Tag: sports

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment
  • IPG, the parent company of mega-agencies Weber Shandwick, Golin and others, has reduced its headcount by 2,400 positions, or about 4.5%, in the first half of the year, according to regulatory filings.
  • Meanwhile, WPP reported a 10.2 percent drop in revenues for the first half of 2025, and a 47.8 percent drop in operating profit. WPP owns Hill+Knowlton, BCW and Ogilvy, among other large agencies.
  • WNBA players are enduring a new trend of sex toys being thrown from the stands onto the court. It has happened in three games over the past two weeks, and is threatening to become a regular occurrence. Now questions are being raised as to whether crypto bros are behind it.
  • Former Kansas City Chief and Minnesota Viking Jared Allen split his pants performing his signature calf-roping sack dance during his Pro Football Hall of Fame induction ceremony.
  • Colleagues are distancing themselves from San Francisco KOB-TV reporter Griffin Rushton after he got a little … amorous? … with a dinosaur statue during a live shot.
  • The NFL sold a host of its media assets – the NFL Network, linear distribution rights to RedZone and NFL Fantasy, among others – to ESPN in exchange for a 10% equity stake in the sports network. Bottom line – I wouldn’t count on ESPN and its journalists or analysts being particularly critical of the NFL going forward.
  • A retired Aurora police detective kept “30 boxes of investigative material in his home under his floorboards,” and Aurora’s police chief says it may not constitute a crime. He did acknowledge that the records breach was “unacceptable” and raises “legitimate concerns.”
  • Intel CEO Lip-Bu Tan is fighting back after President Donald Trump called for his resignation due to alleged “investments and ties to semiconductor firms that are reportedly linked to the Chinese Communist Party and the People’s Liberation Army.”

Who won the week?

  • CORRECTED RESULTS: PRSA Colorado announced its annual Gold Picks awards this week, and using the proprietary Denver PR Blog formula (3 points for the Grand Gold Pick, 2 points for Gold Picks, 1 point for Silver Picks), the following were the agency winners:
    • Schroderhaus – 10 points
    • Sidecar PR – 8 points
    • Linhart PR – 7 points
    • Barefoot PR – 3 points
    • CIG – 3 points
    • Jumel PR – 2 points
    • Philosophy Communications – 2 points
    • ETPR – 1 point
    • Prim – 1 point
    • Root Marketing & PR – 1 point
  • Metropolitan State University was the big winner of the night, including winning the PRSA Colorado Grand Gold Pick award for its campaign, “Simulating the Future of Healthcare.” It also won four additional Gold Picks, and barely edged Schroderhaus with 11 points.
  • Elise Bishop has joined the PR firm Jack Taylor as a VP.
  • Real estate news service CoStar Group hired Elisabeth Slay to cover residential real estate in Denver. Slay has been with Colorado Community Media for the past two years as a reporter. 
  • Kendrick Castillo, the teen who died trying to protect his fellow students during the STEM School Highlands Ranch shooting in 2019, has been nominated for sainthood.
  • Denver-based Palantir Technologies was awarded a $10 billion U.S. Army contract, yet another win in a string of them that has helped push its stock price up 600% over the past year. Great news for the company but not such great news for privacy advocates.

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment
  • Edelman is laying off 330 employees as it navigates what it expects to be an 8% decline in revenue in 2024.
  • When we last heard from John Bowlen, the son of former Denver Broncos owner Pat Bowlen, he was being arrested for domestic violence charges in 2015. So, did receiving $500 million from the sale of the Broncos help his situation? Looks like not. Westword reported this week that Bowlen posted a series of statements – “White fucking power. … F**k Black people. White is right” on his Instagram while attending a Broncos game in Las Vegas.
  • The CEO of UnitedHealthcare was shot and killed while arriving at an investor conference Manhattan in what appears to be a targeted attack. The New York Times noted that the assassination “has unleashed Americans’ frustrations with an industry that often denies coverage and reimbursement for medical claims.” Some users on social media platforms posted sentiments such as “Thoughts and deductibles to the family” and “Unfortunately my condolences are out-of-network.”
  • In what may or may not be a related story, 24 hours after the shooting Anthem Blue Cross Blue Shield dropped its plan to limit the amount time it would cover anesthesia used in surgeries after doctors went ballistic strongly protested.
  • PR Week released its annual rankings of “Best Places to Work,” and as usual it is heavy on the coastal firms. Of the 29 winners, 62% are located in NYC/NJ and 90% are located in coastal states. Only three non-coastal agencies – in Austin, Chicago and Fairfax, Va. – managed to break through.
  • Vail native Mikaela Shiffrin suffered a deep abdominal puncture wound and “severe muscle trauma” during a frightening crash in a giant slalom race in Killington, Vermont. It is not clear when she may return.
  • Florida International University fired its head football coach, Mike MacIntire, after his third straight 4-8 season. You may remember MacIntire as the head coach of the University of Colorado Buffaloes from 2013-2018.
  • U.S. Sen. Josh Hawley excoriated representatives from Frontier Airlines and Spirit Airlines at a Senate hearing this week. Hawley proclaimed, “Flying on your airlines is a disaster,” and it went downhill from there.
  • The City of Denver has seized the Wash Park Grille for back taxes. The unpaid taxes reportedly date back to April.
  • The Morrison Police Department, most known for running the most brazen speed traps in the state, has disbanded. The Jefferson County Sheriff’s Department will now provide police support to the town.
  • An Italian nun was arrested as part of a raid against the mafia in Milan. She is alleged to have served as a go between for the mafia and its jailed members.

Who won the week?

  • Daniel Brogan has sold 5280, the magazine he launched in 1993, to Charity Huff, the owner of January Spring, a Denver-based advertising technology company that works with dozens of niche publishers.
  • Spencer Soicher, the nephew of former 9News sports anchor Drew Soicher, is joining the station as a reporter. His father, Marc Soicher, was a sports reporter at Fox31.
  • 9News meteorologist Laurann Robinson announced she is leaving the station.
  • Jeremy Bloom, the Olympic skier who also starred in football for the University of Colorado and the Philadelphia Eagles, has been named CEO of the X Games.
  • The annual Forbes 30 Under 30 list included three with Boulder connections – social media content creator Alex Haraus; Sristy Agrawal, the cofounder of Mesa Quantum; and Maddie Freeman, the founder of the nonprofit NoSo.

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment

Who won the week?

  • Boulder‘s Comprise has been named “Agency of the Year” for the fourth straight time by Business Intelligence Group.
  • Philosophy Communications added Phyllis Offee to its team. I’ll give you a minute.
  • The Denver Post healthcare reporter Meg Wingerter will be on maternity leave beginning Monday.
  • A crowdfunding effort has at least temporarily saved The Denver Voice. The Voice’s editor is Elisabeth Monaghan who is well known and loved in Denver’s PR community.
  • University of Colorado QB Shedeur Sanders earned more NIL money – $5.6 million – this year than any other college athlete in the country.
  • Seven friends in England who were testing a new metal detector discovered $5 million-worth of Norman-era coins.
  • Taylor Trammell, currently a 27-year-old minor league outfielder enjoying the offseason, played in 10 major league games this year – five for the Los Angeles Dodgers and five for the New York Yankees. As a result, he is assured of a championship ring when the two teams play in the World Series.

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment

Who won the week?

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment
  • The Olympics are here, and already we have seen some interesting storylines:
    • Charlotte Dujardin, a six-time Olympic medalist from Great Britain, withdrew from the Paris Olympics abruptly after a video of her repeatedly whipping a horse during a training session surfaced. In a statement, she said the video “does not reflect how I train my horses,” but of course it actually does.
    • It was a tough week for the U.S. men’s and women’s national basketball teams. In tune-up games leading to the Paris Olympics, the men’s team barely beat South Sudan and the women’s team lost to a WNBA all-star team composed of women who were not picked for the national team.
    • The head coach of the Canadian national women’s soccer team has been sent home after members of her staff were caught flying a spy drone over the practice of their first opponent, New Zealand. Seems like a pretty low risk-to-reward ratio. The drone probably confirmed that New Zealand planned to kick the ball around a bunch and then try to shoot it in the opponent’s goal.
    • Vandals created a series of arson fires on high-speed rail lines overnight in what officials describe as a “coordinated attack” intended to disrupt access to the opening ceremonies.
    • Meanwhile, the IOC awarded the 2034 Winter Olympic Games to Salt Lake City, but only if the United States goes easy on the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA). WADA has been accused of allowing Chinese swimmers who tested positive for a banned substance to participate in the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. Every time you think FIFA is the most corrupt organization on the face of the planet, the IOC steps its game up.
  • It’s not exactly like Cleveland Browns fans throwing D-cell batteries at opponents, but a professional soccer match in Norway had to be suspended after fans objected to a referee’s call by throwing fish cakes onto the field.
  • The janitors who clean the office buildings in downtown Denver could strike as early as Sunday if they don’t reach a new agreement.
  • RTD police chief Joel Fitzgerald has been on administrative leave since July 1 for unspecified reasons.
  • It’s not just reporters who have an issue with what records governmental agencies hand over. Denver City Auditor Tim O’Brien is pushing to give his office subpoena power. Meanwhile, the Colorado Department of Human Services is charging its own Colorado Child Protection Ombudsman $30 per hour to gather records it has requested.
  • Things are tough all over. King Charles and his British Monarchy have received a $60 million pay raise as Great Britain grapples with the impacts of inflation.
  • Stop me if you’ve heard this one before: A brother of a Denver Nuggets player has been arrested. This time it was Strahinja Jokic, the brother of NBA MVP Nikola Jokic, who was arrested for assaulting a man during a Nuggets playoff game against the L.A. Lakers in April.
  • Wildfires in the Pacific Northwest have caused Denver to rank in the Top 10 globally for worst air quality.
  • Former Denver Bronco and local sports radio host Chad Brown has agreed to pay $200,000 to settle a lawsuit filed by a former business partner. Curiously, the settlement bars the business partner from defaming Brown, including any mention of “’sex, sexuality, cameras, extramarital affairs, pornography’ or a particular adult toy.”
  • Southwest Airlines announced it would begin assigning seats, ending its 50-year practice of letting passengers pick their seats when they board. Business passengers, particularly, had not been happy with the number of people pre-boarding by claiming medical, military or other reasons.
  • Climate activists in Germany forced the cancellation of more than 100 airline flights in an attempt to highlight climate change. The protesters breached security fences at Frankfurt Airport, an important European hub. Meanwhile, flights in South Korea have been disrupted by a North Korean campaign to send large balloons filled with trash into the country. The balloons have small explosive devices with timers that cause the balloons to pop and rain debris.
  • After 101 years in Denver, the Hanneck Dry Cleaners on East Sixth Avenue is closing. As Westword noted, Hanneck is older than bubble gum, parking meters and penicillin.
  • You think you are annoyed by the never-ending 16th Street Mall construction? The Clocktower Cabaret in the basement of the Daniels & Fisher Tower on 16th Street was flooded with raw sewage during a construction mishap.

Who won the week?

  • The Colorado State Rams are retiring the No. 14 across all of its sports teams in honor of Lt. Col. John Mosley. Mosley, who enrolled at CSU in 1939, was a Tuskegee Airman and the first Black person to earn a varsity letter at the university.
  • Colorado Rockies star Todd Helton was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame.
  • Denver Nuggets announcer Chris Marlowe, a volleyball gold medal winner in the 1984 Summer Olympics, is headed to Paris to serve as an announcer for his tenth Olympics.
  • Boulder was named one of six finalists to be the new host of the Sundance Film Festival.
  • The movie “Twisters” nabbed $80.5 million in its opening weekend, blowing away pre-opening estimates of $50 million to $55 million.

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment
  • Former Denver Broncos and current (for the moment) Washington Commanders kicker Brandon McManus is being sued by two women who say he sexually assaulted them on a team flight last year when he was with the Jacksonville Jaguars. He denies the allegations.
  • A man in Michigan joined a Zoom court hearing about his suspended drivers license while he was driving. The judge immediately revoked his bond.
  • A necklace straight out of the Mr. T collection likely saved a Colorado man’s life when it stopped a bullet, according to Commerce City police.
  • Deion Sanders‘ son Shiloh has filed for bankruptcy. Shiloh has earned hundreds of thousands of dollars in NIL money, but he appears to be trying to get out from under an $11.3 million judgment against him from a civil trial alleging that he assaulted a school security guard when he was 15.
  • American Airlines quickly fired its outside law firm after its lawyers filed court documents blaming a 9-year-old girl for allegedly being secretly recorded in one of its airplane’s bathrooms by a flight attendant. The filing claimed that the young girl “knew or should have known” about the secret recording device. This should serve as a reminder to C-level executives that some lawyers care only about winning in court and do not consider what brand damage they may cause in pursuit of that.
  • Newcomers may complain about the skunky smell coming from grow houses along I-70, but those of us who have been here more than few decades know that the Purina pet food plant is the OG of I-70 nasty smells. Now, a group of nearby residents has filed suit, claiming that the plant emits “rancid” and “noxious” odors.
  • If you are headed to Red Rocks, you may want to closely follow the speed limit. The Town of Morrison‘s new radar camera system ticketed more than 10,000 speeders in its first two weeks. At that rate, Morrison will generate more than $10 million in annual revenue from the system.
  • The Denver Post‘s editorial page team is tightening its requirements for contributed articles after an open-records request identified that a lobbyist actually wrote a column submitted under the name of the mayor of Pueblo.
  • A freak lightning strike in Jackson County, Colo., east of Steamboat Springs, killed a rancher and 32 head of cattle.
  • Denver-based STK Steakhouse had its newest restaurant in Washington, D.C. reviewed by The Washington Post, and it was ugly. Describing his meal, food critic Tom Sietsema noted, “For a moment, I imagine(d) myself at 30,000 feet, eating an airplane meal.”
  • If you were wondering how fashion designer Alexander Wang got Taylor Swift, Beyonce, Ariana Grande and Kylie Jenner to appear in an ad campaign, it turns out they are actually celebrity look-a-likes. I wouldn’t want to be the person that has $1,500/hour attorneys, the FTC and the BeyHive after him.
  • TV networks are scrambling for advertising dollars as the median ages of their viewers continue to climb. Fun fact: the median age of MTV viewers is 51.
  • Nissan issued a rare “do not drive” warning for nearly 84,000 of its cars due to potentially exploding airbags.
  • An Ohio billionaire who apparently does not read the news has announced an audacious new plan – traveling to the wreck of the Titanic in a submersible.
  • Pope Francis has issued an apology after it was reported that he used an offensive slur to refer to gay men in a meeting with bishops.
  • June is Pride Month, but PR Week reports that “many brands are taking a break from Pride this year due to the economy or political opposition to DEI and ESG programs.”
  • Denver’s Carrie J. Austin wrote a letter to the editor of The Denver Post complaining about all the growth that Denver has experienced since she “relocated here in 1995 after having spent more than 20 years in the San Francisco Bay Area and in Manhattan and Brooklyn.”
  • Bill Walton was a Hall of Fame basketball player and one of the all-time eccentric basketball announcers. Like all of the all-time greats, he was loved by most and hated by some. He died at the age of 71 after a lengthy battle against cancer.
  • Correction: Last week, I expressed surprise that CPR agreed to a settlement with former host Vic Vela that included leaving the door open to collaborate on his “Back from Broken” podcast. CPR’s Clara Shelton let me know that the agreement is that Vela can continue his podcast on his own and that CPR would not be involved in any future editions.

Who won the week?

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ 1 Comment
  • Coke bottles in Europe that have the tops attached to aid in recycling keep hitting drinkers in the face. “You literally have a fight with your bottle now every time you take a drink,” said one frustrated soda enthusiast.
  • Colorado Public Radio reached a confidential settlement with former host Vic Vela. The agreement opens the door for CPR continuing Vela’s “Back from Broken” podcast, which is a curious development since the news outlet previously claimed Vela was fired for “repeatedly fail(ing) to address his hostile behavior” in the workplace.
  • Speaking of CPR, it has now been nine months since the news organization received $8.3 million from a donor it still refuses to disclose.
  • Kid Rock went full-Kid Rock in a recent interview with Rolling Stone magazine, in which he allegedly “ranted about immigration, liberally used the N-word and, at one point, waved a gun in the air.”
  • The liability waivers that Colorado ski resorts have relied on to protect them from litigation and financial judgments aren’t as iron-clad as thought, according to a new ruling by the Colorado Supreme Court.
  • Colorado has seen a spike in gun-related road rage incidents over the past six years, and now has a rate that is double the national average.
  • The WNBA is investigating a mass sponsorship agreement between the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority and all 12 players on the Las Vegas Aces that would give each player $100,000. The WNBA is concerned that the deal circumvents its team salary cap. The real issue is how vulnerable the WNBA is to outside influences such as gamblers and sponsors because its salaries are so low. Top veteran players barely make more than $200,000 per season, and rookie stars like Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese make closer to $76,000.
  • Cable channel AMC‘s threshold for adding trigger warnings to old movies seems to be moving. It makes sense that AMC would add disclaimers disavowing racist or stereotypical portrayals of characters in movies such as “Gone with the Wind” or “The Jungle Book,” but the channel has now added them to “Goodfellas.”
  • Actress Scarlett Johansson has threatened a lawsuit alleging that OpenAI illegally copied her voice after she refused to license it to the company for its AI efforts. Johansson famously portrayed the voice of the AI assistant in the 2013 movie, “Her.”
  • Denver-based online worker training platform Guild unexpectedly laid off 25% of its 1,200 employees, and its explanation for why was a “buzzword salad” that felt like it was written by AI, according to SE2‘s Eric Anderson.
  • The chair of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC), Martin Gruenberg, agreed to resign once a successor is confirmed following a damning report that concluded Gruenberg was responsible for a hostile workplace at the agency.
  • A recent Fox31 social media post about a drunk-driving crackdown in Denver featured a prominent photo of a police officer wearing a City of Miami safety vest. I guess the Fox31 photo archives aren’t curated all that carefully.
  • Tom Brady‘s attempt to purchase a minority stake in the NFL‘s Las Vegas Raiders has hit several road bumps with other team owners who must approve the sale. They are concerned that his presence as the lead FOX Sports analyst for NFL games poses a conflict, and they aren’t happy about the steep discount Raiders owner Mark Davis appears to be trying to give Brady.
  • A California mother was fined $88,000 after her children “collected clams — thinking they were picking up seashells — on the beach without a fishing license.” A judge has agreed to reduce the fine to $500.
  • The stock of E.W. Scripps, owner of Denver7/KMGH, is trading at about $2.50, its lowest level since 2009. You might want to say a prayer for the employer contribution portion of its employees’ 401(k)s.

Who won the week?

  • Altitude Sports’ Vic Lombardi is being inducted into the Heartland Emmy Silver Circle, which recognizes his 25 years in the television industry.
  • CBS4‘s 10 p.m. newscast finished the May ratings period as No. 1 among adults 25-54 for the first time since 1995.
  • The Trust for Public Land ranks Denver as the 13th-best big-city park system in the nation.
  • Liam and Charlotte were the most popular baby names in Colorado in 2023. Milo, Arlo and Atlas also made the top 100.
  • The median pay for CEOs of S&P 500 companies is now $15.7 million.
  • Colorado Springs is the third-best place to live according to U.S. News & World Report, while Boulder ranks 10th, Fort Collins 39th and Denver 40th. Huntsville, Ala., ranks as the seventh-best place to live, so there probably is a flaw in the methodology.
  • The NCAA has reached a $2.8 billion settlement that opens the doors for universities to directly pay its athletes. Part of that settlement will be used to pay former athletes who were denied payment in the past.

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment

Who won the week?

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ 1 Comment

Who won the week?

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment
  • Former Denver Public Schools board member Auon’tai Anderson has been ordered to pay $61,000 in legal fees to Black Lives Matter 5280 and its board member Amy Brown related to his unsuccessful defamation suit.
  • The layoffs in the journalism industry continue and are hitting close to home. Colorado Public Radio has cut 15 employees in its audio and podcast production departments, although the station’s newsroom was spared.
  • The Denver Broncos announced they will cut QB Russell Wilson, a move that will count $85 million against the salary cap for a player no longer with the team. In his two years with the Broncos, Wilson earned $124 million in salary and bonuses. The Broncos also cut fan favorite safety Justin Simmons.
  • Comedian Nick Swardson had a melt-down on-stage in Beaver Creek that forced organizers to yank him from the stage. He blamed the effects of alcohol and cannabis edibles for his bizarre behavior.
  • European Union regulators fined Apple the equivalent of $1.95 billion for allegedly “thwarting competition among music streaming rivals.”
  • Three passengers who were aboard the Alaska Airlines flight whose door plug blew out mid-flight are suing Boeing and the airline for $1 billion.
  • And Boeing just can’t catch a break. This week, a tire fell off of a United Airlines Boeing plane shortly after take-off as it was en route from San Francisco to Osaka, Japan.
  • A jury has ordered the Denver Police Department – i.e., Denver taxpayers – to pay a 78-year-old Montbello woman $3.76 million for conducting a SWAT-style raid on her house that found nothing. The jury determined that police did not have reasonable cause to search her house.
  • New York Times crossword puzzle editor and NPR “puzzle master” Will Shortz is recovering from a stroke he suffered last month.
  • Meta (Facebook and Instagram) and LinkedIn both suffered unusual outages this week.
  • Scammers cost Coloradans about $164 million in fraud in 2023, up 17% from 2022 and nearly double the amount Coloradans lost to fraud in 2021.
  • Liberty University has been fined a record $14 million by the Department of Education for violations of federal law that included failing to issue timely warnings about criminal activity, failing to notify the campus about emergencies and dangerous situations, and not maintaining an accurate and complete crime log.
  • A U.S. House committee unanimously supported a bill to force TikTok’s Chinese parent company to divest its ownership or face an app store ban in the U.S. 
  • Ikon season passes for Alterra resorts will cost $1,249 (up 7.7%), and Vail Resorts‘ Epic passes will set you back $982 (up 8%).
  • About a dozen fans who attended the bitterly cold January playoff game between the Kansas City Chiefs and the Miami Dolphins suffered such severe frostbite that amputations were required. Unfortunately for Broncos fans, Patrick Mahomes was not one of them.

So, who won the week?

Who Had the Worst Week?

~ Jeremy Story ~ Leave a comment

So, who won the week?