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In an email sent to season-ticket holders earlier this week, owner Dick Monfort lamented that the Rockies did not meet the “high” expectations he had for his team this season.
To which the Grading the Week staff responded: High expectations?!?!?
Dick Monfort — D
It says something about the insular nature of the Rockies franchise that its owner came into this year expecting something better than fourth place in the NL West.
No doubt some of that optimism was rooted in the signing of free agent Kris Bryant to a seven-year, $182 million deal.
Unfortunately, general manager Bill Schmidt’s “aircraft carrier” stayed moored to the bench for all but 42 games due to multiple injuries, and the starting pitching staff that was supposed to be a team strength was instead among the worst in the National League.
Not that too many people outside of the offices at 20th and Blake were all that surprised.
The Rockies’ World Series odds back in March were a tidy 200-to-1. And there wasn’t a sportsbook in the country that had the Rockies’ win total higher than 75. In fact, oddsmakers in Colorado set the over-under win total between 68.5 and 69.5.
About the only dopes hammering the over were the ones throwing paper airplanes inside the Grading the Week offices. (Yes, we pegged the Rockies at 82 wins.)
Instead, the Rockies finished last in the NL West with 68 wins — proving yet again that Vegas knows what it’s doing — and missed the playoffs for the fourth consecutive year.
You’ll be happy to know Monfort declared the latter fact “unacceptable” in his letter to fans — then promptly dismissed hitting coach Dave Magadan a few days later.
So, problem solved.
Altitude PR campaign — C-
To butcher a quote from one of the more playful villains in the Christmas classic “Die Hard,” it appears the folks over at Altitude TV have themselves an R.V.
Yes, in the seemingly eternal struggle between the Kroenke-owned regional sports network and Comcast, Altitude TV has deployed a roving billboard to shame the cable giant into submission. And just like the LAPD armored vehicle that abruptly burst into flames at the base of Nakatomi Plaza, we suspect it will be a catastrophic waste of resources.
It’s not that we think Comcast should be free of criticism.
Their argument against carrying the network that broadcasts Nuggets, Avalanche, Rapids and Mammoth games across the Front Range — essentially, that it’s unfair to ask subscribers who don’t watch Altitude TV to pay its monthly fee — doesn’t hold much water in our estimation.
There are plenty of channels with exorbitant fees the Grading the Week staff doesn’t watch that we pay for each month. (For the sake of our inbox, we will not name them.) Adding Altitude’s monthly fee into the equation isn’t about to bring Comcast’s Colorado business to its knees.
Of course, neither will a billboard truck being driven around the Front Range.
NFL sack rule — F
The NFL finally went ahead and did it: It is now against any rule to sack Tom Brady.
Listen, we here inside the Grading the Week offices are all for player safety. Head injuries are a serious issue in football, and the league should do everything in its power to minimize its impact on short- and long-term player health.
But unless the NFL wants to replace all of those helmets and pads with a strip of flags, there’s a limit to what can be done before you’ve placed an unfair burden on defensive players. Once you start asking them to delicately place quarterbacks on the ground and kiss them on the forehead, you have exceeded that limit.
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