Wednesday, December 31, 2025

My Top Ten Colorado Sports Moments 2025

 TEN:

December 21st:
Avalanche beat the Minnesota Wild 5-1. The Wild beat the Avs in a shootout in a prior meeting.  Minnesota had acquired star defenseman Quinn Hughes 9 days earlier to become a legitimate threat to the Avs in the Western Conference.  It didn't matter to the Avs as they dominated Minnesota on the Wild's home ice to get the win. The only mention of the Avs in my top 10. They had a disappointing first round loss to Dallas in the playoffs, but started the new season strong with an amazing 29 wins and only 2 regulation losses as of December 31st.

NINE

March 21st
CSU Basketball 78 Memphis 70

Colorado State's Men's Basketball team wins 11 in a row to claim the Mountain West Conference title and then defeats Memphis in the first round of the NCAA tournament.  It was an amazing run by CSU after their early season struggles (they lost to Colorado 72-55 in December and the Buffs were not good last  season). A heartbreaking lost to Maryland at the buzzer in round two of the NCAA tournament didn't take away from the great season the Rams had.

EIGHT:

May 23rd:
Rockies 3 Yankees 2  Before a sellout crowd at Coors Field the Rockies shock the Yankees with an improbable win.  The Yankees had won 4 straight going into the game, while the Rockies had lost 5 straight.  The Rockies with an 8 win 42 loss record going into the game was the worst start in modern major league history.  The Rockies were starting Tanner Gordon, too, just called up from the minors to start this game.  An improbable win for sure.

SEVEN:

August 1st:
Rockies 17 Pirates 16 The Rockies fall behind 9-0 in the first inning, trail all game until the winning walk off home run by Brendon Doyle.  DNVR says the Rockies were the first team in MLB history to:
- Give up 15+ runs in a game
- Give up 9+ runs in an inning
- Face a 9+ run deficit
...and still win the game
Watch the winning home run here:

Yes the Rockies were terrible in 2025 (with a franchise worst 119 losses) but two games stood out to give the fans something to cheer about.

SIX:

Dec 25th
Nuggets 142 Timberwolves 138 in Overtime Christmas night. Nikola Jokic had one of his best games in nba history with 56 points, 16 rebounds, and 15 assists. The nuggets trailed by 9 points in overtime yet came back to win.

FIVE:

April 26th
Nuggets beat Clippers 101 - 99 with an Aaron Gordon dunk at the buzzer.  Tieing their playoff series 2-2.  See the replay here:

FOUR:

May 5th:
Nuggets 121 Oklahoma City 119 - In one of the best finishes in Nuggets history Aaron Gordon sinks a 3 pointer with 2 seconds left to give Denver a come from behind victory over the #1 seed Thunder in the first game of their 7 game playoff series.  Watch the shot here:

THREE:

Oct 5 Broncos 21 Eagles 17
Broncos come back from 14 points down in the 4th quarter to beat the defending Super Bowl Champion Eagles 21-17.  The Broncos were 1 win 112 losses in their history when being behind 14 or more points in the 4th quarter before this game.  Biggest franchise win since Super Bowl 50

TWO:

Oct 19th Broncos 33 NY Giants 32
In one of the wildest Bronco home games ever, Denver scores 33 points in the 4th quarter to beat the Giants.  New  York had an 18 point lead with 6 minutes to play.  The Giants go ahead 32-30 with a minute 14 seconds to go, then the Broncos drove 56 yards with no timeouts to setup the game winning 39 yard field goal as time expired.
watch key 4th quarter plays here:

ONE:

Nov 16th
Broncos 22 KC Chiefs 19
Huge win for the Broncos to go to 9 wins 2 losses and send the Chiefs to a 5-5 record.  Close throughout.  Bo Nix leads a 4th quarter comeback for the Broncos to win as time runs out. Wil Lutz clutch in making 5 field goals including the game winner.  This victory was key in the Broncos winning the AFC West division for the first time since the 2015 season.

Friday, January 3, 2025

Top Colorado Sports Moments 2024

 Here's my annual list of the top Colorado Sports Moments for me in 2024:

TEN:

March 30th:

Rockies 9 Diamondbacks 4 - after being outscored 23-4 in the opening two games of the season at Arizona, not was expected of the Rockies in game 3.  Colorado surprised with a 9-4 win and some good performances by the team's young players (Tovar and Doyle had 2 run homers, Nolan Jones had a 2 run triple, Montero drew 3 walks)  I may rate this game higher than other year end reviews because I was there in person to watch this!


NINE:

January 23rd:

Todd Helton is elected to the Baseball Hall of Fame!  The second Rockie (after Larry Walker) to get this honor.  Todd played his whole career with the Rockies.


EIGHT:

March 22nd

Colorado 102 Florida 100 - Buffs beat Florida with KJ Simpson's basket with 6 seconds to go to advance:

https://x.com/SBS_CU/status/1771311130855546990?s=20

Longtime buff fan Tyler Ziskin @TZiskBuff wrote on twitter:

I think we just witnessed the best CU basketball game of all time. Dead serious.

SEVEN:

April 22nd:

Nuggets 101 Lakers 99.  After trailing by as much as 20 points the Nuggets beat the Lakers in game 2 of their playoff series with a Jamal Murray buzzer beater.  One of the biggest shots in Nuggets history. See Jamal's shot here:

https://twitter.com/nuggets/status/1782630073633296413?s=51&t=SmJYumy51iVHNXKiLmwjOA

SIX:

May 8th

Denver Nuggets Nikola Jokic is named NBA MVP for the 3rd time in 4 years.  Since the implementation of a media voting panel in 1980-81, only three players have finished top-two in MVP voting four consecutive years: Bird, Tim Duncan and now Jokic (source: Denver Post)  Watch this video narrated his wife:

https://x.com/BennettDurando/status/1788357559323165031

FIVE:

Sept 21st 

Buffs win 38-31 in overtime over Baylor in their in their first game in the big 12.  2 seconds to go, Buffs down 7, Buffs get a 45 yard touchdown pass to force overtime.  Then buffs win in overtime when Baylor fumbles going in for the tieing TD.  One of the most dramatic Buff wins in their long football history!

FOUR:

Sept 22nd 

Broncos 27 Tampa 7 The Broncos entered this game with 2 losses where rookie quarterback Bo Nix did not play well.  That all turned around in Denver's week 3 upset of tampa Bay (Tampa was a 6 point favorite).  Nix was 25 of 36 passing for 216 yards, rushed for 47 yards and had a rushing touchdown.  

THREE:

June 27th:

Nathan McKinnon wins the Hart Trophy as the NHL MVP

https://www.nhl.com/news/colorado-avalanche-nathan-mackinnon-wins-hart-trophy#:~:text=MacKinnon%20won%20the%20vote%20for,votes%20and%201%2C269%20voting%20points.

TWO:

April 13th

Denver Pioneers 2 Boston College 0 One of college hockey’s most prestigious programs has officially become the first to win 10 NCAA men’s hockey championships after a 2-0 win over Boston College  The only championship on my list by a Colorado team!

great save by DU goalie Matt Davis:

https://x.com/Romi_Bean/status/1779306789244146115

ONE:

December 14th:

Colorado's Travis Hunter wins the Heisman!  An amazing athlete who plays both cornerback and wide receiver, Hunter is the best player I have ever seen play for the Buffs.