Though I don't post as often as in the past, I am keeping up with my tradition of the top 10 Colorado sports moments in the past year:
Ten:
Rockies 3 in 1: The Rockies had an awful season, with a worst ever 103 losses. Still 3 events deserve mention - April 6th: Rockies 1 Washington 0. Only the 11th 1-0 score in Coors Field history and first time in a home opener. Colorado native Kyle Freeland pitches a gem in front of the home town crowd, and another Colorado native, the Rockies Pierce Johnson, got the save with a 1-2-3 ninth. Also deserving mention is the the Rockies season opening win over the favored Padres in San Diego. The Rockies had 17 hits AND 17 strikeouts from their hitters, an unusual feat that hadn't been done from a team since 1900. CJ Cron led the way with 2 home runs and 5 rbi. And finally the first Rocky to win MVP of the MLB All Srar game! Catcher Elias Diaz earned the honor with a 2 run pinch hit homer in the 8th inning to give the National League a 3-2 win.
Nine:
January 15th: Nuggets 119 Orlando 116. Nikola Jokic hits a 3 pointer in the last 3 seconds to defeat the Magic. See the replay here:
Eight:
Colorado Women's Basketball 2 in 1: Nov 6th CU Women's Basketball team beats defending NCAA champion LSU Colorado 92, LSU 78 to open their season. Also deserving mention is the team's CU 61 Duke 53 victory in the NCAA tournament earlier in the year. The 6th seeded CU women upset 3rd seeded Duke on the Blue Devil's home court to make it to the Sweet 16 . It was CU's first appearance in the Sweet 16 since 2003.
Seven:
Feb 3rd: The Broncos name Sean Peyton as their new head coach. Peyton brought a long record of success as coach of the New Orleans Saints to the Mile High City. First season results were mixed with a lot of drama (Russell Wilson benched) at the end of the year.
Six:
May 11th: Nuggets 125 Suns 100. The Nuggets close out the Suns with a dominant victory on Phoenix's home court to win the series 4 games to 2. The Nuggets get to the Western Conference finals for the 4th time in franchise history.
Five:
May 22nd: Nuggets 113 Lakers 111. The Nuggets sweep the Lakers! All the games in the series were close. In this one the Lakers had a 15 point lead at half time. The Nuggets stormed back to take the lead after 3 quarters, and hit some clutch shots at the end to hold on. After losing 7 series to the Lakers in their history, it was great to finally beat the mighty Lakers! Jokic had an amazing 3 pointer in the final minutes:
Four:
Oct 29th Broncos 24 Kansas City 9 Broncos break a 16 game losing streak to the Chiefs with a big home win over the defending Super Bowl champs. This was the high point of the season for the Broncos.
Three:
May 18th: Nuggets 108 Lakers 103. After trailing for most of 3 quarters, the Nuggets stormed back in the 4th, thanks to Jamal Murray's 21 points that quarter, to beat the Lakers. The Nuggets went up 2 game to 0 in the series with the Lakers after this win. Veteran Denver sportcaster Vic Lombardi rated this game as one of his top 5 Denver sports moments ever: https://twitter.com/VicLombardi/status/1659547553313218560?s=20
Two:
Sept 2nd CU Buffs 45 TCU 42. CU beats last year's runnerup on the road in a stunning victory. What a way to start the Coach Prime era! Though the Buffs later struggled in the season to finish with 4 wins, 8 losses this victory was the talk of College Football that week. Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders:
🏈38-of-47
🏈School record 510 passing yards
🏈4 TDs
🏈0 INTs
CB/WR Travis Hunter vs TCU:
* 11 Catches
* 119 Yards
* 1 INT
* 3 Tackles
One:
Nuggets beat Miami Heat 94-89 in game 5 to win the NBA title! It was a long wait (47 years) but the Nuggets finally won a championship! Nikola Jokic became the first player in history to lead the NBA in points (600), rebounds (269) and assists (190) in a single postseason. He won the Bill Russell trophy as the NBA Finals MVP
