Another beautiful morning here in Beaver Creek! We start today with our first shot at the famous Holden Cabin right on the Beaver Creek Golf Course. Becky is our first model of the day and our first western theme. Shepler’s Western Wear provided us some really beautiful cowboys boots and hats for this year’s calendar shoot that are perfect for quite a few of our locations. We loaded up the cars for the quick drive from Bachelor’s Gulch to Beaver Creek (just around the corner), unload our staff and equipment and get started. We have a 9 a.m. deadline to finish before the first round of golfers make their way to hole 14, right where we are shooting at Holden Cabin. Becky is stunning and in incredible shape. Her job requires it as the Director of Fitness for a local fitness company and a Broncos Cheerleader. I love the setting of her photo and the way that it captures the feel of Beaver Creek.
Next up on the schedule was Tristan, one of our rookies. Anderson Cabin, right around the corner from the Ritz Carlton Bachelor Gulch, was the setting for her photo. For Tristan, we decided on a snow shot and borrowed some really cool white furry Tecnica boots to complete her outfit. Right in the middle of her photo shoot, a huge storm rolled in and fast! We barely had time to get the equipment covered and Tristan covered before everything was soaked. 15 minutes later, it was clear and sunny!
Our next location was a little further up the mountain at the famous Trapper’s Lodge. This lodge is so cool! It is right on the ski run and during the winter, guests are shuttled up the mountain on the snow cats with their luggage. You can even hire a personal chef to cook for you all week while you ski and enjoy the scenery. We had originally scheduled to shoot 2 cheerleaders at the Lodge, but the weather would not hold up. Kara, another rookie to the team, enjoyed the stormy weather in the hot tub at Trapper’s Lodge until another major rain cloud rolled in and we headed down to find an indoor location for Lindsey.
The Ritz Carlton has several Penthouses on the top floors of the hotel that are privately owned. The management of the Penthouses was kind enough to let us shoot Lindsey inside and we were able to stay on scheduled despite the weather! Again, I can’t say enough how accommodating the Ritz Carlton staff has been for our hectic week in Beaver Creek. Really incredible!
Our last shot of the day was Toni. We had been rained out the day before and were hoping for a beautiful sunset after a day of rain and sure enough, we got it! There is a beautiful lookout spot just up the road from the hotel and it was an amazing Broncos Sunset. So many Broncos fans stopped by to watch the shoot along with a few fans of other teams that we converted to the orange and blue.
More to come tomorrow!
Muchas grazias amigas!
I still bleed Leopard though….
I-CHEE-WAH WAH!! OUCH!!
LORD HAVE MERCY…..HUBBA HUBBA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
We do have some fine looking cheerleaders on this squad!
BFE, whats up man?
I am ready for some FOOTBALL baby!!!!
Hey strand,whats up bro!
I heard that buddy.I’m way past ready for some football!!!
We are just about there bro.
More pics to come tomorrow, cool.
Lmao, good thing this is a mainly male blog cuz yall walking some fine lines lol. (everyone however is very welcome. male and female alike. young and old)
Only 07Elway (Ashley) can I think off that was a female and she doesn’t come round much often anymore. I hope our “manliness” isn’t too overpowering lol.
Another day, another plathera of beautiful cheerleaders, which is a very welcome distraction from me from the never progressive CBA talks … A guy can only hope this ends soon (like friday). They are running out of time. TRB out…
I can’t wait til my son gets next years calender!!!
I started the whole thing but at least I was subtle about it.
And we have had at least a handful of female bloggers here, not just 07. You only remember 07 because she is so opiniated, and there is nothing bad about being opiniated at all as I can personally attest, haha.
Can I get just the Leopard version calendar? LOL.
I got a dandy here for BFE and TRB, among many others, who have a male crush on Moreno while everyone here knows I have been calling him a bust for a long time, this is what Woody is saying about him in his mailbag:
What I do know — from someone who worked closely with Josh and is someone I trust to tell me the truth — is that after the draft, McDaniels and the staff believed privately they made a big mistake on Moreno. He was not what they thought. He hasn’t been tough, smart or motivated. He has been a bust. I’ve said it before. He’s not a great clubhouse guy. Interpret that how you want, and he’s been a wimp on the field.
Woody and I go hand in hand at times, smart man, LOL.
And you pro Moreno guys don’t need to bring me the we are going back to the zone running scheme it will help Moreno argument, as Woody further explains:
John Fox is bringing back the zone blocking, and Moreno is not a one-cut back who will go against the grain, or, at least, he hasn’t been, and he doesn’t get into the secondary fast. They need another running back bad, and Fox, in our three-hour conversation last week, said running back is the priority.
And this is about Orton and Tebow. This guy Travis asks Woody the following:
Why is everybody so hard on Kyle Orton ? Last year, before he had a couple of bad games and got injured, he was right at the top of the league with Phillip Rivers.
Woody’s answer:
Orton had a couple of bad games last year? What planet were you living on? The Broncos were 3-10 with Orton starting at quarterback. That’s the truth. McDaniels, right or wrong, said a quarterback should be judged on record, third downs and red zone. Orton failed in all three areas, as McDaniels was trying to point out.
(By the way, McDaniels never liked Orton as his quarterback, no matter what you may hear or read. The Bears never liked Orton as their quarterback, no matter what you may hear or read.)
How many playoff games has Orton played in? None, last time I checked. When he started as a rookie, the Bears pulled him right before they got to the playoffs. Duh. Then he didn’t play a lick the next season. Then, after his final year in Chicago, they wanted to get rid of him, and gave up everything but the Lake to the Broncos for Cutler.
But Woody then goes on trying to clarify some of his comments about Fox wanting a gamer and not a good practice player as the starter in their last interview, as if Woody got an earful from someone about it:
After my meeting with Fox in his office, I came away, honestly, not knowing if Orton or Tebow will be the starter. After I wrote that he wanted a “gamer” more than a “practice player,” a lot of people assumed he was referring to Tebow. They don’t know what he meant, because I sat in the room for three hours and didn’t. There are things he likes about both Orton and Tebow, and things he dislikes. He wants to see them in practices and exhibitions before making a decision.
Here’s exactly what he told me: “If I had seen them in 20 OTAs (offseason sessions and minicamps), I could tell you what I think. But I haven’t seen any of them (including Brady Quinn) throw a ball here.”
Here’s exactly what I think, based on my questions to him and my recent conversation with Elway, and everything I know: If the lockout isn’t settled before the regular season starts, Orton will be the starter. Fox told me he must be a quarterback who can get away quick from under center. Tebow is still perfecting that art since he has run the shotgun his entire life.
Fox wants somebody who knows the system. Orton knows the system inside and out. Orton is a very good practice player, and he looked good in exhibitions last year. The Broncos threw about 60 percent of the time last year. Fox will throw about 45 percent of the time, so Orton can hand the ball off. A lot of the players like and respect Orton. He can’t get any worse than he was last year. So there’s the Orton argument.
If the league gets the CBA settled, Tebow and Quinn, based on what I got from Fox, will get a fair chance. Fox doesn’t have any carryover with any of them. He has studied tapes until he couldn’t stand it. He wants to see them on the field.
“I’ve been told a lot about all of three, but I need to see for myself,” Fox said.
I think if Tebow, who has said he has spent the entire offseason working on snaps from under center, has made progress there, and does know the system inside and out (he has his brother call out plays every day, and Tebow has to respond with alignments, defenses, reads, etc.), and he can throw the ball a bit more accurately on the 12- to 15-yard patterns, and he does play extremely well in the exhibitions, he’ll get the start, and Orton will be traded.
Because Orton will not accept being the backup here — just won’t happen — he would be traded. Tebow, on the other hand, would accept being the backup for another year. He has no choice. But Orton, as a backup, would be a negative force around the team.
People in Denver want a fresh start, with a coach, the team and the quarterback. And, as has been pointed out by me and everybody else, the Broncos need to find out if Tebow can play. What’s the difference between 4-12 and 8-8 if Orton is starting? Nothing. Same old, same old. But with Tebow, at 8-8 and the Broncos moving up, there would be hope for the people.
I’d say Orton has the slight edge right now and will have the big edge if the lockout doesn’t end until right before the season. Tebow will have a chance to take over if the Broncos get almost a full training camp and their exhibitions in.
But, again, Fox isn’t telling, and I think it’s because he doesn’t know for sure. I kept pestering him, saying, “but inside your mind, don’t you really, really, kind of know who?”
He said: “Deep down, I have an idea.”
You figure that one out. I couldn’t.
Sure sounds to me that Woody got scolded for that one, Fox may not be just a nice guy after all, he can get peed off like anyone else, LOL.
Woody is on a roll and offers us some unbelievable figures:
When the NFL’s veteran free-agent signing period is underway, abruptly and briefly, John Fox will experience a fresh concept.
The Broncos will sign a few free agents.
During the coach’s final two years as the lame-Fox coach of the Panthers, the franchise signed exactly zero new, high-profile, unrestricted free agents.
“I am aware of that,” Fox said grimly when I brought up the rather astounding, ignominious absence of activity by Carolina.
In comparison, from 2009-10, the Broncos signed 29 veteran free agents. Only nine remain. Josh McDaniels lured three veteran linemen — ends Justin Bannan and Jarvis Green and nose tackle Jamal Williams — to start in the Broncos’ restructured 3-4 defense. Green was cut prior to the season. Bannan and Williams have been released this offseason. The Broncos are back to the 4-3.
And here comes the most unbelievable figure of them all:
Since the advent of unrestricted free agency in 1993, the Broncos have signed 106 players, the mile-highest number in the entire league. Patrick Smyth, the Broncos’ director of media relations, confirmed the total and the dubious achievement. (!!!!!!!!! WOW)
“I wasn’t keeping up much with the Broncos, but I’d heard that number,” Fox told me.
No telling how many hundreds of millions (a billion?) in bonuses and guaranteed salary the Broncos paid to those free agents in that 17-year span.
And Woody is still pulling notes from his two and a half hour interview with Fox:
“We have our complete lists of rankings of four-, five- and six-year free agents, depending on what happens, and we know who we would like to go after,” Fox said. “I want to rebuild this team through the draft, though. You pick your spots (in free agents), fill in places of need. They don’t have to be high- priced talent. There are players on our lists who are quality veterans and can help us win, and they don’t have to cost a ton of money.
“You want your homegrown players who you can teach, coach and mold to fit into your system and haven’t developed bad habits.”
The extravagant spending on free agents during the Mike Shanahan and the McDaniels reigns is over. The EFX triumvirate won’t be a compulsive shopper.
Don’t think about cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha at $18 million a year.
And that means you can also forget about guys who want the kind of money Mebane does, just saying.
And this is for all the guys who scolded me, the broncoguy from Va, TRB and sndvl when they told us to stick it about our disdain of McD since their opinion of him was he was going to bring us back to the top with absolutely no doubt in their minds, we were just too obtuse and vilains to see it:
Last season, after the Broncos beat the Chiefs for one of Denver’s rare wins since starting the 2009 season 6-0, Kansas City coach Todd Haley’s post-game handshake with former Broncos coach Josh McDaniels was replaced with a pointed index finger.
Chiefs punter Dustin Colquitt, appearing on the Vic & Gary show on 102.3 the Fan in Denver, offered an eye-opening explanation for the maneuver.
Haley, per Colquitt, thought McDaniels was cheating.
“I don’t know if I can answer that within the locker room, but I know that it has something to do with the Spygate, the videotaping,” Colquitt said. “All the stuff like that. And I think that Haley was like, ‘Listen, based on that game I can tell what you are doing, and you are cheating.’ . . .
“I think it was just a culmination of rumors and [McDaniels] had been involved in that in New England possibly before, and so Todd was just kind of saying, ‘Look, with the game plan we had and what you guys already knew we were gonna do, this is’ . . . basically saying it was ‘bush, bush league.’”
Sometimes it feels good to give some their money back, haha.
Anyway, we don’t have to worry about any of that negative aura McD put on the Broncos any longer with Fox at the helm. Those were our darkest days no doubt, the McD error.
Yeah..the Raiders were cheating too when they spanked us like little school girls. LOL!
In my opinion if Moreno doesn’t show vast improvment over the length of his contract, he could end up being just another average back in the NFL.
Speaking like a true ex-McD fan, haha.
Bay, I think you’ve got a man crush on Woody. LOL Seriously, he’s not one of the most well respected sports writers in the nation but he’s entertaining, I’ll give him that. He’s such a likeable personality it probably gets him in some doors that are hard to open. My opinion based on that sports show he participates in on espn and articles posted here.
Elway has been a champion at the QB position and he should be selecting our starting QB. He’s knows what it takes to be the best. Fox picked Jake Delhome as his starter in Carolina, based on that I say he’ll pick Brady Quinn. LOL
Moreno reminds me of Tatum Bell without the long runs. Tatum never really looked commited to the task at hand and neither does Moreno. We need a TD kind of guy in the backfield. I’ve got a feeling Fox is going after his Carolina boy in free agency. Like Bay, I’d much rather be looking towards Atlanta to fix that position. Less mileage on that body and been around for a while and has seen a lot.
More girls, glad my wife is at work. Eyeballing some sweet looking girls in bathing suits is a nice way to start the day.
Jason Snelling.
Looks like Woody was ready to unload the dumptruck this morning lol !!
You have to admit though, he’s hit the nail on the ahead once again, or should I say Woody & bay….lol. (We know you guys go together like peas and carrots bay)… lol.
Moreno is walking on thin ice, as he was not drafted by the triumvirate, with the excception of X man. It’s definitely a make or break year, but we know what we’ve seen, and it just isn’t there as an everydown back. Moreno’s only hope is to make it as a 3rd down specialist, as was previously noted. Wow- even McD realized he made a mistake…lol.
Woody’s now confirmed what we felt all along with those first three picks from 2009… (Moreno, Ayers & Quinn). I held out for Moreno thinking maybe his 2nd year would be better, but have to admit after his repeat performance of not being available two years in a row was very coincidental. (start of season). Ayers is now the only one I have hope for, that he may contribute.
Moreno was the only one to hold out of I remember correctly and it’s obvious he has not earned his keep.
Not sure what the terms and length of contract for KM. (4 or 5 yr deal), but if we can dump it, it may be the best option at this point, or once we get another RB.
Curious to find out how Lendale White’s recovery is coming along.
Let’s get this CBA done so we can get back to football !!
I’m missing football so much right now, I’ve actually started up playing Madden again.
Yea Brian…
I’ve been waiting for a LONG time for the new Madden to come out! Do not know if you’ve seen them or not, but there are several videos out of the Broncos playing the Panthers in Madden 12 and they are amazing!!