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Hi all…

I’ll be the first to tell you I’m a Broncos fan. When they do well, they’re the Broncos. When they do poorly, they’re the Denver Donkeys. What the heck do I call them when they win a game thanks to two blown officiating calls? I have no idea.

This weekend, the Denver Broncos played the San Diego Chargers in Denver at Invesco Field at Mile High (also known simply as Mile High Stadium, which was Invesco Field’s predecessor). It was their home opener after beating the Oakland Raiders on Monday Night Football on September 8.

The two botched calls that I hope the Chargers are complaining about to the NFL’s head officiating office were at the beginning and end of the game.

The first was the “fumble recovery” or “interception” by Champ Bailey. When Ed Hochuli went to review the play under the hood, he waited two minutes and came out telling fans that he’d waited the two minutes he was allowed, but the replay equipment malfunctioned. As such, he was forced go go with what had been ruled on the field.

This “technology” issue sucks. It wasn’t the only “glitch” during this game either. The game clocks were malfunctioning all over the place and it was even more apparent in the 2nd half.

The second issue is of course the lovely call about Jay Cutler’s “incomplete pass” or “fumble”. Ed blew the whistle when the ball hit the ground, basically declaring it dead. So when the Chargers player picked it up and ran out of bounds with it, which should have killed the game… Mr. Hochuli again went under the hood and came out saying that the Broncos had the ball at the 10. Huh?

This is such a blown call that it Hochuli should be drawn and quartered. (Ok, maybe I’m going overboard there, but he really screwed this one up.) Apparently he told the San Diego coach that he blew it, and that’s obviously not good enough.

What’s bizarre to me was this wasn’t the only piece of bad officiating today that I saw while watching my NFL Sunday Ticket… There were a couple of crews that should go back to school to learn what the heck they’re doing.

Yes, I’m a Bronco fan. But they didn’t deserve to win this game. Cutler threw an interception in the 4th quarter that should have been the end of the game. And the Denver Defense blew chunks today (I should know — they were a last minute change on my Fantasy Football team when the Baltimore/Houston game was rescheduled due to Hurricane Ike).

Right now I’m hoping officiating improves this season. ‘Cause after the 2nd game of the season, I’m not holding much hope.

–Fitz

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Hey all!

I’m ready for some football! I’m geeked up. The Broncos play the Raiders tonight, the first game of the season, on Monday Night Football . What better way to start the season for both teams by being pummeled on national television?

Yes, I’m a Bronco fan. I’ll admit it. It’s in my blood (born and raised in Colorado). But this particular match-up is better later in the season IMHO.

We have Jay Cutler as the Broncos QB again this year and I thought he did well last year. Did we do well as a team? Heck no. But that was mainly due to a banged up group of receivers. Now that we’re healthy, we can only hope that during the off season we’ve made some changes that solidified both our offense and defense.

On the Raider side of the ball is QB JaMarcus Russell. He only played a few games last year as a starter, so this is his first big shot as a starting quarterback in the NFL. The fact that the Raiders were horrid last year didn’t help him out at all. Like the Broncos, I’m guessing their coaching and management staff has beefed them up in terms of offense and defense.

Who will win tonight? Who knows, but hopefully the Broncos will prevail. Traditionally though, playing in Raider country has been perilous for Denver. Hopefully we won’t see any major injuries.

So far, with yesterday’s games done, the AFC West is looking pretty anemic. KC lost to the Patriots even with Tom Brady going out early (like everybody, we wish him a speedy and safe recovery from whatever the injury turns out to be). And the San Diego Chargers came close to beating the Panthers, but literally lost in the last second of the game.

With any luck, the Broncos shouldn’t have too many issues this year. Ha ha.

Broncos, may the Force be with you.

–Fitz

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Hi all…

I have to admit that I’m a fantasy football junkie. I’ve been playing for the last several years with a group of friends and had a great time doing it. Not only does it justify buying DirecTV’s NFL package, but I get to play with the computer on football days.

This year however, the Yahoo Fantasy guys have outdone themselves with their Stattracker add-on.

This thing is awesome! Not only does it provide instant updates, but I get scores, red zone alerts, and all those fun little things that make watching the NFL on Sunday so much more entertaining.

I can keep track of all the teams in my league as well as what’s going on around the NFL. They’ve outdone themselves this year.

Back to your regularly scheduled program…

–Fitz

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Hey all!

On August 29th, Goal II comes to the big screen in the United States. This is the follow-up to 2006’s Goal, which explored a young kid’s dream of becoming a professional soccer player and his rise to become part of Newcastle United.

Goal II picks up where the first movie left off, and sees Santiago Muñez‘ rise in Newcastle United get him noticed by another famous soccer team - Real Madrid!

Kuno Becker reprises his role as Santiago Muñez, as does Stephen Dillane as Glen Foy. Joining the cast is Rutger Hauer as Rudi van der Merwe.

Early press is positive, noting that the soccer footage is much more real and many scenes were taken directly from video footage of actual soccer matches. The movie also features cameos from several famous soccer players, including David Beckham, Zinédine Zidane, and Robinho!

If you’re a soccer fan or a fan of the first film, be sure to check it out on the big screen on August 29th, 2008!

In the meantime, you can check out some production stills and the trailer to whet your appetite after the break!

(more…)

Hi all…

Ok, so I was among the many football fans who didn’t hold out much hope for today’s Superbowl game between the New England Patriots and the New York Giants. I was wrong. I admit it. It was a heck of a game from start to finish. And the Giants surprised the heck out of me.

CONGRATULATIONS NEW YORK GIANTS!

It was a miracle — one that I will be thankful for the rest of the year. Though I can appreciate the Patriots’ feat of going undefeated all season and through the postseason into the Superbowl, I honestly didn’t want them to win again. They needed some hubris. And I think they got it.

Woo hoo!

–Fitz

Hi all…

So once again, the Boston Red Sox beat the Rockies in the Series. This was a better game than Wednesday — only 2-1 instead of 13-not enough — but did it seem to anybody else that the Rockies’ bats were swinging in slow-mo? And so many swings were SOOOOO close — off by a matter of millimeters… And yet nobody could make the adjustment and connect. Watching the 8th and 9th innings I was yelling (inside) at the fates, the gods, at whomever would hear — Just get one homer to tie the game!

We can only hope that the thin air of Denver meets a fired up Rockies offense. Their defense seems to have revived a bit as of last night, but you can’t win games without scoring runs.

So let us hope that the baseball gods have it in their hearts to let the Rockies come back in the series, or you will hear the wind get stolen from Colorado fans across the nation.

Let’s fire up! Fire up big team, fire up! Saturday is a’comin’… and let’s hope the Rockies’ big bats will come to the rescue!

Until next time…
–Fitz

Hi all…

So the Rockies lost to Boston last night… Big deal. I look at as the perfect opportunity to fire up and sweep the Red Sox through the next 4 games. Will it happen? I honestly don’t know. Depends on if the loss has the right effect on the Rockies… Will it fire them up? Or will they accept that defeat is inevitable?

Or does it have to do with the Denver sports curse that two teams can’t be doing well at the same time?

Any theories? I’m willing to listen.

Go ROCKIES!

–Fitz

Hi all…

Even though I’m ecstatic that the Rockies have made it into the World Series for their first time, I’m a little disappointed in the ticket selling process…

Yesterday, tickets were to go on sale at 10am over the internet. They were opening the floodgates to anybody who wanted to wait it out for a chance to purchase World Series tickets. What ended up happening was that a mere 500 tickets were sold (approximately) before the servers were shut down due to what sounds like a denial of service attack. 8.5 million hits overwhelmed the system and the Rockes and MLB were forced to stop, reset, and try again today.

Well, today tickets went on sale at 12am MST and so far I haven’t heard anything bad. It sounds like they’ve sold a ton of tickets.

What bums me out is as follows…

1. The Rockies should have allowed a certain number of tickets to be purchased at the ticket window at Coors Field. This would allow the diehard fans a shot at getting their tickets first.

2. By opening the floodgates, they have shut out a majority of Rockies fans in Colorado without Season Tickets. They only put out 18,000 tickets for sale in each game and kept the rest for Season Ticket holders. I get that they should have first dibs. But it seems a little obnoxious that the guy across the country gets as much of a shot of getting tickets as someone sitting in a cyber cafe across the street from Coors Field.

3. I attempted for about 3 hours yesterday and 90 minutes today to try and get through on the website to purchase tickets. Obviously I didn’t get any… So that’s a bummer.

All of that said… I look forward to tomorrow night’s first game in the Series against Boston and hope that our Rockies do Colorado and themselves proud. It’s one hell of a moment for them and they should enjoy it!

GO ROCKIES!

–Fitz

Hey there…

Last night the Red Sox beat the Indians to get into the World Series against the Rockies… They’ll start Wednesday and Thursday night in Boston, which will be a true test to see how the break has hurt or helped the Rocks… But I think all of Colorado and many fans around the world are pulling for the Rockies to pull this off. It’s already one for the Colorado team record books… Let’s see if the fairy tale will continue!

Go Rockies!

–Fitz

Hey all…

It appears that the bye week may have actually helped out the Denver Donkeys! Their defense actually stood up to the Pittsburgh Steelers last night in Denver (well, at least until the last quarter). But they looked good for 3/4 of the game, which was enough to help them win on a Jason Elam field goal at the end of the game!

Maybe the season isn’t a total wash after all?

–Fitz