I completely agree that the sense of bonding is not there now. You don’t have to live two to a room and eat with all the players at every meal. No more rookie hazings, etc. It FORCED the players to be there all day every day to FOCUS. There was always great tidbits of stories about relationships forged at camp. Now all we get are the play related stories.

I did not particularly like the stockyard smell of Greeley, so I voted somewhere other than Greeley.

Represent!! lol

Broncoman, I think you were a fortunate son, to have such vivid & lucid memories of those days. Pro Football, & our Broncos, have changed so much since those days. Everything has gone globally corporate, my friend, pro football included. I can understand your longing to revert to a simpler & more altruistic atmosphere for training camp, but it’s just not going to happen. Clutch those cherished memories tightly to your core, because you knew how things were from the ground floor going up, & you were a part of it. Accept Dove Valley for what it is. I know you find the environment of that location artificial & contrary to fan involvement, but it does serve it’s purpose. Great teams are built in seclusion. Thanks for sharing. I was born in Greeely. Everyone I knew were just trying to get away from the place. You could smell Greely long before you saw it. It’s a place only a Bronco fan could love. I think we need to collaborate here a little bit. When our Broncos take the field this year in those hideous, butt ugly throwback uniforms, I think they need an olfactory shock & awe element to add to the surprise of the visual vulgarity. The throwback jerseys should most definitely be fragranced with the ode de Greely, which will definitely send the opponents reeling, or at least keep them a couple of yards off the line of scrimmage. Nevertheless, the result will be nothing less than a Bronco blowout. Take heart, Broncoman, the best is yet to come.

They remodeled the place in ’05-06, stopped ther many times driving for Swift and wait for a Budweiser load.

from a strictly selfish standpoint as I live in Colorado Springs and driving to Dove Valley is easier than Greeley. BTW, Dove Valley is near Centennial Airport – Arapahoe to S. Peoria.

So of course I’d want it back here. I did get to enjoy a couple of training camps here before they moved to Dove Valley. Johnson’s Corner…yummmy. You have to stop there if you are north of Denver on I25.

Something was lost in the move to Dove Valley.

Yeah, OK, it’s “Grelly” and you can smell it long before you get there {wink} but I fully agree with the sentiment in this post regarding team building and factors that cannot be measured.

Good stuff, Broncoman.

I absolutely agree that a team’s history is sacred and Greeley will forever be part of Bronco lore, but from a financial, safety and practical standpoint, if we want the 2009 Team to have the best chance to be ready for the upcoming season, don’t we want that to happen in the best equipped, most modern facility that Pat Bowlen’s money could buy? Isn’t that place Dove Valley? Does Dove Valley have an MRI machine or at least an X-Ray machine (even if misused, according to BM)? If somebody pulls or twist something, time is of the essence. What about the costs and logistics of moving the stacks of film (DVDs?) and big screen HD TVs and therapy tubs up to Greeley. I’d hope that there are better ways to spend the several Millions needed to run a remote training camp.

Pull out all of the stops to get to 13-3 Baby!!

The Dove Valley camp experience might be improved if the team insisted that all players move into one of the local hotels for the duration of camp?

The problem remains about more fans being able to participate if Dove Valley is the place.

when TC was in Ft Collins before going to UNC. I use to hawk sodas at the Broncos scrimmage the week before the first preseason game. I dont think TC should return to Greeley. But one of my fondest memories was the scrimmage at UNC in Elways rookie season that place was overflowing with fans. (not to mention I made a ton of money).

When the Borncos were in Greeley it seemed like they were the Mountain States Broncos. Everyone (Even from Nebraska, Wyoming or Utah) had the abiltiy to watch a Bronco practice if they wanted. A big deal was as a kid you had the opportunity to carry a players helmet after practive to the locker room.
The world changed, they moved to Dove Valley, 9/11, $ greed, etc. Times were much simpler then, even with the Monfort Stockyard smell.

No going back, but the Broncos organization is still a Class Act!

but have to say having Dove Valley 10 minutes away from my mom’s new place is kinda nice for when I get the chance to visit her in August. :D

Great Post.

today the bonding all takes place at the OTAs and the conditioning sessions that go on practically year round. That is where guys come together and get to know each other. There is no more “playing your way into shape”.

The pace is faster and the learning curve is steeper. You are talking about the odl days when all of the work of getting in shape, learning who your team mates are and getting the offensive and defensive systems all took place in just 4 weeks. They had to be isolated to get their focus on football.

I don’t think that is necessary now, nor do I think it would work. The game is more demanding, the requirements to play at a high level are greater and the complexity of systems and working together would be prohibitive to just limit it to those 4 weeks.

It was a good time. It was a good time when they did their practices at an open field in Commerce City. It was a good time when you could just walk up to the stadium and buy tickets for midfield seats on the spot.

But its not coming back. Doesn’t work that way.