Hole Punch Sports

49ers kicker Joe Nedney just beat the Broncos in overtime with a Rich Karlis-esque field goal. No playoffs this year for Denver, who lost 26-23 and finished the year at 9-7. That back-and-forth yet ultimately unsatisfying game was a microcosm of the Broncos' season. Let's take a look back at the year: Biggest hangover from last season: Loss of home-field. (Jake Plummer, of course, runs a close second.) After squandering the AFC Championship at Invesco last year, the team followed up with a 4-4 mark at home this season. Some of that was scheduling-the Broncos hosted and lost to the Colts, Seahawks, and Chargers this year-but it's pretty weird for a team that plays at such a high elevation to win more games on the road than at home. Rookie of the year: Elvis Dumervil. I said after last year's loss to Pittsburgh that our biggest need was an improved pass rush. The Broncos made major strides towards solidifying their pass defense for years to come with the fourth-round...

On ESPN today, I saw two analysts debate recent comments made by the Miami Dolphins' Jason Taylor , who suggested that San Diego Chargers linebacker Shawne Merriman perhaps shouldn't go to the Pro Bowl or win the NFL's defensive player of the year award in a year when he served a four-game suspension for steroid use. "You really shouldn't be able to fail a test like that and play in this league, to begin with," Taylor said Wednesday. "To make the Pro Bowl and all the other awards, I think you're walking a fine line of sending the wrong message." It's an interesting argument. Wait, no it isn't. Should you really win an award like that if you so blatantly cheated? Probably not. But I don't think Merriman deserves it anyway. The linked article (by the AP on ESPN.com) suggests that Merriman is Taylor's "chief rival" for the defensive player of the year award. If Taylor's candidacy makes you do a double-take, reconsid...

Sometimes, I don't know how to feel. And this is one of those times. As you either have heard or should have heard by now, you lazy know-nothing ingrate, a court of appeals recently ruled that...well, to be on the safe side, let's just quote the story : With Barry Bonds still in their sights, federal investigators probing steroids in sports can now use the names and urine samples of about 100 Major League Baseball players who tested positive for performance enhancing drugs, following a ruling Wednesday from a federal appeals court. The 2-1 decision by the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned three lower court decisions and could help authorities pinpoint the source of steroids in baseball. I don't know about this. If you don't remember, the first year of steroid testing was supposed to, according to reports at the time, be completely confidential-intended more as a survey to see how prevalent steroid use was in baseball before real testing-and punishment-b...

Have I bragged enough about the Nuggets' new guard? Allen Iverson has, not particularly surprisingly, been even better than advertised with his new team. He's been aggressively setting up his teammates and providing the team his infectious energy. The real question for the Nuggets now is: how good can they be when everyone is back in the lineup? Now, far be it from me to put limits on one of my favorite teams. If the Nuggets win the championship this season, no one will be happier than I'll be. But for all the talk of the team's newly-claimed elite status, there's one reason I don't think the Nuggets will win this year's title. That reason? The San Antonio Spurs. That's right, the Spurs. The team that's only in second place in the Southwest division behind the Dallas Mavericks-the very team that sent them home from the playoffs last year. The Spurs' winning percentage matches Utah's for merely the third-best in the conference (no longer t...

All right, I can't wait any longer. I've been trying not to jinx it, but here you are: As ESPN reported, the Denver Nuggets have finally wrapped up trade talks with the Philadelphia 76ers and acquired superstar guard Allen Iverson. Early verdict: it's a good move. No, it's a great move. Not even that. It's a tremendous move. In the short term, Iverson can pick up the scoring slack while Carmelo is out. In the long term-when Anthony comes back-the Nuggets will have two absolutely unstoppable scorers. It may cost both players a shot at the scoring title, but it'll cost opposing playoff teams so much more. Iverson is only: 1. Hands down, no question, the toughest player since Michael Jordan. (Notice I didn't include any of that "pound-for-pound" garbage, either.) 2. One of the best scorers in NBA history. You knew that, but did you really? Michael Jordan has a higher per-game scoring average than the Answer. So does Wilt. But that's it. He's a...

I still don't want to say anything until it's really official, but if you're bored, you might enjoy this article on ESPN.com.

All right, I’m listening to David Stern’s press conference right now on NBA.com. (That website did something right!) Both teams were fined five hundred thousand dollars. Carmelo Anthony was suspended for 15 games, Nate Robinson and J.R. Smith got 10 games, Mardy Collins got six, and Jared Jeffries is out for four games. Jerome James and Nene were suspended one game each for leaving the bench. “I’m going to start holding the teams accountable for the actions of their players,” Stern said of the fine to the teams. Personally, I don’t much care about the Knicks and Nuggets having to pay $500,000. The suspensions are almost uniformly too steep, which is too bad for the players, but not surprising. They had to know the NBA was going to come down hard on the next team that fights. Will Isiah Thomas be fined or suspended? "No, we have completed our fines and they're all set forth in this announcement," Stern said. He also suggested there wasn't enough evidence that Isiah des...

The Nuggets and Knicks got in a fight. (If you haven’t seen it yet, you can click on the links in the sidebar of this story , and you can find it a million other places.) 1. Thank you, Nate Robinson’s little-man complex, for escalating everything and, more importantly in my view, starting a fight that will get the league’s leading scorer suspended. I’m sure the Jazz are grateful. 2. Forget Darrent Williams. The Broncos should sign Carmelo to play cornerback, because he’s the only guy who can backpedal faster than Champ Bailey. 3. Supposedly George Karl was running up the score in honor of his friend, Larry Brown. Wait, why does Larry Brown hate the Knicks? If I was Larry Brown, I would sit front row at every Knicks game with a gigantic smile. Thanks for the eighteen million! Anyway, I’m sure the Knicks love the idea of teams using their games to show their true feelings about Brown. Sure, George Karl will run up the score from time to time, but a lot of other teams will show gratitude....

Time for part 2. Right now the NFC has seven teams with winning records, and even though only six make the playoffs, I’ll rank all of them. 7. Atlanta Falcons (7-6) Key stat: The Falcons lead the league with videogame numbers in rushing (197.7 yards per game) and yards-per-carry (5.6). Positives: Mike Vick is the best quarterback among the 7-6 teams, and Atlanta has won a few playoff games in recent years. Negatives: Possibly too many to list. They had a four-game losing streak. They’ve been outscored this year. The defensive statistics are pretty unimpressive, and even worse if you consider that teams with good ground games typically inflate their defensive statistics by controlling the ball. The passing attack is 32nd in the league. (Wait, why do I like Vick?) Outlook: Could be the odd man out, but if they’re in, it’s one-and-done. 6. Philadelphia Eagles (7-6) Key stat: Even with an unwanted quarterback change, the Eagles are third in offense. Good: Jeff Garcia has no picks in...

If the season ended today, the Broncos would miss the playoffs, which is exactly what will happen when the season does end. Despite what every player on a bubble team says-“if Pittsburgh did it last year, so could we”-a No. 6 seed is most assuredly not winning this year’s Super Bowl. Two reasons. First, Pittsburgh was remarkable precisely because they were rare-no other team ever accomplished what they did. And two, Pittsburgh would have had a much better record had Ben Roethlisberger stayed healthy. None of this year’s sixth-seed contenders match that profile. So even if a surprise team sneaks in (like, say, the Broncos), don’t expect much from them. In any event, the six AFC teams that would make the playoffs today are, in fact, the six best teams in the conference. So how do I rank the AFC’s true contenders? Like this, from worst to best: 6. Cincinnati (8-5) Key stat: They rank 32nd in passing defense. I like: The passing attack, of course, that has the Bengals sixth in the league...

As I mentioned in the comments of the last post, I don’t like how sports and capitalism mix sometimes. You can’t look for sporting news anywhere right now without stumbling across a mention of the NBA switching back to the leather basketball. Shoot, it was even on the ESPN ticker all last night during Monday Night Football. Actually, I almost have to take that back. There is one place where it’s practically a non-issue: NBA.com. Take a look-as of right now, there’s only a tiny link to “Leather Ball Reaction Page,” which I thought would be a list of glowing quotes from ecstatic players. Nope, it’s the press release of the announcement. There are no reactions whatsoever on the page, and the title is really misleading. (I almost didn't click on it since ESPN.com had a similar thing yesterday, but I'm glad I did.) Yes, NBA.com is not the New York Times , but that’s lame. Obviously, the NBA’s ashamed of the switch back for a couple of reasons-for one, the players’ complaints are em...

It's a tired topic at this point, so I'll keep it short. I'm going to argue about the teams, but it's really the system, of course, that's flawed. The real answer for determining a champion is a tournament-you know, like they have for every single other sport. But here's why I don't like the options under the current system. The problem with Florida is that their promotion to the BCS title game seems a little, how shall I say, artifical. Yes, they played a tough schedule and outside of Michigan, they're the only team left anyone can take seriously as No. 2. (Of course, Boise State is undefeated.) But it's a lovely coincidence that they just happened to cement that No. 2 status this weekend. I don't really see how that win over Arkansas proves they're better than the Wolverines. The problem with Michigan is that I can't imagine anything more unfair to the undefeated Ohio State Buckeyes. Think about it. If Ohio State had lost to Michig...

1. More on the Broncos in a sec, but if you didn't see, Al Wilson left the game on a stretcher with what the Broncos called a strained neck in the fourth quarter. There's probably more news on this somewhere else by the time you read this. Hope he's okay. 2. I caught a bit of the Giants-Cowboys game-I think this was only the second time I've seen the Giants this year, and I'm already completely sick of them. Anyway, I don't know if you can really see his visor color in this picture, but if Giants linebacker Antonio Pierce ever needs to look up Wheeljack's courage level, he can do it with his helmet on . 3. Speaking of Cowboys-Giants, you know that media savvy star who always whines about not getting the ball enough? What's his name? Tiki Barber? Yeah. He had another killer fumble this afternoon. Maybe Giants fans won't be so sad to see him go. 4. I've got no insight on Rob Bironas' 60-yarder to beat the Colts, but he's my hero. 5....