What Being a Fan Means to Me

 

I could rip the Broncos and Josh McDaniels after yesterday’s nightmare loss, but what would be the point? It really wouldn’t have mattered if Denver had beaten Kansas City yesterday with the way the Jets played against the Bengals. It is what it is. 32-32 for the past four seasons. It is not necessarily bad, and it is not anything good. It is just mediocre.

As a Denver Broncos fan, I would never claim to be any better than any other Broncos fan–or any other NFL fan for that matter. We have a tendency to question the fortitude of certain fans’ support. Don’t get me wrong; I am not a fan of the fickle-minded fan who starts to talk about burning his jerseys or getting rid of his season tickets when things don’t go well. Those people are not fans. A fan, to me, is someone who loves his team, cheers for them no matter what, and wants the absolute best for his team.

Here are some reasons why I love the Denver Broncos:

• I eat up any kind of information on the Denver Broncos. I love denverbroncos.com, MHR, bleacherreport.com, and any other kind of media related to the Denver Broncos.
• I have devoted myself to writing a blog about them. I will continue to update this blog at least two times a week regardless of  the depressing outcome of the season.
• I have paid hundreds of dollars just to sit in the nosebleeds at Invesco Field after an 18-hour drive to Denver, and, let me tell you all, it was one of the best trips of my life.
• When my wife and I started dating, we were both hardcore Broncos fans. Eight and a half years later, our two oldest kids (4 and 2 1/2) get excited when they see the Broncos emblem because they know that they are mommy and daddy’s team. It is a huge part of our family.
• Since I live out of the market, I mute the Seahawks games on the TV and tune in to KOA online to listen to the Broncos games when they aren’t televised here.

Those are a few ways that I show my love for the Broncos:

• The past four seasons have been very hard for me. The Broncos seem to get my hopes up every year in the early parts of the season only to lose it at the end. I will still follow them and support them.
• Often times, my evening mood on Sundays or Mondays is heavily influenced by the way the Broncos perform. I will never yell at my wife or kids because of it, but it definitely affects me.
• I get sick of the MSM’s endless campaign to make the world doubt the Broncos. I am more of a believer in taking things a week at a time rather than jumping the gun on assumptions and predictions. My team doesn’t have to get all of the love of the Patriots, Steelers, Giants, and Chargers get from the media for me to love them and believe in them.

I may have negative things to say about the way they are peforming:

• I do not know more than the coaches or players. I promise you that I would lead an NFL team into the grave if I was a head coach, coordinator, owner, or GM, but does that keep me from being opinionated? Absolutely not!
• Fans are a huge part of professional sports. The money and the time we invest to support our favorite teams and players certainly do not entitle us to run the show, but we see what is going on and, therefore, have thoughts and reflections on how things are going.
• I appreciate the job Mike Shanahan did winning two Super Bowls for the Broncos, but I was ready for him to go after last season. Many people accused me of hating my team for wishing for such a thing. I am sure a bunch of those same people will say, “Be careful what you wish for. McDaniels didn’t do any better.”  Well, I have certainly made negative comments about Josh McDaniels as of late, but McDaniels hasn’t been with the Broncos for over a decade like Shanahan had been. McDaniels deserves a few years of patience to get things figured out.
• The reason I was negative about Shanahan was that I felt like he cared more about what was best for Shanahan, not what was best for his team. Some might say the same thing about Josh McDaniels, but only time will tell. I want the coaches and the players who will help the Denver Broncos be the best team they can be.
• The Broncos always show flashes of brilliance. They did it in Shanahan’s last three years, and they did it this year. When that starts to fall apart like it has the past four seasons, I get frustrated. I will compare it to the teacher who gets upset with a student who is just flat out intelligent and capable of doing quality work, but for whatever reason, time and time again, that student underachieves and never does anything to realize their potential. That is what I see in the Denver Broncos. It is not them that I hate, it is a hatred for them not doing what they are capable of doing.

Now that I have explained the last two ways that I am a fan, I want to talk about the fine line between supporting one’s team rain or shine and wanting the best for your team. Many fans seem to blur this line. I find a lot of Denver Broncos fans are intolerant of people who have anything critical to say about the Broncos.

I think we all have a right to an opinion. So, I want to offer my sincere respect to those who love Josh McDaniels and would never venture to say anything negative about him. I don’t question the strength of your passion for the Denver Broncos because we reflect on things a little differently. In fact, I don’t know most of you personally, so I feel like it would show immense weakness of character for me to turn something like some banter about football into a personal attack; too many people don’t think before they type.

 

I am, as always, very proud to be a Denver Broncos fan. I am happy to have the opportunity to write and interact with passionate fans like myself, and I wish all my fellow Broncos fans a happy 2010 and offseason. Please check in with the blog as often as you would like. I’ll be around.

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Thoughts on the Deactivation of Brandon Marshall

 

I have viewed the press conference when Josh McDaniels addressed the media regarding his decision to deactivate Brandon Marshall from the Broncos’ final regular season game, and I have also read Marshall’s response to what happened.

I must say that I do not have confidence in this decision by Josh McDaniels, and, surprisingly, I find myself sympathizing with Brandon Marshall.

McDaniels was less than forthcoming in his press conference, giving very vague explanations as to why he took such a drastic measure.

He kept talking about “accountability” and putting the 45 guys out there who are willing to give their all, but he never got into any specifics as to how Marshall was being unaccountable.

Marshall seemed to shed more light on the subject in his response, stating that he believed McDaniels was responding to his hamstring injury, which he suffered at practice on Wednesday.

Marshall feels like he can’t play in his current condition, while McDaniels feels he is exaggerating the injury and should be able to play.

So, was it absolutely necessary for Josh McDaniels to deactivate Brandon Marshall? I will never claim to know more than the coach does, but I think this was a huge mistake.

First, it makes McDaniels look like an egomaniac. Maybe he is one. I am pretty sure I would hate his guts if he coached any other team, but he is the coach of my beloved Denver Broncos.

If all that was going on was that Marshall was complaining about his hamstring bothering him and doubting if he would be ready to go on Sunday, McDaniels’ move is a complete overreaction.

It’s a little too late for him to be trying to send a message to his team. With a 2-7 streak, any move that could lower morale or hurt team unity is ridiculous.

It looks like Josh McDaniels is desperate, trying so hard to pass the blame to his players for the late-season meltdown. He seems to be trying to send the message that he is in control when, in reality, he lost it somewhere around the bye week.

Second, deactivation completely eliminates the possibility that Marshall could play. Why not list Marshall as doubtful or questionable for the game against the Chiefs? With Eddie Royal possibly out of the picture, why deactivate yet another receiver?

What if Marshall ended up being well enough to play? Hasn’t he contributed enough this season and fought hard enough to deserve that chance?

Third, it could potentially destroy any hopes of what seemed to be a happy reconciliation process between Marshall and the Broncos. We all know where Marshall was at the beginning of the season, and he seems to have taken gigantic steps to improve on his image and attitude.

His immediate response to the deactivation seems fair and mature–more mature than the actions of his head coach, if you ask me. However, I wouldn’t blame him if his attitude re-soured (if that’s even a word).

McDaniels has not yet proven to be the genius that he would like the media, his players, and the rest of the NFL to believe he is.

This is definitely a gutsy move, but I am having a hard time seeing any positives that can come out of it. If he is trying to send a message, it is a little too late in the year.

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Denver Broncos Collapse: I Never Wanted To Be So Wrong in All My Life

I really got annoyed with all of the doubters among Bronco fans and the dipsticks in the media saying that Denver wouldn’t win five games in 2009 going into the season. I was thinking 7-9 or 8-8, possibly a small step backward from last year. My hopes were really set on the 2010 season. After six games, I was so happy that I was wrong. The Denver Broncos were on a roll.

Well, it seems that I wasn’t wrong. One more loss this coming Sunday, which is not completely out of the realm of possibility, and the Denver Broncos will finish at .500 again.

To me, this is a complete disappointment of a season after the hot start. I mean, which team are they, the 6-0 team, or the 2-7 team from the past nine games.

Are they the team that falls behind 27-10, or are they the team that comes out with lights out defense for four or five drives while the offense rallies to tie the game? Are they the team that squashes teams like Cleveland and Kansas City or the team that loses to the likes of Oakland and Washington?

My biggest beef is that going into week 17, the Denver Broncos seem to be a team without an identity. After six games, there definitely appeared to be an identity, but after the past nine, they are bipolar at best.

So, I am honestly not even interested in writing about the playoff scenarios right now. The season has turned out to be yet another disappointment, and it would have been much easier to take if it hadn’t started with such promise.

I’m tired of seeing Knowshon Moreno get stuffed at the line of scrimmage time and time again.

I’m tired of watching Mitch Berger struggle to punt the ball 30 yards after the Broncos struggle to move the ball one or two yards on third down. (Can we please stop complaining about Peyton Hillis not being utilized? He got stuffed, too.)

I’m tired of the undisciplined style of play. This is on the players as well as Josh McDaniels. Brandon Stokley was a complete idiot for 10 seconds yesterday, and it cost him and hurt his team for three quarters of a ball game. In an earlier drive, Brian Dawkins got away with some illegal contact, so it goes both ways; there is no excuse to get up in a refs face and shake your fist at him.

What can I say? I am tired of a lot of elements of the Denver Broncos. I would like to believe and be hopeful this week, but the Denver Broncos need a lot of help. It’s too bad that they haven’t been able to help themselves these past nine games.

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In Josh McDaniels’ Defense

http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4697154

This is a good article with lots of Josh McDaniels’ quotes as he presents his side of the story. Honestly, I totally believe his side of the story regarding that cocky punk Sean Phillips (I hope I mispelled his name; I don’t care enough to even check).

He is always talking some trash, and I am glad if Josh McDaniels threw it back at him. I think Ryan Clark of the Steelers should mind his own business regarding what transpired between the Chargers linebackers and Denver’s coach.

McDaniels shouldn’t even have to apologize about a network picking up an F bomb from him on the sideline. He was not miked up; he was doing his job. If you have ever been to a professional football game, you hear the F word more than any other word, it seems. It is up to the networks to screen and filter that out.

I am thinking that some guys in the NFL are feeling threatened by Josh McDaniels and need to vilify him somehow. People who don’t like the Broncos are going to judge him regardless, but I am glad that Josh McDaniels is telling his side of the story.

Read more Denver Broncos news on BleacherReport.com

Not Much To Say About the Broncos

This site was devoted to the culture change that is taking place within the Denver Broncos organization. After a four-game relapse that is reminiscent of the 2006, 2007, and 2008 seasons, this site is now about change that needs to take place.

I am not calling for the firing of Josh McDaniels, but the so-called boy genius has a long way to go. I am willing to give him time (like two seasons worth), but getting better before you get worse is one of the worst feelings—far too familiar to long-suffering Broncos fans.

Maybe the MSM was right about the Denver Broncos. I hate to say it. However, McDaniels has been unable to motivate his team and get them performing. They were outplayed by Baltimore and Pittsburgh, humiliated in D.C., and curb-stomped by their fiercest division rivalry at home after beating them earlier in the season (that one really hurts). No adjustments seem to be being made.

I hate to say anything negative regarding the hot start. Unfortunately, it will mean absolutely nothing if they lose out on the playoffs. The 6-0 record is quickly disintegrating.

Why? I understand that they aren’t a perfect team, but are they this bad? Did the boys put all of their heart and soul on the line those first six games and are now running on empty? Did McDaniels think that they could do the exact same thing week after week and avoid opposing NFL coaches figuring them out? Were the Broncos so amazing at adjusting in the second half of games, only to become completely unable to adjust, at all, to adversity in the middle of a season?

These are the questions that I would like to have answered. I am done making excuses for the Broncos. I was Mike Shanahan’s harshest critic. I still think he needed to move on from the Broncos, but I need to be fair in my assessment of Josh McDaniels too. Therefore, in all fairness, I think the Broncos’ coaching and performance has been inexcusable the past four weeks.

I thought Josh McDaniels was changing the culture. Maybe he is, but there is still a lot of work to do.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone!

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