Timeline 25: Remembering the biggest Colorado sports stories of 2012
Jul 2, 2020, 6:34 AM
On March 6, 1995, The Fan was born. In the 25 years since, a lot has transpired on the fields, courts and ice in Colorado, giving the hosts and listeners who’ve been part of the station during that time plenty to talk about and debate.
During the course of the next few weeks, we’ll take a look back at that history, remembering the good times and the bad, the winners and the losers, the successes and the failures. It’s a series we’re calling “Timeline 25” and it continues today with a look back at one of the craziest years in Colorado sports history – 2012:
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Plan A
On March 7, 2012, the once-unthinkable happened. The Colts released Peyton Manning, the quarterback who had won four league MVPs and a Super Bowl title in Indianapolis.
The news was surprising, but it didn’t come as a shock. After all, Manning had missed the entire 2011 season, recovering from four neck surgeries, the Colts held the first-overall pick in the upcoming NFL Draft, putting them in position to draft Andrew Luck, and a $28 million roster bonus loomed. The quarterback of the future made Manning the QB of the past in Indy.
As a result, one of the greatest quarterbacks in NFL history was suddenly on the open market. And the suitors came calling.
Arizona, Miami, San Francisco, Seattle, Tennessee and Washington were all in the mix. Pundits created lists 10 teams deep that outlined the best landing spot for the future Hall of Fame quarterback. None of them included the Broncos.
But on March 20, less than two weeks after he was released by the Colts, Manning was announcing his decision. And much to the delight of fans in Denver, he had chosen to wear the orange and blue.
A big part of Manning choosing the Broncos was the presence of John Elway. He felt a kinship with the former quarterback who was now the team’s executive vice president of football operations.
“I really liked what he had to say,” Manning said at his introductory press conference about Elway. “Everyone knows what kind of competitor he is as a player. I can tell he’s just as competitive in this new role. That got me excited.”
As for Elway, there were those who considered the move a gamble. But No. 7 wasn’t worried, even after signing Manning to a five-year, $96-million contract despite the quarterback having to retool his throwing motion after his injury and surgeries.
“I don’t consider it much of a risk, knowing Peyton Manning,” Elway explained at the time. “I asked him, ‘Is there any doubt in your mind that you can’t get back to the Peyton Manning we know of?’ And he said, ‘There’s no doubt in my mind.’”
That led to the most-infamous question and answer from the press conference. With Tim Tebow still on the roster – he’d be traded the next day to the Jets – people wanted to know what the Broncos backup plan was if Manning didn’t work out.
“Plan B? I don’t have a Plan B,” Elway quipped. “We’re going with Plan A.”
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The Comeback
The excitement surrounding the Peyton Manning signing was palpable around Denver. The hill at training camp was packed with fans throughout August. Talk shows were abuzz with predictions about the team. And No. 18 jerseys were flying off the shelves.
Five games into the season, however, enthusiasm was beginning to wane. The Broncos were just 2-3, having suffered three close losses to the Falcons, Texans and Patriots. Many were starting to question whether or not the decision to move on from Tim Tebow to Manning was the right one.
By halftime of Denver’s game in Week 6, the naysayers were downright boisterous. The Broncos, in front of a national TV audience on “Monday Night Football,” were down 24-0 to the Chargers, with Manning looking bad for the third time in three road games.
And then, everything turned around. The game, as well as the Broncos season, did a complete 180.
Manning came out firing in the second half, hitting Demaryius Thomas for a 29-yard touchdown on the opening drive of the third quarter. Denver’s defense would get into the act next, as Elvis Dumervil stopped San Diego’s drive with a strip sack of Philip Rivers; Tony Carter recovered the fumble and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown.
The Broncos were back in the game. Manning would cap Denver’s next drive with a nine-yard strike to Eric Decker, cutting San Diego’s lead to three. Then, the quarterback would give his team the lead when he hit Brandon Stokley for a 21-yard touchdown.
Three drives. Three touchdown passes. Goodbye 24-point deficit.
The Broncos defense would cap the scoring, as Chris Harris Jr. intercepted Rivers and returned the ball 46 yards for a pick-six. The touchdown gave Denver a 35-24 lead, which would be the final score.
It was an improbable rally. The Broncos had shown no signs of life that night against the Chargers. And little from their first five games suggested that an offensive explosion was building. But that’s what happened, as Denver pulled off one of the greatest comebacks in NFL history.
The win propelled the Broncos, as they went on to win their final 11 games of the season, a streak that began that night in San Diego. Denver would finish with a 13-3 record and earn the No. 1 seed in the AFC.
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The Old Man
There was a lot that was embarrassing about the 2012 edition of the Rockies. After all, the team finished with a 64-98 record, the worst season in the history of the franchise.
But all of those losses pale in comparison to the PR stunt the team tried to pull off at the beginning of the year. It was a move that showed just how desperate they were to generate positive news.
At the end of spring training, it was announced that 49-year-old Jamie Moyer had made Colorado’s roster. Not only that, but the veteran pitcher would occupy the No. 2 spot in the rotation.
In part, this was a statement about the Rockies rotation. But in reality, it was all just a publicity stunt.
Moyer had the chance to become the oldest pitcher in MLB history to win a game. And the Rockies wanted to give him every opportunity to do so.
On April 17, in his third start for Colorado, Moyer finally got the job done. He pitched seven innings against the Padres, surrendering just six hits, two walks and zero earned runs in the Rockies 5-3 win.
Moyer would remain on the roster for seven more starts, compiling a 2-5 record during his 10 appearances in purple pinstripes. He was released on June 1, once the reporters and cameras stopped following his story.
His time in Denver allowed Moyer to hit some other milestones. When he pitched against the Miami in Marlins Park, the pitcher had played in 50 different ballparks, the most by any MLB player to debut after 1900. And at the time of his retirement, he had faced 8.9 percent of the hitters to ever play Major League Baseball.
Those are some staggering stats. And the story had a feelgood element to it, at least for a while. But for the most part, the Jamie Moyer experiment was a black eye on the Rockies organization.
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A Tale of Two Seasons
It was the best of times. It was the worst of times. That’s the best way to sum up 2012 at the University of Colorado.
For the basketball program, things were great. They went 24-12 in the regular season, finishing fifth in the Pac-12 during their first year in the new conference.
Then, Tad Boyle’s team shocked the basketball world by winning the Pac-12 tournament. During an improbable four-game run in Los Angeles, the Buffs knocked off Utah, Oregon, Cal and Arizona.
Led by sophomore Andre Roberson and freshman Spencer Dinwiddie, both of whom would go on toe playin the NBA, Colorado stormed into the NCAA Tournament on a roll. There, they beat 23rd-ranked UNLV before finally falling to No. 9 Baylor.
It was a sign that the program was heading in the right direction, achieving great things in just the second year under Boyle. The head coach had certainly changed the culture in Boulder.
The same couldn’t be said for Jon Embree, his colleague on the football side of the athletic department. In his second year, the head coach led CU to the worst season in their history.
Colorado finished with a 1-11 record, embarrassing themselves on a weekly basis. They lost 69-14 at Fresno State and then were outscored 397-120 during an eight-game losing streak to finish the season, a stretch that saw the Buffs lose 70-14 at Oregon, 50-6 at USC and 48-0 at home against Stanford.
CU’s only win came in their fourth game. Playing Washington State in Pullman, the Buffaloes were able to pull out a last-minute victory, beating the Cougars 35-34. If not for that narrow triumph, they’d have gone winless on the season.
After the season, Embree was fired. He finished with a 4-21 record during his time as the head coach of the Buffaloes.
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The Captain
The Avalanche were in the midst of a down period, as they missed the playoffs in 2011-12 and were one of the worst teams in the NHL during the lockout-shortened campaign a year later. There was one bright spot, however.
As a rookie, Gabriel Landeskog had established himself as a great player. He led Colorado in goals with 22, while also posting a team-best in the plus/minus category (+22).
More importantly, he had established himself as a team leader. Wise beyond his years, Landeskog had stepped in to fill the void left by the retirements of legends like Adam Foote and Peter Forsberg.
By his second season, the Avs were ready to reward Landeskog for playing that role. They placed a “C” on his sweater, naming him team captain on September 4, 2012.
What made this announcement especially newsworthy was Landeskog’s age. At the time he was named captain, the forward was just 19 years old.
How unusual was a player that young getting a “C” on their sweater? Landeskog became the youngest player in NHL history to be named a team captain, besting Sidney Crosby’s previous mark by 11 days.
