Reidy’s Sports Roundup
“And where the Kroenkes have made a strong statement with keeping George Karl around, they’ve made more of a languid hand gesture with your Colorado Avalanche and the firing coach Joe Sacco.”
Denver Nuggets
Your Denver Nuggets may have hit the bricks, but the debate continues whether George Karl should take a seat – not on the bench with a pizza – but within the organization. And hot off the heels of his coach of the year award, the debate just got murkier. I don’t know why Karl would want to keep coaching. If you’ve ever been completely exhausted on a Monday night after a long day at work and the sweet embrace of death would be more welcome than going back the next day, multiply that by 20 and you have what George Karl must feel on a daily basis. I don’t know how he does it, but more importantly, why he does it. Karl could easily take a front office job with the Nuggets and rest his weary bones but he hangs in there, dragging his worn out mug through a 82 game season year after year. We can go around and around on his positives and most certainly his negatives – as well as who would replace him. But no one would blame him for just taking a seat and not getting up again. Regular season be damned, the playoffs were a disaster and I’m not sure anyone – including Karl – wants to suffer through that again.
Colorado Avalanche
And where the Kroenkes have made a strong statement with keeping George Karl around, they’ve made more of a languid hand gesture with your Colorado Avalanche and the firing coach Joe Sacco. It was a foregone conclusion that Sacco was going to get canned after the team’s pathetic finish but we knew he was a goner mid way through the shortened NHL season. But while the Kroenkes at least let the fans know they were still alive by showing Sacco the door, they’ve been slightly less forthcoming with the remaining power structure of the Avs. GM Greg Sherman remains inexplicably with a job, and while Eric Lacroix showed himself out, his father keeps pulling the strings from his condo in Las Vegas. This is baffling because they have Joe Sakic in a mostly ornamental role, that could be expanded to help fill the cracks in the Avs façade, but the status quo essentially remains the same. Are they waiting until after selecting Seth Jones with the number one pick before they hose it all down with bleach? Or are they planning on giving Lacroix and his minions one more season to prove they haven’t completely lost it. We’ll know more at the end of June when the draft is held but at this point, expect more of the same from Colorado’s worst run sports franchise.
Denver Broncos
We all know what my Denver Broncos did in the draft a few weeks back and while no one wants to go out on a limb and predict success or failure until a few years down the road, I think the team did a great job filling some holes and preparing for the future. This draft was one of a team that expects to make a serious run and isn’t in the business of solely building for the future because that future is NOW. So my main concern is not for the team but for fans who are already counting down the days until the first game. Folks, let’s just enjoy the break because you can’t truly miss something if it’s never gone. And endlessly pining away for the Broncos is not healthy. For one, you’re wishing for a speedy wrap up to summer and in case you were away for most of the winter/spring, I think we deserve some warm weather up in here. And just like sports media types who take their vacation in the dead of summer, if you’re solely a Bronco fan, take your vacation too and let’s end this hand wringing over the Broncos season until it’s actually upon us.
Colorado Rockies
And finally, my Rockies are surprising everyone with consistent hitting and more amazingly, not so horrible pitching. But this is the time of year the wheels really come off for the Blake Street Bullies, so if they coast into June still in the hunt, you can officially get excited. For now, enjoy the great weather, $7 beers and a team that is finally fun to watch. If they’re still in it by July, sell your house and reserve your World Series tickets as soon as possible. (Please don’t)
