Mile High Monday: The Broncos would’ve been great on “Hard Knocks”

The Denver Broncos are on vacation. The NFL is taking a break as we are a month away from the start of training camp and preseason football.

It’s also vacation time for me, as I’ll be off the air until July 21. I’m going to jump in my Shelby Mustang to see the country.

I like hitting the road on vacation. I enjoy driving, traveling and seeing new places – or seeing familiar places once again!

I also like contemplating life and sports when driving around with the top down on my old Jeep TJ! The following is a result of those trips during the week.

Buckle up, let’s take a ride through my thoughts.

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Give It Back!

This past week was historic for NCAA athletes. On Thursday, college athletes were officially granted rights to profit off their names, images and likenesses. For years, college players could not profit from autographs, jersey sales, video games or anything else featuring their NIL. That all changed with a Supreme Court decision which changed all that.

Reggie Bush was one of the most-exciting college football players of all-time, winning the Heisman Trophy in 2005. Bush surrendered his Heisman Trophy after a four-year extra-benefits investigation determined that he and family members, while he was at USC, accepted cash, travel expenses and a home in the San Diego area where Bush’s parents lived rent-free. In addition, Bush had a 10-year ban from being involved with USC (which ended in 2020).

With the change in NIL laws, many college football fans were demanding that Bush gets his Heisman Trophy returned to him. It just seems fair given how laws have changed, and it would be great to see the hardware return to the guy who worked hard to earn that trophy.

On Friday, the Heisman Trust released a statement about Bush.

“Bush’s 2005 season records remain vacated by the NCAA and, as a result, under the rule set forth by the Heisman Trust and stated on the Heisman Ballot, he is not eligible to be awarded the 2005 Heisman Memorial Trophy,” the trust said. “Should the NCAA reinstate Bush’s 2005 status, the Heisman Trust looks forward to welcoming him back to the Heisman family.”

This means to get the trophy back; the NCAA must first reinstate Bush’s season.

Give Reggie Bush his Heisman backhttps://t.co/aVypqiq7AL

— Pro Football Network (@PFN365) July 3, 2021

Watching Bush in college was a pure joy. I hope the changes in NIL laws will help all college student-athletes to make some money as they continue to pursue their dreams – in or out of the sports world. Now that we’re in a new era, I’d like to see Bush get his Heisman back.

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Why Not Us?

The fans in the NFL love watching “Hard Knocks” every year. It’s a behind-the-scenes view into an NFL team during training camp, and that “fly-on-the-wall” approach gives fans a great insight into the rigors of making it – or staying – in the NFL. This week, it was revealed the Dallas Cowboys are going to be featured on the HBO Max series this summer.

Dallas will become the first team to be featured for the third time on “Hard Knocks,” last appearing under former head coach Wade Phillips ahead of the 2008 season. There are plenty of storylines to follow with this team like the return of quarterback Dak Prescott from injury. I’m sure superstar running back Ezekiel Elliott will be featured as well as their never-camera-shy owner Jerry Jones. The first episode is scheduled to air Tuesday, August 10 at 10:00 p.m. ET.

We got the Cowboys this year on @hbomax

Give us your dream pick ⏬ pic.twitter.com/BQfLb3TJMd

— B/R Gridiron (@brgridiron) July 3, 2021

Instead of the Cowboys for the third time, why couldn’t we get the Broncos featured?

It could take some time before we see “Hard Knocks” come to Denver. The team’s ownership situation, which is so complicated I get a headache from thinking about it, is perhaps part of the reason why we don’t see this happening. I’m sure head coach Vic Fangio wouldn’t want to have the distraction of HBO camera crews running around training camp as he’s an “old school” coach who needs to win now. However, it’s those two things (among others) that would make the Broncos so interesting in the docu-series!

The Broncos are more intriguing to me than the Cowboys, and they’d still bring the national attention as they are still a marquee franchise – despite their recent struggles. Featuring a quarterback competition would be interesting and getting Aaron Rodgers would be a monumental feat that would be fun to see on “Hard Knocks.”

Looking into the machinations of the Fangio defense, featuring superstar Von Miller as the elder statesman would be awesome as well. Add in personalities like Courtland Sutton, Shelby Harris and a rookie gut like Quinn Meinerz would capture NFL fan’s attention.

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The Final Countdown

We are celebrating the holiday weekend, but football is always on our mind. Football fans get a lull in the action in the month of July. The NFL only has 17 games in the regular season, and the postseason takes about a month. That means between September and January, NFL fans get their fix. The offseason is now part of the NFL calendar where they dominate with things like the Scouting Combine in February, NFL free agency in March and the NFL Draft in April. Add in rookie minicamp, OTAs and mandatory minicamp in June and you can see how the NFL stays in the headlines all year long.

I saw an interesting tweet that highlights just how close we are to the regular season. Don’t blink or you’ll miss out on this calm before the storm that is the NFL. Before long, fantasy football drafts will be happening and fans will be getting excited to get back to the stadium – or training camp practices!

Happy 4th of July! 🇺🇸

Friendly reminder that we’re 10 Sunday’s away from a full slate of NFL games. 🙌 pic.twitter.com/Iz1UuX3GuZ

— NFL Update (@MySportsUpdate) July 4, 2021

The 10 Sundays are going to go by quickly. It’s vacation time now, but that all goes by quickly during the hot days of summer. Before you know it, training camps around the NFL will kick off and we are about a month away from the “Hall of Fame” game. Once that hits, the preseason is right around the corner and that means the regular season is soon to follow.

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Back to the Theater

I love going to the movies. During the COVID-19 pandemic, many theaters were closed, and many went out of business. When doors opened back up, the general public has been hesitant to get back into theaters. I did end up going to see “New Mutants” in theater last year, and I felt safe with their policies and cleaning procedures. It was weird, it was different – the movie was bad – but it felt good to get back.

With attendance ramping up in the last month or so, I’m expecting things to feel more normal when “Black Widow” hits theaters on Thursday. I will be there, popcorn, milk duds and bottle of water in hand to see the latest film from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. We haven’t seen Marvel superheroes on screen since “Avengers: Endgame” because the highest-grossing movie of all time back in 2019.

It will be great to enjoy the MCU in the theater once again. I love the Black Widow character and can’t wait to see this film which was delayed due to the pandemic. I know most of what’s going to happen, but I’m still excited to see how things unfold on the big screen. I have a nice home theater set up, but there is nothing that beats the theater experience for blockbusters like MCU movies.

❤️ this tweet to be the first to experience Marvel Studios' #BlackWidow on July 9! pic.twitter.com/trgWvpDvtP

— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) June 29, 2021

Will you be going back to the theater to see “Black Widow” this week? Hit me up on social media and let me know!

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