Hole Punch Sports

There's too much negativity on Hole Punch Sports sometimes. Dirk Nowitzki chokes this, only your brother reads that...so without further adieu, I give you Denver's ten greatest athletes of my lifetime. I decided against pretending I know how good Frank Tripucka was. (For the record, I was born in 1982.) 10. Rod Smith. Smith drops too many passes and was never as popular as running mate Ed McCaffrey, but he gets the edge here on longevity and consistency. He's had at least one thousand yards receiving in eight of the last nine seasons. And despite his sometimes-faulty hands, Smith has made plenty of big catches, my favorite being his 80-yard touchdown in Super Bowl XXXIII. Plus, just about everyone considers Jerry Rice the best receiver of all time, but Smith even beat him out for a roster spot one year. True story! 9. Todd Helton. Helton has had the misfortune of playing on some truly awful teams. He's both a fantastic fielder and amazing slugger, and he's always ...

You win some and you lose some. On the day Carmelo signed a five year, $80 million extension , the Nuggets may have lost both Greg Buckner and Francisco Elson . The horror. It's hard to criticize signing Melo or letting the other guys leave. Well, Carmelo's not really worth max money, but how many in the NBA are? Even if you count borderline guys, you've got Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett, Shaq, Dwyane Wade, LeBron, Kobe, and Allen Iverson, tops. Wade, Duncan and LeBron are the closest to sure things. That said, the Nuggets would be in pretty sad shape if he left. Buckner and Elson are odd cases. Buckner doesn't do anything on offense, defense, special teams, off the bench, or in the community. When you hear that the Nuggets need an outside shooter, it's because Greg Buckner is a pro basketball player (a shooting guard, even) who can't shoot. I don't know about you, but I'd consider that a remarkable concept, if it wasn't so commonplace. Yet the champions...