The call

A lot has happened in the past week for the Denver Broncos.  First, and most notably, Andrew Luck announced he would stay at Stanford for at least one more year.  This, to me, was big news for the Broncos because there had been so much speculation whether or not John Elway (Stanford alumnus) would try to trade up to the first pick in the draft to grab Luck.  Now that Luck is out of consideration it will be interesting to see what happens.  My guess is that both Carolina (pick #1) and Denver will try to move back in the draft in order to pick up additional picks.  I'm not sure whether or not this will happen, however, and there doesn't seem to be a consensus top pick so Denver might be stuck with the #2 pick (not that I mind.)  I'm hoping for either Nick Fairley or Da'Quan Bowers.

A day after Luck's announcement that he would remain at Stanford Jim Harbaugh announced he would leave Stanford to take the head coaching job in San Francisco.  Wow, as I'm writing this the Broncos have just announced John Fox as the new head coach!  I was about to waste a bunch of space on this blog saying why John Fox is the answer and Rick Dennison isn't.  Don't get me wrong, I like Rick Dennison and wouldn't mind to see him here as a coordinator but I still have memories of him being the special teams coach of Denver's average at best special teams units.  Although it may have been nice if Fox was coming off of a year off to recharge, I think he was the best option out there.  He doesn't need to be head coach/GM/master of everything.  He can concentrate on being the head coach and, hopefully, bring some good assistants with him.  He also has eight games of playoff experience, one Super Bowl appearance, and a history of turning around a losing franchise.  I don't blame him in the least for Carolina's 2-14 this record this season.  It seemed pretty clear the powers that be were happy with a losing season in order to get Andrew Luck.  OOPS!  The Silver Panther is now the Silver Bronco! Bring on the 2011 - 2012 season!

A couple weeks ago we decided to be nice and answer a quick telephone survey.  Big mistake.  Two nights ago they called again to tell us that we had been entered in a prize drawing and, here it comes, we won the prize!  They said they would have a delivery man in the area the next night and asked if he could drop off the prize and would we fill out a brief questionnaire.  Long story short we said OK and last night we were blessed to be visited by a VACUUM SALESMAN!!!  Yes, apparently there are still traveling vacuum salesmen out there.  Luckily Google had prepared us for the fact that we were in for a home demonstration of the Blue Max Air 2000!  While it was an impressive vacuum we had no intention of buying it and I think the guy got that impression because near the end of his demo he promptly packed up the vacuum, gave us our prizes (more on that later), and booked it out the door.  I even tried to lead him into giving us the price or the "I'll have to talk to my manager" and "my manager said I could take $500 off but now we're losing money" speeches but they never came.  Maybe the fact that baby girl bonked her head and started crying helped him out the door.  If that was the case, thank you baby girl, I love you!!!  I looked up the price and it is well over $3000!

Oh, the prizes turned out to be the same prizes I "won" when I bought my car.  $500 of free merchandise (you only have to pay the $500 in shipping!) and 3 day vacation where you have to sit through timeshare meetings 24-7.  Lesson learned.  This has been a public service announcement.

In case any of you have been on the edge of your seats waiting to see my beard pictures here you go.  Enjoy. Please no comments about my multiple chins, power alleys, or gray hair.  I blame it on global warming.

                                          DAY 1

                                          DAY 5

                                          DAY 10

                                          DAY 15

Fear the Beard

What an exciting time to be a fan of the Denver Broncos.  No, they aren't gearing up to play a playoff game this weekend but they did secure the #2 pick in the NFL draft and John Elway was just hired as the chief football executive.  I just listed to his press conference and it sure pumped me up.  Let's get the next season started already!  Don't get me wrong, I'm not expecting the Broncos to move from worst to first but hopefully they will start moving in the right direction.  They kept Xanders as GM which I'm not 100% on board with but Elway sure threw McD under the bus for all the dumb personnel moves.  Maybe Xanders isn't to blame for losing Cutler, Hillis, Marshall, etc. but I have my doubts.

Speaking of the draft, I've seen mock drafts (yes I'm already scouting out mock drafts) and a lot of them show Denver picking LSU cornerback Patrick Peterson.  I don't know what to think about that.  Denver's defense could have had Champ and Darrelle Revis as corners and it wouldn't matter when there is no pressure on the QB.  I'm still thinking we need to bolster the defensive line and get a solid pass rusher.  If, however, we could swing a trade for Albert Haynesworth and getting back a healthy Dumervil, now a stud cornerback is starting to sound better.  It will be interesting to see what happens but the news that Carolina will absolutely take Andrew Luck with the first pick is good because we don't have to worry about drafting another QB in the first round and letting the top defensive players go to other teams.

I'm also interested to see who the Broncos get for a head coach.  I'm still on board with talking to Marty Schottenheimer (yes that same Marty that the Broncos always beat but also that Marty with a 61% winning percentage) but I'm hearing Jim Fassel, Mike Mularkey, and Jim Harbaugh's names being thrown around.  Fassel and Mularkey surprise me a bit because those guys are both offensive guys and we've been there and done that.  Same for Harbaugh but he's the hot name right now although college coaches never seem to succeed in the NFL.  Oh and San Francisco, PLEASE hire McD because I'd love to see him trade Crabtree, Gore, and Willis and ruin that franchise.

About a week ago I decided that I want to see what I look like with a beard.  Actually, I'm really interested to see if it comes in brown or grey.  Angie has been taking pictures of me every day so I can see the progress (or lack thereof.)  Pictures will be posted soon...stay tuned!

How things change when you get older and even more so when you have a kid (or kids.)  As everyone knows last Friday was New Year's Eve.  It never used to be hard to stay up until midnight to watch the ball drop and, most times, the party was just getting started.  As you grow older you find yourself having to drink a lot of caffeine or play games to trick your mind/body into staying up late.  Some of us (ahem *Dad* ahem) even resort to napping from 10 until 11:55.  This past week I didn't even make it to New York's celebration.  I should say that Angie and I have been trying to fight off a nasty hybrid cold that baby girl brought home from day care, although she seems to be doing fine thank you (and amoxicillin) very much, but we couldn't make it until 10.  What's the big deal anyway?  There will be another one in 360 days.

I've talked to many friends that recommend "The King's Speech."  Go see it.

I've heard from a few people that "Little Fockers" is filthy and not appropriate for kids/early teens despite the PG-13 rating.  I say wait for DVD and after the kids are in bed.

Little girl got "Despicable Me" for Christmas and she LOVES it.  As soon as she gets home from day care (heck as soon as she wakes up in the morning) she starts saying "Meat! Meat!" which means "Me" which means "Despicable Me."  I wish they had a version that looped the movie non-stop so we didn't have to keep messing with the remote control to start it over.  That being said I like the movie too and recommend it for kids and adults. 

My Mom is retiring this week so she can prepare for her move to Senegal.  Congrats Mom but we're sure going to miss you guys.