Apparently, Russell Wilson and Ciara didn’t buy what Sean Payton was shoveling on radio row during Super Bowl Week.
A fairly newsy seven days — congrats, Jenny Cavnar and welcome home, Troy Renck — in the Grading The Week offices got even newsier Friday.
Because just when we were about to wax poetic on Christian Braun’s knuckleball of a jumper or the latest chapter in Carmelo Anthony’s revisionist history, word got out that Big Russ, the Broncos’ soon-to-be-ex-starting-QB, was putting his family’s Cherry Hills Village mansion on the market.
This little tidbit, of course, came to light just a few days after the Broncos’ esteemed coach told his pal Rich Eisen this:
“(Our QB) discussion has to include Russ … (Wilson) wants to be back. And so, that means something. But we’ll see.”
Big Russ and Sean as football couple — F
Baloney. It means nothing.
Zip. Nada. Zilch.
And nobody who “wants to be back,” or presumes they have a shot at being the QB1 in Dove Valley this fall, is putting their pleasure palace on the open market with a month left until the start of the 2024-25 league year.
The other notable Wilson news on Friday came from DraftKings, which tweeted that the odds of him joining the Steelers plummeted from plus-1400 to minus-110.
It’s all over but the shouting. And the bidding, allegedly.
In the end, Big Russ will be leaving behind more bathrooms in his home (12) than victories as a Broncos starter (11). And the possibility of going down as the centerpiece of arguably the worst trade and worst contract in Denver sports history, all in one fell swoop.
Cavnar getting the call — A
The Front Range makes baseball history again, this time thanks to Cavnar, Denver’s own, becoming the first woman ever named primary play-by-play voice for an MLB team. Although, given the Cold War between long-suffering Oakland faithful and club owner John Fisher, who’s moving the team out of the Bay while somehow not having a firm grasp as to exactly where yet, Cavnar might be about the only thing that makes the Oakland/Sacramento/Salt Lake/Grand Junction/Las Vegas Athletics worth catching this summer.
Rockies streaming, but Nuggs, Avs still aren’t? — D
While the unwatchable Rockies are out of the gate with a streaming option — $100 bucks a season for just the Rox, $200 for the Rox plus MLB.TV — we’re still waiting for KSE to give the Front Range what it really wants. Namely, to make the Nuggets and Avalanche, the best two teams in town, two teams people would happily pay to watch, available on their tablets and phones via a direct-to-consumer, a la carte option. (AltitudeNOW requires a cable or satellite subscription.) Come on, Stan. It’s time.
McKenna Hofschild’s dimes — A
McKenna Hofschild toppled another local record this past Wednesday in Las Vegas with her 727th assist with the CSU Rams. That’s the most dimes of any Division I Colorado women’s basketball player in state history, passing former DU standout Emiko Smith, who dished 726 assists from 2009-13. If a window opens up, you’d be wise to catch the Minnesota native while she’s still rocking FoCo. Most defenders can’t.