Last season, Pacheco’s .309 batting average was the second highest in all of baseball among rookies with at least 475 regular season at-bats. The only guy ahead of him? American League MVP candidate Mike Trout. Yet despite not even playing in the same league as Trout, Pacheco was not even a finalist for National League Rookie of the Year.

When spring training rolled around in 2013, the most hotly contested position for the Colorado Rockies was third base. Would the starter be former first-round pick Chris Nelson or would young hotshot Nolan Arenado force the club to give him the nod to start the season? Pacheco, who led the club with 301 at-bats playing third base in 2012 and was the superior fielder to Nelson, was not even in the conversation.

Meanwhile, the ongoing question within the organization is what to do to replace veteran first baseman Todd Helton, who is almost certainly playing in his final season with the Rockies. Even though Pacheco has gotten the lion’s share of starts at first base in Helton’s absence this season, people point to Michael Cuddyer and Tyler Colvin as the “more permanent solutions.”

Pacheco crushed a grand slam home run off of San Francisco Giants’ stud pitcher Madison Bumgarner last night to break a 5-5 tie and propel the Rockies to a much-needed 10-9 win over their arch rivals. It was the hit that turned the game definitively in favor of the Rockies, at a time when the club could not afford to lose. Pacheco will almost certainly not get the start tonight even on the heels of that performance.

The crux of the argument against Pacheco being in Colorado’s everyday lineup is a distinct lack of a secondary offensive tool. While versatile defensively, the 27-year-old player possesses neither exceptional power nor speed. My question is simple: So what?

What Pacheco does possess is a ridiculous contact rate, which is far, far more valuable. Don’t believe me? Ask Marco Scutaro, the second baseman that Colorado traded to San Francisco last season, who went on to win NLCS MVP en route to a World Series title. Scutaro has made a career of making contact, without power or speed to back it up. The only difference is that Scutaro plays in the middle infield, while Pacheco’s ideal spots are in the corner infield spots (although he’s also capable of playing catcher and second base).

Which leads to the other half of the anti-Pacheco sentiment: Positional bias. It has been long believed in Major League Baseball that power is a significant qualification for playing a corner infield spot. What most people don’t understand is the logic behind that thinking. To sum up that thought process; because first and third base require the least amount range defensively, it’s easy to hide poor defenders with big bats at those two positions.

What that theory doesn’t take into account is a team that rosters a shortstop, catcher and left fielder that all have the capability to jack 30 home runs in any given season. If that team is also carrying a second baseman and two more outfielders capable of slugging 20 homers a piece, the need for power out of both corner infield spots is diminished significantly.

The Rockies have all of those things. Furthermore, all of the characteristics listed above have been used ad nauseum to defend the club’s undying allegiance to Todd Helton at first base, despite the fact that Helton has not topped 20 home runs in a season for the better part of a decade.

But if you really need to see a secondary offensive tool to believe in Pacheco, how about this: In addition to possessing an incredible contact rate, he’s clutch. Maybe the most clutch player on the Rockies.

Last season, Jordan Pacheco hit .325 with runners in scoring position. He hit .313 in the seventh inning or later. He hit a freaking grand slam in a tie game last night when his team was floundering.

One of Colorado’s biggest issues this season has been the inability to trot out an everyday lineup on a regular basis. The number of times they have sent out the same lineup two days in a row this season you can probably count on one hand. Part of this problem is due to Todd Helton’s inability to be an everyday player at this stage of his career. That is unacceptable when the player behind him on the depth chart hits for a better average, hits better in crunch time, is not a drop-off defensively and can play every day.

It’s no longer good enough to claim that Pacheco gives the Rockies “versatility” and “roster flexibility.” He deserves a chance to be an everyday player in a season that isn’t already a lost cause.

It’s time that Jordan Pacheco finally caught a break.

For more Rockies news, CLICK HERE

On Thursday night, Colorado’s Gabriel Landeskog and the Swedish national team beat the Avs’ Matt Duchene and Ryan O’Reilly. After a scoreless first period, Canada took a 1-0 lead with a goal from Steven Stamkos in the second. Canada held the lead until back-to-back goals put Sweden at 2-1. Those two goals were quickly answered by Claude Giroux for Canada. During the 10-minute 4-on-4 overtime the two teams remained tied.

A shootout commenced and Sweden outscored Canada 2-1 in the fourth round. Duchene announced via Twitter on Thursday his disappointment in the loss.

“Last nights loss still stings but I feel blessed to have had another chance to wear the Red & White. Thank you @HockeyCanada #1stclass,” said Duchene.

Landeskog and the Swedish national team look to face-off against Finland on Saturday in the semifinals.

Team USA, which boasts four Colorado Avalanche, silenced Russia in an 8-3 win on Thursday. Avs’ center and U.S. captain Paul Stastny had four points total for the home team. Stastny finished the game with a plus-4 rating and won 76.47 percent (13-of-17) of his face-offs in 19:31 of ice time.

Avs goaltender  Semyon Varlamov replaced goalie Ilya Bryzgalov last in the second period for Russia. In the final 21:48 Varlamov made seven saves on 11 shots on goal for Russia. Unfortunately for Varlamov, his efforts weren’t enough to pull off a win against team USA.

Colorado’s Stastny, Erik Johnson, Aaron Palushaj along with the rest of team USA will face-off against Switzerland on Saturday in the semifinals.

For more Avs news, CLICK HERE.

Next season has begun to look brighter and brighter for the team, however, as four-star prospect Jyaz Jones has verbally committed to CSU, according to The Coloradoan.

The 6-foot safety out of South Oak Cliff High School in Dallas has been ranked by 247 Sports as a four-star prospect. With an overall score of 90 out of 110, he is placed in the top 300 players in the country for 2014.

He is listed as a three-star on Scout.com and a two-star on Rivals.com. Jones also received offers from Nebraska, Baylor, Iowa, Texas Tech and New Mexico State, but chose the Rams in the end.

For more college sports news, CLICK HERE.

The changes to Manning’s contract include an insurance clause which is protection in case Manning is not able to play in 2014. The contracted was submitted to the NFL with the revised language on Thursday.

Under Manning’s previous contract, his $20 million in salaries became guaranteed in the upcoming season and 2014, although, 2014 could be voided if Manning suffered a neck injury in 2013. The new contract now states that any serious injury Manning suffers in 2013 can lead to the void of his contract for the 2014 season.

Manning will earn a guaranteed $40 million over the next two seasons. In 2012 and his first season in the Mile High City, Manning had no reported health issues. Manning, 37, passed a physical after last season.

For more Broncos news, CLICK HERE.

Rumors: Uncle Toddley’s home run last night, in spite of what the commentators said, barely got out, landing in the second row. If it wasn’t down the line it’s another warning track out. Todd’s power is much like my driver in golf; I now crush the ball about 80 yards short of where my normal drives used to land. Arenado and Rosario’s dingers would have been out anywhere; Helton’s was out right there. Helton has warning track power at this point in his career drives in the alleys are long outs.

Anecdotes: No one told me about Nolan Arenado’s ability do play defense. The guy looks like a gold glover at the hot corner. He has great poise, and always makes the right play. Third base was a mess prior to his arrival and now it looks like a ten year solution to third base.

Yarns: I’m so glad to hear the appropriately named Dick Monfort can do something; he’s a scratch shuffleboard player. At least that’s what I learned in a riveting interview on Root Sports broadcast last night while they were shilling a segment for selling terrible seats behind the right field wall.

Film Review:

Kiss of the Damned

7 Stars out of 10

Fans of grind house cinema will love the raw sixties/seventies grind house look of Kiss of the Damned. Director Xan Cassavetes (daughter of the famed Indy director John Cassavetes) has crafted a gritty vampire film with some very sensual or sexual if you like scenes, but captivating nonetheless, there is plenty of blood and lust to go around.

This film is instant camp and will develop a cult following and be a midnight classic for years to come. If you’re a fan of vampire films it’s a must see, for the average filmgoer it’s a bit mundane. I actually enjoyed the film, but it does have a limited audience.

Kiss of the Damned opens today in an exclusive run at Landmark’s Mayan theater on Broadway.

By all accounts, the visit went fine, but Woodson left Denver without a signed deal in place. And that couldn’t be better news for John Elway and the Broncos.

Ever since the Mike Shanahan era, Denver has had this nasty habit of signing old safeties who are well past their prime. Rather than working to get younger at the position they have tried to patch pieces together and hope the secondary would hold up just well enough for the Broncos to be successful.

The same approach occurred under the Josh McDaniels regime. McDaniels ignored the need for youth on the defensive side of the ball (specifically the secondary), used high draft picks on offensive weapons and hoped to get solid production from veteran free agents on defense.

When John Fox took over as head coach, he and John Elway addressed positions that had given the Broncos trouble in recent years. They started using high draft picks on impact defensive players and took aim at getting younger at many of the skill positions.

Part of Elway’s brilliance as executive vice president of football operations has been finding the right veterans to plug in where production has taken a slight hit. The pursuit of Woodson would break that standard; it would turn Elway into a man grasping at straws in hopes of walking away with a championship.

The Broncos history of chasing veteran defensive backs can be traced back to one man: Peyton Manning.

After Manning dismantled the Broncos in the 2004 playoffs, Shanahan knew he was going to have to revamp his secondary. While his biggest move was to trade his star running back, Clinton Portis, for Champ Bailey, the signing of free agent safety John Lynch was seen as equally important.

Lynch arguably had one standout season as a Bronco and helped the team get to the AFC Championship Game in 2005. After that year, however, his production began to decline and he became a shadow of the man who helped lead the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a Super Bowl title.

His 2005 season resulted in four sacks, two interceptions and four forced fumbles. During the next two seasons, Lynch would total one sack, two forced fumbles and no interceptions. He left the Broncos during training camp of the 2008 season and retired. Although he made the Pro Bowl in each of his four seasons with the Broncos, his numbers suggested that he was nowhere near the player he was in Tampa Bay.

When McDaniels came aboard, he also noticed a weakness at the safety position. A seven-time Pro Bowler happened to be on the free agent market and McDaniels chased him. Rather than building the position through the draft, McDaniels hoped that Brian Dawkins would be a quick fix.

Although Dawkins was a great vocal leader on the field, it was clear his best days were behind him. In his three years with the Broncos, he totaled three interceptions and four forced fumbles.

In 2006, Dawkins picked off four passes and forced five fumbles while playing with the Eagles. When he sat out the end of the 2011 season with a neck injury, what was missed most about Dawkins was his ability to line up the defense and put the players on the field in a position to succeed. But time had taken a toll on his on-field play and the Broncos didn’t miss a step with him gone in 2012.

When Elway took over, he didn’t like what he saw at the safety position. Dawkins was getting older and there wasn’t anyone who could even play next to him. In his first draft, Elway made a point of taking two safeties: Rahim Moore and Quinton Carter. Carter proved to be more ready in their rookie season and was given more playing time than “The Dream.”

But in 2012 something happened to Moore. He very quietly became the most improved player on defense. His tackling total doubled from the previous season and more often than not, he found himself in the right position to make plays. His contributions wouldn’t make for a great highlight reel, but he was doing the job he hired to do.

And then the AFC Divisional Playoff against the Ravens came. In what will go down as one of the most heartbreaking moments in Broncos history, Moore took a horrible angle on a deep ball from Joe Flacco to Jacoby Jones. Jones scored a touchdown with seconds remaining to tie the game and send it to overtime, and we all know how that ended.

Since that day, Moore has taken most of the blame for that loss. Forget about the two deep long touchdowns that Bailey gave up to Torrey Smith. Ignore the overly conservative play calling in the fourth quarter. And don’t think about the two Peyton Manning interceptions in that game. To most, they never happened.

The most important aspect of that game’s aftermath was Moore’s ability to stand in the locker room and field questions, owning up to his mistake. That is a gaffe that Woodson would not make. But as a young player, he also probably learned the hard way.

Without Moore’s blunder in the playoff game, the safety position is of no concern for the Broncos. The desire for an upgrade stems entirely from one play that was made in the final game of the season.

Signing Woodson would once again affirm Denver’s commitment to winning a Super Bowl in the upcoming season. But looking back at the history of veteran defensive backs on this team, it may not provide the spark that most are hoping for.

Rather than looking to a veteran seeking one last shot at a title, maybe the Broncos should lean toward a younger, hungrier player with something to prove.

For more Broncos news, CLICK HERE

#Rockies haved recalled INF DJ LeMahieu & RHP Rob Scahill from AAA. Both will be dressed and active for tonight’s game… (more)

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) May 16, 2013

… The club also placed LHP Jeff Francis on the 15-day DL w/a left groin strain. They have also designated INF Reid Brignac for assignment.

— Colorado Rockies (@Rockies) May 16, 2013

The move comes only a day after he hit his first home run for the Rockies during their 8-3 loss against the Chicago Cubs. Brignac hit .250 in 53 plate appearances for the Rockies and spelled just about every infield starter at some point in 29 games, even playing two innings in left field at one point.

DJ LeMahieu has been called up by the team to replace Brignac, and will be available against the San Francisco Giants on Thursday night.

For more Rockies news, CLICK HERE.

One way they’re acknowledging their season ticket holders is by displaying all of their names on the glass. ‘The Current’, as they’re calling it, will run around the glass above the dasher boards and feature the name of every season ticket holder. Every fan that buys a season ticket prior to June 29 will be featured on the glass for the 2013-2014 season.

“Our fans are the essence of the experience we offer here in Denver. The Current is our way of saying thank you and recognizing all of you for your outstanding support,” Cutthroats President Ben Rifkin said.

Fans are also being invited to an open house hosted by the team on June 15 at the Denver Collusium from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., where fans can pick seats out for next season.

For more Colorado sports news, CLICK HERE.

In particular, four candidates seem to be coming up more than others when the Avs coaching search is being brought up:

Dave Tippett: Tippett isn’t actually out of a job at the moment, but his contract with the Phoenix Coyotes will be up soon and there will probably be quite a few teams looking at him, the Avalanche included. Fans would probably not be enamored with the hockey that the Avs would play under Tippett, with his preferred style being a very defensive ‘trap’, but he has taken the Coyotes to contention over the past few years and even won the Jack Adams award over Sacco in 2009.

Patrick Roy: Colorado’s legendary former goalie reportedly turned down an offer to become head coach of the Avs in 2009 before they hired Sacco, but things have changed and his name has been whispered for the vacant job again. His coaching record is good with the Quebec Remparts, with a winning record and a playoff appearance all seven seasons there. The one thing going against Roy is that his experience only comes from the major junior level and Sakic hinted that he preferred a coach with NHL experience.

Lindy Ruff: When Buffalo fired Ruff about halfway through the 2013 NHL season, they cut one of the longest coach-to-team relationships in the sport. Ruff was going into his 16th season as Sabres head coach, a rein that featured plenty of ups and downs. Ruff’s career has been filled with disappointment though, losing the only Stanley Cup finals he made with the Sabres and failing to win a playoff series since 2007 after winning the President’s Trophy and the Jack Adams award the year before. The Avs might not be a good fit for him either, with a history of mediocre defensive coaching and bad puck possession being red flags. Those were already problems for the team under Sacco. Still, he is one of the hottest names on the coaching market simply because of his experience and a record of taking good teams to good places.

Guy Boucher: After leading the Lightning to a Conference Finals appearance his first season, Boucher had two mediocre years before being fired in 2013. Boucher would be an attractive candidate if the Avs are looking for someone who is young like Sacco, but still has enough experience as a head coach to not need a few years getting his feet wet. A few pundits had accused Tampa’s veterans of playing their own game instead of Boucher’s game last season, and a young team could be just the thing for him to mold into his own image.

For more Avalanche news, CLICK HERE.

Sure, the Dodgers are still in the basement, the Rockies have regressed a bit, the Diamondbacks have picked things up and the World Champs are back on top. Colorado will get a chance to chip away at those leads this week, facing both teams ahead of them with a four-game set against the Giants coming first.

It’s by no means a commanding lead for San Fran at the top, sitting only a half-game ahead of the D-Backs with a 23-17 record. That stands as tied for the smallest division lead in baseball — Detroit currently leads Cleveland by the same amount in the AL Central. It could be argued that they are leading mostly because of their weak division as well, as they haven’t quite looked as good as they did in 2012.

San Francisco’s slight regression from last season has likely been due to a bit of a dip in their pitching form. Their batting average of .269 last year has stayed just about the same this year, but their pitching staff’s collective ERA has bubbled up from 3.68 to 3.87, which is actually worse than Colorado’s collective ERA at this point in the season. Some familiar names on the team have been at the forefront — Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum are both nursing ERAs over 4.00, and Ryan Vogelsong has been awful with a 1-4 record and 8.06 ERA. (Naturally, he’s the only Giants starter that the Rockies won’t see during the four-game series.)

Of course, San Francisco’s slightly dipped form didn’t stop them from sweeping the Rockies in their first series of the year. Colorado was in two of the three games of that series — the other being a trademark Jeff Francis meltdown — but being unable to finish against the Giants has been a recurring problem for the team every year since 2009. Even at Coors Field, it hasn’t been the best baseball to watch.

To win against the Giants this time around, the Rockies need to start hitting better, something they have failed at as of late. Colorado’s rise to the top of the West was built on possibly the best offense in baseball, bolstered by decent pitching. The pitching has continued to be decent, but the Rockies have only scored 29 runs in their last 10 games. That’s a problem that will likely go away on its own as the team gets back into a groove, but with seven divisional games coming up, it’s a problem that they’ll need to home goes away on its own sooner rather than later.

Matt Cain (2-2, 5.04 ERA) vs. Jhoulys Chacin (3-2, 2.70 ERA)
A rare Ace vs. Ace game, with the Rockies ace surprisingly being the one with the better stats on the year this time around. (Though, there’s an argument to be made that Bumgarner is quickly becoming the team’s real ace.) Cain’s form has been getting better of late after a very slow start to the season, but he has been shaky and the Rockies will need to take advantage. Being at Coors won’t hurt, since Cain has given up 10 homers this season in his eight starts. Chacin has only thrown one bad game all season — the five-run affair against the Rays that finally knocked his ERA above 2.00 — but was pulled after five innings last time out after giving up eight hits and three walks.

Madison Bumgarner (4-1, 2.18 ERA) vs. Jorge De La Rosa (4-3, 2.98 ERA)
If Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum have been the downer stories on the Giants pitching staff, Bumgarner has been the story bringing sunshine to the faces of Giants fans everywhere. His strikeout stuff has been magnificent this season, with two 10+ strikeout games already this season and only one appearance where he has given out fewer than five K’s. He has allowed more than two earned runs only once, when the Phillies knocked him for five runs on May 5. Jorge De La Rosa has been a success story as well, hurling several gems this season as he returns from injury.

Tim Lincecum (3-2, 4.07 ERA) vs. Juan Nicasio (3-1, 5.13 ERA)
Juan Nicasio has been proof positive that pitching wins can often be a very misleading statistic. Despite having three wins on his record, Nicasio has struggled through the season with some very mediocre performances. Plus, his fastball continues to get opposing batters out, but he has struggled with his breaking stuff and has had very high pitch counts as a result. It’s been a struggle for him to escape the fifth inning, getting six innings in only twice this season. Lincecum’s slow regression has continued into 2013, with another string of bad performances. He’s still striking people out, but he also leads the Giants in walks (23) and has allowed over eight hits and a home run every nine innings he has pitched.

Barry Zito (3-2, 3.40 ERA) vs. Jeff Francis (2-3, 6.00 ERA)
Zito has always had some manner of magic about him when facing the Rockies — he threw seven shutout innings in his first game against the Rockies, but he probably won’t need to do a whole lot with Jeff Francis as his opposition. Francis, meanwhile, continued his Rockies career by throwing a very good game against the Cubs, but it seems an impossibility that he’s going to stave off a DFA for much longer. His last time against the Giants, he allowed seven hits and four runs in only one and two-thirds innings.

Game To Watch: Game 2, Bumgarner vs. De La Rosa

Game To Skip: Game 4, Zito vs. Francis

For more Rockies news, CLICK HERE.

“In 2009, I went and watched some fights in my hometown, in Riverton, Wyoming. It was the first time they’d ever come to town and there was one girl fight on the card. I asked the promoter afterwards how I could get into this. He kind of looked at me funny, because I was a girly girl back then. I had long hair and makeup, and he said, ‘Why would a pretty girl like you want to do this?’ I said I just wanted to try it and he put me on the next card.”

While Mixed Martial Arts – MMA – burst onto the sports scene in the mid-2000s, it wasn’t until much more recently that the head of the UFC (Ultimate Fighting Championships, the sport’s pinnacle) Dana White began to accept and even embrace women’s participation in the sport he rules. With prodding from promoters/pioneers like Shannon Knapp and Janet Martin, today fighters like Ronda Rousey and Broomfield’s Cat Zingano are big-time draws on television.

For her part, Skinner had the high school grades and athletic talent to earn an opportunity to play college basketball at the South Dakota School of Mines. Having already been introduced to MMA fighting before she left Riverton, she had plans to play basketball, pursue her degree AND a championship belt. Fighting had become just as important to her as basketball, if not more so. So while she worked out with her basketball team, she also continued chasing her next chance to get into the ring. Her basketball coaches weren’t crazy about the idea, but had little choice but to accept it.

“I just wanted the adrenalin rush and to be able to prove some people wrong,” said Skinner, who had “come out” years earlier and never made a secret of her sexual orientation. That didn’t go over all that well in rural Wyoming. “I am openly out about myself and in a small conservative town like that, it’s not okay. So I had a bunch of people who would say things that need not be said and try to fight me on the street because I was small. So I wanted to prove it on the stage that I was not someone to be messed with.”

Skinner won her first amateur fight in a unanimous decision, and earned her nickname “The Scrapper” in the process.

“Until the cage door locks and the first punch is thrown, I can’t explain to anyone the feeling. It’s the most exhilarating feeling, but it’s the scariest feeling in the world knowing that you have to fight until it’s over and you aren’t getting out until it’s done.”

Skinner turned pro while still a student at SDSM.

During a basketball trip to Hawaii, a freak accident resulted in a severe injury to her partner and led to Skinner leaving school after two years and moving to Colorado as the couple embarked on rehab. Skinner continued to fight and eventually found a coach and a gym.

“I went 0-3 in my firsts three pro fights because I didn’t train,” Skinner recalled. “When I moved down here, I met girls who took it seriously and trained hard. I got a new coach, I took two years off from fighting just so I could train and get to the level I should be at.”

She won her next fight.

Skinner’s fourth professional fight was to have taken place in mid-April in Louisville, Kentucky. But her opponent, Angelica Chavez, suffered a concussion in training and the bout was postponed. It’s now scheduled to happen in September.

“I have to go out and prove myself against ranked opponents, and Angelic is a name that is well known in the MMA world,” said Skinner, who is working to earn a spot in the UFC. “I need to go out and beat a ranked opponent like her and make myself noticeable.”

If real life would ever stop interfering, that is.

As part of the move to Denver, Skinner had to find a job, since fighting could not yet pay the bills. She sought a job where she could “help people” and the salvage and restoration business provided the right opportunity. She could work in the daytime and still pursue her fighting dreams by training at night.

“I’ve gone into a lot of houses (that have been flooded) and people are crying, they’re scared, they don’t know what’s going to happen because this is not something that happens every day. To be able to help that person while I’m physically challenge myself is very rewarding.”

The recent flooding in the Midwest could have provided another roadblock had her upcoming bout not already been reschedule for September. Disaster relief is what Skinner and her co-workers specialize in, and they got a chance to prove it. Skinner’s company was called in to help the devastated region around Naperville, Illinois. When the call came, she put her fight training on hold (sort of), packed her bags and literally waded into an area others were fleeing. When she arrived, Skinner experienced a level of destruction she hadn’t seen before.

“A lot of the houses we walked into, their entire basement had been flooded and some of them were flooded on the main level. These are the homes that had to have the boats come by and evacuate them. You have a lot of people that just cry when you show up because they see you are bringing a dumpster on site and you have to throw a lot of their things away. People work a lifetime to have a house. To have these people watch you throw away their things is really hard.

“One of the last homes I did, this family (was) crying the whole time, and by the time we were done, they all gave me a hug and they all thanked me. When we were driving back, I got a call from them thanking me again and telling me how thankful they are that there were people like us in the world to help because they had no idea what to do.”

Skinner says it was an experience she will never forget.

“I’ve seen a lot of water damage and I’ve seen some real bad ones,” She acknowledged, “But seeing what I saw there, contents just swirled around, refrigerators in the basement. All these streets with no cars on them, everything just washed out, cars washed away, I couldn’t ever imagine something like that happening.”

Now that she’s back home, Skinner has tried to turn her full attention to her September fight with Chavez. Currently, while she trains and works, Skinner also teaches kickboxing fitness classes several times a week at the Title Boxing Club locations in Arvada and Thornton. Classes are sandwiched in between her job and workouts with her coach. She’s probably busier than most of those she’s competing against, but that’s the way she wants it right now.

Skinner vows to be ready to swing a different kind of hammer in September, and beyond.

For more sports news, CLICK HERE

A 3-0 start is what the Outlaws are looking for as they look for redemption for their 2012 loss in the MLL championship game against the Chesapeake BayHawks.

The Outlaws have outscored their opponents 48-34 in the 2013 season and are one of two undefeated teams in MLL after three games.

Their home opener will be played Saturday against the Rochester Rattlers. Their much anticipated rematch against the BayHawks comes June 15 in Annapolis.

For more Colorado sports news, CLICK HERE.

Most experts didn’t cite the defensive line as an area of immediate need, instead noting the linebacking crew and safeties as possible upgrade situations. In fact, the Broncos allowed the second fewest yards-per-rush last season.

However that didn’t stop John Elway and the front office from picking DT Sylvester Williams with the 28th pick in the first round of the draft this past April.

Coming out of North Carolina, the big lineman was highly regarded for his wide-body and ability to suck up blockers, in addition to his ferocious tackling ability. In an interesting note, his NFL.com draft profile has his “NFL Comparison” listed as none other than Terrance Knighton, the man he will likely be battling with for playing time.

If last weekend’s rookie mini-camp is any indication, he’s already on defensive coordinator Jack Del Rio’s good side.

According to DenverBroncos.com, the DC has been impressed with Williams’ attitude and production so far on the field. “Sylvester is a big guy — has some quickness, very serious and very determined in his approach,” Del Rio said. “That is a pretty good way to begin — come in here humble, but definitely ready to work and kind of man-up and do his job. That part has been very impressive.”

Del Rio knows the rookie has some good competition for playing time. But that isn’t necessarily a negative, as it will give the team options in different sub packages as well as hopefully keeping everyone fresh, energized, and healthy.

“Terrance Knighton can play and ‘Big Vick’can play. So, he has to come in and earn and fight for his time, much like Derek did last year with [DE Robert] Ayers and [DE] Jason Hunter,” Del Rio said. “You never know how it’s going to play out, but when you come in with that mentality and that approach, that gives you a chance. That is what I like about the way he’s started here, that he’s come in here very determined, very serious, very mature, very much about his business. That is good for all of us.”

For more Broncos news, CLICK HERE.

The four-week re-design is now complete and has been receiving mostly positive reviews.

“The Moby court design is the coolest around,” head women’s basketball coach Ryun Williams said. “The improvements made will surely help in recruiting, as well as game and practice play.”

After shaving the wood down 1/32nd of an inch to repaint it, some new designs were added to the home court of Colorado State’s squads. These include:

-Adding CSU’s colors to the Mountain West logo, as opposed to the classic purple and grey.
-“Colorado State” is now painted on each baseline, replacing the word “Rams”.
-“Rams” is now painted in gold next to the scorer’s table.
-The center logo is now the classic green and white colors of the university, as opposed to using the natural wood color as it previously had.

Known as one of the best home court advantages in the conference, the three teams that call the arena home went a combined 39-9 in the 2012-2013 season.

The first game on the new court will take place on Aug. 30 when CSU volleyball takes on Baylor in their home opener.

For more college sports news, CLICK HERE.

It wouldn’t matter.

In class, around the gym, at restaurants and at the 2012 Olympic Games, Coburn isn’t rushed like a Justin Bieber concert for an autograph like Regis Jesuit and Olympic teen Missy Franklin is. She isn’t pressed to re-tell the story of one of her amazing feats like Cherry Creek’s most famous asthmatic and current national radio host, Olympian Amy Van Dyken is. And no, she does not have the magazine covers or high profiled personal life that Vail Olympic skier Lindsey Vonn has.

Instead, the thing that makes the recent University of Colorado graduate and her running mates stand out is simple — at least to the people closest to her.

“Well,” CU track and field coach Mark Wetmore said before pausing, “they are generally skinnier I suppose.”

Luckily, for Coburn, flying under the radar fits her personality perfectly.

“That’s the nice thing. I can just walk around and people don’t recognize me,” said Coburn, who took ninth in women’s steeplechase in London and most recently won the Pac-12 steeplechase championship on Saturday. “I mean people are nice to me even if they don’t know about the Olympics or any of that, so I don’t feel like I need to validate it.”

Growing up in the old coal mining town of Crested Butte and its population of nearly 1,500 people, Coburn, a one-of-a-kind athlete, never worried about stardom. And despite winning state titles in the 2A classification in the 800 in track and field, she spread her time between running, basketball, volleyball and even hockey until she was 14 and couldn’t compete with the size of her 14-year-old-boy teammates.

“I did track from April to May. That was when I focused on it,” she said. “I liked it, but I liked all the sports I did.”

It wasn’t until her junior track season when Coburn blindly picked what would become one of her greatest successes in life.

It was three days before her high school team was headed to Albuquerque, N.M. to race in an invitational that Coburn decided she wanted to try an event she’d never done before.

What she ended up on was an event she’d never heard of.

“I saw steeplechase listed on the event list there and asked my dad what it was. So the next day I went down to Western (State) to see the track coach to just see what I was getting myself into,” Coburn said. “I did a practice lap and left there still thinking ‘Wait, what do I do? What is this?’”

Women’s steeplechase is a 2 kilometer race in high school and a 3K event in college. Through the five high school laps or seven college laps the runner must jump hurdles and long jump water pits throughout to get to the finish line.

And on Coburn’s first try, she qualified for high school nationals.

“I was ahead of the pack at that race in Albuquerque, so I had no idea what I was doing. I had no one to follow. But I told myself to just jump this, and hurdle that, and keep going,” she said. “Luckily they had signs of how many laps I had left, and I had people screaming from the sideline what I should do too.”

It was her start to becoming one of the best in the world at it.

Over the next year, Coburn slowly fell in love with the event and was offered a scholarship by CU during the spring of her senior year.

“We liked that she was respectable in the steeplechase coming in,” Wetmore said. “I mean better than respectful, actually, and in an event most high schoolers have never seen or heard of.”

By that time, Coburn had turned her focus completely to running, looking to her high school sweetheart and fellow CU runner Joe Bosshard for inspiration to get better at her craft.

“He kind of got me to take running really serious,” she said of her five-year, long-distance runner boyfriend. “He encouraged me and was always there supporting me. I think that helped me love it even more.”

And after 70-mile weeks over and over, Coburn quickly became one of the fastest American in the steeplechase and qualified for the 2012 Olympic Games in the process.

It was hard to think, people had to convince her that she was good enough to run for CU.

“I thought ‘Wow, this is crazy’,” Coburn said. “I mean it happened so fast. I still don’t believe it sometimes.”

At the Games, in front of thousands of screaming fans, she looked across the start line and realized she was among some of the greatest athletes in the world. In her semifinals heat she placed third, and was the top-finishing American at ninth overall in the finals with a time of 9:23.54.

“She was pretty fantastic. You never know how an athlete is going to take deal with their emotions on that stage,” said Wetmore, who traveled with Coburn to London.”You get there and on the one hand you are there to run in a big rubber oval. On the other though, it is over three years of hype and media and all that. You want your runner to see it as the former so they don’t get oppressed by the rest of it. But with security and credentials and traveling, it can be hard. But Emma does what she always does.”

Coburn treats every race like a pro.

“It’s always business-like on this CU team,” said Coburn, who tried to stay focus while having lunch around the U.S.A basketball team at the Games. “We usually know what place we can come in before the race. But the one at the Olympics was a little different. It is still a little unbelievable to think about it.”

But when she returned to Colorado, most still don’t know her by name or face. And this past week, Coburn graduated with her track team on the road in a hotel in California, and now has turned her focus to competing in various track meets around the nation.

And she said she isn’t done yet.

In fact, when asked why she does it and will continue to do so, why she puts her body through all of the miles and pain for little recognition, she struggles to answer. But when Coburn looks down at the side of her right foot where she got the Olympic rings tattooed, she smiles before putting on her socks and track shoes.

“I’m just ready for what’s next,” she said.

Maybe another feat for her other foot.

Player File
Name: Emma Coburn
Team: University of Colorado women’s track and field
Position: Middle-distance runner
Height: 5-8
Weight: 119 pounds

Favorite Movie?
Do You Believe in Miracles?

Favorite Food?
Coco Puffs

Favorite Music?
Whatever is on the radio

Favorite saying?
“Fortune favors the brave” – Virgil

To see the Player of the Week from May 8, CLICK HERE.

For more Player of the Week winners, check back every Wednesday.

Although he was not a full-time employee of the team, McLean spent the last two seasons working with both Jean-Sebastian Giguere and Semyon Varlamov.

A former goalie, McLean spent 15 years in the NHL playing for New Jersey, Vancouver, Carolina, Florida and the New York Rangers.

The move comes following the firing of head coach Joe Sacco and the ascension of Joe Sakic as the executive vice-president of hockey operations. Josh Kroenke has also taken over as team president.

The Avalanche finished with the second-worst record in the NHL, but won the draft lottery which will give them the No. 1 overall pick in June’s entry draft. They are expected to take defenseman Seth Jones.

For more Avalanche news, CLICK HERE.