He leaves it on the football field

Sorry folks, I gotta keep giving you Broncos stories today. Here is one from CBS Denver. You may have heard about Denver's supremely talented receiver, Demaryius Thomas. But did you know that his mother and grandmother will be watching today's game from prison?

The two women have never seen Thomas play in person. He was 11 when police burst through the door of their home in Montrose, Ga., and arrested both in 1999. Police allowed Katina Smith to walk her son and his two younger sisters to the school bus one last time.

Now she’s at a minimum-security prison in Florida, sentenced to 20 years. Her mother, Minnie Pearl Thomas, who had two previous drug convictions, received two life sentences with the possibility for parole after 40 years.

Smith could have gotten a lighter sentence by testifying against her mother, but she refused.

They’ll watch Thomas play in his first Super Bowl Sunday, when he will be matched against Seahawks star cornerback Richard Sherman for much of the game.

“I think that drives me more to know that they’re there and they’re watching me,” Thomas said. “I try to go out there and play my best because they’re going to talk about it to the people in the jailhouse.”

Thomas’ father was serving in the Army and stationed in Kuwait when his mother and grandmother were arrested. He went to live with an aunt and uncle, Shirley and James Brown, a Baptist minister who lived six miles away.

Thomas, called “Bay-Bay” by his family, started working as an usher at the church and attending Bible study after track and basketball practices.

“Once I moved in with him, I told him I wanted to do something to stay off the streets and stay out of trouble, so I tried football,” Thomas said. “And it worked out for me.”

“I truly believe his Christian upbringing and sports, playing basketball and football, contributed to him releasing a lot of the anger and anxiety that he had in him,” Brown said. “He left it on the basketball court, on the football field so it didn’t get bottled up in him.”

“The blessing has been just seeing the product of how we took this young man who was lost – well, trying to find his way – and we were able to nurture him and give him what he needed,” said Brown, who will be in the stands Sunday. “When Demaryius was staying with us, I never dreamed that he would be in the Super Bowl. I just wanted to make sure the anger in him didn’t send him down the wrong path like his mama and grand-mama had gone down.”

They call him Champ

Do you know about Denver Broncos cornerback Champ Bailey? Benjamin Hochman writes about Champ today in the Denver Post.

They call him Champ. The Broncos cornerback exudes all of the virtues of what fans desire in a champion. He's cool by not acting cool. He has this aura around him, but not because he's a self-proclaimed stud. It's because he's revered in football circles. It's because he speaks softly, yet with resonance. It's because he's actually so humble, it's hard to believe that someone with his talent isn't shouting about it.

Bailey is a 12-time Pro Bowl selection, an NFL record for a cornerback, but only now will he play in the only bowl that matters.

Bailey missed 11 games this season because of a foot injury. And when he did play, he seemed slow-footed at times, looking more Roland than Champ.

In the AFC championship game against the Patriots on Jan. 19, Bailey didn't just cover slot receivers, he smothered slot receivers. It was an eye- watering performance, the aging warrior mustering up one more fight.

Bailey not only is track-star stealth but freakishly strong, a rare combination at cornerback. He cherishes open-field tackling, which some diva cornerbacks look as dirty work that is saved for safeties. For years, quarterbacks chose to throw to a lesser receiver than throw to their best guy if he was being covered by Denver's best guy. In perhaps Bailey's greatest season, 2006, quarterbacks threw at him only 35 times. He intercepted 10 of those passes, allowing only four receptions. That's right, four.

Sunday's matchup is fitting — the Broncos have the quiet, cool cornerback, while the Seahawks have the brashest dude in the NFL. For years, everyone just knew Bailey was the best cornerback in the league. He didn't have to scream that line on national TV, as all-pro Richard Sherman of the Seahawks did after the NFC championship game.

Today will be the first Superbowl Champ Bailey has ever attended. He didn't want to go to one unless he was playing in it. Join me in rooting for him today.