Denver's Big Win... TIM-MY!

Finally back from a little sabbatical and while we were gone, the Denver Broncos drafted Tim (MY!) Tebow. Many were shocked, some outraged ( a 25th first round pick on an unproven commodity as an NFL QB?). Yes, it was surprising, and so is this........

It's a stroke of genius and the Tebow experiment will work in Denver.

Let's break this down a little:


Kyle Orton , a mediocre QB but with the potential to excel in Josh McDaniel's system, will be the pre-season starter. He's also in the last year of a contract the Broncos have about as much interest in extending as I do of becoming a Philadelphia Phillies phan ( 1/2 of philly people think that's how you actually spell it.) Orton isn't the long term solution here and that's why Brady Quinn was brought in to compete for the starting job.

But is Quinn the solution either? In three seasons in Cleveland , he....... oh, wait I cant find his stats on Google because all that comes up on the first page is his career at Notre Dame. That's about right. In other words, the overly hyped QB of an overly hyped program has done about as much as Matt Leinart for the Cards. Yes, Quinn thrived at Notre Dame under a "pro-style" offense with Charlie Weis, but he has been unable to turn that into any success at the actual pro level. A change of scenery will be nice and he desperately needed a new system, you know because Cleveland has such a historic winning tradition.

So that's what the Broncos were faced with before the April draft. They needed a spark, and most importantly a reason to energize and invigorate the team, organization, and FAN BASE that has basically sat through 11 meaningless seasons, the gutting of the franchise coach (Shannahan) and players at QB (the one who's name is not spoken in Denver) and WR (300+ catches in 3 years, Mr. Brandon Marshall), and only one playoff win.

You have to admit like him or hate him, Josh McDaniels definitely has a brass pair. So he decided to pull them out on the table, and collectively slap everyone in the head with them and drafted Tebow ahead of Jimmy Clausen, Colt McCoy, Tony Pike, and many other more tradtional QB's. There was of course a reason for this: The Denver system DOESNT need a QB like Clausen or McCoy. What they do need is an agile, playmaker who can be molded to fit the system McDaniels employs. It is by no means a deep vertical passing game. It is a spread out, quick scheme and you add the athleticism of Tebow as a runner and passer , then a running attack bolstered by Knowshon Moreno and you have yourself a dangerous offense.

On top of that, Tebow is the type of person and athlete that you can be proud to root behind. He hopefully wont be getting his junk out at clubs, involved in gun possession or other serious issues that can interfere with other stars in the NFL.

Its going to take some time and effort to turn Tebow into an every down QB, but even in his rookie campaign dont be surprised to see him in short down situations as a QB/HB or even TE. The versatility this guy gives the Broncos offense will make him the most dangerous Broncos player, especially in the open field, since the likes of Elway, Davis, McCaffrey, and Sharpe.

The taking of Tebow will either be a misguided attempt at landing a future franchise player or a shrewd selection that the Broncos gambled on and created a dynamic, charasmatic face of the franchise. Put me down for the latter.

The Tim Tebow era begins in Denver on August 21 versus the Detroit Lions . I know if I were Ndamukong Suh, I'd be ready for a long night after TIM-MY! planted me in the middle of Buffs country.

And if you don't believe me, maybe you'll take John's viewpoint on it:
http://www.denverpost.com/broncos/ci_15015203

How Not Surprising: Karma Haunts Baseball

Here is a list off the top of my head of 3 of the most unsurprising "shocking" news stories in recent memory:

1) Paris Hilton made sex tapes. (still funny)
2) Sarah Palin is now a contributor to Fox News
3) Mark McGwire (dramatic pause).... was on steroids for the better part of the 90's , including the 1998 season when he hit 70 home runs breaking Roger Maris' record that had stood for 37 years to that point.

This ad ran during the 90's and featured Big Mac's biceps that even people in the WWE looked at and were like "That dude is on 'roids." Look at this again and think ' This is a baseball player??' Not that ball players cant be athletic and muscular, but this guy's arms are circus like.

There will be so much written, blogged on, and talked about this for probably the next 3 months. And somewhere Tiger Woods is throwing up tons of fist pumps in glory because were about to all give Mark McGwire a lashing. This one is going to be pretty rough considering most logical fans have convicted him long ago of being way to gigantic in 1998 to not have tarnished the home run record, especially after his 2005 congressional testimony where he didn't deny he used but stated "I'm not here to talk about the past." Its a congressional panel on steroids there ,Mark, they aren't trying to get your forecasts for the economy.

Of course the obvious issues of what to do with his records, statistics, hall of fame candidacy, how this affects other players linked to steroids (hey there Barry Bonds), and if he is even fit to be a hitting coach with the Cardinals which would kind of be like cheating on you income taxes for 10 years then getting a job with the IRS.

But the thought in my mind is this... Baseball needed the McGwire/ Sosa HR chase of 1998 to bring back its fans and revenue after the 1994 strike. The establishment all knew it, the owners, commissioner, and General Managers. Baseball was desperate for attention and slutted itself out by ignoring obvious drug problems and ethics issues in the sport to maximize its profits. Gee, where have we seen this behavior before? Oh yeah, Enron, Worldcom, AIG, Lehman Brothers, etc. So while there was a quick flash of brilliance, the reputation of all players in the Steroid Era is right up there with those infamous businesses that deceived the public because they thought no one would ever find out and they would never be caught.

Funny thing is, everyone always gets caught. Now baseball is going to have to figure out how on earth they are going to deal with this issues. Its the sport that places the largest emphasis on numbers and records, so how will they rectify everything from numbers to wins to hall of famers from the mid 1980's- early 2000's.

Maybe Bud Selig can meet with CEO's of Goldman Sachs, GM, and Bank of America to figure out how to do some damage control. As a lifelong baseball fan, I put Selig in the same category as these clowns. Accountability goes all the way to the top and being complacent in the 90's to get fans and money back into the game is coming back to haunt the game now. Today's game is cleaned up , but as for the dreaded 'Steroids Era' unfortunately many of our favorite players and memories are tarnished forever, and now we all are left to wonder how to pick up the pieces.

Its a sad day for baseball fans, especially thinking of how we were all duped into thinking that 1998 was actually legitimate.