A Big Day For The Denver Broncos

Today the Denver Broncos are hosting their first home playoff game since 2016, the year the Broncos won the Super Bowl. After that win, quarterback Peyton Manning retired, and the Broncos did not return to the playoffs until last year as a wildcard team, losing to the Buffalo Bills by a score of 31-7. And this year, as the AFC's No. 1 seed, they will be playing - get ready for it - the Buffalo Bills. The local news has been all over this story, and everyone in the state seems to be on pins and needles, waiting for the game. People here are obsessed about the Broncos. They talk about them all year long, rehashing the season, discussing possible draft picks, following the training camps, you name it. Even during the middle of baseball season, the Broncos are usually the main story on the local television sports broadcasts. Of course, now the whole town is in the grip of Super Bowl fever. And as you can see in the photograph on the left, Denver's Larimer Square is well into the spirit of things, with Broncos jersey banners for every player hanging over the street and other banners urging the team to "climb higher."

And as the sun begins to set over Empower Field at Mile High this afternoon, will fans here in Denver be celebrating, or will there be "no joy in Mudville"? The Broncos and second year quarterback Bo Nix finished 1st in the AFC West, but I read somewhere that most of the teams they faced this year had key players missing. And Josh Allen, the Bills quarterback, is one of the best in the NFL. I am a baseball fan, and do not follow football all that much, except when the Broncos actually make it to the Super Bowl and everyone in the state is required to watch the game. And so I have no idea if they will win or not. But I do hope they win, because the entire state will go into a major depression if they don't. Which will last until the start of next season. And it is so unnerving to walk into a bar and see everyone, even the bartenders, sobbing uncontrollably, for weeks if not months on end. Go Broncos, for God's sake!