I thought about entitling this entry “The Prodigal Blogger,” but a Monday morning Google search revealed “about 12,100″ listings for that exact phrase. Not terribly original, I suppose. But then again, neither is that headline. Either way, the proposed title and the one I actually used are the blogging equivalent of “It was a dark and stormy night” …

… But anyway, it’s good to be back in blogdom, even though we’ve had the ongoing position previews on the main site, so I’ve been a busy pup lately. Dove Valley, however, remains a fairly quiet place; for the veterans, offseason workouts have concluded, leaving the field to the rookies in the days before camp …

… Head Coach Mike Shanahan will be in-studio on the NFL Network’s Total Access at 5 p.m. MDT on Tuesday. The show re-airs at 8 and 11 p.m. later in the night. He will also hold a press conference on Saturday, from which we’ll have video and a report …

… A shoutout and a good luck to J. Michael Moore, whose byline you might have seen on DenverBroncos.com the last two years. As I write, he’s en route to Atlanta to work on the Falcons’ Web site and to soon join the growing ranks of NFL team-site bloggers. Anyone who puts up with sitting by me in the press box deserves a trophy, because I am a realist (which, to some, is a euphemism for “pessimist”). Thanks for tolerating my blatherings the last two years, bud …

… OK, football part is over, so if you’re only here for the Broncos and hard-news stuff, you can click past the rest. If you don’t mind an odd tangent, then press on, dear reader:

I often find that I work faster when I listen to one song repeatedly, vowing not to change tracks until the task is complete — whether it’s an entire article, a series of paragraphs below a sub-headline, a collection of images or a blog entry. I also find that pumping the aural equivalent of a chutney squishee into my ears helps spur me to finish so I can move on to some other song — any other song, which leads to more lousy music in my ears.

So with deadlines starting to loom as camp nears, I’ve been listening to some horrendous music while toiling at pieces for the site and Broncos Magazine today. To wit:

Knock Three Times, Tony Orlando & Dawn: I have satellite radio to blame for this, since they played it on the radio a few days back when I scooted away from the stadium after a series of pre-training camp meetings and confabs.

The early ’70s … the Middle Ages of pop music.

Tie a Yellow Ribbon ‘Round the Ole’ Oak Tree, Tony Orlando & Dawn: When two minutes and 57 seconds of Tony torture just isn’t enough.

Say You’ll Be There, The Spice Girls: I reckon all that Beckham stuff has had some kind of subliminal effect on me. But forget the hubbub, bub. It’s just filler for a gridiron-less stretch that will end this weekend. To me, he’s still the guy that pulled an idiot move in a ’98 World Cup round of 16 game got tossed for kicking an Argentine, dooming England to defeat.

(Keep Feeling) Fascination, The Human League: Okay, I actually like this song, even though the video underscores how androgyny was the rage in early ’80s synthpop. Is lead singer Philip Oakey actually using rouge? You be the judge.

Spanish Flea, Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass: Mostly because of my man Homer and his oblivious sing-along.

Down Under, Men at Work: This isn’t so much a lousy song as much as it’s a decent slice of 80s kitsch that has been stuck in my head since attending the Rockies-Brewers game at Miller Park on July 13, a game that is part of the Brewers’ “Retro Fridays” series where they commemorate the ’82 American League championship team. The Brewers wear replicas of their ’82 uniforms (although with belts and buttons, not the pullovers and elastic of the day), hand out bobbleheads of players from that team (this was Ted Simmons Night) and, most importantly for the sounds being jammed into my ears today, play music from 1982, treating the audience to liberal doses of the Human League, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Thomas Dolby and, of course, the afore-mentioned Australian group. Disappointingly, I don’t recall hearing A Flock of Seagulls.

Perhaps never before has a team and a town so passionately celebrated a team that did not win the whole thing. But at least they have something worth commemorating … which is more than can be said for the Nationals/Expos, Rangers, Mariners, Rockies and Devil Rays. And the game-night bratwursts — both from the parking-lot tailgate and the concession stand down the third-base side — were heavenly.

OK, bedtime. Good night, and as Casey Kasem would say, “Keep your feet on the ground and keep reaching for the stars.” There’s other things he could say — particularly about long-distance dedications coming after up-tempo songs — but this is still a family blog.

That’s it … vaya con Dios, everyone.

Tags: Mike Shanahan, Self-Indulgence, Training Camp

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 24th, 2007 at 12:51 am and is filed under Archives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.