NFL: AMERICAN CONFERENCE-WEST // COLLEGE FOOTBALL

For more sports analysis go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510, and Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

            UNTIL AFTER THE CURRENT NFL SEASON, “SPORTS NOTEBOOK” WILL POST NEW EVERY MONDAY INSTEAD OF ON TUESDAY, continuing with a new post every Friday.  Editor, Marvin Leibstone. Comments to: mlresources1@aol.com

NFL   ---   GOOD news for the Denver Broncos is that the San Diego Chargers lost to the Chicago Bears on Sunday, which helps hold the reconstituted Denver team to second place of the NFL’s American Conference-West. It’ll be a more solid Denver grasp if tonight the New England Patriots clobber the Kansas City Chiefs, as expected.

So, if the Chargers and Chiefs keep losing, it could be an Oakland/Denver shootout for the AC-W title. That’s a chance for the Broncos to champion the AC and get to the Super Bowl. When Oakland and Denver met on October 6, Oakland lost, 38-24.

The Broncos have six regular season games left, next up San Diego (November 27), a week later, the Minnesota Vikings. Yesterday, these losing teams provided evidence that Denver could dominate them, though Denver lost to San Diego on October 9 when it was a different team under a different quarterback (Kyle Orton) and of a weaker defense. Too, a Broncos team unwilling to step back tactically and staying strong physically could beat the Chiefs again on January 1, 2012---they defeated the Chiefs two weeks ago, 17-10.

Serious trouble for the Broncos can begin with games to be played between the quite possible wins vs. the Chargers and Vikings and the possible victory vs. the Chiefs. It’s when the Denver team faces the Bears on December 11, the Patriots on December 18, and the Bills, December 24. Right now, the QB’s and defense squads of these three franchises hold several impressive 2011 stats, and their QB’s are far better at passing the football than Denver’s QB, Tim Tebow.

Yet Sunday’s Chicago/San Diego game presented a reason why Denver could prevail against the Bears, Patriots and the Bills. Both Chicago and San Diego had numerous failed drives from opposing interceptions and from blocked passes, relying often on a passing game, even when close to having a TD, which is a lot easier to defend against than the short distance rush that a QB like Denver’s Tebow turns into a TD. The Bears, Patriots and the Bills usually play a traditional game similar to that of the Chargers and Bears, only fiercer and with better pass/receiver coordination and better accuracy.

To be exploited favorably by Denver, then, and noted clearly as a positive during Denver’s last three games, is that its defense jumped several rungs upward on the ladder of efficiency for what’s needed to interfere with, or intercept, even the more effective opposing pass and rush tactics. In other words, beating the Bears, Patriots and Bills will rest squarely on an improved Denver defense, on its ability to quickly close spaces between it and a passing or rushing offense. It’s really Football 101---the pressure to win will be on how well the Denver defense can keep returning the football to Tebow without giving away points, next Tebow capitalizing on short gains in yardage for numerous first downs, then creating that final surge for a TD, which is probably all that the Denver offense could rely upon to stay dominant in any game vs. a higher caliber NFL team, but only possible when Tebow has seamless protection and opposing defenders are forced to spread outward.

In a nutshell, the Broncos grit and skills will have to be at high volume vs. the team’s toughest upcoming challenges. Needed, therefore, will be a Broncos defense as good, if not better than that which held the New York Jets down on Thursday, plus Tebow’s assaults being as effective as that fourth down 95-yard drive that allowed for the TD that took the Jets down, 17-13.

* * *

COLLEGE FOOTBALL  ---  THOUGH tradition is a constant, it has its ups and downs; it can expand and contract, go from being big and hardy to a mere whimper, example: Ivy League football. The entire enchilada, the big bang of American college sports, it began with Yale, Princeton and Harvard, the three competing in the 1870’s. For many years, football was mostly synonymous with these schools. Today, you can’t find an Ivy League team in the top 25. And, Yale and Princeton no longer give Harvard a rough going. On Saturday, Yale lost to Harvard, 45-7, with the team’s QB completing more than 50 percent of his passes and gaining more than 350 yards. Also on Saturday, Princeton lost to Dartmouth, 24-17.    .   .   Move west on the Saturday football map and visible is Air Force having beaten University of Las Vegas, 45-17, which keeps Air Force as a bowl contender. But, ugh! UCLA stomped University of Colorado, 45-6. Except for the Air Force win, not a good day for Colorado schools---Colorado State lost to Texas Christian, 34-10.

Saturday’s most impressive score belonged to number one college team LSU, vs. Mississippi, 52-3. Number two college team Alabama beat Georgia Southern, 45-21. As for today’s top 12 college football teams, eight are among those predicted to be in the category before the current season began: LSU, Alabama, Oregon, Oklahoma State, Oklahoma U., Arkansas, Stanford and Boise State (only one back east school in the bunch) .  .  .  On Saturday, Penn State beat Ohio State, 20-14, without Joe Paterno being present, though some game-savvy credit for the win has to be given to the now discredited and former Penn State head coach. At 9-2, Penn State is rated 23 within the year’s top 25---a tainted legacy is still a legacy. Paterno, in his eighties, lives now with three forms of cancer: lung cancer, the alleged Jerry Sandusky crimes, and whatever it was that caused him to remain silent about that which Sandusky is now being accused of perpetrating.   

END/ml

NFL: BRONCOS DEFEAT THE JETS // SPORTS, VALUES & OUR NATION’S IMAGE       

For more sports analysis go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510, and Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

            UNTIL AFTER THE CURRENT NFL SEASON, “SPORTS NOTEBOOK” WILL POST NEW EVERY MONDAY INSTEAD OF ON TUESDAY, continuing with a new post every Friday.  Editor, Marvin Leibstone. Comments to: mlresources1@aol.com

BRONCOS VS. JETS  ---    IT wasn’t the Tim Tebow-led offense that first positioned the Denver Broncos away from serious trouble and likelihood of Denver losing to the New York Jets last night; it was Denver cornerback Andre Goodman’s third quarter interception of a laser-like pass thrown by Jets quarterback Mark Sanchez, producing a TD tying the game at 10-10, allowing a fourth quarter Denver touchdown to dominate, final score 17-13, Denver.

The Tebow-led offense, which failed to exploit numerous drives past a need to punt until the Goodman pivotal play, soared to life with a fourth quarter 95 yard drive that included a 20 yard Tebow rush for, with 58 seconds before endgame, a TD giving the Broncos their third straight win and a redemption-win at Sports Authority-Mile High Stadium after having lost embarrassingly there to the Detroit Lions, 45-10, just a few weeks ago.

That fourth quarter Tebow TD surely caused Tebow-doubters to shed more doubt. With Tebow as starting QB, the Broncos have lifted from beneath where prairie dogs sleep to half a game behind the Oakland Raiders for first place in the American Conference’s Western Division. The Broncos are now 5-5 with a shot at being in the post-season. Yet Tebow, a Heisman trophy winner, can disappoint during most minutes of a game: he isn’t a gifted passer, and he appears to read his play-options too slowly before passing or handing off the ball; many of his rushes have been from desperation, nothing else that he could do or it’ll be sack time, and he does get sacked. Prior to his amazing fourth Q clutch performance against the Jets last night, Tebow’s pass completions were mediocre in each quarter, the Broncos accumulating only seven passing yards in the second Q compared with the Jets 76, and 19 in the third Q, the Jets 79. Tebow’s third Q pass completions were a dismal 1–8. Praise has to go to the Broncos defense keeping most of those New York passing yard advantages from resulting in points.   

Yes, too many of Tebow’s passes last night hadn’t completed, and a slew of his drives couldn’t post numbers, but that fourth quarter Tebow surge that has won him praise in the past won him praise again. He’s hard to label, and that could be a plus, in that an opposing defense will have trouble reading him. Is he a diamond in the rough still? Is he a dynamo performing best under extreme pressure instead of being a steady point-gaining influence from kick-off on, therefore he’ll likely end up doing the unexpected, an unorthodox move that stuns and puts points on the board? Or, is Tebow reaching to be super savvy, yearning to be more methodical and controlling, already knowing just when to go pedal-to-the-floor, carrying the ball as if a receiver rushing at Mach-2 speed? Is he a natural fullback or WR posing as a QB? And, has Broncos head coach decided to free Tebow to explore his own talent, his own limits as he learns how the NFL offense has to differ from Tebow’s college game, therefore we’ve been seeing Tebow exceptionally bad as well as amazingly good in any drive that he captains, somehow saving the best for last? We’ll probably have the answer here before the New Year.  

Kudos, of course, to the Denver defense that held the Jets from scoring after the Tebow-led TD,  special mention: lineman Von Miller sacking Jets QB Mark Sanchez with seconds to go before final, Sanchez being a QB highly successful at fourth down passes winning games. The Denver secondary? Best yet in 2011! The high-rollers expecting the Jets to clobber the Broncos by more than seven based their moves on the Broncos defense giving away any points that the Tebow-led offense could gather; they hadn’t factored in that Andre Goodman interception. The Jets were held to only 83 rushing yards by the Broncos defense, while Jets QB Sanchez was prevented from completing nearly half of his 40 pass attempts.    

It’s wise to keep in mind that no NFL QB can keep steering a series of wins without having the versatility that an NFL QB has to acquire. Against the Jets, Tebow passed for only 104 yards, the Jets Sanchez for 252. Had the Denver vs, Jets defense been what it was four games ago, thus unable to block and interfere quickly enough, the Jets would have beat the Broncos by that proverbial mile. Though Tebow was able to rush for 68 yards from eight attempts, that 68 was more than 50 percent of the Broncos 125 rushing yards total. This speaks to Tebow’s talent as a ball carrier and clutch miracle-worker inside the enemy’s twenty, but it also speaks to a weakness in the Denver offense, i.e., insufficient QB/receiver pass completions, which could hold the Broncos back when the team faces the San Diego Chargers, November 27.

*   *   *

SPORTS + (-)  ---   ALL sports resonate, radiate, they reach deeply into the fabric of American life, underscoring the virtues that we try to honor and display day after day. Yet many Americans can hate that sports can remind us of human frailty and of the worst that is in us.

Right now, Americans are sickened by the Penn State scandal, by the alleged perversity of a Penn State football official and of the tactic of deniability used to preserve already tarnished individuals and a flawed institution. Also, a Green Bay Packers defensive lineman, John Jolly, was sentenced to six years in prison this week for drug-related crimes, and news surfaced yesterday that a Syracuse football coach allegedly abused a child.

Less disturbing, of course, but disturbing enough, is that a 2011/2012 NBA season may never be, according to some NBA officials, weakening chances for all NBA athletes to enhance their performance value, hurting business enterprises wherever NBA games take place, therefore impacting the nation’s overall economy adversely.

The above-cited seems to underscore sewage, building a case that sports is mostly dirty, at its core a collection of rot.

But the American way of fairness asks that anything reeking of the negative should be seen in perspective, weighed in balance with whatever related good can be found. With this in mind, and looking at the bigger picture, all sports become a reflection of the better side of American life and of human nature globally. Within the nation’s several hundred colleges, and among America’s many sports franchises, are programs and games still quite rich in guidelines, filled with ways advising how we humans can actualize, be the best that we could be as we face the challenges of daily living.

There’s still no better environment than the sports realm for young persons and adults to learn about teamwork, sharing, competition and fairness, what it is to face adversity and win, how to lose gracefully, to try again and again, to develop and sharpen one’s skills through discipline and hard work, to stay strong and to be healthy, to adhere to high standards of behavior, to shape what indeed is heroic.

So, it’s important to realize that reports of the bad and the ugly represent probably less than two, maybe three percent of the entire spectrum of American sports. Make no mistake, the lion’s share of sports programs across the land are more stable, fair and educative than the week’s reports could have us believe.

An imperative, then, is that leaders within the sports realm, and fans everywhere, be especially vigilant as recommendations for ways to rid sports of its spoilers and deviates surface, some of which could weaken rather than reinforce America’s sports programs, for instance, policies empowering Washington, or even state capitols and municipalities, to restructure and enforce rules governing sports, leading to the politicalization of sports, which has been prevented successfully ever since the first Olympiad centuries ago.    

END/ml  

NFL: BRONCOS DEFEAT THE CHIEFS // COLLEGE FOOTBALL: WINS, LOSSES, THE TOP 12 // WORLD: BOXING 

            For more sports analysis go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510, and Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

            STARTING NOVEMBER 14, 2011, “SPORTS NOTEBOOK” WILL POST NEW EVERY MONDAY INSTEAD OF ON TUESDAY, continuing with a new post every Friday.  Editor, Marvin Leibstone. Comments to: mlresources1@aol.com

NFL ---- OUT of the ditch, onto the road---this is one way to look at Sunday’s Denver win versus Kansas City. The 17-10 victory lifted the Broncos toward a .500 rating and a chance for post-season play should they beat the San Diego Padres two weeks from now, defeat the Chiefs again on January 1, 2012, and if the Chiefs, Padres and Raiders lose all of their games between now and the end of the NFL season, positioning the Broncos atop the American Conference’s Western Division.

Though there’s a less than 40-60 chance of the above happening for the Broncos, stranger outcomes have occurred in the last half of a football season. Closer to reality is that the Broncos win vs. the Chiefs posted a 4-5 record for a team that had lost three games straight in September and October, embarrassingly to Detroit, 45-10, on October 30, thus seemed a lost cause.

Denver’s Sunday win was from an aggressiveness, smart tactical choices and skillful applications rarely seen in past games, with starting quarterback Tim Tebow making up for some early season failures. A lot of Tebow’s critics are eating proverbial crow now, uncooked. Yes, Tebow was sacked four times by the Chiefs big slammers, yet from his number of yards gained per play, superb rushing and a 56 yard pass to receiver Eric Decker, Tebow maintained Broncos dominance during each quarter, steered two TD’s and got kicker Matt Prater in position for field goal insurance.

Denver’s points evolved mostly from the rushing option; there were 54 Denver rushing plays compared with eight passing plays. Also, and without question, the Denver defense kept up its pressure on K.C.’s QB Matt Cassell when it mattered most, an exception being a high flip for a catch and TD against Denver. Moreover, Denver’s defense showed improved speed and timing, which walled off key K.C. rushes and also blocked K.C. pass attempts that Matt Cassell seemed forced to launch because of Denver’s tight encirclement around him in the pocket.

Next up for the Broncos are the N.Y. Jets, Thursday, November 17, a big threat being the Jets QB Mark Sanchez/receiver LaDainian Tomlinson connection.

* * *

COLLEGE FOOTBALL ---  AFTER beating Navy in October, then Army last week, therefore accruing the coveted Commander-In-Chief trophy that is presented annually by the American president, Air Force’s Falcons lost to Wyoming, 25-17, on Saturday. Wyoming is now 6-3 and a bowl contender. Air Force is one future loss away from any chance of a bowl appearance, which means that Air Force has to win its last two season games (vs. Las Vegas next week, Colorado State the week after) if it’s to be a bowl team this season. A downside for Air Force was QB Tim Jefferson suffering a concussion on Saturday, unable to finish the vs. Wyoming game, which can impact Air Force’s chances of winning its next two games.

And Penn State lost to Nebraska, 17-14, when the team’s school needed a boost after the horrific revelations about Penn State’s football leadership. It’s better to think about the University of Colorado Buffaloes beating the Arizona Wildcats on Saturday, uplifting for a 2-9 college team. By winning, CU’s Buffs avoided being the school’s worst football team ever. Another first was Michigan State (No. 13 of the nation’s top 25 college teams, at 8-2); they whipped Iowa for the first time in 22 years, 37-21.

Elsewhere on Saturday, and as predicted, high ranking LSU (number one among the top 25 college teams from a 9-0 record) beat Western Kentucky, 42-9, and, not predicted, Oregon smashed Stanford, 53-30, not good for Stanford QB Andrew Luck hoping to be selected as the year’s Heisman Trophy winner.  .  . Of particular note is that 12 of the country’s top 25 college football teams won their challenges this past week, 10 of them by margins greater than six points, the biggest point spread Arkansas vs. Tennessee 49-7, the tightest spread, West Virginia 24, Cincinnati, 21.  .  .   As of Saturday, the top 12 college teams for the current season are—

1.      LSU                                          7.  Oklahoma U.

2.      Oklahoma State                        8.  Arkansas

3.      Stanford                                    9.  Clemson

4.      Alabama                                   10. Va. Tech.

5.      Boise State                               11. Houston

6.      Oregon                                     12. Penn State

* * *

WORLD/BOXING ---       IT’s rare when the same professional boxers meet in the ring every three or four years and each makes it extremely difficult for the other to prevail, and when during the off years each maintains a nearly identical record. On Saturday, at Las Vegas, there occurred a third fight across a seven year preiod between Manny Pacquiao and Juan Manuel Marquez, for the WBO Welterweight Championship title. Before the bout, Pacquiao claimed 53 career wins, 38 of them knockouts, compared with Marquez’ 53 wins, 39 knockouts.

In 2004, Pacquiao and Marquez fought to a draw, in 2008 they finished with a split decision, and, on Saturday, Pacquiao beat Marquez by a slim margin, with one of the three judges awarding each 114 points, the other two judges favoring Pacquiao by only four and two points respectively. Pacquiao surely won from his first-strike landings outnumbering the effective counter-punches thrown by Marquez. However, the former’s work in the ring was less artful than the manner in which Marquez worked his fight strategy. Were style and clever + timely counter-punches worth more in points, Marquez could have been picked as the winner by all three judges.  

END/ml    

SPORTS & SCANDAL, HOW BAD?  //  NFL: BRONCOS & THE CHIEFS

            For more sports analysis go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510, and Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

            STARTING NOVEMBER 14, 2011, “SPORTS NOTEBOOK” WILL POST NEW EVERY MONDAY INSTEAD OF ON TUESDAY, continuing with a new post every Friday.  Editor, Marvin Leibstone. Comments to: mlresources1@aol.com

SPORTS & SCANDAL, HOW BAD?  ---  WHERE is shame? Has it disappeared? There was a time, and it seems long ago, when persons having committed illegal sex acts, or knowing of them and having said nothing to authorities, would resign from their jobs immediately. Driven by shame, they’d seek a hole to hide in and pray for a future go at redemption. Today, we find that persons accused of such wrongdoings express denial as if they were Richard Nixon clones trying to make little of their Watergates. You can almost hear them shouting, “How dare anyone ask that I commit professional suicide by confessing to a crime, or admitting that I knew about a crime.”

What has bothered a lot of Americans this week is that Penn State’s Joe Paterno hadn’t resigned the moment news of sexual abuse within his football program hit the airwaves. Though Paterno had never been the abuser of young boys that his former assistant coach, Jerry Sandusky, has been accused of being, he had to at least have heard about Sandusky’s illegal behavior problems and he’d done nothing about it, which to any rational person is a criminal act. As coinage for redemption, a Paterno asked to own up, apologize and refuse to remain in college sports makes sense.

As for Sandusky, if all that he’s being accused of is true he’s probably not one to hang himself or stick his head in an oven and light a match, so a long jail sentence will probably be his fate .  .  .  The Penn State scandal has caused lots of parents and their kids to think of American sports as dirty all around. Parents daydream about their kids playing baseball, football, soccer or hockey; none want to trade those dreams in for nightmares about predators abusing their offspring. Yes, there can be snakes in the grass, worms in a barrel of apples, scorpions in the bathtub, and one Sandusky in this world is far too many, but we can take some comfort knowing that across the nation many colleges have decent sports programs and decent persons managing them.

A recent study proved that seven percent of U.S. college football players have criminal records. While this isn’t good news, the study also advises that 93 percent of college football players do not have criminal records, which is positive. It’s likely, then, that, in spite of the many sports scandals in a given year, the lion’s share of American sports has remained clean, that the house known as American sports is not falling apart. However, with this said, the rot that is there ought to be attacked, gotten rid of. Even one percent bad can affect many lives adversely, which means something needs to be done to scour those corners of our games that have been infected, and not just to eliminate those bent sexually but to edge out the corrupter$, too. Authorities need work to dump all those college officials on the take along with the scouts and agents using payoffs, drugs and hookers to steer athletes of potential in certain directions, even to where those athletes don’t wish to go. 

One clean-up idea is restructuring the NCAA so that its investigations of college sports can be more rigorous, more honest, leading to arrests and convictions. Another is for the federal government or Congress to appoint a commission similar to that which investigated baseball’s steroid scandals, purpose: ferret out deviates and corruption within all of the major college and professional sports, dissolving after.

A third recommendation has been appointment of a permanent National Sports Commissioner with White House authority for investigating all American sports randomly and per schedule, a drawback being that the commissioner would be beholden to a political party, thus sports could be hostage to political objectives.

Important now is that the Penn State mess be the catalyst for new investigations nationally and that the NCAA be made to back its play as a true overseer of college sports, thus enforcer of the good.

* * * 

NFL  ---   A smart Broncos strategy from now until the end of the current NFL season will include hope, XX-large hope that, in addition to winning all of the Denver team’s remaining games the Kansas City Chiefs, San Diego Padres and Oakland Raiders lose all of theirs, for this could put the Broncos at the head of the American Conference’s Western Division, owning a post-season billet.

Good news for Denver’s fans is that in addition to their team beating the Raiders last week, the Broncos have an opportunity to whip the K.C. Chiefs this Sunday and again on January 1, 2012. Also, the Broncos will have a chance to present San Diego with a loss on November 27.

But---first things first: the Chiefs are not wimps by any definition, they are 4-4 and leading the AC-WD, but fortunately for 3-5 Denver they are weakest opposite where Denver has been weak. Meant by this is that the Chiefs offense isn’t all aces, so the vulnerable Broncos defense may not have to work as hard as when they had challenged the Raiders last week. Another plus is that the re-invented Broncos offense has a better than fair chance at racking up points providing that starting quarterback, Tim Tebow, can rush the ball as he had when Denver beat Oakland, which will require fast and mean pass protection and also running back, Willis McGahee, and wide receiver, Eddie Royal, getting the support needed to be free for Tebow transferring the football to them.

Expect from Tebow a lot of first down attempts via short yardage gains, yet the unexpected third or fourth down pass for the TD, also every possible effort by his offense to confuse and undo the Chiefs close-in defenders and the Chiefs secondary. The winning Denver offense-equation has to be Tebow + space, time & receivers = points, emphasis on the space and time that Tebow needs to find his options, choose and perform.

END/ml

BRONCOS & RAIDERS // NFL RACE TO THE TOP // NBA LOCKOUT // COLLEGE FOOTBALL “PICK OF THE WEEK” // BOXING & A FORMER CHAMP

            For more sports analysis go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510, and Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

            STARTING NOVEMBER 14, 2011, “SPORTS NOTEBOOK” WILL POST NEW EVERY MONDAY INSTEAD OF ON TUESDAY, continuing with a new post every Friday.  Editor, Marvin Leibstone. Comments to: mlresources1@aol.com

BRONCOS, RAIDERS  ---  UNTIL meeting up with the Oakland Raiders on Sunday, November 6, the Denver Broncos were doing poorly, stuck in mediocrity. Yet they hadn’t been a gang of can’t-get-it-together misfits heading downhill uncaringly. Instead, the Broncos have been a gathering of talented athletes pushing hard to offset their vulnerabilities with their strengths, which they succeeded at doing with a 38-24 victory against the Raiders that was largely from an offense that surpassed expectations after an embarrassing Denver loss to the Detroit Lions, 45-10.  

Denver quarterback Tim Tebow steered the versus Raiders win with 64 offense plays and four touchdowns, 135 passing yards, 299 rushing yards, 118 of the rushing yards his alone. Add, three interceptions, two by Denver cornerback Champ Bailey, the other by Denver CB, Chris Harris. Of the TD’s, two were completed by Denver running back Willis McGahee after well-timed and accurate Tebow connects. McGahee finished the game with 163 yards gained. Another TD was scored by Denver wide receiver Eric Decker making a brilliant 27 yard catch on the run. A third TD belonged to WR Eddie Royal after an 85 yard run.

Noteworthy against Oakland were the results of Denver’s 20 first downs. Relative to the number of Denver points from TD’s and field goals, that’s more than 50 percent of the game winning total of 38, in effect, nearly two points per first down.

Still, the dark side of suspense thrived as the Broncos defense gave points back to Oakland .  .  .   While definite improvements occurred in the Denver defense’s ability to run fast, tackle, block, interfere and intercept, some lapses occurred, allowing Oakland to score and remain in contention during each quarter. The fourth quarter began with a tie, 24-24. Denver’s execution of pressure tactics against an opposing QB in the pocket also showed improvement, but inconsistency there also allowed damage, for example, the majority of Oakland’s points could be traced directly to Oakland’s QB exploiting space and time that the Denver defense could have prevented him from having, the Oakland QB throwing well enough to receivers who had become free for the catch, though much credit is due for a speedy Denver sacking of the Raiders QB with less than two minutes to go in the fourth Q, good spoilage of a Raiders drive that could have diminished the final point spread.

Denver is now 3-5 and will face the 4-4 Kansas City Chiefs on Sunday, November 13. The Broncos will face the Chiefs again on January 1, 2012, and between this Sunday’s game and January 1 the Broncos will be challenged by only teams that are at or above .500, except for the Minnesota Vikings, now at 2-6.

It’s the last half of the season now, ahead an eight game spread that will put the Tebow question to rest. If most of the next eight Broncos game-results are like Sunday’s win vs. Oakland, Tebow will have proof that his poor showing against the Detroit Lions last week was a fluke, that he can match his potential over the long term and manage an NFL offense above the margin, which means that he’ll have to increase his gained yardage per game to 200 or above and complete more than 50 percent of his passes. Against Oakland, Tebow completed 10 of 21 pass attempts. 

NFL season, mid-point  ---  FOR most of the NFL teams, there are eight games to go before the post-season, the aggregate run of past games smacking of both surprise and predictability. No-one thought as the season began that the Indianapolis Colts would be winless to date, 0-9, or that the Denver Broncos would be tied at fourth from the bottom in the NFL’s American Conference with the 3-5 Cleveland Browns. Miami is now second worst after Indianapolis at 1-7, Jacksonville third worst at 2-6.

Strange as it may seem, in the AC-Western Division there's an X factor. Though Denver is now 3-5, the four teams ahead of Denver are at 4-4. This means that from Denver beating the Chiefs this Sunday and winning its next two games afterward, and San Diego and Oakland losing their upcoming games over the next three weeks, the Broncos could own first place in the AC-WD, thus have a chance to be in the post-season. The likelihood of this happening is probably slim but it is still possible given that each of the four WD teams have played unpredictably since the start of the season. Of course, to help this scenario unfold, Denver must, after beating the Chiefs this Sunday, also beat the New York Jets November 17 and the San Diego Padres, November 27.

Right now, the best records in the AC are held by the Cincinnati Bengals and the Baltimore Ravens, both 6-2 in the AC’s Northern Division. In the NFL-National Conference, way ahead are the Green Bay Packers, 8-0, followed by the San Francisco Giants, 7-1, the New Orleans Saints, 6-3, and the N.Y. Giants, 6-2. Worst in the NC are the St.Louis Rams, 1-7.

NBA LOCKOUT ---  WITH the U.S. economy nearly stagnant and unemployment hovering still at nine percent, it’s hard to wrap one’s mind around millionaire players arguing with billionaire NBA team owners, each side as if a step away from homelessness. The latest no-go in the negotiations that have stalled the 2011/2012 NBA season is an offering to players from the owners of a 51 percent share of basketball-related earnings, which the players union declined even knowing that the offer will soon drop to 47 percent. So, no-one should expect a return to NBA games soon, though a season will eventually unfold if only from necessity among owners unable to handle the impact of a serious downward slide into red ink.

Too, large and small businesses that survive along the periphery of basketball have entered the equation---if they organize better with appropriate funding and threaten to be forceful during court procedures, the lockout could end before January with players getting what they want, which would amount to NBA players getting richer but also NBA players being able to control their destinies a lot better than now via force of owner-dollars invested. Similarly, banks treat with kid gloves the clients that they’ve given millions to for a desired return, out of fear of that these big borrowers will renege on their agreements. Pay an athlete many millions of dollars, you’ll need that investment to pay off, like a show producer having fallen into “the Diva trap.”

COLLEGE FOOTBALL --- AIR FORCE beat Army, 24-14 on Saturday, winning in a second half that began with Army at 14, Air Force, zero, zip, nada! Having beat Navy 35-34 in overtime last month, and having beaten Army, the Air Force Falcons have qualified for the U.S. Commander-In-Chief trophy, which means that the team will be at the White House soon to receive the trophy from President Barack Obama .  .  .   Some observers characterized the last half vs. Army as the best second half comeback of any of the service academy games of recent years.

Surely attention should be given to the way that Army had played during the first half---the Black Knights accrued 20 first downs and 340 rushing yards, while keeping Air Force from scoring. The second half was sort of tit for tat, in that there were two Air Force fumbles that had allowed Army to score points in the first half, and there were three Army fumbles that enabled Air Force to drive for TD’s and a field goal in the second half. Air Force is now at 5-4, next up: Wyoming, November 12.

   

BOXING  --- FOR many boxing fans, there are several modern eras, starting with heavyweights Jack Dempsey and Gene Tunney, next the Joe Louis/Sugar Ray Robinson-led period that lasted from just before WW-2 until the 1950’s, closely attended by, and then followed by an era dominated by heavyweights Joe Walcott and Rocky Marciano. Then came the Muhammad Ali period in the 1960’s, maintained until Ali’s retirement in 1979, followed by a popular middleweight/welterweight generation led by Sugar Ray Leonard, Tommy Hearns, Marvin Hagler and Roberto Duran, this in the late 1970’s and 1980’s, when heavyweight Mike Tyson also maintained prominence. These boxers were known and admired or hated by the general public, while today very few boxers are known except by the sport’s serious followers, of which there are fewer than in any generation since the 1930’s.

Ask any person in the street a generation ago who the heavyweight champion of the world was, the correct answer surfaced almost immediately. That doesn’t happen now, and probably very few persons today have heard of former heavyweight champion, Joe Frazier, who, at age 67, was diagnosed a month ago with liver cancer and died this week. Frazier fought Ali three times, losing twice, the first win when Frazier was already World Heavyweight Champion, a title that he obtained in 1970 and held until 1973, when he lost to George Foreman.

Of Frazier’s 37 fights, he won 32, 27 being knockouts---he fought often as a wildly aggressive bruiser rather than as the scientific fighter that he knew to be and was when he had to be. When he beat Ali, he wasn’t just breathing fire, he wasn’t just of a mean left hook and then flailing arms, he wasn’t just tenacity and brute strength---boxing history should treat him as the true professional fighter, owner of courage, power and sound technique.

END/ml

NFL: BRONCOS & RAIDERS /// WORLD: FORMULA ONE GRAND PRIX RACING, 2011 & 2012

            For more sports analysis, go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510, and Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

            Sports Notebook posts new every Tuesday and Friday. Editor, Marvin Leibstone. Comments to: mlresources1@aol.com

NFL ---   WE may know after the 2-5 Denver Broncos/4-3 Oakland Raiders game this Sunday if Broncos quarterback Tim Tebow’s performance last week versus the Detroit Lions might be recorded at the end of the NFL season as an exception to his norm, or if the two-year stream of Tebow-hype should have been about the potential that he showed as a Heisman Trophy winner and not about that potential already being realized.

Tebow hasn’t been Sunday’s hero “as predicted,” yet he hasn’t been without moments suggesting that he could be all that has been said about him. “Just not now,” according to numerous NFL analysts and media pundits, not until he’s had more starts as a QB, can improve his passing skills and find receivers a lot quicker in the pocket, otherwise he’ll be adding to the 13 sacks he’s already suffered.

Gone as starting Broncos QB is Kyle Orton and that isn’t so bad, while most unfortunate for the Broncos is loss of the Orton/wide receiver Brandon Lloyd combo that had led to more Denver touchdowns in any two games during which they coordinated, than TD’s from the two games during which Tebow and receivers connected. Obviously, Tebow needs to work more with his go-to guys, practicing with them to ad nauseum, for which there’s little time during a season that is half over. Without that Orton/Lloyd combo, the Broncos are already at a disadvantage versus the Raiders, though if Broncos injured running back Willis McGahee plays on Sunday such might be offset via the right plays and if Tebow overcomes his timing, receiver-siting and passing-accuracy issues.

It is a given that the most important position on an NFL team is the QB, but there’s a basic reason to caveat that from Football 101: No QB is good from skill-sets alone. A QB needs effective pass protection, in effect, linemen fast enough to keep a pocket open for him so that he could locate receivers and hand away the ball, pass it or find an opening and rush the ball. Too, those receivers need to be free for the hand-off or the catch, for which the offense must provide effective screening. Needed, too, are wide receivers capable of drawing the enemy’s basic defense and secondary away from the offense’s receivers that are closer to the QB, especially if the QB is best at the running game and can keep driving for first downs and reach an end-zone.

The science of football has already been blueprinted, what’s to be known about it is already known, and there isn’t a Broncos coach or player who doesn’t have football savvy, it’s mostly basic, but between what needs to be done consistently in order to win through application of what’s basic and then doing it is the gap that the Broncos offense has to overcome to be a winning element. Today, the Broncos are a relatively new team (new head coach, new QB, new backs) and so needed is what it has taken the best NFL teams to become what they are: a smart playbook and practice, practice, practice. With all of this said, a Raiders defense that can be in the QB’s space at Mach-2 speed on Sunday and be at the necks of the Bronco receivers that are shallow, at mid-range and/or deep, well, that defense will spoil any Broncos assault, it might even cause the Broncos offense to set a record for punts executed in a single game.

But if when facing the Raiders, Tebow can be free long enough in the shotgun to either pass well, hand the ball to a fast runner or run himself, the Broncos will have a chance to accumulate points. This posits that a primary Broncos tactic will be to avoid Tebow’s weaknesses and capitalize on Tebow’s strengths. Against the Raiders, then, we will likely see many QB attempts to rush the ball for short gains in yardage, in hope of the Broncos creeping toward first downs and an eventual TD. However, if Tebow doesn’t receive the pass protection that he needs to move the football, we’ll see him forced to pass without sufficient time for the accuracy needed, therefore against the clock and from wasted throws the Broncos offense won’t be adding up points.

As for the Broncos defense, it has to figure out the Raiders attack plays more quickly than in the September game that they lost to Oakland, 23-20, and with greater focus and faster reactions than the Broncos defense showed last week vs. the Lions, a defense that allowed the Lions to obtain 31 points.

FORMULA ONE GRAND PRIX RACING ---   WHEN the possibility of more speed in a racecar exceeds the capability of a racetrack to guarantee a wide margin of safety, the risk of car breakdowns, crashes and pileups increases proportionately, partly to blame for the recent Indy car series pile-up that resulted in the death of a famous and much-experienced driver and in injuries to others. The lesson about a speed/track ratio equaling degrees of danger was learned decades ago during Formula One Grand Prix racing when the series was deemed the world’s most dangerous sport. The series will be in its 64^th year, 2012. Currently, it is the premier international motor sport.

Still filled with risk and not without accidents, F1-GP racing is among the world’s safer racing series, data reflecting that it is safer than the Indy and NASCAR events and yet is exceptionally challenging as regards driver skills, partly from races occurring on tracks that are more than ovals, tracks (not all) that combine real roads and streets with sudden turns and narrow straightaways, some dips and banks, plus special tire requirements, all of which demand high emphasis on driver maneuvering skills + auto technologies rather than mostly open-ended speed allowances. Not that the F1-GP cars drive below 120 MPH. On average, they often rise to more than 180 MPH along straightaways, now and then to 200 or more MPH within regulated conditions.

Presently, F1-GP racing is the second richest sport in the world after soccer, and the second most watched sport in Europe and Asia. The series in 2012 will include 12 teams (to date; more may be on board in coming months). These teams will compete in 20 races around the world from March through November. Races will be held successively in Australia, Malaysia, China, Bahrain, Spain, Monaco, Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Hungary, Belgium, Italy, Singapore, Japan, South Korea, India, Abu Dhabi, the U.S. after a long absence (at Austin, Texas, November 18), then Brazil (last race in the series, Nov. 25).

Of particular note is that F1 racecars are among the more aerodynamically sleek in existence, entries being from Ferrari, Mercedes, Renault, Lotus, Sauber, Red Bull, among others. In America, F1 races can be seen on the Speed Channel, often at early hours on a Sunday.

The 2011 winning team is Team Red Bull; constructor, Red Bull, engine: Renault. There is no U.S.-based F1 team, nor a U.S. driver for any of the 2012 12 teams. This could change if the Austin, Texas F1 race promotes national interest.

END/ml       

NFL: LIONS & THE BRONCOS // WORLD SERIES: A BRIEF ASSESSMENT

            For more sports analysis go to Mile High Sports Radio AM1510, and Denver’s best sports blogging team, milehighsports.com

            Sports Notebook posts new every Tuesday and Friday. Editor, Marvin Leibstone. Comments to: mlresources1@aol.com

NFL ---   WAS it that the Detroit Lions were a nearly perfect football team on Sunday, capable of destroying the Denver Broncos by an unusually wide margin? Or, was it that the Broncos were incredibly imperfect in ways that made it possible for the Lions to step up and win, 45-10? A proper take on this is that the Lions weren’t as close to football perfection as the Broncos were to inviting the Lions to dominate, humiliate and appear nearly perfect with a defense that controlled the Broncos offense, practically numbing a Denver quarterback who appeared to lack the versatility needed to lead an NFL offense under pressure. When Denver QB Tim Tebow could not run the ball within a narrow tunnel, he seemed clueless, was sacked (7 times) or forced to pass poorly.

It was bad enough that the Broncos defense allowed the Lions offense to put 31 points on the board, worse is that the Broncos offense gave away 14 via an intercept and fumble. The Lions defense seemed fast as could be at reading the Broncos offense, knowing that Tebow wouldn’t be quick enough in the pocket to find receivers to release the football to effectively, though Tebow deserves some credit for now and then running the ball when a chute opened up for him.

Tebow completed only 18 of 39 pass attempts, though in the first, third and fourth quarters he and his offense bested the Lions rushing yards with more than 50 per---by endgame, the Broncos accumulated 195 rushing yards, the Lions, 113. And though the Broncos defense seemed out to lunch during many drives created by the Lions, the Broncos cornerback, Champ Bailey, had good moments tracking and interfering with Lions wide receiver, Calvin Johnson, maybe preventing 14 more points for the Lions.

Tebow and his receivers had several connects, yet only two had meaning relative to winning a football game, for it’s touchdowns and field goals that crown the winner, they are what’s needed to obtain a post-season billet and an over .500 finish. The Broncos are now 2-5, in last place within the NFL-American Conference’s Western Division, at .286 the third worst of 16 teams in the AC after the Miami Dolphins and the Jacksonville Jaguars. Next up for the Broncos is the 4-3/.571 Oakland Raiders, a team that the Broncos lost to in September under now back-up QB, Kyle Orton.

A disappointing aspect of the vs. Lions game was absence of the already viewed Tebow magic, which may have the appearance-consistency of Haley’s comet, for which it seems Tebow has only a few tricks to pull from the proverbial hat, one of them a superb running game when an opposition is vulnerable enough for it to commence. Nowhere in sight on Sunday was the come-from-behind ability that outsmarts an opposition, produces successive first downs, reaches into an end zone and grabs a TD, as seen from Tebow during a fourth quarter drive vs. Miami on Sunday, October 23. Against the Lions, Tebow seemed stuck inside the skin of a mediocre quarterback, unable to shift to the higher competence level that he’s been tagged as having.

But Tebow’s not one to wither quickly from defeat---anyway, until he reaches up to the potential that he’s been reported to own, there’s no Santa Claus and there’s no QB-savior for the Broncos.

WORLD SERIES .  .  .  THE Texas Rangers became the first MLB team to reach the World Series two years in a row since the NYY won three consecutively, 1998 through year 2000. This certainly deserves respect; and, it shouldn’t diminish in importance because the Rangers are the team that lost in a WS two years in a row, the first MLB team to have that happen since the Atlanta Braves blew two, first to the Detroit Tigers, next to the Toronto Blue Jays, 1991 and 1992. That can’t be said about this year’s St. Louis Cardinals, reaching the WS for the first time in five years, having taken the series vs. Detroit in 2006.

And certainly a nice fact is that the National League has won the WS two years running, evening up the tally between the two leagues, six wins apiece since year 2000. As for a swing in one direction, it’s slight, the AL accumulating 32 won WS games since 2000, the NL 30 because the Houston Astros lost 4-0 to the Chicago White Sox in 2005 and that the Colorado Rockies lost to the Boston Red Sox, 4-0, in 2007. But from 1980 until 2000, the NL won the WS only eight of the 20 attempts, no NL team taking the WS more than once in that period. No doubt, this AL/NL balance since 2000 is good for professional baseball and is why the number of games in each series held since 2000 have gone, like the Cardinals/Rangers WS, to seven and were nail-biters.

END/ml