SF Chronicle - Colorado’s best no sweat for Sharks

When I run across articles such as this one, it sucks that I live out in Denver. Why? When I write about the article, everyone thinks I’m biased toward the Avs. In fact, I would rather have seen my Nashville Predators win the Cup, because Avalanche fans don’t deserve it anymore although the TEAM deserves it.

The Avs are a great team and I cheer them on, but due to the people who call themselves “fans” surrounding me, I’d rather not lump myself in that particular category. Not MY friends, mind you. I’m talking about people here at the hospital or the faux intelligentsia who spark debate on talk radio or TV. When the playoffs started, the town was already talking about how the Avs would get swept and how they weren’t playing well. Then when they handed the Stars a sound series loss, Denver went Avalanche crazy again. Down 3-0 to the Sharks and it’s back to apathy. I’ve seen this behavior as an Atlanta Braves fan when people in ATL were so used to winning the pennant but losing in the finals that Turner Field wasn’t even sold out for the World Series. Anyway, I AM a supporter of the Avalanche but I’m not as passionate for them as I am for the Predators.

That being said let me get back to the article by Ray Ratto. Fans want their sportswriters and newscasters passionate, outspoken and arrogant. They must since that is the only explanation for the popularity of Jim Rome. I heard this same talk on the radio last year when the Avs were up 3-1 on the Minnesota Wild. The sportscasters were talking about who Colorado would face in the next round. Then they lost the series 3-4. The easy thing to do for the sportscaster is to make this prediction then say “I told you so” when they win or show disgust and anger at the team for not upholding the prediction when they lose. Credit is never given to the underdog for putting on their big-boy pants and going out and whooping some butt. Personally, I think it’s bad practice to declare that a series is over before the final game.

If the underdog can’t win, why play a post-season anyway? It’s not over until it’s over, kids and Ray Ratto may be indeed be right but there’s always hope.

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