To explain how I became a fan of Denver, and fell in love with everything to do with the Broncos, I need to give you a little bit of backstory. I was born in 1991 to a Patriots father and a Cowboys mother, living in Oklahoma right on the line where the 'local' teams are the Chiefs and Cowboys, so football was always a big part of our household. My first real memories of football came from watching games with my parents and my brother (who for some reason chose to root for the Chargers) and the games I remember were right around 95-97, somewhere around there.

I was hooked, to say the least. Watching games and listening to my dad talk about how great TD was, hearing both the respect for his game and the dislike for how badly they would beat the Pats. I remember watching in awe as Elway would carve up defenses, I even wrote a small story in Elementary School about why I look up to him. There were so many reasons I can't even begin to remember about why I loved Denver, a lot of it was probably childish bandwagoning I have to admit. But when you stay on the bandwagon long enough things become real.

As I got older, and I had the chance to go online and read more about the team I was obsessed with I tried to see everything I could. I watched the comeback moments, I embraced the crushing losses as much as anyone who could not see them live could. I remember talking to my dad when we hired Mcdonalds and trying to see what he thought of it. I felt the heartbreak when Darrent Williams was taken from us, and even though looking back I see the mistake of it, I remember hoping that Tebow would be the starter for many years after he DESTROYED the hopes of Pittsburgh.

I have cried with Sharpe during his induction, laughed with Schlereth in his interviews and I've hyped up with Talib and Ward. I love that the underdog mentality that came from three crushing losses still persists, and so many of the greatest contributors to the team have BEEN the underdogs. The castoffs. The nobodies who through spit and grit have made their marks in history. Rod, TD a thousand times over, Harris Jr, and I'm hoping to add CJ and Trevor to those lists even though they are young, because I can't help but root for the underdogs most of all.

I always remember my dad talking to my brother and I when we first started watching football. He would always say "I don't care who you want to root for, as long as it isn't Oakland because I will never forget what they did to Darryl Stingley." We followed his advice, and while my brother has since moved the California and given up football, this part of Chiefs country still bleeds orange and blue until the day I die!