Two Denver teams kick off their seasons in the next three days. And one of them could have a serious impact.
One team has quietly been busy, making more moves and more preparations than any other in its league. The other team talked a lot about not really doing much.
One team, the Rockies, has been pegged by many to finish at or near the bottom of the National League’s West Division, perhaps the worst division in Major League Baseball. And, as it was last year, the team remains in a so-called youth-centered rebuilding process.
The other team, the Colorado Rapids, finished at .500 last year, qualified for the postseason, won a playoff series, then lost to the eventual Major League Soccer champion Los Angeles Galaxy.
And since then, the Rapids have done more to improve than any other MLS squad. The Rapids picked up Clint Mathis, a 2002 U.S. national team standout, from rival Real Salt Lake and retained Joe Cannon as the highest-paid goalkeeper in MLS. And the team’s star, midfielder Pablo Mastroeni, has improved in health and play enough to be on the short list for the U.S.’ World Cup roster.
Then, the team traveled to Florida, Mexico and Spain for a busy set of preseason matches, including a 1-0 loss to A.C. Bilbao of La Liga, Spain’s top division.
The MLS’ Western Conference should again see FC Dallas and the Galaxy among its leaders. But the Rapids seem poised to improve upon its 2005 record enough to make a run toward the MLS Cup. They start the season on the road Sunday at 5:30 p.m. against the Houston Dynamo.
The Rockies start their season Monday at Coors Field, a 2:05 p.m. game against the Arizona Diamondbacks.
WEAK IN REVIEW
So NASCAR fined Jeff Gordon $10,000 for a postrace shove on Matt Kenseth after Sunday’s Food City 500 in Bristol, Tenn., but no fines were leveled at Kenseth for bumping Gordon’s car in the final lap, knocking Gordon from third place to 21st. And eventual winner Kurt Busch wasn’t fined for swapping paint with Kenseth with four laps to go. Apparently playing bumper cars at nearly 200 mph isn’t nearly as bad as a playground shove. Add Kevin Harvick’s postrace name-calling of Busch, and what these drivers really need is detention, as in, they’re all acting like 13-year-olds.
WHAT WE’D LIKE TO SEE
A serious inquiry into Barry Bonds’ alleged steroid use. Major League Baseball said Thursday it will hire former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell to be a 21st century Kenesaw Mountain Landis and head an investigation into the beleaguered slugger. Of course, it wasn’t long ago MLB whined that politicians had no business poking their noses in baseball affairs after Congress held hearings into drug use in sports. Now, MLB has a mess too big for its britches and can’t handle the cleanup itself. Might as well be 1919 all over again.
THE COUCH
ON: On Saturday, 11th-seeded George Mason can solidify itself as more than a simple Cinderella in a game against No. 3 Florida. The 1986 LSU team was the only other No. 11 seed to reach a Final Four. But some fans still consider Loyola-Marymount’s run through the 1990 tournament and North Carolina State’s improbable championship in 1983 better stories than the Patriots’ current campaign. All that could change if George Mason, a 5 1/2-point underdog, can upset again. The game tips off at 4:07 p.m. on CBS, with the LSU-UCLA game to follow at 6:47 p.m.
OFF: Odd that as soon as the snowiest month of the year arrives, we have to start rushing to the mountains before ski areas start closing. But with Aspen Highlands, Buttermilk, Cooper and Telluride, among others, closing Sunday, and Steamboat, Beaver Creek, Copper, Keystone and Winter Park shutting down in the next two weeks, time is dwindling to enjoy the snow.
AROUND TOWN
Worried that the Avalanche dropped from first place in the Northwest Division to second, and from the third seed in the Western Conference to the fifth seed? Fear not, because like Colorado weather, things change daily. The Avs and Calgary Flames are seesawing back and forth at the top of their division. And with Vancouver, Anaheim and Edmonton right behind in the conference standings, just two games could swing the Avs from having home-ice advantage in the first round of the playoffs to missing the postseason entirely. Just four points separate the Avs with the eighth-seeded Oilers. And seven of the 11 games remaining on the Avs’ schedule pit them against teams contending for the playoffs. That crucial stretch begins Sunday at the Pepsi Center against Edmonton at 7 p.m.
