Now closed; new publication launched

Enjoyed the run here in this space and the time to talk CU football, basketball and more. I thank the great courtesy given to me by those I interviewed, who helped set up interviews and you who checked in to read it.

The next project is the Warrior Sports News at warriorsportsnews.blogspot.com, where you will still be able to get the shakedown on the Buffs, but also on other state colleges, all the local professional teams and national hot topics.

It is my goal to make it a worthy read for you.

Thanks for the support and best wishes your way.

Mike

Sunday Truth

This is it, the finale. The last rodeo, the final dance. Check it all out at the end of this column.

What do you say we chuck all that junk for now and just ride.

Ready?

Let's roll.

Look at all those mock NFL draft sheets and see what ails Colorado -- no Buffs mentioned at the top of the lottery orgy. For CU to be someone again, it has to start either recruiting or developing top-tier talent. Nothing you haven't heard before but if one expects that high-level performance on the field on fall Saturday afternoons then consistent playmakers have to be wearing the black and gold. Right now, point blank, the Buffs are outclassed. Word here is six wins and a close call or two pulling an upset in 2007 and Dan Hawkins and the Band get a few more of those future NFL type big dogs in the next recruiting cycle. Really surprise, put up seven victories and look out -- could be one of the best classes in years and the harvest that puts CU over the top into a higher rent district.

Losing shining quarterback recruit Landry Jones this week hurt, especially since that neighborhood bully, OU, took him away but the Buffs will throw another line in the water now and if progress is made on offense, and if the offensive line can stay glued together the points will go up, and a talented QB might still be had.

Laugh this off if you will but Cody Hawkins being the coach's son and only a redshirt freshman is a whole lot different than him not being related to the boss when another signal caller is looking at Boulder as a possible home.

Ponderosa linebacker Jon Major would be a Ryan Miller-like get if he were to choose CU but Mullen's Bryce Givens could be just as big a recruit. The Buffs need size, talent and tenacity up front. Scoring one like Givens would go along way towards solidifying the offense. Getting a defensive wrecking ball like Major would equal less points each weekend the offense has to score.

The early run is Givens is not going to end up at CU but who knows what some winning might do as well as a master sales job. Major appears, by what little is out there, to be undecided.

Speaking of Miller, it says right here that if he is healthy this fall, he will prove smart enough, talented enough and forceful enough to force himself into the starting lineup no later than the third game of the season. Don't be shocked if he pulls the trick earlier.

How good he will be as a freshman is another question.

Mullen's Nolan Brewster is headed to Texas and gotta say, that hurts. He doesn't follow daddy to Minnesota, which would be highly understandable yet he goes to UT? Yeah, great program, great college town, difficult to say no on any level to coach Mack Brown and the Longhorns but that the Buffs lost him before the fall is a major disappointment. No excuses -- major disappointment, simply because he is an in-state top-shelf talent. Now that the truth has been put down on that loss it can also be said the CU scored in recruiting defensive backs in this last recruiting cycle so the Buffs should not be lacking.

Curtis Cunningham of Columbine is a menace on the defensive line and to this point, he is not having schools throwing themselves at him all naked, meaning he might just be the kind of sleeper that the Buffs like and should sell out to get, especially since he plays a premium position.

Them other guys

Isn't success supposed to come before the compliments?

Let's just see if Nebraska ends up top-10 in the country or better now after getting so much love for recent recruiting classes and for "tempo" of practices.

Honestly, if the Cornhuskers don't bust out big in 2007 with all that glittering talent and fantastic "tempo" then Senor (Bill) Callahan should be retrained for alternative employment.

Oklahoma has an admirable athletic department but what's really going on down in Norman these days? Can't they stay on the straight and narrow? If it's not non-no phone calls that happened on the watch of former basketball coach Kelvin Sampson it's the shady pay scheme at an auto dealership just for being pretty in an OU uniform for coach Bob Stoops. Guessing here that those two blemishes are just the ones that have been uncovered and there is likely more lurking beneath the surface. Promise you some in-the-dark cleanup has been going on for some time now in hopes that no more embarrassment comes to light.

The Backyard

A man of character can admit his shortcomings so how about giving credit to those at Colorado State for doing just that when they looked in the mirror and saw the truth -- they had become soft.

Losing bruising back Kyle Bell to injury last season was a big part of the Rams' inability to run the ball but being princesses up front certainly didn't help. If you are physical and competitive in the trenches a backup runner should still be grinding out yards. It didn't happen.

CSU gets credit for seeing itself for what it had become. Expect solid improvement in 2007.

Denver is extremely fortunate. Why? Terrell Davis was a sixth-round draft pick, Tom Nalen came in round 7 and now the Broncos have their sixth-round pick back after Dan "Retired in my head" Wilkinson decided not to report to the team from Miami after being shipped to the Mile High city. Denver has a far greater chance of getting help from that draft pick than from Wilkinson playing. Who knows what will happen but if the Broncos strike gold in that round, remember it all started with the Broncos getting snubbed.

The Rockies open their season on Monday at Coors Field against Cy Young award winner Brandon Webb and the Arizona Diamondbacks. Aaron Cook, who was shockingly good this spring, hits the hill for the home boys. These two franchises have thriving farm systems with great young talent and are also stocked at the major league level with young studs. Both, however, have a low tank in pitching. Webb is 7-4 lifetime against the Rockies while Cook is 3-3 against the Diamondbacks. Webb wins by keeping the ball down and if he is loose and dealing he is one tough hombre. Cook has to be up to the challenge and translate that spring mojo to the regular season.

Charley Rosen of FoxSports.com is one of the biggest basketball curmudgeons you'll find -- normally the type of guy I gravitate towards -- but he even makes me squirm. Check him out bagging the Nuggets, a band of lost souls if there ever was such a thing. One of my favorites from Rosen was this gem concerning Carmelo Anthony and Allen Iverson.

"In other words, they each simply did their own thing. Like toddlers in the same crib engaging in parallel play."

Said it here last night and Rosen backed it up -- Denver doesn't pass the ball well enough, consistently enough and defense is treated like taxes -- they want no part of it. Because of both those issues, the Nuggets, well, they stink. And they are an expensive stench.

Final Gun

Florida and Ohio State in the NCAA championship game, again. Are these two schools living the life or what? Football, basketball, ping pong, you name it, they're probably doing it. Thad Matta has done an excellent job recruiting and coaching and if Greg Oden shocks everyone and comes back, the Buckeyes are going to be fearsome next season. Monday night, however, belongs to the Gators, who are bigger, better offensively, and tougher to crack on defense. Billy Donovan gets richer by the day. He's going to cost UF a mint but in the end the Gators will pay it and keep him from Kentucky and its' sense of entitlement.

Someone who could also make himself a lot of money come Monday is Al Horford of Florida. Already a lock to go high in the draft, a big performance against man-child Oden and Horford will shove his way towards the very top of the talent market come June.

Oden returning to Columbus would be fun to see but if he doesn't bolt for the NBA, it would be puzzling as he is a lock we hear, despite protests here, to be the top pick. How much more marketable can you get? Take the money, kid, before re-injuring your wrist, blowing out a knee or whatever other potholes could come your way. You put in your time, as mandated by the NBA, in the junior league. Get paid.

Meanwhile, most likely to check out of CU early for the NBA draft is, speculation only, Xavier Silas. Now, I didn't say it was going to be next season. If the Buffs get coached up, then in two years, after his junior campaign, Silas could be the guy with the $, $$$, $$$ in his eyes the most from the current roster.

O.K., amigos, this is it -- the final of 308 posts for this blog. Thank you for taking time to check it out and give it a read. The work I've done has constantly changed and now, I believe, it has pushed me in a different direction, down a new road, to something better.

Starting Monday, this is the place -- WarriorSportsNews.blogspot.com.

I will still passionately write on and provide interviews regarding the University of Colorado, the school I've followed since I was 1o-years old, but I'll be expanding the menu, as I have been here lately, with the intent of expanding the readership.

To all who have read or written to this space, I'm grateful. Greatly respect and appreciate your passion for the Buffs and allowing me a forum to stand on the bar and speak.

Best wishes,

Mike