5,356.
That’s how many days it has been since the city of Denver has celebrated a championship in one of the four major sports.
There have been some crowns won during that time. The Colorado Rapids hoisted a MLS Cup. The University of Denver won national titles in hockey, skiing and lacrosse. And CU continued its dominance in cross-country and skiing.
But in football, basketball, hockey and baseball – the four sports that will cause a city to shut down its streets, collectively take the day off work and throw a ticker-tape parade when the hometown team is crowned a champion – it’s been a long drought.
Sure, the Rockies came close to breaking through in 2007. But after a miraculous run to the World Series, the Red Sox swept them in four lackluster games.
Yes, the Nuggets created some excitement in 2009. But a couple of bad inbounds passes derailed their pursuit of an NBA title in the Western Conference Finals.
And just two years ago, the Broncos were certainly on the doorstep. But the greatest offense in NFL history was stymied in the Super Bowl, losing 43-8 to the Seahawks.
As a result, June 9, 2001 remained the most recent high-water mark in the Mile High City. That’s the night Ray Bourque finally got to lift the Stanley Cup. And it was the last time the city of Denver was on top of the sports world.
Until yesterday.
Behind a historically great defense, one that will go down in NFL annals among the best units – on either side of the ball – of all-time, the Broncos shocked almost everyone with a 24-10 victory over the Panthers in Super Bowl 50. Nearly a touchdown underdog at kickoff, Denver was able to upset a Carolina team that entered the game at 17-1 and featured the league’s Most Valuable Player for 2015.
And in the process, they gave the Mile High City reason to celebrate. Now, it’s up to everyone who bleeds orange to relish the moment.
Don’t let outside noise spoil the fun. Who cares what the naysayers chirp about this morning? The Lombardi Trophy doesn’t come with special bows and ribbons if a team wins the Super Bowl in splashy fashion; style points don’t matter when it comes to winning the biggest game in American sports.
And don’t let internal strife be a wet blanket on the celebration. At the end of a season that has been divisive at times, let debates about who should be the team’s starting quarterback, discussions on the merits of giving a wide receiver big money and arguments over how an offensive line should be built go by the wayside. Those points are all moot now.
Just bask in the glow. Soak it all in. Enjoy the moment.
In other words, listen to the Broncos quarterback – a man who five weeks ago was on the brink of seeing his Hall of Fame career end in the most unspectacular of fashions, as he was riding the pine behind Brock Osweiler heading into team’s regular-season finale – for some perspective on how special this moment is for everyone involved.
“I certainly knew how hard it is to get here,” Peyton Manning said last night in Santa Clara, as he fielded questions after winning the second championship of his illustrious career. “It takes a lot of hard work and you got to have some good fortune.”
Darian Stewart has to intercept Joe Flacco in the waning moments of the opener. Bradley Roby has to scoop and score in the final minute at Kansas City. And Chris Harris Jr. has to get a timely pick-six in Oakland.
Jay Cutler’s pass on a game-tying two-point conversion needs to fall incomplete. The same thing needs to happen to Tom Brady in the AFC Championship Game. And the Broncos need to go a perfect 3-0 in overtime games during the season.
An incomplete pass has to not be overturned. Danny Trevathan has to recover T.J. Ward’s fumble deep in Broncos territory. And the previously reliable Graham Gano has to doink a makeable field goal off the upright.
The list of things that went Denver’s way this season, and in Super Bowl 50, goes on and on; it was a storybook year, one that will make for an amazing edition of “America’s Game” in a few months. And all of those breaks, those moments that could have gone either way but wound up tilting toward the Broncos, simply illustrate how hard it is to get to this moment.
That’s why it should be relished. That’s why it needs to be savored. That’s why it’s worth celebrating.
It took nearly 15 years, but the city of Denver is finally back on top. The drought that lasted 5,356 days is finally over.
