Denver Misses Playoffs For First Time In Years. (..blaming coach Shaw has gone missing as well)

So the playoffs are out of reach but all hope is not lost in Nugget Land. Last season the Washington Wizards waxed the Denver Nuggets every time they played them.  This year we returned the favor. In order to defeat the Wizards, the Nuggets went without the services of former Wizard Jan Vesely (yeah, I said it….Vesely), overcoming a different kind of spell,….the injury bug.

Vesely came to Denver with instant intrigue, but got lost in the parental controls that coach Brian Shaw had to place on the center position.  Allowing Mozgov to assert physical presence early in games, and  a foul free JJ Hickson to come off the bench and close out games has been brilliant, especially with Hickson actually hitting late free throws. 

    

Hickson has always been a player of immense promise.  Those who follow these things recall JJ Hickson as the dude that replaced Lebron James when Cleveland lost Lebron to the “Decision” to exit for Miami.  Later, Portland acquired Hickson and thought his heavy body could learn to dance around centers, so they converted him to a nimble scorer at the post.  In both scenarios, Hickson saw the ball a lot, and was asked to do something with it. When Hickson has the room to operate, the only way to stop him is with a foul since he is typically a poor free throw shooter.

Correction; he was a poor free throw shooter.  Hickson went down with an ACL injury recently ending a season of redefined dominance in the paint for the Nuggets. Last season Denver was among the league leaders in points in the paint, but most of those were strictly from fast break points. With less fast break points, Denver is still among the tops in this statistic and Hickson was key to that transition.

Lots of people might see the injury bug as a negative curse, but the reality is that the Nuggets are being designed and defined by these handicaps.  Literally.  The toughness to put forth a win worthy effort every night is something most teams struggle to do once the starters take a seat.  In Denver, we never know who will play and contribute, much less start or finish, but every time Coach Shaw digs deep, he keeps finding gold.

Timofey Mozgov is a rough edged center who makes you happy and mad all in the same play. He does the same for his teammates and coaches, but he is a legitimate center, and a fairly good one at times.  What matters most is that Timofey Mozgov is a developing player who will get there…..wherever his there is……..if he could only remember to block out.

If he would only block out like Jan Vesely does. Vesely is as raw a player, but he has freakish athletic ability,  a wingspan like a condor, and is fairly sound on basic techniques like blocking out.  He can run the floor with the best of them and will out run the worst of them. When he plays, it looks like Chris “Bird Man” Anderson and  Javalle McGhee gave birth to a love child.

Did I mention that Vesely got hurt too?  His old team got tired of his “Bird Man” antics, and gave him the shot fake, shoulder to the ribs trick sending him to the injury list as well. 

No worries! The Denver Nuggets proceeded to sweep the Wizards, returning a bitter favor from the season prior when WE were in the playoffs and the Wizards swept us as their yard marker for the future.

Oh, how things have changed.  Yet, in this situation the Nuggets are not an up and coming team gaining in health and chemistry as the season progresses.  They are an up and coming team that keeps losing players day by day.

Did I mention that Wilson Chandler went down several games ago too, forcing Quincy Miller and others to pick up the slack?  With Kevin Durant and the Oklahoma City Thunder game following the Wizard victory, Miller would get tested quickly.

Within minutes after the start of the game, Coach Brian Shaw forced Randy Foye to get eaten alive by Kevin Durant instead of allowing Quincy Miller to lose 10 games worth of confidence from the assignment.  Before the game, Miller reminded Coach Shaw that he started the game the last time the Nuggets defeated OKC.  Shaw probably reminded “Q” later that Durant is the likely NBA MVP this season, and was unlikely to have forgotten the previous defeat. 

In a common theme, the Nuggets couldn’t get enough scoring or defense from the starting five to make a real game of it, but we did discover one amazing fact. 

Quincy Miller has been sitting so long, we hardly noticed that he is as long and agile as Kevin Durant.  He is actually one inch taller than Durant and he is certainly equally as skilled with handling the ball, but lacks the maturity and all-star pedigree that Durant brings to bear.  However, if there ever were a player that Miller could pattern his game after, it is Kevin Durant.

Over the past few games, Miller has taken advantage of his minutes with aggressive defense and attacking offense along with way too many turnovers.  In this first installment of the two game San Antonio series, Miller actually kicked off the scoring for Denver.  Early on, he was all alone as San Antonio built a lead that appeared too large to overcome.  Without much scoring again from Ty Lawson, Kenneth Faried and Aaron Brooks stepped up late, and the Nuggets made a strong rush down the stretch to give the Spurs a challenge, but failed to seal the deal.

Since the Nuggets are playing a home and home series against the Spurs, Coach Shaw instantly claimed tonight’s rematch game in Denver as the Nuggets playoffs for this season.  This is Denver’s chance to give the Spurs, and ourselves, a bit of what we gave the Wizards; a warning shot for next season and for the future of this franchise.  San Antonio is currently the hottest team in the league with 15 victories in a row, but Faried and the fellas will do their best to put a stop to the streaking Spurs.

As San Antonio secured victory number 15 by finishing off the Nuggets 108-103, it was noteworthy to see Tim Duncan giving post game respect to Kenneth ‘For Real’ Faried before they left the court.  As they say….game recognizes game. The sky is hardly the limit for this hardworking player.  Faried’s consistent growth with each game shows that he is virtually limitless.  Whatever he is missing in his game right now will be added with time and hard work.  He is short on neither.

Does the fact that Coach Shaw declared this game a playoff game make a Nugget victory more likely?

 Probably! 

The signs have shown that these guys will threaten to win even when all seems lost.  If tanking the season for a better draft slot were in the plans, they need to sketch a new plan.  These Nuggets are playing for pride and for an identity.  In Faried, they have fortified the toughness element for a long time coming. Given the nature of the Denver sports fan base,  Faried might be slowly prying this teams identity away from timid Ty Lawson and establishing himself as the player you fear most whenever you play Denver. In Randy Foye they now have a consistent outside shooting threat.

Since Faried and Foye are the only starters that have not succumbed to injury or poor play, they must be particularly responsible for whatever success we have had in this injury filled home stretch.

...Because it couldn’t be the coach of course.

Is Diversity Training The Future For American Schools?

No Child Left Behind’ is an insult to all legitimate teachers

  

My wife and I have poured ourselves into the lives of children (including our 5) because we were taught by an educator who was very sensitive to the needs of all kids, that no matter how well we support our kids in their education,  within that classroom, they can only rise to the height that their environment will allow. Although most classrooms are broken, the mere concept of the “No Child Left Behind” initiative is an absolute insult to any legitimate teacher who lost sleep(and still does) trying to reach them all long before Bush pushed this law into being. As a result, the true challenge for all of our educators is how to balance the time and energy spent on at-risks students versus those pushing to get ahead. 

RAISING THE BAR  

Recognizing the symptoms of poor achievement is important, but finding any cure begins with understanding the cause.  To assume that any kid would go to school just to fail is a bit silly.  Human beings don’t set out to fail. Failure (or the acceptance of) is a learned behavior.  When children are taught to see all failure as a form of feed back, they become adults who will confidently try anything. When adults are conditioned to see some children as failures, they treat them accordingly. Some of our kids have the bar set so low for them that they can’t see higher than the ceiling they stare at when losing focus in class after class.  At times we all subconsciously drop the bar for our children by repeating ideas that we once heard in our ears as well.

 “My dad was really bad at math and so was I.  It just runs in our family”.

BREAKING THE MOLD

 No Child Left Behind often results in excelling students not moving on while waiting on the back of the pack to catch up, thus creating a void. Thankfully, this educational void is being filled  with good ole' American ingenuity.  In Denver schools we fill this void with a  program call Breakthrough Kent Denver. 

Breakthrough is located in key cities across the U.S., and only accepts middle school aged students who have completed 6th grade. 
Locally, Breakthrough is housed and supported by Kent Denver (and is thus named Breakthrough Kent Denver)  

The key focus of Breakthrough is to prepare middle school students for success in high school and beyond.  Many ESL (English as a Second Language) students get intensive remediation at Breakthrough, but this program also focuses on intense character development and  pushing excelling students to that next rung of success. To foster the achievement of this educational mission, Breakthrough doubles as a program for training teachers by recruiting mature high school and college aged young adults as the classroom teachers, especially those interested in teaching as a career.  Each classroom teacher undergoes thorough training, and is supported by a master teacher who overseas their specialty area.    In a Breakthrough classroom, there is always an obvious energy from both the teacher and the students.

     The kicker to this program is that it is exclusively a summer school (or Saturday school during the school year)l, so kids have to be willing to give up the most important home time that a kid gets.  Giving up the safety and security of home and common things is one of the biggest challenges of childhood.  

Breakthrough gets it because well over 100 kids attend Breakthrough every summer. Happily! 

Admittedly, some of the kids are not so gung ho when they are first forced into the program by their parents and/or a concerned

teacher.  Even selecting the students  and the teachers each year is a competitive application process.  Each student must have an application, a letter of recommendation from an educator and grade transcripts, and a personal interview in order to be considered for the program. Having the best grades is hardly a criteria for Breakthrough.  Someone simply needs to see your hunger to be and do your best.

Though the first day is scary, when Breakthrough is over each summer, all of the kids leave with tears and hugs because of the powerful impact of this program, eager to return the next chance they can.

 Each of my 5 daughters attended Breakthrough Kent Denver.  Two went on to become classroom teachers and one continued to work with the program through college and  is now an administrator.  She plays an important role because the program insist upon on a culturally diverse group of students, and as an black woman, she offers Breakthrough kids the same inspiration that was given to her  when  she attended Breakthrough as a middle school student.

RECOGNIZING TALENT

Though the kids love their teachers at Breakthrough, year after year they would tell of the love of one very special lady who helped make Breakthrough Kent Denver blossom.   Sistah Girl is her nickname, and she is  not  only renown  for  removing kids from a line when they think  the safety of a crowd creates opportunity  to misbehave, she will also show up at your school to figure out why you keep acting up in line;  or go to your house to meet your parents and learn the best way to get you to behave in line. Some people only know her as “Sistah Girl” but her name is Sharlita Ramirez.

For years Ramirez was a heart and soul role model for every kid at Breakthrough. Suddenly, it came time for her to move on.

Ramirez had a remarkable ability to demand the respect and affection of any kid.    Being the Dean of Students, Ramirez was the central figure and main disciplinarian in a program that has young adults teaching middle school kids. Very smart but troubled kids in the program will try to get in trouble just to get kicked out of  the program when their heart and their neighborhoods started to tug at them for attention. In the immediate absence of Ramirez, bewildered staff spoke of implementing a “3 strikes and you are out” rule as a result of  behavior challenges that Ramirez once handled with ease.

The things Ramirez learned about kids when she looked beneath the surface of bad behavior at Breakthrough would scare most.  For her, it was all part of  the mission.  At times, Ramirez had made her own home a place of refuge  for kids when uncovering the hidden realities in their lives.

 While no job is meant to last forever, what Breakthrough had to replace was  the  diversity skills that existed in the primary disciplinarian who had an ability to reach kids with a myriad of socioeconomic challenges masquerading  as educational hurdles.   Diversity and sensitivity skilled educators  have a keen view of racial, gender and social backgrounds, a skill that is impossible to master with a course book alone, but is natural to the human experience and can be taught.

THE FOUNDATION

 All kids need safety and structure.  All kids!  In the absence of structure at home, some kids come to school to get it. The worst of behavior is a cry for attention or for boundaries. Some kids cry in silence and then explode when you least expect it.  All kids also need someone to be proud of them and someone to inspire them.  Educators with the diversity and sensitivity skills to inspire kids from various backgrounds are  worth their weight in gold and should be paid as such. Diversity trained educators should become the benchmark for the future of education in America. Both in how we pattern education and also in how we compensate educators.  

The unison between parents and schools can create a powerful bridge towards success. Since we know our schools and our families are damaged, we know already the unison between these two is often missing one or both parties and our kids fall between the gaps.  Diversity and sensitivity trained educators fill these gaps in our broken educational bridge and influence a dynamic journey into the realm of lifelong learning.  

Even opponents of teachers unions will argue that no approach matters if you do not have a passionate, dedicated and talented teacher to begin with.  They are correct!  Everything that we dream to do for our schools assumes a quality classroom teacher, and support from home.    As we press towards that goal, we have to provide all educators with the tools to be excellent so that we are resolute when time to replace them, and comfortable when we pay them for their value to the future.  Because our children do not get a do over childhood, it is vital that we get it right the first time.

ART & SCIENCE

We have mastered the science of education.  Now, we must evolve in the art of educating so that we can recapture the kids we lose to discipline problems and other impediments to learning.  In classrooms where we marry the science with the art, magic happens (we miss you Mr. Troutman).  Without this marriage, there are moments of magic, but mostly waves of frustration and despair for both students and teachers. 

     Educators with diversity skills are able to grab hold of at-risk students and have an ability to utilize empathy without sorrow,  creating a comfort zone of learning for every child that they touch. It will take a lot longer to train our current farm of educators to utilize these skills than it would be to simply hire for diversity.  When it comes to the demand of educating a diverse world (and not suspending pre-school kids) we clearly need to do both.

    

Montreal Beats Avalanche, McKinnon Steals Show

In a homecoming for the Canadian born players and coaches, the Avalanche began a 3 game, 4 day, far north tour of duty tonight starting in Montreal with the Canadiens.

We expected Matt Duchene to get the heroes welcome as well as Canadian born JS Giguere who got the call in goal.  We even expected the love and admiration that this team would bestow on the goalie who last captured the Stanley Cup for Montreal (1993), the team with the most of them all.  Patrick Roy has a storied career that began with Montreal. With so many years removed, the rift that caused him to go is all but healed. Today, Roy is nothing but beloved in Montreal...as he should be.

What was not expected tonight by anyone except those in Canada and from Canada, was the warm reception given to the NHL's front running Rookie of the Year, Nathan McKinnon.

These Canadians are serious about their hockey as the recent Olympic victories suggested.  After being dead in the water in the semi-final game against the USA, Canada women's team rallied late to push the game to OT and won it in the extra period.  The men's team followed that feat a few days later by winning the gold as well. Winning hockey in Canada is about as important as basketball is to the USA.  They simply expect to win.

Thanks to their blind passion for hockey, the Canadiens proceeded to piss off  Patrick (who was struggling at the time), forcing Roy to demand a release.  When the breakup was over, Avalanche had a Hall of Fame goalie and would gain two Stanley Cup victories with him in net.

Montreal was glad to see the return of Roy, but hardly ready to hand over a much needed victory.  The respectful applause for McKinnon appeared to inspire something special into his legs.  Everything they admired in McKinnon as expert hockey fans was on display in this game. McKinnon would eventually take #2 star of the game even though the Avalanche lost 6-3.

Losing teams are not awarded #1 stars as a matter of form, but McKinnon was clearly the best player on the ice.  Thomas Vanek of Montreal got the #1 star with an ugly hat trick that didn't even draw one hat from his home crowd, who remained mesmerized as McKinnon skated circles around their team.  Undoubtedly, Canadien fans walked from the arena happy with a win, but exuberant over the show McKinnon gave them as well.

There is admiration, and then there is admiration from fan's who really know what they are watching.  If you didn't realize what the rest of the league thought of Colorado's super rookie, you do now.  Canadiens tested....Canadiens approved.

POST SCRIPT: Avalanche forward John Mitchell lost his skates while rushing up ice, slid into the boards and bounced off so violently he went airborne from the ricochet.  Mitchell, who skated off on his own power, was transported to a local hospital for precautionary x-rays.  (No injury report was available at publishing).

Why Do The Denver Nuggets Beat Juggernauts, Lose To Scrubs? It's Like That...and that's the way it is.

Unemployment at a record high.....people coming, people going, people born to die.

Don't ask me because I don't know why....It's Like That.... and that's the way it is.        -(Run DMC)

For some reason, those of you who had a younger sibling who you taught to play basketball never believed they would beat you.  If it was a little brother, it wasn't as hard to include a timely push or shove (or elbow) because parents often freely allow you to beat on your little brother (ask Cheryl Miller).

If you are playing your little sister, just due to her physical differences you never expected to lose that game.  Nothing in the fiber of your DNA would bring you to play 100% against that sibling because it simply felt unnecessary going into battle.

For some inexplicable reason, this younger sibling dynamic rears its ugly head any time a professional athlete, that doesn't possess the murderer gene, takes on a competitor that they are certain they can beat.  Why?
It's like that....and that's the way it is.

Its also like that murderer gene thing I just mentioned.  For some reason there are guys who are as friendly as you can imagine on the court, ala Earvin "Magic" Johnson, but will kindly rip your heart out in the field of battle, as Magic often did to opponents. Why? It's like that...and that's the way it is.

The Denver Nuggets didn't beat the Miami Heat a few nights ago and the blazing hot Los Angeles Clippers last night because they got lucky.  That little brother usually catches up eventually.  In fact, at some point he typically passes the elder siblings because its like that.....and that's the way it is.

These Denver Nuggets shall someday soon become the big brother like they are most nights against every team not in the championship hunt (every team).  Denver may not be the smart, energetic, hard working big brother on most nights, but they display a physical dominance on the court that is as undeniable as it is frustrating (for opponents and Nugget fans alike).....but that's the way it is.

Denver did not set a record last season with games won simply because they had talent.  George Karl is a Hall of Fame coach.....period.  On the other hand, Karl wasn't simply working magic either or he would have saved a trick or two for the playoffs. Karl had lots of talent, and despite the roster challenges that Brian Shaw endured, he too has plenty of talent for the task at hand (as long as Lawson is healthy and shows up).  In the end, the old adage of it being about the talent making good coaches is true to this extent;  no matter how good you are, and all of these guys are good, only the heart snatchers win championships.

When the Dallas Mavericks snatched the heart out of Miami three season's ago, it was the catalyst that Lebron used to become a heart snatcher himself.  What Karl could not give his team was the vicious determination that coaches who understand provide.  I realize that such a characterization is graphic and a bit gruesome, but my words pale to the grind of winning it all.  In the end, champions realize that they will ultimately have to remove the heart of a competitor who keeps reaching for something  you've laid claim to.....because that's is just the way it is.

Brian Shaw looks like a really nice guy when you stare him in the face.  But if you peer into his soul there is the ferocity of a murderer.  If you ever get the chance to see at his 5 championship rings (3 as a player), look beneath his fingernails.....I am sure you will find the blood of a few hearts.

What Do You Get When You Make Professionals Play Amateur Sports? Shady Business.

While recognizing the wonderful accomplishment of 18 year old Colorado Avalanche rookie Nathan MacKinnon, it dawned on me that this 18 year old young man is pursuing his dream and proving himself capable against the best hockey players in the land. Baseball, tennis and any Olympic sport see's it the same way. Golf might force you to earn your mettle on the professional tour, but  will at least give you a chance to prove yourself against professional competition. The NFL and the NBA force professionals to behave as amateurs because they believe they know better.

What do you get when you force professionals to behave as college amateurs?  You get the Fab Five of Michigan, that's what.  

What we knew then is what we know now.  Some of these kids are simply too good to deny them an opportunity to get paid right away.  The only thing that we accomplish for a kid destined for the pro's is 6 months of more school and millions of dollars for the schools who get to use these athletes for at least one year (two if you play football).

If you get hurt in the process there is no insurance for your potential.  The school doesn't even have to honor your scholarship, which is a year to year contract that must be renewed.  Four years of guaranteed education is a reasonable exchange, but athletes who are worthy of going directly to the pro's could earn the value of a 4 year degree in the first year of a pro contract (with change to spare). The union was forced into this deal as a means of avoiding an NBA lockout.  It might very well be criminal, especially in the face of the absence of such a restriction in every other sport around the entire earth.

The only distinction between the sports that allow teenagers to compete for a job right away and the one's that do not is the mass percentage of black people who compete in the two banned sports.  Both the NBA and the NFL are complicit to the behavior because they, much like the college's who partake in the bounty, get the benefit of not overpaying for the uncertain potential of youth.

The history of drafting high schoolers has been a mixed bag. For every Kevin Garnett or Lebron James you have an Eddie Curry or Kwame Brown.  One year players are still dominating the landscape even if the year of play helps eliminate the guessing game of it all.  Essentially, the NBA has asked to be saved from themselves with this restriction.

So what is the end effect?

In the end, kids who are excellent athletes but horrible students get to compete in any sport that they are good at, except football and basketball.  In these sports, you will be blocked from a career by your lack of educational prowess.  Kids that succeed in school often have the support of one or two parents who keep them on track and teach them good study habits and time management skills. If you happen to do football and basketball well but not literature and math, you either fix the problem or forego a dream.

The end effect of forcing professional talent into the amateur ranks is what I mentioned before.  It is the Fab Five of Michigan who all got money from the neighborhood mentor and lover of kids that may have also been a bookie on the side. Ed Martin probably did exactly what he is accused of doing for Chris Webber and many other kids in Detroit, especially the professional basketball player kids that he helped nurture.  He gave them a hand up.  For the really good ones like Chris Webber, he might have given more.  I may have even told these pro's that he helped out "remember me when you make it".

In America, it is illegal to do this for a professional basketball player playing amateur college sports, but it is legal to force that professional to pass an ACT and pick a school for a year or two, just to be considered worthy to earn professionally.  If you are a doctor, this type of restriction (aka certification) is universally accepted. In professional sports, no other country in the world recognizes such a restriction, and even the NBA will draft and pay an underaged European player but places a ban on US high school players at the same time.

Let me say this once more.  US high school basketball and football players  are the only athletes in the world who suffer such a restriction.  Every other sport in every corner of the earth is free to earn income as soon as someone offers one.

While I certainly admire the efforts of the players from Northwestern, I have been critical of their class action law suit that would force colleges to pay the athletes. Title 9 has made this functionally impossible, because in order to pay any athlete, we have to pay every athlete the same. In the past, schools would balance their sports budget by eliminating sports that did not make much money.  Typically, women's sports experienced the ax first, however, eliminating male sports instead of adding female sports has been another route towards Title 9 compliance.

Whereas large schools could easily pay all of the kids, smaller schools have a few sports supporting all of the others (and sometimes parts of the academic budget as well). Across the land, there simply is no easy way to pay every athlete and comply with Title 9 as well.  As a result of this challenge, I believe this fight needs to leave the arena of profit sharing and enter the realm of corporate collusion .

Restricting only adolescent athletes in these two bigger, blacker sports is beyond the pale of understanding.  It allows the NCAA the NBA and the NFL to have their cake and eat it too.  Back when the Fab Five launched on the scene, they started wearing plain blue t-shirts in defiance of the system they recognized was raping them for every dime it could earn, and giving nothing back in return.

When the Fab Five decided to go baggy, Nike sold baggy shorts and put "Fab Five" on the marketing. Nobody did it before them, and nobody does it differently since.  When they wore black socks for the first time, sock sellers across the land grabbed a sharpie and wrote "Fab Five" on their black sock signs.

It would be easy to say that nothing has changed but the date on the story.  After all, the same ugly face of racial injustice that plagues America simply rears its ugly head in new ways from time to time.

The truth is that the NBA version of said injustice only began in 2005.  Instead of simply forcing a rookie pay scale, the league saw the NCAA as fertile (and free) ground for a de facto farm league.

I don't think it can be reiterated enough. The fact that this restriction is only placed upon US high school kids either makes a statement about our failure to groom our kids, or is just another shady example of business in America.

Nuggets Take Down Lebron James While Lamenting The One That Got Away

Nugget haters are mounting their excuses right now trying to explain the reason that the hapless Nug's found a way to beat the Heat.

Don't worry.  I'll do it for you.  After all, the Nuggets were not the first but the second of the teams who beat the Miami Heat back to back on their home court.  In other words, the Heat had already lost at home and have lost several games recently.  If you are religious you understand the divine intent of King David, you also understand his victory over Goliath.  If you are not you might think that a scared kid got lucky with a rock and a slingshot. Nugget haters can easily subscribe to this miracle story as plausible cause.

Do the Nuggets have their backup team starting the game?
(.......excluding Ty Lawson of course)

I would make a few more excuses for the Nugget victory, but in reality there are none.  The Nuggets lost the start of the game and just about lost the end of it as well.  Correction, the Nuggets starters lost the start of the game against Miami and the bench had to save the day.

Is Evan Fournier a future all-star?

While JJ Hickson, Aaron Brooks, Quincy Miller, Dorrell
Arthur and Evan Fournier comprise the backup bunch,  
Fournier lead the way among the bench players and showed a reason for us all to send thank you cards to Masi Ujiri in Toronto who we credit with the foresight to draft Fournier.  As we look forward to the draft and hope for a play maker who can be an all-star caliber closer, Fournier could be the best gift from France since the statue of Liberty or Tony Parker, and will press Danilo Gallinari next season for the #1 Euro Nugget. 

 Brooks added 5 dimes versus Miami

Starters and finishers are hardly the same in basketball. This truth  relegates Timofey Mozgov to obscurity down the stretch of most games.  Against Miami, every other starter except Ty Lawson shared minutes with backups who performed better.

As it turns out, the key to this game would be free throws.  No matter how many statistics you dominate against a team like Miami, and the Nuggets dominated a few, you had better beat them well enough to avoid their closing ability.  The Nuggets did not do this at all and were forced to maintain a lead that they enjoyed through the greater portion of the game.

Now haters!  Listen up!  This is where you have to determine if the coach and team that you are criticizing is truly worthy of the critique you level.  Since the Nuggets get 3 new players from the cupboard next year, a coach with more skills in the kitchen, and his own seasoning (to add to the recipe), what we see now is merely a test kitchen if you will.

Have we seen enough of the Wilson Chandler experiment?
Is it time to let Quincy Miller start?

On this road trip, the Nuggets have learned that  there are simply no moral victories.  The loss to New Orleans was a painful Christmas gift that we either gave early this year or late from last year.

Either way it was a gift.

Winning back to back games on the road, including one over the defending champs is cool, but does it vindicate the losses and the voices of the haters? 
Fournier said it best.  

"This is no vindication. This is one win."

Ducks Score 6 goals in one period to beat Avalanche

Ducks Beats Av's With 6 Goals In One Period. Avalanche Looking Forward To Season Finale

Tonight was a difficult sports viewing night for a Nugget/Avalanche fan such as myself.

The Nug's, the Av's or Golf?
So many decisions....so little time.

Lured late in the evening by the Colorado sunshine, I got stuck playing the back nine (instead of stopping after nine) and finished in the darkest of functional dusk.  By the time I made it home, the Nuggets were late in the game against Miami, and the Colorado Avalanche were getting plastered with pucks by the Anaheim Ducks.

The Avs have recently beaten some of the best teams in the NHL.  The Ducks are among the top in the league, but not seen as playoff worthy like the Chicago Blackhawks or the St. Louis Blues, two teams that the Avs dismantled in recent games.

The last time these two teams faced off, it was the glass partition between the benches that became dismantled in a heated opening night match up that, if not for the partition, might of ended in a fist fight between the coaches of these two teams.  The Avs won that game 6-1.

Two things to remember.  The Ducks left that first game mad as hell over the outcome and the Ducks are the best team in the league at winning a game when giving up the first goal.  After peppering Avs goalie Semyon Varlamov with several shots on goal early, John Mitchell scored for the Avs to take a 1-0 lead into the second period.  .

This has become the nature of this team.  Even when they do not appear to be dominating play, they are dominating goal tending and grit.  True to their name, the Avalanche can come out of nowhere with ferocious impact, and they did again tonight against the Ducks.

Content that the Avs could find a way to do what they've done to others recently, I decided beating the Heat was a much for significant challenge for this Colorado sports fan and switched over to see the Nuggets close out Miami. When I turned back, the Av's scored a goal in the second period to take a 2-1 lead over the Ducks.

That would be the last lead they saw in this game that ended 6-4 in favor of the Ducks who blew the game wide open in the second period with all 6 goals (the most goals against the Avs in one period this year) and made the Avs chase the rest of the way, as they chased away the Avs goalie who did not finish the game.

The Av's have the benefit of fighting with the Ducks and a few other teams for the best record in the Western conference and will likely finish the season jockeying for playoff positioning.  Since the last game of the season will be in Anaheim against these Ducks, hockey fans in both cities are crossing their fingers for a meaningful game and a grande finale.

For the Denver Nuggets, the night would end more joyfully. (read more)

Postscript:  The Av's got the score as close as 5-4 in that second period with a magical play from the captain Gabriel Landiskog.  After making a move to get free in front of the net, Landiskog nearly held the puck till the window to score had fully closed and then unleashed an odd angled blast  past a goalie frozen by the move.  Peter Forsberg type stuff if I do say so myself.

Broncos Acquire Aqib Talib, Interested In Demarcus Ware. Is Elway Pissed?

Should the Broncos fight to keep Knowshown Moreno or move on?

When last the Broncos addressed the topic of Aqib Talib, it was during the playoff rub out that Wes Welker put on Talib that drew the ire of New England Patriot coach Bill Belichick.
Today the Broncos made it up to Talib by making him a part of their team.

When you consider the signing of Talib with the re-signing of Andre "Bubba" Caldwell, it looks as if the Broncos front office is moving forward free of innuendo. First they released long time legend Champ Bailey, and then they indirectly cut Eric Decker with the signing of Caldwell. Decker did not get an offer on day one of free agency, but the market could be waiting for someone to blink.

Broncos could stand to establish some backfield stability by signing Knowshown Moreno to a new deal, but the market will push the price for this horse, and Talib could be the magnet for other key free agent acquisitions if Moreno get pricey.

 Realizing that nothing is earned more than Superbowl championships, two teams have functionally stolen a title away from Denver in back to back season's.  Pundits (and Vegas) doubt the likelihood of Denver being a championship favorite for a 3rd straight season, but the Broncos have made a resounding statement with the acquisition of Talib. Vegas is taking notice as we speak. Current odds have next season ending just as  this season did, with the Seattle Seahawks besting the Broncos.

Richard Sherman may have anointed himself the best in his position, but Talib was the the pre-Superbowl selection to such an honor.  Ask @Skip Bayless of ESPN.  His affection for Talib makes Bayless an automatic fan of Denver, as in the days of Tebow.  If that is not enough, rumors have it that Demarcus Ware, of the Dallas Cowboys, is headed to Denver as well, which could make the Broncos Superbowl prospects a bit unfair for the rest of the league (Von Miller and Derrick Wolfe should return as well)

Will the addition of Demarcus Ware and Aqib Talib
make Peyton the 2nd best player on the team or the 3rd.

Last season's records appear to be in serious danger already, and the season has barely ended. Next year, the defense will be better even after ending  this season as a highly respectable unit.  If the Broncos defense can add Ware as well as Talib, they might turn the offense into the supporting staff.

In fact, the addition of these world class talents would suddenly put into question who is actually the best player on this Denver Bronco team?  Does Von Miller get into the conversation too?

Oh No! Big Brother (James Clapper) Puts His ACES In A Row.

"Those of us who serve our country are increasingly treated like the suspects we pursue"








"....today's AP article in which the DNI (Director of National Intelligence) aka Big Brother, now feels it necessary to subject over five million federal employees to continuous monitoring inside AND outside of the workplace for signs of espionage, all because of the four or five individuals (Snowden, Ames, Walker, Hansen) who decided to betray their country.  When have intrusions into our private lives gone too far?  Those of us who serve our country are increasingly treated like the suspects we pursue."




                                               --- concerned federal employee with high security clearance.  


__________________________________




With all of the NSA cell phone debate going around, it has become abundantly clear that most American's simply do not care about the issue of privacy as it relates to our cell phones and our internet usage.  Despite identity theft and the insistence from Rand Paul that our cell phone's are "none of their damn business", we remain essentially unchanged in our perspective.  In great part because we always assumed that certain aspects of our lives were never private, and even more were sacrificed by the events of 9-11.  Let this be an example of what happens when you don't stand for principles.

Big Brother  James Clapper (Director of National Intelligence)

What today's Big Brother update signifies is that the DNI is more than a seeing eye. The DNI is looking to live up to a mystical reputation  by putting the ACE's in a row.

“What we need is a system of continuous evaluation where when someone is in the system and they’re cleared initially, then we have a way of monitoring their behavior, both their electronic behavior on the job as well as off the job,”  Director of National Intelligence James Clapper told Congress last month.
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/us-intelligence-officials-monitor-federal-employees-security-clearances/

What Clapper was eluding to has apparently been in the works for some time and is expected to mimic a program that has been in place in the airline industry, in banking and apparently the Pentagon uses it under the name ACES (Automated Continuous Evaluation System). Clapper announced this program before congress as a needed program, but the ACES system has moved beyond conversation having passed several pilot tests already  and may soon be implemented in more departments that just the Pentagon. 

The NSA meta data collection confirms the concept of Big Brother watching you and I to some degree, but remains overblown for the most part.  The reality that Big Brother is doing whatever they deem necessary to federal employee's has moved beyond a popular myth, this is a confirmed agenda.  Dividing lines between employment and individual privacy may soon take on  a breach that could fracture the spectrum of freedom, especially in the realm of employment.

ACES is not collecting metadata either. ACES is after real data about real people who deserve the right to a level of anonymity outside of work.   To subject federal employees to continuous counter espionage treatment sets a precedent that every corporation could someday justify as a reasonable expectation of employment.  Clearly in this matter, employment, and not national security, is the reason by which this program is being justified.  

In other words, if this program is deemed reasonable, then federal employee's, and anyone too close to them, could be an indirect victim of the continuous evaluation system. Without proper warrant, ACES could tap and track my wife and children because they are connected to my phone account which has triggered the automated system.  This is just one of the many scenario's that come to mind.

Traitor: Eric Snowden

If there ever was a Pandora's box, this might be it.  Sacrificing freedom should never be a condition of employment, but ACES makes for the highest stake employment compromise in our history. ACES is more than a slippery slope, it is an overreach that will cause casualties if implemented.  When the first casualty of this system arises, I expect the government response to resemble the Stand Your Ground law in which the victims will be silenced for the sake of the system.

Sadly, Eric Snowden has forced the hand of government to put its ACES in a row so that no other internal breach occurs without some evidence of prevention efforts. However, unless ACES eliminates espionage, what is it for? Doesn't every country conduct espionage efforts?  Isn't spying and information leaking simply par for the course, and if so, is ACES actually attempting to create a James Bond fail safe?

Admit it. Bond will never be denied and ACES will eventually need to justify itself in the lives of  the federal employee's it seeks to continuously evaluate.  

This time Big Brother has gone way too far.

Voice Of Tomorrow: Are four years of college really enough?

Are four years really enough?

Three down and two to go.  

As the father of five daughters I am constantly looking for ways to decrease the cost of college to our family, including looking at schools that allow kids to test out of entry level courses to save money.  Obviously, this demands you have students that are academically capable

 If all kids came to college more prepared for success, they should be able to finish school faster (and cheaper) than students who demand more classes and thus more years to complete school.  My family is currently planning for the graduation of a daughter who did 2 summer programs for college credit before attending her college, tested out of remedial courses as a freshman, and added summer school last year (at a much cheaper local college) to cut her four years into three years of college. If you are a student with focus on a technical school, you can actually finish in even less than 3 years

Sounds reasonable from the person/pocketbook that pays for college, but the kids that attend are speaking a different story.  According to the voice of one college journalist, 4 years of college may not  be enough time.

Hidden within the statement from this University of Colorado author is the message that our children are following a path and hoping for a plan to materialize. Clearly, many of us learned and then repeated this same pattern, but our parents did not have the school debt that we incurred, and its only getting worse for our children who are getting less and less parental support with financing college.

With the rising cost of education, our children are being straddled with more than debt, they are being educated by institutions unconcerned with personal reasons for acquiring a degree.  Five or six years later they are face to face with debt, over educated and under employed or under educated and unemployed.  Student loans won't wait very long for you to find the good job that your misguided education struggles to uncover, so the author offers a legitimate point.

This would be a great time for the cynical ones to scream in unison, "join the club".  The world is full of over educated under employed people.  However, I believe that if the children are truly our future, this should not be a club that we eagerly expand.

The truth is that this young lady does not feel pressured to finish college in four years, she feels pressured to stop racking up debt without a clear plan for tomorrow.  If we know for certain that it takes 8-10 years to become a medical doctor, shouldn't we know for certain that it takes 2-7 years to properly educate and direct students that are a by-product of schools we know for certain are mostly failing them?

Getting a good grade in a bad school is not an amazing feat while getting a college ready education is, no matter how great your bad school grades might appear. Schools that do not prepare kids for college fail all of their students in this regard. On the other hand, students who complete a rigorous high school program could and should consider a fast track route towards careers that already interest them.  Not every school is failing our kids, just most of them are.  As a result, millions enter into colleges every year destined for a struggle.

Maybe they fight their way through school and eventually find a good job and hopefully pay off their debt in time.  Possibly they fall through the cracks and become dependent on public funds as we support them towards being fully self sustained.  No matter the scenario, the social strain of under educated children has a cost that ends up being much more costly than the cost of any 4 year degree at any college on earth.

My point?  Education should be free because ignorance is way too costly.

ObamaCare Causing Addictions Too? This Time The Rumors Might Be True.

Back in 2011 I wrote about the growing demand for prescription drugs because I was confused about the nature of the new aged drug dealers.  Here's how I began:   

I was listening to a report about the growing prescription drug addictions  and I found myself researching the problem.  I was curious about how we are able to fill the demand for this newest wave of growing addictions.  Are drug dealers actually waiting in line at the doctors office for a prescription?  There has to be a black market that allows these drugs to hit the street in a way other than waiting in a doctors office for a prescription?  Research will tell you that the street meds could be poor quality knock offs of  common prescription drugs produced by black market sources.  The conspiracy theorist in me says that may only be part of the real story. 

Fast forward to 2014 and the scene that appeared muddled has become way too clear a picture.  

A significant benefit of the Affordable Care Act may be the fact that it is now accessible to the people who could hardly afford it.  Several of them will be forced to cash in on the benefits soon.  As it turns out, the ACA has several cost saving measures, and the individual mandate is simply one of them.  Part of the health reform initiative has involved the systematic attack upon wasteful spending, especially federally funded spending such as medicare and medicaid.  

Not many people realize that one of the largest contributors to the rate of healthcare inflation has always been the impact of governmental extortion in healthcare.  In the past, billing guru's found ways to over bill medicare and medicaid for procedures that traditional insurance companies would pick and choose who to cover, or not.  Over time, all healthcare inflation took on a trajectory that the bilking of medicaid and medicare caused.

Several years ago, healthcare took a blow as federal mandates forced the hand of doctors who take medicaid by only paying set amounts for certain procedures.  This has forced many hospitals and doctors to rethink their acceptance of medicaid, but it has also forced the industry to reverse a trend that had several decades of momentum.  During the Obama administration, healthcare cost have risen at the lowest rate in decades, due in large part to the crackdown in medicaid billing.

The healthcare crackdown didn't stop there however.  In addition to the reduced payment procedure's, Obama had to instruct federal officials to begin tightening the noose on doctors who freely write prescriptions for patients.  Especially those addicted to oxycodone.  What I had not realized several years ago when I first wrote about the prescription drug epidemic was that doctors were in fact the pushers that made this epidemic expand.

So, what happens to an Oxy addict when the doctor who use to hook them up is under federal pressure to cut that crap out?  Enter the return of the dragon.  No, this is not a Bruce Lee sequel but a return of massive use of oxycodone's cheap alternative, heroine.

Heroine addictions are massively on the rise, and without another plausible explanation it appears that ObamaCare is the indirect cause of it all.  Not to be excluded are all of the doctors who were the original enablers to this problem, but they now have their hands full with the rise in heroine overdoses as a result of another shocking element to this story.

As if increased heroine addictions were not bad enough, today's heroine is not your garden variety heroine.  Apparently, today's heroine is likely to be laced with a synthetic opiate called fentanyl which is commonly used in operating room sedation only.  How this drug made its way to the black market has brought question and concern to doctors and state officials dealing  with the rising overdose trends related to laced heroine.

Absent some serious intervention, this problem is likely to get worse before it gets better because our drug enforcement efforts are sorely lacking sufficient education and prevention. Primarily, we put most of our counter efforts on incarceration and law enforcement, both legitimate industries that our economy depends on as well.

Sadly, while we think we are profiting from the direct and indirect revenue that addictions create, all that we have to show for it is a circle of money that sustains the status quo.  The crook steals the money to feed their addiction while their addiction funds the doctors who treats them for a day or the jailer who locks them up for a week.  When they hit the street, the cycle begins again.

Addictions: America’s Economic Prescription_vol.1

Famous Celebrity Addicts                           READ MORE

Addictions: America’s Economic Prescription__vol2 (produced Nov. 2011)

Today that same voracious monster has placed its hands into the world of Medical Marijuana which has seen the rapid rise in Medical Marijuana dispensaries in states that have de-criminalized the prescribed use of marijuana.  Federal law enforcement has stated clearly that it will not intervene in this matter at a state level clearing the way for states to tax the distribution of it.  Since this defies federal laws, is it not simply an issue of revenue that has moved the Feds out of the way? 

When it comes to our moral framework, it is becoming increasingly clear that cash is king.  Even though we may not freely allow the direct exploitation of our children, they are often indirect victims of the sanctioning  that occurs as we collect  taxes for things that many people do not have the ability to engage in responsibly. 

 Some would say that obesity is killing just as many people as these deadly addictions, why not get rid of potato chips?  Food is one addictive item that we do not implement any age restrictions  on.  Human beings can become as addicted to food as they do to endorphins if you jog a lot.  Addictions of all types can be seen as simply a part of our nature, so how do we go about changing our nature?

Do we have the integrity to live without 

the revenues of addiction….putting 100% 

of that tax revenue into rehabilitation and prevention education?

 

    

Since we may never find a way to change an addicted society, the question becomes whether we care to wage a war on drugs and addictions while enjoying the tax benefits that they bring.  The question is whether we have the integrity to live without those tax dollars as a statement against what they represent, or commit 100% of the tax revenue from our addicted world to  rehabilitation and education  against addictions.  It is simply disingenuous to claim a concern for deadly and dangerous addictions while counting the cash from the revenues that these industries generate. 

     We’ve decided that it is better to collect money from these engines of death instead of letting  them have it all to themselves.  Is it not a form of blood money  to tax the industries of addiction?  A dirty cop shake down?  Sometimes it feels that way to me.  

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Addictions: America’s Economic Prescription_vol.1

ObamaCare Causing Addictions Too? This Time The Rumors Might Be True.