SUPER BUSTED: Udall Seizes on Super Bowl for Cynical Political Move

In a guest op-ed for The Durango Herald yesterday, liberal U.S. Sen. Mark Udall tried to make political hay out of the great season that the Denver Broncos have had this year (up until yesterday, that is).

Like a pampered prep-school boy who has skated by all semester on his family’s good name, Udall is throwing out every populist measure he can think of to distract Coloradans from his do-nothing-but-rubber-stamp-Obama-policies record he’s earned over the last five years.

In his latest move, he tries to woo Southwestern Coloradans by promising they can always watch the Broncos play:

…one thing Coloradans shouldn’t have to worry about is whether we’ll be able to watch the game at all.

Yet that is exactly the uncertainty that Broncos fans in Durango, Cortez and across the southwest corner of the state have faced for years because of outdated TV boundaries that prevent them from receiving in-state TV programming.

…And these Coloradans are often uncertain about whether the Broncos game will be available over the airwaves. [the Peak emphasis]

This kind of cynical political move, in which the kind Senator does his gosh darn golly best to make sure we simple folk get to enjoy the little things in life, might have worked years ago.

Unfortunately for Udall and thanks to the fabulous website 506sports.com, we can go back and check the NFL TV coverage maps for the past nine seasons.  And, dating back to the 2006 season, there has been exactly ONE game the Broncos have played that was aired in Denver, but not Durango.

That game? On December 30, 2007, a 6-9 Denver Broncos versus an 8-7 Minnesota Vikings (led by rookie Adrian Peterson) game was preempted in Durango by a much more compelling win-and-you’re-in Washington Redskins versus Dallas Cowboys game.  The fact that it’s been seven years since Durango residents missed a Broncos game makes Udall’s next assertion even more preposterous:

That’s why I was proud to work with a New Mexico TV station last year to ensure that residents of Southwest Colorado would not miss any Broncos football this past season. After productive conversations with Fox’s Albuquerque affiliate, KASA, they agreed to air the Broncos’ games throughout the 2013 regular season. While this was an important victory for Broncos fans in this record-setting year for our team [the Peak emphasis]

Holy watch-me-take-all-the-credit-for-a-non-problem Batman!

The last time that a New Mexico TV station did not air a Broncos game for Durango to see, Udall wasn’t even a Senator.

Hey Senator, yeah, we guess we’ll send you a gift basket for making sure Southwest Colorado saw all of the 2013 Broncos season, but could you help us figure out to whom we should send the rest of the gift baskets?  We need to figure out who ensured the 2012 season, the 2011 season, the 2010 season, the 2009 season, and the 2008 season. Although after last night’s trainwreck, maybe Durango residents would prefer not to have the option to watch.