FanPost

Denver vs. Minnesota: The Fan's Perspective

Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

There is no moon. There are no stars. The taillights of semi trucks lead you home. Your legs and back are sore from being too tall for the stadium seats and your throat is raw from cheering on a team you've supported since before you can remember. All that keeps you going is the thought of sleeping in your own bed instead of the seat of your car. And why shouldn't you keep going? You've driven six hours so far. What's one more? This is what it's like to drive back to Lincoln, Nebraska from a Denver Broncos home game. 489 miles, 7 hours, and way too much caffeine.

Every mile was worth it.

A couple months ago, I decided that I was going to a Broncos game this season come hell or high water. The girl I'm seeing is a longtime football/Peyton fan and, coincidentally, goes to school at Colorado State University, so I bought the tickets last month and stayed with her for the weekend. (Suggestion: If you're going to a Broncos game, make a weekend of it. Drive through the mountains, go see Ft. Collins/Boulder/the area around Denver. Lots of great country and places to visit apart from Sports Authority Stadium.) We got to Denver around noon on Sunday--plenty of time in advance to get decent parking about ten minutes walking time from the stadium. Our seats were about thirty rows up on the ten-yard line/end zone (I hit the jackpot on NFL Ticket Exchange and found someone selling season tickets for slightly more than nosebleeds would have cost.)

The fans: I think Broncos fans are probably more laid-back than a lot of fan bases in the NFL. There were Broncos fans taking pictures with some of the more elaborately decorated Vikings fans (which I can only describe as Nordic Zombies.) There were a few Vikings fans behind us who took some good-natured shit from the locals, and definitely gave some back. There was one guy in a Von Miller jersey in the front of our section who was doing his best to impersonate Von's many funky sack dances for the entire game. The mom in front of us was teaching her daughter, who was probably about four or five, according to my untrained, childless eye, to shout "IN-COM-PLETE" every time we broke up a pass.

The game: I didn't have much of a voice left after the game. It was awesome to see that stadium rocking when the Vikes were on offense. Unfortunately, it was still pretty loud when Denver had possession due to the abnormal amount of purple in the crowd. Nothing elicited more cheers than the strip-sack to end the game, though. For perspective, I'm a Husker. We have 90,000 people in Memorial Stadium every week, and I've never come away from a game more deaf than I did on Sunday. All in all, I think our team looked pretty good. The drive where Adrian Peterson ran untouched for a 48-yard touchdown was the worst our defense has looked all season, and the touchdown to a wide-open Mike Wallace was (maybe) a miscommunication on the coverage, but other than that, we came away with seven sacks, which is pretty solid. Offensively, Ronnie Hillman reminded us just what he can do when he gets the edge, and despite the two interceptions, Peyton looked, well, like Peyton. Once again, the defense ensured that this game turned in our favor. On to Oakland!

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This is a Fan-Created Comment on MileHighReport.com. The opinion here is not necessarily shared by the editorial staff of MHR.