Denver Post sports columnist Woody Paige posts Woody’s Mailbag on Thursdays at DenverPost.com.
To drop a question into Woody’s Mailbag or visit DenverPost.com’s . And to browse the archive of videos in Woody’s World, .
Hey, Woody. I know CU is not looking for a new football coach, but wouldn’t they be served well to hire Mike Shanahan? He would get the Buffs back to powerhouse status and also would be able to keep and live in his new Cherry Hills mansion.
— Dennis Smythe, Littleton
Dennis – Great idea. You’re like me. Solutions-oriented. But … never work.
Dan Hawkins is tied up for four or five years, and CU can’t afford, with its budget, to pay him off, and he is a good coach, and the program is on the way up, and if Shanahan wouldn’t take the Florida job, he won’t take the CU job, and he said at he is a pro coach, and he told me even before the season he never sees himself going back to college football (he was an assistant for years).
Shanahan is not a high school recruiter. He’ll take a year off, I’m sure, to play golf and lay on the beach and stick it to Bowlen for $7 million, and, as you just saw, there will be several openings next year. Or he might take the Dallas job now, if Jerry Jones makes a move. Wade Phillips is not a head coach. We found that out here. It’s possible that Wade still may take the fall because of all the stuff happening in Dallas, or he’ll come back, and if Dallas doesn’t win its first three or four games, he could get fired in ’09 and replaced by Shanny then. (Only problem is that all of the Broncos’ terminology is backward from Dallas, so Shanahan or the Cowboys will have to relearn the systems.)
Hawkins, I think, if he can find a quarterback, will win seven or eight games next year, or even nine, and be a competitor in the Big 12 North. Nebraska has to come here. He did a job at Boise State, and I believe in him, after having been around him a lot.
There was talk at one time about Larry Brown going to Boulder, and it was probably best he didn’t. Going in your direction, CU tried to get Gary Kubiak, and he turned it down. Kubiak is a good coach, but Houston isn’t going anywhere.
Hey, Woody. Since , could you use your influence with Pat Bowlen to change the uniforms to something a little more rugged? The current uniforms scream 1990s. I would be happy if they could switch back to the “Orange Crush” classics. Thanks!
— Russ, Loveland
I hate the uniforms, too, Russ. They’re Nike ’90s. Yuck.
I personally like the old uniforms, but I don’t see a change. They won the Super Bowl in these uniforms, and that means something to Bowlen. And you have to give the NFL a year’s notice on a uniform change, and I think the date has passed. And Bowlen likes them. I have no influence on him. He has no influence on me.
I think the Broncos and you are stuck with these. He wanted to get orange out of the uniform. The only reason they wear them, truthfully, is to sell more throwback jerseys. It’s all about the money. “Show me the money,” from “Jerry Maguire.”
At least get rid of that stupid stripe. Why not orange one week, blue the next? But they won’t listen to us, anymore than when I said the Avalanche jerseys stunk. I hate those Rockies black unis with no sleeves. They bulge out, and they look like a softball team. And you know the Rockies don’t listen to me. My daughter doesn’t even listen to me.
Hi, Woody. I watch you every night on ESPN’s “Around the Horn.” I wish you were the host, and Tony Reali was stuck in the box.
— Dupre, Bermuda
Dupre – Love Bermuda. I was there a couple of years ago and would live there, except I don’t think the newspaper, The Bermuda Triangle, would hire me, and “Around the Horn” wouldn’t let me do the show from there. Not much sports, but I could wear Bermuda shorts. What was the question?
Honestly, there was a bit of talk once about me hosting the show when Tony was on vacation. ESPN would never let that happen. I’m a train wreck on television. But it is an easy job. Sit there, listen to intelligent banter, then score people and mute me.
You have to forgive Tony. His apartment building burned down just before he got married. His new place still isn’t finished, and I’m sure his beautiful wife keeps saying, “Get away from me unless you mute Paige more.” Reali wants to be host of “Jeopardy” someday. Let’s hope it’s soon.
I started reading you when you were a Rocky Mountain News sports columnist. What is your take on the impending demise of the Rocky?
— John Dooley, Des Moines, Iowa
John – Thank you. I haven’t gotten a chance to say anything about it. I’m crestfallen. My industry is dying, sadly. And the problems at the Rocky Mountain News are another prime example of what’s happening. So many people aren’t reading actual newspapers any more — my daughter reads three online, for example — and have so many sources for news. Add in the state of the economy. And add the loss of classified ads to Craigslist that has cost newspapers a fortune.
All of my friends all over the country are worried. Newsday fired all their columnists, which I think is idiotic, and has nothing to do with my job. I just don’t think newspapers realize that people like to read personalities, comic strips, do their crossword puzzles — stuff they can’t get on the Internet.
I was stunned reading all the responses to the Rocky going out of business. Idiots were saying that it was good because the Rocky is such a liberal paper, or that was the reason it was going away. It has nothing to do with a newspaper’s bent. Forgive me for going on, but I can guarantee that in my life in the newspaper business (another one of my former papers died) nobody has ever told me what to write, or what not to write. They haven’t always been happy afterward.
I think people want opinion. They want life in their stories, their columns, their newspapers. I was a columnist with the Rocky Mountain News for seven years. I owe the world to the former editors and owners. They took a big chance bringing me to Denver and treated me royally. It bothered me when the Howard family got out of Scripps Howard. Scripps is more interested in its Home & Garden channel and has no ties to Denver.
I read where people don’t want to buy The Post. The question in San Diego before the Broncos-Chargers game from a San Diego writer was: What city will be the first as a no-newspaper town? Detroit is publishing actual newspapers three days a week.
Just like the automobile industry, we have to change, fit the needs of today’s readers, and when newspapers figure that out, they’ll be strong again. I know the owner of The Denver Post well, and I can tell you truthfully he is committed to The Post and its future. He is a Coloradan, and he wants this newspaper to be his legacy, and he wants his family to continue its proud tradition. I am not speaking as a houseman. This is my true belief.
I wanted the News, which had come to hate me and vilify me in its pages even though I was a good employee there for years, to last forever. We need competition to make us better and provide you with as much information — even scoops — as you deserve. I have friends at the Rocky. I’ve known Mike Littwin since we were 22, and he’s a good man with opinions I love and hate. I worked with some of the people still over there, and they are friends.
I hate to see any business disappear, but we as a country, and we as an industry, got ourselves into the mess. I’ve gotten myself into messes, and I just carry on, and seem to survive. I haven’t told this, but the day I heard about the Rocky, I sat in my car and tried to figure out how I could buy the newspaper. Of course, I can’t. But that’s how badly I want them to survive (they are on the floor beneath us, and we’re not allowed to get off the elevator there). Denver’s had two independent voices for a long, long time, and it won’t be fun or good if one voice is silenced, especially, for me, a voice that brought me to Colorado and allowed me to rant and rave and do some good things and bad. Thanks, John.
Woody – Do you think with all the passion he has for the game and the incredible professional he’s been with the Broncos that Rod Smith would be a great coach in Denver?
— Bill, Pottsville, Pa.
Rod doesn’t want to coach, Bill. Maybe someday. I think, after time, Rod would have come back as an assistant with the Broncos. He might want to join Shanahan wherever he goes. He’d be a great coach, despite what he thought of me. (You can read how he believes what I wrote negatively about him when he was in his second year helped make him a great player. Thank you, Rod.)
Guys like Louis Wright and Jim Ryan got started in the local high schools. And Dave Logan, of course, coaches state champions, so I’d like to see Rod help out one of the Denver programs, see if he likes it and moves on to Boulder or the Broncos. But he does have other interests, and there comes a time when you just want to back off or take other challenges. I went to New York for about three years just for the experience before I retired in Colorado permanently. Maybe Rod should go somewhere else — Pottsville maybe for a year or so — and he, like the rest of us here, would want to be in Colorado. Join us, Bill. You can move in with me. Right.
Woody – When Carmelo Anthony went out, I thought it was a good opportunity for J.R. Smith and Linas Kleiza to step up and become better basketball players with increased playing time — making the Nugs deeper. But, they haven’t. And Dahntay Jones has. Why do you think this is?
— Andy, Boulder
Andy – I was very disappointed in both. J.R. Smith continues to be a light bulb that burns brightly one night, then is nothing but a dim bulb the next. He doesn’t get it, but if … if … he ever grows up and gets it, he can be a great player. A little defense please, J.R.
I watched him the other night at home, and he hacked a guy on a 3-pointer (for three free throws). It doesn’t take much to think on the court. If I were J.R., I’d hang out with Chauncey Billups and see what a real championship player and person is all about.
Kleiza is, I believe, about what he is. He’ll never be a star, never be a starter. He’s a shooter and a scorer and a driver. He needs to wake up and figure out his future. Sometimes, though, guys are comfortable making a couple million (I would be) and they don’t want to bust it to the next level.
As you are aware, . I was amazed after the Chauncey trade when Karl said he would start Jones. But Dahntay has proven to be a good off-guard, a good perimeter player and a solid defender. I’d like to see him score 10 points a game, but he’s a team player.
I’d like to see Ronaldo Balkman get more playing time (and he has in the last couple of games) because I like his energy and how he’ll do anything to help the team and has a good attitude. I believe that Stan Kroenke will be willing to make a deal (for another scorer) at the trade deadline and go over the cap again, if the Nuggets keep up their division lead. They’re still 6-13 or something against winning teams, so you have wonder about the playoffs. They’re beating the dregs, but they’ve got to beat the Lakers in a regular-season game. I saw them against Orlando, and Orlando is better. They need Carmelo Anthony back as soon as possible, but I was thinking last night that he probably won’t have his shooting touch for a while. I might deal Kleiza this year because his game hasn’t improved over last year, and he disappears in the playoffs.
As we know, the overtime in the NFL is problematic. What do you think of doing away with the coin toss and giving the team with the most first downs first possession? That way it’s at least earned.
— Sean, Boise, Idaho
Not much, Sean. So at the end of regulation, you run for nine yards and sit down because you’re tied in first downs, then try to pick up the tie-breaking first down on the next play. Rethink that and write me again.
It’s simple, Sean. At the end of regulation, visiting team gets the ball first. If it scores, home teams gets the ball, both following kickoffs. If visiting team is stopped, it punts, and there you go. Both teams should have an opportunity. Statistically, the teams that gets the ball first win more often than the other team. “Problematic” is a good word for someone from Boise.
Is Albert Haynesworth on the Broncos’ radar?
— Abu Mara, Newark, Calif.
Not really, Abu, but Josh McDaniels is not telling me, and the personnel people are not telling me, and they’re not telling anybody, and I’m sure they don’t even know yet.
As I wrote in last week’s mailbag, I’d rather not tie up that much money in him. He did have a string of problems with law enforcement. (Another University of Tennessee guy. What’s wrong with us? Bad potty training?) He’s had two good years, but I also don’t think he’ll fit in perfectly with the 3-4 here, and I’d rather go after two or three defensive linemen free agents (Bring Bertrand Berry Back) and a linebacker (I mentioned Channing Crowder from Miami, who is relatively cheap), draft the linebacker from USC, get a big-time safety (I mentioned Mike Brown of Chicago) and draft a safety, another defensive lineman (get rid of those worthless picks from a couple of years ago) and replace Nate Webster with someone of equal financial outlay.
The Broncos need seven new starters on defense. Haynesworth would be just one and costs what seven would cost. in last week’s mailbag, and a guy from Carolina wrote me that I was an idiot. OK. I’m an idiot. I still like Peppers. The Broncos had salt.
Woody Paige first joined The Denver Post in 1981 as a sports columnist. To drop a question into Woody’s Mailbag or visit DenverPost.com’s .
