BASEBALL & "THE ROCKIES LONG SLIDE" // NFL--"BRIEFS"

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team---milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed., Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner . . . BASEBALL & “THE ROCKIES LONG SLIDE" // NFL-BRIEFS” . . . // BASEBALL---HITTING bottom and puzzled as to why—that’s what six of 30 MLB clubs will be struggling with as they realize they’re to be glued to last place within their respective divisions as the 2014 regular season closes. And the Colorado Rockies could be among the worst of the six, now 53-80 and last inside the NL West and within the NL-entire. Where to begin, then, to solve the puzzle, especially difficult in that the Rockies can boast of having some of the best hitters in professional baseball, e.g., Rockies 1B Justin Morneau, he’s likely to be named best NL hitter of the year; if not, the title could go to Rockies LF Corey Dickerson. Morneau’s batting average has come close to .320, Dickerson’s around .316. Last season, Rockies OF Michael Cuddyer won the NL batting title, and OF Carlos Gonzalez won it in 2010. The Rockies IF’s Troy Tulowitzki, Charlie Blackmon, Josh Rutledge, Nolan Arenado and D.J. LeMahieu, plus OF Gonzalez, could never be regarded as marginal hitters and defenders. Yet with 27 games left to play in the regular season, it’s possible that the Rockies could lose 100 of the season’s 162 for the first time in franchise history and fall below the AL West’s now 52-81 Texas Rangers as the worst MLB club of 2014. This wasn’t supposed to be, not with the powerful batting order that the Rockies began the season with, not with the pitching staff that in spring training showed some improvement over the past season, expectations fulfilled only by LH Juan De La Rosa and his double-digit win record. So, what has gone wrong? The easy and possibly correct answer to the question is, “Just about everything!” with at the top of the list, “Injuries,” followed by a pitching crew that, except for De La Rosa, hasn’t lifted above the marginal. Next, away from home scheduling has been an obvious obstacle to full application of the Rockies skills, reflected currently by only 19 wins and (ugh!) 47 losses. Add a Rockies high rate of two and three runners left on base at the end of half-innings. Related here, and for which there’s no single word, is “the wrong thing happening at the wrong time way too often,” e.g., the Rockies having loaded the bases, two outs, next player at the plate purchasing the K, i.e., no single, extra-base hit or HR putting the team ahead for the win. This makes one think that a “choke” virus infected the team at the start of the 2014 season. At home games, there’s a different story---the Rockies Coors Field record this year has at least been above .500, now 34-33, just one loss more than those of the NL West’s number one club, the L.A Dodgers, the LAD home record being 34-32. Then there are the two factors hardest to quantify, “Leadership afield,” and “Off-the-field Management,” the former re. decisions and related actions performed by a team captain, team manager, coaches, the latter re. the same by a team’s owner(s) and a team’s GM. As to what stands out among these causes, surely it’s injuries, marginal pitching from within the rotation and bull pen, and that awful gap between wins away from home and those tallied at home. This year, 17 Rockies players have landed on 15-day disabled lists, including Morneau, Tulowitzki, Gonzalez, Arenado, and seven on 60-day disabled lists, among them, last year’s NL top batter, Michael Cuddyer. With regard to the Rockies many away from home losses, surely injuries have played a role, but so, too, has the marginal pitching, which hasn’t been of sufficient help for a home record that might have offset the team’s poor away from home data. Of course, more needs to be known about the losses away from Coors Field, tedious research is needed for this and will happen if leadership doesn’t choose only the problem-solving shortcut of fire, then hire, which hasn’t worked but once since year 2008, when the Rockies NL Championship club of 2007 hooked onto a slide. . . // NFL---DENVER QB, Peyton Manning, was fined $8,268 recently for foul language aimed at Houston Texans player, D.J. Swearinger, whose unnecessary forearm and shoulder thrust caused Broncos WR, Wes Welker, to suffer a concussion. Both acts were consequential in the negative. Manning’s behavior was below what’s usually thought of as sportsmanlike, but given the number of NFL player-concussions and the effect such has had on the post-career lives of players, Swearinger’s action will remain a more unacceptable demonstration of what ought not be. Since QB Manning’s behavior probably won’t encourage excessive “mouthing offs” across the NFL, a rational take is that “an award” of $18,000 ($1K per digit of his jersey number) should have gone to Manning for “Manning up” and scolding Swearinger; and a fine of thirty-six cents could still be imposed on Swearinger (it’s the number on his jersey) because his actions of late have suggested that with regard to choices of behavior afield he may not be worth more than that. . . SURELY to watch this year is the Dallas Cowboys offense execution of “3-2-0,” three receivers deep and wide to one side of the QB’s direct line-of-sight, two to the other side, with the QB, that is, QB Tony Romo, at zero, that is, alone for the long or short throw or hand-off. But this isn’t something that other than a very fast-on-his-feet/fast-thinking/fast scanning QB could deliver for, and Romo may not be that QB. Many QBs participating in the 3-2-0 will risk being victims repeatedly of the league’s punishing pass disruption units. . . CAN the Cleveland Browns begin an era of winning records? The plusses for this are new head coach, Mike Pettine, and the signing of Johnny Manziel, a Heisman trophy winner and the Texas A&M QB who passed for more than 7,100 yards and delivered more than 60 TD’s for the Aggies, although Manziel’s start in the NFL won’t be as the starting QB. The team’s first four games through October 5 could answer yes or no for the Browns. The Browns will be facing top QBs Ben Roethlisberger (Steelers), Drew Brees (Saints), Joe Flacco (Ravens), and Jake Locker (Titans) if free of pain from injury. The Browns bought a 4-12 record in 2013, seven of its losses a streak that began with Week 10. Should the team lose its first four games, it will be with a tougher schedule up ahead---vs. the Colts, the Ravens again, the Falcons, the Panthers. But the early four losses could see Johnny Manziel as starting QB, and that could make a difference with 12 games left to play, a hope in Cleveland that the off-field acting-out Manziel is more like former N.Y. Jets QB, Joe Namath, a flamboyant individual but a Hall of Famer, than he might be the diamond-in-the-rough and unfulfilled promise that was Tim Tebow. . . PUNDITRY has the Seahawks and the Broncos returning to the next Super Bowl. If this is to be, much can hint of the SB outcome when the teams meet during NFL Week Three (Sept. 21) at Seattle. Too, from the last five 2014 regulation games that the teams will be playing are hints as to whether pundits have been right about their SB Broncos/Seahawks pick. The Broncos will have the easier go, it seems---no super threats, while the Seahawks may face serious difficulties---two of its last five challenges will be against the S.F. 49ers, a third vs. the Philadelphia Eagles. END/ml

MLB: STANDINGS; COLORADO ROCKIES, "UNBROKEN" // NFL: "PICKS"

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team---milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed., Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner . . . MLB: TODAY’S STANDINGS; COLORADO ROCKIES, “UNBROKEN” // NFL-2014, “PICKS” . . . // MLB, STANDINGS---EACH of the six MLB division leading franchises has won more than 70 games as of now, the AL’s L.A. Angels ahead of each from its 77 wins and 52 losses. Next in line is the NL East’s 75-55 Washington Nationals, and close behind are the AL East’s 74-55 Baltimore Orioles and the NL West’s 74-58 L.A. Dodgers. But irony persists in the majors: the Angels are only one loss less than second place club, the 77-53 Oakland A’s, while the Nationals are much better off for holding onto a division championship slot, seven games ahead of second place team, the 68-63 Atlanta Braves, same re. the Orioles six game lead over second place team, the 68-61 N.Y. Yankees. Less than a month ago, the A’s were atop the Angels by two wins, so there’s time for the A’s to retake that number one slot. Another team on top three weeks ago and now in second position, that’s the AL Central’s 70-59 Detroit Tigers, two wins back of the now 72-58 K.C. Royals, the Tigers also having games enough ahead for re-taking the number one position . . . COLORADO ROCKIES---IT isn’t always a complete fall from grace when a franchise within the majors finds itself in last place of a division and league, when it could finish a regular season as professional baseball’s worst team relative to wins over losses. The Colorado Rockies are in that situation now, but to view the Rockies from numerical standings only is an inaccurate way of judging just where the club belongs regarding skills and meeting next year’s challenges. Yes, number of wins against losses is everything when players, management and fans want a post-season berth and a crack at the WS, but not having that isn’t reason to believe that a team has no juice left whatsoever and that recovery isn’t possible unless everyone is canned and owners and management start from scratch. Sure, a lot needs to be done, but it should be with keeping in mind meticulously only those reasons why the Rockies have dropped so unexpectedly to what may become the worst season for the franchise since year of origin. It shouldn’t be one of those “erase the board completely efforts,” which risks there being a team requiring several years of hard work before an above-the-margin season can occur, which seems to be the fate of most completely and suddenly revised ball clubs. For example, the Rockies still have one of the best slugging line-ups and defense squads in the majors---IF Troy Tulowitzki, OF Carlos Gonzalez, OF Charlie Blackmon, OF Corey Dickerson, OF Michael Cuddyer, IF Justin Morneau, IF Nolan Arenado, IF Josh Rutledge, IF D.J. LeMahieu. This grouping has kept most of the team’s losses from any mention of the humiliating defeat being an every day occurrence. Unlike the truly awful, the Rockies seven shutout losses (less than 10 percent of the team’s accumulated 2014 losses to date) have been offset by 11 of its 53 team wins being of double-digits each, e.g., the team’s 12-1 win vs. the Philadelphia Phillies. Of its 53 losses to date, only seven have been to teams gathering 10 or more runs. Also, the Rockies have won games this year against teams that are today in leading positions within their divisions, among them, the S.F. Giants, L.A. Dodgers, the Washington Nationals, K.C. Royals, Atlanta Braves; and, the number of times that the Rockies have loaded the bases in games lost as well as won would bury any thoughts one has that the Rockies are only hopeless. . . NFL---WITHOUT any serious degradation of its offense, and with new defense power and upticked skills, the Denver Broncos have the best shot for taking the 2014 AFC crown and then off to the SB. But at the Broncos heels will be the N.E. Patriots, which can boast a better defense than fielded last season. Of course, injuries to key players can demonize and change this outcome, which would help to leverage the Indianapolis Colts, Baltimore Ravens, possibly the S.D. Chargers, for changing post-season outcomes considerably. As for the NFC finish, the Seattle Seahawks have held on to last year’s victory attributes and can repeat conference success; however, mean challenges for a different set of NFC outcomes can be rushed forward by the S.F. 49ers and the Green Bay Packers. END/ml

NFL: AROUND THE HORN; THE TIM TEBOW/JOHNNY FOOTBALL CONNECTION

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team---milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed., Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . NFL: AROUND THE HORN; THE TIM TEBOW/JOHNNY FOOTBALL CONNECTION. . .//. . NFL--- IT’s alive and well, the extravaganza that can dwarf all other events for seventeen weeks into the close of the year---this speaks to another NFL season that can be different than the last if we go by the fact that no NFL championship team has repeated in the following year since the 2004 and 2005 AFC East’s N.E. Patriots. Of course, the NFC West’s Seattle Seahawks will be working hard to change the fact, as will the AFC West’s Denver Broncos that dropped the 2013/14 Super Bowl to the Seahawks. Yet of the 32 NFL franchises, it’s likely that the same top-third of last season won’t be sinking toward lower strata early on. This is a crowd that includes the Seahawks, the Broncos, the Patriots, the NFC North’s Green Bay Packers, the NFC West’s S.F. 49ers, the AFC South’s Indianapolis Colts. And, of the first four games that each of these teams will be playing in September most will hold difficult minutes for pulling ahead as respective division leaders. The Seahawks will be challenged sequentially by the Packers, the AFC West’s S.D. Chargers, then the Broncos, followed by a Bye. So, and excluding the Chargers, in September the Seahawks will be up against high-end formidability X 2. As for the Broncos, its September games will also be up against the hard to defeat, Week One vs. the Colts, Week Three against the Seahawks, with Week two an expected win vs. the K.C. Chiefs. As for the Packers, they could be the Seahawk’s first victimized team, but they could recover Week Two vs. the N.Y. Jets, Week Three against the Detroit Lions and Week Four vs. the NFC North’s Chicago Bears. As regards the S.F. 49ers, this team begins the season vs. the NFC East’s Dallas Cowboys, then in sequence faces the Bears, the NFC West’s Arizona Cardinals and the NFC East’s Philadelphia Eagles, questionable a win vs. the Eagles. Now for the Colts---this team will be facing the Broncos and then the Eagles in the team’s first two weeks of season play, next the AFC South’s Jacksonville Jaguars and the AFC South’s Tennessee Titans, the first two challenges definitely for all that the Colts have to give, which could weaken them for Weeks Three and Four. But it’s the Patriots that could have the easier go for supremacy throughout September, Week One vs. the AFC East’s Miami Dolphins, Week Two against the NFC North’s Minnesota Vikings, Week Three vs. the AFC West’s Oakland Raiders, Week Four against the AFC West’s K.C. Chiefs. So, if the winning teams of last season maintain, if sustainability of their 2013 final positions actually occurs, then October will kick in with the Seahawks leading the NFC West, the 49ers a close second, and the Packers atop the NFC North, with that statement “anything could happen” underscoring which team will be leading the NFC East and NFC South, the informed guesses citing the Eagles or N.Y. Giants atop the former, either the Saints, Falcons or Panthers leading the latter. . . As for leading the AFC West by October, that’s likely the Broncos slot. And the wise bet for AFC East’s number one slot starting October lists the Patriots, with AFC North’s numero uno being either the Baltimore Ravens or the Cincinnati Bengals, and starting October the AFC South will probably be led by the intrepid Colts. . . TEBOW/JOHNNY FOOTBALL . . . FROM excessive flamboyance, from the forced resonating of one’s ego across the nation, athletes learn that such becomes a big bust, a career breaker, unless they can pull it off like Muhammad Ali, who could always match his away-from-the-sport actions and whatever words poured from his mouth with high and winning skills in the ring. But nearly all professional athletes that perform attention getting antics, whether to ratchet up publicity or for some other reason, they become poster kids for the problem of overreach, in that their skills on the field fail to match what’s been promised. Humbled by it or not, they are dumped by their sport and the fans that swallowed the drink of false expectations nearly at Mach-5 speed. It happened to Tim Tebow, and it seems to be happening to Johnny Manziel, a.k.a. Johnny Football, a nick way too audacious for a person hoping to take on the job of captaining an NFL offense, which, by the way, is no longer Manziel’s opportunity, he’ll be the Cleveland Browns “back-up” QB. Right now, Tebow is beyond being fried, he’s out of the NFL largely from too much media attention and because afield he couldn’t match ballooning expectations. From his behavior, Tebow became a sort of rock star, less so the professional athlete who can reach or exceed expectations. Manziel can avoid that fate by matching personal behavior to the gravitas of the job he’s been given, surely by eliminating any words delivered publicly that aren’t that of a true football player. College greatness, Heisman trophy, fantastic! But that’s the past, the NFL is the uncertain and often unforgiving future for all who enter. END/ml.

NBA: Q&A W/DENVER NUGGETS HEAD COACH, BRIAN SHAW

sports-notebook.blogspot.com . . . FOR MORE ANALYSIS, GO TO "MILE HIGH SPORTS RADIO," AM1510 or FM93.7, and to Denver’s best sports blogging team---milehighsports.com. SPORTS NOTEBOOK posts its columns Tuesday and Friday of each week. Ed., Publ., Marvin Leibstone; Copy & Mng. Ed., Gail Kleiner. . . NBA---Q&A W/DENVER NUGGETS HEAD COACH, BRIAN SHAW (Re-printed from Mile High Sports Magazine-Online Issue) --- RECENTLY, Mile High Sports magazine writer and Editor/Publisher of Sports Notebook, Marvin Leibstone, met with Denver Nuggets Head Coach, Brian Shaw, to gain a sense of Coach Shaw’s take on the Nuggets current capabilities and limitations, also Shaw’s thoughts about the recent and upcoming NBA seasons. Thus, the following—- LEIBSTONE – WHAT were the hardest among challenges that you faced at the start of your being head coach for the Denver Nuggets?. . . COACH SHAW – Actually, the first days were about the standard necessities for preparing an NBA team for regular and post-season play. This included setting up schedules for practice and for observations of each player’s strengths and vulnerabilities, for my analyzing their skills and where they might need improvement, and from that building the right criteria for the right rotation of players during game time, a process that’s crucial for any coach. . . ML – How would you portray the Nuggets in your first season with them, as the season progressed? . . . SHAW – We began strong and healthy enough for some good wins, which started to happen. We had those nights that pointed to the possibility of another post-season slot, but injuries occurred. We already had forward Danilo Gallinari injured. Then it was guard Ty Lawson getting injured. Then others were down, and so the Nuggets became a new team every so many nights, a less experienced team. When this happens, you have to make ‘adjustments on the fly’ and it could be too late for that to make a difference for you in the standings. . . ML – Which Nuggets players have surprised you the most with their commitment and improvement of skills? . . . SHAW – I’d have to list center, Timofey Mozgov. His game improved immensely as the season continued—speed, transition to defense, that full package of a center’s intended skills. Also, guard Randy Foye, for his ability to lead, to improvise and as a shooter. Keep in mind that these players had to take up the slack from Gallinari and Lawson being out. . . ML – How would you want the Nuggets to be for leading its division in the coming season, for leading the Western Conference, for being seeded for post-season play? . . . SHAW – Of course, we want to be a team that wins consistently. For this, you know, the Nuggets do not have a superstar, and surely the right superstar can make the difference that is desired, ‘which isn’t always the case.’ The superstar concept can be a detriment, in that all becomes dependent on the one or two stars, maybe a third. . . ML – In other words, the rest of a team’s players just being supporting characters in the superstar’s movie? . . . SHAW – I’m an advocate of the complete team, the basketball team that is made up of competent players who breathe and live the idea of ‘teamwork.’ A fine example of this are the San Antonio Spurs teams coached over the years by Gregg Popovich, who doesn’t see superstar in any player; he sees skilled teammates. If the Spurs Tony Parker or Tim Duncan make mistakes in a game, Coach Popovich works with them as he would even a rookie and he might put in back-up players soonest, he may even start a back-up player next game and have Parker or Duncan sidelined. I lean in that direction, wanting a group of players skilled in more than their best quality, a guard who can defend well, a center who can also shoot, a forward who can suddenly execute the playmaking expected from a point guard. In other words, across the board expertise, everyone strong at the assist, the rebound and the block, at transitioning fast into and back from defense, all capable of sinking the three-pointer as well as the two, being fine at the drive and scoring. And, most important, are leadership and improvisation, Nuggets players who together can improvise out of a bad situation and exploit the good situation, turning it all into points. . . ML – Can we say, then, that whoever has the basketball at any given moment has to be a leader and think quickly for what the next team move has to be, and then “execute?” . . . SHAW – The potential for that is definitely with the current Nuggets organization. Needed is for us to make sure that this potential becomes a reality for NBA 2014/15. . . ML – Is there a coaching style that nurtures this floor leadership and the ability to improvise? . . . SHAW – I don’t think it’s in micro-managing, and it isn’t in being hands-off either, in just sticking to watching practice passively and relying on rostering-choices being correct. You need to guide players into thinking about leading and improvising and on improving that during practice sessions, but you have to give your players some leeway to also figure things out by themselves, especially so that the players coming to you from other teams and from college basketball can first undo their habits that can’t always work in the NBA. . . ML – All this said, who will be the five Nuggets starters when the new season begins? . . . SHAW – Oh, it’s too early to get into that with precision, with a final statement, though some informed guesses have been made. I’ll be making that decision after the off-season, when the new season is about to commence. . . ML – When you were assistant coach with the Indiana Pacers, you had several talks with Indiana player, Paul George, who confessed to you his appreciation for all that guard Kobe Bryant has meant to the NBA game, especially as a developer of skills for the L.A. Lakers. In those talks, you emphasized the enormous dedication that Bryant applies to perfecting his game, not only on-court but during practice sessions, this above that which other players normally offer up. Are you still an advocate of that kind of dedication? . . . SHAW – Dedication, focus, practice by any player above that which a coach asks for is always appreciated. It can inspire others greatly. . . ML – Which Western Conference and Northwest Division teams are, from your vantage point, the teams to beat? . . . SHAW – Conference-wise, certainly the Spurs, and this coming season we may see some extraordinary playing from the Phoenix Suns. As for our division, for the Nuggets it could be the Portland Trail Blazers, and there is always pressure from the Oklahoma City Thunder. . . ML – Coach Shaw, you are suddenly King of the NBA for several days and can make any changes you wish. What would those changes be? . . . SHAW – I’d certainly want to downgrade, maybe end the excess seen in rewards given to some potentially super-excellent players before they have had the NBA court-time to prove that they are worth it, especially the financial end of rewards. Also, it’s a tight season of 82 games plus pre-season games from October through mid-April, so I’d probably consider ending the back-to-back games within that. . . END/ml