Carmelo Anthony, John Elway, Larry Walker, Ray Bourque – they all made the cover of Sports Illustrated. Even Jake Plummer, Paul Silas and Eric Messier hit the front page of the 54-year-old glossy wearing local uniforms.
Michael Westbrook? Check. The Colorado wide receiver had his miracle catch in Michigan immortalized (next to a clear shot of future jailbird Rae Carruth) on Oct. 3, 1994. And Rich Karlis and Gary Kubiak are two feet off the ground on their cover, from Jan. 19, 1987, after Karlis’ bare-footed field goal downed Cleveland in the AFC title game.
After the current issue hits newsstands, add Denver East basketball standout Sean Ogirri to the list. The Wichita State Shockers, with a full-page photo of their sophomore guard driving past a Tennessee defender, are one of six teams on regional covers of SI’s March 27 issue.
A pox on the cover jinx myth; making SI’s front is straight impressive.
Ogirri joins a short list of homegrown players to make the SI cover. LenDale White, Jeremy Bloom, Ann Strother, Tom Chambers, Darnell McDonald – all were written about inside SI, but never photographed for the cover.
Among those who were: Arvada High grad Don Yowell, a forward for Colorado, has his hands up playing some kind of defense against Kansas’ Danny Manning on the Feb. 17, 1986, cover.
The most prolific local cover subject must be Boulder’s Hale Irwin, who was featured on the front after each of his three U.S. Open titles. Oddly, Irwin’s clothing style didn’t change much from 1974 to 1979 to 1990.
And Irwin’s brother Phil Irwin, then a linebacker at Colorado, can be seen in a close-up photo on the Oct. 5, 1970, cover tackling a Penn State player after the Buffs beat the No. 4 Nittany Lions.
WEAK IN REVIEW
The Chicago Tribune on Thursday reported that, according to Fox Sports, the network’s Sunday broadcast of the NASCAR Golden Corral 500 in Atlanta drew more than twice as many viewers than NBC’s coverage of the Lakers (Kobe Bryant) versus the Cavs (LeBron James). The problem being the NASCAR event was rained out, forcing Fox to air interviews and reruns of last year’s race.
WHAT WE’D LIKE TO SEE
A full-on Yakov Smirnoff comeback. Or maybe the return of Ivan Drago to the upcoming new “Rocky” sequel. With a week full of red-tinted sports news, not much is left. Cuba unexpectedly made a run to the title game of the World Baseball Classic, and the University of Colorado announced its ski team and coach Richard Rokos, who in 1981 escaped communist Czechoslovakia and defected to Detroit, will visit President Bush at the White House next month.
THE COUCH
ON: Two-time defending champion Denver bowed out, but WCHA brethren Colorado College is still alive in the NCAA hockey tournament and has moved out of the Pioneers’ shadow. The Tigers (24-15-2) earned their 10th tournament bid in the past 12 seasons and will play in the Midwest Regional semifinal at the University of Wisconsin-Green Bay’s Resch Center at 3:30 p.m. Saturday against Cornell (21-8-4). Two Hobey Baker Award finalists (college hockey’s equivalent of the Heisman Trophy) in forwards Marty Sertich and Brett Sterling will lead CC. And the winner advances to face the survivor of the other semifinal between Bemidji State of Minnesota and No. 1-seeded Wisconsin. The only stop after that is the Frozen Four. Saturday’s game airs live on Altitude.
OFF: If this week’s seemingly endless snowfall made you stir-crazy, relief is in sight. A serious adventure race Saturday offers a worthy outdoor task. The Lonely Lizard Challenge kicks off at 9 a.m. in Fort Collins for a team or individual trail run, paddle through icy water, ride on a single track and negotiate an inverted traverse. Check out urbanadventures.us for more information.
AROUND TOWN
With the Pistons, Spurs and Mavs holding court with more than 50 wins, and the Suns and Heat bearing down on that mark, the Nuggets have quickly become the NBA’s best team in March. The Nugs are 9-3 this month, with eight wins coming on the road against teams who, by all measures, should not have lost. But Denver stole wins against Philadelphia, Indiana and Toronto before returning home Wednesday to defeat the Spurs. But things don’t get easy for Melo and crew. A date tonight at 7 p.m. against Seattle at the Pepsi Center could be a doozy, especially with the Nuggets flying straight to Phoenix for a game Saturday against the Suns.
