Championship Sunday

NFL Thoughts of the Day:


1. The TV networks got what they had hoped for in the Superbowl XLVI: A rematch of New England and New York. They couldn't have hoped for two bigger markets to make tons of money from.

But for anyone who is from neither Boston or New York, this repeat of Superbowl XLII is the last thing you wanted. No matter what sport it is, if teams from Boston and New York are playing each other in a big game all you will hear about from any sports media outlet is how great either Boston or New York is. How they are the best sports towns in the country. The Boston-New York Rivalry may be the most boring thing in sports to other fans.

But everyone, including myself, will still watch the game. I hate having to choose to root for either a team from Boston or from NYC. Though, I will have to choose the lesser of two evils and root for New York to win the Superbowl again. Eli Manning is a stand up guy and a clutch Quarterback (possibly even better than his brother), and there would be nothing worse than seeing New England win another Superbowl.

2. I bet the Harbaugh household is having a pretty crappy night right now. No other brothers have lost Championship games on the same day as head coaches.

Jim Harbaugh did have a fantastic season as a first year coach in the NFL. He took an awful 6-10 49ers team and brought them to within one score of going to the Superbowl. The Niners are going to be great for years to come, and Jim Harbaugh showed a lot of class after the game. Harbaugh shook Manning's hand and said to him "Congratulations. Go win it. Go win it."

3. Who do you think feels worse today? Baltimore's kicker Billy Cundiff who missed a game tying kick as time ran out? Or The Niner's back-up punter returner Kyle Williams who fumbled away the ball in OT to put the Giants in field goal range?

4. Tom Brady and Bill Belichick must be thrilled to see Manning and the Giants again and get their revenge from Superbowl XLII. It's like "The Empire Strikes Back", as Belichick and the Patriots try to avenge the loss of the Death Star which was destroyed by Manning and his Rebels.

5. I wonder how Peyton Manning feels right now. His biggest rival, The Patriots, are playing his little brother in the Superbowl. And it's all going down in "The House that Peyton Built" in Indianapolis. Must sting a little to see that on your home field.

Attendance Rates

Denver is lucky to be one of only eight cities in the country to have all five professional sports leagues in the US. Considering that Denver is one of the smallest markets in all the leagues, it says a lot about Colorado sports fans that Denver can support all 5 teams successfully.

	MLS	NFL	MLB	NBA	NHL
Boston	Revolution	Patriots	Red Sox	Celtics	Bruins
Chicago	Fire	Bears	Cubs, White Sox	Bulls	Blackhawks
Denver	Rapids	Broncos	Rockies	Nuggets	Avalanche
Dallas	FC Dallas	Cowboys	Rangers	Mavericks	Stars
D.C.	DC United	Redskins	Nationals	Wizards	Captiols
New York	Red Bulls	Giants, Jets	Yankees, Mets	Knicks, Nets	Rangers, Devils, Islanders
Philadelphia	Union	Eagles	Phillies	76ers	Flyers
San Francisco	Earthquakes	49ers, Raiders	Giants, Athletics	Warriors	Sharks

This got me thinking about attendance rates and how the Broncos have sold out every home game since I can remember. So I found the attendance statistics for Denver's 5 pro teams to see how well Denver sports are at drawing fans, and I was impressed.

	Rapids	Broncos	Rockies	Nuggets	Avalanche
Average Attendance for most recent complete season	14,838	75,327	35,923	16,901	14,820
Average Percent of Stadium Filled	82%	99%	71%	88%	82%

I then wondered how Denver's attendance statistics compared to the other 7 cities who have all five pro sports. I found the average attendance for each major sports team in each market, and calculated how full each stadium is on average for each team. I then averaged all the teams in each city together to get the attendance rates listed below.


San Francisco is a bit funky because nearly every team was at 100%, but the San Jose Earthquakes were at 115%. For some reason the average attendance at a SJE game is larger than the total capacity of their stadium...

Also, NY has nine teams. Some are well attended (like the Giants, Yankees, and Red Bulls) and others are not well attended (like the Nets and Islanders). This is why NY is below Colorado because some of these rates really dragged them down. If I only included the best attendance records from each sport, NY would be at the top. Oh, the tyranny of choice...too many teams for New Yorkers to choose from!

City	Attendance rate
Philadelphia	95.3%
San Francisco	93.8%
Boston	91.9%
Chicago	89.4%
Denver	84.5%
New York	84.1%
D.C.	80.7%
Dallas	79.7%

I was disappointed to see Boston above Denver in this list. I don't think Boston should be better than us at anything.

I then calculated simply average attendance by all five sports (not considering stadium capacity). Dallas skyrocketed to near the top of the list because of the enormity of New Cowboy Stadium. NY also went to the top simply because they have so many teams in the area. I was happy to see Denver above Boston, mostly because of the poor attendance of Revolution games.

City	Attendance
New York	34,614
Dallas	33,986
San Francisco	33,877
Philadelphia	33,462
Denver	31,562
Boston	31,174
D.C.	30,606
Chicago	30,266

Here's the attendance rate for other cities whose sports teams I follow, but don't have all 5 pro teams.

I wasn't surprised to see that the Timbers in Portland had nearly a 100% attendance rate, but I was shocked to see that the Trail Blazers in PDX had the 2nd best attendance in the NBA during the 2010-11 season!

Seattle would have been close to 100%, but the Mariners really hurt the city by having only a 48% attendance rate compared to the Seahawks and Sounders who are close to 100%.

City	Attendance rate
Portland	98%
Buffalo	92.3%
Seattle	82.7%

	MLS	NFL	MLB	NBA	NHL
Portland	Timbers			Trail Blazers
Buffalo		Bills			Sabres
Seattle	Sounders	Seahawks	Mariners

South Stander Edition #9

Broncos Thoughts of the Week:


*A quick summary/wrap up because it's too depressing to write more about the end of a great season*


Per usual, the Broncos were blown out of the playoffs. There were flashbacks to the Indianapolis games of the early 2000s, but Peyton Manning never tore us apart the way Tom Brady and New England did this year.

It was surely not the result Broncos fans had hoped for - a competitive game would have been better than the 45-10 drubbing we received. But considering the beginning of the season, this year was a huge success.

I went back and read the pre-season predictions from all the sports writers around the country. Most people predicted Denver would finish last in the AFC West, with between 3-5 wins. Some local Denver writers predicted a 7 to 8 win season. Certainly no one had predicted winning the West and a playoff game.

Sure, those predictions never mean much come the end of the season. But it shows what an amazing season Denver had and how quickly our team has begun to improve. Had anyone predicted at the beginning of the year that Denver would beat Pittsburgh in the playoffs would have been laughed out of a job.

This will be a season to be remembered by all fans. I would personally rank it third, behind the two Superbowl winning seasons as seasons that I can remember.

My top three favorite moments from the season were:

3. Jets at Broncos on Thursday Night Football.

2. Bears at Broncos overtime.

1. The Overtime catch against Pittsburgh to win the playoff game.

South Stander Edition #8

Broncos Thoughts of the Week:

Midway through the second quarter against Pittsburgh a sign appeared over Mile High Stadium. This wasn't an airplane pulling a banner or a skydiver with a flag.

Fans all over the stadium were point to the sky. The man and woman next to me gasped. I heard others saying it was a sign.

I said to my dad, jokingly, "This proves God is a Bronco's fan," referencing the infamous bumper stickers.

For about a minute, a halo of smoke hung over the stadium.

I believed the Broncos were going to go on to win their first playoff game since 2006. 

But as with any miracle, Denver would not accomplish a great feat with out first facing adversity.

In the second half, Denver would only score one field goal and Pittsburgh would tie the game at 23 after a costly fumble by Willis McGahee that allowed the Steelers to score the equalizing touchdown.

Denver would then have to face a furious Steeler's offense as they tried to get into field goal position in the final seconds. It was a scene Bronco's fans were used to seeing their own team doing. Driving down-field in the waning seconds of the game. But the defense held, and pushed Rothelisburger back to his own side of the field. These Broncos would not be beaten on a hail mary, and on to overtime we went.

It is fitting that this Broncos team, who had won 3 overtime games this season, would play the first game in NFL history under the new overtime rules that allow each team to get a possession unless the first team scores a touchdown on the initial drive. Denver won the coin flip and got the ball.

The man in front of me stood up, and pointed to his watch. Today, overtime, would be known as 'Tebow Time' he announced to our section. Steelers fans threw taunts at him. The little boy in the Steelers hat behind me yelled at him 'Tebow can suck it!"

All day the Steelers had been stacking the box against Denver's run. "There's no way we can run against this defense. They have all 11 guys within 10 yards of the line of scrimmage," a friend texted me earlier in the game. And sure enough to start overtime, Pittsburgh brought nearly all their defenders to the line. And Mike McCoy, Denver's offensive coordinator called the perfect play.

Denver had run on all but one first down play during the game, and Pittsburgh assumed they would do it again. The ball was snapped, all defenders but one ran to the line of scrimmage. Tebow faked the hand off perfectly to McGahee and threw a beautiful ball 20 yards down-field to Thomas who had one man to beat and then a sea of green grass that Broncos love so much in front of him.

Thomas stiff armed the defender, broke free, and ran 80 yards into the endzone.

11 seconds into overtime and Denver had won a playoff game the entire nation had predicted them to lose.

"The crowd has lost their minds" screamed Dave Logan, as the Denver radio announcers laughed in disbelief. 

Mile High shook in celebration, just like the old days. That old Mile High Magic was back, and showed that no matter what, Denver will always be a football town. And just like it should be, there was The Duke of Denver himself, John Elway running onto the field, fist pumping for joy just like when he used to lead these come-back wins.

This was one of the best games of football ever played in Denver.

The Mile High Miracle, led by the Mile High Messiah, Tim Tebow.

Drew Litton Comic of the Week:

Beer of the Week:

For celebrating the Bronco's win, Sierra Nevada Celebration Ale is my new favorite! It's a fresh hopped beer that is very hoppy and bitter. A pleasant surprise compared to other holiday ales that are usually very malty.

Game Winning Replay of the Week:

Here is the Conan O'Brien version of how Denver beat Pittsburgh.

Here is the real TV Replay.

And here is the 850 KOA Radio Call.

Tebow Video of the Week:

I know it's old, but it fits this week.

Rapids Thoughts of the Week:

Big news coming out of DSG Park this week! Rapid's have hired a new coach, Oscar Pareja, a former MLS Best XI. Pareja has been on the coaching staff with FC Dallas, and the job in Colorado will be his first head coaching position.

“I am honored to join such a great organization like the Colorado Rapids, and want to thank everyone at Kroenke Sports & Entertainment for the opportunity.” said Pareja. “This is a dream come true, and I am excited to get started at the Player Combine this weekend and the SuperDraft next week. We already have a great team and everyone is optimistic about what we can achieve this season and beyond," said Pareja at his press conferece.

The Rapids have also announced their schedule for 2012, with the home opener on Saturday March 10th against the Columbus Crew. The Rapids will also play RSL once at home and twice in Salt Lake for the Rocky Mountain Cup. The Portland Timbers will come to Colorado twice, and Montreal, the expansion team, will also visit DSG Park.

Avalanche Thoughts of the Week:

The Avs are on a two game losing skid, but have won seven out of their last ten. They also possess winning records both at home and away. 

The Avalanche have been a very streaky team this season, winning many in a row and losing many in a row. Let's hope that the current 2 game losing streak doesn't last much longer.

The Avs will play the second half of a home-home series against the Predators in Nashville this Thursday. This game will be important for Colorado to keep pace with a team slightly ahead of them in the standings.

Center, Ryan O'Rielly, had the Avalanche's lone goal against Nashville in Denver and is continuing his streak of leading the Avalanche in points.

Nuggets Thoughts of the Week:

After losing their first home game of the season to New Orleans, the Nuggets came back and beat the Nets in Denver 123-115. Denver is proving to have depth on it's roster in this abreviated season, but is still looking to find a good groove. 

The Nuggets will face a big challenge as Miami comes to town this week, and the Nuggets will hope to hand them their second loss of the season.

Cheerleader of the Week:

Maxim posted a great photo-shoot of the Broncos Cheerleaders a few years back and it's worth looking at again.

The South Stander Edition #8

Broncos Thoughts of the Week:


The Broncos-Bears game was looking miserable as the fourth quarter rolled around. Seconds into the final quarter the Broncos were trailing 10-0. Tebow only completed 3 passes til then, Thomas and Decker dropped six catchable balls between the two of them, and a field goal was blocked by the Bears defense. As I sat in the South Stands with my dad and listened to the thousands of Chicago fans cheering in our stadium I felt as if the game was lost.

All photos from the game complements of The Denver Post

But as the fourth quarter began one of the regular Broncos fan sitting in front of us stood up and starting pointing to his watch and telling all the Bears fan's that it was Tebow Time...they had better watch out.

I will admit that I was not believing the Broncos would find a way to win this game, especially after a couple more stalled drives and punts. With three minutes left in the game though this guy was still pointing at his watch. He kept telling us it was Tebow Time and that we all had to believe. The Bears fans heckled him, telling him our clock was 10 seconds slow, referring to the 10-0 score.

2:30 left in the game Tebow was driving the Broncos. I thought back to the Miami game and how we came back from 15-0 in the waning minutes...maybe it could happen again?

Tebow threw a TD pass to Thomas in the corner of the south endzone, 10-7...I thought if we just got the onsides kick we'd have a shot at tying the game. If we didn't get it though, the Bears could practically run out the clock. Onsides kick bounces around and tempts the fans as both teams scramble for it, but the Bears ultimately recovered it. 2:08 remaining. The Bears run one play, then two minute warning. On second down the Bears running back inexplicably runs to the sideline and is pushed out of bounds. Clock stops at 1:55. Third down and the defense makes a big stop, forcing the Bears to punt. Broncos get the ball back with about a minute left and no timeouts.

Our believer in the South Stands is still pointing at his watch, smiling, as he tells all of us in the section that he believes. Bears fans still heckle him...there's no way we can score with no timeouts left against their defense. Tebow drives the Broncos 39 yards and with 8 seconds left the Broncos are 43 yards from their own endzone and call on Matt Prater to make a 59 yard field goal.

Prater boots the ball through the uprights and it could have been good from 70 yards. 59 yard field goal. Game tied 10-10, end of regulation.

At this point I am sure that the entire nation is watching the events that are unfolding in Broncos Country. This has become a regular occurrence for us. The Mile High Magic is back, and has it's clocks set to Tebow Time.

The Bears win the OT coinflip. The Bears drive into field goal range. The Bears' running back breaks through a hole in Denver's defensive line and looks like he clear through to the endzone. The Bears running back then fumbles the ball. Denver recovers. A miracle? Maybe for some...but this type of inexplicable play has become common place for our Broncos. Tebow completes nearly all his passes. The receivers suddenly can barely miss a ball. And Matt Prater drives another field goal half the length of the field (51 yards) to win the game.


Sorry Dallas, but Denver has taken your title of America's Team. Nearly every TV in the nation was tuned into Tebow-Time. Whether you love him or hate him, it's a great story that the sports world has never seen the likes of. Tim Tebow and the Denver Broncos are now 7-1 since the "Mile High Messiah" took over the team and are on a 6 game winning streak with 6 fourth quarter comebacks, 3 of which involved overtime.

And now Chicago, you know what fans from Miami, Oakland, Kansas City, San Diego, New York, and Minnesota recently discovered. The Broncos are for real, and you won't believe it til the final minutes of the game. Denver is now in sole possession of first place in the AFC West, so look out NFL, America's Team is stampeding towards the playoffs.

Beer of the Week:


The Odysseus IPA from Deschutes, is a pub exclusive only found at the Deschutes Tap Rooms in Oregon. It was so good that a few weekends ago when I was there I drank three of them. A very citrusy and delicious IPA. I wish I could get it in Colorado!

Drew Litton Comic of the Week:


The Broncos other new nickname: The Cardiac Kids.

More Broncos New from around the Sports Media:


Rick Reilly, ESPN

"The other day, before the Minnesota game, we were in the tunnel, about to come out," says Broncos punter Britton Colquitt. "And somebody farted. It was bad. And Coach Fox goes, 'Man, I guess somebody's nervous!' It just broke us all up, got us loose. That's what he's like. … I just met him this year and I feel like I've known him 20 years."


Dave Krieger, Denver Post:

Dead in the water, scoreless through three and a half quarters, the Broncos trailed the Bears 10-0.

Or, in the immortal words of former offensive lineman Keith Bishop, they had them right where they wanted them.

Cheerleader of the Week:


Lauren is this week's Cheerleader, just like she was also featured at Sunday's game at Mile High.