Let's look at this from an improper crosswind takeoff technique perspective. According to this article:
DIA crash details emerge - The Denver Post
Forty-one seconds after Continental Airlines Flight 1404 began its takeoff roll at DIA on Saturday night, a "bumping and rattling" started, according to information gleaned from the cockpit voice recorder. Four seconds later, a pilot called for a rejected takeoff, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
Now, I know that it's improper to speculate on what caused the accident, but this seems like a good opportunity to look at good crosswind technique, which I have found sorely lacking in many pilots that I've flown with.
If there was no upwind aileron being applied, only directional rudder, then as the airplane approached flying airspeed, it is quite likely that the upwind wing could have risen, lifting the upwind landing gear, and placing all of the weight of the airplane on the downwind main landing gear. This would cause skipping, and could account for the "bumping and rattling" on the CVR.
If this were the case, then more rudder would have been applied to correct the aircraft toward the runway centerline. You would have the effect of an airplane pointing to a heading a number of degrees left of the runway heading.
Okay, now follow me here. The captain gets quite uncomfortable with this situation, and executes an abort.
Four seconds later, a pilot called for a rejected takeoff, according to the National Transportation Safety Board.
He simultaneously returds the throttles, extends the speed brakes (spoilers) applies reverse thrust, and the wheel brakes.
What happens when the spoilers get deployed? All of a sudden, the lift is killed on the upwind wing, all four MLG tires 'bite' the runway surface, and the airplane immediately follows its heading, which, as you remember, was to the left of the runway heading.
Of course we won't know what really happened for a while, but it's a valuable lesson for the beginning pilots here "aileron cures skipping".