Hole Punch Sports

Saturday the 31st is the tenth anniversary of the Denver Broncos’ 34-19 win over the Atlanta Falcons in Super Bowl XXXIII. The Broncos’ 1998 season was the stuff of legends, chock-full of memorable moments. They started with a Monday night win over the New England Patriots, a game in which Terrell Davis never really got untracked, but where John Elway boot-legged his way to a good passing night in a solid win. The next night my little brother and I were in the Tattered Cover in Denver getting Davis’ book, TD: Dreams in Motion , autographed by the man himself and Adam Schefter, who was then with the Denver Post and had, uh, helped write the book. Some people seemed genuinely concerned for Davis, who had failed to go over 100 yards the night before, though he could not have been cooler or less concerned about it. Plus there was one nerd there who actually said something to Schefter. Yeah, me. On the way home that night we heard that Mark McGwire had hit his record-breaking 62nd home ru...

Sorry, folks, but it’s going to be short. I think the Pittsburgh Steelers will win Sunday’s Super Bowl (4:28 p.m. Mountain, NBC). I like the Arizona Cardinals and have pulled for them in the NFC playoffs. I think they were underrated during much of the postseason and they’ve had a great run. Unfortunately, as far as reasons for picking them in this game go, I don’t really have any. Sure, they’ve got a heck of an offense— 4th in the NFL in yardage this year, and only San Diego scored more points. They have fine receivers, like the unstoppable Larry Fitzgerald…but in years past everyone said no one would stop Steve Smith, who’s maybe not the best teammate on the planet but a force in the postseason who always got stopped somewhere along the line. I like Fitzgerald more than Smith, if you can’t tell, but anyway my point is I don’t think he’s going to carry this team to an upset win. Kurt Warner’s good, too, but Big Ben is the best quarterback in the NFL when Tom Brady’s not playing,...

My wish has come true: the Arizona Cardinals and Pittsburgh Steelers will play in the Super Bowl this year. I really hope it's good. Both of today's conference championships followed the same pattern, except the AFC game was infinitely more boring: one team was in control handily in the first half, then allowed the other guys back in late before sealing the deal. In both cases the team that played the better game won. The Ravens didn't really show me anything that hinted as to why they were in the AFC Championship in the first place (though perhaps it's asking too much to expect them to have a mural of Tom Brady getting hurt on their sideline). Good for them that they made it, but they're as lame to watch for any Raven-non-partisan as any other Baltimore team of recent vintage. The Eagles played the way they usually do in NFC Championship games, which is to say they played inexplicably poorly, although by now I guess it's to be expected. It honestly makes no ...

Here's a fun article on ESPN.com, detailing Bill Romanowski's attempts to get a job with the Denver Broncos, or to have a meeting with them, or something. Some highlights: Bill Romanowski said he had a meeting with new Denver Broncos coach Josh McDaniels to discuss nutrition. Romanowski said he's been contacted by Broncos owner Pat Bowlen to come in for a meet-and-greet early next week with the 32-year-old coach who replaced Mike Shanahan. Broncos vice president of public relations Jim Saccomano told ESPN on Thursday night the Broncos had no knowledge of a meeting with Romanowski. So he had a meeting, and he thinks he's got another one, but the Broncos don't really agree with him on that, so we'll see. Anyway, Romo wants to talk about nutrition, huh? I definitely remember Romo the fitness nut, but I also seem to recall a Romo who went above and beyond... 'There's another level on where to take a team when it comes to the way it trains,' said ...

The Denver Broncos have hired Josh McDaniels, an assistant member of the New England Patriots' disgraced coaching staff, as their new head coach. For more details on the man, see McDaniels' Wikipedia page . If I'm reading it right, McDaniels had a different job during each of New England's Super Bowl-winning seasons, serving as a personnel assistant, defensive coaching assistant, and quarterbacks coach. That's not quite the same as being a "head coach" or "offensive coordinator" during that time, you know, though he did serve in the second capacity during New England's most recent Super Bowl appearance, a loss in which the team's vaunted, record-breaking offense scored just 14 points. Of course, one reason the Broncos went with such a young coach—McDaniels is 32, which means we probably had some of the same toys as kids—is that they still have eight figures in obligations to their living legend, the recently-terminated Mike Shanahan. Ye...

First things first: did any of you watch the end of that Florida-Oklahoma national championship game? I was woken up by a phone call in the fourth quarter, when the game was 14-all and the Gators were driving for a field goal, and I caught the end from there. I gotta say, it was pretty anticlimactic. I had the sound off (busy catching up on CES), but I just could not get into it. Florida hits the three. Oklahoma drives, easy-as-you-please, until a safety or whatever steals the ball out of a receiver's hands for the pick. Then Florida drives down the field, taking their sweet time, and scores a touchdown. I mean, the interception was a nice play (the receiver looked a little careless in slow-mo but not sure I would've done any better) but most of it was pretty lame considering the stakes. What did you think? As for the NFL, I am incredibly heartened by the performance of the Arizona Cardinals. How can you not like the Cardinals? It's not like they've been dominating you...

It's been just over a week, but I still can't believe the truth: the Mastermind, Mike Shanahan, is out as coach-and-everything-else of the Denver Broncos. It's going to be WEIRD having a different coach on the sidelines next season. Anyway, I don't know where to start, so we'll start with a missive from a (former) reader: So, what do you think of the Shanahan firing?  What, if any, impact did Shanahan’s promise in training camp to not miss the playoffs this year have on [Broncos owner Pat] Bowlen’s decision?  Do you think Bowlen attempted to compromise (like remove Shanahan’s personnel responsibilities and having him be just the Head Coach) with Shanahan and he refused to relinquish any of his power?  In the press conference, it seemed like Bowlen was reluctant to let Shanahan leave, so it would seem logical to me that he would have tried to keep him with a reduced level of responsibility.  Anyway, what’s your take? First, Bowlen said the disappointing end to th...