The Improbable Season of Tim Tebow

by J. Scott Moore

Luck is often dismissed in sports.  Derisively by the losers.  Players and teams characterized as lucky are not often characterized as good, as well.  Surely the elite have their share of luck on occasion?  Perhaps it’s overshadowed by the skill and the execution?

For the Broncos, and more specifically, Tim Tebow, the run of luck is bordering on the unbelievable. 

Take week 14, the Broncos won in very unlikely fashion against the Chicago Bears when Marion Barber made not one critical mistake but two.  Running out of bounds and then fumbling the ball in OT. 

This sort of improbable story line is often unbelievable and trite in literary fiction.  A literary situation that many have addressed, but not quite like JRR Tolkien.  You may be familiar with Tolkien and his Lord of the Rings books that were adapted into the movies.  In his prequel The Hobbit, Tolkien uses luck as a pivot in his iconic novel.

JRR Tolkien seems to be writing the script for the Denver Broncos. 

But Tolkien took simple luck to a new level and coined the term "Eucatastrophe" to describe the happy ending of "fairy-stories."  He describes it as the "…sudden happy turn in a story which pierces you with a joy that brings tears..."  If that isn't this Bronco season I don't know what is.

The situation that Tolkien calls the Eucatastrophe is exactly what we enjoy the most about sports.  It’s in fact the very essence of what is going on right now with the Tim Tebow mania.  On a seemingly regular basis Tebow has faced certain defeat at the hands of his opponent and yet some unlikely turn of fortune ends up benefiting the Broncos and enabling their victory.

This week it wasn’t enough that the Broncos were facing the mighty Steelers.  A late fumble by the Broncos’ McGahee seemed to spell doom, and yet the Broncos survived.  The Denver Broncos aren’t the only ones that have benefitted from Eucatastrophe.  Go to any rabid fan in any town and ask about their favorite sports team pulling their ass out of the proverbial fire.  They will have a story.  It’s the classic game that everyone remembers.

I like equating fairy tales with sports.  People often point out that those boys aren't in the real world anyway.  And sports do function as the ultimate story-time for many of the world's adults.  All of us that think we are all grown up and jaded and aren't affected by unbelievable happy endings and implausible heroes, better take a second look at that.  Because sports is all about fiction becoming fact.  It's just that we don't write the story; it unfolds before us on Sunday afternoons.

When the Broncos wrapped the season with three straight losses you wonder, where's that luck in that?  Well they still made the playoffs.

If you've ever read The Hobbit, you might have noticed that Bilbo, the "hero" of the story was nothing, if not lucky.  Then again, you may not have noticed it due to Tolkien's style of pointing out just how lucky Bilbo was time and again.  He managed to draw your attention away from how ridiculously lucky his main character was by pointing it out repeatedly.  At the end of the book, even Bilbo ponders the happy ending of his story.

Gandalf chuckles and says, "You don’t really suppose…that all your adventures and escapes were managed by mere luck, just for your sole benefit?  …you are only quite a little fellow in a wide world after all."  In other words this isn’t just for the benefit of Mr. Tebow, it’s for everyone’s benefit.

But to extrapolate on Gandalf’s point, someone other than Bilbo might not have been the perfect companion for this quest, the lucky number as he was dubbed.  Gandalf takes all the credit for picking the right companion for the quest.  Corollary: Tim Tebow seems to be the right guy for this quest.

Divine intervention, fate or faith?  Sometimes people are lucky.  Tolkien framed it as prophesy in his writings.  How about that old saying about the harder you work the luckier you get?

Call it what you want.  Tebow's got it in spades.  The question now is; is there any left for this Saturday?  I'm bettin' yeah, there's more where that came from.  Tune in Saturday for story time!!

   

Denver Broncos Season Ticket Glut?

by J. Scott Moore

Is the end in sight? If so it wouldn’t be the end of the world. But it would certainly be the end of the world as we know it.

Who are we and what am I talking about?

We are the Denver Broncos fans, players, staff and the owner and I’m talking about the end of the Broncos decades of sellout crowds.

As a long time season ticket holder I received an email recently about my request to upgrade my tickets. In the past they did this via mail/phone and you were given one or two choices. This year it’s online via Ticketmaster. The interesting part of that is that I can see a diagram of the whole stadium and what sections have seats available for me to upgrade…or downgrade.

Here’s the diagram.

Today was deadline day so this represents about how things stand going into next season. If you haven’t made your payments you are no longer a season ticket holder.

The dark blue represents sections with available seating. There are about 135 sections total. Of those, 82 have seating available. That’s about…what? 60% Ok, that’s real rough ciphering cause all the sections hold varying amounts of people, different prices, etcetera. The point is, if you want to move around in the lower priced sections, about 60% of the stadium, you can. That hasn’t always been true. I know cause I’ve moved a lot. It took me years to get to the sideline seats I now have. And granted, those sections on the first level are still jam packed with season ticket holders. But they aren’t who you might think they are.

Don’t be surprised that the first level seats are all sold out. That’s where I sit, but that’s also the seats the ticket brokers buy. They have the highest return value. Especially where we sit, on the visitor side. For the last two years I would estimate that about 50% of the seats around me are owned by brokers. If not then the fan that owns them sells every seat for every game. One of the issues this has created is a near complete lack of consequences for the guy in a scalped seat. Short of criminal behavior the worst he can expect is to be kicked out of the game. As a season ticket holder I have to behave myself or possibly lose my tickets. The out-of-town guys that buy one game have no such worries and their behavior proves it.

But, it isn’t just this that the Broncos should find troubling. It’s that the stadium used to be 99% loyal Broncos fans. That has slipped away and yet they maintained their sellout streak. The modern NFL fan is more mobile and tickets are more easily obtained if you’ve got the cash. Fans root for players as much or more than for teams these days, another factor that leads to the mixed crowds. But now you see that something like 60% of the stadium has at least some seating available for the potential season ticket buyer. I have friends that got on the list for season tickets 5 years ago. They expected to wait 10 or more years, that was the plan so the kids would be old enough to really enjoy the games. Well the Broncos came calling this year.

That fabled wait list is as thin as the mile high air.

Bronco Glasses - Better than a Bronco Game!!!!

Too Harsh? Um, no. Thankfully those of us in Bronco-land can have a relatively peaceful weekend, free from Bronco sucktitude. 

My lovely girlfriend picked up these very cool Bronco glasses at Arby's recently.  And they have this nifty football at the bottom of the glass.  Personally, I'm really diggin' the vintage ones.

Floyd Little's Tales from the Broncos Sideline - Book Review

Let’s take our minds off of that-which-must-not-be-named in Bronco-land and take a trip back in time to the good old days.

One of the tried and true formats of the sports memoir is to assemble a collection of anecdotes about the player’s life and career. But the real challenge is to make the book flow. All too often, as interesting as the stories are, the result is a choppy, uneven book.

Not in this case. Tom Mackie assembled a fantastic collection of stories and memories and deserves a lot of credit for creating the flow that is absent from many sports memoirs. More importantly, Mackie preserves Little’s voice. I’ve heard many an interview with Floyd Little and reading this book is like sitting down with Little and listening to his stories in person.

And what stories they are! Let’s face it, as the NFL has become the insanely huge business that it is today it has matured as well. Little played in those days in the league when the really big business was still on the horizon but the fanatical following by fans was fully realized. The classic picture on the cover, of fans carrying Little on their shoulders is proof enough of the changed times.

Little takes us through his pre-college and college years of the game and the who’s who of inspirational people that marched in and out of his life. He candidly discusses the challenges of being an African-American. Later in the book Little tells us why he much preferred playing in Denver over anywhere in the South.

Denver Bronco fans, old and new should be familiar with the struggles the Broncos went through in those early years of the franchise.

Little talks about the bounties the Raiders put on Bronco players and Bronco stats too.

Little once told a reporter that he drank a half-glass of blood, ate raw meat and slept in a dark cage before game day!!!

The Broncos’ QB troubles in his rookie year included the coach starting a punter at the QB position. The QB door was spinning faster than anything we’ve seen since the end of the Elway era.

Fans throwing half-loaves of bread during the game.

Training by running the steps of Mile High in combat boots.

Little’s stories regularly made me laugh out loud. Some of this stuff is just the kind of thing that would get players in trouble today but things were a lot more easy-going back then, it makes for great reading now.

Pick it up HERE

-From the Point

South Stands Denver Podcast, I'm a Guest!

Well I tricked the guys over at South Stands Denver into letting me on their podcast.  They were excellent hosts, funny guys and I learned a lot about cussing!  Plenty of Broncos and Avs talk!  It will be on iTunes soon as well.  Give it a listen and I hope you enjoy. 

-From the Point

Denver Broncos and Indianapolis Colts

Here's a nice little sequence of Eddie Royal juking (or trying) the opponents. Nice try Eddie.

Haven't seen much in the way of jersey fouls yet this year, but one I did see that I couldn't get a  picture of...remember HE HATE ME from the XFL?  Of course you do.  Last week at the Seattle game I saw a Seahawks fan with SHE LOVE ME.  Wow, stupid.

Is anyone else at the games having serious trouble getting ANY sort of cell service?  Email, data, internet?  I'm getting nothing and it's irritating as hell!  No one around me is getting anything either.  One theory is that the Fan Vision devices are causing interference.  If anyone knows anything I would appreciate a comment or send me an email.  Just check the contact page for the email addy.

-From the Point

2010 Broncos Prediction Part Deux

Last year the gloom and doomers said the Broncos were going to be lucky to win 3 or 4 games. I said it was bull; the Denver Broncos aren’t the Detroit Lions or the Cincinnati Bungles. They still aren’t one of THOSE teams.

But this year I’m going to have to say that they are going to have one of THOSE years.

The running game? Knowshon Moreno will be less than 100% all season. The Broncos best hope to limp through the season was a three pronged approach with Moreno, Buckhalter and White. The running game will be like Eight Belles at the Kentucky Derby.

And how about this defense? It don’t be long before defensive coordinator, Don 'Wink' Martindale will soon be trading his defense for what’s behind Door #2. Folks, Elvis has left the building.

Orton is a much better QB than I gave him credit for after the trade. But he is now faced with the same problem that doomed Plummer…there’s no one to throw to. At the end of the year, when people are ripping Orton’s stats and saying he is a crappy QB, just remember what he had to work with this season. Eddie Royal and Jabar Gaffney? Please.

Even though Orton is a decent QB, he isn’t “likeable,” that and McD’s Tebow love could cause a premature QB switch. The contract extension Orton got might be a good sign that McDaniels is willing to be patient with Tebow’s development. Unless the losing is so bad that there’s nothing to lose by giving the rookie some playing time.

With that in mind I want you to sing along with me to the tune of Eric Clapton’s Tulsa Time…but this is the Josh McD remix…

Living on Tebow time.

Living on Tebow time.

Gonna bet my career on it

Cause I know that he can do it.

Living on Tebow time.

Living on Tebow time.

Living on Tebow time.

Gonna build my playbook on him.

Cause I know that he can win.

Living on Tebow time.

And with that lyrical butcher job it’s time to get down to the nitty gritty. Wins and losses.

The Broncos will win the following games:
St. Louis
Arizona

The Broncos should win the following games:
Seattle
Oakland, one time
Kansas City, one time

The Broncos could (but I doubt it) win the following games:
San Francisco
Houston

The Broncos have no chance winning the following games:
Jacksonville – the Broncos are what… 0 – 4 million in hot, humid games?
Indy – please, might as well just give it to them.
Titans – um…no.
Jets – surprise! No.
KC – The Broncos will go back to their losing ways in Missouri, it’ll be like an arrow in their head.
Oakland – the Raiders are a horrible team and yet the Broncos got beat by them last year, at home, by a currently unemployed, fat-ass, first-round flop. Pathetic. To be fair, part of that padding on JaMarcus Russell’s ass is a big fat wallet. Now that Shanahan is gone so is the fire to beat this joke of a team. Sad.
Baltimore – Nope!
San Diego – Nope, not even once, well…maybe the last game of the year if the Chargers are resting people. But I doubt it.

Some of these wins/losses are interchangeable. Like the Broncos might win the last game against SD but they will even things out by losing to KC twice instead of a split. Or surprise the Jets but get punked by the Cardinals.

It’s just going to be that ugly, I hate to say it.

Broncos go 5-11.

-From the Point

2010 Denver Broncos Season Prediction

Here are my predictions for the 2010 season. We all know of course that the Broncos took Tim Tebow at this year’s draft. Some might think this was a mistake but I think it wasn’t all that bad. Talking to From the Point and from what I’ve seen on TV, Tim landing in Denver has created a lot of interest in the Broncos. Always a good thing when the fans get interested in a team. Let’s be real though, Tim will most likely not play this season. Kyle Orton has looked pretty sharp this preseason, maybe he’s the real deal. The biggest problem I see for the Broncos this season, besides trying to find someone to step into Brandon Marshall’s shoes, is the injuries. My god, the Broncos just can’t seem to stay healthy. Now for the purpose of my predictions, I will assume that they will have every player healthy. I’ve got the Broncos going 8-8 this season, here’s my break down.

Week 1 - Broncos VS Jaguars WIN
     I just believe that the Broncos have a better depth chart than the Jaguars.
Week 2 -Broncos VS Seahawks LOSE
     If Hasselbeck is healthy, the Seahawks can win this.
Week 3 - Broncos VS Colts LOSE
     Let’s be serious, they can’t win against the Colts. Forget it.
Week 4 – Broncos VS Titans LOSE
     Even though I don’t think the Titans are as good as they were a couple of years ago, they can still pull off a win against the Broncos.
Week 5 – Broncos VS Ravens LOSE
     A win here, don’t think so. Ravens just have better players
Week 6 - Broncos VS Jets WIN
     I’m not a big believer that the Jets are that good. If the Broncos play this right, they can win.
Week 7 - Broncos VS Raiders WIN
     Although the Raiders have looked good during the pre season, it’s just that, the pre season. At the end of the day, the Raiders are still………………………………the Raiders.
Week 8 - Broncos VS 49ers WIN
     Singletary whipped the 49ers into a pretty decent team but they’re still not there yet.
Week 9 – Bye
Week 10 - Broncos VS Chiefs WIN
     Chiefs are getting better but again, it’s a team that just isn’t there yet.
Week 11 - Broncos VS Chargers LOSE
     Chargers lost LT this off season but that will just make them better if you ask me.
Week 12 - Broncos VS Rams WIN
     Rookie QB that almost didn’t play last year in college running the Rams this season can’t have a happy ending.
Week 13 - Broncos VS Chiefs LOSE
     Sounds stupid but I can’t see the Broncos win a game in Kansas, don’t really know why though.
Week 14 - Broncos VS Cardinals WIN
     Derek Anderson is the number 1 QB in Arizona nowadays, LOL.
Week 15 - Broncos VS Raiders WIN
     Again, it’s the freaking Raiders
Week 16 - Broncos VS Texans LOSE
      Depends on which Titans team shows up but I’ll guess that the Broncos just won’t have enough.
Week 17 - Broncos VS Chargers LOSE
     Broncos can’t win against the Chargers in the finale week, we saw that two years ago.


-Frenchy

Broncos or Rams???

So I’m a loyal fan of my sports teams…but I am not an impractical guy.
For example, let’s say I get a great job in Philadelphia. Becoming a Philly fan just might be a matter of practicality. Denver being so far away and even with all the super cable/satellite coverage of the modern era, Philly is still going to be the most accessible team.

Now if I got a job in Detroit, (ridiculous! we all know there are no jobs in Detroit) well the hell with being practical. I’ll never be a Dead Wings or Loser Lions fan in my life.

The point of this meandering babble is just this: is it time for me to become a loyal fan of the St Louis Rams?
Or do I stick with my Denver Broncos?
Now you might think this a silly question when I just pointed out above that the home town boys are the practical team to root for.
Unless.
There are always extenuating circumstances, no?
In this case it is important to remember that Denver is also home to the:
Colorado Avalanche
Denver Nuggets
Colorado Mammoth
Colorado Rapids
Ad nauseam
Do you see the common threat…er…thread here?
And don’t forget that Futball team as well, the Asterisk or some-such?
Clearly we are dealing with a man obsessed with taking over the state of Colorado, if not the WORLD!
What’s next? The CU Buffs are probably fighting off a hostile, backroom take-over as I type this! And with the budget issues in this state it just might happen.

So what happens if this orange-blooded, card-carryin’ Bronco fan is subjected to a little interrogation in the bowels of the Pepsi Center on the Avs opening night?
What if He finds out I’m not 100% on the Kroenke bandwagon?
Will I have a premium tacked onto my Avs tickets (another one…)?
Will I have to pay $7-8 for a beer?
Who wants to mess with a guy like that? Not me, I’ve got enough to do. I don’t need to piss off a megalo-$-maniac.
So…who is the Rams quarterback? No matter! Go Rams!

Avs Attendance Woes

First I need to rant a bit, namely at you Mr. Adrian Dater. STOP saying “I know the economy is bad, but…”
THERE IS NO “BUT”
The economy is bad, period.
Dater, you sound like the Kroenke Donkey, carryin’ water for “the man” with your non-stop, carnival hawking of tickets.
Let me tell you about MY economy. I work for a company that laid off about 30% of our employees last April and there were more cuts just last month. For months we have been out of basic business supplies like paper and the company cell phones are shut off periodically because we can’t pay the bill. I work in an industry that is on its way out of Colorado with hundreds of jobs in my field moving out of state or simply disappearing. You know, like how the Rocky Mtn. News just disappeared one day?

The other half of this household isn’t much better off. She’s an independent contractor in a very competitive market. This has allowed the companies she works for to leverage their fees lower and lower over the past couple years. We’re talking 10-20%. You got that? I don’t know too many people that have 10-20% pay cuts and keep buying ticket packages like nothing has happened.
Ok, before this turns into a pity-party, let me just say that we both still have jobs and we aren’t up to our eyeballs in debt. No one is foreclosing on our modest little condo.
But I might be out of a job tomorrow; I know the economy is bad. You don’t need to tell ME!

GET.   OFF.   MY.   ASS.   ABOUT.   ATTENDING.   GAMES.

What happened to the Dater that used to write about how the music was too loud and other improvements for the fan experience? You know the one that posted the season ticket questionnaire on his blog? I was a 14 game ticket holder at the time and I did not get polled. I could argue that it was a bad mistake by the Avs but they didn’t seem to heed the results anyway.

Now that I’ve taken up all this room with my rant, here are some other reasons I don’t go to as many games as I use to.


I don’t buy ticket packages to the Avs anymore because I don’t have to. It used to be tough to get a ticket to an Avs game, not so much anymore. On the other hand I’m a Broncos season ticket holder and I DO have to buy those tickets every year. If I want to keep them, I have to buy them. News flash Avs, you have competition.

Also, Colorado Avalanche ticket prices are too high. I find it insulting that the Avs have slashed player salaries (and jobs have been cut too) and there is a salary cap, yet ticket prices stay the same?

Last season I didn’t go to a lot of games because the Avs sucked. There, I said it. You want to start with the bandwagon smack-talk?
You want to fight? Well, do ya?
I don’t spend my money on poor products. The Colorado Avalanche is a product.

I don’t blame people who don’t go see a bad product, not that THIS season is bad, but what the Avs lack is the big name draw. As we all know, Patty, Super Joe and Foppa are all gone. And names matter.

Customer service: Even though the Broncos have a waiting list a mile long they treat me like gold. They kiss my butt! The Avs people can barely bother to return my call, be civil to me or give a shit in general.

Example: After a couple seasons of buying the 14 game package we were told by a rep at a game that the Avs would help us find Avs fans that would split a season. We were looking to move into the lower balcony seats that were not available in the 14 game package. I called my rep and she was not too thrilled with this idea. Ultimately she didn’t get it done. Not only did we want to move up a tier in the price structure, but we were going to buy 50% more tickets. She actually told me it wasn’t in their best interest to arrange this for us. Huh??

We bought a nice big HD-TV in 2008 and pay extra for HD programming and that was more than what a 14 game package would have cost us. So we decided to buy less tickets while we were paying off the TV. Putting all the games in HD probably isn’t helping attendance much. But that is a double edged sword. If people can’t follow regularly on TV they will just go away.

Then there is this: NHL attendance. Hey look! Winning teams are at the top and loser teams are at the bottom! Or in the case of the Avs this year, a team that the media (that’s you Dater) said WOULD suck. And suck so bad that they would be lucky to get 35-40 points. I know you wrote it dude, I just can’t find a link to it, so feel free to deny it!

Avalanche Kool-Aid

I think everyone in Avs Country is ready to take the Jim Jones plunge and start chugging the burgundy Kool-aid. I know I am, and walking down the aisle of the grocery store what was I to stumble upon but black cherry flavor...I would say that is pretty close to the ol' burgundy of my beloved team.
I'm stocked up, and I tried to leave a little for the rest of you fans, but I'm sure they will restock.
And when I got home there just happened to be a giant, empty space in the pantry for all this Avalanche Kool-aid.
No, it's not on the top shelf where Momma hides the cookies.
It's that space where all the Orange Kool-aid was.


-From the Point

Broncos Post-Mortem

I recently read a column in Mile High Sports magazine about selling Bronco tickets. The columnist was defending his right and his decision to sell his tickets to the Denver/Pittsburgh game. It was an interesting read and believe me, I completely understand the guilt. I also agree with the reasoning. Unless you have spent around $20,000 on season tickets for the last 15 years, I don’t really care what you think about me selling a game here and there.

Nonetheless, the guilt is so palpable to me, and apparently to other long time season ticketholders. But my girlfriend doesn’t seem to share quite the same level of remorse that I do. But then these tickets were my dad’s tickets since 1963. Goosey was talking to her parents and just blurted out that we weren’t going to the KC game and I flinched with guilt at the mere mention. But the past couple years we have missed last game for various reasons, with the tickets going to waste so we decided to sell this year’s last game.

I thought good God woman, you don’t divulge that stuff! That’s a point of shame; if I sell my tickets I must conceal that fact! At least I must lie and say that I verified that I sold my tickets to Bronco fans and I didn’t sell them for some un-Godly amount of money. Well, now it’s all out, was it a Bronco fan? Hell if I know, StubHub doesn’t have this option. Did I sell them for gobs of money? It was KC, what do you think?

Well anyway, on to the predictions: looks like I should have stuck to my guns on the 8-8 prediction I made here. But how could I resist bumping it up after that 6-0 start? C’mon! You did too! Right? It’s really too bad the Broncos only won two games after the break. At the time I really had a hard time believing this team could choke this badly in the second half of the season. I said in my prediction that McDaniels would get more wins out of this team than they deserve. I was half-right. The Broncos beating the Patriots and Dallas was brilliant. Losing to the Raiders and the Chiefs in the home stretch was a disgrace.

But as I also said, Denver is no Detroit and we aren’t the new Bungles. Hmm, how ‘bout them Bengals? Wow. One lucky bounce and the Broncos wouldn’t even have been 8-8.
As for predicting that Orton wouldn’t make it through the season as the starter, well, he almost didn’t but it was because of injury. Simms was sure a bomb, however. Sad.

-From the Point

Broncos stumble into a black hole

Santa parachuted into Invesco before the game.

There was a moment of cheering for the Barrel Man just before kickoff. It was very appropriate considering the man and his legacy at Broncos games. The Barrel Man was well known for starting the wave at games and despite that most fans these days are reluctant to do that anymore, the crowd got into it


Santa's little helper?

Nutty Raider fan...

Hut hut!

Trying to strip the ball.

B-Marsh!

This shot pretty much sums up the game.

Broncos did a lot of kicking for 3 points. Too much in fact.


Bernie, the Avs mascot playing halftime games.

IN - COM - PLETE!

Don't worry buddy, the Broncos made your QB's look pretty good.

Again, no worries Raider fan, the new crowd isn't nearly as unforgiving as the old days.

Ya know, what to say about this game? The Broncos can't beat a team that has benched their starting QB, then late in the game the backup gets hurt and the aforementioned starter has to come off the bench and save the day. And he does! The Broncos made JaMarcus Russell look like the first rounder he is instead of the flop he has been 90% of the time.

If this is the team that hits the road in the playoffs, I don't need to tell you that the next trip will be home. For good.

-From the Point

Tim "Barrel Man" McKernan

Denver Post

Tim "Barrel Man" McKernan has died at the age of 69. It's amazing to do a search on him today, you know you were a part of the NFL when Sports Illustrated and NFL.com report your death.
I remember seeing him at many a game, many a COLD game. I makes me laugh to think how wimpy I am about the cold. I mostly remember him coming over to the South Stands to get us going in a cheer or start the wave. The Barrel Man was never denied!
-From the Point

Broncos Pound the Giants

I have been remiss about posting pictures from the Denver Broncos games. Sorry! Busy week, being on vacation can be demanding! hehehe

So I threw this thing together, and by "threw it together" I mean I spent way to much time on it and it's still pretty lame! Ah well, hope you enjoy!

-From the Point

Broncos Underwhelm

The sea of black and gold in my section was not a good omen. I'm really beginning to dislike Steeler fan. The last two times they have been in our house they have delivered crushing losses to my Broncos, waving their stupid towels and propping up their drunken women. It's disgusting!It's like a game, find the Bronco fan. Of course we are getting used to this, sitting on the visitor side. So far Steeler fan and Bears fan have been the most popular.

Ok, see the "Go Steelers" sign? You'll notice that you can't see the guy holding the sign. That's because he was ducking me every time I tried to shoot him. Why? Good question. Why would the proud Steeler fan keep ducking the camera when just minutes ago he was waving that sign in my face? I'll tell you. A couple minutes before taking this picture, he had a much bigger sign with a salute to his Steelers and Veterans.
He quickly trimmed it when Gooseberryland told him that he had spelled Veterans incorrectly. Yeah, she just couldn't wait till I got the pic first, oh no! He argued with her and she told him, ok, just think how stupid you are going to look when you get on ESPN!! Seconds later he rolled up his sign and was on the phone, apparently with a spell-checker. We never saw the rest of the sign again.



This is about as hot as the Broncos got all night.

Big Ben directing the troops and one of the few times Dumervil got some good pressure.

Monday Night Football means there are 423 cameras on the game. These guys spent a lot of time parked right in front of us. Thanks guys.

Who is this unhappy fellow? Why he's the water boy for the cheerleaders. No, really! Every game he is out there passing out Gatorade to the ladies. But this game was so bad that even a great job like cheerleader water boy couldn't keep a happy face on Bronco staff.

Attendance was pretty good, with ~600 no-shows. Of course, half the stadium was Steeler fan. Pathetic!

Here's a nice series showing just how slippery Brandon Marshall can be. Notice in the last pic that his foot is about to break free. Just when you think you have him he manages to pull out of your grasp and get a couple more yards.

But the Broncos couldn't escape their lack of offense and the Steelers win this one.

Don't worry Bronco faithful, next week the Broncos should be able to get well against the crappy Redskins.

-From the Point