It's time for my annual MHR Radio WTF.  I enjoy Bena's radio broadcasts a great deal, but it was easier to hear them 3 years ago than it is today, and that's not for my lack of trying.  Am I to understand that these things aren't archived?  Why not?  This is orange-tinted radio gold we're talking about.  

Seriously, when I go to mhrradio.ning.com, I don't see any archives or links to past shows.  All I see is an "offline" message with the old test bars.  If anyone could clue me how to hear past shows, I'd be grateful.  And if those things aren't archived, why not just throw them up on Youtube.  You might find Youtube is a good traffic driver.  (Youtube is very under-rated IMO.)  Anyway, thanks for the effort you guys make. 

I'm writing this because of a desire to protect MHR and its users against malicious copyright suits by the Denver Post and a law firm called Righthaven.

Below is a link to a story about recently discovered collaboration between the Denver Post and  Righthaven.  Righthaven is a visious copyright troll that brings law suits against anyone who cuts and pastes copyrighted material from its clients, such as the Denver Post or Las Vegas Review Journal (or whatever it's called).

Although federal law protects a small amount of cut-and-pasting as "fair use," Righthaven interprets this narrowly and will bring suit for all but the smallest copies.  Their intent is to extract settlements.  Believe me, Righthaven is making enemies.  Newspapers like the DP are moving to Righthaven because their business models are collapsing. 

Righthaven's tactics are under legal challenge.  IMO, Righthaven is an extortionist.  Until the collaboration is broken, I will boycott the DP entirely.  You might consider doing the same, and I don't say that rashly.

http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/12/righthaven-expands-trolling/ 

I will check the box score on Sunday, and the following Sunday.  Unless I see extensive play by Tebow, I have no plans to continue giving the Denver Broncos my time and attention.

Bowlen and Ellis have wasted years of our time by firing Shanahan, by hiring an inexperienced coach, and by firing that inexperienced coach in midstream.  I am NOT interested in watching Studesville try to milk more average performance out of a team with Orton at quarterback.  That will waste not only the next four games, but much of next season (or even the following season, if there is a lockout).

Drafting Tim Tebow is the one fortuitous thing that has happened to the Denver Broncos in three years.  Please, seize the opportunity to put him on the field.  Not just for a few token plays at the very end of the year, but for the extent described by John Bena.  Knowledge is power.  Sitting Tebow at this point deprives us of knowledge and wastes time, the most precious resource in all the world.  

I mailed these thoughts to Dove Valley, by U.S. mail.  It is the first such letter I have ever written.  I did so because this is urgent.  Waste anything but time.  Seize opportunity.  Play Tim Tebow.

Good tidings to my friends at MHR.  

Among the worst injustices is the conviction of an innocent man.  I'm not trying to tell you that McD or Scarneccia are entirely blameless, but I do want to open a reasoned discussion into the nature of the rules they have been accused of violating.  

But I will NOT blame Broncos personnel who are DOING THEIR BEST TO HELP THE BRONCOS while they reasonably believe they are acting within the League rules.  We owe it to the Broncos (players and staff) to be fair.

Just like rules at the goal-line and side-line, I do not believe in calling a foul where none has actually been committed.

Continue reading this post »

If you needed anything else to get you fired up for tonight's game, get a load of the severe condescension from Jason Cole and Michael Silver.  (See link below.)  This is about par for the coarse these days, as it seems nearly impossible for most media guys to have any good or even balanced thoughts about Josh and the Broncos.  

It reminds me of conference championship day around 1998, when the Green Bay Packers defeated (I believe) the 49ers.  Madden said, "Oh, sure, the Broncos have a chance to beat the Packers, but only a chance."  Pat Sommerall solemnly agreed.   

Something good is building at Dove Valley.  I expect we'll see signs of it tonight  

http://sports.yahoo.com/video/player/nfl/Y_Sports_NFL/23113488;_ylt=AiG6JSwxlsh8O3Xx5zD1tfFDubYF#nfl/Y_Sports_NFL/23113488

I like Tom Brandstater and hoped he might catch on with the Colts or some other team.  It never occurred to me that the Colts simply used the kid to get info about the Broncos.  In fact, this did not even occur to me when the Colts dumped the kid on September 29, three days after the Colts beat our Broncos.  

The idea of the Colts abjectly using Brandstater in this way did not occur to me until I read someone explain elsewhere that the Colts do this with a Bronco player (like Brandstater) "every single year."  Damn!  I try to be suitably cynical, but I guess I need to try harder.

Okay.  I got a new, special kinda hate for the Colts, including their comatose head coach.  Someday their ace QB will be down, and I wish them two decades with the likes of Curtis Painter.  

Jason Cole at Yahoo has pronounced Belichick's ex-assistants are failures, and that includes Coach McD.  Public opinion of our team has not been this low in decades.  It's up from here.

A lot goes into the making of a champion.  A couple of important ingredients, IMO, are integrity and intelligence.  All signs I've seen suggest Coach McD has those qualities.  Our head coach is NOT worried about being popular, and that's something I respect.  Let's not worry about whether he makes mistakes, but whether he can learn from them.  I think McD is success oriented and will make the adjustments we need.  Go Broncos!

On Sunday I watched Kubiak's Texans run up points on the Colts, the way we always wished the Broncos could do during the Aughts.  Seeing Arian Foster stride tall and strong through gaping holes made me wistful for the days of Terrell Davis and the offensive line coached by Alex Gibbs and Rick Dennison.  

In contrast, I watched Knowshon Moreno dance around the line of scrimmage yesterday looking like an autistic child.  We've just traded for Laurence Maroney, who is noted for similar dancing at the line of scrimmage.  

My question is sincere:  Why didn't *everyone* want a running game of the kind that Shanahan and Alex Gibbs developed in the late '90s?  Backs looked like they were shot out of cannons.  Were there any drawbacks?  I know little about football Xs and Os, but I know good football momentum when I see it.  It seems like McDaniels must have an entirely different philosophy about running.  Why, oh why?  

At any rate, welcome to Laurence Maroney, who could easily have run for 1500 yards under Shanahan.  

I'm posting this because I think Mile High Radio is a great product, not because I want to complain or display my ignorance.  My point is that it's too confusing to access this product.  It was confusing last year and this year as well.  Whenever you reference the podcast on MHR, you might consider placing a link for direct access--truly direct--by dummies.

I've navigated the Web with ordinary skill level since 1995, and yet again and again I've spent significant amounts of time just to find and access Guru's MHR podcasts.  The other night I listened to the first 40 minutes of the recent podcast, and now I'd like to hear the rest.  However, I'm going to have to wait for another day because I can't find it after at least 10 minutes of searching.

Not asking for help here.  Not complaining.  Just trying to let Guru know that simple and direct are best.  You're product is really good, and thus you should be seeing good growth in listenership.  Savvy web design will help with that.  Think Apple/Amazon.  (Easier said than done, I know.)  Thank you for MHR and MH Radio!  

Broncos are under-rated right now.  

Below is a link to a review of Tim Tebow's debut from Bleacherreport.  It was fun to read and made some fresh points.  

In my view, what was cool about the debut was how the end of the game -- garbage time -- suddenly got real interesting.  I had assigned Tim a grade "B," and then I had to cross that out and give him an "A."

Someone please let me know if it's poor form to post links.  Thanks.  

http://bleacherreport.com/articles/438257-tim-tebow-debut-four-questions-answered-some-think-so 

Dang, most of you were pretty sour on the Lendale signing.  What gives?   What has Kolby Smith ever done to warrant all the remorse for this roster move?  Nothing, I'd say.  In fact, it's been years since I've seen good use of a running back in Denver (or even in Houston, where I follow the Texans).  

Okay, Lendale isn't the second coming of TD.  But he's a big body with quicks, so if he keeps in shape and makes good effort, there's lots of upside.  A few years ago, the Texans cut Ron Dayne, even though he consistently gained 4 yards per play and WORE DOWN defenses by the 4th quarter.  Lendale has potential to do that, provided Josh doesn't act like Jim Bates and "de-emphasize" the running game.  Give 'em hell, Lendale.  You, too, Toney Baker.  And Buck and Knowshon.  

I used to seriously enjoy Jim Armstrong's "Notes" column in the DP.  Did anyone else?  He's okay on the radio, but he's a tad boorish there.  His writing by contrast was invariably humble, insightful and laugh-out-loud-funny.

Don't see Jim's name on the DP website anymore, and I'm living in Texas.  Is there any backstory on Jimbo?  I'm surprised he gave up the writing gig, though I understand the need for change at some point.  One thing I miss about Colorado is hearing Irv and Joe while driving around town.  Enjoy that Colorado sky, everyone.

At the end of the 2008 preseason, the popular sentiment was that Matt Cassel was a bust.  He had sat on the bench for some 3 or 4 seasons, and yet looked terrible in the '08 preseason.

Cassel then stepped in and, by mid season, grew into good form, helping the Pats to an 11-5 season.

So, no one ever "groomed" Matt Cassel to be a starter, certainly not Josh McDaniels.  Instead, Cassel was just a warm body riding the pine for several seasons until--not before--Brady was injured and Cassel became the default starter.  At that point, McDaniels and others taught Cassel in a very insistent way how to play the position.  Do you remember Cassel taking target practice late during a 45-point romp against our Broncos? 

Anybody remember Chris Simms?  Sure you do.  He was the 2d stringer who was pathetically ill prepared to step in on short notice when Orton was injured.

Do you see the pattern?  McDaniels does not groom any backup quarterback to be a starter.  He's going to focus on the starter, and the starter only.  Whoever the backup is will stay in the wilderness, like Simms and Brandstater last season. 

So, I hope we don't waste any significant draft pick on a QB project.  By the way, the idea that Brandstater choked on the taxi squat seems highly dubious, no?  He pretty well whooped the Cardinals starters in a game they were trying hard to win.

Three cheers for Kyle Orton, who was all class this year and who has shown some praise-worthy ability.  He has had his full season, however, and an 8-8 result with three picks in the final game means he is not immune from competition.  

I'm not a football scholar (I said football), but during pre-season # 4, Brandstater looked like the dude I'd want to marry if I were a chick.  What I mean is, he was all kinds of competitive and determined and poised and he gave energy to his teammates.  If I recall correctly, his long throws were convincing.  He's got a Youtube high-light reel, and I totally love the jukes to the end-zone at 2:44.  Reminds me of Elway.  

What I've learned from Elway, Plummer and Cutler is that spirit matters in a QB.  Brandstater's got it, I say.  If the door is open he'll sprint through it. 

I thoroughly enjoy Guru's MHR radiocasts, but it's become too difficult to tune in.  Is anyone else having difficulty listening through the new "ning" address?  I've got a pretty good internet connection, but lately when I go to milehighradio.ning.com, the audio content either loads extremely slowly, or not at all.  Sometimes the page freezes entirely.

The archives at the old site worked well for me, since I could download rather than stream.  Yet I'd be cool with streaming, if it worked at all.  Neither the continuous loop nor the "on demand" option is working for me.  

John, the radio show is great, but you'll have better growth if access is hitch-free.  Some of the problem could have to do with "flash," but I can't figure it out.  Any suggestions?  Thanks!

DJC recently explained how media "ire" toward the Broncos can be traced to personal resentment and professional fear.  Having lost ties to a media-friendly coach, some in the media are pissed and scared.  (Are you there, Woody?)

A couple other factors may also be contributing.  We might call these the Chicago mythology, and the fall from grace.

Attitudes in Chicago, and about Chicago, tend to blow with gusty force, like the breezes off Lake Michigan.  For all the unmatched hoopla about the '85 Bears, that team won only a single Super Bowl.  And do you remember the Rex Grossman coronation?  In Kyle Orton, Chicago owned a rookie who was, what, 9-1, or 10-1?  Nonetheless, the script said the Bears' defense was invincible, and that Orton was holding the Bears back.  Enter Rex Grossman, who had just recovered from an injury.  Kid Grossman could wing it, no doubt.  But those who fixate on Chicago acted as if Grossman had descended from Olympus.  I distinctly recall that, once down from Olympus, Grossman threw an interception on his fifth or sixth pass.  Grossman's obvious feet of clay, however, were not acknowledged for many months to come.  Once his moment in the Chicago story was over, Grossman was almost literally forgotten (until a recent citing on the Texans' roster).

When it comes to Chicago, folks mythologize, and they tend even to count chickens after the egg has been crushed.  Thus, we get the nasty meme that Steve Bartman lost the "Cubbies" a World Series, even though Steve merely caught a fly ball in the stands, during the eighth inning of game 6 of the NL conference championship.  (This was an inning in which the Cubbies—the players—gave up eight runs.)

So, why is this relevant to media ire regarding the Broncos?  Because, thanks to the Cutler trade, the Broncos have been cast as players in a production about Chicago.  Moses delivered the Hebrews after 40 years in the desert, and Jay Cutler will deliver the Bears after 40 years without a quarterback (no disrespect to McMahon), according to this script.  In this epical production, the first act seems so much richer to Chicago mythologizers, if Denver plays the fool.

Prior to his installation in Chicago, Jay Cutler was unimportant to the media.  It is likely the Cutler-as-Moses meme, like so many others, will drop abruptly to the ground, once there is a respite in the shoreline breeze.  Yet unless Josh McDaniels and the Broncos are distinctly successful in '09, it's even more likely that MSM derisiveness toward the Broncos will continue to blow strong. 

In contrast to Chicago and the Bears, the city of Denver and the Broncos are decidedly non-mythologized.  They have traditionally been regarded as rubes.  The Broncos' impressive work between 1976 and 1996 was almost unmatched in the NFL.  Yet our team was still regarded, to use Pat Bowlen's memorable phrase, as a bunch of palookas in orange.  This was true even as late as January, 1998, when John Madden and Pat Summerall wrapped up their telecast of the NFC championship game between Green Bay and San Francisco.  "Oh sure," Madden allowed, "the Broncos have a chance to beat the Packers in the Super Bowl, but only a theoretical one."  (My paraphrase.)  Pat Summerall solemnly agreed.

With the 1998 and 1999 Super Bowl wins, the Broncos were touched by, and in the eyes of the MSM, redeemed by, Mike Shanahan.  He not only reversed the Broncos' Super Bowl frustrations but had, himself, been redeemed through his time spent in duly cosmopolitan San Francisco, where he acquired an association with Bill Walsh. 

The firing of Mike Shanahan in January of 2009 represents a fall from grace.  In the eyes of the MSM, no longer are the Broncos redeemed by Mike Shanahan or his increasingly threadbare connections to championships and a major coastal city.

In 2009 and beyond, unless Bronco excellence becomes irrefutable, we can expect the lame-stream media to sell the Broncos short.  Very short.  But this is part of what makes it sweet to be a Broncos fan.  (I miss Tradesports, by the way, and I think one could make some money on this team.)

Anyway, remember to enjoy the disrespect now, while you can, because there is a significant chance Josh McDaniels will whip this team into a perennial over-dog.