The Crush is ready for its close-up

[PatsWin2002]

Since I know some of you follow the Crush.....
This is kinda long, but it's an Elway/Crush update kinda:

http://www.westword.com/Issues/2005-...ws/sports.html

Little Big Men
The Crush is ready for its close-up

Published: Thursday, June 2, 2005

It had to compete for face time with the Indy 500, a Cubs-Rockies slugfest at Wrigley Field and the Memorial Day cookout in Uncle Elmer's back yard. But the Colorado Crush's first-ever home playoff game, against the San Jose SaberCats, drew a big enough (and loud enough) crowd Sunday afternoon to ensure that arena football will survive at the Pepsi Center for another season or five. Before 13,315 witnesses, John Elway's scrappy blend of NFL castoffs, ex-Scottish Claymores and small-college standouts beat the defending Arena Football League champions by the AFL-typical score of 56-48. This Sunday, the Crush will host the Chicago Rush for the American Conference Championship.

Amid beer-fueled dementia, bombs bursting in air and some musical detonations that may have disturbed the good people of Albuquerque, the Crush-SaberCat outcome seemed almost beside the point. The point is that arena ball, dismissed for years as "real" pro football's badly-dressed, loud-mouthed little cousin from the sticks, has begun to grow up. AFL attendance has increased 41 percent since 2001 and now averages 12,872 per game -- 14,000-plus in Denver. The game's developed a culture and a fiercely loyal cult all its own. Still a "second-tier" sport? Not to the starry-eyed six-year-olds in the front row slapping high-fives with their heroes.

For Elway, the last three years have been a labor of love and an expression of self. The Broncos Hall of Famer became the expansion Crush's principal owner and CEO in 2002, and after the team went 2-14 in its first season, he hired a new coach, brought in better players and helped loft his franchise into the top rank of the seventeen-team league. "My heart still gets in it just as much on the management side as it did as a player," Elway told an online audience earlier in the season. "It gives me that adrenaline rush each weekend."

So, too, the fans. Crush season-ticket-holder Ben Starkey says he's fallen in love with this frenetic, touchdown-a-minute brand of ball, played on a fifty-yard strip of AstroTurf so close to the paying customers that a lot of them are on a first-name basis with their favorite pass receivers. "I go nuts at these games," Starkey says. "You're up close. You're personal. Sometimes these guys wind up in your lap." As Crush quarterback John Dutton puts it: "The fans actually get to see who's under that helmet."

For the players, most of whom are required by the rules to play both defense and offense, life in the AFL still doesn't bring the perks and privileges Jake the Snake and Champ Bailey take for granted. Arena player salaries average $37,000, and half the gridders work off-season jobs -- everything from digging ditches to selling real estate. But spending a career in arena football no longer smacks of failure. "The talent level has increased tremendously, across the board, in my six years in the league," says Dutton. "Team ownerships have improved dramatically, so the franchises are now stable. NBC has done a great job with the broadcasts. The pay and the benefits are much better. It's a blessing to be here."

An exceptional drop-back passer at the University of Nevada, Dutton was drafted in 1998 by the Miami Dolphins and had brief stints with the Atlanta Falcons and Cleveland Browns. If the NFL calls again, he'll answer. After all, the ascendancy of Kurt Warner, the former AFL quarterback who went on to become a Super Bowl MVP with the St. Louis Rams, remains a staple of arena-football lore. But if Dutton's lot is to be an AFL lifer, that's okay, too. For one thing, he gets to throw the ball on virtually every play. "We don't have any thousand-yard rushers in this league," he points out. "This is a passing league, and every quarterback has to love that."

Contentment wasn't always so easy to come by. When the AFL began play in 1987, players earned as little as $100 a game, and over the years, 33 franchises have vanished -- among them the Minnesota Fighting Pike, the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz and two separate editions of the Denver Dynamite, the second of which expired in 1991. Crush head coach Mike Dailey, who's been banging around the AFL for fifteen seasons and stands fifth on the all-time-wins list, with 85, had early-era doubts about the future of arena ball, especially when the league owned the players and the coaches outright and allocated them to teams according to need. After joint practices, he recalls, "You'd literally trade a player right there at dinner and then tell the players that night at the hotel, 'You're going to practice with Pittsburgh [tomorrow]; you're practicing with Washington.' And sometimes, the next night, the other coach would say, 'Hey, you sent me a guy who can't play; we're sending him back.'"

In 1990, his first year as an assistant coach with the now-defunct Washington Commandos, Dailey earned $5,000 and had to moonlight as a college coach. "My wife was so supportive of me," he remembers. "I kept thinking, I'm gonna hate to break her heart when we can't make the mortgage."

According to arena ball's creation myth, former NFL marketing executive Jim Foster "invented" the game in 1981 while watching an indoor soccer game at New York's Madison Square Garden. He is said to have sketched his ideas on a spare manila envelope -- like Lincoln committing the Gettysburg Address to his shirt cuff. Foster refined the game's rules and quirks for five years before the first "playtest" game was staged in Chicago in 1986 -- pitting the Rockford Metros against, well, the Chicago Politicians.

It's unlikely that Foster, who landed a U.S. patent on arena ball in 1990, ever envisioned a group of AFL co-owners like Elway, Broncos majordomo Pat Bowlen and Avalanche-Nuggets magnate Stan Kroenke -- the high-powered group that oversees the Crush today. Or pop star Jon Bon Jovi, who owns the Philadelphia Soul. Neither did Dailey. "Never in my wildest imagination did I think the AFL would get to this point," he says. "I certainly didn't think there would ever be a day when I would sit on one side of a desk and John Elway would sit on the other."

Of course, expectation and reality often clash in the realm of capitalist adventure. If Kurt Warner was to become the most famous player in league history, the guy who played quarterback for the Detroit Drive and the Cincinnati Rockers in the '90s was just as well known -- for a time. Former Ohio State star Art Schlichter's experiments with illegal gambling, fraud and forgery eventually made him a top draft choice of the Medaryville Correctional Facility, where he will remain until May 2008. Elsewhere, Darryl Hammond, the AFL's all-time career tackle leader, is still confused with Darrell Hammond, the Saturday Night Live cast member. And San Jose quarterback Mark Grieb tells a story about meeting a fellow traveler in an airport, who asked what he did for a living. Grieb explained, only to have the man ask: "Reno Ball? What's that? Why don't you turn pro?"

But then, that's life in a league that, while on the rise and certain now of survival, must play nice with the fans and remain humble in the face of obscurity. Brass tacks: After every game, players sign autographs, sometimes for an hour.

Contentment wasn't always so easy to come by. When the AFL began play in 1987, players earned as little as $100 a game, and over the years, 33 franchises have vanished -- among them the Minnesota Fighting Pike, the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz and two separate editions of the Denver Dynamite, the second of which expired in 1991. Crush head coach Mike Dailey, who's been banging around the AFL for fifteen seasons and stands fifth on the all-time-wins list, with 85, had early-era doubts about the future of arena ball, especially when the league owned the players and the coaches outright and allocated them to teams according to need. After joint practices, he recalls, "You'd literally trade a player right there at dinner and then tell the players that night at the hotel, 'You're going to practice with Pittsburgh [tomorrow]; you're practicing with Washington.' And sometimes, the next night, the other coach would say, 'Hey, you sent me a guy who can't play; we're sending him back.'"

In 1990, his first year as an assistant coach with the now-defunct Washington Commandos, Dailey earned $5,000 and had to moonlight as a college coach. "My wife was so supportive of me," he remembers. "I kept thinking, I'm gonna hate to break her heart when we can't make the mortgage."

According to arena ball's creation myth, former NFL marketing executive Jim Foster "invented" the game in 1981 while watching an indoor soccer game at New York's Madison Square Garden. He is said to have sketched his ideas on a spare manila envelope -- like Lincoln committing the Gettysburg Address to his shirt cuff. Foster refined the game's rules and quirks for five years before the first "playtest" game was staged in Chicago in 1986 -- pitting the Rockford Metros against, well, the Chicago Politicians.

It's unlikely that Foster, who landed a U.S. patent on arena ball in 1990, ever envisioned a group of AFL co-owners like Elway, Broncos majordomo Pat Bowlen and Avalanche-Nuggets magnate Stan Kroenke -- the high-powered group that oversees the Crush today. Or pop star Jon Bon Jovi, who owns the Philadelphia Soul. Neither did Dailey. "Never in my wildest imagination did I think the AFL would get to this point," he says. "I certainly didn't think there would ever be a day when I would sit on one side of a desk and John Elway would sit on the other."

Of course, expectation and reality often clash in the realm of capitalist adventure. If Kurt Warner was to become the most famous player in league history, the guy who played quarterback for the Detroit Drive and the Cincinnati Rockers in the '90s was just as well known -- for a time. Former Ohio State star Art Schlichter's experiments with illegal gambling, fraud and forgery eventually made him a top draft choice of the Medaryville Correctional Facility, where he will remain until May 2008. Elsewhere, Darryl Hammond, the AFL's all-time career tackle leader, is still confused with Darrell Hammond, the Saturday Night Live cast member. And San Jose quarterback Mark Grieb tells a story about meeting a fellow traveler in an airport, who asked what he did for a living. Grieb explained, only to have the man ask: "Reno Ball? What's that? Why don't you turn pro?"

But then, that's life in a league that, while on the rise and certain now of survival, must play nice with the fans and remain humble in the face of obscurity. Brass tacks: After every game, players sign autographs, sometimes for an hour.

Contentment wasn't always so easy to come by. When the AFL began play in 1987, players earned as little as $100 a game, and over the years, 33 franchises have vanished -- among them the Minnesota Fighting Pike, the Oklahoma City Yard Dawgz and two separate editions of the Denver Dynamite, the second of which expired in 1991. Crush head coach Mike Dailey, who's been banging around the AFL for fifteen seasons and stands fifth on the all-time-wins list, with 85, had early-era doubts about the future of arena ball, especially when the league owned the players and the coaches outright and allocated them to teams according to need. After joint practices, he recalls, "You'd literally trade a player right there at dinner and then tell the players that night at the hotel, 'You're going to practice with Pittsburgh [tomorrow]; you're practicing with Washington.' And sometimes, the next night, the other coach would say, 'Hey, you sent me a guy who can't play; we're sending him back.'"

In 1990, his first year as an assistant coach with the now-defunct Washington Commandos, Dailey earned $5,000 and had to moonlight as a college coach. "My wife was so supportive of me," he remembers. "I kept thinking, I'm gonna hate to break her heart when we can't make the mortgage."

According to arena ball's creation myth, former NFL marketing executive Jim Foster "invented" the game in 1981 while watching an indoor soccer game at New York's Madison Square Garden. He is said to have sketched his ideas on a spare manila envelope -- like Lincoln committing the Gettysburg Address to his shirt cuff. Foster refined the game's rules and quirks for five years before the first "playtest" game was staged in Chicago in 1986 -- pitting the Rockford Metros against, well, the Chicago Politicians.

It's unlikely that Foster, who landed a U.S. patent on arena ball in 1990, ever envisioned a group of AFL co-owners like Elway, Broncos majordomo Pat Bowlen and Avalanche-Nuggets magnate Stan Kroenke -- the high-powered group that oversees the Crush today. Or pop star Jon Bon Jovi, who owns the Philadelphia Soul. Neither did Dailey. "Never in my wildest imagination did I think the AFL would get to this point," he says. "I certainly didn't think there would ever be a day when I would sit on one side of a desk and John Elway would sit on the other."

Of course, expectation and reality often clash in the realm of capitalist adventure. If Kurt Warner was to become the most famous player in league history, the guy who played quarterback for the Detroit Drive and the Cincinnati Rockers in the '90s was just as well known -- for a time. Former Ohio State star Art Schlichter's experiments with illegal gambling, fraud and forgery eventually made him a top draft choice of the Medaryville Correctional Facility, where he will remain until May 2008. Elsewhere, Darryl Hammond, the AFL's all-time career tackle leader, is still confused with Darrell Hammond, the Saturday Night Live cast member. And San Jose quarterback Mark Grieb tells a story about meeting a fellow traveler in an airport, who asked what he did for a living. Grieb explained, only to have the man ask: "Reno Ball? What's that? Why don't you turn pro?"

But then, that's life in a league that, while on the rise and certain now of survival, must play nice with the fans and remain humble in the face of obscurity. Brass tacks: After every game, players sign autographs, sometimes for an hour.

As far as Kyle Moore-Brown is concerned, all of that is fine. A 306-pound lineman in the league since 1995, he has started 173 straight games without a miss -- mostly for the Albany Firebirds, where his first-year salary was $250 a week, and now for the Colorado Crush, where he puts a fire under the new kids and teaches them veteran tricks. After graduating from the University of Kansas he had a brief stint with the Detroit Lions, but for years Moore-Brown has embodied the lunch-bucket values of the battle-scarred AFL fraternity. "When I started eleven years ago, guys came out every day and worked hard to feed their families," he says. "The players are much better now, and we get more respect. But one thing hasn't changed. We still play for the love of the game. On Sunday, you never know how much a guy is being paid, just that he's out there trying to help his team win. To me, that's everything."

[SoCalBronco]

great article, thanks patswin.

[PatsWin2002]

Originally Posted by SoCalBronco

great article, thanks patswin.

Hey, if Meck is willing to go to the games in a blizzard then I'm willing to post it.

[BRONCCRUSHFAN]

Originally Posted by PatsWin2002

Hey, if Meck is willing to go to the games in a blizzard then I'm willing to post it.

That was such a fun game. There was 4000 of us, and yet we were able to get louder than 75,000 at Invesco field. Ah yes the good old days, when Mile High got so loud that the Cameras shook on their moorings, and announcers literally couldn't hear themselvs think. Unfortunately, it appears as if those Orange clad maniacs are becoming a dying breed, or becoming Crush fans because the tickets at Invesco (still can't bring myself to say at Mile High) have grown past those who support the team the most. It make my Orange and Blue heart break, when I see more Red or Black in the stands than Orange.

[orange 4 life]

thanks pats.

ill be there sunday. cant wait.

GO CRUSH!!

[BRONCCRUSHFAN]

Originally Posted by orange 4 life

thanks pats.

ill be there sunday. cant wait.

GO CRUSH!!

Don't forget the tailgate , it's Mexican Fiesta, and the live band is a local group called Drug Under who rock!!!

[DBroncos4life]

AFL is a much better sport then lets say...dare I do it Well I'll give you a hint. They didnt even play the sport this year.

[BRONCCRUSHFAN]

Originally Posted by DBroncos4life

AFL is a much better sport then lets say...dare I do it Well I'll give you a hint. They didnt even play the sport this year.

It's my filler for after the Super Bowl, and before training camp. However, since I have started learning ther strategies of the game, I am liking it more and more. However, I agree that the unmentioned league that you unmentioned has lost some serious credibility.

[Crushaholic]

Originally Posted by DBroncos4life

AFL is a much better sport then lets say...dare I do it Well I'll give you a hint. They didnt even play the sport this year.

Football in general is the greatest game ever invented. I want the NBA to finish up, already. I stopped thinking about basketball around the beginning of April.

[BRONCCRUSHFAN]

Originally Posted by Crushaholic

Football in general is the greatest game ever invented. I want the NBA to finish up, already. I stopped thinking about basketball around the beginning of April.

I second that!! Give me football in any form.

[orange 4 life]

Originally Posted by BRONCCRUSHFAN

Don't forget the tailgate , it's Mexican Fiesta, and the live band is a local group called Drug Under who rock!!!

we'll get there around noon.
are you tailgating with club crush?

[BRONCCRUSHFAN]

Originally Posted by orange 4 life

we'll get there around noon.
are you tailgating with club crush?

Always! I'll be there with my son, daughter, and mom (She is the football monster. Broncos will always be #1 in her heart, but she is pretty enthusiastic about the Crush)

[orange 4 life]

Originally Posted by BRONCCRUSHFAN

It's my filler for after the Super Bowl, and before training camp. However, since I have started learning ther strategies of the game, I am liking it more and more.

let me second that.

at first, many people think it almost looks "silly" or "cute" (both words my wife used).

when you really understand the rules and intricacies of the game, you really start to appreciate it.

with the crush up 56-48 last week and the cats inside our 10, the crowd was as loud as any crowd i can remember....in any sport.

it was awesome.

[orange 4 life]

Originally Posted by BRONCCRUSHFAN

Always! I'll be there with my son, daughter, and mom (She is the football monster. Broncos will always be #1 in her heart, but she is pretty enthusiastic about the Crush)

see you there!!

[BRONCCRUSHFAN]

Don't know if anyone else read this, I think it's pretty cool, and unfortunately true.

Let Crush strike up the band

By Mark Kiszla
Denver Post Staff Columnist
DenverPost.com

It's too quiet around here. The cheers have dried up. What Denver needs is a victory parade.

A city once home to champions now settles for mediocrity.

Is the Colorado Crush big enough to satisfy a jones for the adrenaline rush we can only get from winning?

Two victories separate the Crush from the Arena Football League title. Do Denver sports fans care? In honor of a championship, would the mayor give the team keys to the city, or at least free passes to Elitch's? Could we hold a victory parade, even a small procession on the 16th Street Mall, with three fire- trucks, two boxes of confetti and a marching band?

"Maybe an indoor parade," joked Rich Young, who plays fullback and linebacker for the Crush.

Can the Crush get a little love?

Nobody's suggesting winning the championship of indoor football would match the thrill of seeing the storied Stanley Cup and shiny Lombardi hardware in this city's trophy case.

In fact, a case could be made that AFL players who bounce off walls for touchdowns and get tackled on a brightly colored Brillo pad should not only play in a padded room, but live in one.

Every other professional franchise in Denver, however, could learn something essential from the Crush.

"Championship football. That's what this team is all about," Young said Thursday. "We want to be the top of the food chain. We won't accept anything less. What would a championship mean to us? Everything."

Pardon me?

That sort of bold sports talk has become so rare in Denver, I almost forgot how real ambition sounds.

Around here, championship banners have been replaced with whiny laments of "maybe next year, if the ball bounces our way." The aspirations of Denver fans have been set so low, we are supposed to believe that losing in the first round of the playoffs is a major accomplishment.

The last time I saw Avalanche captain Joe Sakic shoot the puck in town, he was a ringer in a match between local financial planners who had trouble skating backward on the ice.

A good week on the road for the Rockies is when they score twice.

The Nuggets have not won a division title since 1988, way back in the days when Jerry Rice was a bona fide superstar instead of a dusty old conversation piece grabbed by an NFL franchise desperate for attention.

The man who operates the Crush is John Elway. Nags don't ask if he can win a championship without Mike Shanahan.

"When you have John Elway at the top of your organization, that's the standard. Winning championships. That's what he has accomplished, that's what he wants," said Crush coach Mike Dailey, whose team opens the playoffs at home, where Colorado has won 13 of 16 games the past two seasons.

"I really believe in my heart we will win a championship with the Crush. But I always joke with my coaches that winning a championship is also my biggest fear, because the day it happens, John Elway will walk in the room and say: 'Good job, guys. How we going to win it again next year?"'

Maybe the Crush never will make the cut as major-league entertainment. Maybe you can easily dismiss arena football as the gag gift in the toy department of sports. Maybe Colorado star Damian Harrell will never shine bright enough to lead a parade through downtown.

But the Crush has something the big boys in Denver have lost.

The size of the paycheck has no correlation to the amount of passion an athlete brings to work.

The Avs would rather argue about money than play hockey. The Rockies hold the paying customer in such low regard, they expect us to buy their excuses for losing. Trying hard, the Nuggets hope to grow up to be contenders one of these days. Growing old, the Broncos are stuck celebrating too many yesterdays.

"How our fans in Denver make noise for us is bananas now," Harrell said. "If we won a championship, it would be off the charts."

On the big scoreboard of Denver sports, every Crush victory is a small one.

But at least there is one pro team in town unafraid to say it wants to win it all. Right here. Right now.

[PatsWin2002]

Crush vs. Rush


http://www.9news.com/acm_news.aspx?O...2-a9383dc2f691

Colorado Crush "revenge tour" continues as they face the Chicago Rush

In 1997, the Denver Broncos embarked on a playoff run which pitted them against three opponents who had beaten them that year. The outcome of that run was the first championship for the Denver Broncos franchise.

The Colorado Crush would very much like their "revenge tour" to end in a similar way.

When the Pepsi Center hosts its first Conference Championship game on Sunday the National Conference champion will already have been crowned. While friendship exists between coaches, and perhaps between players, all must be set aside when the whistle blows. The Chicago Rush (part-owned by NFL legend Mike Ditka) defeated the Colorado Crush (part-owned by NFL legend John Elway) in both regular season clashes. In Denver, that loss came in the form of a last second field goal. In the second meeting, Chicago had little trouble dispatching the Crush at Allstate Arena in Chicago, 75-51.

Last year the Crush reached this same position only to see a last second drive fall just short and their season end with the Arizona Rattlers heading into the Arenabowl Championship game.

This year, the Crush hope home field, their fans and the incentive of a trip to Las Vegas can prove to the be the difference.

Tickets are still available for the game and can be purchased from www.coloradocrush.com, or by calling the Pepsi Center box office at 303.405.1111.

Crush Vs. Chicago - Players to Watch

John Dutton (Quarterback) - Crush

John Dutton is the only quarterback remaining in the playoffs to have an Arenabowl ring. After replacing Mark Grieb for the 2002 San Jose Sabercats, John Dutton lead the team all the way to victory in the Arenabowl. John Dutton is the quintessential pocket-passer, which puts massive pressure on the line to protect him. However, with sufficient protection, Dutton can quickly pick a defense apart and has the power arm to get to his big receivers down field.

Damian Harrell (Offensive Specialist) - Crush

Harrell is tall, fast and can make catches which will leave you scratching your head. With a record 50 games in a row with a TD catch, Harrell is definitely a massive target in the endzone. If a weakness exists, it is simply that Dutton looks for Harrell too often and Harrell quickly becomes a target of any defense, forcing other receivers to step up, and Dutton to quickly find them.

Rich Young (FB/LB) - Crush

Rich Young is one of those guys you need on the team. The guy who can look within to find the energy to bring his all every play. Tenacious and powerful, Young can turn the game with his attitude or his skills. With any player like this, his emotions can take him a little over the edge.

Raymond Philyaw (Quarterback) - Rush

Philyaw finished the season with a 113 quarterback rating. He brings mobility and accuracy to the position, and this makes him very difficult to defend against. Philyaw holds the record for most pass attempts without interception at 299. Philyaw is sometimes a little too eager to leave the pocket, especially when pressured. Philyaw is returning this year from an injury which makes him a little jittery when players aim for his legs.

Etu Molden (Receiver/LB) - Rush

Molden, relatively new to the AFL, was a finalist for AFL Rookie of the Year in 2004. This year he leads the Rush in TDs and yards. 5 of those TDs came in a single game. That game was played against the Crush. Molden is by far the most dangerous player on the Chicago team and controlling, or not controlling, him will have a major impact on the outcome of the game.

Bob McMillen (FB/LB) - Rush

Bob McMillen is another one of those guys you need on the team. With over a decade of AFL experience behind him, McMillan has a rare honor of being known for carrying the ball, and carrying it a lot and with good success. He isn't bad on the defensive side of the ball either. McMillen and Dutton know each other all too well, as McMillen has a ring from the San Jose team who won the 2002 Arenabowl.

[orange 4 life]

Originally Posted by BRONCCRUSHFAN

Don't know if anyone else read this, I think it's pretty cool, and unfortunately true.

you know, i dont think it IS true.

champ said recently he thinks we can win it all.
every year the broncos state a championship as their goal...

...and then people bash them for it.

because its the goal, doesnt mean it will happen.

bailey says we can win it all, and people on this board say he should shut up because they havent proven anything yet.

broncos management makes it clear that winning championships is their goal...

...and then dip****s like sandy clough see that as an open invitation to blast them DAILY for ONLY going 10-6 the last two years.

its getting old.
im glad the broncos AND crush are set on winning championships, and if they DONT achieve the goal ill still appreciate the effort given.

[Bronco_Beerslug]

Originally Posted by orange 4 life

you know, i dont think it IS true.

champ said it recently.
every year the broncos state a championship as their goal...

...and then people bash them for it.

because its the goal, doesnt mean it will happen.

bailey says we can win it all, and people on this board say he should shut up because they havent proven anything yet.

broncos management makes it clear that winning championships is their goal...

...and then dip****s like sandy clough see that as an open invitation to blast them DAILY for ONLY going 10-6 the last two years.

its getting old.
im glad the broncos AND crush are set on winning championships, and if they DONT achieve the goal ill still appreciate the effort given.

See, the difference to me is how players talk about this. Saying something like our team wants to be be the best we can and achieve the ultimate goal is good. Saying something like we are the best and we will win the SB this year is NOT good.

[orange 4 life]

Originally Posted by Bronco_Beerslug

See, the difference to me is how players talk about this. Saying something like our team wants to be be the best we can and achieve the ultimate goal is good. Saying something like we are the best and we will win the SB this year is NOT good.

im in agreement, but i dont see anyone from the broncos (players or management) saying we WILL win it all.

i just hear them saying that that is the goal, and that they believe they have the capability of achieving that goal...

...and i still hear people blasting them for it.

[BRONCCRUSHFAN]

Originally Posted by BRONCCRUSHFAN

The size of the paycheck has no correlation to the amount of passion an athlete brings to work.

The Avs would rather argue about money than play hockey. The Rockies hold the paying customer in such low regard, they expect us to buy their excuses for losing.

This is the part that I was thinking was unfortunately true. I believe in my heart that the Broncos will win the SuperBowl every year. However, you have to admit that certain personnel moves have been questionable at best.