Tuesday, January 19, 2016

You Should Go

As much as I watch hockey - and go to plenty of hockey games. I do, truly, love football. Now I don't love all football games or all football teams, but I do live in a town where football is a passion.

Not to mention, I did spend my childhood in Dallas, TX. I did attend and graduate from Texas A&M. Both communities where football is a passion.

Last year, in national sports news, it was mentioned that the Denver Broncos had replaced the Dallas Cowboys as "America's team". Truly, it has been incredible living here during the "Elway/Manning era." And we can't forget, this was also part of the "Tebow era".

Hall of Fame records.
Embarrassing SuperBowl loss (as in, let's pretend this didn't happen).
Remarkable moments - both on the field, in the stands, in Denver with the players or with the fans.

It's been a fairy tale for us football lovers.

On Sunday, I'm at the Cricket with my pilot friend. The Cricket is the last "hold out" in Cherry Creek. Cherry Creek is the high end "shopping district" in Denver. Hermes, Nordstrom, Vutton - just to name a few stores. High end restaurants and million dollar condos.

Then there is the Cricket. A burger dive bar. Their tag line is now "The Black Sheep of Cherry Creek.". When restaurants still allowed smoking, I swear this bar piped the smoke in. It still smells of stale beer and cigarette smoke.

We are sitting at the bar, watching the other NFL play-off game. There is a girl sitting on the other side of the pilot. Mid twenties. Having a beer and had just finished lunch. She was alone.

She tells us a bit about herself. She was in Denver for the weekend. She was supposed to be going to dinner with some guy later tonight, but he was up skiing. She never really told us why she was here for the weekend. Or as I wondered, why she wasn't up with him skiing. Or just in the mountains.

She then told us she was thinking of going to the game. She had looked online and she could get a ticket for $100. We talked about the weather. We told her it was a nice day, and she was dressed fine.

We then told her - you should really go to the game.

She says, "Maybe if I have a couple more beers, I'll get the courage to go."

I say, "Have you ever been to a playoff game? Have you ever been to a Broncos game?"

The answer to both those questions was no.

She had her phone out - we were looking at the seating chart. The pilot says, "As long as you are on the East side of the stadium, you will be fine. It's facing West. You will be in the sun."

We all chat a bit longer.

I finally say, "You need to go and go to this game.The pre-game is fantastic. The para-jumpers. The American Flag, The military flyover." "For no other reason than to say "I went". Plus, it will probably be one of Peyton Manning's last few games." The end of an era.

She paid her bill.

The pilot ordered her an Uber. We sent her on her way to the game.

Our only regret? We wish we had gotten her number - so she could tell us if she enjoyed the game.

That's okay, maybe one day, I'll hear the story again from someone who "met this girl at a Bronco game because the couple at the bar told her she should go."


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