Our town needs to lose the defeatist attitude. When did Denver become a candidate for the biggest loser in American sports? The Broncos stink. The Rockies reek. If the Avs were any shakier, they’d need double-runner skates.
The new brown cloud hanging over Colorado is a culture of losing.
“Once you lose that belief in winning, you’re done,” Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey told me Wednesday.
Let me stress, Bailey doesn’t think his NFL team is finished, despite losing three of four games under new coach John Fox.
Frustrated fans, however, have already stuck a fork in the Broncos.
C’mon, Denver. We’re better than a mentality of lose, lose, lose.
“When is enough, enough?” Colorado football coach Jon Embree said in anger Saturday, after a severe setback against Washington State illustrated the harsh realization that the new doormat of the Pac-12 Conference is made of Buffalo skin.
Amen, brother.
If you ask me, Embree posed the question of the year in local sports. He issued a challenge that needs to be posted in big, block letters in the locker rooms from Dove Valley to Coors Field to the CU campus.
“So when is it enough? When are they going to get tired of losing?” a seething Embree demanded. “When are they going to get tired of finding a way to lose?”
No city in America has supported its sports teams more loyally than Denver. But does anybody else have the impression ticket buyers are tired of being played for saps?
Stop teasing us with quarterback Tim Tebow for a single snap. The same old, same old won’t cut it much longer from Rockies general manager Dan O’Dowd. Fair or not, Avs coach Joe Sacco is on thin ice before the puck is dropped on this NHL season.
Here’s another tough question: Is it possible to be a winner on a losing team?
Yes. I give you Bailey as proof.
When he has finally had his fill of football, as soon as Bailey pulls out of this town full of losers, the stellar defensive back is headed straight down Thunder Road to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio.
“If you don’t believe in winning, it ain’t going to happen. So it’s definitely attitude before everything,” Bailey said. “If guys fall into that trap, you can have a losing culture. But you can have a winning attitude even if things are going bad. Never stop believing.”
Here’s a hunch this city has lost the faith in Mile High magic. That’s why a home victory against San Diego on Sunday is so essential. Forget the impact on the AFC West standings. There has been no emotional buy-in for consumers of this Broncos team. It’s as if Tebow is the only happy word some distraught fans know, so they repeat it 100 times per day to keep the dark clouds away.
“To win you have to have confidence. And it’s hard to have a lot of confidence when on game day things aren’t going well and you aren’t producing,” said Fox, graciously pausing from preparation for the Chargers. “So to gain that confidence, you have to do it in practice.
“I use the analogy of taking a test in college. If you take notes, go to class and prepare, you go into the test with confidence. In our case, the game is the test.”
OK, let’s hand out grades for the early assignments: D against the Raiders; A against the Bengals; C against the Titans; and F against the Packers. That’s a GPA of 1.75, dangerously close to double-secret probation territory for Fox. The coach needs a victory against San Diego almost as badly as quarterback Kyle Orton does.
How did we become a great sports town full of losers? We’ve had enough.
My soccer friends remind me the Rapids are reigning MLS champions. Even those of us who love the beautiful game, however, realize a futbol trophy isn’t enough to wipe the frown from Denver’s sporting psyche.
The sideline antics and wasted draft choices by former coach Josh McDaniels made the eyes of Broncomaniacs bug out in anger.
Fox causes beat-down fans to stifle a here-we-go-again yawn.
You tell me: Which is worse?
Mark Kiszla: 303-954-1053 or mkiszla@denverpost.com
