Shame on you, Broncos fans. Shame on you.
This is not how you’re supposed to send your Super Bowl Champion Denver Broncos into battle.
The Broncos are defending the most coveted title in all of sports (at least to us Americans), and they were greeted at training camp Thursday – the first day, mind you – by a reported crowd of 3,407, a number supposedly 600 fewer than the opening day crowd in 2015. I’m not buying it; if there were only 600 more to start camp last summer, all them were the size of Vince Wolfork. Ellis’ Island (Joe, that is) looked like it comfortably seated about a quarter of the fans it did a year ago on the same day – the hill don’t lie.
On Feb. 9, an estimated 1 million folks showed up to celebrate the victors of Super Bowl 50. An estimated 24,000 kids from Denver Public Schools alone attended the parade. That’s 26 percent of the entire DPS enrollment. And that number only represents kids from DPS, not schools from any surrounding area. The parade was on a Tuesday.
People in Colorado actually work on Tuesdays in February. Thursdays in late July? As a proud Colorado employer of many fine Colorado employees, I can tell you that summers just aren’t the same. Going to Broncos Camp is something that every self-respecting, thin-air-breathing local understands and accepts. Call it an early lunch.
One half of one percent of a million people is 5,000, and yesterday’s crowd at Dove Valley couldn’t even reach that. So you’re telling me that 99.65 percent of those parade attendees weren’t interested? I agree, it’s more fun to skip school than not, but missing a few hours of work on opening day of camp is practically a hall pass.
What gives, Denver?
We ran a poll on the @MileHighSports Twitter account asking fans why they missed the first day of camp (there’s still time to vote if you haven’t already). When this particular column was filed, the results were as follows:
Working: 39%
Too Hot: 12%
No Peyton: 33%
Been There, Won That: 16%
Really?
Working? We’ve discussed this. That’s not what we Coloradans do in the summer, especially on a Thursday.
Too hot? Please. Yesterday was mild compared to a few of the doozies we’ve had of late. And, as we all know, it’s a dry heat.
No Peyton? Okay, I can understand this if watching Peyton Manning practice was actually fun, or if you could actually get his autograph (which wasn’t easy, was it kids?). It was fun watching him paste 5,477 passing yards and 55 touchdowns on the rest of the league in 2013. It was fun watching him ride off into the sunset with Lombardi in tow, even if he looked nothing like The Sheriff of two seasons ago. Watching him drive a Buick Verano is more fun that evaluating his three-step drop reads in a walkthrough, especially after you already had the chance to do it for four camps in a row. Personally, I’d rather watch a competition at his old position.
Been there, won that. Here’s where I think we’re getting to the heart of the matter.
Broncomania is alive in many, many ways. But in others, it died the day the Broncos won Super Bowl XXXII. That’s not to say it wasn’t the pinnacle for every orange-blooded Broncos fan – without question, it was. But at that moment, we suddenly knew what it felt like. When they did it again in Super Bowl XXXIII, it was – again – fantastic, but nothing could or ever will live up to that first one.
Super Bowl 50 was great, but it was also the third notch on the bedpost. There was unquestionably something special about that one – the way they did it, the way they weren’t supposed to do it, the fact that it sent Manning off right – but the euphoria for that third one? Clearly, it didn’t last like it used to. In economics class, I believe they call it The Law of Diminishing Returns.
Don’t hate me for saying it. Hell, you proved it yesterday.
Remember those lean years? There really haven’t been many, but between Super Bowl titles there have been a few. I know, we’re the champs, but don’t forget names like Cutler, McDaniels, Orton or Frerotte (that would be Gus – the kicking mule – because I know you forgot).
Don’t take this time or this team for granted Broncos fans. Don’t get spoiled. These things are special. Bask in the July sun, even if it’s a little warm out on the hill.
