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Headline RSS FeedNuggets mail in Game 6 loss; more Ginn coverage; and a roadless 'time out'
May 30, 2009 —
Not since a quarterback named Elway and a coach named Reeves ran the Denver Broncos and lost a few lopsided Super Bowls in the 80s has a Colorado professional sports team so embarrassed itself on the national stage.
The only good thing about Friday's Game 6 drubbing at the hands of the Los Angeles Lakers is that the Denver Nuggets mailed in their loss in the Western Conference Finals, not the NBA Finals. How do you come out so sluggish and so uninspired in such a big game?
The problem is the Nuggets showed throughout the playoffs what they're capable of if they play with heart and energy, so when they don't it's obvious to everyone watching.
Whereas the Rockies in 2007 were a scrappy bunch that rode the hottest of hot streaks to the World Series then waited eight days until they had fully cooled off to be swept away by the now obviously roided-out Red Sox, the Nuggets are loaded with talent (and excuses) and just didn't show up Friday.
In fact, Carmelo Anthony didn't really show up for any of the Nuggets home playoff games against the Lakers, even the one they won. He looked great in L.A. (maybe he was auditioning).
Coach George Karl should be on an even shorter leash than Rockies manager Clint Hurdle (fired Friday less than two years after the Series) because he's now shown us what the Nuggets are truly capable of if they play as a team and with energy every night.
And Friday night showed us what happens if they don't. Now enough on the Nuggets (see you again in October when the snow flies).
Some housecleaning after my previous blog about the Ginn Company and its financial problems in Florida (and how that may impact their Battle Mountain project near Minturn). Several readers e-mailed in links to more stories:
The first was posted on CNN and examines Credit Suisse, which floated $675 million in risky loans to Ginn before the current recession and real estate collapse took root.
Then there's a piece from the Pueblo Chieftain about Ginn's ongoing efforts to procure water rights for the Battle Mountain project. Hard to imagine the money is still there.
And finally, two different real estate blogs from Florida firms, for what they're worth.
And I leave you with a follow-up to the ongoing Colorado roadless rule saga:
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack Thursday issued a memorandum essentially blocking most development and road building on more than 58 million acres of national forest (4.4 million in Colorado) designated as roadless areas.
Conservationists were quick to praise Vilsack and the Obama administration’s one-year “time out” to establish a long-term policy for managing roadless areas. Most favor a return to the 2001 Clinton administration Roadless Area Conservation Rule.
That highly protective bit of rulemaking was quickly set aside by the Bush administration in favor of allowing states to petition the Forest Service for their own customized roadless rules. Only Idaho and Colorado did so, with Gov. Bill Ritter moving forward in order to protect against the federal rule being scrapped altogether.
Ritter, though, asked for and received a slowdown on the implementation of the Colorado roadless rule until the federal rule, which was the subject of conflicting federal court rulings, could be sorted out.
At stake are more than 100 oil and gas leases on federal lands issued after the Bush administration scrapped the Clinton rule. State conservationists also say the Colorado rule allows more road-building exceptions for logging operations and ski-area expansions than the Clinton rule.
Somehow I don't think we've seen the last of this story, but it's an important one.
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