Jock Itch A Denver sports round-up

With so much Tebow talk dominating the country every damn minute of the day, we sometimes forget there are other sports going on in the Rocky Mountain region. Some of them are even playing right now! This Denver sports round-up will get you up to speed on what’s happening around the local athletics-o-sphere, now with a third less Tebow.

The Nuggets haven’t even begun to play games. They did an interesting thing last week to muscle their way back into the Denver sports consciousness when they hosted a free scrimmage for the fans at the Pepsi Center. I don’t recall the team doing this before, but with the narrowly not-canceled season fresh in fans’ memories, the fairly smart dudes up in the Nuggets head office came up with a good way for those fans to reconnect with the team and figure out who the new players are. The Nuggets season starts in less than a week, and even though the team resigned big man Nene, it’s unclear how the final lineup will play out, especially since they still haven’t signed guard Arron Afflalo, which they desperately need to do [Editor's Note: Since this was written, the Nuggets did indeed sign Afflalo]. It remains to be seen if they will actually be good, but most of us can’t wait until they get back on the court, no matter the circumstances.

The Rockies did their best to get a word in edgewise to the Denver sports conversation this week by making their first high-profile free-agent signing in well over 10 years. Michael Cuddyer was signed to bolster the offense and quite possibly be a part of one of the best outfields in baseball. Cuddyer is pronounced “Cuh-dyer” and not having followed his old team the Minnesota Twins—or baseball, apparently—it took me a couple of spins around the block to not say “Cuddy-er”. You’ll get the hang of it, too, because I think we’ll be hearing his name a lot this season. The Rockies had a pretty big flameout last year, and, on the surface, this should keep fans’ hands away from the panic button until at least April, when they realize the pitching still sucks.

Then there’s the Colorado Avalanche. No one knows what to make of the up-and-down nature of this year’s squad, but it’s really no surprise to anyone who’s followed the team over the last few seasons. We’re used to disappointment by now, but what sucks is Semyon Varlamov, the supposed hot young goalie the Avs traded away a first-round pick for, hasn’t panned out like he was supposed to. That draft pick could come back and burn them. Unless the Avs get on a major roll (probably not going to happen), they will sacrifice a possible lottery pick to the Washington Capitals, the team they got Varlamov from. No one goes into the season expecting to suck, but since it’s always a distinct possibility with the Avs, they probably shouldn’t have given up so much to get him. But what’s worse than having your team suck? Watching them suck knowing full well that they won’t get any better next season, either.

Finally, we do have to discuss the Tebows… er, Broncos. You may find the Tebow coverage absurd—and it is—but you’re probably also enjoying having the Broncos constantly on the front page. The toxic yammering of Skip Bayless invading Denver last week—in what I can only assume was an attempt to blow Tebow on national television—was horrific, yet shows you how important the Broncos (okay, Tebow) are to the sports landscape. If you actually took time out of your day to go down there and view Bayless’ Teboner, you probably shouldn’t be allowed to breed. The magic Tebow ride came to a brief halt this weekend as the Broncos dropped one we were all pretty sure they would to the New England Patriots. It will get rolling again as the team still holds the keys to its playoff destiny and can wrap up a postseason berth with a victory in Buffalo on Christmas Eve. If they lose, massive drama will ensue. As it will if they win, but then it will be the delicious drama of a million pundits offering predictions on Tebow’s playoff chances.