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Troy Tulowitzki The Face Of Denver Sports?

Patrick Saunders of The Denver Post ponders who is the current face of Denver sports this afternoon. It's not John Elway, Saunders writes, because he's not an active athlete anymore. Kyle Orton, Josh McDaniels, or Champ Bailey? Nah, they're either the silent workman, a divisive figure, or a great player trapped on a middling team. Carmelo Anthony? Not with one foot out the door.

Anyone on the Avalanche? None are really stars yet. However, I'd give Matt Duchene a little time and he might enter into the equation. And not to disrespect the Rapids, how about the Rapids' Conor Casey. "Not unless you're a soccerhead," Saunders writes.

So whom does he believe is the face of Denver sports? The Colorado Rockies' Troy Tulowitzki. Saunders hits the bullseye on this one. Saunders goes on to make many Elway metaphors in praising Tulo, but he makes his best argument with this:

Plus, Tulo is a 24-karat leader and a clutch player. Think about what he did this September: He hit 15 homers, and became only the second major leaguer since 1900 to hit 14 home runs in 15 games. He also drove in 40 runs and had a .800 slugging percentage in September. Like Elway, Tulo tried to carry his team on his broad shoulders.

And like Elway, Tulowitzki won't be able to win until the Rockies bring in more talent to help him win. Ubaldo Jimenez and Carlos Gonzalez did all they could to make that possible. Unfortunately, some sort of malaise struck the Rockies over the last two weeks of the season and brought the team back to earth.

Let's hope it won't take until the end of his career for Tulowitzki to win a World Series.