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...