The Colorado Index

Baseball Begins

Today is opening day for baseball.  Even with the recent resurgence of winter, in Major League ballparks throughout the country, umpires will cry "Play ball!"

My National League team, the Colorado Rockies, begins this afternoon in Arizona against those Diamondbacks.  After finishing a disappointing third place in the National League West last year, the Rockies hope to rebound in 2009.  While the Rockies do not have the payroll of the LA Dodgers, they do have heart and are the only team in the majors where all nine opening day starters are homegrown.

My American League team, the Cleveland Indians, have the reigning American League Cy Young winner Cliff Lee anchoring the rotation. The largest questions will be with the teams' bats, which were quite silent last year.  Even so, the second-half surge allowed the Indians to finish third in the AL Central with a 0.500 record.

Colorado blogger Ben DeGrow of Mount Virtus is a Detroit Tigers fan.  As the Tigers are an AL Central foe of the Indians, he and I are having a friendly contest regarding the outcome of the season.  As an aside, old Tiger Stadium, retired after 1999 and demolished last year, was the best ballpark in the majors to watch a game, hands down.  While Coors Field provides a good experience, new parks such as Coors have a sterility about them where the product seems to be more about sensory entertainment than the game itself.

As I have an evening meeting in Walsenburg tonight, I will get to see the first Rockies game the best way possible: on the radio.  No other game has the pauses and the excitement for the radio broadcast.  And, the Rockies radio play-by-play announcers, Jeff Kingery and Jack Corrigan (a fellow transplanted Clevelander), are among the best in the business.

by Civil Sense

Personnel Moves: A Potentially Bad Decision

After another disappointing Denver Broncos season, owner Pat Bowlen fired Mike Shanahan. This could be a mistake of epic proportions.

Longevity and continuity are important in the National Football League. Mike Shanahan's fourteen years as head coach were better than average, and they did bring two Superbowl victories to Denver.

But, Mike Shanahan's record was 24-24 over the last three seasons, a 0.500 record.  The defense was atrocious, and perhaps the personnel decisions that Mike Shanahan made on that side of the ball were suspect.  However, when the Broncos had a running game, the offense really clicked.  Quarterback Jay Cutler still has tremendous upside and throws the ball like a laser beam.  However, the Broncos went through seven or eight running backs through the year due to injury (Tatum Bell sold cell phones at the Aurora mall until the Broncos signed him late in the season).  

Pat Bowlen now has an impossible job:  replace a long-term coach with another who will have similar success over a long-term period.  Pat Bowlen should be cautious however. Many teams would be jumping for joy with a 0.500 record over multiple seasons. If Bowlen chooses poorly, he could duplicate the record of a team from my home state that in the last decade had four head coaches (and looking for a fifth), only one playoff appearance (and first round loss), and terrible defense: the Cleveland Browns.

by Civil Sense