Durable lineman keeps rolling along

Nearly an hour after the Colorado Crush's season-opening 65-56 win over the Chicago Rush, offensive lineman Kyle Moore-Brown remained on the confetti-coated Pepsi Center field signing autographs until the arena was empty and dim.

Moore-Brown, 34, was named to AFL's All-Ironman team in 2005. He made his 159th consecutive regular-season start on Sunday. The game also marked his 177th consecutive AFL game including playoffs. Moore-Brown has not missed a game since joining the league in 1995. He couldn't remember the last time he missed a football game on any level.

"To be honest I don't even know the count," Moore-Brown said. "I'm just happy to do something I love to do, with coach (Mike) Dailey and these guys with the Crush. If it's a streak, it's a streak because God wants it to be."

Moore-Brown thought his streak might end during last year's AFL title run. He injured his right ankle during the American Conference championship game and wasn't sure if he would be able to play in the ArenaBowl. But Moore-Brown did play -- and wound up injuring his left ankle.

"I've never missed a football game -- in college . . . I can't even remember missing any in high school," Moore-Brown said. "And that's the truth. The desire overcomes all the pain."

NOTEWORTHY

Former Kansas State athlete and New England Patriots quarterback Michael Bishop is a backup QB for the Rush. When he signed with Chicago, he wasn't expecting to be the team's backup kicker, but it happened on Sunday -- after Keith Gispert suffered an injury in pre-game warmups. Bishop handled the kickoff duties, while defensive specialist Todd Howard was asked to handle extra-point attempts. Howard was awful enough to force the Rush to go for two-point conversions. Bishop's kickoffs weren't much better -- four of them landing out of bounds. "In high school, I did some punting," Bishop said. "Kicking (on Sunday) was new to me. I was caught off-guard. I did all right, but that's not what I'm here for."

Crush quarterback John Dutton matched his single-game club record of eight touchdown passes on Sunday. Dutton is the only quarterback on the team's roster. He laughed when asked if team CEO John Elway might be angling for a football comeback. "He's got his uniform just in case," Dutton said. "I don't think he's thinking about it -- I don't think he wants to play in this league." Elway laughed at the thought -- though it wouldn't be a surprise if he wound up throwing some passes in practice. The Crush likely will add a quarterback to its roster this week.

The Crush's Damian Harrell was flattered when he learned Elway told a national television audience that the offensive specialist has "the best hands I've seen in a receiver." It would high praise considering Elway threw to some pretty fair receivers -- Shannon Sharpe, Rod Smith and Ed McCaffrey -- during the Broncos' back-to-back Super Bowl seasons. "I can appreciate that, man -- especially coming from Elway," Harrell said. "I just try to do what I do. Whenever they call my number I just want to make a play." Harrell was sprawled on the ground and covered by a defender when he pulled in a third-quarter touchdown pass -- giving him at least one touchdown catch in 50 consecutive games. He can expect to see himself on a number of sports highlight reels. Asked if he's made any catches that were better, Harrell said, "Actually, I have a few others. But that one will go down as one of my top 10."

Last season's American Conference title game between Colorado and Chicago is remembered for the blasts of confetti that covered the field at Pepsi Center -- before the end of the game. When Sunday's game officially ended, the field was showered with confetti again -- prompting Rush wide receiver Etu Molden
to say, "What is the deal with confetti in this place?"

Denver Broncos Pro Bowl safety John Lynch is a scheduled guest today (8 a.m.) on ESPN2's Cold Pizza show.

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