“Having moved to Colorado from Buffalo, I continue to be a Bills fan. I was unhappy with Steve Fairchild as the team’s offensive coordinator, hoping he would be replaced. Fairchild certainly would be unemployed now if it wasn’t for Colorado State’s offer. What surprises me is you praise him highly with no mention of his poor performance with the Bills. Are you being fair to local fans?”
John, Littleton
Kiz: OK. Here was a review of the 2007 Bills’ offense published in The Buffalo News: “The play-calling under former coordinator Fairchild, who is moving on to become the head coach at Colorado State, was often insipid. They rarely went downfield and were anemic in the red zone.” Ouch.
Gasol a great deal. “Trade Carmelo Anthony for Pau Gasol of Memphis. Anthony is a great shooter, but is a terrible defensive player and is only really interested in offensive rebounds. Whenever Anthony gets the ball on offense, everything stops. On the other side of the coin, Gasol is a classic team player. He’s intelligent, solid offensively, a strong rebounder and understands the value of team play. He could very well make the difference between a good and great team.”
Bob, Denver
Kiz: The staff at Kickin’ It Headquarters often hears from Denver fans who want to trade my man Melo. To which we respectfully reply: Are you kidding? Anthony is 23 years old, younger than Elgin Baylor, Bernard King and Pete Maravich were when they played in the All-Star Game for the first time.
Musgrave the main man. “Kiz, why don’t we hire Bill Musgrave as the new Broncos offensive coordinator? He’s a Colorado native, won the Gold Helmet and was a backup to John Elway. Musgrave would be a great protégé for Mike Shanahan, and probably would be another Gary Kubiak story in 10 years when Shanny retires with more Super Bowl trophies than Bill Belichick.”
Chad, Centennial
Kiz: Musgrave has done Colorado proud. But wasn’t he the quarterbacks coach for Michael Vick’s final season in Atlanta? Not sure that’s a plus on the old résumé.
Perfect prose. “You are the home-run leader who lost faith in your brilliant natural abilities and cheated to reach a dream. You are the legendary pitcher whose faith waned as the years advanced and you looked for a pharmaceutical leg up. You are the unbeaten NFL team that felt somehow insufficient, so you traded faith in your team for a by-any-means-necessary strategy. Perhaps in lieu of what champions receive for achievement under normal circumstances, these winners deserve a new trophy. Let’s call it: The Asterisk*.”
Patrick, Hollywood, Calif.
Kiz: Hello, Patrick. I hear you’re a Hollywood writer on strike. Thought you guys spent all your down time hanging with Hef at the Playboy mansion. Thanks for slumming with Kickin’ It. Now, can you please get back to work on a movie script? It’s tough on my fragile ego when the readers scribble prettier prose than I do.
Parting shot
And today’s parting shot answers a request sports writers get all the time: Name a big-time athlete who is a Hall of Famer when it comes to treating fans well.
“I have followed linebacker Junior Seau since his days in high school. I was delighted to see his one-week retirement from the Chargers end in 2006, and especially enjoyed seeing how happy he was after the AFC championship game, hugging New England’s coach. Once, we went to Seau’s restaurant in San Diego. There was Junior to greet us, and we reminisced about his days at Oceanside High.”
Jerry, Denver
