Governor Bill Ritter, an avid road cyclist, deserves my impromptu Award of Confidence for donning cycling tights in public. And if everything goes as planned, Governor-elect John Hickenlooper and former Governor Bill Owens will be in the running for my next award after appearing in a December 23 ballet performance of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker. The two aren't expected to dance much, but they may well have to wear tights, writes The Denver Post, which notes that Owens' daughter, Monica, proposed the idea for the yet-to-be-confirmed appearance at the Denver Center for the Performing Arts. "I think because of our muscular frames, we are carrying something, maybe a person, then standing attentively and looking very ballet-esque and then retiring graciously to the side," Owens explains, joking that he's better coordinated than Hickenlooper.

The ballet might be a better opportunity to catch the incoming governor than the January 11 inauguration of the Democrat and his lieutenant governor, Joe Garcia. After a 10 a.m. swearing-in on the west steps of the state Capitol and lunch with Colorado students at noon, an inaugural Western dress (notably not black-tie) dinner and dance will take place at the Fillmore Auditorium at 5:30 p.m., reports the Post. After that, a concert at the Ogden Theatre will feature OneRepublic and a "very special guest" for $75—which happens to be the same amount Hick paid in property taxes on his 225 acres of mountain property in Park County, according to local assessor records inspected by Face the State.