Tebow, Tebow, Tebow, Tebow ...

The signs say it all on I-25 & 58th. Maybe they should also put up signs saying, "John Fox, get a running game."  Or how about, "John Fox, shore up your defense."

More than likely, John Fox doesn't even drive by 1-25 & 58th. It's too far north of the Broncos' facility or even the former Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium. Maybe somebody should have thought of that a little earlier.

I'm wondering if this just isn't sports talk radio conspiracy. The talking heads say they don't want Tebow as the starting quarterback and it is annoying when the Tebow zombies call up demanding that he become their starting quarterback. 

But they continue to yammer on the subject 24-7. Do they hate it? Again, Garth says .... not!!!

TTBC ... Tebow to be continued.

Life is one day at a time

There's a sports cliché that coaches and athletes love.

One day at a time.

"We're just going to take it one day at a time," the coach says about the rest of the season.

Throughout the years, most sportscasters or sportswriters just kind of roll their eyes when they hear it. Sometimes you get that coach or player who says it so much you can basically count on it at some point during each interview.

Sometimes I wonder if the fact that Teresa is a former Division I athlete, and I've been a sportswriter for over half of my life, that the term "one day at a time" really fits us.

When talking about Teresa's health, despite some very positive improvements in the last couple of months, we still live one day at a time. Basically, each day we really don't know what will happen.

A couple of months ago, Teresa hit a bad spell where her temperatures rose to an alarming 104 degrees and doctors told me to prepare for the worst. For the most part, it has appeared that the doctors have gotten a handle of it.

Then early Tuesday her temperature spiked to 102 again. It appears that her prednisone steroid was dropped too much. Doctors have been weening her down from 80 milligrams a day to currently about 18 (9 in the morning and 9 at night). At times it has been too much of a drop for her body to handle and she has gone into an adrenal crisis. Recently, it mistakenly went from 9 to 7 and it happened again.

That mistake could have been more serious but Teresa had the mindset and determination that she would not let it get worse, and it didn't. She's doing better now but that scare is always there.

Her kidney specialists now are worried that the years of steroids might have fried her adrenal glands, which could hurt her kidney function.

Now the infectious disease doctors are saying that she has at least three more months on the antibiotic before they can evaluate her status. A couple of weeks ago, we were thinking it could be late October or in November. So much for handing out candy at Halloween or having Thanksgiving dinner at home. The goal now is to be home for Christmas.

One day at a time.

I often get asked, "So, how are you doing?" in reference to how I am handling things. Often, I just shrug my shoulders and say "OK, I guess"

What am I supposed to say?

There are times when I feel the walls crashing down on me. I watch a television show and laugh and then feel guilty about it.

But all I can do is keep going. I have to.

I have to be strong, both physically and mentally for Teresa's sake. I have to drive every day the 45 miles to work in Cheyenne, then drive home at 1 a.m. When it's my day off, I drive to Denver. That last part isn't a have to; it's a want to.

I told Teresa the other day that I think I know what to tell people when they ask me how I am doing.

I'll just say,"I'm tired."

Simple as that.

But I can't be tired. When she comes home, I have to be here. I have to get the house ready. It needs a lot of work and remodeling just for her to come home and get around. I have to be here to help her physically. I can't if I'm not in good shape. I need to lose weight. My back is killing me. I have to take care of it. I have to get stronger.

I have to and I will. Actually, we will together.

One day at a time.

Put Tebow in. Yeah, that's it

The fascination with Tim Tebow in Denver is mind numbing.

Since the day Josh McDaniels shocked the NFL world by making him the Broncos' No. 1 draft pick, Tebow has been on a rock star roller coaster ride in the Mile High city. I'm not exactly sure why.

So I'll just make something up.

Tebow has arguably shown in practice and in games that he is not starting quarterback material in the NFL. At least that's what the experts tell us.

To them, he is just a marketing joke. Check his jersey sales.

To his fans, he is the savior, no pun intended or disrespect to his strong religious beliefs.

If you read the letters to the editor, listen to the sports talk shows, see all  of the No. 15 jerseys around town and hear the jeers in the stands at the former Invesco Field at Mile High Stadium, his not starting at quarterback is the only solution.

Kyle Orton is no good. Brady Quinn is no good. Tim Tebow is good.

The argument is that he is a winner, that the Broncos are going no where, so why not give him a chance? He couldn't do any worse, right?

The problem is, the Tebow fanatics refuse to believe what most NFL coaches and experts say about his passing skills, or lack of them.

Those experts constantly talk about the flaws in his delivery, that his style doesn't compute in the NFL game.

They're probably right. After all, they are the experts and if it's on the Internet, it has to be right.

When the Broncos opened the season with a 23-20 loss to the hated Raiders in front of a Monday Night Football national audience, the thousands and thousands of Tebow-wearing-jersey-fans stated their case in ways that would make a sailor just back from a couple of months at sea blush. Monday night's game was not a Denver Chamber of Commerce moment.

Tebow followers must have been right. There's no way that the Broncos are a bad team because they can't stop the run on defense, that they have no running game and that they make way too many silly mental mistakes.

It's got to be that they lost because Tim Tebow wasn't playing.

For most fans, winning is what matters. Obviously, the Broncos haven't done a lot of that lately. I'm wondering, though, if that really matters to some.

Fans are flooding the phone lines, writing their poison pen letters, demanding that John Fox and John Elway make the change now.

Maybe they should.

Why not just trade Orton to, say, the Seahawks, get a couple of high draft picks for next year and put Wonder Boy in the lineup? That will solve everything.

Or it won't.

Maybe they should just realize that it is only the first game of the season.

Naw, Orton sucks. Tebow! Tebow! Tebow!

I need my college football in person fix

I feel like a fish out of water. Flop, flop, flop, gasp, sigh ....

Two Wyoming home football games missed and no chance of seeing the Nebraska game in two weeks.

But hey, I will get to put the obituary page together at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle. I guess that evens things out a bit.

Garth and Wayne say not!!!!

Oh well, that's life I guess. A job is a job and I need the job.

But bare with me. It's like a heroin junkie going cold turkey. Actually, it's been somewhat like my wife being weened off of her prednisone steroids that she has taken for about 18 years because of her rheumatoid arthritis. She has gone down from 80mg a day to 18. There were some complications with adrenal crisis, but they have since remedied the problem and she is doing better.

I need an extra shot of college football to get me by until the time comes when I can call myself a sportswriter again. Evidently patience is not my virtue.

Regardless, the radio has been somewhat of a quick fix for me, at least for now. I'm no longer cold, the shaking has stopped and the color is returning to my skin.

The Cowboys are 2-0. Granted its two wins against FCS teams. But Saturday's romp over Texas State was what the doctor ordered for the team that just squeaked by Weber State the previous week. The Cowboys were supposed to beat these teams and they have.

But the easy part is over as Wyoming goes to Bowling Green next Saturday and hosts Nebraska in two weeks. Then, the Mountain West portion of the schedule begins and we'll soon see if what the Cowboys are made of this season.

Of course, that will be the focus this week from the state media as more than one time it will be mentioned that these two wins were just against FCS teams. You can bank on that. What the Cowboys do from this point is the obvious focus, as it should be.

Meanwhile, flop, flop, flop, gasp, sigh ...

I know that picture

Speaking of the Packers ...

Well, I guess I wasn't speaking of the Packers just yet.

The defending Super Bowl champion Green Bay Packers (man that sounds good) will open the 2011 season tonight when they host the New Orleans Saints.

Ok, now ... speaking of the Packers, in today's WyoSports section (Cheyenne and Laramie), you'll notice a story on Cowgirls volleyball player Camille Coffman. The story talks about Coffman's athletic heritage as her father played in the NFL and her three brothers are or were talented football players. And their names are .... The story doesn't say.

So I will.

Coffman's father, Paul Coffman, was a three-time Pro Bowl tight end for the Packers (hence, the speaking of the Packers) from 1977-1985 and a member of the Packers Hall of Fame. Chase Coffman was the John Mackey Award winner a couple of years ago as the best tight end in the country at Missouri. He is currently on the practice squad for the Cincinnati Bengals.

Another brother, Carson Coffman, was the former starting quarterback for Kansas State (2009-2010). Yet another Coffman, Cameron, recently graduated high school and is now a junior college quarterback at Arizona Western. Paul and Carson are currently volunteer coaches for Raymore-Peculiar High School in Missouri.

As I was proofreading the WyoSports story Wednesday night at work (at the Wyoming Tribune Eagle), I suddenly drew a blank on Camille's  father's name, which made me a little irritated as a longtime Packers' fan. I was also spacing on her oldest brother, who was one of the top college players just a couple of years ago.

Not good.

As is normally the case, when I cannot remember things, Google comes to the rescue. I type in Camille Coffman and I see her picture at the volleyball net in a Wyoming uniform. I'm thinking, "That sure looks familiar." It should. I click on the picture and realize that I took the photo in 2009 for my sports website Wyomingsports.org.

 Click here see the photo.

Eventually, I Google Paul Coffman and refresh my memory as a Packers fanatic. All is well.

Oh yeah, speaking of the Packers, they open the season tonight against the Saints.

Why the fundraiser site?

Maybe I have some 'splanin' to do. You might have noticed on Facebook and Twitter that I put a medical fundraising site up.

First of all, it was hard for me to do it and I feel weird about doing it. But it is what it is.

To put it bluntly, even after Teresa's Medicaid insurance, her bills are out of hand. I would guess that when she gets out of the hospital in Denver -- and she will get out -- between her medical bills, what it costs for me to go down and visit for a couple of days each week and our constant car repairs in doing so, we'll probably hit the six figure amount in debt. We're not there yet, but I see it in the horizon.

The problem with Wyoming Medicaid is it is Wyoming Medicaid and the hospital is in Denver. Her bed is covered and the medication, but nothing else. Every time a doctor -- she's probably had over a dozen docs see her this year -- comes into her room, it's around $150.

Counting just prior to her admittance in Denver last December, we have 19 medical bills of some sort directly connected to the past year or so.

Also, we'll need to do some major remodeling at the house for when she comes home to make it disability-ready.

I've made a short story long, so I'll conclude it by saying, yeah, times are tough.

As I said, I hate doing it, asking for help. My wife, on the other hand, has no problem in doing so. She even asks the doctors and nurses themselves that we are trying to raise some money to offset all of the bills and would they like to contribute to the fundraising.

Surprisingly, many of them say yes, even though we might owe them thousands of dollars.

I'm beginning to think that Teresa has bigger .... uh, you know what I mean, than me. She's not shy, to say the least. I originally had a problem with her asking people for help, but now I just let her go. I couldn't stop her if I really tried. Besides, I'm not so sure that if I was in her place, I might have given up by now. By her doing this, it just proves to me more how much she wants to get better.

Somebody did tell me to set up a website account, so I have. It's also a good way for people to see what is going on with Teresa. I put down a goal of $30,000 just because I needed a number. I told Teresa today that if all we raise is $3, that's OK. The $30,000 would just be gravy. Or is it groovy? One of the two.

Anyway, Teresa has seven weeks left on the powerful antibiotics she takes for the mycobacterium and then the docs will evaluate her from there. She plans on working her tail off and getting stronger so she can come home then, rather than go to another physical therapy facility.

That, would be the big payoff for all of us.

The link for the site is http://www.giveforward.com/teresacliftmedicalexpensesfund