THE WORLD FAMOUS BUFFSBLOG.COM MAILBAG!

Welcome one and all to the first ever BuffsBlog mailbag.  And yes, these are actual questions from actual readers (with the exception of the last question — and please, if you read nothing else, read the last question).   This is an ongoing schtick, so please send questions for the next mailbag to [email protected].  Oh, and shout out to Bill Simmons.

Now, without further ado, let’s jump right in to the deep end:  

Question: If there’s one famous person that you’d like to fight, who would it be?  I’ve had mild obsessions over the course of the past 15 years of wanting to fight one person at any given time.  How about you?  –Lincoln Street Buffs

BB:  First thought:  BB readers are strange. Second thought: Hey now, I’m a quasi-Buddhist and former pastor. I am a peaceful person. Third though:  Oh I’ve been waiting my entire life to answer this question – glad you asked!  Here’s my list:

1. The lead singer from Train (“TLSFT”).  TLSFT may be the nicest guy in the world, but I’ll take an uppercut or 15 if it means I never have to listen to  “Hey Soul Sister” again. 

2. Patrick Mahomes.  I imagine that if  I ever punched Patrick Mahomes in a fight, he would immediately look around to find a referee so that he could complain in his Kermit Voice that he’s Patrick Mahomes and therefore he can’t be hit.  And then I’d give him a flurry of shots to the noggin.   

Also, watching Patrick Mahomes take a giant poop on the Superdome turf this past Super Bowl was a fantastic viewing experience.  

3. This one guy on the BuffStampede.com message board that thinks he’s famous for no apparent reason (not Adam, he’s a good dude).  Folks over there probably know who he is.   

4. Dick Monfort.  Sell the freaking team, Dick!  Plus, he’s 70, so I think I could take him.  

5. Celine Dion (Titanic era). In an alternate world, I’d write an awful joke that says she’s lucky she got sick to avoid a whoopin’ and then my wife would hear me laughing at myself and come and read over my shoulder and tell me that I’m an awful human being and there’s no way in hell I can write that so don’t make that joke and John be a decent human being. But that’s not this world.

Honorable mention: People that like to back into parking spaces. Please stop doing that.

Question: What will the CU men’s hoops team roster look like next season?  –Chris G. from Mariner Drive

BB:  Chris coming with the bleak question.   For purposes of this answer, I’m going to assume that Post Malone and Trevor Baskin are both granted an extra year of eligibility (which appears likely at this point) and that both return to CU.  I’m also going to assume CU gets no incoming transfers next season (which is hopefully unlikely).  

In this situation, I could see CU starting Malone, Dak, Rancik, Josiah Sanders (an incoming freshman) and Ruffin with Trevor Baskin as the 6^th man.  This is probably a bottom third of the Big 12 type of team, and that’s assuming a big jump from Bangot Dak and Sebastien Rancik.  

I do think that Dak and Rancik are probably the two most important players on the roster going forward as they will be legit Big 12-level starters.  CU needs to make sure that both of these players stick around — it would be pretty devastating if one of them leaves due to financial considerations elsewhere.  

Also, this assumes that Tad Boyle remains the coach next season.  I’m on the record for suggesting that there is a material chance that he will retire after this season given his frustration with the current world of collegiate sports (rumor has it that this past off-season CU had separate deals with 3 separate point guards to come play at Colorado, each of which fell apart because CU couldn’t match the dollars that other schools were willing to pay).   If Boyle steps down, I expect the new coach to be very, very active in the portal.  For who I think CU may hire in this situation, check out:

THE “BREAK IN CASE OF FIRE” CU BASKETBALL HEAD COACHING HOT BOARD

Question: Do you think we’ll see a female President or a female NBA, MLB, NFL or NHL head coach first?  –Pete from Denver

BB:  Uh oh.  This one is going to get me in trouble.  But I know what I’d RATHER see — the first female NHL coach.  What would her mullet look like?   How fun would it be to watch Don Cherry’s head explode live on TV?  (and yes, I had to google to make sure Don Cherry was still alive).    For those that don’t know Don Cherry, he is a retired Canadian sportscaster and host of CBC’s Hockey Night in Canada that is about as progressive as the crowd at Chik Fil A on a “Seniors Eat Free” night in Provo, Utah. But I have to give the devil his due — Don Cherry can really wear a suit.

As an aside, I think Becky Hammon is probably the closest female to coach a men’s professional team,  but then she took over as coach of the Las Vegas Aces in the WNBA. With the amazing growth of the WNBA, she may stay coaching in the women’s game.   

Which will we see first?  A female President.  We’ve been close twice now, and I think we’re due.  God willing.

What is the best place to park for a CU football game? -Aiden from Phoenix

BB:  You’re talking to a guy that sat down and mapped out the best place to park at CU football games with the sole criteria being  post-game escapability—- and with my current parking space, I can escape post-game traffic like I’m John Dillinger on the run in East Chicago.  

Based on my limited criteria, I’ve found that parking in the neighborhoods east of 28^th Street makes sense.  But I can’t tell you the exact location because then others might discover it and then I’m going to be stuck sitting in traffic after a game while my wife forces me to listen to “Hey Soul Sister” as punishment for a joke I almost made about Celine Dion.

Question: How many freshmen will be in CU’s upcoming 2026 recruiting class?   Seems like the number has increased every year under Coach Prime.  -Cole in Boulder

BB:  I have it on good authority that the upcoming 2026 high school recruiting class will be “by far” the biggest its been since Deion Sanders took over at CU.  The 2024 class had 12 commits and the 2025 class had 14 commits.   I think we should expect at least 20 commits in the 2026 class, and probably more than that. If I had to bet a Boulder-approved kombucha, I’d bet that we have 22 high school players in the class, which looks rather typical for a division one program.

This is all part of the plan, by the way. Deion Sanders has said that he’d transition to signing more high school players after the first couple of transfer-focused years. Relatedly, I think we can expect a top 25 class this year given the number of guys that CU is in on at this early stage.  

What is the great American art form? -Kate from your house

BB:  Pro wrestling.   It’s a combination of sports, performance art and method acting with a side of Shreveport, Louisiana and heavy machinery.  

[By the way — I’m an AEW guy.  Have you seen what Will Ospreay can do in the ring, bruv? He’s unbelievable.]  

Oh, and sorry to all you high-brow Esperenza Spalding, Kamasi Washington and Robert Glasper fans that are upset I didn’t answer with “jazz.”  Sometimes, to be the proverbial man,  you have to beat the proverbial man.  Wooooooo!!!!! [Also, jazz folks, check out the new album “Southern Nights” by Sullivan Fortner. It’s pretty fantastic.]

What’s your predicted top 5 NFL draft picks in this upcoming NFL draft?  -Jed in Longmont

1. Tenneesse Titans: Travis Hunter. Hunter’s the best player in the draft. Hunter played both sides of the ball as well as anyone ever has — as a cornerback, his 90.7 PFF coverage grade was higher than Pat Surtain’s overall PFF grade his senior year at Alabama (90.5), and as a wide receiver his  PFF receiving grade (89) was higher than Justin Jefferson’s PFF grade coming out of LSU (85.4).  Yep — read that again.  To have a player play on both sides of the ball play as seemingly effortlessly, and at such a high level, is something that we will never see again.  This isn’t complicated, Tennessee. Take the generational talent.

2. Cleveland Browns: Abdul Carter. Carter is a safe pick at a premium position in the NFL. Given Myles Garrett’s trade demand and the related financial decisions facing the Browns, Carter makes way too much sense for the Browns to pick. No one has ever accused the Browns of making sensible decisions, however, so now watch them draft Jaxon Dart or do something equally stupid.

3. New York Giants: Shedeur Sanders. Sheduer Sanders reminds me of Bo Nix. He’s extremely accurate, has fantastic footwork and a good arm. He’s been well coached and has displayed a lot of poise and the ability to navigate adversity while at CU. Maybe he’s not the most physically gifted QB in this draft (hello Cam Ward), but Sanders has a higher floor. When you’re picking a QB this high in the draft, you want to know that you’re not drafting someone that could be a draft bust. I’m pretty positive that Sanders won’t be a draft bust because of his toughness, his accuracy and his technique. I suspect that, like Bo Nix, Sanders has a very strong rookie season.

4. Las Vegas Raiders: Cam Ward. I predict that the Raiders trade the #6 pick and the #68 pick to New England for the chance to take Cam Ward. Everyone knows that the Raiders need a QB, and in my mock they are able to land their QB of the future at #4. Ward possesses a great skill set, including a big arm and exciting playmaking ability. I think he’ll be good for Las Vegas.

5. Jacksonville Jaguars: I’m a Michigan alum as well as a CU alum and have watched Mason Graham wreck offensive lines for the last 3 seasons. He’s an interior game-changer, and his inside push will help free up Travon Walker and Josh Hines-Allen off the edge. While he may never be a 10+ sack guy, he’ll be a 6 sack guy that shuts down run games and opens up pass rush lanes for everyone else.

What should they name the new NWSL franchise in Denver? -Clare

For those that don’t know, the NWSL is the women’s professional soccer league in the United States. The league is comprised of 14 teams, with Boston and Denver both joining the league next year and bumping the NWSL up to 16 teams.

As an initial matter — there are some awful team names in American sports. Examples include the Nashville Predators (woof!), Real Salt Lake (people often confuse Spanish tapas with Crumbl Cookies), the Utah Jazz (“there is great musical culture in Salt Lake City!, signed the guys from Forever Plaid”) and the Houston Texans (redundant redundancy). The Phoenix Suns should be the Phoenix Sun. And honestly, any nickname that doesn’t end in -s is bad. Yes, I’m looking at you, Coloardo Avalanche.

But then we get to Boston’s NWSLS team name. Ladies and gentlemen, I present to you…..BOS NATION FC.

The marketing genius that came up with the name then decided to launch the team with a campaign about how Boston sports have TOO MANY BALLS. Chcek it out:

Please tell me you watched this video.

BOS NATION is the stupidest name in the history of American sports. It’s beyond cringe — “IT’S BOS TIME!” “BE A GIRL BOS!” “BOS ME AROUND, JOHN, AND YOU’LL BE SLEEPING ON THE COUCH AGAIN!” (I’ve never heard that one before, ever.)

I write all of this only because the Colorado NWSL team can rest easy knowing it’s impossible for the Denver/Colorado NWSL team to have a worse name than BOS NATION.

So, John, what do we name the new team?

After thinking about this for far too long, I think we should name the team Summit FC. It’s clean, unique, and doesn’t pick a side in the “do we need to name the team the “Denver NICKNAME” or the “Colorado NICKNAME” debate. And while one could argue that it violates the nickname must end in -s rule, I disagree. Summit is the location of the team, not the nickname.

Other ideas that have been discussed are Denver Peak FC, Colorado Gold (et tu, Cleveland Browns?), Denver Elevate FC, and the Colorado 14ers. Those are all meh. Oh, and my message to owner Rob Cohen — build the stadium in RiNo. You’ll thank me later.

Can we get the Waltons to fund CU’s NIL program? –Larry in Colorado Springs

CU needs its own Phil Knight (Oregon), T. Boone Pickens (Oklahoma State), Stephen Ross (Michigan), or Gary Condron (Florida) to step forward so that CU can compete at the highest level financially with the Big Boys of college football. The Waltons are as good a choice as any for CU, although they recently announced that they were donating $15m to buy new football helmets for every high school football player in the State of Colorado…..so they’re probably out.

CU does have rich alums that have given a lot to the athletic department (I’m not going to out them here!) and there’s always hope that one of them, or ideally several of them, see that partnering with CU right now — with Deion Sanders as head coach — is a once-in-a-long-time opportunity to help build CU athletics into a true national power. Let’s hope it happens.

Somewhat relatedly, I took a roadtrip to watch basketball games in Iowa City, Ann Arbor and South Bend. I had a lot of takeaways, but one of them was that CU should start a “Round Up For NIL” campaign at Folsom Field and the CU Events Center immediately. In Iowa City, I bought a soda that was $5.00 and the attendant asked if I’d like to round the bill up to $6 with the extra money going to the university’s NIL fund. I said yes, just so I could brag to my Iowa friends that whenever Iowa has any athletic success it’s because of my NIL donation. CU could raise $20k/game at Folsom by doing this — which isn’t program changing, but is at least some money for NIL. To read the earlier post on my roadtrip, check out:

PUSHING TOWARDS A GREAT BASKETBALL ENVIRONMENT — THOUGHTS ON THE CU HOOPS EXPERIENCE AFTER A BASKETBALL ROADTRIP

What is the best TV show that you’ve recently seen? “Only Murders in the Building” is fabulous and is the best show I’ve seen over the last year or so. Even your dad liked it, John! And he liked “Pachinko,” too. –Sally from Longmont

Thanks “Sally.”

I just finished Season 2 of Shrinking and thought it was great. Apple TV is really good at earnest comedy — think Ted Lasso — and Shrinking is no different. It’s an ensemble show that features Harrison Ford and Jason Siegal. At it’s heart, the story is about family and how to reconfigure family after the death of a mother. I know it sounds sad, and the show is melancholy on occassion, but it’s also really funny and poignant. It’s a comedy-drama about a bunch of good, decent people who also are often hurting. Harrison Ford is great, by the way, and his role offers a reminder that he’s a great comic actor…and he’s really great at giving grumpy old guy reactions to some of the madness going on around him. Two thumbs up from me.

Others that I’ve liked recently are Somebody, Somewhere on Max and The Gentlemen on Netflix.

Also, this is a strange one, but I liked Blue Eye Samurai on Netflix. It’s anime, but I enjoyed it….maybe more than Shogun, which won a bunch of Emmys and Golden Globes. Maybe I have strange taste.

Which incoming transfer will have the biggest impact on the team this upcoming season? –Johnny C. in Sedgwick

I’m currently working on a blogpost about this for BuffsBlog so stay tuned for a more in-depth answer.

Right now, though, I think the answer is Kaidon Salter. Going into this past season, PFF named Salter the #1 QB in the Group of 5 and stated the following:

“Salter is the clear choice for the top spot after leading Liberty to an undefeated regular season and a Conference USA championship last season. He also enters 2024 as the highest-graded returning Group of Five quarterback.

The 6-foot-1 junior is a true dual threat with a big arm and dangerous feet. He placed third in the FBS last season with an 8.3% big-time throw rate and 1,117 rushing yards. He also led all quarterbacks with 57 forced missed tackles. While the Flames face uncertainty on the perimeter with the departure of top receiver CJ Daniels, Salter and his backfield partner Quinton Cooley are expected to continue dominating Conference USA.”

And while Salter’s 2024 season wasn’t as statistically impressive as his 2023 season, he graded out at an 82.0 for the 2024 season, which is considered “great” and is a higher grade than every player on CU’s team last season with the exception of Travis Hunter and Sheduer Sanders. I don’t think people understand how talented Salter is. He’ll be a difference maker for CU.

Now for an important caveat — JuJu Lewis is also on the team. I think Lewis will play some this season but it’s very difficult for a 17-year old college freshman that skipped his senior year of high school to start for a Power 4 team. I’m excited to see Lewis in a Buffs uniform, but I think he’ll play in a spot-duty role this upcoming season while starting at QB for Buffs in the 2026 season.

What can we do to support BuffsBlog.com? -John

Thanks John for this question (you’re welcome, John). As a CU fan, I’ve wished that a site like BuffsBlog.com existed for CU fans. The blueprint, as I’ve noted before, is MGoBlog.com, a fantastic Michigan-centric blog. This kind of blog didn’t exist in the CU multi-verse so, after steppinig back from my law practice and having a bit more time on my hand, I thought — I’ve got some time and this is a hobby of mine so let’s start up a simple blog. If I’m being honest, I still don’t really know what this thing is going to be — it might remain a hobby blog, it might be something more than that. Given that almost all written CU content is now behind a paywall (BuffZone, 247, rivals, etc.), I think there’s a need for a smart CU sports analysis site. Maybe that will be BuffsBlog.com.

I will say most sports blogs suck beceause the writers — to the extent they’re human writers and not written by AI — care only about SEO optimization. Content doesn’t matter AT ALL. Instead, using key words that might get picked up in a future google search is all that matters. While that approach may be the more lucrative approach to blogging, that’s not been my approach. My approach has been to try to focus on delivering great content, great content, and great content. And then focus on great content again. The goal from my end is to be to provide interesting and oftentimes stupid content that you can’t really get anywhere else, and then hope that the other stuff works itself out. I hope it does.

So a couple of requests:

First, if you have enjoyed reading the blog, I’d like to know. Drop me a line at [email protected] or drop a comment in the applicable article when you’re so inclined. Getting feedback and creating community is important to me. Even if you think my opinion sucks, or that “Hey Soul Sister” should replace Glory, Glory Colorado, let me know. My hope is that a post on this blog is hopefully just the start of communication.

Second, if you’d like to contribute to the site, let me know. While I stepped back from my legal job, I’ve found that I’m still a surprisingly busy person — I’m writing a totally unrelated book and still painting and am doing some other projects that I can’t really talk about yet. Thus, I can use help if this site is going to turn into something beyond John’s cranky missives every week or so. Long story short — I’m always looking for help — whether contributing written materials (with the caveat that killer content matters above all else) or providing social media help (which I suck at) or tech/website help (which I really suck at).

Most importantly, though, if you’ve enjoyed the website, I ask that you tell your friends about it. The only way this graduates from a hobby blog to something else is if I have readers that help evangelize the website. Share the posts and let fans know that there’s a new CU website that is full of analysis and jackassery. I appreciate all of your help!

Also, if you’re so inclined, join the BuffsBlog Facebook page:

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And follow the Instagram page:

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So I think that’s a fitting end to hopefully the first of many BuffsBlog.com mailbags. Thanks for your support as we launch this website off the ground — I really, truly appreciate you….that is, unless you back your car into parking spaces.