NBA/NUGGETS
Denver–The Denver Nuggets go for their 9th straight home win tonight against the Minnesota Timberwolves.
COLLEGE BASKETBALL
The CU Buffs Men’s team begin Pac-12 play tonight on the road when they take on the 3rd ranked Arizona Wildcats.
BRONCOS QB WINS ANOTHER AWARD
Denver–Peyton Manning tied yet another NFL record Thursday, this one held by Tom Brady, when he won his sixth career Offensive Player of the Month award. Manning joined Kurt Warner (2001) as the only players with 10 TDs, 1,300 yards, a 70 percent completion percentage and five wins in December as the Broncos (13-3) captured the top seed in the AFC playoffs. He did it while wearing a glove on his throwing hand for the first time in his career, testing it in home games against the Browns and Chiefs in preparation for cold weather in January. Manning said he’s been “OK the past two weeks,” but he’s been more than that: his completion percentage was 5.8 points higher and his QB rating was 19.2 points better with the glove.
SKIING/LYNDSEY VONN BACK ON THE SLOPES
Lindsey Vonn is feeling better and has returned to Europe. She has started training again in preparing for her return to the World Cup circuit this month after a midseason break to recover from an intestinal illness.
The racing director of Vonn’s equipment supplier tells The Associated Press that the four-time overall winner arrived in Austria on Wednesday and began light training Thursday. Rainer Salzgeber adds that Vonn plans to race the downhill and super-G in St. Anton, Austria, on Jan. 12-13. Vonn has not competed since falling in the opening run of a giant slalom in Courchevel, France, on Dec. 16. After that race, the American said she was going home to fully recover from her ailment that landed her in the hospital in November.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL-FIESTA BOWL
GLENDALE, Calif. (AP) – College football’s never-ending bowl schedule continues tonight with the Fiesta Bowl. It features two teams that were in the national championship discussion before each suffered a late-season loss. Fifth-ranked Oregon meets No. 7 Kansas State in a meeting of 11-1 clubs. The Wildcats and Ducks are both in the top 5 of the BCS standings and have two of the nation’s most dynamic offenses, setting up what should be a second straight marquee Fiesta Bowl. Oklahoma State outlasted Stanford 41-38 in overtime last year.
