"Yeeahhhh, ba-by," the obnoxious Jazz fan bellowed in his worst Austin Powers impersonation.

"Yeeahhhh, ba-by," he continued after the Utah lead grew larger.

"Yeeahhhh, ba-by," he yelled after another swished jumper or Denver miscue.

With each outburst, Nuggets fans cringed. It's about all they could do, besides sit back, bite their tongues and take in the abuse.

What could they say, what with the Nuggets dropping below .500 at home during the ugly loss last month at the Pepsi Center.

Going into tonight's home game against New Or-leans/Oklahoma City, the Nuggets are 15-16 at the Pepsi Center - a far cry from when George Karl arrived two years ago, when they went 19-1 at home, or the days when even a mediocre Doug Moe team might win nine games on the road but pile up 35 "W's" at McNichols Arena.

What happened to home-court advantage, and the Mile High mystique, that thin-air advantage that used to send Ralph Sampson and Hakeem Olajuwon reaching for the oxygen?

For those who think it's just the Nuggets gagging in the thin air, guess again.

The Avalanche is 18-14-1-2 at home this season. The Broncos were 4-4 at home last season. And the Rockies, who once sent opponents away battered and bruised by the Blake Street Bombers, had consecutive losing seasons before rebounding to go 44-37 last season at Coors Field.

Isn't altitude supposed to mean something?

"I don't know," a perplexed Moe said. "The altitude might have shrunk. We could be sinking."

What's sinking with each home loss are playoff hopes, or at least playoff seeding.

Sandy Clough, the 950 The Fan talk show host who has been on the Denver sports scene since 1979, like so many others doesn't have a definitive answer.

"But if you're not playing a high-tempo game, I don't care what sport you're talking about, you're a moron," Clough said. "You're not fit to be coaching here."

As he sees it, the problem is the Avalanche doesn't have as fast a team now as it did in the Stanley Cup years, and the Nuggets aren't running like they should because of desire or personnel.

That wasn't the case years ago.

"The old Avs could skate circles around (their opponents) and the Nuggets were so successful (at home) in the '80s nobody wanted to come in here," Clough said.

Especially Olajuwon, who said he'd die if he had to play 41 games at this altitude.

"When was the last time you saw teams bring in oxygen?" Clough said.

Moe's run-and-gun teams of the 1980s had the biggest difference between home and road records of any team in the four major sports, winning 27 or more home games in all nine full seasons he coached and posting a .753 winning percentage at home. They went .347 on the road during the same span.

The discrepancy was greatest in 1988-99, when the Nuggets were an aging team. They won only nine games on the road that season but 35 at home.

"I don't have an answer why we're as good on the road now as we are at home," said Moe, now an assistant to Karl. "That's strange."

He said the continuity has been lacking with the changes the Nuggets have experienced, and the lack of chemistry has slowed the Nuggets as a running team. He agrees that is where the altitude advantage slips away.

"The only advantage I thought playing at altitude is if you were playing at a real high rate of speed," he said.

He remembers coming to Denver as a player and feeling out of breath the first five minutes. But once he caught his second wind, he was OK.

"A faster pace is definitely an advantage and proved to be throughout the years," he said. "But you just can't say we're going to have a fast pace; it depends on who you've got together."

Bill Walton, who was in town for ESPN's coverage of the Nuggets-Jazz game, remembers the Moe years and said the Nuggets should have a big home-court advantage - but they have to run.

"I would think the Nuggets would try to capitalize on that just like the Celtics would capitalize on a steam box in the old Boston Garden, just like the Lakers would capitalize on the presence of Jack Nicholson. You use whatever advantage you can get," he said.

Karl, so frustrated at one point, suggested the Nuggets play all their games on the road.

"After being in the league for a couple of years, it seems the players are more distracted at home than they are on the road," Karl said. "It seems like they've got more things to do. Basketball players have turned into businessmen. They've come into being big corporations, and this is where their home base is."

How he changes that is beyond him.

Reminded the Nuggets went 19-1 under him when he took over during the 2004-05 season, Karl pointed to the mental part of the game.

"There's a confidence that comes with playing at home that we don't have right now," Karl said. "We've talked about it a lot, we've addressed it in our meetings. . . . It's always been a philosophical belief in my coaching that you have to win 30 games at home."

Now, with just 10 home games left, that's a pipe dream.

Sandy Clough: Airing it out

Sandy Clough, a talk show host for 950 The Fan, has been on the Denver sports scene since 1979. Some of his thoughts on reasons for the decline of the Mile High advantage.

• On the move to new facilities:

"It's different from what you had at old McNichols or old Mile High Stadium. The atmosphere was more raucous. They were more uncomfortable places for visitors. When the Red Wings rivalry heated up, that was an emotional cauldron. Now they're calmer, quieter places. It's more of a corporate kind of attitude if not a corporate crowd. Why, other than reading those signs that say you're now at 5,280 feet above sea level, would there be any reason to be intimidated?"

• On the fans:

"I don't think people watch the games as closely. They go to games for other reasons; they go to games to entertain clients. I don't get the feeling they're vested in the same way. . . . The atmosphere has changed. People are more serious but less attentive. You didn't have text messaging at old Mile High."

• On the old Nuggets:

"It was completely psychological with them because for years those teams were conditioned to come in here and lose or, if they got behind early, just say, 'We'll wait till our next game.' Now nobody says that."

Home advantage, then and now

All-time home records for Denver's four major professional teams and how they're doing this season or did last season.

Team Home all time Pct. Recent trend

Avalanche 252-121-55-17 .647 18-14-1-2 (.557) this season

Broncos 226-122-7 .646 4-4 (.500) in 2006

Nuggets 782-463 .628 15-16 (.484) this season

Rockies 598-503 .543 44-37 (.543) in 2006

Those were the days:

Top five home seasons for Denver's four major professional teams

Nuggets

Record Season Comment

36-5 1976-77 Led league in attendance in first NBA season but stunned in playoffs after a first-round bye.

35-6 1987-88 Finished season with a 10-game winning streak.

35-6 1988-89 Aging team was 9-32 on the road.

34-7 1984-85 Trade for Fat Lever, Calvin Natt and Wayne Cooper paid dividends but lost to Lakers in conference finals.

34-7 1985-86 Hot at home, still hopeless on road (13-28).

Avalanche

Record Season Comment

28-6-5-2 2000-01 Ray Bourque got his ring as Colorado won Game 7 of Stanley Cup Finals at home against New Jersey.

26-10-5 1996-97 Best regular-season record but lost Western Conference finals rematch against rival Red Wings.

25-10-6 2005-06 Surprising play from some young guns led to first-round upset of Dallas.

25-12-4 1999-2000 Lost at Dallas in Game 7 of the conference finals.

24-10-7 1995-96 Only team in NHL history to win Stanley Cup in first season in new city.

Rockies

Record Season Comment

55-26 1996 Three Rockies hit 40 or more home runs and team set major league record with 658 runs at home.

49-32 2003 All those wins at home couldn't offset 56 road losses.

48-33 2000 Dante Bichette and Vinny Castilla were sent packing and attendance began to decline.

47-34 1997 Larry Walker won NL MVP award, but with a 5.25 team ERA, the Rockies were stuck in third place.

47-34 2002 A humidor was installed to nullify effects of altitude, but after a 6-16 start, manager Buddy Bell was fired.

Broncos

Record Season Comment

8-0 1981 Only 2-6 on road in Dan Reeves' first season.

8-0 1996 13-3 mark gave them home-field in playoffs but lost in upset against Jacksonville.

8-0 1997 John Elway and the Broncos finally won it all.

8-0 1998 Topped 30 points seven times in their second Super season.

8-0 2005 First perfect season at Invesco Field at Mile High.

Where's the Mile High magic?

The Nuggets aren't the only Denver sports team to have lost some Mile High mystique recently. What's going on with the Avalanche, Broncos and Rockies.

Broncos: Slow starters

With the Broncos, some say the answer is simple, and it can't all be blamed on playing in a new stadium.

"A stadium is a stadium, but you've got to have better talent than the other people," said former Broncos defensive end Alfred Williams, left.

He said the Broncos teams of the mid-1990s were better at jumping on opponents early -when visitors found themselves adjusting to the altitude - and not letting them get that second wind.

"You could be down 14-0 before you catch your breath," Williams said.

In all four home losses last year, the Broncos managed at most a 7-0 first-quarter lead.

"They went from being the best first-quarter team in the league to one of the worst," said Sandy Clough, longtime 950 The Fan sports talk host, referring to Denver being outscored 47-44 in the first quarter last season.

Avalanche: Talent drain

With the Avalanche, insiders say, look at who's not here anymore. It's just not the same team.

Nothing was better than the 2000-01 Stanley Cup season. But the Avalanche won it all with five likely future Hall of Famers. Now, all but Joe Sakic are gone.

"There's so much parity now between teams in every sport that to be successful you have to outcompete the other team whether you're out on the playing field or on the ice," said ex-Avalanche player Alex Tanguay, above, now with the Calgary Flames.

Avalanche winger Ian Laperriere said he believes the Avalanche, which has lost 10 home games this season by one goal or in a shootout, try too hard to impress sometimes.

"Sometimes at home you try to put on a little more of a show, try to be a little too fancy. Sometimes that extra move costs you a goal," he said. "When you're on the road sometimes you don't think about that extra move. Maybe at home we should take a road-game approach, more safe and play smarter."

Rockies: Still building

In their fourth year as a franchise, the Rockies won an astonishing 55 games at home. They also lost 53 on the road.

While the road losses have continued to pile up in recent years, the wins at home have leveled off. In the past two seasons, the Rockies were a combined 84-78 at home.

"Obviously, we've gone through a massive rebuilding process," general manager Dan O'Dowd, left, said. "Then I think the humidor has made our ballpark play - I won't say similar to the other 29 parks - but much different than the Coors field in its inception years."

Since 2002, the Rockies have kept baseballs in a humidor to keep them from drying out. That, in turn, prompted a change in how opposing clubs look at Coors Field.

"I (also) don't think they feared (playing at altitude) in recent years because of some of the teams we had. When the Blake Street Bombers were here, teams would come in expecting to get hammered," O'Dowd said.

With lower-scoring games, that isn't the case anymore. The secret for the Rockies, O'Dowd said, is to get that swagger back.

"So many young players showed up very well last year and there's another wave about to hit," he said. "It comes down to confidence. We need a year where we play well, win some games that we normally don't win and get that swagger back that good teams have."

debruinl@RockyMountainNews.com

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