Plati-'Tudes
May 22, 2000
A weekly notes column penned by David Plati, who is in his 16th year as Colorado's Assistant Athletic Director for Media Relations.
Thanks to the Denver Post's Jim Armstrong for mentioning Plati-'Tudes in his Sunday notes column. Totally out of friendship, as well as absolutely no fear that I'll put him out of business... Poking some fun at social columns: The "seen" at Sunday night's Firefall concert at the Little Bear in Evergreen included former CU equipment manager Jeffrey T. Kosley and former Wrangler waitress Jamie (though not together).
TRIVIA QUESTIONS... CU -- The season opener against Colorado State will mark something for the eighth time in 12 years for the CU football team. Name it. Godfather -- What two "secret" ingredients did (Peter) Clemenza tell Michael Corleone about when showing him how to make spaghetti sauce if he "Ever had to cook for a room full of guys?"
SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SURVEY... The May 15 issue of Sports Illustrated featured a story on the costs for a family of four to attend area professional sporting events. (If you're in Colorado, you were probably mailed the Kansas City-St. Louis edition, followed by the Colorado cover edition with an apology note three days later-SI did 44 different covers.) I thought I'd compare the prices to attend a game for a family of four to a Denver professional event and include CU football and basketball:
Colorado Buffalo Women's Basketball ............ $ 78.40 Colorado Buffalo Men's Basketball .............. $ 96.40 Colorado Rockies ............................... $ 130.50 Colorado Buffalo Football ...................... $ 224.90 Denver Nuggets ................................. $ 226.88 Denver Broncos ................................. $ 271.08 Colorado Avalanche ............................. $ 315.86
The above figures were based on the average price for a family of four to attend home game for the above, with the prices based on the cost of parking, four midrange tickets, four sodas, four hot dogs, two beers, two programs and two souvenir caps. Since there are no beer sales at Folsom Field, two additional sodas were figured into the CU football price. CU also has children's prices in basketball, and those were figured in. To compare the Denver market with that of St. Louis and Kansas City, the prices SI came up with there were as follows: St. Louis Cardinals $133.41, Kansas City Royals $100.67, Kansas City Chiefs $239.25, St. Louis Rams $206.46, St. Louis Blues $247.33.
What really skews the numbers is the cost of the two souvenir caps; two CU caps come to $31.90, or $15.95 each, roughly the same cost for the Denver pro teams. Take out the hats, and the cost of repeat visits for a family of four drop to $46.50 for CU women's basketball, $64.50 for CU men's hoops, and $193.00 for CU football (you can likely lop off $30-$35 from each of the Denver pro teams as well). Concessions and parking generally run cheaper at CU events, as basketball parking is free while parking at or near the Pepsi Center in Denver runs between $10-$15 (though I saw one lot for the last Avalanche playoff game with a $30 price tag). Broncos and Rockies parking generally ranges from $5 to $20.
So in the Denver-metro market, Colorado athletics is obviously a good buy. Hockey prices are the highest nationally because they have the least television revenue, so that explains while the Avalanche and Blues are the most expensive in their markets (which was representative of the national trend). With football as much as an event as it is a game, for it to remain cheaper than both basketball and hockey says something about why it is the nation's No. 1 spectator sport.
SAD NEWS... One of CU's most popular linemen in the 1950s, Dick Stapp, passed away from complications due to cancer on May 16 in Fort Collins at the age of 66. Stapp was a three-year starter on at guard and then tackle between 1954-56 on Dal Ward's Buffaloes, and thus was a member of the first CU team to win a bowl game ('57 Orange over Clemson). Ward, in fact, called him one of the toughest players he had ever coached. A retired professor at Colorado Mines, he was also one of the most popular coaches in Oredigger history. He was an assistant coach under Marv Kay for 23 seasons (1967-89), was the head track coach for 10 years (1980-89), and was an assistant wrestling coach for five seasons (1967-69). He will be inducted into Mines' Sports Hall-of-Fame this September. He went on to both teach at coach for years at the Colorado School of Mines in Golden. He was born in Boulder on Sept. 30, 1933, and graduated from Arvada High School. His mother Pearl (of Arvada), two siblings, four children and 14 grandchildren survive him.
THIS WEEK'S NUMBER... .004. That's the difference in percentage points between Colorado's football record with Darian Hagan and Kordell Stewart as its starting quarterbacks. CU was 28-5-2 (.829) in games Hagan started between 1989 and 1991, while the Buffs were 27-5-1 (.833) in games where Stewart took the first snap between 1992 and 1994. Both led the Buffs to three bowl games, while Hagan led CU to two outright and one shared Big Eight title and the national championship in 1990 (with one heck of an assist from Charles Johnson) and Stewart finished his career as the Big Eight's all-time total offense leader. Hagan missed two career starts while Stewart was sideline three times. The only teams to beat a Hagan-quarterbacked CU team were Notre Dame, Illinois, Baylor, Stanford and Alabama; remember CU was 18-0-1 in league games he started. Stewart's tie came at Kansas State, with the losses to Nebraska (three), Stanford and Miami, Fla. Who has the next best records as a starting quarterback for CU over the last 41 seasons? Koy Detmer was 14-3-1 (.806), Ken Johnson 17-6 (.739) and Jim Bratten 9-4 (.692). And three "name" quarterbacks all owned the same 14-9 records: Bobby Anderson, David Williams and Mike Moschetti.
(Obviously, we've done this research for the 2000 Colorado Football Media Guide, which hits this August; and thanks to CU fan John Blodgett for noticing I omitted a Darian Hagan tie from the first run of this note.)
TRIVIA ANSWERS... CU -- As previously announced, the CU-CSU game will be televised nationally by ESPN (ESPN2, actually, with the game time yet to be announced). It's the eighth time dating back to 1989 that CU will open its season on national television-second only to Notre Dame. Godfather -- Two everyday household staples: sugar and wine.
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"Plati-'Tudes" features notes and stories that may not get much play from the mainstream media; offers CU's take on issues raised by those who have an interest in the program; answers questions and concerns; and provides CU's point of view if we should disagree with what may have been written or broadcast. Have a question or want to know CU's take on something? E-mail Dave at david.plati@colorado.edu, and the subject may appear in the next Plati-'Tudes.