Drew Goodman chuckles when recalling his first broadcasting job.

Actually, "broadcasting" stretches the definition.

In 1985, the young, ambitious Goodman, a graduate of Ithaca College in New York with dreams of becoming a sports announcer on the populous East Coast, ended up in Aspen working for KPEN a hustling, stone-age sports cable outlet.

Goodman's "broadcasting" job: driving a battered Subaru almost daily back and forth between Aspen and Glenwood Springs, picking up video tapes chronicling winter sports events in Vail.

A few months later, Goodman moved from the chilly auto to the lukewarm studio providing viewers with live weather and news reports.

Goodman's next professional stop: The fledging Prime Sports Network in Denver, the cable outlet formed in 1988 with Goodman as sports director and on-air play-by-play man.

His varied assignments included a live interview with the owner of a prize-winning bull at the National Western Stock show.

As Goodman talked to the stockman, the bull, standing next to its owner, produced a hearty sneeze, showering Goodman with a concoction of fluids.

"Somewhere in cable tombs of FSN Rocky Mountain is a video chronicling that momentous wet event," Goodman said on the phone from Tucson, while preparing for another season of Rockies baseball on the network.

Obviously, that interview- shower isn't the highlight of Goodman's multifaceted career.

Bring out that tired bromide: He can do it all.

A six-time winner of the Colorado Sportscaster of the Year award, Goodman is celebrating his 21st year working out of Denver - a celebration that includes a new multiyear contract with FSN Rocky Mountain, which evolved from Prime Sports in 1996.

During his 20-plus years on the two cable channels, Goodman has done play-by-play for the Rockies, Nuggets, Avalanche, Big 12 and WAC football and basketball (mainly CU and CSU), college hockey, tennis, golf and skiing.

He also worked for NBC in the 2001 NFL season, broadcasting AFC West games.

If there had been a local championship Tiddlywinks tournament in the last 20 years, Goodman would have covered it.

He also works as in-studio host on FSN and has been a regular on a variety of local sports talk radio programming.

But Goodman is most closely associated with Colorado Rockies baseball - a job he has had on FSN Rocky Mountain since the 2002 season.

So it's not surprising that covering the Rockies - particularly the 2007 season - has given Goodman the most booth excitement and memories.

And in retrospect, he believes the national media badly underplayed that late-season drive that propelled the Rockies into the World Series.

"The team won 21 out of 22, including an extra-inning game, to get into the (World Series). Stories and commentary covered this historic event," Goodman recalled. "But the big media - print and electronic - didn't do the Rockies' pennant drive justice.

"Just think of the amount of national coverage if the Yankees or the Red Sox had performed such an amazing sports feat."

Goodman has family support for his media argument. His father, Arthur, a longtime baseball fan, was in the Polo Grounds in 1951 when Bobby Thompson hit a historic home run to put the Giants in the series.

"Dad believes the Rockies' drive, particularly that play-in game, was even more remarkable than Thompson's home run," he said.

Goodman's new "multiyear" contract could mean the 48-year-old broadcaster is in Denver to stay.

"I have deep roots here," he said. "And my family (wife Kristi and three sons) love Colorado."

Goodman's early dreams about working in the populous East Coast seemed to have faded a bit.

THE BATTLE OF BLUE: College basketball's most intense rivalry? Easy call.

North Carolina vs. Duke. Light blue against dark blue. A backyard game (eight miles separate Chapel Hill and Durham) played on a huge national stage.

This intense, often bloody rivalry (bloody is not an exaggeration) is documented on Battle for Tobacco Road: Duke vs. Carolina premiering at 7 tonight on HBO.

Most college hoops fans are keenly aware of recent court wars that have pitted Dean Smith and Roy Williams against Mike Krzyzewski. But there's much more.

Like previous HBO Sports documentaries, this superb hour utilizes a wide variety of archival film, tape and varied commentary, to provide a fascinating historical perspective that recounts a 50-year rivalry.

A host of familiar figures, including Larry Brown and Michael Jordan, reflect on the ongoing fierce atmosphere. And there's a quick look at Doug Moe mixing it up with the hated Dukies and several shots of former Nuggets star Bobby Jones hitting key baskets for Carolina.

A must-see event for college hoop fans.

Dusty Saunders writes periodically about sports broadcasting. Contact him at tvtime@Comcast.net.