That Magical Time of Year...When The Broncos Are Playing

Well, it's football season again...my favorite sport of all! Football gets a lot of play in the Barrett household, even on Sundays when I really have more important things to do...like make lunch/dinner, or visit with friends and family, or take care of Primary business. All those things are well and good...but if the Denver Broncos game is on TV, everything else usually ends up taking the backseat.

Nathan and I were both raised in the Denver, Colorado area, so we are both dyed-in-the-wool Broncos fans. If you were a kid growing up in Colorado in the 1980s (the Age of Elway), watching the Broncos was what you did. It was what everyone did on Sunday. Our neighbor had a huge Broncos flag that flew proudly every fall weekend. Even the local Mormons (like my family) got into the football spirit. If the game was on TV during our church services, Dad would set the VCR to record it (ah, the days before DVR). Then we would drive home in total radio silence, so as not to have anything spoiled for us.

Awesomeness. Thanks 104.3 The Fan

I can remember a few times when the young men in our congregation would pray for the Broncos to win big that day...in priesthood meeting! During one of the Broncos' Super Bowl runs, our family sat patiently in the car, as it idled in the driveway, listening to the end of the game on the radio, because we just couldn't wait to find out the results on the TV 30 seconds later. When they scored the game-winning field goal (the one that sent them to the Super Bowl), we were all cheering outside in our chilly car. Yeah, we were a little bit weird.

As luck would have it, my mission farewell fell on the same Sunday as Super Bowl XXXII--John Elway's fourth of five Super Bowls, and the one in which he finally tasted victory over the favored Green Bay Packers, led by Brett Favre in his prime. As thrilled as I was for my mission farewell, and as much as I'd been preparing, I confess that on that evening, when I heard car horns and cheers echoing throughout our neighborhood, I was more excited by the Super Bowl victory than my upcoming mission!

The following day, my brother and I (who ditched school!) drove to downtown Denver and became two tiny specks in a teeming mass of over one million crazed fans, who were there to welcome their conquering heroes home. We ended up standing in front of a ten-foot-tall speaker, which blared loud rock music most of the time we were there. After the victory rally, I had a slight headache; my ears didn't stop buzzing for some time (in fact, I suspect I suffered mild hearing loss that day). But I regret nothing! It was still a euphoric, amazing experience.

 I was serving my LDS mission in Moscow, Russia during early 1999, when Elway rose victorious again in his second straight (and last) Super Bowl, against his old coach Dan Reeves and the Atlanta Falcons. But living thousands of miles away didn't stop me from showing my team spirit:

Ready to preach the Word of God AND sport some stylin' Broncos swag

At the time, a few of the office elders in the mission (also huge Broncos fans) snuck a peek on the Internet to check the results of the game. I was the happy recipient of a (slightly mission-illegal) late-night phone call, in which we all rejoiced at Elway's final triumph.

Now that I've lived in Arizona for several years, I haven't been able to follow my favorite team as closely as I used to. For one thing, we're in the Arizona Cardinals' television market (yawn), and so we don't get many AFC games (and, in a related note, we're too cheap for cable). For another thing, the Tucson area is pretty blase about most pro sports, since they have no pro teams of their own. For yet another thing, most of our friends in the area are more into college football--which is nice, but which we don't like quite as much. And finally, Life has happened to me, and with three small kids and church responsibilities and all that entails, I just don't get time to follow football as closely as I'd like (however, that hasn't stopped me from discovering--and obsessing about--fantasy football in the last few years).

However, our love for the Broncos remains (even though the last decade has been a little rough). That's why, when Nathan was offered the chance to attend a Broncos vs. Cardinals preseason game in Phoenix, he jumped at the chance...despite having only 48 hours notice and having no place to stay the night afterward. Luckily, one of my old mission companions lives in the Phoenix area, and she graciously offered to let Nathan crash for the night. Off he went! His seats actually ended up being decent:

Of course, the biggest reason he went was to see the Bronco's newest starting quarterback: Peyton Manning, our longtime foe suddenly turned friend in the off-season. When he was the Colts' starting quarterback, Manning was a distant, yet ever-threatening menace. Most of the time, we had to watch jealously as he racked up crazy passing statistics, endless winning records, MVP awards, two trips to the Super Bowl (with one victory), and a surefire Hall-of-Fame career. For years, we would always start sweating a little bit when Manning took the field against the Broncos; more often than not, it meant agonizing defeat.

What a difference a year makes. After sitting out the entire 2011 season with an injury, Manning elected to be traded from the Colts, and signed with the Broncos. It's been a surreal summer, trying to picture Manning in the orange and blue:

from getty images

Nathan was very excited the night of the preseason game (or so he tells me, anyway...he's a little blog-shy lately, so I'll do my best to represent him here). He wasn't just excited because it was the first Broncos game he'd ever watched live (I managed to catch a preseason game live many years ago, when Elway was still playing). Nathan also wanted to see Peyton Manning in the flesh, and see if all these crazy news stories about Peyton becoming a Bronco were actually true.

Well, Nathan did get to see Manning...

...there he is!! See him?? The tiny little ant wearing the white number 18 jersey...you may have to squint kind of hard.

Anyway, Nathan did indeed catch a glimpse of Manning in a Broncos jersey, wandering the sideline and talking to the other players and coaches. Sadly, however, Manning didn't play a single down in this game! Ah, the vagaries of the preseason! At least the right team won (the Broncos kicked a last-minute field goal to come out on top, 16-13). I got to watch a little of the game on TV, as well; I was able to bond with Nathan through technology. Nathan got to sit back, relax, bask in the crowd noise, and hang out with the guy who got him the ticket--a friend of ours from our LDS ward. Afterwards, tired but happy, he made his way to Gilbert, crashed at my former mission companion's house, then drove safely home the next morning.

Fortunately, Nathan and I got to watch the next Broncos game on TV together...it was the first Sunday night game of the season (Sept. 9), and it was nationally televised. Gee, do you think Peyton Manning being on the team could have anything to do with that? Thankfully, Manning was his usual efficient, accurate self, leading the Broncos to victory (it still feels weird typing out that sentence). They won at their home field, Sports Authority Stadium (or Mile High Stadium, to the nostalgic holdouts like myself). Peyton (and the whole team, in fact), looked pretty darn good in deconstructing the Pittsburgh Steelers (a team little loved by most of the Barrett extended family!).

So, Broncomania lives on in our home. With the arrival of an elite QB, we have a new sense of hope that has been lacking in our Bronco-watching for the last few years (the Tim Tebow hiccup notwithstanding. I liked Tebow as a person, but I wasn't sold on him as a starting NFL quarterback). Even if we aren't able to watch every single Broncos game this season, we will still be cheering them on. Some things never change.