Who Had the Worst Week?

• Amtrak passengers called police claiming they were held hostage when what was supposed to be a 17-hour trip from Virginia to Florida turned into 37 hours due to freight train derailment. “Stale air, dwindling food supplies, trash piling up in the aisles and a lack of timely information from the crew” contributed to what passengers called the “train ride from hell.”
• Peloton will pay a $19 million fine for failing to “promptly report treadmill hazards and for distributing recalled treadmills.”
• Former Cleveland Browns QB Bernie Kosar learned about the NFL’s ambivalent relationship with sports betting the hard way. Kosar was fired by the Browns from its radio broadcast team after he placed a bet on the team to beat the Pittsburgh Steelers. This item was brought to you by Caesars Entertainment, DraftKings, FanDuel, FOX Bet, BetMGM, PointsBet, and WynnBET, all of whom are official NFL partners.
• LSU is providing star gymnast and TikTok sensation Olivia Dunne with additional security at competitions after unruly fans overran the team’s season opener against Utah.
• West Virginia Public Broadcasting reporter Amelia Ferrell Knisely had her position eliminated after defying threats to stop reporting on the state’s Department of Health and Human Resources. Gov. Jim Justice has appointed “partisan operatives” to WVPB’s board of directors.
• You wouldn’t think there would be much new in the world of bowling, but newfangled bowling pins have caused a (7-10) split in that community. The new “string pins” are regular bowling pins “with long cords attached to the top and tethered to string pinsetters. The string pinsetters hoist fallen pins like marionettes and lower them into place.” A study found the new pins yield 7% fewer strikes than traditional pins.
• Police arrested a top executive of the Indian subsidiary of Wells Fargo for allegedly urinating on another passenger on a flight from New York to New Delhi.
• Meanwhile, six journalists in South Sudan were arrested after circulating footage of President Salva Kiir wetting his pants at an official event.
• TCU’s 65-7 drubbing by Georgia in the National Championship game was bad enough, but TCU fans endured the added insult of being rained on inside a “domed” stadium. SoFi Stadium in L.A. has a covered roof but no side walls, and heavy winds drove rain onto the upper decks that contained TCU fans.
• Closer to home, the Colorado State Rams finished the college football season at #123 in The Athletic’s end-of-season rankings, one spot ahead of #124 University of Colorado. The Air Force Falcons led the state at #40.

So, who won the week?

• GroundFloor Media | CenterTable promoted Becky Cole to Associate Vice President and Lauren Noser to Senior Director.
• Andrea Burns has been named interim CEO of Historic Denver.
• Gail Bransteitter has joined Barefoot PR as Director of Public Relations.
• Jon Ekstrom of Deft Communications has been tapped to produce a new podcast from Altitude Sports’ Vic Lombardi.
• Colorado Sun reporter Shannon Najmabadi is leaving to join The Wall Street Journal to cover issues in Midwest.
• Olympic Gold Medalist and native Coloradan Mikaela Shiffrin tied Lindsey Vonn for most World Cup ski wins with 82.
• Golden’s Lindsey Horan and Highlands Ranch’s Mallory Pugh Swanson have been named to the 24-player US Women’s Soccer Team training camp roster, the first step toward representing the U.S. this summer at the women’s FIFA World Cup.
• Former CSU Ram and current Tennessee Titan punter Ryan Stonehouse broke an 82-year-old NFL record for longest punting average over a season.