Hole Punch Sports

Due to frankly incredible circumstances I missed tonight’s Broncos game, which they won over the Chargers of San Diego 34-23. Eddie Royal took a punt and a kickoff back to the house, becoming the only Bronco ever to do so in a single game. It’s tough to appreciate how impressive that is. In the ’90s we often saw a stat in the Denver Post’s notes sections saying the Broncos hadn’t returned a kick for a touchdown since 1972 , a string we didn’t break until late in the 1998 season. For a franchise with returners as gifted as Darrien Gordon and Rick Upchurch it’s a little surprising that this hadn’t happened before, but congrats to Royal. Elvis Dumervil picked up his ninth and tenth sacks of the season. I think I’m finally grateful that Mr. Shanahan is out—he would never keep a pass rusher after a season like this. Anyway, what else did I miss?

Yesterday I caught an early rivalry game: the Texas-Oklahoma showdown at the Cotton Bowl. Texas beat the Sooners 16-13 in a close but not great game. The Sooners were very competitive though they were clearly a little overmatched this year. Sam Bradford went down on another routine tackle and left the game with a reinjured shoulder. I had to wonder yesterday whether the Heisman winner’s best days are already behind him. Landry Jones is doing well considering the circumstances, which should not be confused with doing well, at least compared to OU’s preseason expectations. As for Texas, I was a little impressed with Colt McCoy’s mobility, and their run game looked very good in spurts, but the defense is clearly their bread and butter. Their D reminds me of other great teams, as Oklahoma has been in the past, with monstrous, athletic defenders who appear somehow bigger than their NFL counterparts. I don’t count it against the Longhorns that this game was so close; that’s just how r...

So I’m a little late to the party, seeing as the book came out in 2006, but I just finished reading Michael Lewis’ The Blind Side , a book about many things which tells the story of Baltimore Ravens tackle Michael Oher, who started his first game on the left side of the line Sunday. That’s not only the same weekend I started reading the book, but Oher and I have nearly identical names (his last name rhymes with mine); we’re basically the same guy, right? In The Blind Side as in the outstanding Moneyball , Lewis combines fantastic reporting and storytelling to touch on a ton of fascinating topics, and in this case they include race, opportunity, and pro football. Like Moneyball , this book changes the way I think about things. In The Blind Side Lewis discusses the rise of the left tackle, sure, but also touches on the careers of players and coaches who changed the game in that direction, like Lawrence Taylor and Bill Walsh. In other words, he talks about the real stars of my childhoo...

As I watch the Rockies tie the game up in the first inning tonight and threaten to do more, I can’t stop thinking what wonderful momentum the Nuggets’ playoff run brought to our city. We ain’t quite Boston, but we’re getting there. (And it’s 2-1, Colorado.) Of course it would be absurd to suggest that Chauncey Billups can really influence that many athletes, even as great as he is, but suddenly the Denver sports scene is booming again, even in vertically-striped socks. Today I feel it almost necessary to take back every mean thing I’ve said about the Denver Broncos since they fired Mike Shanahan and traded Jay Cutler. Because this year’s team is good . Why, I don’t know. I mean, Mike Nolan, whose biggest achievement in San Fran was wearing those suits on the sideline, is doing a bang-up Joe Collier impression and putting the 3-4 back in vogue in Denver. The defense is awesome . They forced a three-and-out on New England’s first real crunch-time possession and forced a fumble on t...

Tyler Hansen, who lost his favorite red shirt Saturday, will, if all goes well, be starting at quarterback for the Colorado Buffaloes for the rest of the season . I felt bad for Hansen during the game Saturday, wondering if he was really prepared to play and if he would get much playing time down the stretch this season, or if perhaps he’d been compelled to surrender his year off for little gain. The ESPN.com article shows, however, that the coaches planned this out a little more than the ESPN broadcast crew led us to believe. (Yes, the same crew whose Brad Nessler cruelly suggested we’d learn more about the quarterback controversy by reading the Rocky Mountain News today. Ouch .) Turns out the coaches approached him before the game, and Hansen wanted to play, so it’s all good. But anyway, the term redshirt reminded me of a cool quote from the man himself, Pat Tillman, that I wanted to share (that whole article is outstanding): When the coach raised the possibility of a redsh...

For the record, I like Matt Holliday. He was a key player during the Rockies’ 2007 World Series run. Unless he does something really awful—and wanting more money is not nearly “wrong” enough for me—I’ll always be a fan. Even if I wasn’t, though, I think I’d still call the reaction to his play last night overblown. ESPN’s main story right now: “Lost Holliday.” Over on the headlines, it’s: “Holliday’s error puts Cards in 2-0 hole.” As you’ve probably heard, Holliday misjudged and dropped a low fly ball with no one on last night that would have ended the game with a 2-1 Cardinals victory. Instead, James Loney was safe on second. Casey Blake walked, then Ronnie Belliard singled to drive in the lead runner and tie the game. A passed ball moved the runners up, then another walk, then Mark Loretta singled to win the game. In other words…a ton of stuff happened to ensure a Cardinals loss. If reliever Ryan Franklin had retired either of the two batters after Holliday’s drop, St. Louis ...