Karl's marks

Broncos season, here we come... right?
The Colorado Avalanche are not doing so well right now in their playoff series with the behemoth Detroit Red Wings. The Colorado Rockies are still struggling to beat the worst of the worst in the National League as May approaches... and the Nuggets' season is over.
There's been a lot of talk about what went wrong with Denver's premier basketball franchise this year, and almost just as much talk about what will happen to the head coach, George Karl.
The 2007-08 Nuggets were a whirlwind offensive power that could put up 110 points or more any given night. Unfortunately, their porous defense easily gave up more than 100 points most games.
Allen Iverson and Carmelo Anthony both put up All-Star numbers all season long, and the rest of the roster performed admirably for most of the 50-win regular season.
But Anthony is still not ready to carry this franchise, and Iverson's presence has stymied him from assuming the leadership role he should have. This isn't to say Iverson's a bad influence — simply that Melo hasn't matured the way that he could have without another big name in the mix. And the drunken driving arrest late in the season didn't help Melo overcome his former reputation, which included the 'Stop Snitching' video and his part in the brawl with the New York Knicks the season before.
But in the first-round playoff series with the Los Angeles Lakers, the Nuggets finally discovered some defense in Games 3 and 4. Where this defense was prior to their facing the brink of elimination, I'll never know.
The problem now facing Denver is how to improve in the already ultra-competitive West. Removing Karl as coach doesn't solve anything unless a better fit for this Nuggets squad can be found — and this assumes that the current roster is the right one for Denver to win a title.
Ditching Iverson and his $20-something-million contract for next season is intriguing, but he's the closest thing to a proven commodity the Nuggets have ever had.
Dumping Melo would be a premature step, as well. He's still Denver's guy, the one who was drafted to play here and has been the face of the franchise for years. Also, trying to find a team willing to take him off the Nuggets' hands would be difficult given his personal issues.
And on top of all this, I still think the supporting cast of Marcus Camby, J.R. Smith, Nene, Eduardo Najera, Linas Kleiza, Kenyon Martin and company are all great role players who would be welcome on just about any NBA roster.
Things aren't all that bad for the Nuggets. They're stocked with talented players and a head coach who has been to the NBA Finals before; few replacements for Karl that are available this offseason have the teaching and motivational skills Karl has.
But things aren't all that great for the Nuggets. Year after year of first-round playoff exits is wearing the fan base somewhat thin. But what if it was year after year of conference championships, followed by routinely losing in the NBA championship series to a team from the East? What if the Nuggets were the Buffalo Bills? I'm inclined to think fans would grow just as weary, saying that a coaching change needs to be made or that there's one piece of the puzzle missing.
My take on all of this? There's always next year.

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Fuzz Talk

Overheard on the Aurora police scanner Monday evening, April 28:

"She should be killing vampires."

— A culturally hip police official referring to a woman named Buffy who was waiting for an officer to arrive at her location.

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Timing is everything

On April 14, Gov. Bill Ritter signs into law a bill to allow an extra day of liquor sales in the state, providing Coloradans (Coloradoans?) even more time to ponder over their liquidy purchases before they drown various sorrows with the bottle.
On April 15, your tax returns are due.
For those of you that owe Uncle Sam a lot of money, the news doesn't get much better: The booze bill doesn't take effect until this summer.
So if a shot of something alcoholic sounds good to you after shelling out more money to the government this week, be sure to get your purchases made before sundown Saturday.

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The NBA meets OCB (Old Country Buffet)

At last check, the Denver Nuggets were embarrassing the once-streaking Houston Rockets on Sunday night at the Pepsi Center; a win virtually guarantees a playoff spot for the Nuggets (assuming a loss by Golden State on Monday in Phoenix).
So what to do about a lame duck game to close out the season at home versus the worse-than-Winger Memphis Grizzlies?
The Nuggets brass has the answer: All-You-Can-Eat Night.
For $25 each, you and a friend can sit in the top-level end sections behind the baskets at The Can and munch and glug away on nachos, hot dogs, popcorn, peanuts, soda, water and coffee.
This is the latest in the growing trend of all-you-can-eat seating at professional sports events.
Now, I'm not totally opposed to the concept. Unlimited mint juleps at the Kentucky Derby sounds good. All-you-can-eat Gates Bar-B-Q burnt end sandwiches at Arrowhead Stadium sounds even better.
But I haven't been to a sporting event in the Denver area with decent-tasting food outside of Coors Field and the Rockie Dog. In most cases, the cuisine has been on par (or worse) than what I can find by walking across the street to the nearest gas station.
But as it were (thankfully, in my opinion), all the seats for this wondrous night of gluttony and horrific defensive play at Pepsi Center have sold out. To satisfy your desires, I recommend the following:
1. Go to Wal-Mart and buy twice as much as you could possibly eat of nachos, hot dogs, soda, etc.
2. Go home and prepare said items for consumption (Or politely ask your spouse or significant other to do so).
3. Set up a TV tray, turn on Altitude and save yourself the car/bus/light rail ride downtown (Again, you may ask your spouse/S.O. VERY POLITELY to help serve this orgiastic spread of trans fatty goodness).

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Who's side are you on?

These kids look to be equal-opportunity attackers of the ad variety.





Thanks to the good folks at 23/6 for these bits of campaign hilarity. And for those of you taking these videos seriously, please go watch some Marx Brothers and Three Stooges and call me in a week.

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"Flame of shame"? Flame on!

It's now clear that the masses of protesters seeking to disrupt the Olympic torch relay across the globe — whether it be Ancient Olympia, Paris, London or San Francisco — are doing more bad than good.
I'll expand later this week with an in-depth look at the Tibetan question and China's human rights record, but for now I'll stick to the basics: People looking to share in the rare occasion of seeing the Olympic flame in person with their own eyes are losing out. Good citizens are being denied the opportunity and honor of being a torchbearer because the extent of the demonstrations has forced officials in San Francisco and Paris to reroute and cancel portions of the torch relay.
The protesters will slam these actions as dirty tricks by elected officials to silence or censor their messages — in reality, it's more about public safety.
If the organized efforts to denounce China's role in Tibet and other issues with human rights were not a threat to public safety, I can't imagine the scene from San Francisco being repeated. However, many single-issue groups loosely aligned to the Free Tibet movement have turned these protests into a public nuisance and beyond the realm of free speech. It's only a matter of time before these actions result in people getting hurt, and that not only perpetuates the kind of violence so many have accused China of committing, but it flies in the face of many of the principles and spirit of nonviolence that many forms of Buddhism (including Tibetan) espouse.
In the end, the torch relay is about the Olympiad, sport and the coming together of mankind to compete and honor achievement. There are times and places for those angered by the actions of the People's Republic of China to vent their frustrations and denounce the selection of Beijing for the Summer Games — the torch relay is not one of them.

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Grounded

American Airlines, as reported by The Associated Press, canceled more than 1,000 flights on Wednesday, stranding 100,000 travelers in the process. And now word is that about 900 more flights will be canceled Thursday.
News like this causes me great unease. Not to brag, but I cannot remember any time when I've had the misfortune having a flight significantly delayed or canceled in my lifetime. Call me lucky, smack me on the head for flaunting it in your face.
There are few bad memories I have of flights — most have been ideal ordeals wherein I enjoy sitting and reading or working on a laptop and listening to headphones in the 90s, an iPod in the 2000s while waiting to board, then cracking a book and quietly reading and enjoying a complimentary ginger ale while in-flight.
My next flight anywhere sees me boarding early next month, but I won't be flying American, presenting a different set of concerns, such as what kind of snack can I get for $3 after they took away my free honey-roasted peanuts.

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Doodling conclusions

The words of Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr in a recent Associated Press story:

“I call on the Iraqi government, if it exists, to work to protect the Iraqi people, stop the spilling of its blood, and the abuse of its honor,” al-Sadr said in the statement.
He also urged the government to “demand the withdrawal of the occupier or a schedule for its withdrawal from our holy land.”

The question now, in my mind, is how long it will take the Republican attack machine to use this specific quote against the Democrats (i.e., the Democrats want a timetable for withdrawal + the terrorists want a timetable for withdrawal = the Democrats are terrorists).

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Make no mistake: America's love of decisiveness

Since the 2004 presidential election, I have expounded from time to time on what the collective American conscience truly desires.

This article from The Associated Press, as part of their Measure of a Nation series, reiterates many of those sentiments I've shared from time to time ("When things go wrong, is the fear of having a "flip-flopper" in the Oval Office so great that we maintain the status quo? ") in far greater fashion than I ever could.

An excerpt:

"In a president, people are looking for strength — strength of character, strength of purpose, strength of belief — and I value that," the Massachusetts senator says. "But unfortunately, it's been trivialized by the system, by the process in regrettable ways that don't do justice to the complexity of some of the choices we face or ... the complexity of the world we live in."

When it comes to decisiveness, Kerry says, "You can be strong and nuanced."

Fair point. Trouble is, as a society we value strength. But nuance? Not so much.

UPDATE: I must note that at the time I was saying much of what is mentioned in this AP story, I also (like many other people who think of themselves highly enough to spout off about politics) wondered when the death knell of the McCain 2008 campaign would sound. I think of myself big enough to admit that I underestimated the Republican fear of putting up someone without a military record up against the likes of Barack Obama in the general election this November.

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