Cheers and Jeers: Rookie haircuts, ‘Madden 20’ and Wiggins kids at Broncos Camp
Aug 16, 2019, 7:22 AM | Updated: 3:15 pm
The joint practices between the Denver Broncos and San Francisco 49ers this weekend signify the end of training camp 2019. But this last week under the sun at UCHealth Training Center certainly did yield some special moments.
Here was the best and worst of the Denver sports world this week:
Cheers | No more rookie haircuts for the Broncos
They’re harmless, no doubt. There has been far worse hazing in the NFL than the rookie haircut.
But not much embodies the idea of “death by inches” more than this silly tradition.
Kudos to Vic Fangio and the Broncos staff for realizing the distraction and eliminating it from a locker room desperately looking to avoid a third consecutive losing season.
Jeers | Rockies have the worst winning percentage since June 21
Remember when the general thinking was the Rockies had turned a corner by climbing all the way back to .500 at the end of May after starting off the season 3-12?
Those were good times.
Since June 21, Colorado has the worst winning percentage in all of baseball (.298) at 14-33. Its starters have posted a league-worst 5.88 ERA since then as well.
But don’t worry. The bullpen has only been the third-worst in the majors with a 5.18 ERA.
At this point, illustrating how the Rockies might be the worst team in the National League feels a little bit like kicking someone when they’re already down. But this was supposed to be the year for Colorado, where they finally won the N.L. West and made a realistic push for a World Series.
Boy, how we were wrong.
Cheers | Wiggins kids showing out at Broncos Camp
Dalton Risner’s journey from Wiggins, Colorado, where he grew up watching the Broncos as a boy, to being drafted by the club has undoubtedly been one of the bright spots of Denver’s offseason.
Perhaps even more special, however, was the 50 kids from Risner’s hometown hopping on a bus to make the trip to UCHealth Training Center this week to watch the home-grown hero.
Said Risner: “I had a lot of my teammates tell me — giving me grief at first, but then saying, ‘Bottom line, dude, that’s really cool that you have kids coming up to come watch you practice and you’re from their town.’ I don’t know what I would have given to be able to watch someone from my town play in the NFL and watch their practice. That would have been really special.”
Jeers | Phillip Linday’s appearance in ‘Madden 20’
OK, logistically, EA Sports can’t make 100 percent accurate portrayals of every player in the NFL. But they did Phillip Lindsay dirty in “Madden 20.”
So @EAMaddenNFL …
We need to talk. 😅 pic.twitter.com/KeYhVD3kVO
— Denver Broncos (@Broncos) August 14, 2019
Sure, he didn’t get his first start until Week 8 of his rookie season last year. And he went undrafted, so the good people at EA Sports probably didn’t get a chance to scan him in person, as they likely do with most stars.
But he was a Pro Bowler for goodness sake. Maybe a little more effort could have been put into his avatar in this year’s game.
