Couple Takes a Hit on Goal Post Scheme : Entrepreneurs: Plan to sell splinters from torn-down University of Colorado crossbeam doesn’t get off the ground.

Schoolteachers Bill and Cheryl Dennler saw dollar signs the day fans tore the goal post down at the University of Colorado, but the Buffaloes’ dream season has turned into a nightmare for the Dennlers.

They do not expect to turn a profit on their 400 commemorative slices of the goal post. In fact, they may not break even, the Dennlers said.

It started Nov. 4 when Bill Dennler watched elated fans topple the goal post at Folsom Field in Boulder after Colorado beat the Nebraska Cornhuskers. The game basically assured Colorado a trip to the Orange Bowl in Miami.

Now the Dennlers’ family room is stacked with about 400 commemorative slices of the goal post, slices the Dennlers cannot sell.

“We’ve only sold about 50 of them,” Cheryl Dennler said Tuesday. “We’ve learned a lot about marketing. We’ve learned that we’re not salespeople. We’ll never do it again.”

Bill Dennler would not say how much money they have invested, but the couple took out a second mortgage on their home to finance the endeavor--selling chunks of the goal post for $59.95 apiece.

Still, he is optimistic. “It’s not going to kill us. I’m not giving up. I’ll make something positive of this.”

Each slice of the goal post’s crossbar is mounted on a wooden base with the Colorado logo. It comes with a certificate signed by university officials to verify its authenticity.

Dennler said he wondered about the project early on when the university misplaced the crossbar after agreeing to give it to him.

Then there was that pesky little orange. It seems that any Orange Bowl-related oranges--with or without the official logo--are controlled by the Orange Bowl Committee. The committee eventually allowed the Dennlers to use the orange for a fee of $1,500 and 10% of their profits. Another 10% of the profits--if any--goes to the university.