The Colorado State Open Thread is many things to many people. But for the two or three people who read it, it’s an opportunity to see what are some topics of conversation in the state. This week, there were at least three major topics of conversation in the state. I’ll mention them and I hope you have an interest in adding to my list with observations of your own and/or any comments on what others may write.
The three major topics I noted were:
- The awfulness of US Representative Lauren Boebert, CO3, of Western Colorado and especially Silt.
- The sport of football as played in this state (which means it’s the oblong ball, not the round one).
- The 10 year anniversary of the northern Colorado floods.
There were several other things that made the news, but these were the topics about which many pixels were spilled.
Lauren Boebert
I had already heard by the time of last week’s Open Thread about her having been ejected from the play in Denver, but I figured naively that since it was just another example of spoiled brat Boeberg that it would just blow over quickly. It’s at least lasted a week, so I underestimated how upset the Denver theater-going public would be when Boebert showed them how immature, selfish and Republican she is. I wonder if the level of outrage would have been this bad had she done the same things at a monster truck rally or a rodeo, instead of a play with 3000 attendees dressed in whatever finery one wears when attending a play on an evening out. I also didn’t pay enough attention to notice in some of the clips that Lauren Boebert apparently had her hand resting or resting actively (Showercap wasn’t that oblique in his/her diary) in her date’s lap. Also, apparently her date was a Democrat. I found that last item more interesting than where her hand(s) may have been.
There were many things that she was apparently doing that annoyed her fellow theater patrons, but for a number of reasons I suspect that she just never was taught appropriate behavior when attending events of that sort (I mean, you have seen her at the State of the Union trying to out-shout MTG, right?). I wonder when she attended her first grown-up play meaning outside of Junior or Senior high when her peers were probably playing with their cell phones, talking between themselves, yelling at the performers, singing and otherwise trying to be part of the performance rather than a respectful, attentive attendee. I doubt vaping was ever part of her youth, but it’s part of her current behavior. If I were one of her constituents, I’d be ashamed at her lack of adult behavior, her coarse mannerisms (flipping off the staff trying to do their jobs), trying to push her weight around saying she’s on the board of the DCPA and “Do you know who I am?”. She doesn’t belong in Congress. She doesn’t deserve to walk those hallowed halls and it’s disgusting that she represents so much of our state. If you want to contribute either money or effort to Adam Frisch, her leading opponent from the proper side of the political aisle, you can go here to help Ms. Boebert get bounced from Congress before she gets rewarded with a lifetime pension paid for by you and me and all the taxpayers of this great country.
Football
I understand from some of my past polling efforts that sports, especially American football, is not a favorite activity of readers of this column. It’s understandable, considering all the variety of things to do and to enjoy in this great state. However, being an American male, I did play some sandlot (very disorganized) football as I was growing up and while I never had pads or helmet on as I played, I still enjoyed the game as a player and as a spectator. Last Saturday evening, there was considerable interest as the two largest universities in the state took each other on in the game George Carlin likened to war, since the terms used to describe the game include “the Blitz”, “the Gridiron”, “Stadium”, “Bombs”, “Spearing”, “Cutbacks”, “Crackback”, “Targeting”, “Bullet Pass”, “Facemask”, “Helmet”, and, to top it off and there were two on Saturday night, “Sudden Death.”
The CU Buffaloes are coached by a player I actually got to see play in college named “Neon” (long ago upgraded to “Primetime” or “Coach Prime”) Deion Sanders who has always been a loud, brash, boastful and, attention grabbing player and coach. who, I’m sorry to say, has usually been able to back up his boasting with play that has earned him spots in the College and Pro Football halls of fame. Now he’s Head Coach of the CU Buffaloes where his brash approach led to a majority of the football players transferring away from CU and a whole new crop of Dion wannabees coming to campus to play for this man, including his own son who is the starting quarterback. I have long been a fan who has loved to see the Buffaloes fail. Initially, it was because they were another team in the Big 8 and then Big 12 conferences where my hometown KU Jayhawks played against CU multiple times each year. Later on, I came to CSU in Fort Collins for my master’s degree and CU was the rival university, always taking the bulk of the news in the state and looking down on the “younger brother” of CSU and not very kindly at that.
Coach Sanders is drawing attention and his team has defeated last year’s national champion game runner-up, and then Nebraska, so lots of attention is going the Buffaloes’ way. CSU is a rival school, though we don’t play every year, but there are many people who would love to see CSU win over CU. It could be like a sibling rivalry, but it’s not necessarily a friendly one. The game drew plenty of local and national attention and it was a close game all the way. CU was projected to win by about 14 points, but after regulation time had ended, the game was still tied. It took two overtimes for CU to win. CU is still undefeated, but they know they were in a battle with CSU. I was proud of my Rams, but I really, really was hoping they could pull off the upset victory over the overly-proud Buffaloes.
As an aside, the buffalo, symbol of the American plains and uniquely American as a species is one of my favorite animals. I love those “fluffy cows.” I just wish they weren’t the symbol of CU.
The Floods of 2013
The third item a number of news outlets focused on last week were the floods that hit the areas around Estes Park and downstream from here along both the Big Thompson and St. Vrain rivers. The floods were from several days of rain and suddenly the rivers overflowed, flooding downstream and destroying homes along the canyons and then through the town of Lyons and onto the plains. Downtown along Estes Park as well as along Fish Creek were devastated by the floods and I can remember houses in Lyons that were torn apart by the floodwaters. Estes Park was cut off from the valley for several days, utilities like electricity and water lines were exposed after the floods scoured out the riverbanks and many downtown businesses wound up closing. Estes is still going through some renovations to make sure we’re never that cut off again. Highway 7 up through Allens Park also has had construction this summer to deal with potential flood problems, so it has taken a long time to try and anticipate future storm issues.
Many news stations had their collections of videos from the floods on their websites again.
www.coloradoan.com/… is just one collection of stories, though this is from 2022.
I’d love to hear your stories and thoughts on these three issues and what else is going on in your world.
Winter is Coming
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