Recent Articles from Stewart Schley
Sports biz: Playing with heart
In his quest to keep patients away from the operating room, Denver physician Jeffrey Boone brings the want-to of a determined linebacker. Why shouldn’t he? It’s the position he played in high school in Garden City, Kan., in the 1970s, and its requisites – shed blockers, knock down passes, flatten running backs – are all about […]
Sports biz: Reviving the horse
One of the more notable tales of corporate turnaround has just been authored by Starbucks, the coffee retailer whose fortunes took a severe tumble starting in 2008 as the economy reeled, the company over-expanded and the brand persona went from hip to humdrum. Last month Starbucks reported its net income for its first fiscal quarter […]
Sports biz: Mullet fever
Two all-star shortstops inked long-term contract extensions this off-season with the only Major League Baseball teams they’ve ever played for. With apologies to the great Derek Jeter, the guy the Colorado Rockies signed is the prize of the pair. At 26, coming off a stupendous season that earned him not just Gold Glove and Silver […]
Sports biz: A team for the times
Ah, I’d love to wear a rainbow every dayAnd tell the world that everything’s okayBut I’ll try to carry off a little darkness on my back’til things are brighter, I’m the man in black– Johnny Cash, “Man in Black” To paraphrase Pat Bowlen, the color of the current NFL season is predominately black. Black as […]
Sports biz: screen play
Professional football’s enduring entanglement with television began to generate its first serious sparks in December 1958, when NBC televised the NFL championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants, drawing an audience estimated at 45 million viewers. The network couldn’t have picked a better game: Baltimore won 23-17 in a thrilling overtime […]
Sports biz: the big fix
If you watched television in the 1970s, you may recall it cost $6 million to rebuild the body of astronaut Steve Austin, TV’s bionic man. So the few thousand it’ll cost you to repair that mash of meniscus in your knee should sound like a serious bargain. And you won’t need machine-tooled implants or a […]
Sports biz: vocal point
Sit down, says Steve Patterson, who played tight end 20 years ago for his high school in Cortez, Colo. Sit down and let’s talk. Mid-morning sunshine streams through a tinted window at Patterson’s Highlands Ranch office as he settles into a comfortable chair. A copy of Sun Tzu’s sixth-century manifesto, “The Art of War,” sits […]
Sports biz: CU’s Pacific heights
As the football coach at the University of Colorado in the 1980s, Bill McCartney invented a powerful offensive weapon: the T-bone. The four-man backfield attack was a variation on the wishbone formation that had been sharpened to perfection by Barry Switzer’s Oklahoma Sooners, and it was ideal for the Big 8 Conference, where winning in […]
Sports biz: brand “T”
He hasn’t taken a snap from center, but Tim Tebow already has Bronco Nation wrapped around his throwing arm. You know, the one that used to have that weird little hitch in it. Just listen in: “In my heart, I believe he will go down as one of the greatest NFL players to ever lace […]
Sports biz: Muscle man
Not too long ago, Colorado State University graduate Erik Phillips enjoyed total command of NBA stars like Shaquille O’Neal and Steve Nash. When he demanded that they bend and twist, they bent and twisted. When he said “jump,” they jumped. When he was done with them, they were drenched in sweat. Phillips is still at […]
Sports Biz: Calling it quits
There won’t be a teary press conference. No jersey will be retired. You won’t see a new name unveiled on the Ring of Fame this fall. But yes, the rumors are true. I have retired as a Denver Broncos season ticket holder. It was a great run, but I probably should have gone out years […]
Sports Biz: Remembering to share
As Pat Bowlen and his 31 fellow National Football League team owners contemplate a player lockout that could sack the 2011 NFL season, you’re going to hear plenty about a key contention point: what share of the league’s revenue should go to players. More so than salary caps, adjustments to health benefits or controls on […]