The Denver Broncos came really, really close to the ultimate "in-you-face, San-Diego" imaginable.

According to Pro Football Talk, Ladainian Tomlinson debated making Denver his last stop before retirement.

Apparently, L.T. wanted to play with Peyton  Manning before he rode off into the sunset:

“We talked. . . . It made me pause a little (and think), ‘Was this what I really want to do?’ … I said, ‘They got Peyton, they have a good defense already; they went deep in the playoffs with Tim Tebow, what are they going to do with Peyton?’ I seriously thought about it.”

Oh, how sweet would that have been? Even if the great running back was merely a shadow of his formerly awesome self wouldn't it have been great to wag him in the faces of stupid Chargers fans?

Tomlinson instead decided to sign the obligatory one-day contract and retire a Charger.

“At the end of the day I was thinking, ‘I can’t do that,’” Tomlinson said. “It’s not as bad as being a Raider — but almost.”

Oh, damn. Zach Fogg destroyed Todd Helton.

As a Rockies fan and a lover of Helton it's tough to read what Zach wrote but as a fan of blogs it's tough not to tip my cap to Zach for using numbers to nail Helton to the wall.

Any time anyone attacks Helton Rockies fans clap their hands over their ears and chant "la la la la - I can't hear you" like five year-olds. He is widely considered to be the ultimate Rockie. But, Fogg makes some pretty convincing points in his article, which was published this morning at Mile High Sports.

For example: did you know that Todd Helton has absorbed nearly 20% of the Rox payroll all by himself for nearly nine years?

wow.

Hey, don't take my word for it. Click on over and read Zach's peice for yourself - then go egg his house.

Joe Paterno coached the Penn State Nittany Lions from 1966 to 2011 and won over 400 games. But, to most of us he will be remembered for aiding a child molester.

As the investigation into the evil things that were overlooked at Penn State continue, Joe Paterno is better off dead.

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If you haven't had your fill of John Reidy yet - with his appearances on Mile High Sports Radio, the South Stands Denver Fancast and the new Pop Autopsy show he's doing now - you can also catch him on the Denver Diatribe.

It's Colorado's second finest podcast.

They describe it this way: "The Denver Diatribe is a weekly podcast about culture, politics and stuff as it pertains to the Mile High City and its environs."

I call it cheap content (it's embeddable).

(via Pro Football Talk)

Who's the student in this photo and who's the teacher?

Adam Gase has never played professional football. He didn't play in College, either. Still, it's he and not Peyton Manning, who's job it is to teach the Broncos quarterbacks how to be quarterbacks.

Gase is two years younger than Peyton, too.

It's just weird.

Gase was quoted at the Broncos official web site: "Anytime you’re around a guy, whether it’s a coach or a player, that’s been in the league 10-plus years, they’re going to have a lot of knowledge about what’s going on.”

What's going on is Adam Gase is getting schooled by his student.

You'll be shocked to learn that former Nugget and pillar of the community, JR Smith, skipped some practices while playing for the Golden Bears of Zhejiang Chouzhou, China. Eighty of them.

Smith, in fact, rarely attended practice - choosing instead to take his fat sister on shopping junkets Shanghai, Bejing and the United Kingdom without letting his team know that he was leaving. His sister, Stephanie, was also reportedly "abusive" toward the team, according to the New York Post.

The Golden Bears withheld pay from Smith who is now suing to recoup the lost wages.

According to his lawyers, Smith "presented his excuse for any non-attendances". They also argue that he was the team's most valueable player, averaging over 36 points and playing in every one of the Golden Bears' 32 games.

Despite his performance on the court, the team claims that: “We were delighted to terminate our agreement with J.R. Smith"

The New York Knicks, on the other hand, are not likely to terminate anything. In fact, most folks speculate that JR will be back with them next season despite his being an all around pain in the ass.

What a jerk.

The entire NBA media was standing by to see how Lebron James would handle his post-first-ring presser tonight and WOW did that guy blow it!

You talk about a self-indulent blow hard!

Lebron praddled on and on and on about himself without mentioning the words "team" or "teammates" more that a couple of time near the end.

His comments were all about his struggle, his Championship and what it all meant to him.

I understand that it's Lebron's moment in the sun but come on! Kevin Durant showed that he was the NBA's classiest act only a half hour before Lebron came out and showed the world how poor a sport he is.

Here are some quotes I tweeted during the presser:

"I am the NBA Champion" - Lebron James.

"I am very happy to be a Champion right now. Nobody can take that away from me" - Lebron James of the Miami Lebron Jameses

"all I know is that I am a Champion and that's all that matters" - Lebron James of the Miami Lebron Jameses

...Lebron has not mentioned a team mate yet.

"I have it my all. It paid off for me tonight" - Lebron James of the Miami Lebron Jameses

"this is a great moment for myself" - Lebron James.

Not only that, but, right before  he sat down, they swept away the Gatorade bottles off the interview table to make room for his MVP trophy. 

It's a shame that Gabe Landeskog isn't old enough to legally drink booze out of the silver cup that tops the Calder Trophy because the 19 year-old won it last night while most of us were watching the Rockies lose again.

Yep. Today Denver has a winner. Landeskog is the NHL's Rookie of the Year.

Imagine that ... a bright spot on the Denver Sports landscape NOT named Manning.  Pretty neat. I would write some more about it but my work's been done for me, already.

Here's Adrian Dater's story from the Denver Post

...and Chris Dolge's excellent piece at Mile High Sports.

After last night's ridiculous ninth inning collapse versus the Phillies, the Colorado Rockies are on a 100 loss pace in 2012. Can they accomplish something no team has since 2009?

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Would you like to need surgery to clean out scar tissue to keep it from pressing on a nerve in your groin?

No? Me, either. Yeesh.

But that's exactly what Troy Tulowiski must have done. The procedure will leave him out of the mix for the, uh, struggling Rockies for the next eight weeks (at minimum. Once he recovers from his surgery, number two will probably have to work through a rehab assignment before he will see Coors Field again. 

Of course, the way things are going for Colorado this season it may make more sense just to let Tulo get healthy and wait for next year. 

So much for the Gold Glove.