Okay, so excitement is beginning to subside a little bit and I can talk about why this weekend was so cool – and yes, it has everything to do with the Broncos this weekend.
Yesterday I went to my first playoff game ever. I’ve had season tickets for 3 years now, but we haven’t had a home playoff game since we won the Superbowl back in 98-99. I went not really knowing what to expect. Bethany and I got to the game really early, getting to the stadium over 2 hours before kick-off. We were going to meet my buddy Matt and his family for tailgating. Since they hadn’t arrived, Bethany and I sat down at a picnic table and worked on my face paint a little bit more. While we were there, a reporter and photographer from The Denver Post came up to us and asked us if they could take our picture and ask us some questions. We were really excited to think we were going to get in the paper. As it turns out our picture didn’t make it in, but we got mentioned in their article:
United by football
Jeromy Gaudreau and Bethany Miles bonded over football.
"The first time we talked, we were asking, ‘What do you like?’ and our first response was, ‘Denver Broncos,"’ Miles, a 20-year-old Colorado State University psychology student, recalled.
"We love the Broncos," said Gaudreau, a computer information systems student. "I really hope they punch the Patriots in the mouth today."
The couple, who have been together for seven months, celebrated their courtship by lovingly painting each other’s faces blue and orange as they sat on a bench outside the main gate two hours before the game.
"You gotta show your colors!" Miles said.
So not too shabby Then after the reporters left another guy with some press credentials came and took our picture. I didn’t find out where he was from, but that was pretty cool. Here is how we turned out though:
Then Matt and his family arrive and we make our way to the parking lot to find their car. After we got there and cracked open our first beers, not even 5 minutes later a Mercedes pulls into the spot across from us and out walked John Elway! I kid you not, it was really him! We were only a few yards away from him! We didn’t get to talk to him or anything ,but I did get a picture of him! At that point Bethany turned to me and said "This is a sign – we are definitely going to win!"
And she was right! The next four hours were an exciting and excruciating experience, but ultimately the Broncos got the win! It got loud in the stadium, really loud. It was so loud that I was screaming my lungs out, and I couldn’t even hear myself – it just became noise.
And now here we are a day later, the Steelers beat the Colts, which now means that THE BRONCOS GET THE AFC CHAMPIONSHIP GAME AT HOME!!! I have tickets to that game sitting right next to me! I am soooo excited!!!
However, there are two things this weekend that really bugged me:
1) The National Press Coverage – After reading the stories on ESPN, I am seriously frustrated. All of the stories were more about how the Patriots lost the game than the Broncos actually winning it & beating them. You’d think that the Patriots didn’t play anybody due to the way the stories were written. Then a column written by Gene Wojciechowski really set me off – you’d think this guy had major money on the game or something. What a jerk! I can’t wait until the Broncos go to the Super Bowl and I can write a nasty letter telling him to eat his words.
2) CU students piss me off! Being up in the cheap seats is actually really nice because you’re up there with the real fans – the fans that work their asses off just so they can afford to come to the game. You know there were some people who incurred some major credit card debt in order to get to this game. Then it’s all cheapened by people like the ones sitting in front of us. There were two girls and two guys, and all throughout the game they couldn’t care less about football or being at the game. The only time they cheered in the first half were the girls yelling "Take it off Tom Brady!".. Then they must have literally left their seats every 2 minutes to get more beer. I wasn’t keeping score, but I’m pretty sure that each of them had 4 beers each. They spent most of the game on their cell phones, stood up and got up at the most inappropriate times, and the only time they moved was when some R&B song came on – causing the girls to just thrust their hips around and begin humping each other. Bethany and I spent most of the game just rolling out eyes at each other, asking "Where did these people come from?".. Well I got my answer. When the Broncos scored their first touch down near the end of the first half the "Hey Song" was playing and right in the middle of the song they did the stupid cheer I loathe:
"F*** them up, F*** them up, go CU!"
At that point it all came clear to me, and everything made sense. No wonder they were acting like complete spoiled brats that couldn’t care less about the game – because they haven’t earned a thing in their life! This is what I can’t stand about CU: it’s full of students who haven’t worked a day and the next time they actually earn something will be the first time!
In the 4th quarter, it was on. When the Broncos scored their third touch-down and on cue the CU students did their "F*** them up" chant, I responded with the "DIRTY HIPPIES".. At that point one of the girls gave me the look of death, then proceeded to tell the other girl about it, which then told the guys about it. It was funny because you could see her talk to the guy, point at me, then the guy having this look on his face saying, "So?!?"… It was awesome. Earlier in the game I joined a few other fans in yelling at this girl to sit down but she ignored us, but if I knew all it took was one CU/CSU chant to shut her up I would have done it a lot sooner in the game…. I just hope they won’t be back next week.
One last thing: One of the coolest experiences I ever had was after the game, walking out of the stadium. Never before had I been surrounded in a crowd that was exuberantly happy and joyous. Everyone was giving high-5’s cheering and as excited as could be! Those were 10 of the coolest minutes in my life – it was amazing.