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I was born in the great state of Colorado.
There are many things here that I hold dear, and many things that will follow me throughout my life. Of all these things, the most important would be my love for the sports teams.
From the Broncos to the Rapids, I have a connection to every professional sport this state has to offer. But being a Colorado sports fan is one of the most frustrating things I have to deal with.
My love began affair in the 1990’s. It was a good decade to be a Colorado fan.
I wasn’t even a year old when the Buffaloes won a share of the college football National Championship. I don’t remember much from those days, but the years after made a big impression on me.
The 1994 season was also a big year, as Rashaan Salaam won the first and only Heisman trophy for CU. Sure the Broncos were playing, but the Buffs had the state’s hearts.
When Kordell Stewart threw the pass up for grabs at Michigan, I, along with almost everyone else waited with bated breath. When Michael Westbrook came down with the pass, even a 4-year-old knew something big had just happened.
The Buffs were an important part of Colorado sports in the 1990’s, but there were other sports going on.
In ’93, the Rockies came to the city. Opening day, Eric Young gave us hope with a lead-off home run. After that, who would have thought that the Rockies would fall to the bottom of the MLB.
The Rockies are the perfect example of a Colorado sports team.
There are moments of greatness everywhere, but also moments of anguish. A deep run in the playoffs or a spectacular few weeks, only to fall by short, leaving fans with a sense of disappointment and frustration.
I can cite more than a few examples of these hard times, the most recent being the 6-0 run of a rag-tag Denver Broncos team.
Everyone was ecstatic of their success, but there was an aura of pessimism surrounding the run. It had to end somewhere, and who would have thought that they would have been so bad throughout the rest of the season.
There are others teams that come to mind when I think of Denver disappointments.
The Nuggets were so bad for such a long time, I still look at the current team with disbelief, waiting for Carmelo Anthony to leave, and for the old Nuggets to return and give us another disappointment.
But there are not all negatives when it comes to Colorado sports.
When the Broncos won back-to-back Super Bowls, the state was in a state of euphoria. Sure the Avalanche had brought a championship the year before, but the Broncos were Colorado’s team.
Songs were made, and banners flew for weeks before the game. I even got on the P.A. system at my elementary school and sang to the whole school. It wasn’t just a football team’s victory; it was a long awaited victory for a fan base.
Being a Colorado sports fan means you have to deal with the disappointment. We feel the pain of the Red Sox fans, who waited almost a century for their legendary team to finally win the World Series. Although they had reason to whine, they had the legendary Celtics teams to see them through.
Chicago can talk all they want about the Cubs, but they had Michael Jordan. Colorado has had its share of stars, but the trophy case never seems to show that.
Overall we have five major championships, two Super Bowls, two Stanley Cups, and one College football National Championships most of which came in the 1990’s.
I think Colorado alumi Rick Reilly said it best in his “Life of Reilly,” column in May 2009. With regards to the Nugget loss in the 2009 Western Conference Championships, he asked the man upstairs what he had against us as Colorado sports fans.
Although Reilly was talking just about the Nuggets, I want to expand his idea to all sports.
We have had so much given to us, and so much disappointment, don’t we deserve something more for all our dedication?
Contact CU Independent Staff Writer Mark McNeillie at Mark.mcneillie@colorado.edu.
