HOLY SHIT!

I'm up way past my bedtime here, so this will be an exercise in brevity...but congrats are due to a team/franchise that I feel has deserved to see the 2nd round of the NBA playoffs sooner than the fifteen-fucking years it took since the famous 8 vs. 1 seed Seattle ouster in '94.
Good for Melo, Karl, Homecoming Chauncey and all. Time to wreck Dallas.

Might Melo Be Ready to Explode?

After watching the Lakers' first two playoff games, color me less than impressed with the reigning Western Conference Champs.

As it pertains to the Denver Nuggets, I will come out and say it, "FINALS or BUST."

I'm really starting to believe that this TEAM can do it. Although, the amount of basketball I've watched over the past year is astronomical, I haven't been too much into the NBA until this past month. The Nuggets are healthy (no other WC team can truly claim this), they have a proven winner/leader and their defense has become flat-out legit.

In Game 1, I saw Melo working hard on defense and hustling for rebounds. He didn't shoot well, but he played a pretty damn efficient game otherwise. (I have a bias against "experts" that make the "bad game" claim just because a player doesn't shoot well. This does, however, normally pertain to a player that predominately gives, points, like Melo, but not these days.) I was also impressed with his bench attitude as he watched his team put the game on ice during the second half. A younger Melo might not have been so civil and supportive.

He's due to bust these fools tonight.

Nuggets Playoff Schedule: Totally Lame

By far the most positive thing happening on the Denver sports scene is the Denver Nuggets. This has been true for several months. However, there has been a noticeable lack of Nuggets coverage on KTH that doesn't have origins in Alaska. It's an embarrassment and I feel largely responsible. I chalk my silence up to two factors: 1) I don't follow the Nuggets or the nba very closely and 2) It's far less fun to write about things that are running smoothly (although I'm willing to give the Rocks a chance to prove me wrong).

So there you have it. I'm coming clean and going to immerse myself in the spectacle that is the nba playoffs. Sure, it probably has something to do with the Avs being so out of the playoffs, that watching the nhl now is utterly depressing (although I currently have versus on the tele). Nonetheless, it's time to buck up and try to relive the excitement of the early 90's team that made a mini-playoff run with the Fonz, Dikembe, B-Will, Pack Man, Reggie Williams (fresh!), and the guy who made hating Muslims fashionable before 9/11 (too soon?): Mahmoud Abdul, muthafuckin' Rauf!!!

But, wait, I'm looking at the game times for series 1 and I can't help but think, could this be any less Denver fan friendly? Let's have a look (all times MDT):

Game 1: Sunday 830 PM
Game 2: Wednesday 830 PM
Game 3: Saturday 11 am (really?!?!)
Game 4: Monday........

Anyway, I'm in no position to complain considering I didn't attend one game this whole year and I can't even think of the NO team name off the top of my head (Hornets? Jazz? Thunder? Grizzlys?). Still, the fact that we can't muster one measly weekend evening game over the course of two weeks is a bit of a slap in the face (I'm not counting Sunday games at 830 as weekend night games). And why are two off days required between games 1 & 2 and between 2 & 3? (I know this is commonly-voiced complaint.) Bottom line: Whoever makes these schedules isn't making the nba playoffs any more enticing to this semi-fan. It's almost as bad as the week vacation between the League Championship Series and the World Series or the two weeks off before the Super Bowl.

Hopefully the Nugs roll these guys quickly and we'll get a more fan-friendly format in Round 2. C'mon Super Nuggets!!!

The 14ers have a genius in the promotions department

Back in Broomfield.

Phase 2 in me and mini-ST's minor-league tour extravaganza. Pretty fun game. Pretty sparse crowd (but maybe that is because the 14ers had already clinched home court?). William T. Goat doesn't take a night off let me tell you.

The main thing to report is this...whenever the 14ers score 30 pts in a quarter - beers are $2 bucks for the next 10 minutes at the upstairs lounge. As one can well imagine this is a crowd pleaser...how many hands you got? Fill them up with $2 beers. Against Albuquerque tonight it was a $2 beer freakout. 30 pts plus in quarters 1 through 3. WTF??? 52 in the 3rd. Beers shoulda been a buck. Mini-ST wishes there was some sort of Dippin' Dots discount promotion instead.

Final score = 14ers 155 -- Thunderbirds 129. Rather offensive.

In matters relevant....Nugs win again. Eventual playoff seeding could lend itself to eventual playoff success? That'd be cool...

Hey... a little credit here.

I do the two handed manuever. Let's see your Jay Cutler pull this off. I also have facial hair. Boy, do I have facial hair. Did I mention that I can also pull on my shoulder pads?

It's Neckbeard time.