J-E-T-S JETS, JETS, JETS!

There was a slight shake of the earth felt in northeastern Wisconsin last night. Local seismotologist Jim Kraskowski said "you could feel a slight ripple throughout the state, one that shook houses and buildings for up to five seconds. It was either a quake or Lombardi finally rolling back over in his grave!"

In what has been a most curious several weeks, Brett Favre was traded from the Green and Gold to the rah-rah New York Jets for a conditional future draft pick.

The most interesting fact in the story is the rarely discussed Madden curse (inset) and how John Madden will actually handle the situation. The so-called Madden curse has taken the best players from the game for their cover, and over the past years each player that has landed on the cover has had either a serious, season ending injury, a terrible year statistically or a run-in with the law. The rah-rah Jets must have also forgot about this phenomenon, or either didn't care because their QB1 options are a) Chad "bird-arm" Pennington or b) Kellon Clemons (who?). Moral of the story: test the Madden jinx rather than your luck with these QB's.

In regards to John Madden, always one to champion Favre to the extreme, he was said to be on suicide watch from his California winery the past few weeks. News from out west says Madden has "snapped out of his depression-like state" and is now gearing up for his four month RV road trip with Al Michaels covering Sunday night games nationwide.

CU's football season has begun!

With a pre-season ranking of 36 (via SI.com), the CU Buffs opened training camp this week with a wide range of expectations heading into the 2008 season. This past Monday 105 players reported to what should be an exciting camp.

The newcomers and select veterans are working out each morning and the returning players are practicing in the afternoons.

With opening day against CSU at Mile High just under 25 days away, the Buffs have a lot of work to do. The Sunday night showdown will get national TV coverage on FSN, giving the game status as the sole game of the night and a spotlight that it hasn't had for years. CSU figures to be down this year with the Buffs having higher expectations given their recent Top 20 recruiting class, Hawk's third year on the job and a returning QB with a full year under his belt. A top notch schedule doesn't do the Buffs any favors, however I would much rather play CSU, West Virginia and Florida State in my non-conference than the cupcakes the likes of Ohio State, Kansas, Oklahoma and the like generally play.

Practices are open to the public and I will be sharing photos as soon as I can get down to a practice.

Professional soccer, er, futball, is not America's sport for a reason

We had the chance last night to go with a group of friends to watch the Colorado Rapids play the Everton FC in an exhibition at the highly-touted Dick's Sporting Goods park in Commerce City, CO (http://www.denverpost.com/sports/ci_10088962). Half our group was from England and cheering for Everton FC (their home team) and the other half of us were trying to figure out why we were at a soccer, ugh futball game.

With some anticipation the game began under a clear sky and Everton scored quickly. The English team looked far superior in skill and talent than the local team. I am not going to bore with details of the match, but here is a quick list:

1) there were a few yellow cards and WAY too many "fake" injuries (who gets carried off the field and is back playing at the next whistle? well, other than Paul Pierce)
2) the Rapids sole play was a centering kick at which point their tall, bald center/striker tried to head in a goal (remarkably, he scored their lone goal with his foot).
3) the inability of the Rapids to get a shot even close to hitting goal (this is why I can say that the U.S. is light years behind the rest of the world in this sport)
4) the packed (I mean PACKED) smokers lounge at halftime outside the stadium.

I will close with saying that the experience was worth a one-time shot, I cannot imagine going back. Send me to a football game, where I can experience some excitement, hitting and strategy. Don't go see soccer... unless you are taking a group of nuns!