I originally posted thison October 22nd of last year when things started to go downhill for us.  Seeing as how we've hit the "turning point loss" I thought I'd repost andupdate it because I think it's important to know where we stand psychologically as the losses now seem to be coming with disturbing regularity....   Updates are in Bold.

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It's an exciting time to be a Bronco fan.  

With the exception of the couple years we had our brains bashed in by Indy in the first rounds of the playoffs and perhaps the AFC Championship run of 2005, our reflections of season's past at this point in the season have been to wistfully look back on the times when greater fortunes had befallen our beloved franchise.   Looking back there is much to be proud of - The Drive, The Fumble, The Drive II, XXXII, XXXIII - even diving into the history books and learning about the '77 season...  Nevermind the individual achievements of the greats that have made watching fun.... 

For the last decade we have all sat back and pointed to our dusty Superbowl and AFC Championship trophies and said to one another - "we were a great football team....  Man, we were something...."  Then when our  (pre-McD) franchise put a watered down version of greatness on the field we still reveled in our cursory connection to greatness - noting each step of the way as we lost players from our Superbowl runs.... Sharpe, Rod, McCaffrey, Elam (etc).... Until we suddenly looked around and the greatness was gone and all we had left was a man who had not only lost his fire, but his team as well.  The last three seasons were agony because we were a sub-par team wearing the uniforms of a once great team.  We were happy to reflect on the Elway (and Morton) SB years to ease the pain of being a tragically flawed football team.  What had our great team done lately?  Nothing. 

We were alarmed, but not surprised when Mr. B pulled the plug on Shanny... We were crushed when the boy wonder was shipped out of town to Chi... We were confused by the draft that heralded a running back with our first pick overall - a running back?  The handling of B Marsh being a whiny malcontent.... The institutions we'd grown accostomed to - a rocket armed QB, 15 scripted plays to begin the game, the naked bootleg bomb, were being stripped away before our very eyes by this young secretive New Englander (New England!? I F'n hate New England!!!)... This for sure was not going to go well...

It only seems fitting that in the first game of the new coach's career  was to get a name - The Immaculate Deflection.  Then the pasting of Cleveland and Oakland... Then the incredible victories against Dallas and now New England.  We are 5-0!  Commentators and some on this very site have noted that when the Broncos are 5-0 we go to the Superbowl.   Could it be that a new coach, new players, new schemes all add up to what we've been waiting for all this time?  Sure Superbowls and AFC Championships are what I'm talking about, but in the bigger picture what we're looking for is "NEW LORE".  New things to toss in the face of Raider and Charger fan.  New highlights akin to Atwater stopping Okoye to pull up on YouTube... New exciting points in our history that we can look back on like all those dusty trophies.    

What Bowlen saw when he looked at our 8-8 Broncos was a conglomeration of people content to look backward and not forward - led by Mike Shannahan.  He lacked the hunger... The drive to do whatever it took to get back to where we needed to be.  Hubris interfered and we lost some really great players along the way - Trevor Pryce, Bert Berry, Jason Elam.... The Mastermind was fine to get rid of these stars because who was anyone to question him - he brought greatness to our franchise. 

McD was 23 years old when Elway won his first Superbowl... Many of our rookies weren't even old enough to see a PG-13 movie. Those days are in the distant past now.  What we have is firey young coach who's dedicated to building his own storied legacy with players who enthusiastically share the same goal.  Let's still enjoy our great times and the glory of our younger years, but let's look to the rest of this season and revel in it's unexpected awesomeness.  For the first time in a more than decade the Broncos are building new history lore - pushing to re-establish themselves as the premier franchise that we all remember them to be and had hoped they would be.  What's next?  Who's going to write the next page in the hallowed book of Denver Broncos lore?

It's an exciting time to be a broncos fan.

J

I was just discussing the Broncos injury situation with my buddy the Packers fan and I was telling him about Spencer Larson.  On the surface, his injury sounds harmless enough - the dude slipped in the shower and injured himself.  My buddy laughed and asked me, "what the hell was he doing in the shower BEFORE the game?"  If you think about it, it really doesn't make much sense... What athelete hops in for a quick rinse moments before they're about to get incredibly filthy and sweaty playing the game?  Right?  Kind of odd.... Does this strike anyone else as really weird?  There has to be something more to this, right? 


Perhaps he stepped in pee pee or something...

J

Floyd's getting in the Hall, that's what's happening! 

(To see our most recent update on Floyd Little posted earlier today - Click here.  Also, if you haven't already read it, check out firstfan's letter to the senior committee here.)

With the HOF proceedings now in the rear-view mirror, the heated HOFdebates we all engage in start to die down and are put on the back burner with the approaching football season.  We as the HOF Committee are committed to keeping our very deserving players on the forefront of the Hall of Fame debate until all those that are hall worthy are there.  To that end, we have a very important deadline approaching:

On August 25th, the Senior Committee is meeting to determine which two players are going to be their nominees.   From the responses we've gotten from these selectors, we know that for sure Floyd in is the mix of their discussions.  Now is the time for all Bronco fans to rise up and let our voice be heard loud as rocky mountain thunder.  We've got 15 days until things are decided and we've got little time to waste.  What follows are suggestions, guidelines, resources, and email templates so that we may let the Seniors Committee know with all our collective might that Floyd's getting in the Hall, that's what's happening! 

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As a fun diversion from the training camp addiction I'm managing, I thought it would be fun to put together a list of 10 Commandments for Broncos Fans.  Of course, if you have any that you think I missed perhaps these commandments could and should be added to and/or amended. 

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For those of you who have clicked around, Denverbroncos.com is without a doubt a premiere NFL official team site.  I've wandered over to other team sites and ones that are on par with "ours" (lest we confuse it with the awesomeness of MHR) are hard to find.  I gotta say that I LOVE the Broncos TV features, especially the recaps of each day of training camp.... 

Having graduated film school oh so many years ago, I would like to impart a peice of criticism that I recieved back in those carefree days (of back to back Bronco Superbowls)...   You can't have so many things tacked on to your "feature presentation" that it usurps what you're trying to say. What am I saying?  I'm saying that I can't handle the two minute Comcast commercial for something I can't get here in LA anyway only to be followed by the 1 minute opening guitar rock highlight thing that's done (it's great, but not every time I load a video).  By the time I burn through the three+ minutes of opening crap to get to the Training Camp Day 2 Highlights, I'm more than halfway through the length of the broadcast media and I feel robbed.

Denverbroncos.com - you're doing great work.  Andrew Mason had the charisma of a cantelope and you done good there (I was nervous he was dismissed at first, but things seems to run smoother in the AV department these many months since).  I urge you DB.com... Please... Figure something out to make your peices as long as the useless ads/intro that you place in front of them.  Times have changed, you can put larger format peices on there. I  know you're capable and now that you've got our attention, do more with it!!!

J

P. S. CBS4 - You need to put more of your material online too.  I got the text alert (what I affectionately call the 66247 communique) about some half hour training camp show being broadcast in Denver... What's say you put at least a portion of it online for those of us who represent the home team away from home.  The fact that there's not even one clip from these specials is just a travesty.  As the Denver affiliate, I'm expecting you to do better.... Oh... and while I'm at it... more Gary Miller and less Vic Lombardi - I watch you on the DirectTV sports package and I get the feeling that Lombardi is the type of guy that's trying to score with your sister. Yeah, it's that kind of smarmy - I rock the tanning bed three times a week - vibe I get from him... eew.

On my way back from a wedding in Georgia, I picked up this years Sporting News Pro Football Preview (a yearly ritual that I look forward to).  As usaual I thumbed first to the Broncos preview and looked at our record from 2008.   Holy Cow! Our first loss was a beat down by two touchdowns by the Chiefs at Arrowhead.  Now I know we never win at arrowhead (kind of like we never beat the Dolphins), but if you step back and look at this disaster for what it was, you can't help but sympathize with Bolwlen tossing all of Shanny's stuff into the yard and locking the door behind Mike when he went to retrieve it.  While the box score shows that we lost by two touchdowns (33-19), it was never really that close.

Though we gained more yards and first downs we could not get into the end zone.  The Chiefs did everything in their power to give us the game committing 45 yards in penalties.  We committed 4 turnovers, two ducks by Chicago's golden boy.  Between the 20s Cutler and Shanny were great, but when it came time to finish the job neither had it in them to get it into the endzone.  Sure, the receivers were of no help turning it over once apiece, but kicking 4 fieldgoals in once game is ridiculous and scoring just one touchdown is inexcusable.  For the record, I am certain that Orton could easily have completed the 16yd TD that Cutler did.  Cutler's passing percentage was 59%.  Simply put, the Chiefs had been there and done that with our schemes before and capitalized on a poor gameplan and poor QB play (okay and the defense too geez) to best us.

But what really stings about that loss was that that one game comprised 50% of the Chief's victories for the year.  The Chiefs only won two games in 2008, one against the Broncos and one against the Raiders. I don't care how many pro-bowls you gone to or how many HOF QBs you've coached, you can't allow a team that awful... that wretched... that division rival of yours who is on the floor pounding on the life alert pendant gasping for air to not only beat you, but to embarass you by only allowing one touchdown.  They only won 2 games all year!

Then!  Later in the year the Broncos did the same thing only worse to the Raiders!  We lost to the Raiders at home 31-10.  AT HOME!  Once again we led in virtually ever stat category and yet we could not even make it look close.  Nope, not even a garbage touchdown for us.  Cutler was stellar with a 43% passing percentage and committing two turnovers, a fumble and interception.  Special teams and defense were totally lacking in this beat down.  Shannahan's failure  to gameplan for Johnny Lee Higgins and Darren McFadden is one thing, but to allow former Eddie Quitterson Award winner Ashlie Lelie to score a TD against us is insult to catastrophic injury.

Simply put, our coach put the onus of winning the game on the back of Jay Cutler and when he did Cutler buckled under the pressure and failed to deliver anything substantial.  Sure, it won us a few games, close games (and an awesome not so close one against the Raiders to start off the year and get our hopes up), but it lost us more than a few games and we lost them bad.  I didn't even bring up the Carolina or second San Diego game.

So Shanny is out and Cutler is in Chicago.  Shanny, I love ya and you were the greatest when we were winning and the worst when we were losing (Devin Hester jamming us up twice in one game) and now I'm happy for the change.  This year may be rough, but I have high hopes and know the change was necessary.  Cutler?  Well, my friend... You're leaving a team where you had difficulty making things happening with a hyper productive reciever corps and an iron clad(y) line for a team with no receivers and a line that's going to have you running for your life.  Further, his inability to perform in critical division games against inferior opponents will not help him against a stacked Vikings team and a tough Green Bay team.  The Lions shouldn't give them too much trouble... but then... they were just two wins away from being the Chiefs.  Good luck Jay!  See you on August 30that Mile High wearing your jersey and and baby bonnet with a diaper.  I'm praying to see something like this...

  I am pumped for this year.  It's gonna be excitng.  It's gonna be fun.  Go Broncos...

...and Rod Bless.

 J  

That's me!  #4,958! Just called the season ticket office for my yearly tradition of finding out where I am on the waiting list for my tickets.  I joined the waiting list probably nine or ten years ago and have been patiently waiting for my number to be called for the seats.  Last year I was #7,000 something... 

So with all the off season turmoil and economic decline I ascended on the waiting list around 2,000+ slots.  I am estimating that within two to three years (assuming the broncos do well, which I always do this time of year) those tickets will be mine!  Of course I know that when I am finally given those tickets, they'll be nosebleeds in the corner of the endzone, but they'll finally be my seats... at least until I can get better ones. 

Where are you on the list?  How many years out are you?  Don't know?  Here's the number - 720-258-3333. 

Thank you and Rod bless.

J

I borrowed this off of a Blazer site.  Print it our and put it next to your Birdman and Chauncy photos there on your desk for quick reference.

J

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Seeing Colorado Kitten's post of her tour of (Invesco Field at) Mile High caused me to again ruminate on two things that I would very much like to see happen at (IFA) Mile High before I die.  Being the sentimental and history loving fan that I am, I hope that others may be inclined to throw support behind these things and maybe get them done... someday... preferably before I die. Of course I have little or no plan on how to proceed, but I thought I'd just toss these out there.

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