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by Daniel Powell
Well, the Broncos managed to outperform all expectations for this season, and have secured the seventh seed in the AFC playoffs. I am sure there are some hard-core Broncos fans that were not surprised - and no doubt, there are many, many, more Broncos fans - who will, adamantly, claim to not have been in the least surprised. After all, everyone loves a bandwagon.
Having grown up in the suburbs of Denver, I can truly claim to have been a Broncos fan – long before the team was ever considered to be competitive. In those early days of the American Football League, the home team was not often in the win column. But, that never stopped their fans from going all out to support the team.
The first game I ever saw was at the old Mile High Stadium. A neighbor had season tickets in the south stands, and had offered to let me join him to see the Broncos take on the New York Jets. It was September 21, 1969, and the Jets were helmed by the great “Broadway Joe” Namath. In a huge surprise, the Broncos had beaten the Namath Jets in New York the year before, however, it was not anticipated (except by the most deluded of Broncos fans) that a repeat was in the cards for that day.
The Broncos, however, put up two touchdowns in the second quarter, and a third in the fourth quarter, to win the day - by a score of 21 to 19. The crowd went wild, and I had my first experience of beer being dumped over me in the south stands. Both happily - and regrettably - it would not be the last time I would experience a “beer shower” in those south stands - which were always filled with the most avid - and the most savage - of Broncos fans. (Dog Pound? What’s that?)
Those early years of the Broncos franchise were “challenging”, and the team was not very good, for a long time. As a result, I became quite accomplished at rooting for a losing football team. So, when I went away to school in Boston, it was no great stretch to become a fan of those very bad Patriots teams of the early 1980s. Many times I have had my loyalties split - when the Patriots and the Broncos have met in regular season, and post-season, games.
Fast forward many years, and I now find myself in a similar predicament. While, I no longer root for the Patriots, my allegiance has transferred to those amazing Buffalo Bills. After watching Josh Allen play in Laramie, who wouldn’t be a Bills fan? I once heard John Elway say that his biggest mistake was not drafting Josh Allen to play for the Broncos. I’m quite sure every Broncos fan in the nation could have told him that!
For a Sunday, January 12 face-off, Broncos travel to Buffalo to meet the Bills. It will be the first play-off game for the Broncos, since Peyton Manning retired. It’s been a long drought for Broncos fans. Down deep, I feel like I should be looking forward to cheering them on. But – Josh Allen!
How do you root against Josh Allen? That’s like blasphemy - isn’t it? I know a member of the Cowboy Joe Club, who has assured me (in no uncertain terms) that you can get sent to hell for that! What to do?
I could, of course, just sit back and relax – knowing that one of my two teams will come out a winner, but that just seems really wrong. While everyone can tolerate someone “jumping on the band wagon” - no one will ever stand for someone “sitting on the fence.” Oh, what to do?
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