Deep Impact

Boy, that Chicxulub can really leave a mark, huh?

For those like me who have not traveled the Yucatan peninsula, Chicxulub (CHEEK-soo-loob) is a small town on one of the most idyllic parts of the peninsulan curve, one of seemingly impossible beauty.

Chicxulub is also the given name of the impact crater that is now part-in, part-out of that ocean. The larger view shows that the rock that hit it made up quite a bit more of how that portion of the peninsula looks from above:

See, about 66 million years ago, a rock of pretty astronomical size hit the planet. It was big enough that even after the usual “burn a bunch off in the atmosphere” stage that turns most space chunks into tiny meteorites or even nothingness, this rock was still wide.

Like 7.5 miles wide.

For context, 7.5 miles is a little bigger than the distance from downtown Denver’s Union Station to the very far edge of Washington Park. A rock that big came down and smacked what eventually became Mexico, making a splash so large as to send water, rock, and dust clear back out into space, which then all came hurtling back down as masses of fire streaking the sky across the entire planet. The dust from the impact stayed in the sky for years, altering temperatures, decimating vegetation, and killing nearly all non-avian dinosaurs, globally. While the rock itself was 7.5 miles across upon impact, the dent it left is 112 miles across. That’s more like the distance from Union Station to Beaver Creek. Holy. Moly.

Those large foreign bodies crash landing unexpectedly can really make an impact, huh? Sometimes they change… everything.

It was a glorious, seltzer-soaked, and well-attended parade that put the immediate finishing touches on this year’s Denver Nuggets celebration, in which the Nuggets players, coaches, and organization were able to get together with around THREE-QUARTERS OF A MILLION of their closest friends to light things up. While their rings will come early next season, this was certainly the blowout celebration portion of the program.

Celebrate what, you ask? Well in case you’d miraculously not heard the barbaric yawp of 750,000 Nuggets fans, the winning of their first championship, of course, whether it’s the first in 47 (NBA), 56 (plus ABA), or even 75 (NBL-to-NBA) years in your record book. For the first time in their history, the Denver Nuggets are at the top of the NBA, and (gasp) maybe even at the forefront of the Colorado sports conversation. What these Nuggets have done has made a larger impact than any of their predecessors, and because that dent is so fresh, it’s interesting to imagine the ripples that smack creates for the team, the league, and their fan base from here.

What will the impact be of a Denver Nuggets championship upon a local and national fan base that had often struggled to maintain continuity and cohesion over those uneven years? How many kids who stood on today’s parade route may stick by the team when it hits a rough patch in a decade or three? How many of them will remember this year’s success, and hopefully more successes to come as the expectation, not the outlier?

Speaking of expectations, what will the impact of this success be on the future expectations placed on these Nuggets? They will surely be the favorites to repeat next season, and good luck playing their favorite “we’re the underdog” card from here. Will a target on their back for next season bring out even better things in them, or will the dynamic shift? Ask the Broncos of the late ’90’s… the bar these Nuggets are now expected to clear has shifted exponentially. They are capable, but expectation is a heavy weight.

What is the impact of this astounding Nuggets run on a larger national and global fanbase? Where will the most far flung Nuggets jersey be seen?

Those kids mentioned above won’t just be watching more Nuggets basketball, they’ll be getting on the court more themselves as well. A couple of family trips this last week took me from Denver to Fort Collins to Cheyenne to the Springs and even to Limon, and good luck finding an open playground court these days. Nearly every school I drove past is out for the summer, but there are kids out there getting up shots. I wonder what impact might have inspired that? Just like I wonder how many school and youth leagues will have wrestling matches over numbers like 15 and 27.

What is the impact on the NBA of their best player being damned near attention-allergic? How does one go about actively marketing a guy who actively does NOT wish to be marketed? Does this bring about an era of league-wide attention to the variety of styles and talents the league has to offer? Or does this somehow blunt their ability to draw interest when their marquee simply will not be sexy?

What is the impact on the opinions of free agents around the league who just watched DeAndre Jordan, Ish Smith, and Jeff Green making sure their ring sizes are correctly registered? Those gents (and all the rest of the team) are going to spend this summer waiting on a pretty wicked bit of bling. Will those sparkles and the bordering-on-ensured-stat-lift that Nikola Jokic gives you be a sweet enough incentive to come play along here at altitude?

What is the impact of this success on the way teams around the league build their squads? Will they also be more patient with their plans? What is the shift in the way they look at the malleability of their players? Jokic isn’t just the point guard in that pick-and-roll, Jamal Murray is the center. Hell, sometimes they are both guys, back and forth in the same play. Bruce Brown is neither a point center nor the largest of guards, but he plays both positions pretty damned well himself. There are a multitude of Swiss army knives on this Denver squad.

What is the impact of this larger spotlight on the few warts this amazing Nuggets team has going on in the background? Subjects like their local viewability and training facilities often fell by the wayside as there simply weren’t enough voices in the conversation yelling about the issues. How will many of those parade-thrilled kids feel in three and a half months when their Nuggets aren’t anywhere they can see?

What is the impact of this championship on the other major league teams in Colorado? Their sister club Avalanche have a recent ring of their own, but this must raise the stakes a bit for both clubs at the Pepsi Center. Key members of the Broncos were watching and being seen throughout these NBA playoffs, and “saw habits they could make use of” in their hoops-happy counterparts. The Rockies went from “at least we made it to a championship” to “you just have to draft a miracle how low?”

Those large foreign bodies, they can make an impact. Impacts with ripples that extend into the future. Impacts like the one Nikola Jokic has made on basketball and the city of Denver. Like the ones Jamal Murray, Mike Malone, the Kroenkes, and the rest of the crew on the inside of that parade just made upon us all. The parade is in the books, and this is a moment to savor, as your Denver Nuggets are the NBA Champions for the next 125 days or so. Then the season starts, and they become the defending champs. And so on.

Things are different around here now, Nuggets Nation. Now, and forever. The bright lights of this big dent are shining pretty brightly at the moment. Almost like fire across the sky. The ripples and repercussions of this impact have changed the larger course of things, and will be felt for years, maybe decades to come. It will be fun and still occasionally infuriating to see where all of that leads.

Oh, Mile High City Basketball. Now you’ve gone and gotten yourselves a ring. See what you went and started? Let’s Go, Nuggets.