the offense’s worst outing of the year, but…..  Again, another great start, marching down the field, a good mix of run and pass, but then Kyle Orton started to flat-out stink and the ball was all greased-up.  That’s two awful games in a row for Orton.  At 3-10, the obvious Tim Tebow question has to be raised, again and again and again…. By the way, I will say it again, Knowshawn Moreno is a keeper. 

2. This Bronco defense continues to disappoint.  They looked pretty strong for much of the first-half as they tried to put back the pieces of the offenses’ continued desire to turn the ball over.  In the second half (mostly 4^th quarter) they couldn’t stop guys named, John Skelton and Tim Hightower.  No, not that guy over there, a different Hightower.  Again, Champ Bailey was the best player on the field.  Best defensive back, EVER. 

1. So, it appears that this John Elway-Front office thing is continuing to gain traction.  If this organization needs some “buzz” or a shot of positive attention, this will surely do it.  Most people caution hiring a former player (or legend) to work for their former team, but Elway is not your normal ex-player.  He has fronted several successful business ventures (keeping him in Denver since he retired) and even GM-ed the Colorado Crush to an Arena League title.  Throw in his familiarity with the team, Dove Valley, Pat Bowlen and most importantly, the fans, and the hire seems more and more like a no-brainer.

ONE LOVE