Denver Post sports columnist Woody Paige posts Woody’s Mailbag on Thursdays.
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Woody – Last week, , who oversaw the best draft in Broncos history last season, for Brian Xanders, whose specialty is cap management. By changing the business model that has made the Broncos a top three team in the NFL in terms of winning percentage and Super Bowl appearances in his 25 years, I fear that Bowlen may be turning into the Monforts by becoming more concerned with the bottom line than the record column. Please tell me I’m paranoid.
— SSgt. Josh Lowe, Keesler Air Force Base, Miss.
Staff Sergeant Lowe – I would never call you paranoid, because I’m sure you believe someone is following you. And I, as everyone else, love the military for what you do for the rest of us. U.S. Navy officials have asked me to go to Iraq to meet the troops, and we’re making plans to do it in the next couple of months, if we can work everything out. Maybe I should just visit the troops in Mississippi. As someone whose family is from Mississippi, I know that can be tougher sometimes than serving overseas.
Now, onto your question: The Broncos’ draft last year was not the team’s best in history. Let’s correct that. They did get Ryan Clady — OK, I was wrong about him — and Eddie Royal, and they both can become Pro Bowlers. Center Kory Lichten … Lecken … Lichtensteiger, I think, is a backup at center, and we don’t know. Cornerback Jack Williams had moments, but was in and out of a bad defensive backfield, especially after Champ Bailey got hurt. Ryan Torain was hurt; he was hurt in college. I like Torain, but he’s got to stay healthy at some point. Guy played what, one game? I wouldn’t give him props just yet. Linebacker (and fullback) Spencer Larsen showed some spark, but disappeared down the stretch. Carlton Powell. Pow! He busted. Josh Barrett at safety? I don’t think so. Peyton Hillis. Yes, a good backup running back, and maybe an H-back type who can receive. But, again, got hurt. How do we know, and he’s never gotten to be a full-time, yearlong starting running back? You and I know that. Those are the draft picks.
They did a quality job with free agents. I’ll take Tyler Polumbus and said so before the draft. Watched the kid play at CU and talked to him. He will be a starting lineman in the league. Wesley Woodyard can’t be a big-time linebacker and proved it at times last year. Brett Kern was a good find for punter. Garrett Hartley, Lorne Sam, Mitch Erickson were owls. Who? Anthony Alridge has intriguing possibilities and may be a player in the league. We don’t know, but we do know that the new regime didn’t like him for spit. He was out the door immediately. (And I assumed the Goodmans were still involved in that call. It was done just before they were axed like dead sycamores.)
I would give the draft an A based on what we saw.
Let me give you a couple of drafts. 1973: 1. Otis Armstrong (Pro Bowler), 2. Barney Chavous (starting defensive end for years and the key line run stopper in 3-4 defense), 3a. Paul Howard (starting offensive lineman for years and years, top-drawer player), 3b. John Wood (never heard of him), 4. Tom Jackson (Pro Bowl linebacker and one of the keys to the Orange Crush defense), 5. Charles McTorry (zero), 7a. Mike Askea (nothing), 7b. John Grant (alternated with Rubin Carter at middle guard for year). And the Broncos also got Calvin Jones, who became a starting cornerback, and Oliver Ross, a backup running back (who fumbled his way out of his one chance as a starter) and a third-string QB (John Hufnagel, who made his mark as a coach) and a couple of other serviceable guys for a year or two.
Do you like 1975? Louis Wright, Rick Upchurch, Rubin Carter, Steve Foley (four all-pro types) and a couple of other roster guys.
How about 2006? Jay Cutler, Tony Scheffler, Brandon Marshall, Elvis Dumervil, Domenik Hixon and Chris Kuper, all starters for the Broncos or the Giants (Hixon), and two have been to the Pro Bowl, and one other (Elvis) should have been.
The same bunch you’re talking about was responsible for 2007, when the Broncos had four draft picks, and nothing to write home about.
Then there was 1965. The Broncos drafted Dick Butkus No. 1. Only problem was he signed with the Chicago Bears in the NFL instead.
Bowlen is not turning into the Monforts or The Munsters. He’s going to have to pay Mike Shanahan, the Goodmans and the assistants turned out at least $30 million. He made bold moves, right or wrong. The Monforts make cheap moves.
I’ve talked , the first lengthy print conversation (and he was willing to go on for much longer, he said). I’m impressed, as if that matters. I ripped him for , as if that matters. I’ve check out the new general manager with people I know, and they’re very impressed with what he helped do in Atlanta, as if they matter.
The Broncos were moving sideways. Whenever I’m in traffic, I get off the freeway. At least, I want to continue to move up, back or somewhere, take the risk. It was time for the Broncos to take a risk. We thought John Elway would be retired before the Broncos won a Super Bowl. Almost happened. I don’t think anybody wants Cutler to go through a career without having a real chance to win a Super Bowl or two. And if this defense doesn’t improve, and the offense, too, he’ll be lame before having a chance.
If the Nuggets fail to advance in the playoffs this year, will they get rid of George Karl? He is a good coach, but I think the Nuggets would be better off without him?
— Jeff Witt, Laramie
Come on, cowboy. This can’t be your first rodeo. The Nuggets, right now, at the all-star break, wouldn’t be better off with anybody else. They’re one of the top six teams in the league. Nobody thought that possible when the season started, after Marcus Camby and Eduardo Najera were jettisoned for nothing in return.
The Chauncey Billups trade made the Nuggets and made Karl, really. Karl installed some defense, and it paid off when Chauncey came home. They have a real chance to win the division; they have a real chance to win a playoff series (against a Dallas or a Houston or a Utah); they have a real chance, if you look at it, to win 55 games.
They don’t have a chance of beating the Lakers, but nobody in the West does. Karl would tell you, and he was my next-door neighbor for almost two years, that he expected to be gone this year if the Nuggets didn’t get a playoff spot, win the division or win a first-round playoff series. He has more than a puncher’s chance now. The Nuggets, if they stay healthy (and that’s a big “if” because the bench is still too weak), can make some noise. Can we at least wait until the season’s over before throwing dirt on Karl? I’d rather tend sheep.
Woody – Second base for the Rockies. Clint Barmes? Jeff Baker? What’s on second? Who cares? Thanks.
— Matt, Denver
Matt – I’m a caring person. You are, too. I stop and give people holding cardboard a tip: “You need better penmanship.” And I give the Rockies advice: “Get a better second baseman.”
I was very disappointed, and shocked, when I saw Ian Stewart at second base in spring training last year. He had a chance at the job, and it didn’t look like he had practiced a day there in the offseason. When he played second in the regular season, he was awful defensively. He doesn’t want any part of second. He’s a third baseman, and will be a good one offensively and defensively (although he can’t hit .260 at third; he is a 22-90 kind of guy). He could get away with those numbers at second (but not in the outfield for the Rockies), but Stewart has to gut it up and figure out that he should want to play anywhere in this league.
Clint Barmes has figured it out. He was the starting shortstop. Didn’t work out because of Troy Tulowitzki. Barmes went back to the minors. Got an opportunity when the Rockies had another bust (Jayson Nix) at second and did a nice job, about .300 with 10 or 11 homers. I’m sure Barmes will start there, and probably will finish there. He’s a grinder at the plate and can play the position. He’ll never be an all-star.
Baker is hit and miss, literally and figuratively. He can’t be your starter. Can’t play the position for a full year. I think he’s a valuable utilityman at three positions, but he’s so inconsistent offensively. So look for Barmes, with Baker filling in at first a little and second some, and Stewart being the backup at third and in the outfield. I think Stewart blew his chance to become a big-league second baseman.
Hey, Woody. I don’t understand what all is about. Is what he did wrong? Unequivocally YES, but why are MLB and Bud Selig getting a free pass for having no punishable steroid-testing policy at the time? Thanks.
— Shannon, Wheat Ridge
Shannon – I wrote the other day in a column: You don’t. You’ll go to games because of the sunshine and because of the team winning, or because the Cardinals or the Mets come to town. You may care when the Hall of Fame vote occurs.
Bud Selig is not getting a pass. You obviously haven’t read or seen what I’ve said. Bud used to call me after I called him out. He quit doing that. Baseball isn’t getting a pass. Selig and baseball and the owners and the players union should have acted earlier. The media, including I, should have investigated sooner and harder. The fans should have stopped going if they cared, but they continue to go out in record numbers, even when the prices go up. So, as Matt from Denver asked: Who cares? That’s the truth.
The owners and the league didn’t want to know, especially when Mark McGwire and Sammy Sosa were going after the home run record. Baseball was on top again. And I would ask you, in all honesty: If a genie appeared out of a bottle and said: “Shannon, you can make $10 million a year and be on top of the world if you take these two magic pills, what would you do?” Baseball and football players did it to make $10 million a year, be on top of the world and fulfill their dreams, and they knew others were doing it, so it seemed OK. Baseball didn’t get what was going on with steroids, and they still can’t do anything, really, abut human growth hormone, and a genie will come out of a bottle and offer professional athletes — and high school players — a magic liquid, and they will take it.
Years ago I went to a high school football championship, and I was amazed that the offensive line averaged over 300 pounds, more than the Buffaloes and the Broncos. I didn’t investigate. I just drooled at the mouth. Do you think the high school association cared? Or the parents? Their sons were going to get college scholarships and pro money, and everybody would be rich and famous. And maybe someday the athlete would die of a brain tumor, and too bad.
We should care, but we don’t. But Selig doesn’t get a free pass. None of us involved in sports does. I am as guilty as everyone else because I didn’t write over and over again about Lyle Alzado with a boil on his butt and a smell from his mouth that I knew was from steroids. But, guess what? The Broncos went to a Super Bowl.
I just saw and they got rid of Anthony Alridge. My question is: Why? And why now? This kid can play and he will be playing somewhere next year. Is he an every-down back? No, he isn’t. But he is going to be a great change-of-pace or third-down back.
— Dale Hunter, Luverne, Minn.
You say so. I don’t know so. He had an impressive college career. I haven’t had a chance to ask, so I can’t tell you exactly why he was cut. But the new regime thought he couldn’t play.
He was gobbled up right away, and at least two teams claimed Alridge. So somebody thinks he can play. I think the team in Minnesota was one team that thinks he can play. Write me back, Dale, when we find if you are right or wrong. But nobody ever writes me when they’re wrong, only when I’m wrong.
I was absolutely right about the Super Bowl — — down to the closeness of the game and that it would be decided late. You know how many e-mails I got saying I was right? Yeah, that many. When I said Clady couldn’t play, and he proved he could, you know how many e-mails I got. Hundreds more than I got on the Super Bowl. So, Dale, I’m keeping your question. If Alridge becomes a good player, I’ll shout it to the world that you were right. If he is too little and too injured, I’ll e-mail you. But I will let you know when I next talk to the new regime. And I pull for all the little guys.
Woody – I’m a native of Arizona, and our sports teams have been mediocre. Even worse, our fans are the worst in America. They jump from one team to the next, completely abandoning the “previous” — D-backs (’01 World Series champs) to Suns (Steve Nash era) to Suns (Shaq era) to Cardinals (NFC championship). Is it common for fans in other sports towns to focus on the “hot” team and kick the others out the door? Or are Arizonans really bad fans?
— Francisco, Avondale, Ariz.
Arizonans are really bad fans … for Arizona teams. As you know, Francisco — can I call you San? — Arizona is full of snowbirds, who are there only in the winter, and retirees. They all come from somewhere else — Chicago, it seems to me when I’m down there for spring training — and they pull for the teams from their former cities. Same with Florida. Most of the fans down there care about the Yankees because they moved from New York.
So, Arizona doesn’t have a strong support base, and it wasn’t that long ago the Cardinals moved there, and the Bidwell family has been among the worst owners in all of sports, and the Cardinals weren’t any good for so long. The Suns and the Diamondbacks come and go, and the Coyotes don’t cause a howl. It’s typical for fans (and media, hello, Woody) to jump on and off the bandwagon. The few exceptions are Boston, New York and Philadelphia. People in those cities consistently stay with their teams.
People in Atlanta consistently pay no attention to professional sports. The Braves had trouble selling out playoff games in their glory years, and when the Broncos played the surprising Falcons this year, the place supposedly was sold out, but had thousands of empty seats.
I think fans have a right to be hot and cold, particularly with the cost of going to a game. And they have a right to support the team they grew up with, and they have a right to turn on a team when the ownership doesn’t do squadoosh. The Rockies had a lot of bandwagon jumpers in 2007. In 2008, they came back early and bought season tickets, and the Rockies were Humpty Dumptys and had a great fall. The ownership blew its chance to keep people around.
Arizona has more fly-bys than most, and usually with good reason. A Cubs fan doesn’t become a Diamondbacks fan in a couple of years. Bears fans don’t have any interest in the Cardinals. At the Super Bowl in Tampa, I found out that there were maybe 5,000 people from Arizona in town for the game. The Broncos send 50,000 to a Super Bowl.
Woody – Which one of the Broncos, past or present, reminds you the most of Patrick Roy?
— Stevo, Kansas City
Maybe Cecil Sapp. No, I’m sorry. Sapp looked like Brandon Roy. Stevo, that question was a Zero.
Woody – You are awesome on “Around the Horn.” Are you and Jay Mariotti not friends or just good friends who like to poke fun at each other? Keep up the great work! How do I get on the show?
— Scott Johnson, Louisville, Ky.
Thank you, Scott, for being the 8,392nd person who has asked this week. Let me be totally frank with you. Mariotti is not my pal, buddy, dancing partner. He is a poser. I chew him up and spit him out. I treat him the same way I treat a rental car. I beat him like a borrowed mule. If I had my way, he’d be sewing sneakers in a hot factory in New Zealand. He is Newman to my Seinfeld. He is stuff on the bottom of my shoes. And I know he’s reading this. Have a nice day, Jay.
Woody Paige first joined The Denver Post in 1981 as a sports columnist. , or . Also, .
