From The Fan Posts: On Broncos, their fans, and Bloodlust

Ever. Rec’d. Comedic genius.

With one question/comment/concern/criticism.

Why, oh why, do so many fellow fans seem to not know We all reside in Broncos Country! Not nation.. oh, I just puked in my mouth a little from typing it… Broncos Country!!!! Whew! Better. Where ever did you get the term? When I joined the DenverBroncos.com, and they were like ‘Welcome to Broncos Country’ I could never think to call it anything else…

Why would you refer to Our glory as ‘nation’…..Unless you’re hinting at Bowlen becoming more and more like….. oh…. maybe it was intentional. Seriously though, I honestly don’t care what other folks refer to it as, We’re all rooting for the same end. Just curious is all. =)
Thanks for sharing your thoughts!

I was literally ROTFLMFAOWTRDMFF (rolling on the floor, laughing my f****** ass off, with tears rolling down my f****** face) at the part about the McDaniels ride at Elitches. Thanks for this post, Rec’d. You and I think exactly alike, although I’m not nearly as funny or as articulate as you are. Hope to be reading more of your posts in the future…

I agree with everything you said very well thought out and written, it shows a maturity of thought could you go write for the DP.

Over the last three weeks, this site “for fans” has seemingly devolved into a hate-fest for the local media and the majority of Broncos fans and I’m not liking that direction at all. You make a lot of valid points here, but I think like so many others here, you’ve decided that discontent and restlessness with the direction of the Broncos means that we’ve suddenly become ravenous lunatics, desiring blood sacrifices for every little thing that goes wrong. Honestly, I think a lot of the anger has been justified, and a lot of it has probably been a little over the top. That’s what sports do to people.

According to you, we were unjustified in being pissed at the Cutler trade. I got over it quickly, because I never fooled myself into being blind to Cutler’s faults, but on the other hand, he was party in that conflict that Broncos fans were most familiar with. Is it really so crazy that a lot of folks sided with him? And from a personal perspective, trading him to the freakin Bears was the worst imaginable scenario, being in college in the Midwest at the time surrounded by obnoxious Bears fans (and if you don’t know, the old SNL Superfan skits about Chicago fans was not inaccurate. At all. So yea, getting weekly updates from Bears fan friends giving Cutler credit for what the team’s defense does is pretty obnoxious).

So yea, I was pissed. I was pissed at Cutler for acting like a petulant turd. And I was mad at McDaniels because at the end of the day, Matt Cassel was not worth Jay Cutler. Hell Matt Cassel’s not worth Brian Griese (cause they’re the exact same player). I don’t think that’s a fickle reason to be upset at McDaniels. You can say all you want about how it wasn’t his fault, but we’ll never know, and since we didn’t get an immediate honest response from the organization, it’s hard to ever know.

To say that we as fans long for the days of the 8-8 Broncos under Cutler and Marshall is a joke. Nobody longs for those days if they’re in their right mind. But like a lot of fans, I sure as hell long for the Broncos of the late 1990s. If that means I’m living in the past then so be it, but not liking the direction of the team does not make me bloodthirsty. I’ve cheered for this team since before I knew how to cheer. I was at a Broncos Super Bowl party when I was 3 months old (we lost).

I live and die with this team. So am I some irrational crazy fan because I opposed the McDaniels hire from day one, when I thought it was painfully obvious that we needed a coach who would make fixing the defense his priority? Am I bloodthirsty because I got pissed when the situation with Cutler devolved into a national joke? I love how fans now pretend they never thought Cutler was good. Look, I hate the guy, I cheer against him for the sheer joy of seeing his frown (and not having to be harassed by Bears fans is nice). But before we traded him, I liked him. Sure his interceptions in crucial situations pissed me off, but I was hopeful he’d grow out of that. I don’t need to lie to myself or anyone else about that. And I’m horribly sorry that Tim Tebow doesn’t fill my body with hope like it does so many other fans. I hope, god I pray that he’ll become the quarterback that you guys hope he will. Nothing would make me happier. But I didn’t see it a year ago and not much has happened to change my mind since then. (FYI, I wrote just a couple weeks ago that I thought McD deserved four years to prove himself, so I’m not some guy who’s thrilled that he’s gone. Though I’ll openly admit I wasn’t fond of him, I think firing him this way looks bad for the organization) So does that make me crazy? Cause I’ve cheered for this team every week regardless of who its coach is, and nothing’s gonna change that. I still get emotionally invested every week. I’m sure when we (probably) lose at home to San Diego in early January, I’ll be screaming at the TV for half the game. That’s the kind of fan I am. But it doesn’t mean I have to love everything I’m seeing from the team, and frankly, I’m tired of people on this site pretending like you can’t like the team if you dislike anything about it.

Loved it. And you’re right. No patience. We’ll see in 24 months if it was a mortal sin or not. But there’s no way to know today. Unfortunately, we must again, be patient.

There’s no such thing as instant success. In sports or in life. Patience is king and we all lack it. Its hard to be patinet with the ’net and iphones and such.

Bloodlust is a good word. I think a big problem is the TMZ-ization of our society. The common fan wants drama now. They crave it. Especially when they are bored with their team. Maybe their lives are boring or they want to see multimillionaires fail and get publically ostracized, I don’t know.

Regardless, I’m a Broncos fan. Always will be. All I care about is that we win the big one again. My brother and I joke when we’re at games and we’re getting beat that if it weren’t for the way I feel when we lose and when we can’t get our **** together as a team, it wouldn’t feel so damned good when we’re good and even better when we’re great.

Appreciate the process. It will make the result better.

something changed. something happened in the space of one week. if it really was just all the empty seats and kvetching, then i am disappointed in mr.b. but that’s hard to imagine. he’s not an idiot. you head into a season hoping to start two rookies on the ol? good likelihood you’re going to lose. a lot. and bowlen seemed aware of that, even comfortable with that, up to one week ago. then — boom! (god love ya madden!) did you see that coming? because i didn’t. bowlen has always been patient with his coaches before — to a fault.

so what changed? i’m no conspiracy theorist, i don’t believe in the second gunman or area 54 or whatever. but you gotta wonder — was there more to this whole spygate ii that didn’t come out? because that’s one area where i can see bowlen and the broncos having zero tolerance. all franchises rebuild. just don’t damage our integrity. don’t soil the brand. bowlen seemed curiously at peace with the whole spygate ii thing when it first came up — bad steve scarnecchia, loyal josh who dutifully refuses to look at yhe tape and tries to protect his friend. kids! when you know and i know that it was a huge deal, why in the world would anyone named josh mcdaniels, in this day and age, having come to us from the pats, not immediately recognize the gravity of the situation? why would he hire scarnecchia at all? bowlen’s complete lack of any sort of response baffled me. but he was fine with it. and then we lose 10-6 in a revitalized arrowhead, no shame in that for even veteran teams with things like cohesve o lines, and bowlen lets josh go at the end of the next business day?

weird, weird, weird. something changed. something happened. letting him go now further damaged tthe franchise. you only do that to pre-empt greater damage down the road. and football-wise, i think at this point all the damage has been done. we all know we stink. we all know we could lose out. so, my spygate theory.

no evidence for it. just a thought. i’ll return to my bigfoot and loch ness photos now.

One of the most entertaining things I’ve read in awhile, and Rec’d!

awesome, hilarious read.

I really think it’s because of the internet. I see parallels between sports and politics this way. Although we’re not supposed to talk about politics, so pretend this is only about sports. :)

1) Enable a bunch of people to post their opinions without asking any accountability from them

2) Watch as people start agreeing with each other and feeling more reinforced in their views

3) Watch as entire populations get more and more emboldened that they are right and correct, without letting those pesky little facts get in the way

We’re in this kind of rebellious adolescence with the internet right now, like when a kid realizes he has some autonomy but doesn’t have to listen to reason yet.

My sentiments exactly…

Trading in Joe Ellis for Cameron Diaz! I am all in!

Brilliant!

If we only had played Tebow we would have been undefeated. ;)

Nice narrative, and I agree with your conclusions wholeheartedly. Wish I had the creativity to come up with the McMind Debaser. Man I felt that!

The invective is hot and heavy alright, but it seems to be coming from Josh McDaniels camp followers. Statements like “…the most promising young head coach the Broncos have ever had….”, “Bronco fans are murderous….” and "They are using the classically naive “anybody is better than this guy” excuse. It’s the reasoning of the foolish.", demonstrate an ignorance of reality and an almost elitist, disdain for fellow fans who’s opinions differ from those of the writer. Of course, those statements are then “supported” by lengthy rationalization and conjecture which merely serve to reinforce the writer’s already entrenched opinions. I find it distasteful and disturbing that so much vitriol keeps flowing from people who claim to be Broncos fans, but act more like McDaniels sycophants. We are each entitled to our opinions, but beating on a dead horse and your fellow fans is both counter-productive and a bit irrational. McDaniels didn’t fail because of some grand, maleficent conspiracy. McDaniels failed because he was unable to show improvement. In fact, his management style was having the opposite effect upon the team. Even if he had been allowed to remain, it is highly unlikely this team would have been much more competitive in 2011. Rather than venting your anger at other fans, the media and the Broncos organization for not sharing your vision, maybe you should simply drop the invective, release that bone of contention and move on. As fans of the Broncos, we all share in the teams highs and lows. Ultimately, we are all 3 and 9 right now and hoping to see better days for our franchise in the future.

….the Broncos had the number two offense in the league in Shanahan’s last season. Cutler and Marshall both went to the Pro Bowl. While I agree that the team had pretty much become stale under Shanahan, the offense was moving in the right direction with some franchise type players who would have been very good for years to come.

Cutler IS going to be a very good quarterback, especially when/if the Bears get him some better protection and a more consistant running game. He’s having a damned fine season in Chicago under the circumstances. Age will bring him the maturity to become a better leader. We have to remember that John Elway was a bit of a whiny prima donna his first few seasons, too. Jay Cutler WILL take a team to the Super Bowl someday.

Marshall is a beast. With a good quarterback, he’d be a perenial Pro Bowl receiver.

Josh’s personnel decisions screwed this franchise for several seasons to come. A good head coach knows how to deal with prima donna players. A good head coach demands respect from his players, but also gives it to them. A good head coach doesn’t let go of franchise players, and the best defensive coordinator the team has had in a long time, because his ego is too big to accept the fact the they aren’t going to agree with everything you do.

A bad head coach is arrogant enough to believe that he is SO great a coach that he can take any group of guys and win with them. They don’t need to be the most tallented. They just need to either kiss his @ss, or at least just shut the hell up and do as their told. Well, we see how well that’s worked out.

Cutler has all the tallent to be a great quarterback someday. He just needs to grow up. McDaniels has the smarts to be a great head coach someday, too. But he’s got some growing up to do, himself.

McD made too many mistakes that showed his lack of experience as a head coach. Some other team will benefit from his harsh lessons at the Altar of Mile High Football.

Just for the record, get Tebow in and let him get some time to develop as a pro when it really doesn’t mean anything. I don’t buy the argument that putting him in now with a weak team is going mold the rest of his career to mediocrity. Yes, he may lose games and get pounded but I believe that he will be tempered by it and not ruined.

This is yet another article that has of late really made me chuckle. Why are fans who post here so depressed about what happened to McDaniels? He made way too many mistakes and failed to back up his philosophies with wins. Why have people become so attached to a man who came in with no respect or interest in Broncos tradition? Recall the following:

1) McDaniels first major act as coach was to quickly alienate the team by bringing in old buddies and giving them record breaking contracts while replacing loyal Broncos players (by removing Leach for no good reason and bringing in Paxton). Nepotism.
2) McDaniels second major act was to showcase a extraordinarily large amount of inexperience by alienating our pro-bowl quarterback and bringing unwanted national attention to McDaniels’ incompetence by turning the Broncos into a soap opera.
3) McDaniels severely lacked personnel management ability (people skills) and since his firing players have gone public by saying how poor a motivator he was and how his leadership style consisted of mostly yelling and cussing.
4) McDaniels brought more embarassment to the franchise by being caught on tape cussing out his offensive line on Thanksgiving. Plug your ears kids, McDaniels is talking.
5) McDaniels showcased stubbornness and arrogance when deciding not to give players who had a strong chance of helping the team a chance (Hillis, Alphonso Smith).
6) McDaniels’ poor abilities regarding the NFL draft have been nationally documented. He consistently gives up way too much value for not enough in return. He consistently traded away picks to move up in the draft unnecessarily (once again showing his inexperience).
7) McDaniels once again brought soap opera drama to the franchise by benching two of our best players (Marshall, Sheffler) last year against the Chiefs when the playoffs were on the line. Needless to say we lost that game in a landslide. It was obvious the players didn’t care. He then quickly trading these players away for unproven draft picks.
8) McDaniels failed to understand the Broncos rivalries and how important they are to the fanbase and the franchise by losing all of his home games against division opponents in 2008, getting blown out by the Chiefs with the playoffs on the line and getting utterly humiliated by the Raiders earlier this year. Both games should have been a big deal to this team, but from watching the games it was obvious that the players weren’t motivated. No way they were going to play their hearts out for this coach. McDaniels was a very poor leader of men to say the least.
9) Again, McDaniels embarrassed the franchise with (at the least) a lack of management skills by not reporting severe ethics violations committed by his staff and (at most) possibly committing these violations himself regarding the video taping scandal in London. Bowlen was very embarrassed by this turn of events and as long as McDaniels was still here the Broncos would bear the label “cheaters”.
10) To top it all off, with all this controversy (and much more I fail to mention), McDaniels managed to lose more in 22 games than anyone in the NFL besides the Lions. This would have been tolerable if it were not for #’s 1-9 above…

Here is my theory as to why people can somehow overlook all this and still think that McDaniels was as the writer says:

… the most promising young head coach the Broncos have ever had …

My theory is that we became so enamored with the “idea” of McDaniels that we created in our heads a head coach that was so wise, so talented, so full of promise that he must be the future of the Broncos. We wanted so badly to have that next up and coming super star coach that would lead us to a generation of domination that we overlooked the fact that, bottom line, he was really a terrible leader, motivator and talent evaluator. McDaniels was fired for very just cause (see 10 reasons above). He may grow up someday and be a fine coach, but he was never going to be that coach in Denver. People like him (all of us really) sometimes need to suffer some tough life lessons in order to learn from them. Otherwise we never grow up. This experience will make him a better coach and help him in his next job, but without the experience of getting fired and realizing he doesn’t know everything he would never have grown up for the Broncos. There is only so much a team can endure at the cost of “growing” and the Broncos reached that limit. It was the right decision to get rid of him. Hopefully he has better luck in his next gig and puts on a bit more humility and “people skills”.

So please, stop with these melancholy posts about how bad the fan base is and how we as fans somehow blew it and flushed our future down the toilet. Open your eyes and let’s look forward to greener pastures still to come.

I really appreciate the time you all took to:

1. Read that whole thing
2. Share your thoughts. I’m pretty sure some of these comments took a couple hours to put together

I hope I made it at least partially clear that I am Broncos fan to the core. Broncos Country will forever be my country… and I don’t really care if that County is headed by a Shanahan type, a Josh McDaniel’s type, or a Donald Trump type (though I will make fun of that hair, you can bet on that). If it’s Broncos I’m on board.

I don’t want to take away from anyone who’s commented here by trying to argue with them. I find myself reading through most of your points, agreeing with a lot of it and adjusting my own opinions and feelings for our team. So don’t feel like your time and effort is wasted. I’m still a young Bronco fan compared to most of the people that post here and far be it from me to present the arrogance of all-knowing.

If I had to paraphrase my entire point, humor and glib aside, I’m tired of reading my DP editors rag on my team day after day. I’m tired of reading Kiszla trying to start campaigns to collect money to buy out a coaches contract. I’m so sick of it. I feel like I’m rooting for an alien organization because the loudest voices in my own home state are telling me I should be giving up. There’s no hope.

Rybjammin, I don’t believe our fanbase is bad. I think perhaps you misunderstood my point. I believe we have the greatest fans in the whole country, even if our passion sometimes splits us in two. And, I say this without any type of patronization, that forums like MHR, are the best place for concerned fans to post their thoughts and get some kind of reasonable response… which is exactly why I chose this forum over wasting my time on the DP comments.

My only slight regret is that I didn’t mention SpyGateII, like BroncoHawkEye brought up. I’ve had a piece in the works on that for a couple of weeks now but I’ve scrapped it due to a couple reasons.

1. I don’t think we really know what went down. I feel like something has been covered up. It’s the biggest non-deal in Bronco history.

2. I don’t want to give my opinion on something I feel has not been accurately conveyed to the public. When the facts change, my opinion changes. I feel like I have little fact to base my opinion.

3. I don’t really understand Spygate II. I know some videotaping was done. I know it violated some kind of NFL policy. I know it violated some kind of ethical conduct, but I don’t really have a good grasp on how bad or how serious it was. Like a commenter pointed out, football is a sport of riding that fine line between what is legal and what is unethical. The closer you can get to unethical without breaking the rules gives you an edge. What kind of an edge filming a public walkthrough gives a team? I have no idea. It seems like a team could just sit a few employees out there to watch the damn thing and report back with news.

I just feel like we haven’t heard the whole of Spygate II and I am leery of posting something publicly that I am so unsure of. The truth of Spygate II absolutely has the potential to destroy my opinion of McDaniels, just as much as it has the potential to justify my gut feeling that we got rid of him too soon.

So once again, thank you all for your great feedback. It means a lot to me and I very much look forward to continuing reading and contributing to this blog.

-Steve

P.S. PearlJamBroncosGFunk (PJBGF… holy crap, I’m going to give my first child a middle name like that), you make an excellent observation about Bronco Nation vs. Bronco Country… I’ve been living in the west coast for the past couple of years and apparently, even after all the walls I put up, something slipped through. Bronco Country from here on out. You’ll never hear me use Bronco Nation ever again. Scouts honor.