Broncs fans are happy
Denver Broncos fans. (John Leyba, The Denver Post)
Dusty DeGroff is a lifelong Broncos fan. He also fervently backs Tim Tebow.
He wears the same orange rubber wristband proclaiming support for Tebow almost every day he reports for work as a personal trainer. In 2011, his love for the Broncos and Tebow were one and the same, as Tebow’s penchant for dramatic comebacks helped the team reach the playoffs for the first time in five years.
Then Peyton Manning stepped off a private plane with the Hall of Fame quarterback-turned-Broncos football boss John Elway, Coach John Fox and General Manager Brian Xanders last Friday, beginning a whirlwind of visits, workouts and dinners that ended Monday when he instructed his agent, Tom Condon, to work on a contract with the Broncos.
“I’m a Tebow fan,” DeGroff said Monday, but that has not stopped him from being thrilled by Manning’s arrival. As the news spread, most fans here shared his reaction.
James Merilatt, the president of Mile High Sports, which owns a sports-talk station and a sports magazine, said: “There are people who became Broncos fans because they were Tebow fans, and they’re outraged and feel the organization misled them, but from true Broncos fans, it’s nothing but excitement.”
Referring to the day the Broncos acquired Elway from the Baltimore Colts, Merilatt added, “In terms of off-season stuff, it’s probably the most exciting day since May 2, 1983.”
With Elway, the Broncos were playoff perennials, going to five Super Bowls and winning two.
In leaner times, the once-united Broncos fan base seemed to become divided. An expected savior, quarterback Jay Cutler, was traded to the Bears; the longtime coach Mike Shanahan was forced out after a late-season collapse in 2008; and Shanahan’s replacement, Josh McDaniels, lost 17 of his last 22 games after starting the 2009 season 6-0. By the time the Broncos drafted Tebow in 2010, many fans were desperate for someone to end the despair.
Tebow’s overt passion and displays of faith sold jerseys by the thousands and captured new fans while also winning back old ones, though some remained skeptical as his completion percentage hovered around 46 percent. The fans were divided again, this time over Tebow.
“In a lot of ways, this one was the worst one,” said John Bena, the publisher of a fan blog, Mile High Report. “I think a majority of those Tebow fans will follow Tim wherever he goes. So while these other schisms are about the Broncos, a lot of them stayed Broncos fans.”
On social media like Twitter, the fans’ discussions over the last year has often coarsened to new lows.
Susan McMillen, a resident of North Florida and member of the Tim Tebow Fan Club, said: “People are very passionate; I get that. But sometimes on both sides of the issue, people should take a minute before they say anything or tweet everything out.”
With two quarterbacks in town, for now, that might not happen. But for the moment, most Broncos fans seem to be embracing Manning, even if that leaves out Tebow.
(source New York Times)
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