NFL Rockies

In this morning's Debriefing MJD predicted that the magical powers of the Rockies dinosaur will lead the team to a sweep of the Boston Red Sox. If that doesn't come true though, Game Five will be played in Denver in Monday night. That creates quite a conflict for local sports fans because the Broncos will be hosting the Packers at the same time. The Broncos tried to alleviate that by asking the NFL to move the game to Sunday afternoon but the league wasn't down with that.

They will, however, move up the kickoff time a half-hour to 6 P.M. Mountain Time to help stagger traffic as 125,000 people flood downtown Denver to hit one of the two events. I'm not sure how much that's going to help.

Baseball hasn't announced a start time for Monday's game but each of the first four games will be starting at 6:00 in Denver and there's probably not much wiggle room in either direction if Fox hopes to draw the highest possible viewership. How exactly, then, would starting both games at the same time avoid a traffic snarl for the ages? I'm not sure what Denver's public transportation system is like but I'd recommend using it if possible.

The Colorado Rockies have won 21 of their last 22 games. They've steamrolled the Phillies and Diamondbacks in consecutive sweeps to reach their first world series. Names like Manny Corpas and Ryan Spilborghs are now familiar to millions of American sports fans. Now comes the most shocking development of them all.

The Broncos asked the NFL to consider moving their October 29th home Monday Night Football game with the Green Bay Packers so that it wouldn't go head to head with a potential Game Five of the World Series being played at Coors Field on the same night.

"We approached the NFL about it because we're open to options," said Jim Saccomano, Broncos vice president of public relations. "We understand many of our fans are Rockies fans as well, and it may not be possible for everybody to watch both games. But it is going to be a great night for Denver sports fans."

The NFL denied their request, citing logistics and a league rule that allows switches only when there is a venue conflict, but the whole situation shows how far things have come in a very short time in Denver.

The Colorado Rockies have a lot of people fired up right now. Their improbable run to the World Series has turned the spotlight on their play, instead of their playing conditions, for the first time ever. They're playing so well, in fact, that they've knocked the Broncos off the sports pages in Denver for the first time in memory. The footballers aren't complaining about that though.

Every article about Todd Helton, Jeff Francis and Matt Holliday is one that doesn't get written about the worst run defense in the NFL or the team with the second-worst point differential. The Broncos are even finding some inspiration in their civic brethren. John Lynch thinks there's a lot to gain from using the Rox as a blueprint for success.

"I look at the Rockies right now. Getting bashed and same ol' Rockies and cheap management and all that. But I give those players credit because they stuck together. They kept believing and look where they're at now. We can all learn a lot from them."

Outside of Steve Perry, there's no one who loathes stopping believing less than me but that's not really the problem.

In a "I think you do a great job" sort of way, don't get any wrong ideas here. Matter of fact, the two were scheduled to have a "mutual admiration" meeting prior to the Cardinals/Rockies game Thursday night in Denver. How did the whole thing come about you ask? A lot of it started when La Russa read Shanahan's book. From The Denver Post: All Things Rockies blog:

Shanahan and his father, Ed, are planning to watch the game and then meet up with LaRussa.
Last year, La Russa read Shanhan's book, "Think Like a Champion," and came away very impressed.
"I admire him and I've heard a lot about him," La Russa said. "A lot of NFL guys come by our camp during spring training and I hear them talk about him. His name comes up a lot – always complimentary. It's about all the responsibility he has and how he handles it."

Just another example of the crossover amongst successful professionals in the sports world. It's like a secret society of elite coaches. Now you can add Mike Shanahan to the list of La Russa supporters, along with Bill Belichick, Bill Parcells, and Bobby Knight (thanks to MW of DBB for the reminder). I'll say this for the guy, if La Russa ever finds himself out of managing, he'll have no trouble sliding into the NFL.

(Photo Credit: Getty Images)

No, it wasn't Philip Rivers or LaDainian Tomlinson. Though, you really wouldn't put it past Tomlinson to be able do it.

Instead it was Rockies rookie, Jason Hirsh, who allowed one fun on five hits to defeat Greg Maddux and the Padres. Hirsh spent last season as a photo-runner for the Chargers. Hirsh earned minimum-wage for the game-day gig. But something says that he is not going to need the money this year after earning baseball's league minimum, which is a just a touch higher than California's generous minimum wage.