Big-time players make big-time plays in big-time games... but what about the fans?

As far as the fans go, they’re on their own waiting... waiting on game time to finally roll around. It’s the nervous pacing, the ritualized borderline OCD superstitions, and more waiting.

As the Denver Nuggets zero in on their first NBA Championship in franchise history, I’m reminded of the Broncos first Championship in Super Bowl XXXII. As a child of the 1980’s, I vividly remember all the Super Bowl disasters that preceded this historic moment; all those Super Bowl parties that were over at halftime.

Leading up to Super Bowl XXXII, no extravagant plans for a Super Bowl party were made. Outside of a couple of beers, a tiny television propped atop a dorm fridge, and three Broncos fans huddled together hopeful for a win and absolutely terrified of another Super Bowl faceplant. When it wasn’t an immediate blow-out, things felt different.

Then they won it. Their first championship. It was glorious. The team we had loved our whole lives had finally made their mark on the National Football League. They were no longer the also-ran mountain time zone nobodies the media had made them out to be after so many horrific losses.

That’s what this win on Monday, if they get it, is going to be like for the Denver Nuggets. This is their statement to the NBA and the world that Denver matters. The Nuggets matter. I so badly want the Nuggets to experience what happened to the Broncos that fateful day, the day the Broncos became champions.

HEADLINES

New Broncos DE Frank Clark believes Denver has type of team to 'turn it around in a heartbeat'
Frank Clark’s recent signing with the Broncos takes him from the reigning Super Bowl-champion Kansas City Chiefs to the basement dwellers of the AFC West, but he believes Denver has all the pieces it needs to flip the script.

Broncos pass rusher Frank Clark talks up his new team - ProFootballTalk

Von Miller expects to avoid PUP, calls his knee "all healed up" - ProFootballTalk

Josh Jacobs hints that he's taking a stand for future running backs - ProFootballTalk

Jahmyr Gibbs: NFL practices don't try to kill us, Nick Saban did - ProFootballTalk

Calvin Johnson hosts HS football camp at Lions' facility - ESPN
Hall of Fame receiver Calvin Johnson returned to host a high school football camp at the Lions' practice facility Sunday, in partnership with the team.

NFL rumors: Here's why another big-name running back could change teams in 2023, like Vikings' Dalvin Cook - CBSSports.com
Cook may not be the last star RB to relocate before the season

Frustrated Giants RB Saquon Barkley doesn't rule out sitting out for 2023 season
Saquon Barkley and the New York Giants have until July 17 to come to a long-term contract, or the running back will play 2023 under the $10.1 million franchise tag unless he sits out the entire season.